The evening world. Newspaper, July 24, 1915, Page 1

) pa =—— — PRICE ONE CENT, Copyright, 1916, by ‘The Prees Pal Co, (The cw York | Wert). Che [“Otrentation Books Open to All. . NEW YORK, SATURDAY, “JULY 24, (1915, “Convict’s Story Insufficient to Pre- vent Becker’s Electrocution,” Says Governor After Hearing Sing Sing Prisoner. ALBANY, July 24.—Governor Whitman heard to-day in his private office in the presence of Deputy Warden Charles Johnson of Sing Sing Prison, the story of Joseph Murphy, a convict, who claims to have heard Rose, Webber and Vallon conspire in the Tombs to fasten the murder of Herman. Rosenthal.on,Charles Becker. The affidavit of Murphy is to file with the papers in Becker's motion for a new trial which is to come up for argument in New York Monday morning. “Convict Murphy's story,” said the Governor, after listening to and quesioning the volunteer Becker aid, “bears all the earmarks of his own deceit and Becker's inspiration. It isimmaterial and insufficient to prevent Becker’s electrocution.” Murphy admitted, the Governor said, that he had talked with Becker in the death house at Sing Sing prison on the evening of June 20 and that on the following day had written to Bourke Cockran informing him of overhearing the alleged “frame up.” The guards who had permitted Murphy to enter the death cell would be dismissed Monday, the Governor said, after verifying the fact that Murphy had talked with Becker by comnrunicating with Warden Osborne of Sing Sing. Murphy gained admittance to the death cell by telling the guards he was a member of the Mutual Welfare League and offering to sing for the condemned man The Governor got Warden Thomas @—$=$$—<$$$>_>_$_=>__—__—___ orne on the telept a a eee mcon «| UWO SHIPS TORPEDOED, breach of prison rules had been pos- | BUT CREWS ARE SAVED sible. Osborne replied that the story = filled him with amaze: vent that “y - a he would remove at on he two Russian Steamer Rubonia and British guards who allow nephy access Trawler Star of Peace Sent to Becker. Supt y also issued an order at once to make any further to Bottom, act of the kind impossit Gov ; ae Whitman said such an oré | LONDON, July %4.—The Russian not to be necessary, but it seemed /ship Rubonia has been torpedoed and necessary t¢ ake it In order to be | sunie by a submarine. Her crew of safe. thirty was landed on the Orkney Murphy arrived here handeuffed to} 7 Keeper Joknson when the Empire slande, State Express rolled in, and was| The trawler star of Peace also was taken directly to the Executive Man- siou. He talked with the Governor over two hours and was then whisked back to Sing Sing, The Governor torpedoed and sunk off the Orkneys, The crew was landed at Stromness. —_———_— GORIZIA CAPTURED, SAYS MILAN REPORT Despatch to Geneva Quotes Many Persons as Declaring Italians (Continued on Fourth Page.) BUSINESS IS PICKING UP! Have Won, The “Help Wanted” _ Advertise. | GENEVA, July 24.—A despatch to the ments of The World are Con-)yrioune from Milan says: “Many sidered as a safe guide to judge | persons arriving at Milan state that business conditions by. after severe fighting the Italian ¢ troops have taken Gor oe FINE ABSENTEE DELEGATES. Quigg Wants Co Last Week The World Printed 7,072 “Help Wanted” Advertisements, {tutional Con- vention Me Punished, ALBANY, July 24.—~ for delegates | Conventie vill be urged by Delegate more than ate printed in the | Venvents ane i‘ Regge ser Herald and Times added together. |yi.ii" ho situ tovdus. Delegates receive eons salaries of $10 a day for every day that I lentally The World printed the convention sits, regardless of wheth- neld ’ ye [er they are present or absent, and Mr, * 1,067 more “Help Wanted"’ | Quigg believes they should be fined that amount when not in attendanc The convention again lacked @ quorum to- Ads, than during the corres- ponding week of last year. > WILSON’ PLAN OF DEFENSE es thege was issued this statement: No intimation is given sf executive circles of what course the President will take between the peace advo- cates on one extreme and the big army and big navy advocates on the other, It was hinted officially that with the dispatch of the emphatic note to Germany, the President had decided to hasten the reports and recom- mendations being prepared by the War and Navy Departments for the regular session of Congress, so that all necessary information might be available if emergency arose. MAY RAISE RESERVE ARMY OF 600,000 OR MORE. ‘The President hopes to lay founda- tions for a permanent national policy, particularly for the army. Detatls of & reserve system being planned are withheld, but it 1# said the aim of the general staff {s to create a re- serve army of at least 500,000 men and possibly more, Increases are planned in the reguiar army posts at Hawaii, the Philippines and the Panama Canal zone, with a material \increase of the forces In Continental | United States, | In the navy, work Is proceeding steadily on the perfection of the sub- ‘marine and the aeroplane, Attention has been