The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 10, 1903, Page 1

to be taken from the Library.+++* VOLUME XCIV—-NO. 10. S SAN FRANCISCO; WEDNESDAY, JUNE .10, 1903. FELONY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE OF EPPINGER & CO.SEEM INE TRODPS AR FOR RIOTERS N ARIZONA National Guard of Territory Or- dered Out. | Graham County Strike| Excites Alarm of ‘ Officials. ‘ Appeal Made to Government | for Force of Regular Soldiery. [ Me- regimengal | pe Company C will be 294 at Maricops they will | from Yuma. join them & Thatcher will on the possibilit asking if by the pr asking that the Fed- | CAUSE OF TROUBLE. atives of the two or three We route organizing | strikers It w these ern en of the ru- repre- and that the This and it may 1 only by und s resulted. be | the | | was a compro- the last Le; it by labor lead ght-hour law. underground w men in that dis ough sympathy County operators offered nine bt hours’ had , but of- te nue regular wages for eight w d the offer was declined. | ) all arran ats for the| the militia have been mpany B is on the train. g. aside from regimental Colonel MeClintoc! ral, in the absence « Major Coggings, Lie rge Alkir, commissary, and C. quartermaster. Major Ingalls ma will accompany Captain Donald- with the Yuma company. s to be an absence of any ing the events of to-day ling for troops, though g must have happened, for dis- s early Tuesday morning reported ers notably quieting. If the Presi- s acted in the matter of ordering ederal ops no news of it has here here is a feeling of great for if the 3500 men are armed ske a good stand. They would far nber the combined Federal and territorial military forces. i There is a report that the strikers have mined the rafiroud lcading into Clifton. | purse. | cushion, STAGE HALTS WHEN SHOTS KILL HORSES Passengers Robbed by Masked Road Agents. Driver Has a Narrow Escape From the Bullets. Redding Citizens Give Chase and Lynching May End Pursuit. SR RE O Specia] Dispatch to The Call 9.—For REDDING, June the second time in six months Jim Wilson, the driver of the Redding and Weaverville was held up almost within the old at o'clock this even- 1 this time Wilson came very near targgt for the highwaymen's Wilson we the down among them being one Ferris of French.Guich. er Haskell s not on little of ving along at a rapid rip with eight passen wo- apoard Mrs. H man Expre the M age was go boxe: the four neared post on the Camden turnpike, alm : Shasta, Mrs. Ferris remarked to the driver t she thought she heard an order to halt. Wilson believed it was im- aginatipn and kept on going. In a sec- ond there were two shots and both of the leaders of\the team dropped dead. Two masked men appeared from either side of the road, ana while one covered the driver and passengers, the other or- | dered Wilson to- throw out the express boxes. Wilson did so, and then came the command for the passengers to get out and line up. They complied, and while ller robber kept them covered, the ne made them hand over their val- Money, watches and jewelry were 1 in to the sack held by the robber, i when all had been fleeced each rdb- ok a box and backed off up the The passengers and their losses are as follows M. Getz, drummer, San Francisco, $125; f minstrel fame, $4#0 and a H. Hoag, $30; B. Carter, ; George Jinamini and $45; Mrs. Ferr Lyn gold watc $W and a w a watch: Fred Condon $45; D. McCurdy, $7 in silver, saved by pu his %hoe; Jim W driver, gold watch belonging to a Weave ville man. Immediately after the disappearance of the road agents a prospector hap- alc and Wilsen sent him sta to telephone to the offi- cers in this city. Sheriff Richardson and | twenty deputies have gome to the scen and will put in the night chasing the rob- This robbery occurred at almost the 1 | same spot where Wilson was robbed on December 21, when one highwayman held up the stage, and besides getting the boxes p seven passengers and robbed Bes g the boxes and passen- gers the robbers in to-nig s i the registered mail pouche intense excitement and. it there will be lynching if . caught alive. Recent murders in Shasta County have worked the people to a high pitch of indignation Vhen Jim Redding drove the stage into Redding to-night he was met by