The San Francisco call. [volume], June 29, 1896, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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VOLUME LXXX-KO. 29.
DEMOCRACY NEARING A CRISIS
Threats of Party Leaders
Have Increased the
Bitterness.
SILVER FORCES WILL
NOT YIELD.
Dawn of a Transitional Epcch
for the Party Founded by
Jtffcrson
DISMAL OUTLOOK FOR PEACE
AT CHICAGO.
Western and Southern Men Will Die
tale to New Ergland and
New York.
CHICAGO, 111., Jane With the
. speeding of time toward the day when the
great Democratic National Convention of
1896 will assemble in the Coliseum at Jack
son Park, the sectional feeling within the
ranks of the party is becoming more pro
nounced. It has been encouraged to such
an extent by the threats of leaders of all
- factions that the flames of insurrection in
the Democratic camp may break forth at
any moment. The silver men, who are to
day easy masters of the situation, refuse to
take gold as a remedy for their ills, while
the so-called sound-money economists are
moving heaven and earth to force the
issue to a satisfactory and happy end.
The white metal adherents have raised
the battle-cry that the Ease, which has so
long controlled, the financial destiny of
the country, is determined to continue its
career of domination and coercion over the
South and West, and addresses have been
issued to delegates from the Mississippi
Valley and the States beyond the Missouri
to stand firm until the last shot has been
fired.
But is the hand of the East actually
raised against the West and the South?
That is the question which the wiseacres
of the party are discussing in Chicago on
this quiet Sabbath. The consensus of
opinion is that there is no enmity between
these sections. There is, however, a dif
ference of sentiment on certain great is
sues now betore the country, and this sec
tional and individual thought will cer
tainly find expression at the gathering of
the Democratic boats in the Coliseum next
week. In come breasts the feeling of re
sentment toward the great power of the
fEast is found to be strong, passionate,
bitter; others are generous of mind, mild
of manner and even of temper. Some
even hint at secession. But they are the
thoughtless and irresponsible persons who
know not whereof they speak.
It is only justice to the major portion of
the Eastern people, who are exceptionally
honest in their opinions and convictions,
to say that they have a fair conception of
the vastness and natural wealth of the
great Western empire and the restless en
ergy of its people. They realize the sturdy
character of the men who were the pio
neers of oar Western civilization. They
prais the dauntless courage of the heroes
who explored our mountains and valleys,
tracked our streams, settled our frontiers
and fought our Indian wars. They read j
the stories of romance and adventure so
minutely interwoven with the West but* a
quarter and ball century ago, and then
marvel at the great cities teeming with j
thousands of hustling people that have
sprung up on the Western borders and on
the Pacific Coast in that short time.
j Indeed, the phenomenal growth of the j
West has profoundly impressed the peo- !
pie of the East and they have undimin
lshed faith in its future greatness.
But the financiers of the East argue that I
their confidence in and friendliness for the ]
West must not mislead them to the altar
of the silver calf just because the West de
mands it. They add, with goodness of j
soul, that they will do so just as soon as
the other great nations of the world ac
cept bimetallism, and now that European
monarchs are spending their vacations
reading essays on the double standard
some of the readers of The Call may live
to witness the close of this merry war.
Meanwhile the "honest-money" Demo
crats propose to carry the battle into
Africa if need be to win their point. With
them there is no surrender. While the
Governor Claude Matthews of Indiana, Who Aspires to Head the Democratic
National i icket.
The San Francisco Call.
silver men already claim a Waterloo, the
gold bues are actively hostile. It is cer
tain that neither side will abandon the
field until victory has been won.
Ex-Secretary of the Navy Whitney of
New York will arrive at the Auditorium
on Thursday. He will lead the gold fac
lion. Against him, as the commander of
the silver forces, will be Governor Altgeld,
who is billed to arrive at the Sherman to
morrow. Mr. Harrity, Mayor Quincy of
Boston, who conducted the literary bureau
of President Cleveland's last campaign,
and Benjamin B. Smalley of Vermont are
both coming to Chicago with Mr. Whit
ney.
There is much speculation as to who the
chairman of the National Committee will
name for temporary chairman. The sil
ver men say that any good Democrat who
has not been actively opposed to their in
terests will satisfy them.
Chairman Walsh of the lowa State Cen
tral Committee, whose particular mission
in Chicago is to secure the nomination of
ex-Governor Boies, said it would not make
any difference whether Mr. Harrity favoied
the sound money or silver Democrats; for,
no matter who is temporary chairman, the
majority of the convention will form the
permanent organization after its own
fashion.
"Mr. Whitney may think he is going to
run things in this convention," said Mr.
Walsh, "but he will find out after he has
been in Chicago twenty-four hours that he
has undertaken the most stupendous task
of his life. Everything he has done and
said up to the present time has been cal
culated to excite tbe antagonism of silver
Democrats of the West and South, who
feel that they are standing for a principle.
And in taking Harrity into conference at
his home he is making it apparent that he
is intriguing to secure control of the Na
tional Committee, so that he may name
the temporary officers of the convention.