concentrated on putting the navy on an equality with the most efficient. Although the navy general board has not completed its plans, It is understood, authoritatively, that at *\ least thirty submarines and possibly | fifty will be asked of Congress when the reports are submitted, Work on ships now building Is to be rushed, | ‘Cho President wants nothing to dis- |turb conditions in the navy yards, jand at his direction, Secretary Tu- | multy has informed employees of the | Washington yard that the President will confer with them on their wage scale demand 4% soon as he returns | from Cornish. When William J. Bryan was Secre- (Continugy ae Beoend Page) J Official Statement Issued at the White House Says the President on Return From Cornish Will Take Up the Question. (Special from a Staff Correspondent of The Evening World.) WASHINGTON, July 24.—National defense is the next inyportant subject President Wilson is studying. From the White House to-day “The President has been considering every phase of this im- portant matter and Intends, while away, to give much of his time to a full consideration of it. Upon his return from Cornish, there doubtless will be conferences between him and the Secretaries of the Navy and War. The purpose of these conferences will he to procure information upon which he can base a fair, reasonable and practical programme of national defense.” WORK AT CORNISH, NOTONAVACATION, WILSON DECLARES President Takes With Him a Mass of Papers Which He Will Study. CORNISH, N, H., July 24,—Presi- dent Wilson arrived here shortly after one o'clock this afternoon for his second visit of the year at the summer capital, The President told an admirer at Bellows Falls, Vt., where his train stopped for a few minutes, that he did not come to New England for aj} vacation. | “I cuwme for an uninterrupted op- | portunity for work,” he said, ‘The President brought with him a mass of papers of different subjects and expecta to spend much of his time tn his study, During the last stages of his trip the President went to the platform of his car at nearly every stop and shook hands with many persons. One woman who was waiting at Bellowa Falls said | that she came all the way ftrom| Boston to meet Mr. Wilson He ex- pressed his pleasure at her interest. When the train arrived at Windsor most of the population was gathered at tho station to welcome the Presl- dent back again, His son-in-law, Francis B. Sayre, was at the station 10 PAGES THE WEATHER—Fair to-night; Sunday cloudy ra PRICE ONE OENT. ey O QE 2,000 WERE ON BOARD ; 600 BODIES RECOVERED LARGER AND POTTER NAVY The Eastland Goes Down at Her Pier When Crowded — With Excursionists, Mostly Women and Children ---Many of the Victims Imprisoned in Hold of Vessel, Which Sank After She Capsized. CHICAGO, July 24.—The big three-deck steel excursion steamer Eastland, laden with about 2,800 excursionists, | who had gone aboard for an excursion across Lake Michigan, turned turtle and sank at her dock in the Chicago River near the Clark Street Bridge at 7.40 o'clock this morning. Deputy Coroner David Jones and Sheriff John E. Traeger, who are in charge of the removal of the bodies from the wreck, which is lying on its port side in mid-stream, estimate that the number drowned will reach 1,200, and may run to 1,500. More than 600 bodies have been recovered, and men at work on the boat said the wreck was still literally stuffed with dead. In point of number of lives sacrificed this disaster promises to ex- ceed the Slocum disaster in the East River, New York, on June 15, 1904, when 1,020 excursionists were burned to death or drowned. The par- allel goes farther in that the Captain of the Eastland, Harry Pederson of Benton Harbor, Mich., is under arrest. Ae Pederson was being taken south in Clark Street to be locked up, an immense crowd charged the twenty policemen who formed his escort. The officers formed a hollow square and fought with their clubs until help reached them. Pederson was badly pummelled by men who managed to reach him. He is charged with interfering with the work of rescue be- cause the methods of the policemen and fremen were damaging the boat. Bell Fisher, first mate of the Eastland, is also under arrest. In addition to the charge of interfering with the work of rescue, the officers are ac cused of not having on board a sufficient quantity of water ballast to coun- teract any concerted movement of the passengers from one side of the boat to the other. It is said that for the purpose of bringing the boat into the Chicago River it has been customary to discharge her water ballast outside and not take it on again until the boat was in the deep water of the lake, A Grand Jury investigation has been ordered following an inquiry in- stituted by State’s Attorney Hoyne. RUSH TO SHADY SIDE UPSET BOAT. The disaster wae caused by the desire of passengers on the upper decks to get on the shady aide of the boat. They crowded to the port side and overbalanced the Eastland, which turned over fn a few minutes. The appalling