The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 31, 1904, Page 8

THE SAN FRANCISCO CAL! JESDAY, MAY 31, 1904. [ | [ i e | Lsterature and Love. | i Spectal Correspondence. HEADQUARTEF OF THE CALL, | | an express train came thundering down | upon her. RS IN — as she was crossing between the two platforms at the local station one day “She seemed to be dazed,” sald a spectator, “and it appeared for a mo- ment as though she was certalnly doomed; but Frank, who was some dis- tance away, rushed forward on the track and at the risk of his own life grasped his mother In his arms and swung her bodily off the line just as the train dashed by. The lad showed great pluck and presence of mind, but when 1 expressed my admiration of what he had done he simply remarked that it was nothing—no more than any- body would have done under the cir- cumstances—and appeared quite uncon- cerned.” That feeling has characterized the boy's attitude since the tragedy in which he played such a dire part. After killing his mother he carried his little sister, Queenie, to whom he was de- voted, to a near by inn, and said coolly to the landladv: “Please take care of § HENRIETTA STREET, COV T GARDEN, LONDON, May 2 Al- | her to-night. There has been a little though Mrs. Humphry Ward is seri- [ upset at home. 1 have shot moth- ously given to many sorts of re[orms‘er." - + | | | | | | | | fl"’n {4 - il i s a niece of Matthew Arnold and s one of the most learned women nov- | | elists of our day, yet she finds nme" | d inclination somehow to be an un- | | | monly successful mother. Her| | three children join their father in idol- | | 7ing her and waiting on her, tip-toe- | | ng when she dozes, rushiing into ac-| | | tion at her slightest beck and rv\‘er-‘ ing her ways as above the other | | powers 4 principalities of their {1 world he son, his name, of course. | 4. Gt 3 s Arnold, is a fine young m > l GEORGE MACAULAY TREVELYAN, | most as handsome as his father—who SON OF THE_ HISTORIAN, AND is now almost ready to emerge into | S WA e ! the world of letters from university | * life. No member of the family could | Some of the witnesses testified that be otherw than literary, so it fol/ | he brooded much over his mother’s in- | Jows that the first son-in-law elected | temperance. To an acquaintance he | to membership in this select family | remarked that he hated the thought of | circle bear name famous in the |liquor, pathetically adding, “See what book world. George Macaulay Trevel- yan, who has just married Janet, the second of the Ward daughters, is one | of the editors of the New Liberal Re- | view, author of “England in the Age of Wycliffe” and other historical stud- and is son and heir of the Right | Jon. Sir George Trevelyan, whose re: cent history of the American revolu- | tion has won so much praise in Eng- land and America. Sir George is also | distinguished as being the nephew of Lord Macaulay, the historian. | The Ward daughters have been | much in America and although nol‘ famoue as beauties are as charming in manner as they are cultured in| mind. Spirits Incite to Crime. Spectal Correspondence. HEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL, 5 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, May 20.—It is the | general opinion that few more extra- ordinary crimes have occurred in this country than that committed by Frank Rodgers, of whom the whole kingdom is talking. Rodgers is, of course, the lb-year-old boy who murdered his mother in the little town of Meldreth, Cambridgeshire. Apart from its ghast- ly sensationalism the story -presents many unusuai features. Between the bey and his mother a strong attach- ment existed, which was so marked ihat in the family he was known as “‘mother’s boy.” Some three months be- fore he killed her at the imminent risk | of his own life, he saved her from being run over by an express train. No quar- rel between them, no outburst of pas- rion, preceded the fatal deed. The boy's statement that he shot her because he beard a voice commanding him to do | he had heard voices urging him to s0 and had no recollection of the firing of the vistol imparts to the case a strong element of psychological inter- it has done in our house.” One day' at breakfast—his mother had been in- | toxicated the day before—he told the | family that he had dreamed during | the night that he had strangled her. It was the influence of his mother's example and upbringing on his little | sister that gave him most concern, al- “ though, according to the evidence, Mrs. | Rodgers had never ill treated the child. After shooting the mother he told his eldest sister that he had done | it “for Queenie's sake.” The mother had given way to drink that day ana after supper the family had left her sitting in an arm chair in the break- fast room, half asieep. It was