The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 9, 1905, Page 3

M'HE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9. 1905 STEEL _CLOCK TOWER TO REPLACEIRINS (RO CHRONICLE'S BURNED BEACON. . H. de Young, proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle, announced yesterday that the clock tower de- Losses by the fire have been greatly reduced afier investigation. stroyed Tuesday mght wi .\I building and offices considerably. ill be replaced. Fzre SJweeps flway Forty Years of Files. Damages by Water Greater Than by Flames. Etching Department Is Destroyed. ed sc just and TOWER IS IN RUINS. debris on piled up coats ant than flames were tower and etching lished in e roof, left of er one of these meras and lenses loyes of the were driven out e. The fire and tower, day. When tenth floor machines overs, of the had savea Even where e skylight men work- checked its thrown on the . o the compos- P noon the depart- . as in working order so that and typesetters had gone back to ses on Ing matter. gely enough, and water, not FIREMEN SAVE THE LIBRARY. e fear of the Chronicle ed of th - ary had been burned was not realized. Water had seeped into the | and had done some damage around the floors, but everything of value he large reference room, rep- systematic collection of y years, was intact t ing of the zinc room ali of the apparatus, as well as d been used in the paper, d. This loss is not irre- e, as duplicates of the destroyed s can be made from the reproduc- tions in the files of the mewspapers. oss that cannot be replaced, and t be measured in pecuniary dam- the destruction of forty illes of the Chronicle that were rooms at the base of the It had been the practice to re- al copies of each day's issue e newspaper, and put them away ure use. This vast accumula- r lack of other storeroom, had led in the tower. They fur- food for the flames for hours. was no saving these valuable and e proprietor of ‘the said yesterday that he de- ed their destruction more than any- g else that was lost. t the fire was mainly confined to the f and tower was due to the fireproof nstruction of the roof. This was built cement and tiles, laid over fron T beams. At the upper portion of the ele- vator shaft the burning debris from the tower made inroade and burned out some of the machinery that operated the lifts. The shaft, a fiuy for the smoke and burn- ing stuff carriec \fire below, but serious damage from it w.\Javerted by the play- ing of streams of water from lines of bose that were carried up into the build- "B ctonitie: Dbl ‘e Rkl ot ] be replaced at once. The lifts will and Art| ors that | st of the plant is intact, though the etching and- photographing equipment was burned. Work of repairs will proceed rapidly. l | ‘ [ | CHRONICLE REC( TED. RO TR MHE [y—y l»L !Lmv, AS IT WILL APPE THAT PORTION ADDITIONAL STOR! TORN DOWN AR WHEN THE KEARNY-STREET ADDITION IS BUILT, AND THE CLOCK TOWER E DESTROYED BY FIRE WAS TO HAVE BEED 0ON TO MAKE WAY men having been put at work to clean out the shafts and replace the destroyved | parts of the machinery | WATER DOES MUCH, DAMAGE. Water covered every office floor in the building, including the business office, esterd morning, and had seeped| through, working considerable damage to furniture, walls and ceilings. Pumps were set at work to clear the submerged parts of the furnace and press rooms in the basement. Much of the water that | poured in there was drained off in the excavation on the Kearny street side | where the new building operations are in | progress. M. H. de Young said he could give no estimate as to the damage to the building. In conference with John P. Young, managing editor of the Chronicle, he concluded that $19,000 would cover the loss to the newspaper plant, outside of the destruction of the files and cuts. Many of the tenants were more or less damaged by water, but none of them seriously. In the stores on the Market street frontage, Peter Wobber, proprietor of the Chronicle bar; Henry Stall & Co., taflors. and Henry Kahn, optician, suf- fered small losses by water. On the building the losses by fire and water will figure, possibly, well into $50,000, as a large amount of repairing and renovation will be required to restore the walls, ceilings and floors, besides the reconstruction of the roof and tower. This work, however, will be done in con- nection with the remodeling of portions | of the Chronicle building,.as the Kearny street addition progresses. | be learned by the Fire Department the fire in the tower was caused by sparks | from exploded bombs and other pyrotech-. nics. There were two small fires discov- ered on the tower early in the evening, | but these were extinguished by employes of the newspaper. As the wind increased | during the night it fanned lurking sparks that had lodged in crevices of the wooden | structure. Before attention was again at- | tracted the flames had gained