disaster simply paralyzed Chicago. The Eastland and other excursion boats had been chartered by the Western Electric Com- pany to take its employees, their wives, children and sweethearts for a | Tide on Lake Michigan. Over 7,000 tickets had been issued and the vicinity of the Eastland’s wharf was jammed with a happy care-free crowd when the big boat sud- denly slid over on her side and floated away from shore, The scene of the disaster is near the heart of the Loop district, the hub of Chicago, and the crowds that packed the street were soon beyond the control of the regular patrolmen. Call after cal! was sent for reserves until policemen were hurrying downtown from the outermost suburbs. All traffic policemen were rushed to the scene of the disaster and soon |the downtown streets were in a jam of undirected traffic. For blocks in all directions tens of thousands of people were packed in solid masses from curb to curb. Trolley cars were unable to proceed, and even “L" road traffo was disturbed, ‘Temporary morgues were established, and every sort of a vehicle avall- able was pressed Into service for hauling the bodies of the dead. Many bodies were carried for blocks down the stream and were dragged to wharves and bridges, Rescuers at work on the Hastland sald that the vic and motored with the President to Harlakenden House, tims were packed on the under side of the boat like sardines in a can, The entire city went into mourning this afjernoon, As in the Iroquois 4 a STEAMER SINKS, 1,200 DIE; | CHICAGO'S SLOCUM HORROR WHITMAN SEES NO NEW CAUSE TO GRANT CLEMENCY TO BECKER RESERVE ARMY OF 500,000, Theatre disaster, women and children formed the bulk of the victims, The New York-Chicago American League apd BaltimoreChicago Federal League | baseball games scheduled for thie afternoon were called off em accoum, ot the disaster, Three hours after the accident the cries and poundings of persons confined in cabins and other rooms above the water line were audible to persons on shore above the rattle of drills and other apparatus with which holes were being cut through the steel framework. Dredges and floatmg derricks were run alongside the Hastiend this afternoon and an effort will be made to hoist the vessel so that she can be explored. When it was learned that bodies were being found down the river orders were issued to the great pumping stations which force water from Lake Michigan into the Chicago River and down to the Drainage Canal to shut down. In a short time the artificial current ceased and the Chi- cago River became as stagnant as it was in the days when it was prec- tically a navigable pond, Panic struck the passengers when the boat began to turn over. Best accounts of witnesses said the steamer rolled slightly twice, then turned further and that hundreds of screaming, struggling men, women and chil+ dren slid across the sloping desks, fought for room and clutched at compan- jonways, deck chairs or any other object that came to hand, Women and children by the hundreds were caught below decks an@ the scratched faces, torn clothing and bruised bodies of the dead bore mute evidence of the desperation with which they had fought for life. The Eastland was @ topheavy boat under the best of Pssingeage She almost turned over at her dock at Cleveland some measures were taken at that time to have her condemned Pigs Bh unseaworthy, She was brought to this port two years ago and was used in the lake excursion trade. Capt. Pederson of the Eastland denies that pressure of the crowds on the deck caused the boat to turn over. Ho claims that what he calls an “air chute” tn the hull opened, admitting tons of water. Offcers of the Chicago and St. Joseph Steamship Company blame the La Follette Law which, they claim, so encumbered the upper decks with life rafts and life Dreservers that an unusual pressure of passengers to one side turned it over, VICTIMS CAUGHT UNDER HULL. The Eastland turned over tn the direction of midstream, As the haw- sers snapped she drifted away from the dock and sank in twenty feet of water, lying on her port side, As the boat went over the passengers on the port side slid to the rails. Scores were dumped into the river, and as the steamer fell on its side thoy were caught under the bulk of wood and steel. For some time after the accident the Chicago River in the viéinity of the Clark Street bridge was literally black with bodies, Scores of boats were rushed to the work of rescue, but they were insufficient to care for the great number in danger, Among those who slid off the upper deoks of the boat and found themselves in the water in midstream there frightful struggles in which drowning persons clutched all within reach and dragged them down, W. H. Greenbaum, who was in chargo of the excursion aid: “We chartered five steamers for the exourston of the Western Blectric Company's employees to Michigan City, Ind. We had the steamers Bast land, Petoskey, Theodore Roosevelt, Racine and Maywood. “The ay was the first boat to load and the He were crowded t