hun- dreds of people and excitement was in- The smashed and broken express boxes were aboard, valises were cut and and rolls of blankets undone and partly ruined. Of the three commercial men aboard each lost all of his personal belongings. Mrs. Ferris had $6 in a She placed that under the seat thinking it would be safe. The who relieved the passengers of their valuables sed her by, but later found the money under the seat and took it. Hoag, who lost $30, had $5 in gold that he dropped on the stage floor and kicked under the carpet, saving it. Wilson said to-night that it was the closest call he ever had, and had the messenger been aboard some one would have been killed. It is believed the rob- bers were after the regular, shipment of gold from the Lappin mine. The ship- ment is due now and amounts on an av- erage to $5000. A report from Shasta late this evening is to the effect that Sheriff Richardson has struck the robbers’ trall. They are going west toward Clear Creek. ————— GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN PEKING ARE BURNED Foreign Soldiers Save City After the Chinese Fire Department’s Gongs Fail. PEKIN, June 0.—The extensive build- ings occupied by the Boards of Revenue and Sites were burned to-day. ‘The reve- nue building contained 4,000,000 taels. The buildings adjoined the legations and the foreign military guards did effective ser- vice. The Chinese fire department, equip- ped chiefly with banners and gongs, was helpless. Forelgn soldiers demolished the Board of Sites building to prevent a further spread of flames to the foreign section. s mail th §s and took pinion t robbers the tense torn robber | is 10 ENGLISH TARIFF PLAN Joseph Chamber- lain Is Put to Rout. Overwhelming Opposi- | tion in House-of Commons. Balfour's Pleading Alone Prevents Resignation of Secretary. Pt G LONDON, june 9.—The rumored resig- nation of Colcnial Secretary Chamberlain is the most startling development of the al of ¢ ellor of the Exchequer to abolish the corn tax, the de- on wiich kept the House of Com- s to day packed and spellbound until midnight. Even if Premier Balfour per- Chamberlain to remain in the Cabinet, the Colonial Secretary’s prefer- 1 tariff programme is hopelessly | | | | snowed under and his influence as a polit- ical pewer in ¢ Britain at least tem- norarily relapsed. All smembers of the Government who contributed to to-day’s debate vigorously | ed themseives as free traders and kiy oppcsed Chamberlain's prop8sals. cept for Chaplin, not a voice on either plete rout of the protectionist Cabinet Minister was Balfour’s official pronounce- ment, as Premier and on behalf of the Government, that the Cabinet as a whole refused to adopt Chamberlain’s views. CHAMBERLAIN WOULD RESIGN. Both the Colonial Minister and the Pre- mier were absent from the debate, be- cause, according to report, Balfour was spending the evening endeavoring to per- suade the Colonial Secretary to remain in the Cabinet, notwithstanding his differ- ences witlf his colleagues. The debate | was adjourned at midnight, when, amid a sensation, Chancellorgf the Exchequer Ritchie said/he hoped BaXpur would be able to give the House to-morrow a definite statement in behalf of the entire Cabinet, though he could not promise it. | Chaplin's, amendment w: reely of- | fered to-day before it became a secondary consideration. Its defeat was assured. Until midnight_the fight, if an undefend- | ea struggle could be so described, raged around Chamberla “0il and vitriol the only adequate description of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach’s speech, which started the revolt. Amid ! intense silence this famous Tory ex-Min- ister &ktolled the Colonial Secretary’s vir- tues and damned his programme. EXIT COLONIAL SECRETARY. “Black Michael,” as he is familiarly d, was never seen to better advan- tage. The Ministers sat with troubled | faces, Balfour looking especially deject- | ed. Chamberlain, deserting his usual place, paler even than usual, stretched | himself at the end of the Treasury bench. Later in the afternoon he never exchang- ed a word with his colleagues. After Ritchie had denounced the Colonial Sec- retary’s ideas, Chamberlain stalked out of the chamber without even a nod