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ALL THE NEWS PRICE: Kb^SSS, 40 CENTS »"OT.. XXXVI. NUMBER 109. Gamblers Arrested in Raid Appeal to Mayor Harper FORMER BANK EXAMINER AND FAMILY SLAIN 6REWSOME THIPLE MURDER SHOCKS SEATTLE PROMINENT LAWYER, WIFE AND DAUGHTER THE VICTIMS W. L. Seeley of Illinois May Have Killed Women with Hammer, Then Ended His Life in Bathroom ' [By Associated Press.] SEATTLE, Jan. 17.— W. L. Seeley, an attorney, ana former national "^ bank examiner for Illinois unuw Comptroller of the \ currency Eckels; his wiie. Mrs. Kate M.-Seeiey, a mem ber of toe National society of Uaugn tcrs of the American revolution, and their daughter, Miss Kehe, Seeley; i student at the university of Wash ington, were lounu, braiahy murdered, in a bath room of their home, 307 Eighteenth awnue norm, in the fash ionable Capital hill district, at 1 o'clock this afternoon. They had been dead aim last Tnursday. 'the women, each of whom was clad ii night rooes, had been murdered by a blow on the Head, evidently struck with a hammer. There was no mark of violence on Seeley. He is believed to have been partly chloroformed and then drowned in the bath tub. All three victims were kneeling at the side of the bath tub with their heads submerged in the water. A steamer trunk was on the bodies of Seeiey and his wife. That Seeley killed his wife and daughter while insane over financial worries and then committed suicide is the theory of the coroner and the police. 1 Nightgown Blodstained He was clothed in his underwear, shoes and..trousers. His nightgown, which was stained with the blood of the bodies of the two women, was found beneath a pil low in the room occupied by him and his wife. The pillow on which Mrs. Seeley had been sleeping was saturated with blood. Seeley came here less than two years ago from St. Joseph, Mo. He had lived there two years and had moved there from Ottawa, 111. Seeley had engaged in the practice or' law wherever he had been for the past thirty years. He was 55 years old, his wife about three years his junior and his daughter 22 years old. The bodies were found by Guy M. Smeller, affianced husband of Miss Seeley, and E. R. Zibbell, a friend of ■the ".family. ' • The family could not be communi cated ' with after 9 o'clock Thursday night, when Smelzer talked over the toleohone with Miss Seeley. Efforts to get into communication with them after th it were unsuccess ful. JXiTsHsiii .• The only living thing on the prem ises was a huge black cat, which was locked in the basement, and which since Friday had been fed by neigh bors. Police detectives searched the house for weapons with which the murders had been committed, but were unable to find any blood-stained implement. No article of jewelry or anything of value was taken from the house. Every window and door were found to have been securely locked. DEFEAT OF DEMOCRAT WILL INVOKE RECALL -Opponents of Governor Chamberlain, Whom Voters Selected for Sen ator, Seek to Violate Obli gations - SALEM, Ore., Jan. 17.Oregon's sena torial situation is attaining a critical phase. With the ballot to be taken on Tuesday the Republican opponents of Governor George- E. Chamberlain, a Democrat, are striving to induce enough pledged members to break their obligation to prevent Chamberlain's election. Ormsby McHarg, late of Chicago and South Dakota, is in Portland conferring with the Republican leaders. The re port that he is authorized to assist in the senatorial fight by the administra tion is repudiated, according to advices from Washington. A telegram was received from Secre tary Loeb today stating that the ad ministration has not changed its atti tude toward Chamberlain. A counter fight is to be declared by Republicans supporting Chamber lain. They have announced they will invoke the recall on such members as violate their pledge to Chamberlain, and also on the leaders in the legisla ture who are organizing the fight u»gainst the Democrat. Unless the senator is elected Tuesday the petitions for recall -will be circu lated Wednesday. The recall plan is being attended to by W. S. U'Ren, father of the many advanced ideas which Oregon has adopted. As yet the opponents of Chamberlain have been unable to agree on a Republican as a candidate. ' ./— A conference will be held Monday night at Salem for the purpose of se lecting a candidate if possible. Clara Morris Seriously 111 NEW YORK, Jan. 17.—1t was learned tonight that Clara Morris, the actress, who has been ill for along time, is in a serious condition. A nervous break down caused her illness. Miss Morris, who in private life is Mrs. Frederick C. Harriott, is at her home in Yonkers, N.Y. She is 60 years old. Mine Owners Exonerated BLUE FIELD, W. Va.. Jan. 17.— coroner's jury today decided the explo sion last Tuesday, in Lick Branch mine was caused by an over charge shot of powder and that sixty-five men came to their death through no fault of the company LOS ANGELES HERALD MISSOURIAN URGED TO SUCCEED STRAUS v a_9____-_&£^' -» S^KAR^^^K^G___j| >f» I CO*TR..CrCT, at J_C_STBAUtHT uou.i fJS&fVI scHAßl___S^t««r^GEL| SAY MISSOURI WILL BE REPUBLICAN IF NAGEL GETS OFFICE ATLANTA, Ga., Jan. 17.