The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 13, 1902, Page 1

i*f“ :iE?fljm> VOLUME XCIII—-NO. \ 13. SAN F¥RANCISCO, SATUQDAF.- DECEMBER 13, 1902. STRONG TIDES AND HEAVY BREAKERS PREVENT THE LANDING PRICE FIVE CENTS. OF THE SHORE_END OF THE NEW PACIFIC COMMERCIAL CABLE —a TO HONOLYLU BY THE EXPERTS OF THE SHIP SILVERTOWN HE first attempt to land the shore end of the new trans-Pacific cable yesterday proved a failure, owing to the strong tidal currends and a break in the machinery on board the Silvertown, dug to the tremendous strain. Failly fifty thousand . WARSH LONS T0 BONBARD Foreigners Flee From Puerto Capg@. Take Réfuge on Ger- man and British Cruisers. Allies’ Vessels Threaten to Hurl Shells Into th —_— 1] U ONDON, Deec. 13.—A dis- pateh to the Daily Mail from Willemstad, Curaecao, | dated December 11, says| that the foreign residents| of Puerto Cabello are tak-| ing refuge on board the German cruiser Vineta and | | xhe_British cruiser Ariadne, and that these vessels are threatening to bombard the e Venezuela, n here ever and ties appear ruiser Charybdis, fly- o it ion: er Vine 1 the German train- tosch have just arrived | have taken positions| e of battle | 5 | been great military ive of a move- : i namite and | T r are bcinz} ced in wagons and taken away | the direction’ of Caracas. A| n has been used in connection with the removal of the ammuni- tion. The powder stored in the Lavigia and San Carlos forts has | been taken away. There are| rumors here that the Venezuelani Government troops inten()ed to| abandon the town and fortify the | heights in order to guard the roads leading to Caracas. De-| fensive arrangements are being| made at strategic points in the mountains. | On the arrival of 2 merchant steamer of the Harrison line and the Dutch mail steamer Prinz Wilhelm IV here to-day the com- mander of the British cruiser In- defatigable went aboard of them and advised them to remain out of port, as they could be protect- ed then. The British commander added that he could not answer for what might take place at :my} moment in this port. | The mails were landed and the captains of the merchantmen | asked for lighters for the dis- charge of cargoes. This was re- ‘used by the custom-house offi- cials, who said: “There is no reason why you Continued on Page 5, Column 3. imminent. | | German cruis-| | rt and all prep- | = = < Sudden Straightening of Slack in Towline Injures G. W. McNear and C. H. Mackay. RIDAY was the hoodoo. At least that is the cause as- signed by seafaring men for the failure of the first at- tempt yesterday to lay the shore end of the trans-Pa- | cific cable to the coral sands of Hawail Nel. Still, it was a great day and a big affalr, much bigger than anybody antici- pated. It was a big event in history, a big tesk to accomplish and the biggest crowd to witness it that San Franciscp has ever contributed to a public function. The setback, however, is only a tempo- rary one. To-morrow another attempt will be made and if successful the pro- gramme as already arranged will be car- ried out. The failure to land the cable yesterday after several hours of fruitless endeavor was a great disappointment to all, and to 1o oné more than Clarence H. Mackay himeelf. But that is another story. Long before daylight the great gray cable ship, Silvertown, crept slowly out of the harbor and dropped anchor about ® mile off the beach below the CIff House. Then came a long spell of weary, nerve-eating idleness/ The sky was blot- ted out with a huge/ blanket of threaten- ing clouds, while the fretful sea bellowed inshore with a mighty tossing of waves and snarling of breakers before the lash of a biting wind that was half a gale. The enly thing possible was to wait, and this was doné with such grace as could be mustered by that impatient crew of seamen aund scientists, By 8 o'clock the wind shifted and the sea showed slgns of subsiding. Even. at this early hour the nucleus of a”crowd had begun to straggle toward the beach and gather in little shivering groups on the sandy slope at the foot of “Fulton street, where the ceremonies were to take place. A ROPED INCLOSURE. Here a guodly space had been roped oft and a couple of refreshment. tents erected for the accommodation of perhaps a hun- dred specially invited guests. From the | bottom of an excavation in the center of. the inclosure the land end .of the cable lifted its scraggy head in seeming impa- fefice for the union with its mate from the sea. Every car brought fresh additions to the crowd, which grew and grew until at 10 o'clock fully 50,000 peopls lined the beach and imparted unwonted life and color to the dreary waste of sand, while the boule- vard was allve with vehicles of every style and vintage, from the huck- ster’s cart to the millionaire’s brougham. | Music ‘was not lacking efther, for Uncle | 8am's soldiers at the Presidio and the students at the State university sent théir | respective bands, respléndent in gergeous | new uniforms, to while away the tedium i of the loag gtage walits with a merry fan- fere of brass and reed and clatter of dérem and cymbals. The rancous voice of the huckster was aiso heard shouting: the merits of his particular brand of popcorn and peanuts, | while a negro mountebank in clownish | attire reaped a small harvest of nickels with his ragtime songs and banjo play- ing. 