Harrity can go into that plan if he wishes,
but I will make the prophecy right here
that the National Committee will not at
tempt to check the will of a majority of
the delegates to the convention. If it
does, the convention may take it into its
head to deprive the committee of some of
the powers that are now vested in it. "
"Has lowa any candidate for temporary
chairman?
"That is a matter we have not consid
ered yet. lowa, I think, will not stand in
the way of any good man being named to
preside over the convention until it is
permanently organized, so long as he is a
j good Democrat. Our mission here is to
I secure the nomination of Horace Boies
I for President of the United States."
With this feeling of resentment and an
tagonism in the party it is apparent that
the crisis of a great transitional epoch for
the National Democracy is at hand and
the largest experience and wisdom are in
demand. Frank McGuikk.
BLAND IN THE LEAD.
One Hundred and Six Delegates
Are Instructed for the
Senator.
CHICAGO. 111., June 28.— Sunday was
a quiet day in politics in Chicago, and
news was rather poor picking: — not even
of the spare-rib order — but good. Most of
the Democratic news is being churned in
New York, whose Democracy seems to be
in a rather feverish state, notwithstand
ing all the efforts of Drs. Whitney and
Hill to cure it with a dose of gold.
The handful of delegates here went to
church this morning, and after luncb
were lured to the lake, which is now beau
tifully blue, and found themselves on
steamboats plowing through the water,
with brass bands playing and pretty
girls smiling, so the down-town
hotels and the belated newspaper corre
spondents were left alone in their glory.
It will not be until toward the middle of
the weefc that anything of mucti impor
tance, in a political sense, will be doing
here. We are on the battle-ground before
the hostile armies bave arrived, and we
hear once in a while ihe report of a rifle
from the direction of the picket lines, the
yell of an enraged soldier and the groan of
a wounded one. New York is furnishing
all the yells and groans just now, because
there is a feeling in the air that tne con
vention will be likely to ignore the wishes
or the advice of the Knickerbocker State.
The silver Democrats have a sufficient
number of votes to carry things with a
high hand in the convention, and it is be
lieved that they propose to do business in
their own way without awaiting the
pleasure of New York, which State has
hitherto dominated the Democratic party.
If the silver men believe that it is neces
sary or expedient to repeal the time
honored two thirds vote, which has been
in vogue about a half-century, they will
SAIST FRANCISCO, MONDAY MORNING, JUNE 29, 1896.
DOES WILLIAM CANUTE WHITNEY HOPE TO STAY THE INRUSH OF THE SILVER TIDE?
do so. The rule is simply usage, and a
majority at any time may change the
usage. They are not eoing to allow a cold
man to head tt>e ticket, no matter what
contingency may arise, and it seems likely
that Mr. Bland, who has been so promi
nently the champion of silver, will have
the advantage over ail the other candi
dates for the Presidential nomination for
that reason.
The friends of Boies of lowa and Mat
thews of Indiana are putting up a good
fight and are hopeful, but the best infor
mation that I can gather is that Bland is
in the lead, with Boies a good second.
There is also some Cleveland smoke in the
air, and from the large quantity of it I
should judge there was considerable third
term fire behind it.
It will be remembered that Cleveland
has never yet announced himself as being
opposed to the third-term proposition.
He would, of course, be acceptable to Wall
street and the goldbug crowd that fought
against McKinley in the St. Louis conven
tiop, but if bis name ev?r leaves the lip 1 ?
of any of the speakers in the coming con
vention there will be a demonstration the
reverse of flattering to Cleveland and his
friends. That divinity that doth hedge in
a king does not hedge in a President dur
ing hard times and under the baleful influ
ence of a tariff for revenue only. From
all indications, it will not hedge in this
Democratic National Convention.
Such is the temper of the few delegates
here. Such are the forecasts ticked over
the wires from all parts of the Union,
Mr. Bland has 106 delegates instructed
for him, and in this respect he is better off
than any of the other gentlem en who are
named as his competitors. It is under
stood that he is opposed to such a revolu
tionary proceeding as the abrogation of
the two-thirds rule. It will hardly be nec
essary, however, to resort to so violent a
procedure.
Notwithstanding the array of numbers
against them, the gold men are going to
make a shrewd and determined fight
under mask. The scheme is to announce
themselves as bimetallists, and to try to
convince the convention into the adoption
of a plank declaring for bimetallism by in
ternational agreement. This will satisfy
the gold men, and at the same time will
be acceptable to the conservative element
of the silverites— if such an element shall
appear in this convention.
William C. Whitney of New York will
be put forward as the standard-bearer of
the bimetallists, but he has a rocky road
to travel, for the majority sentiment of
the convention is free coinage on a basis
of 16 to 1.
Henry Teller of Colorado does not make
even a ripple on the surface of the politi
cal pool. He has no more chance of a
nomination than a cat in Helvetia without
claws on the smooth side of a glacier.
There are enough rabid silver men in the
Democratic party to choose from without
going over to a shelved Republican or a
raw Populist.
