The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 9, 1903, Page 1

VOLUME XCIV-NO. 9. SAN FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1903. PRICE FIVE CENTS. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN MAY RESIGN FROM BRITISH CABINET BECAUSE OF MINISTERIAL OPPOSITION TO FREE TRADE PLAN C HI’)\I-IL SE C[\Lf 1 » King Edward to-da s afternoon. bring about crucial ¢ Torbl 1c0¢ RY 2y. lopments. 'As a result of this attitude on the part of certain Ministers, it is said, Chamberlain will ask to be relieved of office. Henry Chaplin, will attack the Government for withdrawing the corn duty and an attempt will be made to compel a further revelation of the Balfour-Chamberlain policy. SKELETONS FILL WALLS IF ) RUN Find Prospectors Evidence of a Massacre. Startling Discovery Is | Made in Northern Mexico. Natives Tell of a Tradition That Apaches Killed Inhébitants. ra, accomp a well know t fini: ge plant is exposition, d they bring as startling mance or tragedy ever brought stor The story is pillage, of idences are left, of its the @ happening be tragedy only equaled ted events in history. s t about ten days pecting in a wild and thirty-five miles west ipon the ruins of an an- or convent, which from its had not known the presence for a century past. Surrounding e remains of an ancient pueblo, remains of which seemed to some time in the long ago that there was a leg- e of gold, by the B. Walton, as his informant. MAREKS OF A BATTLE. described by at had at one time been the > anclent religious institution, s tending to show 2]l had been caused by vio- The anclent walls of ng bear every indication of n the scene of some bitterly e and the rack end ruin scat- und lent additional testimony to 4 arout e terrible event in bygone years. and Walton were intensely im- with the scene, but it did not de- ter them from beginning an examination of the r upon the quest which had brought them there, namely, to find out if it contained the buried treasures of which he peon had told them. In their first ex- n work, after removing the debris he top of the ancient walls, they that they were of vast thickness, had been either hollow in between the inner end outer whils originally or had - ollowed out for-efferior purposes at & later period They say they began digging in between these two walls and after attaining a certain depth, much to thelr came upon a human skull, evidently that of & woman, to which was attached a } silken growth of hair in an excellent ate of preservation. Inspired with this covery, they continued their work, and ough not finding any treasure at first, they finally uncovered a sight most grew- behold. Skull affer skull game debris of the shattered walls, with human bones, jewelry, ss beads set In gold, and crobses of pe- make, to which chains of gold were some to from the GOLD IN TRESSES. skulls, 100 of which were in a state of preservation, nearly all ts of cloth, ribbons of silk and sementerie attached to a wo- The hair, where it re- upon the skull, in obe. quantity nany cases was tied with bows of fancy jored ribbon and interwoven into the | cen braids were the gaudy beads set in purest of gold. ne tragedy were also the skulls and nes of Mttle children and many toys of primitive manufacture. It was truly a grewsome find, and was somewhat unex- peeted to the treasure seekers. They con- tinued their labors, however, amid the es and grinning skulls, and were lly rewarded by finding two beautiful tarnished by long years of burial id the bones and debris. These bells, E Continued on Page 3, Column 3. a prosperous and well popu- | | ected to the spot by a | | people that a great mas- rred there at one time and the midst of the ruins sil- weird f believing, a s«:zrch fou d every- | examination convinced him, he | " | ge, and there were | | the | surprise | r attached, and among the debrs | mong these dreadful relicts of a by- | SHERIFF ARRESTS BRUTAL MURDERER Slayer of Aged Negro Woman Is Captured Near Hollister and Makes Confession of His Crime | | K | . fudi Spectal Dispatch to The Call. OLLISTER, June 8.