The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 15, 1904, Page 1

LYRIC BALL—“Twelfth Night.” Mat- to-day. “Mnch Ado About Nothing " u:;vl!!'nc—'m Japanese Nightin- 4 Vandeville. TIVOLI—“Der Rastelbinder ™ | | | | | 1 | - VOLUME XCVI—NO. 137. SAN FRANCISCO,- é‘ATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1904. PRICE FIVE CENTS. RUSSIANG Meet With Defeat and Are RETREATING LONDON, Oct. 15.—The Daily Chronicle’s correspondent at Yentai, telegraphing October 12, via Fusan, October 14, says: “The Rus- sian attack failed everywhere, and the Cossacks are in full retreat along the whole line, pursued by the Japanese. Thirty Russian guns were captured, and the Japanese turning movement is pressing the Russians back to Mukden. with splendid bravery, sacrificing themselves freely, but unavailingly.” Gregory Bonds Severed WILI, TAKE INSURANCE MANS WIFE FRee PORTION OF Tells Her His Loveils Dead B . —3 T — WIFE OF A GRAXTED A ELL-ENOWN LOVED HER, w INSURANCE MAN WHO WAS DECREE OF DIVORCE BECAUSE HER HUSBAND No LONORE BUT PREFERRED THE SOCIETY OF OTHER WOM - : F X - "Without the inconvenience of appear- ing in court, Grace Gregory was yes- terday granted a divorce from E. H. Lestock Gregory, general agent for the Aetna Life Insurance Company. Judge Kerrigan accepted the report of Referee James Tyler, and besides the decree of separation awarded Mrs. Gregory the custody of her daughter, Vivian, $150 a | month for the support of herself and | child and $150 for the services of her attorney, Percy E. Towne. In Mrs. Gregory’s complaint Gregory's name was given as “Edward H.”—an obvious attempt to conceal the insur- ance man’s identity. She set forth that they were married at New Whatcom, | ‘Wash., February 27, 1892. Recently, she said, he removed his effects from their apartments and announced his purpose of not Hving with her longer, as he pre- ferred the society of other women. She charged, too, that in his anxiety to get a divorce from her he had her followed by detectives. This humiliated her. The report of Referee Tyler contained the testimony of Mrs. Gregory and T. C. Hughes. The plaintiff said her hus- band packed up his effects on the eve of a departure for New York, then wrote her that he would not return to Mve with ber. His letters explained | eould not, “that he loved somebody else”; he had tried to live with his wife, but “simply | for her was | dead.” She told of his receipt of letters and telegrams from the unnamed rival as his love of his wife's affections. An instance was related of his en- gagement one evening to play cards with his wife and a party of friends. He did not appear, she said, and later | she went to dine with the friends. They | were returning home between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning when she saw | another | woman. The sight made her ill and she | Nervous prostration | value, and under the limited author- followed and she was confined to her | She says the cir-| cumstance became a matter of gossip | meet Gregory on the street with was sent home. bed for two weeks. among her friends. Regarding the detectives that were |ers, an early decision should be made. on her trail, Mrs. Gregory said that|These considerations are apart from “he was bound and determined to get, the important one which actuates this a divorce from me and to find some- | association to assist in promoting the thing against me, but he could not. did not believe him when he told me he had employed detectives. He admit- ted that their reports proved nothing.” The evidence of Hughes was to the effect that Gregory had told him that he intended to get a divorce from his wife and was infatuated with woman. . BOND IS !Banks Agree to Pur- - chase Securities | for Lands. ST 2 Assurance Is Given to the Board of Supervisors ‘ of the Sale. | Offer Is Made Through the Association | for Improvement and Adornment of San Francisco. | | The Association for the Improvement | |and Adornment of San Francisco has filed a communication with the Board | of Supervisors to the effect that certain | commercial and savings banks have de- | | cided to offer to buy a large portion of the bond issue for public improvements. Mutual Savings Bank offers to take the entire issue of $328,000 for the purchase of lands to connect Golden Gate Park with the Presidio. The German Bank | it is said will buy $200,000 of the rest of | the issue. | The offer is an important one in view | of the fact that when bonds aggregat- ing $5,600,000 were offered for sale by | the Board of Supervisors bids aggre- gating only $277,000 were received. The communication on the subject follows: | “SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14, 1904. i “To the Honorable the Board of Su- pervisors of the City and County of San | Francisco—Gentlemen: As an associa- { tion interested in the improvement and | adornment of San Francisco, we regret | that certain contemplated improve- | ments, involving