to Balfour. After the dinner recess the excitement was heightened by the absence of both the Colonial Secretary and Premier. A bitter attack on any tampering with free trade was made by John Gorst, Conserv- ative, who declared that a great portion of the rising generation inf the United Kingdom was already so degenerate and poverty stricken that anything tending to increase the price of food would threaten a national disaster. PACT WITH IRISH LEADERS. The approach of the first serious prelim- frary in the free trade-protection fight filled every seat in the House of Commons this afternoon. Before facing the situa- tion, which must largely place them at the mercy of the Liberal and Irish votes, the members of the Government attended an important Cabinet meeting at which all of ‘the Ministers were present except Gerald Balfour, president of the Board of Tradd, who was ill. Henry Chaplin, M. P., former president of the Board of Agriculture, and the mal- content Unionists were actively engaged early in the day in and around Westmin- ster in rallying the supporters of Chap- lin’s amendment to the budget bill, which declares that the removal of tax on grain “nvolves a needless and injurious dis- turbance of trade and a serious loss of revenue, without substantial relief for the consumer,” and that if any taxes are re- moved it should be those levied on tea and other articles of general consumption. Before the debate opened Premier Bal- four ascertained from John Redmond, the Irish leader, that the Nationalist mem- bers of Parliament would support the Government, as against Chaplin.. The Liberal leader, Sir Henry Campbell-Ban- cal Continued on Page 3, Column 1. DENTH BLOW | side~was raised in support of Chamber- lain’s campa‘gn. Former members of Cab-’| Ingts and private members, Irrespective of party, protested against any dickering with Great Britain's fiscal poliey. lhe Unionists vied with the Liberals in de- ¢laring themselves out-and-out ~free traders. ATl that was lacKing in the com- {‘ § PRICE FIVE, CENTS. A appointed. MEMBERS OF GRAIN FIRM VITABLE SEQUEL OF FAILURE STOUNDING revelations are being made concerning the acts of Eppinger & Co., the ruined grain firm. On authentic informa- - I o Warehouse Shoft;ge Will Reach 90 Per Cent. y O black do the acts of K Ep- pinger & Co. appear to have been that felony proceedihgs against the members of -the firm would appear to be inev- itable. Information is sup- plied to The Call from an au- thentic source that % per cent of the total amount of grain for which warehouse. re- ceipts were issued and pledged.to credit- tion it is reported that the shortage of grain in warehouse, as compared with the amount called for by the warchouse receipts in the hands of creditors, amounts to go-per cent of the whole. Under this showing of facts proceedings against the members of the firm for felony are regarded as probable. The losses of creditors will: pass the $1,000,000 mark. This loss must be borne very largely by the stockholders of California banks..- Yesterday the first step was taken toward declaring the concern bankrupt. A receiver will be - = - - flf'}fi GREENEBAUIG. / .. | | | | { | ~ A1t | o | k3 *— AT P Ruined House Forced to Go Through Bankruptcy. | . | ANKRUPTCY proceedings will be the next step in the matter of the failure of Eppinger & Co. The necessary papers will be filed in the United | States District Court this oo - : morning, and = the court will be MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY CREDITORS OF EP- | | ¢alled upon to decide how the frag- PINGER & CO., WHO 'FORCED THE RUINED FIRM TO CONSENT ments of assets of a once great commer- TO GO THROUGH BANKRUPTCY, AND THEIR LEGAL ADVISERS. cfal concern are to be apportioned among ors by Eppinger & Co. cannot be found. The missing quantity is now stated to be 67,000 tons. There are only two ways to explain this enormous shortage. One is that the grain upon which the warehouse recelpts were based was never recelved. The other.is that if it was recelved, it has been dishonestly disposed of. since. Either of these transactions constitutes a felony. . Suspicion was aroused as soon as the | news was received that Eppinger & Co. had made a failure on a gigantic scale. The