The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 7, 1903, Page 31

i | Pages 31 to 44 S et 2 ot Prsarne o a0es 3110 44 b e s s SAN FflANCISCO, SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 1903, RUIN. COMES TO THE FIRM OF EPPINGER & CO. FROM DISASTROUS SPECULATION AND A T crop conditions of the present year. O the wreck of Eppinger & Co. is added the tragical misfortune that befalls Jacob Eppinger, long a familiar figure and able actor in'the commercial life of San Francisco. He is left in his old age \\'i‘thopt one dollar that he can call his own. A lifelong struggle for weaith has terminated in total failure and all his assets are swept away. The disaster that has overtaken his firm is due to the losses of the “Big Four” combination, and also to the bad Prosperity of the entire country was a factor in bringing about the venturesome speculations of the old:time grain firm, There is no hope that the concern will ever be STRIKING GRAVE DIGGERS UTILIZE DRASTIC Cemetery Employes’ Union Alleged to Be Responsible| METHODS for Attempted Destruction of Crematory and Flood- ing of Graves in Reprisal for Refusal of Demands CYPRESS LAWN CEMETERY, | WHERE TWO M ARROWLY | ESCAPED INJURY IN EXPLOSION. cemetery vesterday | were atly embarrassed by the strike | In two cases bodies had to be put vaults pending the digging of graves for their eption. The degeates to the Hackmen’s Unipn at the Labor Council | held Friday night reported that no. hack, | hearse or funeral car will be handled by union men until the cemetery accedes to the }-the-demands made against it. Noble, on 3 the other hand, has assurances from | many undertakers that hearses will ie 1un if they have to drive them in person methods exsployed rv Employes’ Union| NOBLE DEFINES POSITION. strike at the Cypress| To the owners of cemetery plats .wmmw(;m_‘} memberg of the Cypress Lawn Asso tion Manager Noble yesterday issued the owing statement of the s tuation Assoeiation is. to © the lot owners of Cypress Lawn t content with ring | Cemetery: In view of the so-called 1 e flue of the incinerating | bor troubles at Cypress Lawn Cemetery, rather of the boycott which certain Manager H. H metery ereby nearly caus _|or t mlrf -;{‘nr,‘ ,ah:"‘x = |1abor unions have declared against the | e : 5 | cemetery, I deem it but just to v sion. the management of the| .. well as to the assoctation, 1o leges that some of the mal-| rey facts which bear upon the subject "ped a grave with water |'wpt tne time of the demand for higher ntendent H. H. Noble had | self in lieu of other help and | . t lowered into & muck | g we were paying $225 per hile other cemeteries were paying from to $2 per day for the same work. demand was, that after April 1, 1% be aggravated_strife be- should $2 80 per day for nine hour e 1 the cemetery asso- | work and a full day's pay for part of a o rday morning. when all | sunday or a holiday and that we employ th cmployed in the city | one but members of the Cemetery Em- the de ) Their grievance | 11oves' Unfon.” was not one of higher wages and shorter |~ won Mareh 29 we had the following no- on the refusal of Man- < A0-| yice posic. at the cefnetery: 0 Jorce three of his| ".oTo the employes of Cypress g g The de- | Cometery: On and after April 1, 1903, the yes leaves only | gages of men employed by the day will as the entire . - e . e $25 per y: N urs will consti- big cemetery. Man- | D¢ 325 per day ine hos Lawn men and s working force in the g Fagardn 1an- |t te a day's work. -Men working an Ot announces that be will f6ht )\ of Sunday will be allowed a full | . it from morhing th dack "€ | day's pay. Our payday will be on the | e vng LU 9ark- | yoth, as usual’ This was entirely satis- UNION DEMANDS UNHEEDED. In the month of March the Cemetery Employes’ Unfon demanded that Cypress Lawn raise their schedule of wages from $22% to $250 for a mine-hour day, with a full day's pay for part of a Sunday or woliday, and tha none but union mem- bers be employed. The wage demand was ded to by tbe association on March 29, There were three men—Alex. Finley Da. id Dunn and L. Nelson—two of whom Lud heen steadily employed for ten years, whom Manager H. H: .xoble refused fo {schar for not joining the union. This made the bone of eontention by tne backed by the Hack Drivers’ Un- r which Michael W, Coffey is presi- Coffey, with President Ryan of the Employes” Union threatened a and strike if Noble would not the three men in question and v carried thelr menace into ef- | tactory to our employ REPUDIATES DESPOTISM. “On Aprii 9 our superintendent*discharg- ed a man for using vulgar language; soon after the assoclation receiveéd a threat- ening letter from the Labor Council a later a committee called on me and de- manded that we take this man back to work and that we compel three non-union men who were working at the cemetery to join the union. Two of these men have been in our employ for over ten vears and the other for about two yvears, which fact should alone indicate to men of in- telligence that they were faithful work- ers. The committee“was told that the men were at liberty to join the union if they desired, but that 1 would not com- pel them to join if they decided’ against so doing. 