no possjble waste of public funds, should have failed for lack of buyers for the city's bonds. Among the propositions voted upon and approved by the people and for which bonds will be issued as soon as they find purchasers we beg to call your at- | | tention to the following: “For the acquisition of seven blocks of land between the Golden Gate Park |and the Presidio, bounded by Thir- teenth and Fourteenth avenues, to con- | nect the Presidio and the park, at a cost estimated at $328,000. FOR MISSION PARK. “For the acquisition of Mission Park, to consist of two blocks of land, for- | merly the Jewish cemetery. bounded by Eighteenth, Twentieth, Dolores and | | | Church streets, estimated to cost $292,- 000. | “For the acquisition of land to be used as children’s playgrounds—one | south of Market street in the neighbor- |hood of Seventh and Bryant streets, | and one north of Market street in the ‘neighborhnod of Stockton and Filbert | streets, estimated to cost $740,000. “For the acquisition of a block of |land for a free public library site in ithe neighborhood of Van Ness avenue |and Fulton street, at an estimated cost | of $647,000. | “These four propositions aggregate, ;in round numbers, $2,000,000 and they | contemplate simply the purchase of lands by the Board of Supervisors as i provided by iaw. They have been ap- | praised by former City Engineer C. E. Grunsky and the above estimates were | made by him. “We are informed that it is the in- tention of the Supervisors, as soon as the bonds be taken, to bring con- demnation proceedings as the fairest | method of determining the exact values, and that thirty days after judg- ment shall have been obtained, pay- ment must be made by the city. SHOULD BE BOUGHT NOW. | ““We believe that it is important that these properties, involving desirable improvements, should be purchased now. Real estate may enhance in ity of the bond issue, the Supervisors might be unable, at a later time, to the increased cost. Further- | more, in justice to the property own- 1| progress of the city on lines of beauty and adornment. “When acquired, the parks and playgrounds, embracing three propo- sitions, will be cared for by the Park Commissioners and the library site and .| the men. who were The communication _states. thatithe|' Ieven the construction of a building | Continuea on Page 5. Column 2. Merchants' Association Will Prosecute Election Commission _ It Grand Jury's Effort Fails HE resolution of the Grand Jury asking Presiding Judge Lawlor fo in- struct the District Attorney to proceed against the Election Commissioners for their removal from office was communi- cated to the court last evening and taken under advisement. | Foreman Lilienfeld sent an accompany- ing letter in whieh he wrote unsparingly of the character of appointed to the pre- cinct boards. | If the District At- torney fails to act, complaints against the Election Board will be sworn to by representatives of the | Merchants’ Associa- tion. The directors decided on this step at a meeting yester- day. . The preliminary hearing of Charles Wyman occupied half the day. The people’s case will close Tues- day. The defense will probably offer no tes- timony. s = * The resolution of the Grand Jury and an accompanying letter from Foreman Lilienfeld were presented to Presiding Judge Lawlor last evening asking him to instruct the District Attorney to prosecute the Election Commissioners for misfeasance in office, in an endeavor to have them removed. The Judge took the matter under advisement, explain- ing that he wished to look into the law. He would not say when he would be ready to take action. The Commissioners are not to escape accusation of violating the law in con- nection with their appointments of pre- cinct boards. At a meeting of the di- rectors of the Merchants' Association yesterday it was decided to have charges preferred by complaint in the Police Court should Judge Lawlor or the District Attorney’s office fail to set the machinery of law in operation. The matter was placed in the hands of the attorneys for the association, with directions to act forthwith in the event that either Judge Lawlor or Dis- trict Attorney Byington should refuse to act. The resolution of the grand jurors, passed in lieu of an indictment because a minority was able to block the latter, is not regarded as'having much authority in law to compel action, and the directors of the Merchants® Association were determined that the Commissioners should be brought to account. The whole situation as to uprooting the conspiracy of ballot-box stuffers was discussed by the association’'s di- rectors. There was a vigorous unanim- ity in the decision that every resource of the organization should be expended if need be to protect the purity of the ballot-box. Without regard to politics or any consideration whatever, the sen- timent was expressed by every director that there should be no let-up in the Await Action of Judge