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had, and the action of the Committee
will not affect my course in any
way.
“The next State Convention will
have authority to speak, and by the
action of that convention it will be
the duty of every good Republican to
abide.
'‘ln the meanwhile we shall have
our municipal elections and the ben
efit of occurring events, in the light
of all which we shall no doubt be
able to act intelligently and satisfac
torily.”
Glenn Fights for Cheap Freight.
Having won a victory over the rail
roads by compelling them to give to
the public the 2 1-4-ccnt passenger
rate, Gov. Glenn, of North Carolina,
has now gone after the roads on the
question of freight charges.
The governor has written a very
plain letter to the various railways,
charging that freight rates are ex
cessive in many cases, as the result
of gross discriminations in favor of
Virginia and against North Carolina.
Gov. Glenn declares to the railroads
that this state must be given gate
ways for her commerce, of which, he
says, it now has none. ,
Though armed with a. large fund
authorized by the legislature for in
vestigating purposes, Gov. Glenn tells
the railroads he wishes, if possible,
to settle the freight rate questions
without litigation.
In answer, the governor received
word from the Atlantic Coast Line,
the Southern, the Norfolk and West
ern and other roads, agTeeing to con
fer with him and the State Corpora
tion Commission on August 9, on
freight rates.
To Make the Turrets Safe.
A special board to devise means
to prevent, if possible, such explo
sions as that aboard the battleship
Georgia, is to be appointed soon by
Acting Secretary of the Navy New
berry. This announcement was made
Mr. Newberry, after he had taken
luncheon with President Roosevelt,
at Sagamore Hill.
Mr. Newberry said:
“The facts as found by the board
which investigated the accident will
be used as a working basis. The new
board will not go into the causes of
the explosion, but will try to find
out how to avoid them in future. It
is hoped that no more such accidents
will be possible when the new plans
are formulated. It will cost a great
amount of money to reconstruct the
turrets in our war vessels, but every
thing possible will be done to make
them safe.”
Schmitz Still Appoints.
Eugene E. Schmitz, the convicted
mayor of San Francisco, made ap
pointments to fill the vacancies cre
ated by the forced resignation of
the members of the Board of Super
visors, claiming the right of appoint
ment on the ground that he is the
lawful mayor. He says the appoint
ments of Mayor Taylor, who was ap
pointed to succeed him when he was
sentencedj to prison for grafting, are
void. /
Schmitz’s appointees are William
Cole, carpenter, Building Trades
Council; T. J. Tierney, cement work
er, Building Trades Council; Thom
as Maxwell, carpenter, Amalgam
ated Carpenters; Henry Sheehan,
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
painter, Building Trades Coun
cil; P. D. Hawthorne, rigger
stevedore, member City Front Fed
eration; J. A. Keagh, musician, La
bor Council; P. W. Myers, machinist,
Labc-i* Council; J. F. Leonard, elec
trician, Labor Council; J. Williams,
master plumber; “J. J. Henry, steam
fitter, Labor Council: John Mc-
Cracken, department store clerk;
Charles L. Berry, printing pressman,
Allied Printing Trades; Charles Har
court, blacksmith, Labor Council. AH
have accepted, or will do so.
Mayor Schmitz made the following
comment on the municipal situation:
“I am exceedingly sorry to see this
Supervisorial tangle, for it is likely
to cause a deal of litigation for the
city and county of San Francisco
for years to come. My own course
is clear. Acting upon the advice of
my attorney, which I believe to be
absolutely legal, I hold that I, as
mayor of San Francisco, have the
sole power of apointment to vacan
cies in municipal offices, and that the
appointive acts of Mr. Edwin B.
Taylor are void and incapable of
legal support.”
Schmitz complained that his pri
vate mail is being opened by Mayor
Taylor. He showed letters address
ed to “Hon. Eugene E. Schmitz,
San Francisco. Personal,” which
had been slit open and marked in
indelible pencil, “Opened by Edward
B. Taylor.”
“This is something that no man
will stand for,” he said.
“I shall take it up immediately
with the authorities at Washington
and press the complaint to the limit
against Mr. Taylor.”
Coney Island Fire Swept.
A fire that wiped Steeplechase
Park practically out of existence and
destroyed 200 buildings, with a loss
of $1,404,000; that sent 2,000 per
sons, screaming and panic-stricken,
into the streets homeless and penni
less; that for a time threatened the
life of the entire amusement city,
swept through Coney Island Sunday
morning between the hours of 4 and
6 o’clock. The origin of the fire is
•.'ascribed to a smouldering cigarette
in a barrel of waste paper stored for
the night beneath the Cave of the
Winds in Steeplechase Park. Coney
Island has been singularly unfortu
nate in the matter of conflagrations.
In the last thirteen years the amuse
ment city has suffered ten fires with
<a total hoss of $4,000,000.
To Protect Bondholders.
Alarmed by notice by the new man
agement of the Central Railway of
Georgia that no interest will be paid
to the holder’s of income-bearing
bonds on the second Monday in Au
gust, when the next instalment of in
terest is due, but that the income will
be used to improve the road, a bill
giving the bondholders the same
voice in the management of the road
as the holders of the common stock
was introduced in the Senate at At
lanta by Senator Overstreet.