1 certalnly would,not discharge them, as, béing an American myself, 1 believed they had « right to earn a living and support their families. whether they belonged' to a unfon or not. - I fully be;- lleve that organized labor has done a great deal for the workingman and will at times give it every assistance in my power, but ‘I am- unalterably opposed to organized despotism, and I will never consent that the president of the Hack- men’s Unlon suall ever manage Cypress Lawn Cemetery. *“To my mind I have conceded everything ent cott hary STRIKERS COMMIT VANDALISM. According to the word of Manager No- lc. the strikers have signalized 'their se- sion by acts of vandalism which in one tance approached dangerously near to riminal malfeasance. Yesterday morn- T when A. H. Davidson and C. A. (lark, two of the men employed in the rematory, it the fire in the furnace there wus an explosion which blew out the back of the furpace and nearly resulted in injury 1o the two men. investigation| €Xcept the management of the cemetery Roowall that & Frida: ht crude | itself. I claim and am certain ‘that we i»n’) 'l\:uli‘::;:xg;’:uure:edq“ y(nh': under- ; know our own business best and therefore ground fiue, causing the explosion when [ propose to take no dictation. from any ® firc was started under the retort. outsider. 1 alse claim and propose to ex- HV‘ day, | leem will render us the best service, as Cypress Lawn Cemetery has_only attain- ed its preseift beauty and perfection by the employment of selected by our ma *“The burial of the dead is a_saered duty | that comes to every ‘one In time, and it | seems to me a sacrilege for labor to unite in arily disturbing these dutie d going a step too far and an interference that imust surely, meet with your unqualified condemnation.” ———— | COMMERCIAL EVENING SCHOOL WINS DEBATE | Matched Against Oakland Evening School, It Far Outargues Lat- ter on Rostrum. The Oakland Evening Debating Soclety was defeated ladt evening by the Com- mercial Evening School at the debate held at the Girls' High School building. | The question of debate was, “Resolved, That the time has now come when the United States should abandon its pres- | ent protective nolicy.” The Commercial | team, eomposed of Walter E. Trefts, Adolph Beck and KEdward J. Rellly, took the affirmative side of the debate. s closed for his sidejin a seven min ement. and sald some very bright Teh Oakland team was com- posed of Theo. P. Wittschen, Sophie 1. HIll "and Marshall J. Rutherford. Miss Hill presented and distingui herself. Each speaker allowed seventeen minutes. The judges of the debate were Guy D. Reynolds, Thomas F. Eagan and Judge Frank J. Mur: Y. s G —— ARE SOUTHWARD BOUND ON A PLEASURE TRIP John D. Spreckels and a Party of Friends Outing on the Yacht | Lurline A party of jolly San guests of John D. Spreckels | rled ovt to sea on the yacht Thursday afternoon, their destina | Ing Coronado. - | Mr. Spreckels and his friends contem- | plate leisurely sailing down the coast, topping &t various points and consuming out two weeks’' time, !~ At Coronado-the Lurline will go to an- | chor, and there Mr. Spreckels will join | his wife and daughters, Miss Grace and Miss Lillie Spreckels, who, accompanied | by Mrs. Walter Gibson and child, left here Friday evening for the south. ————— Successful Church Party. | The seating capacity of St. Michael's Hall in Ocean, View was tested beyond its capacity last™night by those who de- d very good arguments ciscans, the were car- Lurline tion be- | sired to hear a dramatic programme which rendered by the young mem- | bers of 'St. Michael's Catholic Church, the proceeds of which were intended to be applied to the completion of the new church and hall of the district. The pro- gramme embodied - songs, recitations, dances and a final comedy entitled “Chums,” in which the following took part: Mr. Breed, a Vermont squire, W. M. Ogilvie: Harry Breed, A. B. Harvard, and Tom Burnham, leading lady Pi Eta Theater, J. C. O'Donnell (chums); Flora | Strong, Mr. Bresd's nlece, Miss Mae O'Keefe; Mrs. Breed, Miss Lillian Byrnes. ——— Death of Honolulu Merchant. ¥l Peck, one of the oldest American settlers in Honolulu, died in this city on | last Thursday at Mount Zion Hospital, | where he had been a patlent for some i time. The deceased is a brother of Philip | Peck of Hilo, one of the original coffee ! planters of that portion of the Hawallan | Islands and founder.of the Hilo Bank. | Sol Peck of Honolulu is another brother who was associated with the deceased in | luginess for+a ‘number of years. The deccared had heen a resident of Califor- !nfa and MHonoluln for many years. The funeral will be held from Ha'sted's undertaking parlors this mornin 10:30 o'clock. Deceased leaves a larg fortune to be divided among his relatives. He was unmarried. J IWILKEREZ HIDES | | none of those arrested have been connect- | competent workmen | g a'| futile, but will be resumed to-morrow. | 113 TRACKS WELL Police Find No Clew to| Whereabouts of Mrs. Leroy’s Slayer. Barber Thinks Black Fiend/ Had Marked Him as a Victim. Oakland Office San Francisco Call, | . 