Lawlor and District Attorney on Request SOON TO MAKE MORE ARRESTS Directors Determined in Campaign Against Ballot-Box Stuffers ROW OF JURORS IS DISCUSSED New Impanelment Not to Be Urged While Good Work Goes On Investigation of the frauds so flagrantly committed on primary day. WILL GO AHEAD WITH ARRESTS. More arrests are soon to be made. The case against Charles Wyman has been made out well at the preliminary examination now in progress in the Po- lice Court, and the directors felt en- couraged to go ahead with charges against others against whom evidence of “stuffing’” has been gathered. It had been deemed best to await the outcome of the Wyman case in order to learn what kind of a showing could be made in court with the evidence available. The result is satisfactory already, be- cause at no point has the prosecution been weakened. The attorneys are therefore to be in- structed to go ahead at an early day with the other cases. The work of the present Grand Jury was also considered. Its indictment of Adolph Steffens for illegal voting, of Joseph Rebstock for misconduct while serving as an election officer and the demand on Judge Lawlor and the Dis- trict Attorney to take steps against the Election Commissioners were re- garded as evidence of an earnestness to do something toward uncovering the alleged conspiracy. True, an element in the Grafd Jury appears to be trying to block the in- vestigation of the frauds. The dis- cord which broke out into violent dis- agreement and refusal of several mem- bers to participate in the finding of indictments at Thursday's session Is discouraging. Tt was a question, the directors thought, if any further for- mal accusations would be made by the Grand Jury in connection with the ballot-box offenses. But the directors were content to let well enough alone and do nothing toward urging a dismissal of the jury. A new impanelment might result in greater disadvantage to the campaign against the alleged violators of the purity of elections law. The present body has at least not shown a dispo- sition to interfore with the prosecu- tions of the Merchants” Association and the directors found some gratification in this, for in the beginning serious misgivings were entertained. CAN ACT BY RESOLUTION. The Grand Jurors who are seeking to press the probing of the frauds are willing to go ahead, although they do not feel certain they will be able to muster the twelve votes necessary for indictment. If the course adopted as to the Election Commission proves suc- cessful in the bringing of charges, they can avail themselves of it in other cases, for a resolution can be passed by a majority vote. Should Judge Lawlor and the District Attorney fail to accede to the requests to institute prosecutions, the Grand Jury canat any rate give aid and moral support to the Merchants’ Association in its cam- paign. If the minority of the jurors attempt to have the Grand Jury dismissed by order of court, as is planned, the ma- jority will oppose the effort. The following is the communication submitted to Judge Lawlor by Fore- man Lilienfeld: To the Hon. William P. Lawlor, Presiding JuE S eTor Caesire to present to you the following resolution adopted by a majority of the members of the Grand Jury of this city and_county to-day, Viz.: “‘Resolved, That the Grand Jury instruct its foreman to kindly request of the presiding Judge of the Superior Court to instruct the ct Attorney of this city and county to proceedt from otfice ‘commence Ings to oust the Continued on Page 5, Column 3. The Russians made sixteen counter attacks FIFTEEN THOUSAND SLAVS ARE DEAD OR WOUNDED Roads Leading to. Mukden Are Crowded With Wagons Filled With Injured Men TOKIO, Oct. 15, Noon—General Oku captured ten ad- ditional guns yesterday. Heavy fighting continues. PEKING, Oct. 14.—Mr. Uchida, Japanese Minister, in- formed the Chinese authorities here to-day that the Jap- anese will endeavor before again pausing, to drive the Russians off the Hun River, out of Mukden and probably out of Tie Pass. He declared that the islanders have never had the situation more thoréughly in hand than at the present time. MUKDEN, Oct. 14, 3:45 p. m.—The fighting has raged to-day with the same bitterness as on the previous days of the engagement, and the result is still in the balance. The losses on both sides are enormous, that of the Russians being 15,000. ‘Wounded soldiers are being brought in from all directions. The roads are crowded with long trains of wagons, baggage and transport wagons, as well as ambulances, being pressed into service, even Chinese two- wheeled carts filling the mandate of the military. Men afoot are limping in, using their guns as crutches, the less severely “wounded supporting their comrades after a first-ald dressing on the firing line. Even across the flelds you meet them taking the shortest and straightest road for help and shelter. It is the most pitiful feature of the bloody drama being enacted at the front, when, stiffening with wounds, pain-racked bodles sink to the roadside after the support of the danger and glory of the active fight have been withdrawn. In the distance the sounds of battle are still plainly heard. The rain has ceased and the sun is shining serenely. News From the Front Disappoints the Czar ST. PETERSBURG, Oct. 15, 2:30 a. m.