The bill was introduced because a
committee representing a large num
ber of Georgia bondholders of the
Central have issued an address to
the Legislature and to the Governor,
in which they state that it is gener
ally believed in New York City that
the Rock Island has secured control
of the Central and that it is their
plan to use the income of the Central
to buy up other properties, which
are to be run at the expense of the
Central.
Japan’s Big Boom Ends in Crash.
In a letter received by the Frank
furter Zeitung, at Berlin, from Tokib,
is told a story of heavy financial
losses, with many industrial com
panies in liquidation. The letter says
that after Japan’s war with Russia,
between July, 1906, and January,
1907, 3,336 new companies were or
ganized with an aggregate capital of
$302,000,000, while 580 old com
panies added $123,000,000 to their
capital.
This industrial movement went on
with increased energy for the first
five months of the year, during which
time 1,169 new companies, with a
total capital of $112,000,000, were
registered, while 249 old companies
absorbed $63,000,000 of new capi
tal.
This excessive activity in establish
ing new companies has been accom
plished by a great wave of specula
tion, all classes, even the poorest, buy
ing stocks on margin. Instead of
the hoped-for advance in prices, how
ever, a sharp fall has occurred, and
distrust has become so marked that
there have been runs on banks. Thir
teen banks were forced to suspend
payment, either temporarily or perma
nently.
The condition of some gave strik
ing evidence to the extent to which
the banks had been stretching their
credit. One bank closed because of
a sudden demand to pay out SIO,OOO
while another, with deposits of sl,-
400,000, could not pay $40,000.
The depression has already been so
severely felt that 175 of the new com
panies went into liquidation in April
and May.
The crisis has been marked by
a heavy fall in stocks, even good div
idend-payers losing greatly. The
shares of the Tokio Railway Com
pany, which has a monopoly of the
electric street car traffic in that city,
are quoted at 76, though its last div
idend was 7 1-2 per cent.
In the Nagoya district, where the
pinch was worst, the banks combined
to check the panic and were strong
ly supported by the National Bank
of Japan, which not Only extended*
aid to shaky private banks, but also
to silk and tea growers.
Negro Lynched.
Jaames Reed, a negro, was lynched
at Crisfield, Md., a few hours after
he had crept up behind Policeman
John 11. Daugherty and shot him
dead.
Saturday night Daugherty arrested
on a warrant a negro named Hillery
Jones, a companion of Reed, and was
taking him to jail. Reed borrowed a
revolver and, catching up with his
friend and the officer, shot the police
man through the head.
The two negroes fled. Reed taking
possession of a bicycle standing near
by. Pursued and fired upon, he
abandoned the wheel and took to a
small sailboat, in which he headed for
Tangier Sound, with the hope, it is
presumed, of reaching Virginia,
Early this morning he was becalmed
in the sound and pursuers, learning
that he was afloat, followed him in
power boats. One of these, on which
were Capt. John Shelton and a posse
of armed men, overhauled Reed about
9 o’clock. The negro jumped over
board and tried to escape by swim
ming, but he was finally captured.
As the boat bearing the negro ap
proached the wharf a crowd gathered
rapidly. There were angry exclama
tions and soon some one struck Reed
a blow with his fist that knocked the
negro senseless. Immediately those
in the crowd pounced upon the pros
trate negro and beat and kicked him
to death.
A rope was then tied to the body
and it was dragged to the scene of
the shooting and hanged to a tele
graph pole.
Mercury at 179 in Texas.
The most terrific heat visitation
ever known in Texas occurred Sun
day at M’Gregor, continuing about
an hour and twenty minutes. The
thermometer registered 179 degrees
in the sun and 117 in the shade. Au
area of three miles long and two
miles wide was affected. The heat
was accompanied by a peculiar haze
which moved over the area affected.
Scores of people were overcome.
Horses, cattle, hogs and poultry drop
ped dead.
Negroes in Bloody Fight.
A dispute over thirteen cents at
a colored church camp at Seaford,
Del., resulted in five negroes being
mortally wounded and more than
twenty others shot and cut with ra
zors. More than one hundred were
in the fight, and the blood which
flowed made a small pond.
Accuses King Leopold.
Major Lemair, who served eigh
teen years in the Congo in command
of native troops, and on return to
Brussels, Belgium, was notified that
he would be prosecuted for cruelty,
is retaliating by publishing a sensa
tional exposure of revolting condi
tions in the native army.
He asserts that the scientific expe
dition he led in 1904 into the Bairel
ghaza region on the northern fron
tier was an expedition for conquest
in disguise, and that King Leopold
gave him personal orders to defeat
Anglo-Egyptian forces coming from
the Soudan at any cost. “I cannot
be held accountable for these acts,”
the major writes. “I only fully car
ried out orders.”
In the throe years and two months
the expedition lasted he says he
caused native soldiers and even their
wives to be flogged. He penetrated
regions never before reached by a
white man, inhabited by wild tribes
and cannibals, and he says nothing
but flogging could preserve the dis
cipline indispensable to the security
and success of an expedition among
brigands accustomed to kill, raid and
capture and to ill-treat women. Tn
every instance of flogging, however,
he faithfully reported the facts and
never received a word of censure. On
the contrary, he was accorded noth
ing but praise for his conduct of this
expedition, and was even decorated
by King Leopold.. No charge was pre
ferred against him until the Govern
ment decided he had been too insist
ent in calling attention to the fright
ful and unchecked abuses in the Con
’ G. N. •
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