'Altogether it was more like a day at the circus than the solemn inaugura- tion of a great -international commercial cvent. G ~N THE "MERRIEST OF ALL. But the largest and happlest and noisest | element of all, perhaps, was the jubllant army of school chlidren and students from every school and college within reach of the city. When the schools, were opened, as usual, yesterday morning the announcment was made that the Board of Education had ordered a special holi- day so that the pupils might witness the laying of the cable. An hour later they swarmed upon the beach like an invading army and took possession of the best points of vantage by right of eminent dn- main. 3 The twenty policemen under Lieutenant Kelly ‘were helpless in the face of such a rultitude, and reinforcements had to be called for. It was not until Captain Mooney arrived with twenty more men —% people thronged the beach during the day and two accidents occurred. The launching team of the lifeboat station ran into the crowd, knocking down mien and women and slightly injuring one little girl. The slipping of the cable tow line also slightly injured Mr. Mackay and rendered George W. McNear unconscious. . et S — & SCENES AT THE ATTEMPTED LANDING OF THE PACIFIC CABLE, SHOWING THE LAUNCHING OF THBE LIFEBOAT, THE MESSAGE TO NEW YORK AND THE RECEIPT.OF THE SIGNAL FROM THE SILVER- TOWN TO ABANDON FURTHER EFFORTS. 4 ‘ ES P 3 BE 5 5 *| Fifty Thousand People. Gather to Witness WILL SPLICE | THE CABLE TO-MORROW IN consequence of a sHght injury to a portion of the technical machinery ‘of the cable steamer Silver- town, the contractors con- cluded it unwise to proceed with the laymg of the cable yesterday afternoon. Repairs will be made to-day and the work of laying the cable will proceed Sunday morning. The lnnding \of the shore end of ! the cable probably will begin \| about 10 a. m. The programme arranged.will be carried out. The “christening of the cable splice will' be made by Gov- ernor Gage's daughter. Pres dent Clarence H. Mackay re- news his invitations. No tick- ets of admission to special inclosure will be required of those having' held them for' yesterday's services. I3 —_— and a mounted squad under Sergeant Helms that anything like order could be maintained. 5 Shortly after 10 o’clock Mr. Mackay ar- rived on the'scene, accompanied by Gov- COnfimud’_ on Page 6, Column 4. / WING to the heavy surf which was breaking over the beach and to the strong tide that was runting yesterday, the first ef- fort of the crew of the Silver- town to lay the shore end of the Paclfic cable proved unsuccessful. Al- though the fifty thousand people who crowded the sandy beach and braved the cold did not-have the pleasure of. witness- ing the actual commencement of the great enterprise which is to bring the Hawaiian Islands, and ultimately.the Orient,: into closer communication wrth the United States, they saw work performed that re- paid them ‘with interest for their trip to the oceanside. They learned that the lay- ‘| ing of an-oceanic cable is not the achieve- | ment of a moment, but that it is an un- and considerable labor. i The, Silvertown left her moorings in the bay before daybreak yesterday morning and at 9 o'clock was anchored about one mile off .shore near . the cable station. _Owing to the shallowness of the water, the big vessel was unable to appreach ‘| nearer the land. At that time huge waves were rolling in and breaking on the beach. The day itself was dark and dismal, and at that hour the prospects of feaching the shore safely with the cable appeared very gloomy. Out where: the Silvertown was ‘resting the tide was running strongly, and the Ceremonies on the Beach. ‘could communicate with' the crew of the dertaking requiring the greatest of care | the vessel - was tugging at lts aachor | chains. As the day advanced, however, the sun broke through ine mist and the breakers grew calmer. It began to look as if Providence intended to assist in bridging the Pacific. SIGNAL -IS GIVEN. At exactly eight minutes to 11 o’clock L. W. Storror, superintendent of the Pa- cific. Commercial Cable Company, an- nounced that all was in readiness for the commencement of the laying of the shore end-of the cable. The representatives of the cable company on the shore had ar- ranged a’'code of signals by which they Silvertown. A