The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 4, 1903, Page 1

This Paper not be taken from the Library.+++* e I atiets ' .Mrfigfiflmfimfi- VOLUME XCIV-NOQ PRICE FIVE CENTS. FLOOD CURRENT OF SWOLLEN KANSAS RIVER CUTS NEW CHANNEL THROUGH ARMOURDALE AND DOOMS THAT ONCE PROSPEROUS CITY DIRECTORS DECIDE TO END * Grave Scandal on the State IV{l}St Rygtire. 3 ARDEN MARTIN ]J. the Prison Directors at the end of the present month. During his administration the prisen was so managed as to give rise to a grave scandal, based upon the performance of a variety Aguirre has tried to hold on to the office, but the Directors will have no more excellent choicel for a Warden has been made. The new head of the prison will be me of the foremost penologists of the United States. IHe will be elected to inal acts. Edgar, CBPTAIN V. C.EOGAR .. | | o | and for public mo | ing with the mem. performances at § the minds of the p ly wi ty. ¢ oz Aguirre is retir- 3 his disgraceful n Quentin strong in le, who are perfect- to let him go for good. EDGABS GOOD RECORD. r, who will succeed Aguirre, is a.man of wide experience and g0od character. For more than fifteen years he was captain of the yard at San Quen and in that capacity had gen- eral supervision of the men. H istration was marked by efficiency, mod- eration, resolution and uniformly good judgment. When the Jjudicial hearing v‘h:‘! laid bare the officlal misdeeds of | Martin J. Aguirre as Warden was pro- ceeding Captain Edgar showed that he | had full appreciation oi the duties ary responsibilities of the office that Aguirre had disgraced. His testimony given in | court showed clearly his characteristics. | He had resigned from his position at | San Quentin some time before he was ’called as a witness. Placed upon the siand to tell what he knew personally about the fmaladministration of the af- ’ fairs of San Luentin he testified fully and | without malice to what it became his duty | to make public. He swore that he had warned Warden Aguirre that the manu- facture of furniture at San Quentin prison | was unlawful. Edgar knew what was go- | ing on. Aguirre snapped his fingers at the | 1aw. Backed up by the State adminis- | tration, he supposed that he had noth- | ing to fear. Edgar, in telling under oath | of his reason for not going into the car- | penter shop where the law, under the | Aguirre sway, was being constantly brok- | en, testified: | “I have always understood that the law . | said. there was not.ung to be manufac- * | tured at San Quentin except jute bags. nglorious regime of Mar-y retained. No art that he could employ | I thought that trouble might come of it Aguirre as Warden of| to hold on to the office. and the salary| (. e., the unlawful making of furniture Quentin prison about | of $3000 per annum has been neglected. ! in the prison) and I did not care to place . The four years for| But he has been unable to overcorhe the | mysclf in a position to testify against e was appointed to| effect of the revelations made by The Call | those by whom I was employed.” will expire at the end | concerning the illegal practices at the| He was still loyal to his former asso- prison while he was in sole charge of the | clates with whom he had parted company dally administration of its affairs, officially, but he was also loyal to the in- Aguirre has_importuned the Directors,) teresfs of California and so helped to do ) ASD FAITHFUL PRISON OFFICIAL WHO WILL SUCCEED THE INCOMPETENT MARTIN J. AGUIRRE AS WARDEN OF PENITENTIARY. TRIE PRESENT . SAN QUENTIN HE ¥ :.tind se month. that he must then go. reorganizaticn .all along the lin ve The Prison Directors hav l A thor: at Quengin will follow. Aguirre’s ap-| has pleaded with them and has tried to | his part in'the great expose instituted by tées are slated to'go without excep- | minimize the startling array of facts that | Tne Call, which has led to beneficial r’e) v ; vwrv1 sworn to when the San Quentin | gyt for the taxpayers. Captain Edgar is The Prison Board having already | scandal was subjected to inquiry 'in a one of the best penologists in the United States and is so recognized. GENERAL WEEDING OUT. While the news that martin J. Aguirre has to go will create a stir, not less in- terest will be occasioned by the state- ment that there will be a general weeding out of prison employes. Those who proved California court. But all in vain. it has been officially determined that the State has had enough ofeAguirre 2t San Quentin. He is hopelessiy defeated in his struggle to retain the official prize | that is slipping from his grasp and it will soon be his no more. . aie he will re- tire to merited obscurity anera of re- a decision, will elect Captain J. | gar to be Warden of the San Quen- | institution. Reforms will be insti- improvements will be made involv- expenditure of large. sums _of | The abuses that have scandalized | the B while Aguirre and his associ- ates ve had the executive m.ulagzmenl tute mone WARDEN AGUIRRE’'S REIGN| San Quentin Official Whose Administration Brought‘ AGUIRRE of San Quentin prison will be retired and removed by |. ROBABLY the grca!