—1t de veloped today that strong pressure has been brought^to bear on President-elect Taft to appoint Charles Nagel, the well known Republican leader of Missouri, to a position In his cabinet, preferably that of secretary of commerce and labor. The argument is made that if Mr. Tan thus honors the Missouri leader it will place the state permanently in the Republican column. Mr. Taft, however, is urged with equal emphasis to retain Mr. Straus in the office, and while there is nothing stated officially concerning the pros pects of either contestant it is claimed by those who are regarded good phophets that Mr. Taft will make no change, but retain the present secre tary. '■■ THE NEWS SUMMARY FORECAST For Los Angeles and vicinity: Cloudy Monday; light west wind. Maximum temperature yesterday, 76 degrees; minimum, 55 degrees. . LOCAL ■• Raid made early Sunday by police on notorious gabmling joint on South Spring. street causes alleged manager of tiger game to become excited at police station when he found he cou+d not bluff officer in charge. Robbers rifle safe of Japanese proprietor of boarding house on South Rose street and secure $296, two gold watches and some papers. Convalescent man nearly meets death from asphyxiation, resulting from leakage of gaa from bath room heater. Man recovering from spree becomes pos sessed of idea he is being hunted by officers and jumps from window to evade arrest. Cats and poultry to be exhibited simultan eously at Made in Southern California building. Dane arrested on charge of Insanity says he is officer in a society which believes by exterminating the bad people of the world an era of peace will be established. Los Angeles state rifle range offers better advantages and conditions than San Pedro for email arms practice by crew of United States torpedo fleet. Aeronaut Coey plans long aerial flight and the use of an auto for his basket. Man arrested on charge of rifling locker in restaurant puts up desperate fight with wafters. Bicycle performer falls off high wire at Chutes and is injured, but will recover. COAST Storm continues in northern counties; heavy rains fall, but rivers subside; trains are seriously delayed, and much damage re ported, while two deaths are due to collapse of bridge in Yolo county; general situation improved. . California legislature may be unable to hold session today because of inability of enough members to get to Sacramento, as result of floods, to call quorum. Million dollar appropriation for water front im provements in north to be subject of import ant investigation this -week. ■ . ■ Former bank examiner of Illinois and his wife and daughter brutally murdered in bath room of their home at Seattle; bodies found after three days; premises : covered with blood; one theory is that husband while insane murdered wife and daughter .then ended his life. --' • *■ ■*-'• EASTERN Schooner wrecked 'and - entire crew drowned off Long Island in one of the worst gales this winter. Suit against New York publishers, reported to have, been . instituted. by, United States government . at instigation; of , President Roosevelt, now said to have been begun by private individual. Missourians want Taft to appoint Charles Nagel, noted Republican, as secretary of commerce and labor .and say appointment will make state permanently Republican. Year .1908 worst in . world's . history for number and nature of mine disasters. Ships to leave New York today for Mes sina and Reggio laden with lumber for con struction of 500 houses to be donated to earthquage sufferers. j Clara Morris, noted actress, believed to be dying at her home in New York. • Pioneer trapper who first explored Idaho writes word "crazy" and ends life by shoot ing himself in cabin near Idaho City. Debris -of train wreck at Dotsero, ! Colo.. closely searched before being burned and work of aiding injured at Glenwood Springs is superintended by General Manager Ridge way of D. & R. G. railroad. FOREIGN Mass Is said at Reggio for first time since earthquake; relief work progresses admir ably. -, ■ '{„': •i.- Cuba's formal evacuation to take place .with inauguration of new president, Gomez, January 28, when island will resume former government. MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 18, 1909. IS VICE PROTECTED IN LOS ANGELES?—XI • ■ Showing How Corrupt Conditions in Municipalities Are Caused by Evil Influence of the Southern Pacific Political Machine, Which Now Seeks Control of $25,000,000 of Aqueduct Funds i>>|jyHE RECENT press dispatches containing a report of a speech by Mr. Heney in Wmm Philadelphia quote him as saying that' the frightful conditions of graft and cor |^° ruption existing in San Francisco under the Ruef regime were the direct results igfe**^l of the operation of the Southern Pacific Company's political machine in that city. &}£*-■ .'' '■ " --'r^. This may at first 'appear to be a far-fetched deduction, but to any one who has studied the situation in San Francisco and is familiar with the history of politics in California during the past twenty years, it not only does not appear unreasonable but it will be recognized as the only logical explanation of conditions of political corruption and mis rule which the citizens of California and