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SCHMITZ GRAFT NOT CRIMINAL According to Decision of California Circuit Court of Appeals. HOLD-UP GAME LAWFUL Abe Ruef Also Gets Benefit of Peculiar Decision-Court Declares That No Crime Was Committed. The California district court of ap peals at San Francisco handed down a decision Thursday setting aside the judgment in the case of former Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz, convicted of ex tortion in the French restaurant case. Abe Reuf also benefits by the ruling of the upper court, for, according to its decision, he pleaded guilty to an act that was not an offense against the lav/s of the state. According to the appellate judges, the compelling of French restaurants to pay “fees” to Abe Reuf was not a crime, even though Reuf divided the fees with the mayor. After discussing the point the court reversed the judgment against Schmitz on the ground that no acts constituting a ©rime had been proved against him. Abe Reuf, who pleaded guilty to ex torting money from the French restau rants is therefore equally guiltless. The decision wipes out the French restaurant cases and pending charges of extortion against Schmitz and Reuf must he dismissed. Both are now en titled to release on bail. If they obtain the necessary bondsmen they can re main at liberty until such time as a jury finds them guilty on one of the indictments charging them with receiv bribes from corjiorations. Owing to the number of cases against them the bail, figured at SIO,OOO a case, would reach an enormous figure. Schmitz and Reuf cannot take ad vantage of the decision for sixty days. The prosecution has twenty days in which to ask for a tehearing. Then the appellate court will have ten days to coins id er the application. When that is done the prosecution will go through the same procedure in the supreme court which will take the same length ef time. Consequently Schmitz and Reuf will still be kept in jail for two months at least. The decision was written by Justice Cooper. The opinion comments on Judge Dunne’s ruling, and says he erred in admitting hearsay evidence. “In our opinion,” saya Cooper, "the cross-examination was entirely im proper, and was not confined to the matters on which the defendant was examined in chief.” They had reference to the answer Schmitz gave in regard to the pay ment to him of part of the $5,000 con tributed by the restaurants. The attorneys for Schmitz had at the ; trial questioned Reuf as to whether he was testifying in expectation of immunity. Judge Dunne refused to permit any of these questions to be answered, holding that they were not proper cross-examination. The appeallate court says: “These rulings were erroneous and highly prejudicial to the defendant. The decision comments on Reuf hav ing pleaded guilty to the same charges and then taking the witness stand against one who had been his friend. “His conduct,” said the appellate judges, “was such that under the plain provisions of the penal code his evi dence was branded so that the de fendant could not have been convicted upon it without corroborative testi mony.” It is not an unlawful act, reasons the court, to threaten to hold up the licenses of the restaurant keepers, or actually to do so. The decision will have the effect of invalidating the other four indict ments charging Schmitz, as well as Reuf with extortion, and renders void the ptea of guilty made by Reuf as the appellate court held that no crime has been committed. FRIGHTFUL LIST OF FATALITIES Shown in Report of Accidents on flew Jersey Roads in 1907. The New Jersey railroad commission ers, in their annual report to the go\- ernor, state that from January 29th to December Ist, last year* 108 persons were killed and 198 injured by the rail roads in New Jersey. Railroad companies are blamed - or the long fatality list. Unguarded grade crossings are said to have been respon eible for many of the accidents. ANOTHER RAIL HORROR. Passenger and Freight Crash Through High Trestle—Five People Killed and Many Hurt. A disastrous werek on the Alabama and Mississippi road occurred Friday morning about 7 o’clock, about ten miles from Vinegar Bend, Ala., caused by a head-on collision between a pas senger train and a logging train. Five persons were killed outright and two seriously injured. The trains were badly wrecked and the escape of other persons from death and injury is con sidered remarkable. The dead are: W. B. Paine, merchant of Vinegar Bend; Charles C. Busbee, a section fioremant; three negroes, names un known. The list of injured is as fol lows: Frank Marks, engineer of the passenger train, seriously injured; will die. Henry Hall, fireman of passenger train, seriously injured; will die. Sev eral negroes, slightly injured. Ten miles west of Vinegar Bend the road turns sharply and the greater por tion of this curve is made up of trest llng that spans a ravine