— est disaster resulting from the flood in the Middle West has been vis- ited upon Armourdale, Kan. Though the waters of Kan- sas River are receding, it FIRE COMMISSIONER PARRY - INVOLVED IN UGLY SCANDAL Sells a Colt Belonging to the Department for $25 and Fails to Make Report of Transaction. || appears probable that the | stream will continue to flow - through the new channel formed during the freshet. 'l fled and there is no sign of /f/l‘ in the place. ] | e Place of 16,000 Inhab- itants Deserted for All Time. | l Buildings That With- stood Torrent Are Crumbling. : Not a Vestige of Life in the Desolated Community. I ANSAS CITY, Mo., June 3.—| | A launch crossed to Ar-| | mourdale to-day and cruised for miles through the water that formerly were reets. The entire city many places twenty »f the 16,000 inhab- ept the watchmen on the river front g was to be seen, or 1. In many of the lanes city packing ho! human bei a domu not a even houses the upper windows were open and the rooms in confusion. Red and white flags hung from the upper windows of some houses, the agcupants of which evi- | dently had been rescued. 2~ stems have | heen taken to protect Househeld :goods in the buildingg. | Every building has been more or less | damaged and hundreds utterly ruined. A strong current is running through the town and it seems probable the river will | persist in following this course. Armour- dale seems doomed for all time. | | Where the water is deep and still there | | [ will be six feet of solidly packed mud | when the flood abates, and this will need | | ‘n\ be' cleared away. On the roofs of | | | houses that have been uncovered lies a | foot of mud. i | WRECKAGE CHOKES STREET. Kansas avenue, the principal thorough- fare of Armourdale, is choked twenty feet | | deep with the deb telegraph | : | poles, sidews The brick | buildings have s 1’7\II’|K all of their | windows, but the water has packed the | | | streets with rubbish. The clearing away | | of the mud and ruins will be a work ' | | | | | of months, even should the river abandon its new cou In the the west bottoms of Kansas City waters of the Kansas River ng through the streets like torrent. are rush- a mountain IRE COMMISSIONER PARRY sold a colt, the property of the Fire Department, on April 13, for $25, to W. S. Scott, and has made no report of the transaction to the Fire. Conr || The main current is now || rushing through the heart mission, the minutes of the subsequent meetings containing no record thereof. The Call can pro~ || of Armourdale.” Buildings duce a witness who saw Scott pay the money to Parry, who refused to accept a check for. the | |- are crumbling, and the city, amount. Parry claims he was given full authority to act by the commission, but the charter pro- eohich sheltere 16,000 1n- H \'il €s at a ersona. roperty umn or unnecessary ior ¢ use ()f e city and county s a |1 <which sheltered 16, les that all p 1 property unfit y for tl the city and y_ shall ‘be | | habitants, 1is completely sold at public auction, after being advertised for five days. | | | wwrecked. The populace has = LAt sl A . ; Several old brick buildings, un- dermined by the water, fell to- Not one wooden building is fit to be used. The | o - elevated railroad is tearing down a num- ber of the stations which were tottering. The police are very active in the whole- sale district, where many loaded freight cars stand on the tracks, and the ware- houses are full of valuable goods. Men prowling around in boats are compelled to account for themselves under threat of shooting. In the stock yards district dead horses, mules and cattle are floating on every side. The losses of the railroads on loaded and empty cars standing in the yards of the west bottoms is even larger than was represented. The contents of the loaded cars must be seriously dam- aged and practically all of the thousands of cars have been overturned or smashed. The subsidence of the water left a fringe of dry land next to the bluffs in the west bottoms. The owners of houses and stores vacated by the water promptly took possession and began clearing the mud from the floors. WATERS STILL RECEDING. The Missouri River fell seven inches between 7 a. m. and 7 p. m. to-day and the Kansas River fell nine inches in the same time. There was sunshine during a large part of the day and the general feeling was hopeful. Militlamen and