blue flag wgs rum up a flagpole which had been ‘e’&fi:ed on the beach, to ‘announce to the mten on the boat that the representatives of the com- pany were ready to receive the cable on shore. Twenty minutes later two small boats. from the ship. started shoreward with a small ‘tow line, one end of which was’ attached to thé heavy hawser by whiclr’ the' cable itself was to be pulled ashore. The :two. boats, manned by the sailors from the Silvertown, succeeded in getting the ‘line as far as tlie breakers, but they could not get it any farther. To get the | line the rest of the way ashore a life boat from the station near the Cliff House, unk der the command of Captain Varney, wag pressed }nto service. This boat, which jg | PROSPERITY NEARS D, SIS L Railroad King Sees Trade Crisis Coming. Makes Startling Pre- diction of Commer- cial Slump. Says Venezuélan Affair Has * Hastened Collapse of “Good Times.” Spectal Dispatch to The Call. CHICAGO, Dec. 12.—James J. Hill, pres- ident of the Northern Securities Company, who arrived in Chicago to-nightJrom New York on his way to St. Paul, sdys that prosperity in the United States has reach- ed its zenith and that a retrograde move- ment is near at hend, if it has not al- ready begun. The crisis may be hastened, he says, by the trouble in Venezuela. “I am not one of “thoss fellows who cross their bridges before they come to them—‘alarmists’ I think you call them.: said Hill to-night. “I am disposed to be cheerful about most things. But I can- not ses anything in-the present finanefal situation to cause me to do any rejoicing. “Things look serious. This country has reached the top of its prosperity. If a serious downward movement has not al- ready begun, it is not far off. “There are more reasons than one for this; chief among them is the uncertain state of mind In which New York men find themselves from day to day. Uncer- tainty is the worst thing on earth for the moneyed Interests of the country. “They fear the United States will ba drawn Into war with England and Ger- many. Many of them actually expect a clash with Germany. This ties things up. Excessive rates are demanded for money. Men who are ‘long’ ofi stocks get panicky, and as a result the market slumps off. “The Venezuela trouble has ‘Jarred’ the money situation in the United States. ‘Fhings were just ready to topple befors the trouble came. It wasn't necessary that anything half so serious should have occurred to precipitate a crisis. “One does méot need to look to Wall street for suppogt of this opinion. Tight money is not felt there alone. The manu- facturing districts are suffering already. Their suffering will increase as things grow worse, .WH-H-H—:—H—H—I—‘H%I- L adapted to breasting the breaking waves, made its way out to the ship's boats and secured the line. As the lifeboat neared the shore the immense crowd cheered again and again. | Clarence H. Mackay, president of the Pa- cific Commercial Cable Company, was the most enthusiastic of all present. He feit that he was witnessing the accompilsh~ ment of one of his father’s greatest pro- Jects. FIRST TO GRASP LINE ‘When the tow line was brought ashore he was the first to grasp it. He raa down to the lifeboat and went into the water up te his knees in his eagerness. After Mr. Mackay had seized the line hundreds of other people, among whom were many school children, caught hold of it and as- sisted in pulling ‘the heavy tow line to which it was attached ashore. 'They pull- ed with a will and nobody seemed to care that the rope was wet and sandy. They were too eager to assist in the comple- tion of the grand enterprise. After the heavy tow line had been pull- ed ashore and securely fastened at the cable station there occurred a long delay. During/ the delay Sldney Marsham and R. Hansford Mance of the Silvertown, who were on the shore, kept signaling to the ship. At 12:38 they received a messags from Captains Benest and Pattison, the engineers who were In charge on board the ship, to the effect that the tide was too strong and that they could not com- mence heavirg cable ashore for one hour, when the tide would be at its,ebb. Dur- ing the hour's wait the pfominent peopls who were present as Mr. Mackay’s guests were invited to partake of refreshments. The crowd, despite the cold and the long wait ja-the chilly sea air, was exception- ally good patured. They did not know the cause of the delay, but they felt that an important event in the history of Cal- {tornia was about to transpire and they did not allow the cold, the went sand nor the lorg delay to ruffle their tempers. HORSES BEGIN WORK. At 1:49 the alue flag was again hoisted up the flagstaff, twelve powerful draft horses were hitched to the heavy tow 1ind ard the work of pulling the cabils ashore was about to begin. At six min- Cu-ntin;xsd on Page 6, Celu’m s, [