then that Frank went upstairs, got a re- volver belonging to his elder brother and, returning with it, shot her. The most remarkable evidence was that given by Dr. Octavius Ennion, the family physician, who was sum- moned to. the house immediately after Mrs. Rodgers had been shot. To him the boy volunteered the statement that murder his mother. “On the night I shot my mother,” Frank told him, “I went home and had supper. Afterward I went upstairs and got the revolver and went down to the breakfast room.. I feit an almost Ir- resistible impulse to shoot mother. I refrained, however, and went out. The impulse came again and I went back into the house. “A voice distinctly told me to do it. It said: ‘Do it, and do it quickly.’ I do not remember firing or pointing the pistol, but I remember hearing a muf- fled report and then I stumbled against the door. That is all I know about it.” He also told the doctor that for two or three months he had been constant- ly haunted by the feeling that his mother was close behind him and that when he turned his head he saw an apparation of her which slowly van- ished. Insanity will undoubtedly be the de- fenge at the trial, which will be strengthened by the fact that a broth- er of the dead woman was confined in an asylum. Her own failing may be attributed to heredity, for her father, it has been stated, was a man of in- temperate habits. The boy is of rather more than average intelligence and much bigger than most boys of his having been un- | the reservation and supported McKinley directly. While, | make use of the opportunity to elect delegates to the | Democratic National Convention who would provide a [“transformation. | der as the old Democracy of 1896, and it will come to | own photograph long e¢nough to see this and has wig- | wagged the new merger to the effect that he is in favor | and brilliant headquarters in many States, but gives u; g P ! new Democracy, the trusts and Judge Parker. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. smm‘w..........Awmmmmmmmn McNAUGHT, Manager PubUCAtIon OGS, o - - o o i s sobp P e F KRS sovessoshupamnbhany - s s dsassiote .Third and Market Streets, 8. F. = CLEVELAND AND PARKER. HE complexity of the Democratic situation is fur- T ther revealed in the disclosures made by Mr. Cleve- land and by Mr. Murphy, the Tammany leader. Mr. Cleveland makes it evident now that his single purpose is to disclothe the party of the fashion it took on in 1806. He admits that in his opinion either Judge Gray or Mr. Olney would make a stronger candidate than Judge Parker, but more sentiment seems to be behind Parker, and therefore he should be nominated in order to make sure the defeat of Hearst. The defeat of Hearst is twice put by Mr. Cleveland as among the first duties of the party. He uses the term “conservatives” as applied to all who are against Hearst, H and in conclusion speaks of the organization that is ex- pected to issue from the national convention as “the new Democracy.” That’ seems pushing the fight pretty far. Mr. Bryan waited ifi 1896 until he had captured the con- vention and the committee before he began calling his organization a new party. Mr. Cleveland is either very confident of conservative control, or, with his. usual frankness and courage, he chooses to remove all doubt of his position long in advance of the action and before half of the delegates to the convention are chosen. That part of the situation seems to be straight enough. But when the Tammany position, as declared by Mr. Murphy, is laid alongside of Cleveland’s straight line it zigzags like summer lightning. Mr. Murphy says that the head of a great corporation, which has often sup- ported Tammany, has asked him to cease opposition to Judge Parker, threatening to withdraw support if this is not done. Thereupon Mr. Murphy proclaims that he takes his life in his hand and goes forth on an anti- Parker crusade, to win or fall. He declares that Mr.- Belmont has used the corpora- tion lobbies in the Southern States to secure delegates for Parker, and this is undoubtedly true. It had already been noticed in the States penetrated by the Southern Railway, the Plant system and the Illinois Central. All of those roads are in financial or sympathetic alliance with the great lines that run west from New York and Chicago, and back of them are ambushed the great pro- ductive combinations, which have thrown the gapntlet down to President Roosevelt. This monster force more influential in a Democratic convention than it can be at the polls. But that it does cherish the hope of defeating President Roosevelt is apparent in the dis- closures made by Mr. Murphy and by the news agencies. That the Democratic merger is represented by Mr. Belmont is plainly evident. That choice is not at all un- wise, though Mr. Hearst, from a very