—~While he was eating dinner in a wagon to-day at the home of a Portu- guese north of Gaston Ashe's Santa Anita ranch, and about ten miles southeast of this town, Victor Wilkerez, the murderer of Mrs. Leroy, the aged negro woman, who,lived near Oazkland, was arrested by Sheriff Croxon of this county. Wilkerez was first discoverd at the | ranch of John W. Green, thres miles south of Hollister, last evening, where he stopped for supper. Mr. and Mrs. Green are close observers, and while reading in a San Francisco paper the account of the atroclous murder of Mrs. Leroy the husband's attention was called to a mulatto-appearing person who demanded that supper be given to him. Green's suspicions were immediately aroused and he quietly noted tho stran- ger's actions and appearance. Early this | morning he went to Hollister and In- formed Sheriff Croxon of his belief that he had seen the murderer of Mrs. Leroy. ARREST OF FUGITIVE. Croxon started on the trall at once and | soon captured his man, who had gone | through Tres Pinos and was fast making his way to the Mount Diablo range of mountains, southeast of Hollister, where several tunnels In old mines could be found and where no one has ever been except by foot or on horseback. When arrested Wilkerezs was in' a wagon. He submitted quietly and was | handcuffed to the Sheriff, who took him in a cart to the Hollister jail. The negro | admitted his identity and confessed his | crime. He says he does not remember { hitting his victim with the hammer, but that if his consort says he did her state- | ment must be true. He acmitted that he | strangled Mrs. Leroy with a clothes line and says that he had help in taking her | to the cellar of her house. | The murderer told Sheriff Croxon that the woman (Ross) is lying and he denies that he and his consort left Lathrop to- gether to go to Oakland. He says the | woman robbed 'some man fn San Fran- cisco of $100 and that they went to La- throp to avoid arrest. They went to the | Leroy house for the purpose of robbing [ the woman. The boards of the cellar were Itom up and the body was buried im- mediately after the murder. At first it was proposed to carry the body to the s NEGRO WHO IS WANTED FOR MURDER AND WAS CAPTURED NEAR HOLLISTER. e bay and throw it in, but it. was feared that they would meet some one. FLIGHT FROM JUSTICE. After committing the crime the mur- derer sold what things he could and went to San Jose, where he secured work in the valley as a farm hand. He was quietly working himself south into the mountains at the lower end of the Santa Clara Valley and had he applied for work at the Green residence he might have allayed the suspicions first aroused by the similarity to- the description which Green had before him when he arrived. Wilkerez says he will plead guilty as soon as he is given a hearing and ex- presses a desire to be hanged within a week. He says that he intended to com- mit suicide as soon as he had earned enough money to settle a debt he owed at San Francisco. Had the murderer succeeded in working his way thirty-three miles southeast of Hollister to the famous Pinnacles, the greatest mass of bowlders in the world. consisting of twenty sections of large granite rocks with caves into which few have ventured but a short distance, he could have made his escape complete. ol i A ns IGNORANT OF ARREST. Mrs. Anna Ross Has Not Been Told of Wflker?'l Confession. OAKLAND, Junle 8.—Mrs. Anna Ross, the accomplice of Wilkerez, is kept care- fully confined in the Oakland City Prison and has not yet been told of the arrest and confession of the murderer. She does not know what has been done since her arrest, as the newspapers have been kept from her and little information has been conveyed to her by word of mouth. Police Captain W. J. Petersen, who traced Wilkerez from Oakland to Niles and then to Warm Springs, left this morn- ing for Gilroy to try to piek up the trafl and carry it on. When the word was received late this afternoon that Wilkerez had been cap- tured, Chief of Police Hodgkins left in person to bring the murderer back. Police Captain Wilson was left in charge of the department and he has re- fused to allow the news of the arrest to be taken to the Ross woman. It has been the theory of the Police De- partment of Oakland that the Ross wo- man had more to do with the murder than she has admitted, and they belleve that she went to the house in advance and after she had arranged everything took “Wilkerez to the place and he committed the crime. “ This theory is borne out by the confes- slon made by Wilkerez at Hollister. . England on Verge of Crisis. Council To- Day May Be Stormy. Commons to Debate on Tariff. —_———— Special Dispatsh to The Call. LONDON, June 8 (4 a. m.).