great head- {way. As they ate into the woodwork they had free swing, for water could not { be thrown to the top of the structure. The mass of newspapers gave the fire H great headway and the best efforts of the department were directed toward pre- venting the flames from working through the building. TROUBLES OF THE EDITORS. The editorial department of the Chronicle, headed by Managing Editor Young and City Editor Ernest Simpson, held forth under difficulties yesterday in the Chronicle's business office, which was dripping wet. Arrangements were made with the publishers of the Bulle- tin to use thelr plant until normal con- ditions were restored at home. Young was of the opinion that the Chronicle would be published as usual in its own offices by to-day. “We are golng to print the weekly edition of the Chronicle on our own Bbe in operation to-day, s large force of | presses to-day,” sald Young yesterday, So far as can| | { | | ment, | copper. “and I feel satisfied we shall return to our own offices ready for operations to-morrow. Our fears that the mechan ical plant on the upper floors had been destroyed have happily not been real- ized. What seemed last night to be m es of flame sweeping through the upper floor was only the glare and .re- flection of fire on the large glass sky- lights in the composing rooms. Every department of the paper has been dam- aged somewhat by water, but this is being speedily remedied. We are working under some difficulties to-day, as there are a great many minor re- pairs, such as in the electrical equip- to be made. If it were not for the water 1 belleve we could have re- turned this morning. But it was not considered advisable to attempt that to-day. MEN HOLD THEIR NERVE. “Our men Kept their heads wonder- fully last night. The fire came upon us at the very height of our work. In the midst of the alarm every employe was steady and busied himself only in trying to save property. The artists thoughtfully removed $1000 worth of photographic lenses from their in- struments. The compositors stayed at their machines and cases until they were literally driven out. In the ctch- ing department the same experience was duplicated. George Meyer, the foreman, and his assistants would not laeve until I commanded them to go.” M. H. de Young sald: “Plans for the new Chronicle build- ing call for the raising of the old structure two- stories and the ‘rearing of a clock tower above on exactly the same lines as the one that was burned. It was a wooden frame, sheathed with When it was erected we did not know as much about steel struc- tural work as we do now, and that was the reason wood was used. The new tower will be all metal, steel and cop- per. “I have put a large force of men at work to rehabilitate the offices and shall return just as soon as the depart- ments are ready. We shall replace our burned equipment at once. The Chron- icle building, in my judgment, is ab- solutely fireproof, and I do not think for a moment that the fire could have spread below the roof. The damage is principally by water. I was in San Rafael last night when news reached me of the fire. At that time it ap- peared to be very serious.” The Week-End at Del Monte. It's the proper thing nowadays to spend the week-end at Hotel Del Monte, Golf devotees and all who enjoy out-of- door nature at this time of the year, as well ag society friends of the famous resort, go down Friday or Saturday and return Monday morning or evening. Special round-trip railroad ticktes, in- Slodol;‘ two days’ board at the l.\otal, INQUIRY INTO ACADEMY FIGHT I)epartment\ ill Make Investigation the Tragedy at Annapolis fl\ ngul ANNAPOLIS, Md., Nov. 8—The funeral of Midshipman James R. Branch, who died on Tuesday morning after receiv- ing injuries In a fist fight with Mid- Meriwether Jr., place to-day from the old naval acad- shipman Minor B . emy armory. WASHINGTON, Nov. Bonaparte to-day stated that the recent occurrence at the Academy, Midshipman Branch, has oughly investigated, but that at pres- ent no further orders will be Issued. the superintendent at the naval academy, to-day telegraphed Secretary Bonaparte that Fitch and Noyes of the cadet battal- Admiral Sands, resulting Annapolis in the been of took 8.—Secretary Naval death of thor- Lieutenants 1 | | | | | | | ‘| Peculiar tuatwn Shown | Water damaged in the Affairs of the| | | Metropolitan Life C ompanv S S ()\ OFFICTALS }nfllrallw H(‘ill‘lll"‘a Renewed in New York City by the| Board of Investigation | e SRR D. Vandiver, State Superintendent of lnsuranee, to-night suspended the cer- | tificate of nuthority of the New York fe Insurance Company to do business | this State. Nov. §. | NEW YORK. in the testimony | | of John R. legeman, president of the 3 tan Life hsurance Company, be- mpiion of the insurance day, it was brought out s considerably i axpensive than other forms of life | ce. Hegeman, after ciassing | 1 insurance as aii and the or ! life : as wholesale, illus- ! 