1118 Broadway, June 6. | Vietor Wilkerez, the brutal murderer of | | aged Mrs. Elizabeth Leroy, is still at | large, and while the Oakland police are | working._every clew and are trying the | old dragnet scheme of searching every | possible hidinig place, no definite trail has | | been aigcovered. Arrests are being made | | in different sections of the country, but | | ed- with the murdes and Chief of Police Hodgkins has ordered them all released. The general opinion seems to be that Wil- | kerez is hiding either w Oakland or in | San Fr co, and upon these two cities | | the efforts of the police are being turned. | - The Oakland police have been putting | Mrs. Anna Ross, the miserable eompanion | | of the murderer, through a course of | “sweating” that was even more severe than that imposed by the weather to-day. | The net resuit of this examination of the | woman is that she hangs very closely to | the description of the murder, but she | | has varied her dates. | The reason for the opinion that Wil- | kerez is somewhere about the bay is the | admission secured from the woman that | she saw him as short a time ago as last | Sunday. This confession was secured by | working the knowledge obtained from the | woman variously known as- Cochrane, Dove and Dowling against her.original | confession. But it is very evident that | the Ross woman has not seen him since | that time. She, to-day. stuck to her sec- | ond story that she saw WHkerez at the San Frangisco Hospital on Sunday:,that | she remained .in that institution: for.sev: eral daye, when she tried to make her confession to the San- Frapelsco police | and finally came to Oakland 4nd ‘told her | story. g | MAY. HAVE VISITED NILES. The Oaklahd. police have heen working with the San Franeciseo.police, searching the lower levels haunted by the colored race in Ban Francisce, out without any results up to-the present time. The police claim to have traced Wil- kerez dowi‘to Thursday last, when he | is sald to have been fn Niles. There a suspicion that Is based upon fairly good infermation that he was in.Warm Springs, which is between Ni.es and San Jose, on Thursday of this week. But whether he went toward San Jose or worked his way aver into the Livermore Valley the p lice do not know. Chief Hodgkins said to-night that the murderer had been seen in San Leandro on Monday or Tuesday, in Haywards on the day following, and that the last trace of him was at Niles, The funeral of Mrs. Leroy took place | this afternoon from the African Metho- dist Episcopal Church, corner of Fif- | teenth and West streets. The church was crowded with friends of the de- | | ceased, many of whom had known her for | many vears. The remains were taken to | the church from Brown's undertaking | parlors, where the body has been kept since the discovery of the murder last | | Thursday, evening. The casket was entirely hidderi with flowers. Among the floral offerings was a beautiful plece from the Ladies’ Union Bevefit Soclety of San Franc This was a vacant chair of carnation nd ferns and across the back were the words, “Our President.”” The members of the Ladles’ Benefit Society of Oakland number of floral offerings. The lesson was read by Rev. Dr. Cott- men, pastor of the Bethel Methodist=Epis- copal Church of San Francisco. Rev. O. E Jones, pastor of the African Methodist | Episcopal Church, delivered the funeral ! sermon, after which the officers of the Lacies' Benefit Society performed the last rltes of the soclety. The casket was fol- lowed from the church by Charles Cephas, brother-in-law | of the deceased, and | George Flood, Mrs. Powell and her doughter, Mrs. Burns, who were intimate also sent a fricnds of Mrs. Leroy. The pallbearers were” George Cashin, Cooper Smith, James Disard, David Rankin, M. Watts and James Grases. BARBER WAS WARY. BERKELEY, June 6.