and a small brook at the bottom. Bowling along at a fair rate of speed with a number of passengers, the passenger train took the curve and trestle just as an extra freight train came into view on the opposite end. Before Engineer Marks could bring his train to a stop both trains met head-on in the very center of the trestle. Simultaneously with the collision the trestle gave way and both engines and trains crashed through, falling to the bottom of the ravine.On the logging train were a number of convicts, as were also others on the passenger train going to various points along the road. As soon as news of the wreck was received at Vinegar Bend all available physicians and a number of other per sons were placed upon the hand cars and hurried to the scene. Engineer Marks resided at Vinegar Bend, where he has a wife and several children. He has the distinction of pulling the first train over the road sixteen years ago. OVERRULES LABOR FEDERATION. Temporary Injunction Against Boycott of Stove Company Not Changed. Justice Gouid of the supreme court of the District of Columbia at Washing ton overruled a motion made by the American Labor Federation to amend the court’s order in the case of the Buck Stove and Range company of St. Louis, in which the court recently tem porarily enjoined the federation from placing the company on a boycott and unfair list in the federation publica tions. The case Involved the right of labor organizations to boyoott. The motion of the federation contended that the order was erroneous, because it was made to run until the final decree In the case, instead of until the further order of the court; because it may bo construed to enjoin the defendants from uniting to agree not to patronize plaintiff’s products; or construed to pre vent the defendants'and their associ ates from saying to others that they had united and combined not to patronize guch products or construed to enjoin their announcing that they had com bined not to deal with others who should deal with the company. The motion also contended that the order abridges freedom of speech of all the defendants, and freedom of the press “which is protected by the first amend ment of the constitution of the United States.” The court decided that it •would not alter the order in any way. WARNINGS OF STORM ISSUED. Notice Given of Heavy Gales All Along the Gulf Coast. From Texas to Florida storm warn ings were issued on the gulf coast Fri day. Special warnings were issued for the Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi coasts and stated that a storm was moving eastward and over Texas. pABAGEiiToB COLLAPSE OF BRIDGE Al,b.m.WG.WV.riict Api-t G.ot- County for $4,000. The jury in the federal court at At, lanta in the salt of J. C. Bunthath .Alabama against the county ot Haral son, in Georgia, brought m a rdict (or the plaintiff in the sum of M.OWh Burnham brought suit against the county W #SO.O. BurnhamJ. “°y under'him, precipitating the^lain. ’ ~, a"agon and his team into the stream below, a distance of thirty feet SECTIONALISM SHOWN In Strenuous Debate' in the House Over Bill to Codify Penal Laws of the United States. A Washington special says: There was considerable oratory, clash of wit and detonations of verbal bombshells in the house Monday, when the bill to codify and revise the penal laws of the United States was up for con sideration. The engagement was at Its hottest when the old reconstruction acts were reached. The democrats announced to the re publicans that the civil war had been over for some years; that reconstruc tion was likewise a dream ln many parts of the south a horrid nightmare — and that there was no use retaining on the statute books measures passed in the heat and enmity from 1865 to 1870. The republicans conceded that the democrats were right on their history, but charged they were trying to make a sectional issue out of the penal code. To show there was no sectional issue, they cast a solid party vote for the sec tions to which the democrats objected. In reply to some kind words of Colo nel Hepburn, who told how John Sharp Williams had been elected to the sen ate over Governor Vardaman, who fa vored repealing the fourteenth and fif teenth amendments, Mr. Williams told how it happened and w'hy he got such a small vote. He says the people of Mississippi did not believe the war amendments could be repealed. The law providing for the use of sol diers at the ballot boxes and for the punishment of members of the Ku Klux Klan was opposed vigorously by the democrats as being anachronisms In this day of peace and good feeling. The republicans thought so too—then voted to keep them in. The provision that no person should be denied the right to “sit upon fed eral juries or the juries of any states on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude,” was amended by the democrats by proposing to strike out the words “of any states.” By