superficial view, has assumed that it is. Mr. Belmont left the Democratic party in 1896, and when the country was wildly alarmed by Bryanism consorted with those Republicans who ac- cepted Bryan’s challenge and made sound money the paramount issue. Again in 1900 Mr. Belmont was off is from a Democratic standpoint, the coming of such a man immediately into the responsible leadership of the party is more than strange ang__unnamral, yet seen from the situation which gives the only hope of' Democratic suc- cess it is entirely logical and proper. a Ever since the trusts and combines started on a Hunt for President Roosevelt’s scalp it has been apparent that they could not hit him through the Republican party. Nor could they hope to use the Bryan organization for that purpose. The only course left open to them was to That convention is to be called to or- order as something entirely different. It will be the new Democracy proclaimed by Mr. Cleveland. This new Democracy will be permitted to roar some and gnash its teeth a little in the party prospectus, called its platform, but it will be the political instrument, care- fully manufactured and tempered and tried by the trusts and combinations with which to wreak their vengeance upon President Roosevelt. Even Mr. Hearst has been able to stop admiring his of the good trusts and combinations and is friendly to legitimate wealth. As no responsive signal comes back Mr. Hearst begins to fall out of the fight, for he knows perfectly well that the alliance is made, that he sought to be its candidate, and, failing in that, he knows that it is useless for him to spend any more money in getting delegates. In his recoil he not only closes his various his Washington residence, perhaps to go at light house- keeping in a flat. His practical abandonment of the field leaves it to the Tam- many will pitch McClellan into the ring and he will be pitched out again and the trusts will march against the President behind the man from Esopus. Fortunately the President is his own platform. He has brought the wrath of the trusts to praise him by enforcing the laws as fearlessly as he does all duties, and the people will not be misled by platform words in the face of his deeds. The Dominican rebels have won another victory and every bantam in the brood of South American republics is crowing. Let the rebels not shout too much, however, as Uncle Sam has an angry eye on them, and every victory they score is simply another reason for a crushing and final defeat to come. T pointment with the recent river convention. In some quarters the part taken by the Promotion COBmmittee is objected to as indicating its partisanship of some unrevealed plan. Perhaps the discontent is raised by the fact that all the talk in the convention was con- fined to the flood evil and there was no discussion of a remedy. So it is being said in the valley that the people did not have to wait for a convention to tell them that there are floods caused by rainfall. They knew that before. They are indeed so familiar with it that it is a disquiet- ing subject. What they want is a remedy for the floods. They admit that this cannot be in the form of a check on the rainfall nor in its more even distribution so that the flood crest will not appear. The remedy must be in diverting the floods to a basin large enough to hold them, or in an artificial bayou that will relieve the main stream by giving it another mouth into Suisun Bay far below its present one, or in widening its present mouth. ‘The people seem to have expected the convention to dis- cuss some of these plans, and are disappointed that this was not dqe! 3 /7 We do not pass upon the validity of these complaints, THE RIVER CONVENTION. HE valley press expresses rather poignant disap- but as they come from that part of the State that is most interested we repeat our first conclusion, that dis- cussion in this convention would have been better though it only brought out the different remedies without adopt- ing any of them. Americans always like their day in court and make compromises only after discussing them. The committee that took charge of unknown and undiscussed measures of relief will do wisely if it heed the feeling among the people concerned and take the public into its confidence to a greater extent than did the convention. Efforts are being made to induce the American Medi- cal Society to hold its annual national convention of 190§ in this city. By all means persuade the physicians of America to visit us, look the town over, sesure benefit from their experience and find a locality in which the healthy need only the climate for protection and the un- healthy find the best place in which to adopt a physician’s advice. . I Foreign Trade Bulletin, which is published in this city by the Pacific Commercial Museum, that