—The great feeling of concern which exists in high circles in the Russian capital to-night by no means equals the foreboding of coming disaster pervading the general publie, which is indulging in the deepest pessimism. In the absence of official news the public is being fed on the wildest rumors of defeat suffered by General Kuropatkin to-day- The fact that no word regaraing the battle has been,officially given out only confirms the popular fear. The explan- ation offered that to-day was a holiday does not suffice to allay the ap- prehension. General Kurovpatkin's report of the result of the day's eperations has reached Emperor Nicholas at Tsarkoe-Selo, but it had not been returned here before the War Commission, which sat only until 9:30 o'clock. ad journed. The Emperor himself is represented as being bitterly disappoint- ed and spending hours with his Cabinet, studying out, with the help of his military aids, the reports of the battle. The general staff, however, by no means despairs. Though admitting that the tide the last two days has been against General Kuropatkin the general staff says the battle is not yet over and that in any event there is no question of a rout. The depressing feature of the situation is that every one is willing to believe the worst. Thus, reports from Tokio and elsewhere stating that the Japanese are advancing and the Russians falling back, are accepted with faith based upon the previous Russian retreats. Naturally many reports are current as to the genesis of the forward movement. It is stated that General Kuropatkin was forced into tak- ing the offensive by pressure from the authorities here. This has been of- ficially denied and as General Kuropatkin's order to advance was given over his own signature it seems likely that he will have to bear all the responsibility, whether the situation is of his own making or not. KUROPATKIN’S FRIENDS STILL HOPEFUL. Friends of General Kuropatkin say the present offensive movement was inspired from St. Petersburg, as was doubtless General Stakelberg's for the relief of Port Arthur, and if Kuropatkin's star has set, others than he are responsible. At the same time, the supporters of General Kuropatkin argue that, whatever may be the direct outcome of the past few days’ fighting, it is not likely to be an irretrievable disaster to the Russian army. It is pointed out that even if General Kuropatkin was forced to advance against his better judgment, he is too good a general to have undertaken an aggressive movement which he did not feel strong enough to carry through without leaving open a road for retreat and while the Russian forward movement may be an absolute failure, so far as the relief of Port Arthur is concerned, and though Kuropatkin may lose many men and some guns, thig is the worst that can happen. If General Kuropatkin succeeds in keep- ing the alignment of his forces—and the dispatches indicate that he is doing this—and the Japanese do not succeed in breaking up or cutting off any considerable portion of his army, he will not be in a much worse position, even if he should be forced to retire to Mukden, than he was before the ad- vance began. The probabilities are that the losses on both sides will be about equal. LOSS EXCEEDS THAT AT LIAOYANG. Dispatches from the front give a vivid picture of the desperate character of the fighting along the whole line. The Russian plainsmen have been again forced to engage in hill fighting, which Is little to their liking. There have been desperate and repeated attacks upon almost inaccessible posi- tions, which leave no question of the resolution and gallantry of the Rus- sian forces. Guns have been captured and recaptured in flerce hand-to-hand fighting, while a pitiless downpour of rain, the inevitable accompaniment of a great battle, has flooded the trenches and drenched both armies without allaying the desperate conflict. The latest word directly from the field of battle is the Mukden dispateh to the press, in which it is said that 15000 Russians had been wounded, which, together with to-day’s casualties, would make the total probably exceed the figures of Liaoyang and make the fight rank as one of the bloodiest battles in history. A pitiable feature is the coming of thods sands of wounded to Mukden. The roads and flelds are covered with erip= pled men, dragging themselves to the shelter of the hospitals, the ‘wounded helping each other, as few able-bodied men are being spared from the fighting line. It must be borne in mind in reading the descriptions by correspondents Continued on Page 2, Columns 3 and &