of her greatest cities have so often had occasion to deplore. ' »>_ . IT IS A KNOWN FACT THAT THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC MACHINE AF FILIATED WITH RUEF IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THEN USED THE POL ITICAL POWER WHICH IT HAD HELPED HIM TO ACQUIRE FOR ITS OWN SELFISH PURPOSES AND TO ACCOMPLISH- ITS OWN UNSCRUPULOUS ENDS, BOTH IN CITY AND STATE POLITICS. Men who have studied politics, especially as applied to Municipal Government, know that corruption in ALL governmental affairs is the direct and logical result of the interference of a selfish and self-seeking corporation in the politics of a city or state. The reasons for this result inevitably following are very apparent. No selfish political machine maintained to serve the selfish interests of a corporation can depend upon those interests being served by men of character and self-respect. In order, therefore, to accomplish the purpose of its existence, • a corporation political ma chine must select men for public positions of a character so low, so wanting in self-re spect, so lacking in the appreciation of the obligation which official trust imposes upon them, that they will not hesitate to use the official positions conferred upon them by the power of the machine to their own selfish, and often corrupt, profit or aggrandizement. The history of Ruef's course in San Francisco is a good example of this. Ruef and the creatures whom he selected for office, having been vested with power by the politi cal machine with which they were allied, did not hesitate to use that power to serve their personal ends in any corrupt manner which presented itself. While protecting the in terests of their corporation ally, they served their own interests by grafting on liquor dealers, gamblers, bawdy houses and every other business or occupation that came under their regulation or control. / In the case of Ruef and the corrupt officials who were his associates, as in the case of every other corrupt politician who has been put and kept in power and place by a cor poration political machine, it appeared to be recognized that so long as they served the interests of the corporation whose tools they were they were at liberty to corruptly use their positions for their own personal profit and emolument in any direction open to them. The conditions in Los Angeles as they have been detailed by The Herald seem to in dicate a somewhat similar result flowing from like causes. The Herald has shown the influences which were behind Mayor Harper's election to the position of Mayor of this city. It has shown very conclusively also his willingness to serve those influences, and it is equally certain that it has shown that he has not hesitated to use his official position for his private personal advantage in such a way as to demoralize, disorganize and dis grace the administration of the affairs of the municipality of which he was the executive head. \ No person who has read the plain statement of facts contained in the installments of local political history which The Herald has heretofore published can for a moment doubt that Mayor Harper and some of his appointees to official positions in the city have used their influence, and have permitted others to use it, for the purpose of financing private business interests. In doing this it is shown that the men into whose hands were entrusted the sacred duty of enforcing the city's laws have been brought into direct and intimate business association with men directly and financially interested in breaking those laws. » ■ The action of the Mayor and some of his Police Commissioners resulted, as has been shown, in associating those gentlemen with R. F. Goings and "Chowder House Jim" Dunne by virtue of stock ownership in a business enterprise in which the Mayor and some of his Police Commissioners were largely interested. That Goings and Dunne not only violated the laws and police regulations of the city but also every law and rule of decency and morality in the manner in which they have conducted businesses in the city which were under the direct supervision and control of the Mayor, his Police Commission and the Chief of Police, all of whom were associated with them in a private business enterprise, has been shown beyond question and will not and cannot be denied. While The Herald has selected the places maintained by Goings and Dunne for spe cial mention in its articles, these places were not by any means all of the places of a sim ilar character that have been run in violation of law under the administration of Mayor Harper, his Police Commission and the Chief of Police. Conditions equally bad have ex isted in other places that The Herald might name did space permit, and the law has been more or less violated by a large number of persons who have become associated with the Mayor and those men whom he has either appointed or kept in official positions as we have heretofore.shown. The whole matter simply resolves itself into this: That the city of Los Angeles, in the administration of its municipal affairs, has been going through the same experience to which so many other cities and states have been treated as a