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KING ED’S ILLNESS
WAS ONLY FEIGNED
WALLER NOW N IT.
A Rumor That Assassins
Were After Him.
LONDON HAS BIG SENSATION
Greed of Hotel Keepers and Seat
Speculators Threaten to Cur*
tail Coronation Attendance.
A sensational story was current In
London Tuesday nlgbt of the discovery
ot a plot to assassinate King Edward.
This story bas created considerable
discussion in newspaper and other cir
cles, but it is lacking in anything like
official confirmation.
According to tho current report
King Edward’s sudden Illness at Al
dershot was not ,due to a cold, but
was merely an excuse tor withdrawing
his majesty from public functions ow
ing to the discovery by Scotland Yard
detectives of a plot against bis life.
The principals In this plot have not yet
been arrested.
It is cited In confirmation of this
story that King Edward's recovery
when ho was ensconced at Windsor
castle was as complete and speedy as
his attack had been sudden.
On the other hand it must be point
ed out that If his majesty’s Illness was
merely diplomatic, the officials certain
ly took a great deal of trouble In keep
ing up the fiction.
Threatens to Be Fiasco.
The coronation as a public spectacle
threatens to be a fiasco. So serious
and so imminent has this possibility
become that The London Times and
other papers are printing alarmist let
ters urging the authorities to take
steps to prevent its failure before It Is
too late. The rapacity of the hotel
keepers and greed of the seat specu
lators are the reasons.
With scarcely more than a week be
fore the coronation not 50 per cent of
the seats on the huge stands have been
sold. Frightened by the exorbitant de
mands thousands of people residing In
the suburbs and country who had plan
ned to attend and see the king crowned
have now decided to stay away, while
a large proportion of Londoners will
avail themselves of the opportunity to
enjoy a holiday at the seaside or else
where in preference to submitting to
the Inconveniences of the extraordi
nary police regulations which will bo
enforced on coronation days. 1
Police Precautions.
But What chiefly contributes to the
present serious state of affairs are the
police precautions to make the proces
sion to Westminster Abbey one which
ticket holders only can witness, except
In the case of St. James park, where
but a few thousand will be able to see
the royal party. .The published regula
tions, whereby all traffic within about
a mile of the first day’s route Is to be
stopped at S o'clock In the morning
and pedestrians are to be stopped at
8 a. m., convey a faint inkling of what
remarkable Indignities London will be
submitted to.
From the appearance of Westmin
ster the capital might well be prepar
ing to resist an invasion or be content-'
plating a communistic rising. Solid
timber barricades ISO to 30 feet high
rise at the entrance of ail streets and
alleys leading anywhere near the
route. Tho number, ugliness and sol
idity ot these barricades cause bitter
reflections regarding the opinion which
the authorities must have of the un
ruliness ot the loyal British crowds.
Irish Not in It.
At a meeting of the Irish members
o.' the house ot commons Tuesday res
olutions to the effect that the Irish na
tionalists, as a protest against the
“mlsgovernment of their country," re
solved to take no part in the present
coronation celebrations, and that the
Irish party be summoned to meet in
Dublin on the day of King Edward’s
coronations to take Into consideration
tho condition of Ireland, were unanl-
.-jamagly adopted...
Major Gets Prompt Call Down
For Gay Remarks Made
In San Francisco.
A Washington dispatch says:. Ma
jor L. W. T. Waller, ot the Marine
corps, who was’courtmartlaled for ex
ecuting the orders ot Brigadier Gener
al Jacob S. Smith in the Island of Sa
mar, was . been called to account by
Secretary of the Navy Moody for the
interview ho, gave on Friday last upon
his arrival at San Francisco. Unless
Major Wallace explicitly denies the in
terview, be is In danger of being se
verely reprimanded or even courtmar-
tlaled.
The action taken by Secretary Moody
is Involved In some mystery, officials
of the navy department being disin
clined to discuss the matter in any
way. Nevertheless, it is known that
Secretary Moody’s attention was called
to the interview and he sharply con-
demhed.lt. The president also object
ed to the Interview, the more so be
cause In bis reprimand of Lieutenant
General Miles some months ago, he
gave both services to understand that
he did' not propose to permit officers
to make statements criticising their
superiors in either service.
In the Interview credited to Major
Waller, he is regarded as having re
flected upon the authorities In Wash
ington and as having made statements
which were highly objectionable not so
much on account of the words them-
selves as because ot the insinuations
they convey. The statement to which
the president and Secretary Moody
took particular exception was this:
"I know who caused that courtmar-
ttal, I know who brought it forward. I
know who was at the back of It all,
and Washington knows as much.”
HOUSE SETTLES MATTER.
I hero Will Be No Investigation Anent
Dhcharge of Miss Taylor.