1 the an example which | a stated age it was i [a 51000 poli | | roport 1665 annually, while | | for $884, the nearest amount for the ted | | | the investigation | that indus fact by iife the Met- age under the industrial plan, $3120 was charged. Hegeman was on the stand the part of the afternoon. morning session Kmory Me- . actuary of the Mutual Life In- surance Company, who has been exam- ined in part at previous sessions, was | called and continued his testimony on techn insurance. In answer to a could not remember | actuary’s | suited by question, Me a case in wifich the the officers of the company as | for new busines: He was of the opin- | | |for i fori that the agents’ | | |larger for the endowment policies on ordinary life policies with annual div dends. Hughes asked Mr. McClintock: “In 1903 the amount realized by the com- pany was $5563,861 and the amount of | dividends paid was $725.047; in 1904 the 7 and tne ‘amount realized was $5, amount of dividends paid | |when tbhe amount realized wa |a million more was the amount set {aside for actual dividends nearly 520000 1 | less? | McCiintock said that the reduction of | "interssl must be taken into account. He | also said that "yenr‘s earnings was made in November | and the dividends to be paid were cal- | | culated on the estimate, it | sible to get accurate resuits. | In reply to questions | that one of the factors considered in | computing the diwidends was the “ioad- | ing” of the premiums so as to provide | | funds for the conduct of the company. | What remained of the “loadin | | payment of expenses, he said, was de- voted to dividends. The amount of the ‘loadings” was estimated by the experi- ence of previous years. McClintock was asked if there was any way the cost of procuring new business | could be lessened. He replied that the company might adopt a new method of valuation. He said the ratio of expense to the total income of the Mutual Insurance Company was 20 per cent for the year i904. This, he said, is also true | of the New York Life and Equitable | | | | Life Assurance Society. In the smaller | | companies the ratlo was much lower, in some instances as low as 13 or 1t | per cent. | "The ratio of expenses to the amount | patd to policy holders of the Mutual was | shown to be 19 per cent. In the New York Life it is the same, while in the Equitable it is but £ per cent. In some | smaller companies it i8 as low as 29 and | 30 per cent. ———a WILL RETURN TO MINNESOTA. Indicted Insurance Oficer Arrested In Los Angeles Ready for Trial. LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8. — Dr. cob F. Force, vice president the Northwestern National Insurance Company of Minnesota, one of four officials of pany against whom indictments have | been returned in connection with af- | fairs of the company, was arrested to- | day by Detective Jones of the local de- tective department. Dr. Force left for Minneapolis to-night. Under the in- Ja- of s | a preliminary examination here, and then, as a fugitive from justice, be sent back to Minneapolis.~ He will enter a plea ot not guilty before the Minne- apolis courts and put up bonds there. He will then return to Los Angeles. Dr. Force was vice president of | the Northwestern National Life In-| surance Company for several years. He. came West and located Pasadena some time ago. that time, according to his allega- tions, he handed in his resignation as an officer of the company, but it was refused. Since then he has taken nao cern, and is confident of proving his innocence. According to his statements, the Grand Jury simply returned indict- ments company, and his name was on the list, party. - MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Nov. 8.—The | indictment against Dr. Force is one of a number which were returned last Saturday by the Grand Jury which has been investigating the former manage- ment of the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company. Its former presi- dent, vice president and other officers and a former State Insurance Commis- sloner were indicted for bribery and grand larceny. The charge against Dr. Force is grand-larceny. DIVIDENDS FILL as the estimate for the | dictment he would be compelled to face | ion had been reduced to the ranks for participating in the unfortunate affair by which young Branch lost his life. The regulations provide for the im- |*¢ mediate investigation of the matter by | a court of inquiry, which, it is said at | the department, will undoubtedly rec- ommend a trial by court-martial, not only of the survivor of the prize fight, but of the timekeeper and the referee,’ both cadet officers, and perhaps of- the cadet officers who permitted the men ple in we NEGRO FATALLY INJ B Police Battle With Angry NEW YORK, Nov. protect themselves as well as to save a negro fugitive ED 'Y A MOB IN NEW YORK Crowd to Protect Bloodthirsty Black Man. 8.