a strict party vote, the words were kept in the law. The law provides that any person who shall exclude a juror for the above cause shall be fined not more than $5,000. As to the use of federal soldiers at the ballot boxes in the southern states. Representative Webb thought it would be all right if the law provided that this should be done only when the gov ernor of a state called upon the presi dent to furnish troops. His amendment was lost. After it was over. Democrat Leader Williams told a funny story to a group of republicans—it may have been a Ku- Klux Klan story. Anyway, they all enjoyed it, and the battle ended and the amendments stayed put. SOUTHERN REDUCES SALARIES. Cut in Expenses Inaugurated With Officers and Clerical Forces. A Washington special says: The ad ministrative officers of the Southern railway and their clerical forces have felt the pinch of reduced earnings. President Finley Monday announced a cut of 10 per cent in his own salary, that of the vice presidents of the sys tem, all the general officers and their office forces, effective February 1. This is announced as a “step in the program of reducing expenses.” The wage earn ers have not been affected yet. Possi bly the next step will reach them. The decreased earnings of the South ern, as shown by its thirteenth annual report, covering the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, will help to explain the impelling necessity which prompted the executive officers of the road to take this step. The company passed its regular semi annual dividend, due on October 1, 1907, thus saving on this account sl,- 600,000. The appropriations for improvements and betterments were almost cut in half. A dividend of 1 1-2 per cent, amounting to $900,000, was paid out of accumulated surplus on October 17. The decrease in net earnings was very largely brought about by the increased cost of everything from steel rails to labor. The last annual statement does not ahow the effect of the panic of the past few months. It is understood that the loss in revenue has been from $40,000 to $50,000 a week under that of the last fiscal year. FLEET IN BRAZIL PORT. Bob Evans' Sixteen Battleships Anchor at Rio Janeiro and Whole Bunch is Given a Hearty Welcome. The American fleet of sixteen bat tleships entered the port of Rio Janeiro (Brazil) at 3 o’clock Sunday afternoon, after a passage from Port of Spain, Trinidad, more than 3,000 miles, un marred by serious accident, replete with interesting Incidents and ending with a royal welcome from the thou sands that had gathered to greet the visitors. The fleet weighed anchor at 4 o’clock on the afternoon of December 29, at Port of Spain, and exactly at 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon the vessels were swinging at their anchors in Rio Ja neiro's beautiful harbor. The fleet has so far covered about 4,600 miles, about one-third of the distance of the voyage to San Francisco. Early in the morning the crowds be gan to gather in the streets of Rio Janeiro, and long before the signal flags were hoisted announcing the ap proach of the American ships of war, thousands of curious spectators had taken up the points of vantage on pub lic buildings and the elevated quays. When the fleet steamed Into the har bor, under the splendid mountains that frame the bay, beautiful In the tropi cal sun, It was a spectacle incompar able to the eye. The Connecticut, Rear Admiral Ev ans’ flagship, was in the lead, with the Brazilian cruisers, dressed in gala at tire, on either side. PaV.ing the for tresses the Connecticut fired a salute of twenty-one guns, which was respond ed to by the Brazilian warships, the German cruiser Bremen and tho shore guns. The yards and fighting tops were manned and cheers upon cheers were given for the splendid passage of the flagship and her sister ships. As soon as the anchorage was made, the Brazilian minister of marine, Ad miral Alencar, the captain of the port, the American consul, G. E. Anderson, the commandants of naval divisions and the civic authorities, went ou board the Connecticut and extended a hearty welcome to Rear Admiral Ev ans, his officers and men. Not less than 15,000 to 20,000 persons were aboard these boats and more than 50,- 000 others were gathered on shore to celebrate the coming of the fleet. Sun day night the city was beautifully il luminated and a gala occasion was made in honor of the visitors. All the way down from Port of Spain the voyage was an enjoyable one and all on board the ships were well and seemingly happy. To some extent the progress of the fleet was hampered by the strong currents and the swell, poor coal and minor derangements of the auxiliary machinery of several of the ships. Until Friday, the 10th, a uni form speed of ten knots was maintain ed. The speed was then increased to eleven knots and finally to twelve. At midnight on the fifth of January the fleet crossed