prac- tical returns Jiave already been received from the issu- ance by the museum of a San Francisco trade index. This index contains the names and addresses of the many San Francisco firms who have united to promote export trade on the Pacific Coast by the agency of the Commercial Museum. It also carries a.great variety of information in the English and Spanish languages. The purpose is to place before reputabie importing houses throughout countries that border on the Pacific Ocean a reference book on the resources of California, the manufacturing and distributing business of San Fran- cisco and the names of the members of the Commercial Museum who are prepared to supply goods for which there is a demand abroad. g While it was primarily intended to reach Spanish- speaking people, the book has also been distributed throughout the Orient and Australasia and to all the United States Consuls and to many foreign chambers of commerce. Acknowledgments have been received from many Consuls in foreign lands, who write that the publi- cation will assist them to answer inquiries regarding California, its products of soil, manufacturing industries and trade. The Trade Bulletin reports that since sent out, a matter of two months ago, inquiries have been received in this city for prices on certain cotton goods, from Mexico asking for catalogues, prices and the names of exporters of mining machinery, electrical sup- plies, wire, sawmill machinery, dry goods, seeds, mica and graphite; from Hamburg, Germany, for names of dried fruit exporters; from Paris for the names of salmon and fruit exporters; from Toronto, Canada, and from Hongkong for the names of exportgrs of miscellaneous products. These inquiries have been referred appropri- ately to the persons who are engaged in the lines of busi- ness indicated. There is no doubt that the judicious use of printer’s ink can be made of great value to a State that has as much to advertise as California. Heretofore efforts have been largely confined to giving information relative to farm- ing, mini~z and climate, together with the social con- ditions existing in this State. Now it is realized that the position of California as a manufacturing center is as- sured by cheap fuel and favorable geographical position on the seaboard. It becomes, therefore, advisable to call attention to what can be had here for export. The lands that are washed by the waters of the Pacific Ocean are the natural customers of the Pacific Coast States. Any effect that may result from the Panama canal to the trade of South America for manufactured goods, South America being mainly east of New York and the other great seaports of the Atlantic Coast of the United States. it is morally certain that the Pacific Coast will always have an advantage in the islands of the Pacific and in the great market that the Orient affords. The Panama canal will compel the great transconti- nental railways to make sea rates between the points of origination of freights and the Orient to meet the sea rates by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Such goods as can be made to better advantage in the East than in Cali- fornia or other Pacific Coast States will naturally be favored by the transcontinental carriers that they may secure pay for the long haul. That the railways are doing now. But the reports from the Pacific Commercial Museum are encouraging. They show that California is consid- ered abroad to be on the commercial map as a manu- facturing and dis!i’ibuting center. As such its importance will continue to grow. .This is a good time to let for- eign lands on the Pacific know what it can secure here, and the means adopted to that end would seem to be efficient and well advi m—— FRUITS OF ADVERTISING. T is gratifying to learn from the latest number of the the index was An old man who robbed his life of not only every in- cidental pleasure but even of its bare necessities died the other day and left to inquiring relatives property valued at something considerably more than one million dollars. Without motive worthy of emulation, the old fellow found in existence an inspiration that would make the career of most of us reasonably happy. The problem of how to live well on nothing a year is still an annoy- ance to the maijority of rational beings. The trial of a coolie leader of a local Chinese tong, ac- cused of the murder of one of his fellows, has developed the startling fact that Mongol assassins, resident among us, may barter for their lives with degenerate whites even in a regularly censtituted court of justice. This is not the first illustration in San Francisco that contact with an inferior race means retrogression. The Chinese may teach us even more evil than our craft may contrive. In addressing a class of graduating schoolboys Presi- dent Roosevelt