—Fighting to from being torn to ces by a crowd of 5000 persons, two detectives battled for fifteen minutes before they help from the Brooklyn last night re able to summon -!royed. to withdraw from the supper line last Sunday evening to engage in the fatal encounter. —_———— FIRE IN LOS ANGELES CITY DESTROYS LARGE SANITARIUM station a few yards from the scene. Asa Edwards, a negro, accused of | stabbing Harry A. Grant, an innocent | victim of the negro’s wrath, had fled ! from Pearl and Willoughby streets at the height of the political excitement. A thousand men and boys chased the negro when they saw Grant fall un- i JEFFERSON CITY, Mo, Nov. s.,--w.l | | | | in- | shown that for | intock department has ever been con- | to the amount of. money to be expended | commissions were | than | was impos- | McClintock said | after | _— CHARLES * MEIER 0 RRESTE Do FOR EMBEZZLEMENT, EHIN[S[ INSULT AMERICAN LADY Reported to Have Spat on| in Canton Her in Street Because of Nationality| HONGKONG. Nov. §.—Advices from Canton say that the anti-American feeling there is growing more intense. A lady has been spat upon in a street | | and the American Consul, Julius G. has received an anonymous letter Lay. if the imprisoned thredtening his life hoycotters of American goods are not released. The Consul has written to the Viceroy asking him to prohibit an anti-American mass meeting which it proposed to hold in Canton, but the eroy apparently is indifferent. The American Consul to- pro- ceeded to Lienchow, in order to make v | an official m\é‘itlgduon of the recent massacre of American missionaries there. The Chinese authorities will be represented by the Taotal. —_——————— | AUXILIARY RECEIVER | FOR MINING COMPANY Albert C. Wall to Have Charge of # Sultana’s Property In New Life ; | that com- | York State. NEW YORK, Nov. 8.—Justice Stover of the Supreme Court has appointed Albert C. Wall auxiliary receiver for the property in this State of the Sul- tana Mining Company, on application of Albert D. Field and Homer A. Dunn, | stockholders, directors ana creditors. Wall, who resides at South Orange, N. J., and R. B. Gaillord of San Fran- | cisco were appointed receivers in New Jersey on-September 25 Field holds 180,000 shares of stock, and is a creditor for $10,000. holds- 26,000 shares of stock, is a cred- itor for $4000, and was vice president of the company. Edward A. Godding is president. The Sultana Mining Company New Jersey corporation organized il, 1901, and has a capital stock of Its mining property is in Calaveras County, California, where it | Life | works a mine that has been operated off and on for fifty years. e —— | WOMAN OF MILLIONS DEFENDS HER LEGACY Mrs. Weightman-Walker Replies to Suit Brought to Break Father's Will. PHILADELPHIA, Nov. nie Weightman-Walker, 8.—Mrs. An- | only living daughter of the late William Welght- | man, and,who was made the sole leg- atee under his will disposing of a $§0,- 000,000 estate, filed answer to-day to a petition of Weightman's daughter-in- law, whereby it Is sought to have the | will set aside and the property equally | | divided . between - Mrs. Weightman- ‘at | Walker and the heirs of the testator's At | deceased son. Mrs. Weightman-Walker in her an- swer says the testator was of sound mind, left no codicil to his will, and pnad already provided for his grand- hand in the management of the con- | children by a trust fund. ——— ‘Wagon Driver Is Killed by Train. LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8.—W. Debusk, against all the officers of the |driver of a milk wagon, was killed near | | Clearwater 'last ‘night when a work although he is now a disinterested train of the Pacific Electric Railway | Company crashed into the wagon. De- {busk was unmarried and 35 years of age. Dunn | is a| in | 3 CHARLES MEIER HELD IN LONDON San Franeiseo Man, Charged With Embezzlement, Ar-’ rested in British Metropolis ACCOUNTS SHORT HIS Accused of Robbing a Wine House, Where He Worked, of About Twenty Thousand LONDON, Nov. 8.—At the request of the American State Department, Scot- land Yard detectives to-day arrested C. E. Moller, wanted in San Francisco for alleged embezzlement. He was found at a local hotel C. E. Moller is none other than Charles E. Meier, the defaulting bookkeeper of the Pomery Wine Company, whose short- ages were discovered after he had taken flight to parts unknown. The peculations of Meler are now a matter of history. He lived at such a high rate that the salary which he received from the Fom- ery Wine Company was not sufficient to pay his bills. It is charged that he dived into the funds of his employer and did not desist until detection seemed immi- | nent. Then he fled the country. So skill- | ful was he In covering up the shortages | that to-day the exact amount taken is not known, although it will be over | $20,000. Experts are at work on his ac- counts. Meler left the city about a month ago. | WARSHIPS