—The debate on the budget in the House of Commons will begin to-dgh, when a motion to be made by R\gh} Hon. Henry Chaplin, Con- servative, fofmerly president of the Board of Agriculture, will raise the tariff ques- tion, which. it Is expected, will bring about crucial devélopments. In the opin- fon of Liberals, the crisis cannot be solved without a startling act, and this, they declare, will be the resignation of Colo- nial Secretary Chamberlain. The Daily News, a Radical organ, de- clares that some powerful members of Chamberlain’s own party believe he will submit his resignation to the King after the Cabinet council which will be held this afternoon prior to the opening of the debate. There seems to be no doubt that the council will be wholly occupied by the question of preferential tariffs and, apart from the opposition's interested views, there is reason to believe that some of the members of the Cabinet who aré already unsympathetic toward Chamberiain’s pro- posals will bacome #vowedly’ hostile to them in- comsequence/6f Chamberlain's letter, the substance of which was cabled ‘to The Call on Sunday. One of these is belleved to be Ritchie, Chancelior of the Exchequer, whose speech is looked for- ward to with keen interest. Chaplin, who is an avowed protection- ist and a Tory of the old school, will at- tack the Government for withdrawing the corn duty. His motion, mentioned in the foregoing, is an amendment to the finance | bill, declaring that the remission of indi- rect taxation—that is, the registration duty imposed on corn in 1992—involves needless and injurious disturbance of trade and serious loss of revenue. He will urge that if the remission of indirect tax- ation is necessary it ought to be reduced in the duties on tea and other articles of general consumption. It is possible that the Speaker will rig- orously limit the scove of debate, insist- | ing that the discussion be confined to Chaplin’s amendment, in which ca® the opposition, it is declared, will endeavor to invelgle the Government into further rev- elations of its policy. This attempt may be defeated and the crisis, which is about equally dreaded and desired, will be averted, or at /least postponed. —_—— ITALY’S KING SENDS GIFT TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT Present Consists oTEleguntly Bound Books Bearing the Royal Crest and Monogram. WASHINGTON, June 8—King Victor Emmanuel has sent to President Roose- velt a gift of rare value, which will be presented to the President next Monday by Signor Mayor Desplanches, the Italian Embassador, who, at his Majesty’s re- quest, will be received in special audience at the White House. The gift is one of bocks and consists of the war reports of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the illustrious Italian general, and of a copy of Dante's “Divine Comedy,” with a comment in Latin by Stefano Talice da Ricaldine, The books are elegantly bound in full red mo- rocco and bear the royal crest, with the King's monogram in the four corners of each volume. —_—————— CHILD HAS FOUR TEETH AT THE TIME OF BIRTH TACOMA, June 8—Mr. and Mrs. L. Nelson, who reside at Olympia, are pa- rents of a babe that had four teeth when it came Into the world. The child, a nine- pound boy, was born Wednesday night, and is in a perfectly healthy condition. Two of the teeth are above and two be- low. The upper ones are the eye teeth and the lower ones are molars, one on either side. - This premature development of the child has attracted much attention among doc- tors and parents generally. The child's parents both have excellent teeth, which may partly account for the phenomenon. —_————— INDIAN JIM SUCCUMBS UNDER BUEDEN‘ OF YEARS SAN JOSE, June ¢ 8.