—Ray Nemeyer, a colored barber on Stanford place, believes that Victor’ Wilkerez, the fugitive mur- derer of Mrs. Elizabeth Leroy, intended to number him among h.s victims, He says that Wilkerez did Lis best to lure LEim to the Leroy premises at Golden Gate and finally succeeded, but Nemeyer took na.money with him. To an instinc- tive dislike of Wilkerez and fedk of his intentions, Nemeyer thinks he owes his Iife. { “He came into my place often,” said Nemeyer. “He was alwavs importuning me to visit him at Golden Gate. He told me about his white wife and what good times they had. I was suvicious of him frem the first and refused to go on the mights he appointed. But one night—I think it was the week following the mur- der—I went there without his knowing 1 was coming. Wilkerez wanted me to play cards, but T told him 1 never plaved and hadn't any mcney, anyway. He sald: ‘I'll bet you've go: as much money as I have,’ and threw fcour' $5 gold pleces and some silver on the table. He wanted me to drink, but T only ‘took a drop, for I feared him. I tried several times to go, but h: begged me to stay. Finally T insisted on going and swept past him into the street. The last time 1 saw him was the day . resident Rcosevelt was in Berkeley, when he came | t sell me a suit™f clothes, saying he was ‘broke.’ I wouldn’t buy the suit, so he lefr.” SAN JOSE, June 6.—A rumor this even- ing that Wilkerez, the murderer of Mrs. Leroy, was headed this way caused the police and Sheriff's forces to start on a hunt for the man. All the suburbs of the city were vieited and the tenderloin gone through. Some of the officers believe the man is in this vicinity. The search was All the trains are being closely watched, and officers south of hcre have been asked o be on the lookout. / ——— of Circumstances to Suspend. PPINGER & CO. grain ship- s und brokers, have failed. concern, which during more than a quarter of a cen- Forced by a Combinationj | | tury has borne an enviable reputation in n Francisco for business ability nd financial solidity, is a complete wréck. The assets are estimated to be from $600,000 to $700,000. The extent of the liabilities is! not known. Several large creditors, whose | claims have been presented, make a show- | [ing that the concern owes them alone | oo $1,400,000. They arc only the larger cred- | itors. The smaller ones will file claims | running in total from $300.000 to $100,000 | more, so that the total liabilities will approximate $2,000,000. Hopeless as is the wreck of this busi- ness house, the ruin that has come to one of its members in particular, Jacob Ep pinger, is much more. lamentable. day morning last he was & millionaire. Friday night he was a ruined man. To- day he wiil go forth from the Palace Ho- tel, where he has been living. He is now | a poor man, absolutely without resources | aged and in poor heaith. Everything that | he has toiled for during a long and in- dustrious life 1s swept away from him. He is too old to ever rebuild his fortunes. Between sunrise on Friday morning and sunset Friday night the crisis came in his business affairs. ;He knew when he lay down upon his pillow that night that he was ruined. He had made a heroic fight to breast the tide of misfortune that was carrying him down. It was all in' vain. Poor ‘“Jake' Eppinger! His life work lost—turned to a tragedy. f Take the case of a railroad as a means of illustration. The rails may be old, the roadbed shaky, the rolling stock defective and/ poor—still there is an immediate cause when there is a’disaster. What is it? The affairs of Eppinger & Co. have been running along with difficulty for some months. The members of the firm still hoped to make the fortunate move that would save them. They owed large sums of money, due.to the unfortunate | transactions of 1%2. The banks became susplcious concerning their solveney. The bankers stepped in and demanded their money forthwith. This the firm did not have and the business house of which Ja- cob Eppinger was the head was ditched. | LOSSES WITH “BIG FOUR.” Tt is only a few months since the firm of Eppinger & Co. was a member of the famous combination ur grain shippers known as the “Big Four.” Its transac- tions were world wide. The combine con- trolled the market price of wheat in Cali- fornia, dictated the rates that should he paid for charters for vessels sailing with grain to Europe from the Golden Gate, and had its own agencies in foreign lands; | through which it disposed of its grain. | But a shadow came over {ts sk Instead of the great profits it expected to| make, the “Big Four' lost in charters and December wheat the sum of $3,000,000. Orie- fourth of that loss was the share to be paid by Eppinger & Co. That was a heavy load, but the mem- bers of the firm still hoped .to retrieve their fortunes. The opening of the pres- ent year seemed o be auspicious. The | earlier rains were timely. ' Everything pointed to a great and possibly a record- breaking grain crop in California. For- tune seemed to be smiling. Then eams the long months of drought. The ‘grain | | | withered and failed to realize its early | Fou Balfour-Guthrie, George W. Mc- | otaer firms that had composed the “Big BAD GRAIN YEAR — | able to resume business. 