members of the firm and those asso- | clated with them have done all they could to increase distrust. By the most singu- lar and unparalleled coincidence, as soon as the failure was known, each partner had it announced that he was too fll to| * be seen. The partners are in ecover sin this city or elsewhere. Their creditdrs cannot find them. The most grave asper- sions go uncontradicted by Eppinger & | Co., although the members of the. firni are unquestionably cognizant of everything: that appears in print and every ph.n;q( denunciation or accusation that is current | in reference to them, callectively or’ sin- gly. They are skulking and affording no assistance. to the banks, their principal creditors, by whom the money of a légion of stockholders was loaned on seeurity’ now found to be verg-laljsely mnuéu, “They are attempting to- bluff it out] 'with the atd of a skilled lawyer. This| was sald yesterday by the president of, one of the leading banks of San Fran- cisco, concerned as a creditot of' Eppinger | SAID TO BE 67,000 TONS SHORT. | According to one account - ger & Co. will reach very much: greater proportions than has been previously reported. Liabilities increase and assets dimin- ish in the investigation whichis the deficit in the amount of gra sets for the benefit of cred_itars- ures that are supplied to The Call by a responsible party fixes the shortage of grain of Eppin- just fairly beginning. The fig- in that should be visible as as- at 67,000 tons. 2 & Co. “They may. escape,” continued the same banker, “but there is.certainly enough’ law to form a’basis for criminal proceedings m.m}- present state of facts ‘as revealed. Be assured that hereafter there will be no such’ easy "time for any grain house that wishes to put up ware- house certificates as security for bank loans.” 4 A .theory Is current in some .quarters that the large amount, of warehouse re- celpts. issued 'by'» Eppinger & Co. had ‘be- hind them But a fraction of grain that they purported to cover. ‘It would have | Dbeén easy tn have had the same grain certified to several times over, and there are ‘certain lawyers who believe that this SR AN o R 1 | 3 +* was dons. The dishonesty of the entire transaction leaves .legitimate room for ‘speculation as to the manner in which the immense shrinkage from supposedly large to, astoundingly small assets was brought about. To illustrate the ease with which a few lots of grain might be made to figure in ‘warehouse receipts to an extent apd value far in excess of the actual fact, it need only to be said that grain in warehouse bears no distinctive mark when it comes ‘in- that can be used “for” identification. The sacks are entered up as being in a certain bin add gangway. The gangway and bin figure in' the warehouse raceipts. ‘At. such described place or piaces the the many creditors. The legal advisers of Eppinger & Co. have placed no obstacles in the way of the creditors. They are willing to have their clients go into bank- ruptcy, as they deem it the best way of bringing about a settlement of their client's affairg. . The commifte of five chosen by the rep- resentatives of the various banking insti- tutions and private individuals met in the office of Attorney David Freidenrich yes- terday morning for the purpose of decid- ing upon a course to pursue. The com- mittee consists of Sigmund Greenebaum, manager of the London, Paris and Ameri- can Bank; W. P. Harrington of the Bank of Colusa: Frederick L. Lipman, assist- ant- cashier of Wells, Fargo & Co.’s Bank; Ignatz Steinhart, manager of the Anglo- Californian Bank, and David Freidenrich, attorney for Isaac Kohn and the London and San Francisco Bank. The meeting was also attended by L. D. Stephens of the Bank of Woodland, C. W. Bush of the Bank of Yolo; N. A. Hawkins, attor- ney for the Bank of Woodland; Richard Bayne, legal representative of the banks of Colusa and Yolo; Jesse W. Lillenthal, attorney for the Anglo-Californian Bank, and < Alfred Sutro, representative of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Bank. After a short diffussion the committes decided to leaye the matter to the attor- neys and directed them to pring proceed- " Continued on Page 2, Column 2. Continued on Page 2, ‘Column, L