—Indian Jim, a well known character of this county and be- lleved to have been the oldest living na- tive of California, died at the county in- firmary yesterday afternoon. His exact age was not known. He was considerably over 90, however, and many believed the man to be over 100 years-of age. Indlan Jim was born near Sacramento and came to Santa Clara County many years llfl For years he worked on the Murphy ranch and later did odd jobs about Santa Clara. He died rather suddenly after uuu a hearty d.lnu" 3 JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN'’S free trade idea has brought the British Government to the verge of a Cabinet crisis. In London the belief is entertained that Chamberlain will tender his rmgnatzon Members of the Balfour Cabinet who hitherto have not voiced their disapproval of the proposed policy of the Colonial Secretary are evpectcd to come out in open opposition at the Cabinet Council The tariff question will come up in the House of Commons to-day and the debate is cx- COMMITTEE TO INDESTIGATE FAILURE OF EPPINGER & CO. Creditors Hold J‘pécial Meetirig, Discuss Affairs of Ruined Firm of Grain Brokers and Decide to flbcde by the Report of Fwe of Their Number any instruments in writing or any convey- ‘Bnces 'that the creditors might desire. After a general discussion it was decided to appoint a committee to look into the firm's affairs: and five well-known men were named. The committee was given full power to act and it will report to- mofrow. e SEARCHING INVESTIGATION. It will probably take the committee an entire day to arrive at a definite conclu- sion, as the affairs of the company are in a complicated condition. The Nevada Na- tional ‘Bank, the Monterey Bank and the London and San Francisco Bank are in possession of the warehouse'at Port Cos- ta, in which is stored the grain belonging to the firm. On Thursday last the Bank of Mqnterey + | L | SEARCHING investigation will be made this morning into the affairs of the ruined grain firm of Eppinger & Co. by a commit- tee of five selected at a meeting of the creditors in the office of Attorney Henry Ach yesterday afternoon. The cred- itors willabide by the report of these men. This committee consists of Sigmund Greenebaum, manager of the Londor, Paris and American Bank, probably the largest creditor; W. P. Harrington of the Bank of Colusa, who not only represents his own institution, but the banks of Woodland and Yolo; Frederick L. Lip- man, assistant cashler of Wells, Fargo & Co.’s Bank; Ignatz Steinhart, manager.of the Anglo-Californian Bank, and Davia Ereidenrich, attorney for Isaac Kohn and the London and San Francisco Bank. The committee will meet in the offices of Naphtaly, Freldenrich & Ackerman, 426 California street, at 10 o’clock this morn- ing. The first move the members will make will be to send for the books and papers of the firm and also a complete list of the creditors and the amounts due them. It will also decide unon a course to be taken by the creditors and report its decision the following day, when an- other meeting is to be held in the office of Mr. Ach, who represents the bankrupt firm, MEETING OF CREDITORS. The meeting yesterday afternoon was well attended. There were present W. P. Harrington of Colusa, Jesse W. Lilien- thal, attorney for the Anglo-Californian Bank; Maurice Silberstein, agent for the Comptoire National d'Escompte de Paris; William H. Chickering, representing the Bank of Monterey; Colonel F. E. Beck and William Thomas, representing the In- ternational Banking Company; Isaac Kohn in his own behalf; David Freldenrich, representing Isaac Kohn and the London and San Francisco Bank; Sigmund Greenebaum, manager of the London, Paris and American Bank; Alfred Sutro, represénting Wells, Farge & Co.; H. Moss, representing M. Blum & Co.; Oscar C. Schulze of the firm of Ep- pinger & Co. at Dixon, and Richard Bayne, his attorney; E. B. Pond, presi- dent of the San Franclsco Savings' Union; Henry Ach, representing Jacob Eppinger, Herman Eppinger Sr., B. Ettlinger of the firm of Eppinger & Co. and the Pacific Coast Warehouse Company; Richard Alt- schul, cashier of the London, Paris and American Bank; E. 8. Heller, represent. In‘ m Nevada Bank, and a few others. tschul was selected chairman and h, upon Mr. Ach to state the posi- tion of the firm he represented. Attorney Ach informed the assembled creditors that his cllents were willing. to execute TJoSua Lrri/GER l‘\ | IIRERIARL Vo7e CREDITORS WHO ATTENDED MEETING AND MANAGER OF FIRM. - . 