the equator. FOR PRESERVATION OF FORESTS Great Mass Meeting Will Be Held iu At lanta on January 16th. A monster mass meeting, designed to crystallize southern sentiment in favor of the preservation of the forests of the south will be held in Atlanta on January 16th, when a nuYnber of dele gates representing every section will be present. Enthusiastic plans have already been arranged by the promoters of the big gathering, which will result in a strong delegation being appointed to be pres ent when the Appalachian-White moun tain bill is brought up in congress. FAKE RECEIVERSHIP REPORTS. Southern Railway in No Danger of Col lapse Says J. S. B. Thompson. J. S. B. Thompson, assistant to the president of the Southern railroad, states that the report as sent out from Washington in regard to a receivership for the Southern is without fact or foundation, just as it was declared in that city. ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS KIDNAPED. Twenty-Eight Dagoes Mysteriously “Dis appear” in Louisiana. The Louisiana State Immigration League announced that four Italians, numbering about twenty-eight persona, have been apparently kidnaped. They were enroute from New Orleans to Girard, La., where employment had been secured for them. At Tallusah a man giving the same name us the Girard planter, boarded the train and persuaded the Italians to follow him, since when they have not been heard from. SCORES DIE IN THEATRE FIRE Frightful Holocaust Occurs in Lit tle Pennsylvania Town* MOVING-PICTURE SHOW Large Crowd of Church People Caught to Raging Flames and Many are Cre mated-MaJority Children. A catastrophe, horrifying In its do tails, and sickening In its result, Mon day night swept nearly one hundred souls of Boyerstown, Pa., into eternity in almost the twinkling of an eye, and injured nearly three score, many of them fatally. A majority of tho killed were members of the leading; families of the town. While the “Scottish Reformation’' was being produced in Rhoades’ opera house by a moving picture machine, an oil tank used in the apparatus ex ploded, and fire quickly followed. Immediately there was a wild rush for the exits of the building. Men of mature years endeavored to still the panic, but their voices could not be heard above the shrieks and screams of the terrified women and children who composed the greater part of the audience. The burning oil scattered in all direc tions, and the lamps, which wore used to light the opera house, also exploded, throwing the blazing oil over the ter ror-Btrlcken people who were fighting frantically to gain the exits. The building was crowded with the members of St. John’s Lutheran Sunday school, who were attending a benefit given for that church. The flames, fed by the oil, shot al most to the celling, and there was a wild rush of the seven hundred persons to escape from the burning building. Scores of women and children were trampled upon, aitd several who es caped being burned to death, died af ter being dragged from the opera house. In many cases, it is said, entire fam ilies have been wiped out. The scene which followed the explo sion is indescribable. Scores of per sons who were in the balcony at the time the explosion occurred, jumped from the windows and sustained frac tured limbs and skulls. To add to the terrible disaster, tho fire apparatus became disabled, and the structure was left entirely to tho mercy of the seething flames. Assistance was asked from Potts* town, but before the fire apparatus from that city reached the scene, tho entire center of the structure was a roaring furnace. Had the women and children heeded the warning of the cooler heads in tho audience the horrible loss of life might have been averted, but there was the Usual panic and stampede, which al most Invariably accompanies such a catastrophe. Every home within a radius of a dozen blocks of the opera house was made a temporary hospital, where the wounded were rushed by carriages and other means of conveyance. Boyerstown is a borough with a pop ulation of about 2,500, and is located about midway between Pottstown and Reading, Pa. The night was one of wailing and anguish. The shrieks of mothers who had rushed to the scene as soon as they learned of the fire was pitiful. It Is extremely doubtful If the re mains of the victims can be distin guished from the debris, as many per sons in the audience were covered with burning oil as the lamps exploded. NAVY YARD MEN LOSE JOBS. Nearly One Hundred Have Been Laid Off So Far at Pensacola. Fifty more skilled workmen lost their positions Thursday when there was another reduction in the forces at the Pensacola navy yard at Pen sacola, Fla., making the second to oc cur within the past ten days, and letting out nearly one hundred men, who drew large salaries. The reduction Thursday was in tho department of construction and repair, and the men let out are iron and ship workers. t fi