po- licemen still guard all approaches to the flooded district and, soldiers halt pedes- trians in the residence streets late at night, for there are no street lights, the electric plant being still shut down. Seven street car lines are in operation and others will resume in a day or two. The city waterworks began pumping late to-night and the retall business dlstrict will be supplied with -water to-morrow. Railroads are still giving incomplete ser- vice, but are repairing the washouts, The following was issued by Mayor Reed to-day: “Inquiries are being made respecting the effect of the flood upon the business sof Kansas City, Mo. There is absolutely no ground for any anxiety concerning the business or financial condition of Kansas City, Mo., in which city the large business establishments are located. The whole- sale houses situated on the lowlands have resumed business through branches already established uptown. The waters are rapidly subsiding, and complete re. NOTHER ugly . scandal .in the present municipal administra~ tion was uncovered yesterday. It involves the name of Fire Commissioner John 8. Parry, who stands detected in hav- ing accepted money for-a colt belong- ing to the Fire Department and of" fail- ing to make any report of the trangaction or return to the Fire Commission.” The money for the colt, $25, was paid to Parry by W. S. Scott, an attorney of this city, in a back room of the Theater Republic saloon, corner of Fifth and Jessle streets, in front of which Parry runs a cigar stand. There was a witness present who saw the money pass into Parry’s possession and. if necessary The Call will produce this witness at the proper time. A suspicious feature of the entire transaction is that Parry at first ac- cepted a check for the $25 from Scotf and placed it in his pocket. He evidently believed that the check might incrimi- nate him, for he returned it to Scott, who tore it up and afterward paid for the colt in coin. The minutes of the Fire Commission contain no record of the sale of the colt. Parry has had ample opportunity to file a report concerning the same. Parry ad- mits delivering the colt to Scott and says he so reported to the commission. In the latter part of his statement, Parry is not borne out by Secretary McCarthy of the Fire Comthission, who says that no re- port of the transaction was made. The colt was foaled in February by a mare named “Minnie,”’ attached to En- gine Company No. 14. The mare was bought, along with several others, for use in the Fire Department, in March of last year, from the Howard Estate Company, which owns a stock farm near the San Joaquin River. It was not known then that the mare was in foal, but the colt was born and was the. subject of the questionable transaction in which Parry took so prominent a part. The only record that appears in the minutes of the Fire Commission is in those of the meeting of April 15. It reads: “e + * Commissioner Parry also re- porting that a colt had been born to a of the prison will be wiped out. form is about to be ushered in that prom- Aguirte bge made a h-rd fight \a be ises well for the taxpayers of California' Continued on Page 3, Column 5. mare of the lot of horses last- purchased Continued ‘on Page 2, Column 5. | .54 that such colt would prohibl” the use //3/63 : "‘”wa 2.9 Attt il MAN WHO IS ACCUSED OF DISPOSING OF FIRE DEPARTMENT | PROPERTY WITHOUT MAKING RETURN OF IT AND SOME OF EVIDENCE IN CASE. ° l e SR made no report it was manifestly impos- sible to put the matter on record. Secretary McCarthy of the Fire Com- mission claims that the motfon gave Par- [y unlimited power to’do with the colt whatever he sawfit. “Fie could kill the colt if he wanted to,” is McCarthy's way of putting it. “Has Parry made any report as to what he did with the colt?” was asked of Me- Carthy. “No, there has been no report made,” replied McCarthy. “That is, none that I know of." “are these minutes a complete record of all the transactions of the Fire Com- iseion?” was also asked. Continued- on' Page 4, Columa & of the mare by the department for a long time, she being a fine animal, it' was on motion, seconded and unanimously car- ried, ordered that the matter of the dis- position of this coit be referred to Com- migsioner Parry would full power to act.” PARRY MAKES NO REPORT. ‘Whether the motion carried with it the authorization to -Parry- to sell the colt and pocket the proceeds is a matter for discussion, -but the fact remains that no report was made by Parry and the fact that the matter was deemed of sufficient importanice to be incorporated in the min- utes would seem to indicate that the dis- position of ' the colt was also a matter that. should have’ recorded “in the minutes of -tha‘comqltt}nn. but'as Parry