A Washington special says: The
fact that the laws governing the em
ployes in the classified civil service of
the United States may be set aside
whenever It suits the pleasure of the
officials, was demonstrated Monday
morning when the house, by a strict
party vote, laid on the table Represen
tative Shallenberger’s resolution call
ing on the secretary ot war for the
cause and reasons ot the dismissal ot
Miss Rebecca Y. J. Taylor, the war de
partment clerk, whom Secretary Root
ordered removed because she wrote
and published In a local newspaper
an article criticising- the administra
tion policy In the Philippines.
Chairman Gillette, of the house com
mittee on reform in the civil service,
reported the resolution recommending
that It be laid on the table. Tho dem
ocrats demanded the yeas and nays,
and all the republicans present voted
to adopt the report.
Miss Taylor was never formally
charged with any offense so that she
could make answer thereto, as Is pro
vided tor In the civil service regula
tions; so that her dismissal was dear
ly a violation ot both the letter and
the spirit ot the. law, and showed that
persons employed by the government
may not expect to exercise the right ot
free speech.
With this report, Gillette submitted
a letter from Secretary Root written
Saturday, In the which he following
statement Is made:
"No head ot a department can main
tain effective administration If he Is
obliged to depend on the service of
clerks who are so violently opposed to
the success ot the work in which they
are engaged that they are unable to
refrain from public denunciation of the
purpose of the work and public insult
to the president’’
As a matter of fact “there was ho
"insult to the president’’ In Miss Tay
lor’s article. Even some of the repub
licans who voted to adopt the commit
tee report admit that Root's action in
dismissing the clerk was wrong, and
one tor which no satisfactory excuse
can be made.
FOB A^EXATlON OF CUBA
A Joint Resolution Is Introduced It
henaAfiby Elkina
Senator Elkin*. Wurday, Introduced
a joint resolution\{n thO' senate pro
viding for the annexation of Cuba and
for lta admission m, a atate of the
union. The reaolutlon'pwnta the con
sent of congress to the erection of the
republic of Cuba as a atatq of the un
ion. “to be called the state of Cuba,
wltt a republican torn of government,
to be adopted by the pcoplp ot said re
public by deputies In conevntion as
sembled with the consent m the exist
lug government” V
WAS GOMEZ PAID '
TO BOOST PALMA?
Former Associated Pres*
Man Says He Was.
STORY A SENSATIONAL ONE
Palma Denies all Knowledge of the
Matter. But Gottez Is Silent.
Washington Knows Nothing.
ON SPOONER BIEL ,
Spain “Recognise*” Cuba.
It is announced at Madrid that the
government haa decided to appoint a
minister to the Cuban republic.
OX INSANITY PLEA
Dillard Lee, Slayer of Mitt Suttles,
* Goes to Trial In Atlanta.
The trial of Millard Lee, who shot
and killed Mlta Lula May Suttlea three
weeks ago In a church at Ben HUI,
Ga., just as the congregation was leav
ing, was begun before Judge John S.
Candler, of the superior court. In At
lanta Monday morning.
The trial Is on the special plea ot
the present Insanity of the accused,
the trial on the charge of murder to
follow In case Lee Is adjudged to be
not Insane as pleaded.
“Within a week there will* be re
vealed at Washington the most sensa
tional transaction that has yet come
to light in connection with the Inves
tigation now going on of the expendi
tures ot''money made by Governor
Leonard Wood during his regime in
Cuba,” said Charles M. Dobson, the
former staff correspondent for the As
sociated Press at Havana, Cuba, who
was in New Orleans Saturday on his
way to New York.
“It will be disclosed that Governor
Wood paid the sum of $25,000 to Maxi
mo Gomes, the so-called Cuban pa
triot, and this sum was a bribe paid
with' the sanction of the republican
administration at Washington to pre
vent any outbreaks of the populace at
the time of the last national election
in tho United States. I know just
where the check for this sum of mon
ey can be found. I know right where
to lay my haneft on it.
No Secret About It.
"There is no secret about the pay
ment of this bribe among the friends
of General Wood, or those on the in
side of the secrets of the administra
tion of affairs under the Wood re
gime. President McKinley knew
about It. General Wood did not make
the payment of his own volition. He
was advised to do so by the officials at
Washington, who were in higher au
thority than he. The payment of the
bribe wa sconsidered to be a matter
of diplomacy, one of those diplomatic
expedients that the officials of every
nation in high authority have to resort
to at times fortte reason that unscru
pulous men work themselves up into
high places and have to be dealt with
occasionally on practically their own
terms.