result of the interference in politics of special interests and the political power of corrupt corporation political machines. Men have been selected and put into office by those machines whose character was such that they could be depended upon to serve the selfish interests of the cor porations back of them. These men have used their official positions as men of such character and caliber will always use such positions, and that is, for their own individual advantage and to the injury of the people whose interests they were elected to serve. While Los Angeles has, in the past, suffered more or less from the interference in her municipal government by selfish and self-seeking corporate interests, that influence, so far as The Herald is advised, has never produced such far-reaching end disastrous results as it has under the present city administration. And certainly the opportunity has never heretofore existed for its producing such serious disaster as it will cause in the immediate future unless it is scotched, for the reason that the city government has never heretofore had to deal with matters of such transcendent importance as those that now face it. No city ever had an interest more vital in importance, and few ever had an interest larger in a financial way, subject to the control of its city government, than this city now has in the Owens River Aqueduct, and few city governments have ever controlled an enter prise which would afford more attractive and profitable opportunities for grafting by dis honest and incompetent officials and the political machine controlling them than does this great undertaking of the city, involving as it does the expenditure within the next four years of something like $25,000,000. , What the fate of that enterprise, as well as of the other interests of the city, will be, if left to the control of the present city administration may be judged by the manner in which that administration has up to the present time discharged its duty of guarding and protecting the city's interests and enforcing the laws upon whose enforcement the city's welfare depends. , The Herald does not consider it necessary to enter into any argument to show not only the evils with which the city is now contending but the very great danger which confronts it for the future. . V^ The Herald has not, of course, devoted the time and care which it has expended upon calling attention to the disease without also giving some consideration to the remedy which must be applied. yl\t&. • : -^ "* - That remedy, as The Herald see it, will be suggested in tomorrow's issue. SINGLE COPIES- »»»v. 2 P: SIN 1) -- JX^^VJixjiJ V>v-/X J_l_o . ON TRAINS. 5 CENTS 'CALL UP A. C., HE'LL SHOW YOU,' SHOUTS MORRIS TO POLICE Three Prisoners Escape from Cen tral Station While Gamblers Sit in Corridor Awaiting Their Bondsmen OFFICERS ALLOW EVIDENCE TO BE REMOVED FROM THE BUILDING Fifteen Men Arrested in Apex Club Gaming Resort Which Long Has Flourished Within Two Blocks of Headquarters—Had Claimed to Be Immune * from Molestation by Officials Amazing Happenings at Police Station After Gambling Raid GAMBLERS at notorious Apex club arrested and taken to Cen tral station, and Eddie Morris, who chartered club, de mands that police appeal to Mayor Harper, who, he intf mated, would order gamblers released. Gamblers bail three of their number with money seized by police in the raid. Three thus bailed obtain all incriminating evidence from the others while the prisoners were seated in the corridor, and when the police searched the prisoners they found— NOTHING. WHILE BEING GUARDED BY POLICE IN THE COR RIDOR OF THE STATION THREE OF THE PRISONERS NOT YET ADMITTED TO BAIL, DELIBERATELY WALK OUT OF THE STATION AND ESCAPE. ' can't do this! What does j this mean? Who ordered this -*- done?" panted Eddie Morris as he rushed almost breathless into the central police station at 2 o'clock Sun day morning and hastened to the lieu tenant's office, while fifteen men were being booked after a raid on the notori ous Apex club at 118% South Spring street. ' "I want to see the man responsible for this!" shouted Morris when he could get his breath. "The chief ordered this raid," quietly said an officer. "You call up the mayor about this thing," said Morris, lowering his voice, but adding to its dramatic intensity. "He'll tell you what to do." The officer addressed made no reply. "Here's the number, you call up 'A. C Lieut. Williams, who was in charge at the station, refused to call up the mayor or take any orders from Morris. Morris disappeared, presumably to do a little telephoning of his own. He re appeared in a few minutes and stood in the lieutenant's office, his eye shifting from the official in charge to the tele phones. Presently a ring came: "Hello!" «« ?'» "Yes, I am in charge." " •>" "I had nothing to do with it. There are fifteen men under arrest." " *>»» "Yes, they are here. We are booking them." "No, sir; I don't see how I can do that." " ?" "It is not customary in such cases. I don't see how " " ?" "Yes, we will release them, but it wil! be upon bail." ■' 7" "Upon their own recognizance? We can't do that, sir. It is not customary in case of men caught gambling." " rtj 