ASSEMBLE | IN THE NORTH RIVER American Fleet Awaits the | Coming of Louis of Battenberg. NEW YORK, Nov. 8—Rear Admiral Prince Louls of Battenberg, with his squadron of six armored cruisers, Is expected to arrive from Annapolis early to-morrow morning, coming to anchor | probably about 8 o'clock. Awaiting his arrival, eight Dbattleships and four cruisers of the North Atlantic fleet lie at anchor In the North River, stretch- ing in single column in midstream from Seventy-ninth street to One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street. No fixed programme has been an- nounced for Prince Louis’ first day in New York. In the evening the Prince will be the guest of St. George's So- | ciety at the soclety’s annual dinner. Sir | Mortimer Durand, the British Embas- | sador, having sent his regrets, Prince Louis will be the ranking guest. BALTIMORE, Md, Nov. 3.—At a meeting of the chapel of printers In the composing-room of the News office to- day Prince Louis of Battenberg was elected a member, it having been de- veloped during his visit to the office of that newspaper last night that his | Highness learned the printing art when a young man. GIVE DECISION THAT THEY THINK UNJUST Appraisers Say Loeal Firm Must Pay for Wine It ! Did Not Get. NEW YORK, Nov. s.—Declaring that their decision appeared unfair even to themselves, three of the United States General Appraisers to-day decided a test case under the pure food law against G. D. Bunker & Co. of San Francisco. This company protested against paying duty on twelve bottles | of imvorted wine, which had been con- demned in tests for adulteration which were made by the Department of Agri- | culture. These bottles were part of large shipment. The board decided that duty on the empty bottles must be paid just as if they were full, and declared that only Congress had the power to alter this strict Interpretation of the letter of the law. —_— e —— FIVE PERSONS INJURED IN PENNSYLVAUNIA WRECK | Trains Come Together Head-On a Short | Distance From the City of Wilkesbarre. WILKESBARRE, Pa., Nov. 8.—Five persons were killed, ten seriously in- jured and a score slightly hurt in a head-on collision between a passenger | train and a coal train on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad | near Hunlock’s Creek, a short distance from this city, this afternoon. All of |the killed were trainmen. The in- | juries to the passengers were caused jby the terrific force with which the trains came together, the engine on the passenger train being forced almost | through the baggage car. ——————— Banks Name Reserve Agents. WASHINGTON, Nov. 8.—The Crock« | er-Woolworth National Bank of San | Francisco has been approved as the | reserve agent for the First National | Bank of Calistoga. The National Bank ;nf Los Angeles has been approved as the reserve agents for the First Na- tional Bank of Santa Paula. ————————— NEW YORK. Nov. 8.—The sub-treasury to- day transferred $1,050,000 to New Orleans for New York banks, §100.000 to St. Louls received $335,000 from San Franci: isco. To Fellow Policy-Holders New York Life Ins. Company A statement made by Mr. Grover Cleveland that “The trus- tees have derived the best aid from policy-holders in cases where their representations have been made through associations of the insured, regularly organized,” suggested to me the calling of a meeting of fellow policy-holders. I made an announcement of this idea last Sunday in one of the daily papers. I received many—and nothing but favorable— replies. I wish to emphasize that my only motive in this matter is to protect my own interests as a policy-holder, and I cannot do Buildings Valued ®! a Quarter of a Million Dollars Are Burned to the m-n. LOS ANG! ' Nov. 8.—Fire to- night destroyed' the Bimini baths ana sanitarium in the western end of the city, entailing a loss of $250,000. The insurance is $50,090. Dr. David W. Edwards, owner of ‘the building, an- | nounces that he will rebuild. The baths and sanitarium ' were erected only about two years ago, and a new addition to the Institution, con- sisting of two wings, was in course of construction. ’rhen also were de- to conscious. ~When Edwards was rescued by re- sevves from headquarters he was al- most dead. His Injuries consisted of a tracture of the skull, a dislocated arm, | mutilated face, broken right arm and fractured wrist. He was taken to the Brooklyn hospital. IERESA BELL IN COURT.Teresa Mell, widow of mfi. ‘mili mm, He is not expected live. E A this without protecting yours. " 1 will be pleased on request to forward a copy of my state- ment of last Sunday, together with further suggestions on the subject. I invite your co-operation in the formation of an organized body, not in “the form of a proxy, but assurance of personal at- tendance at a meeting to be called. F. B. LLOYD, General Agent American Bonding Company of Baltimore. wswomgomery street, San Francisco.