“Gomel had posed as a patriot be
fore the Cuban people, but It was
known to General Wood that he had
a price. It was purposely made clear
to General Wood by representatives
ot Gomez, and to make the matter ot
financial recompense tor any amelio
ration Gomez might bring about more
emphatic, Gomez began to advise his
followers, the negroes tor the most
part, from eastern provinces, to ’take
to the woods’ In case they were una
ble to obtain the freedom at the handt
ot the United States tor which the)
had so long fought. Finally Gomez
made know the tact that he would con
sent to withdraw his name from be
fore the people as a candidate tor the
presidency and advise his followers to
abandon their hostile Intentions If be
should be allowed to use the sum ot
$25,000 In his work ’of pacification,’
claiming that that amount was neces
sary tor the purpose If it were to be
carried through without any chance of
failure.”
la News to Roosevelt.
A Washington special says: Re
garding the New Orleans story that
General Gomez received a $25,0000
bribe from the administration to with
draw from the Cuban campaign, there
by permitting the election of Estrada
Palma, it was stated Saturday nlgbt
by an official close to President Roose
velt that he had never before heard of
U. Secretary Hay said that not until
his attention was called to the story
had he received the slightest intima
tion ot it from any source.
Secretary Root thought the story
was only an exaggeration of General
Wood’s action in granting a pension
to General Gomes. The statement
that General Wood had paid General
Gomes money to withdraw from the
Cuban campaign, Secretary Root said,
was absurd on Its face, as Gomez was
one of President Estrada Palma’s
warmest friends. -s
Palma Denies; Gomez is 8llent.
:» A special from Havana says; Presi
dent Palma and General Gomes were
questioned Sunday with regard to the
alleged “bribery” story.
. President Palma Indignantly denied
that he had been a party to any
scheme to have General Ccme* with
draw from the campaign In his favor.
He also spoke for General Gomes,
who was present when Palma was
questioned on this matter. The presi
dent of Cuba said that to insinuate
Senor Games had been bought off by
a bribe ot $25,000 was to question the
honesty and Integrity of Gomes and
himself and that such attacks would
pass unanswered.
Republicans May Get. Together
and Give Cuba ferns Degree
of Relief.
A Washington spec' -.1 saya: The re
publican members of the senate com
mittee on Cuban relations Tuesday
finally agreed to the acceptance of. the
Spooner blllj providing tor reciprocity
with Cuba and decided to ask that a
conference of republican senators be
called to consider its terms. v
The. conclusion was reached at a
meeting of the republican members of
the committee Tuesday morning. After
the meeting adjourned the text of the
bill was made public. It is a substitute
tor the house bill and Is as follows:
"When the republic of Cuba shall
enact a law or laws establishing pref
erential rates of customs duties on any
or all articles, growth, production or
manufacture of the United States im
ported - into Cuba, which preferential
rates shall be In the opinion of the
president of the United States consti
tute a factor equivalent for the reduc
tion hereinafter provided In the rate of
customs duties upon articles the
growth, production or manufacture of, (
Cuba, imported into the United States,
and he shall so declare by proclama
tion, thereupon and thereafter so long
as such preferential duties shall be
continued by the government of Cuba,
not longer, however, than five years,
the duties levied, collected and paid
upon such articles so exported from
Cuba to the United States shall be 80
per centum of the duties specified in
the act entitled—
"An act to provide revenue for the
government and to encourage the in
dustries of the United States apprbved
July 24, 1897, and any amendment
thereof, provided, however, that it
shall be the duty of the president to
thoroughly investigate through the
diplomatic and consular representa
tives of the United States and Cuba
and by such other means as he may
deem it necessary to employ tor such
purpose whether tte tariff concession
herein before provided upon articles
the growth, production or manufac
ture of Cuba substantially Insures, so
far as the articles of sugar and tobacco
are concerned to the benefit of the pro
ducers of said articles in Cuba, and If
the president shall be satisfied from
such investigalon that the substantial
benefit of said concession upon either
of said articles Is Inuring to the pur
chasers thereof. Individual or corporate
in the United States, It shall, be his
duty to so declare by proclamation to
that effect and thereupon and thereaf
ter so long as said conditions shall
continue there shall be levied and col
lected upon such articles or that one
of them as to which said condition
exists, the rate of duty levied and col
lected by law upon such article or ar
ticles coming Into the United States
from other foreign countries.”
ADVISED TO USE GUNS.
Colored Bishop Uiges Race Members
. to Protect Their Homes.
“The time has come when the black
man must depend upon himself for pro
tection. I do not stand tor mobs, but
every negro should be prepared to pro
tect his home, his wife, and children,
even to the death.”
This advice was given at a meeting
of negroes in Chicago Monday night
by Bishop Alexander Walters, of the
colored church of Ohio, after he had
warned his hearers that all signs
pointed to a time of great trouble tor
them. Bishop Walters Is president of
tho Afro-American council.