77>» "Well, I .will do what I can, but they will have to give bail." " hi ???" "I can't do that, but I'll do the best I can." Lieut. "Williams hung up the receiver and looked wearily about him. Chartered by Morris The Apex club has long been known about town as a gambling den. located over the Davy Crocket saloon, char tered more than a year ago by Eddie Morris, the discredited political boss of the Second ward. It has been run, under his direction, by George Bently, Ralph Cotton and Al Kennedey, Salt Lake gamblers whom the police drove from that city. The place was raided by police officers acting under the direc tion of Chief of Police Thomas H. Broadhead. Paraphernalia for the separation of the casual victim from his money, in any style which he preferred, were found and confiscated in the / club rooms. Fifteen men were arrested and the bank roll of three games taken as evidence. Altogether it was a well planned and well executed raid,- but negligence in. handling the prisoners properly after they had been taken ..to the central police station, it is believed, spoiled some of the good effect of the coup. The Apex club was chartered March 1, 1907,' and since that time has been run as a gambling house, and everyone, whether a member of the club or not, who had money to wager on any of the games run there could get in if he was' "prdperly introduced" or appeared to be "all right." <• "■■ In a handsomely furnished front room overlooking the street was a faro table 2 CENTS with check rack, easekeeper's rack lay out and everything necessary to furnish the sport full opportunity of "buckm-* the tiger." Smokecraft Appears In an adjoining room were a "crap table, stud poker table, blackjack tabl and one or two smaller tables for draw poker. In a rear room were tables for draw poker, a well stocked sideboard the chief articles of whit were whisky and BOXES OF PERFECTO SIZE OF "SMOKECRAFT" CIGARS. When the police descended on the place Sunday morning the stud poker game and the blackjack game were going in full blast, and the crap table with a' bank roll of $175 was uncovered and ready for business. In the stud poker game $150 was found to be the bank roll, and in a desk used by George Bently, the house manager, was $675 to supply the faro game incase anyone wished to play at that seductive pas time. There have been many efforts, it la said, on the part of the police to gain an entrance to this club and secure evi dence of gambling going on there Heretofore it is said that this has been found impossible because of the fact that every man allowed in the place had first to be "properly introduced." There is something strange about this assertion, however, because a Herald reporter, who had not been "properly introduced," in fact had hot been in troduced at all, was in the gambling rooms and witnessed the play Saturday night, four hours before the raid began. Herald representatives have been in the Apex club and have reported what was going on there. There was little diffi culty in making this investigation.' In experienced men, who looked like "corn eous with money," never failed to gain entrance. In fact the "surethingers" in Mr. Morris' employ seemed eager to get strangers in the city into their place. i Sunday morning two men who were recently put to work on the police force gained an easy entrance to the place, and after they were inside a signal was given to Patrolmen Oker and Berchtold outside, and they, at the head of a squad of officers, rushed 1 the place and arrested Bently, Cotton and Kennedy and T. C. "Butch" Tilley and eleven players. Panic Fellows There was consternation when the officers descended on the place, for it has long been boasted that because Eddie Morris was the head and front of the concern the police would keep their hands off. "We are police proof," the managers of the house have told timid players. "Eddie Morris stands between us and the police. Why, we have been running nearly two years, and you never heard of any policeman bothering us." It required three trips of the patrol wagon to take the prisoners and the gambling outfits to the central station. When the players were arrested each man had a stack of chips in front of him, which the officers ordered tnem to put in their pockets so that the evi dence would be found on each man when searched at the station. The first wagonload of prisoners had not arrived at the station house before Eddie Morris was there protesting at the raid, and at locking any of the men up. He stated that he would at once provide bail for all of them, and while the name of each man was taken none of them was searched, and by direction of Lieut. George Williams, who was in charge, the men were allowed to sit in the hallway until bail was provided for them. Morris then asked one of the raiding officers to call up Mayor Harper about the raid, saying: "Here is his tele phone number; call up A. C." The of ficer refused to call the mayor in refer ence to the matter, and Morris disap peared, went j to the nearest telephone and called up some mysterious person age, telling of the raid. A few minutes later "some mysteri ous person" called up Lieutenant Wfl- (Continued on Page Three)