declared that what the nation needs is men, not prigs, and that the snob should be eliminated in the school to save the trouble of destroying him in the wider and more complicated field of working existence. It is a congratulation that the advice is not necessary to the vast majority of American boys and young men who are fitting themselves for American citizenship. A wife is suing in a local court for divorce on the ground that her husband has cultivated a habit of tickling her neck with a clasp knife, at the same time threatening to send her where earthly cares will cease to sadden and harass. While something may be said of the husband’s solicitation for his better half’s future, even a casual observer must ‘criticize and condemn the means he has chosen to achieve his end. | | barring a highly Pungling Before Ducking. “Say, guv'ner, tell one uv yer hired men ter gimme coffee an’ sinkers,” or- dered a ragged street arab as he dropped a dime in front of the cashier of a Fourth street restaurant a few evenings ago. “Take a seat at a table and a waiter will attend to you,” directed the eash- ier, pushing the coin toward the lad. “Don’t yer worry ‘bout me gettin’ ‘tended to,” answered the boy as he covetuously eyed the silver piece. “I Jest wants ter pay 'fore I feed.” “Why?" asked the restaurant man. “Don’t want ter git in choke agin,” was the reply. “Yer see, guv'ner, it's Jest dis way. If I feeds 'fore I square up I'll duck me elegance widout pung- ling de dime. Den you'll gimme de hotfoot an' a cop’ll nab me. Down I goes to de cooler in de hurry wagon an’ nex' day off ter Whittier. Der Judge sez ter me when he lemme go yester- day dat de nex’ time I cum ’'fore him away I goes to de 'fprm school. No 'form school fer me, if I knows meself. Soak away de dime.” The cashler accepted the money, gave + IF I FEEDS 'FORE 1 SQUARE UP ILL DUCK WIDOUT PENG- LING. SRS ¥ the desired order to a waiter and the urchin who was afraid to trust to his own honesty looked relleved as he slouched off to a table. Oranges and the Vojce. Alfred Wilkie, the well-known tenor of San Francisco and Oakland, is a believer in the efficacy of the succulent orange on the voice, and generally dur- ing the day, especially before he sings in public, he will devour several of them. Recently Wilkie was crossing to San | Francisco from over the bay to render some songs and had placed in the tail pocket of his evening dresscoat a large and tempting orange. On the boat the tenor engaged in an argument relative to whole and half tones and in the heat of the discussion | he arose from his seat and sat down rather heavily. “If there is anything in the world I detest,” said Wilkie to himself, as he took the car up town, “it is an argu- ment. I love serenity—the moderato and not the agitato; the pianissimo and not the fortissimo for me.” Arriving at his destination a little late, the singer hastened to the plat- form and feeling round in his hind pocket for his white kid gloves, pulled out a pair crumpled, sticky and dis- colored with the juice of the orange which he had inadvertently sat upon and mashed to a pulp. Quickly he replaced the orange- stained gloves in his pocket and, bow- ing from right to left, took fime to dry off the juice from his hands and then, flushed face and a broad grin, sang his numbers as if nothing uncomfortable had happened. Now, if any one sees Wilkie gingerly carrying a paper bag on his way to a concert he may be sure that it com- tains an orange, for the singer has con- cluded that pockets were never intend- ed as receptacles for fruit. Stanley’s Orders. It was in the middle of October, 1869, while roaming about Spain, that the late Henry M. Stanley received a telegram from James Gordon Bennett, then in Paris, urgently summoning him to the French capital. Public feeling in England and America had been deeply stirred by conflicting re- ports of the safety of Dr. Livingstone, then supposed by some to be travel- ing, and by others to be dead, in the interior. In his book, “How 1 Found Livingstone,” Stanley thus relates what occurred upon his arrival in Paris: “I went straight to the Grand Hotel and knocked at the door of Mr. Ben- nett's room. “Come in,’ I heard a voice say. “Entering, I found Mr. Bennett in bed. : “ “Who are you?’ he asked. “‘My name is Stanley,” I answered. “‘Ah, yes! sit down; I have im- portant business on hand for you." “After throwing over his shoulders his robe de chambre, Mr. Bennett asked, ‘Where do you think Living- stone is?" * ‘1 really do not know, sir.” “‘Do you think he is alive?* “‘He may be, and he may not be,’ I answered. “Wwell, I think he is alive, and that he can be found, and I am going to send you to find him.’ “‘What!" said I. ‘Do you really think I can find Dr. Livingstone? Do you mean me to go to Central Africa?" “‘Yes, I mean that you shall go, and find him wherever you may hear that he is, and to get what news you €an of him, and perhaps'—delivering — himself thoughtfully and deliberately —‘the old man may be in want. Take enough with you to help him should he require it. Of course, you will act according to your plans and do what you think best—but find Living- stone!" ™ This was the turning point in Stan- ley’s life—the floodtide in his affairs which was destined to bear him to fame and fortune. Back to Lee. Max an’ me was talkin’ ‘bout the good old times in Lee, ‘Where_the folks are jest as happy as the Lord would have 'em be, An’ T asked him 'bout the fellers that I knowed long years before, At the old pine box headquarters, down at Burton's grocery store, ' Max says: “They're all a-livin’ "cept, it may be, two or three, they're mighty slow at dyin’ in them cotton lan’s o’ Lee! 3 the good times that you're talkin ‘bout—they’re havin’ of "em still, the whippoorwills are singin’ ‘long the road to Wells's mill “The cotton flel's are shinin’ jest as won- derful an’ white— Like the Lord had snowed ‘em over from the heavens in the night! An’ the corn is jest a-wavin' of its green an’ twinklin' blades, An’ the wind is whistlin’ through it, like it called the old brigades! “The same green hills an’ valleys where you seen the soft stars beam— The men, the same fine fellers, an’ the women, like a_dream! The same sweet bells a-rin steeples, standin’ hig] Their happy halleluias to the winders o' the sky! in’ from the “Come down,” says Max, “an’ see us, an’ them same skies o' blue! I'm purty sure the whippoorwills have got a song fer you! An’ as fer them sweet mockin'-birds— why, bless your soul! they sing Like winter dreamed forever o the kisses o' the spring!” jest the way he talked it that evenin' there—with me, | THI I felt my eves a-mistin heart went back to Les An' I sorter fell to dreamin’ of the old sweet skies an’ bright, An’ the meadows sald “Good mornin’!" when the darkness said “Good night!" tlanta Constitution, - e oz 4 e Dates as Food. | That's an’ my Country Life in America records that | David C. Fairchild, the agricultural | explorer, who has visited the date-pro- ‘du(‘lng regions of the Old World, has | written an account of his investigations | for the Department of Agriculture, | with special reference to date culture im Ameorica. “The doctors seem agreed,” Mr. Fairchild says, “that sweet things in excess are injurious to the digestion, and the dentists claim that sugar ferments between the teeth, forming lactic acid, which attacks the dentine; but, for all this, it is doubt- | ful if there can be found a sounder, stronger race, with better digestion and finer, whiter teeth than the date-eat- ing Arabs. The remarkable physique of the Arabs and their resistance to the almost unbearable heat of their country might be attributed in part, at least, to the nature of their simrle food. At any rate, a thorough investi- gation of the food value of the date and its adaptability to the formation of food for our hot summer season should be made, and possibly this won- derful vegetable product, which is now used in America only as a second- class confection. might be used as a basis of a nutritious new food.” Answers to Queries. FLOOD—M. J. F., Livermore, Cal. James C. Flood, the mine operator, died in Heidelberg, Germany, February 21, 1889. This department has no informa- tion in regard to the other member of the Flood family asked about. CATALOG—A. C. R, City. The Cen- tury dictionary gives “catalog” and “catalogue,” and of the former says: “That is & recent spelling of catalogue.” It is the same fad which has substi- tuted “program” for “progyamme.” WANTS TO KNOW—R. 8. B, Val- lejo, Cal. This correspondent wants to know where “The Prayer for Indiffer- ence” may be found. Can any of the readers of this department assist the correspondent in search for informa- tion? SENATORS—W. H. B, Dunlop, Cal From the letter of Inquiry it is impos- sible to determine if the correspopdent wants the names of all the United States Senators who were in Congress in 1866-67 or only those from California. If the correspondent will state clearly what is wanted an answer will be fur- nished. STRAY DOG—A. 8, City. The fact that “a dog follows a person to his home and will not leave the house” does not give that person an ownership in the dog. The matter is governed by the law of sstrays which requires that the person taking up the animal must feed him and within five days after he comes in possession of the animal he must notify the County Recorder. Then follows the manner of procedure which entails the publication of notice of the find and the sale of the animal if not claimed within a stated time. The per- son who has taken up the animal is entitled to a reasonable compensation for the care of it.