The meeting was held in the Olivet
Baptist church, and was called tor the
purpose of taking action on the perse
cution of the negro residents of Eldo
rado and Harrisburg, Ills., and the
lynching ot Louis Wright, in Missouri.
A resolution was adopted and tele
phoned to Governor Yates calling on
him to take immediate steps to protect
the lives and property of the colored
people at Eldorado and Harrisburg,
-Ills.
Governor Yates, who is in Chicago,
said in regard to the matter:
“The autrorities have been ordered
to proceed against any persons who
may bare been guilty ot assaults
against the colored, people of that lo
cality, and law will be maintained ”
MOTHER DEMENTED
SLAYS CHILDREN
Sends Bullets Into Brains
of Six Little Ones.
HORRIBLE, BE
After Committing Crinu Woman
Burns House Down, Etcapes
and is Found in Grave Yard.
Details were received at Haxlehurst,
Miss., Monday of one of the most hor
rible tragedies that ever occurred In
that section of Mississippi.
• Louis Westrope, a well-to-do and
well-known farmer living near the lit
tle village of Brandywine, 30 miles
southwest of Hazlehurst in the edge of
Claiborne county, was attending ser
vices at a neighboring church Sunday
with his grown daughter.
While there. In the middle of the
service, a messenger hastened into the
church and told him thaA all of his lit
tle children, six In number, had been
murdered, his home In smoke and
ashes, and his wife gone, or also mur
dered, and her body probably consum
ed by the fife which bad destroyed big
home. J
Arming themselves with shotguns
and repeating rifles and procuring
dogs,, the male congregation hurried
to the scene of the awful catastrophe.
, Six Dead Bodies Found.
Upon arrlvel at the burned home five
dead children were found scattered
around tte premises with bullet holes
In tte headTof each child. Among the
ashes of the ruins were found the char
red bones of the Infant. Diligent
search failed to locate the body of the
mother. Outside of the yardjyas found
a bloody apron and tracks leading to
ward a swamp.
The evidence soon convinced the
spectators that Mrs. Westrope had
committed tho terrible deed. Search
was immediately^ instituted for her,
and she was finally located Monday af
ternoon in a country grave yard, where
she had spent tte night
When she saw tte searching party
she placed the tame rifle with which
she had the day before wrought the do- 41
struction of her own children to her
heart and pulled the trigger, the bul
let passing one fnch below the heart,
seriously, but not necessarily fatally,
wounding her.
The woman conversed intelligently
and said she did not know how she
came to be in tte grave yard or what
she had done tte day before.
Those who knew her and her fam
ily believe, that she committed the
crime while mentally deranged.
AS PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE.
Department Orders Wa ships Cincin
nati and Topeka to Venezuela.
The cabinet Tuesday discussed tte
situation In Venezuela. It was decided
that one or fwO.warihipt should' be
tent at once to La Guayra. This action
was taken not npon definite advices,
bat In pursuance of tte general policy
of looking after American interests In
case of disturbance.
■ Later orders were sent to tte Cin
cinnati and Topeka, now at San Joan,
to proceed at once to La Guayra.
mafia nipped in bud.
Murder IaTestigntlou In New Orleans
Puts Police “Next.”
In the coroner's inquest at New Or
leans Monday on the body of Bartolo
Ferraro, Antonio Luciano, a Sicilian,
gave all tte facte of tte killing as well
as the vendetta which led up to it. So
did his cousin, Lnlgi Luciano. *
After-this and otter Sicilian assas
sinations of last week, all the wit
nesses to it, refused to talk. Each de
clared that he had not been present
and bad not seen any of the shooting.
They let it be understood that they
settled their differences outside of tho
courts, by the use ot the vendetta.
This sudden change is welcomed by
the police. It puts a very different
light on tte recent ambush and assas
sination, brings out tte truth in regard
to them and enables tte police to sup
press the attempt to revive the mnH^
and vendeta In New Orleans.
In the several shooting affrays of
last week, three Sicilians were killed,
three others were fatally wounded and
will die and several slightly wounded.
Clark to Be Bear Admiral.
. The president Monday sent to the-
senate tte name ot Captain C. E.
Clark, to be advanced seven numbers
in rank and to be a rear admiral In
the navy.
“NOT GUILTY.” SAYS WOOD,
General Comments on Charges of Al.
leged Wrong-Doing In tab*.
During bis visit to Boston, m..,
General Leonard Wood, former gover
nor general of Cuba, expressed himself
In no uncertain terms regarding the
alleged irregularity In the expenses of
Cuban, government f UD d, , Q tte , nter
est of reciprocity. Ho detlared that,
acting as trusted Jtor tte island- bn
had spent the mohey to good puroose
and had done simply what any good
administrator would have done in Uka
llrcumstances. '
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