2 secured a hold on the wheat in order to protect themselves. On Saturday last, when the Nevada National Bank learned wall, it _sent a representative to the firm and demanded the transfer of wheat in lleu of the warehouse receipts it held. As soon as this demand was refused Attor- neys Heller and Powers filed a suit in re- plevin in this city, claiming their clients, the Nevada National Bank, was suing for 5,153,613 pounds of barley and 1,036,416 pounds of wheat. As soon as the suit was filed Mr. Powers journeyed to Martinez and had Deputy Sheriff Johnson accom- pany him to Port Costa and serve the nec- essary papers pmpon the custodian of the warehouse. As soon as the attorney and the Sheriff gained admission, Mr. Powers and his assistant began marking sacks with'a stencil. The words ‘“Nevada Na- tional Bank, pledgee,” were stamped in order to secure the bank. Mr. Powers then left the Sheriff in possession and re- turned to the city to report his action. Mr. Heller is of the opiniofi that the Ne- Chickering believes the Bank of Monterey and the London and San Francisco Bank will ‘lose nothing by the failure of the firm. An examination of the warehouse at Port Cgsta shows that'the wheat stored there does not come up to the amounts called for in the warehouse receipts which ‘were issued by the firm. It is claimed that during the great “Falr wheat deal” and the London and San Francisco Bank | that Eppinger & Co. were going to the | vada National Bank is safe and Mr. | the warehouse was :taxed to its utmost capacity and then only held 40,000 toms. It was stated yesterday that the company had receipts out for 23000 tons of whéat | and there was ‘actually but 2500 tons of g00d wheat on hand and 1600 tons of poor | wheat; that there were warehouse re- ceipts out calling for 13,000 tons of barley, and only 500_tons on hand. It is this question of receipts which will play an important part in the settlement §f the affairs of Eppinger & Co. It is claimed the company either Issued re- ceipts for wheat it did not have on hand, or after issuing the receipts sold the cereal called for in the negotiable certifi- cates. TALK OF CRIMINAL ACTION. An attorney who represents one of the big creditors of the concern stated yes- | terday that there was some talk of brings | ing criminal proceedings against the firm. He says no one cares to take the initia- tive, and he hoped action of this kind | would not be taken. He sald if such a | move is made the criminal proceedings | will be based upon sectjon 578 of the\Penll Code, which is as folldws: Every person carrying on the business of & | warchouseman, wharfinger or other depository | of property, who tssues any receipt, bill-of | 1ading br other voucher for any merchandise of | any description, which has not been actually received upon the premises of such person, and “Ts*not under his actual control at the time of fssulng such Instrument, whether such in- strument is lssued to @ person as being the owner of such merchandise or as security for any indebtedness, is punishable by imprison~ ment in the State prison not exceeding five years or by a fine not exceeding one thousand | donlars, or both. LEADING CREDITORS. It now looks as if the deficlency will amount to more than $1,000,000. Most of | the assets of the have been mort- gaged and pledged. Following is a list of the principal creditors: London, Parls and American Bank, $346,000: Colusa County Bank, $104,000: Isaac Kohsy $101,600; London and San Francisco Bank. $80,000; American National Bank, §$74.000: An- glo-Californian Bank, $65.000; Bank5f Yolo, $57,000; Nevada National Bank, $50,000; Comp- toire National d’Escompte, $49.000; San Fra cisco Savirigs Union, $43,000; Wells, Fargo & Co.’s Bank, $10,000; Bank of Monterey, $20,000; ! International Banking Corporation of Sam Francisco, $27,000; First National Bank of Fresno, $12,000; First National Bank of Stock- ten, $12,000; Bank of Woodland, $25,000. The amounts due the smaller creditors total $377,000. DIXON, June 8.—The announced fallure of the firm of Eppinger & Co. last Satur- Continued on Page 2, Column 8