1 -+ i ! - 6 . | | |Plan by Which the “Big ! | ‘ [ Four” Regulated | il Prices. | | | I'f e | il HE “Big Four” combine, about ‘ i which so muc has been said | (] was comg pinger & 1 H 1 Co., G. W, ar & Co., Bal- ; ‘ four, Guth and Gir- [ 1 ‘ vin & Eyre. Th ! | | combination misund 'Yl" ““““ <! some resnects. It was in no HEAD: 10N THE “HIG GRADN . | ] 508 Sf the Intersdts: of the ED YESTERDAY. [ | in concert. as the leading gra : | of the Pacific Coast an a #| the common benefit of the fo . | There were daily meeti s at Aged Head of Firm Sud-!was agreca what price should be paid > 5 charters, what price should be paid fe den]y Finds Himself |erai ana what amount of grain should | be purchased by suse in the com | bination. Organization was effected Facing Poverty. of the plan. til Balfour, © dient to withdraw p reason f drawing was the mixed firm. In addition to being a grain ship- promise. With the failure of the erop the last hove of Eppinger & Co. faded. The end was inevitable. The blow fell Yesterday formal notice of fallure was read on 'change to the grain brokers at business ¢ interests. For this their board meeting. The news of the | roj.. fived by the grs A ruin of Evvinger & Co. rapidly spread. | cohflict with the — interosts of Last evening Jacob Eppinger was in the care of two physicians and no one was permitted to see him. His partners are more fortunate than he. They are Her- when it came to sending abroad fruits in cans.and other The parties to the “Big Foug say that the failure or Epp Guthrie & Co. mann Eppinger and Bernard Ettlinger. | would have taken place if Jacob goes out without a dollar. His | pooo oy o0 " g pone partners have been -more saving and will not.at ol unithely that Have something left. | Four” will be organized The final’ blow was dealt by the Lon- | pars of the old combination; indee don, Paris and. American Bank. To that | peen discussed since the dissolution of the institution Eppinger & Co. owed one- | gia", o 0ol hird of the entire indebtedness so far made public, or one-third of $1,400,000, so %, . sdy those who ought to know. It was the - - Sevin & B bank just named that caused the suspen- ¢aF ‘: Co.. a““‘ Yo '“~‘ E slon of the concern. The move was made | (Pat they were in any way the separation of their Friday. Not until late Friday night did some of the creditors receivg notice of what-had hapvened, together 'with a re- quest from Henry Ach, attorney for Ep- pinger- & Co.. to attend a meeting of creditors that was held In.Ach’s office yesterday. those of Eppinger & Co. At the meeting of th pinger & Co. Charles Alt don, Paris and American Bank was chairman. Little was accomplished, cept to read the roll of creditors who had submitted their claims and to discuss the LEADING CREDITORS. | situation generally. It was decided that The other banks that are known to be | another meeting should be held to-mor- creditors of Evpinger & Co. are the| row and that Mr. Altschul should appoint Anglo-Californian_ Bank, American Na- a committee to recommend a plan of pro- tional Bank, Bank of Colusa. San Fran- | cedure. cisco Savings Union, Nevada National | - Bank,” International Bank, Comptoir SCOPE OF OPERATIONS. When a partial list of the assets of Ep- pinger & Co. was given out wide | scope of the operations of was made apparent.” In the Pacific Coast warehouses : warehouses of the Western pany at Seattle and Tacoma ton, and warehouse property Or. There were still other Reedley, Fresno County; at lare County, d'Escompte - de Paris, London and San | Francisco Bank, Bank of Woedland, Bank of Yolo and the Bank of Montere: These institutions are supvosed to hav about an equal amount of paper of Ep- pinger & Co. Another large creditor of the firm is Isaac Cohen of San Fran- clsco, who is reported to have loaned Ep- pinger & Co. about $100,000. No lst of the sums due to these various banks could be secyred from either Attorney Ach or the banks. in Washing- in“Portland, warehouses at Dinuba, Tu- and warehouse property in 2 t of the failure | San Luis Obispo County. These were ali f‘:::'l'irzew::nx;';::.o':e‘%n:nge the grain | Used in the business of the concern in ) It' the handling of grain for shipment brokers were at once greatly excited. was understood that Eppinger & Co. were short on grain and there were contracts that the firm was then powerless to fill. ‘Wheat climbed rapidly to $L.34. Even at the close of the forenoon session, which was the only meeting of the day, the{ price held up to $1.32%. The market closed with an uneasy feeling and speculation as | to what might happen with the resump- tion of business to-morrow morning. Thel abroad. The properties are of value only in connection with the grain industry, be- ing unsuitable for other w In addition to these the firm js largely coneerned In the commercial house of Eppinger & Co. at Dixon. Solane County, which does a large genera' merchandise business. Also there are in the assets large farms and ranches in different grain-raising sections of California and