Up to the present writing, the aspect of
things political is thuswise: Bland in the
lead, the silver men in complete control
and the New YorK Democracy in a condi
tion similar to that of the New York Re
publicans in the St. Louis Convention —
without hope and without influence.
Myron D. King, private secretary to
Governor Matthews ot Indiana, is early
in the field in behalf of the Presidential
aspirations of his friend and employer. 1
had a talk with him at the Palmer House
to-day, and found him full of hope, and
energized with a full head of boom steam.
He said, in answer to questions, that sil
ver was going to dominate the convention,
but he did not expect that any of the gold
men would bolt. His confidence in the
true blue Democracy of all the delegates
was such that he felt assured that they
would abide by the will of the majority.
He had heard that the idea of rescinding
the two-thirds rule had been mentioned,
but he was not aware that it was being
seriously considered. Ttfe convention by a
majority vote could make its own rules,
and that matter would probably be the
first to come befcre the convention after
the report of the committee on creden
tials.
Mr. King was of the opinion that the
contest cases would be but few in number.
The most important were between a silver
and a gold delegation in Nebraska, be
tween two silver delegations in Nevada and
a contest in Michiean between silver ana
gold. His latest estimate of the strength
of the two factions was 578 silver and 328
gold; but in case the unit rule should be
broken the silver men will have 610 or 612
votes. It is likely that the unit rule will
be broken, silver being in the majority.
Mr. King did not think that Vice-Presi
dent Stevenson bad any strength. The
men most actively and in
tbe fight were Matthews, Boies and BlanJ.
This was the order in which Mr. King
named them, and he doubtless believed
that thie was the order of their strengtn,
Matthews being his man.
Such are the comforting delusions of
partisanship; and it is well that such de
lusions exist, because otherwise there
would be no battles if one side were bereft
of hope.
"Matthews of Indiana will certainly
have the logic of the situation," remarked
Mr. King cheerfully.
There is no dcubt that Mr. King was
right. Whether victorious or defeated
Governor Matthews will have the logic of
the situation, whatever the well-sounding
phrase may mean.
Chairman Harrity of tbe National Com
mittee will be here on Wednesday, and then
practical politics, as understood by the
Democracy, wilt begin to be done.
Among the guests at tbe Auditorium
are Mrs. Samuel M. Wilson an<l her grand
sou, Samuel M. VV'ilsor', U>it, o: Sr.z.
Francisco. They are on their way to the
East. John Paul Cosgbavb.
"COIN" PLANS A COMBINE.
General Partition of Spoils to the
Factions Opposed to
McKinley.
ASHLAND, Wis., June 28. — W. H.
("Coin") Harvey, in an interview here
yesterday, said:
"I am trying to combine the Democrats,
silver Republicans and Populists, and
have suggested the following plan to the
leaders of tbe parties: For Presidenton the
Democratic ticket "Silver Dollar" Bland
of Missouri. If elected give him the ap
pointment of one Cabinet officer only —
Secretary of State. Let the Democrats in
dorse the Populist nominee fur Viue-I're.-i
-dent on the Populist ticket— Senator Ma
rion Butler of North Carolina. Let. the
Populists indorse the Democratic nominee
for President. Let Mr. Butler, if elected,
dictate the appointment of Secretary of
the Inferior, Secretary of Agriculture, S< c
retary of War and Secretary of the Navy.
Concede to the silver Republicans three
Cabinet positions— Senator Teller of Colo
rado, Secretary of the Treasury; John
Caidwell of the United States Circuit
Court, Attorney-General, and Mayor Pin
gree of Detroit, Posmaster-General.
"The silver cause is desperate, and we
can't beat McKinley unless we combine
as I have indicated, i have suggested the
plan to Altgeld. Bland and other leaders,
but i? has not been made public yet. I
tell the Democrats not to make their plat
form too Democratic. They cannot win
as Democrats, but as a combined Dem
ocracy, Populist and silver Republican. I
am in favor of Bland for President, be
cause his name is a platform in itself, just
as McKinley's name is a whole platform.
"The intention of our forefathers in
establishing our electoral system was that
the electors should be elected as they are
now, and that they should then meet,
and, after discussion, vote for whom they
wished. There is no law compelling an
elector to vole for any man. It is simply
custom. Now I want to tell you that if
the Democrats, Populists and free-silver
Republicans do not get together as I have
indicated they will ultimately combine in
the electoral college.
"The plan I suggest of dividing Cabinet
offices among these parties and of the dis
tribution of Cabinet officers will take care
of eight States. Pinjrree can carry Michi
gan, Teller half a dozen Western States
and Caldwell can carry lowa and the
Southwest. There are 10,000 Republicans
in lowa who want to vote for Caldwell.
There are eight Cabinet positions, and
their distribution in this way beforehand
would carry eight doubtful States for
silver." ,
HARTMAN'S SCHEME.
Would Bind Montana Electoral Can
didates to Vote for Teller
and None Other.
BUTTE, Mont.. June 28.— Congressman
Charles S. Hartman to-day addressed a
long public letter to Senator Lee Mantle,
chairman of the Republican State Com
mittee, outlining bis plan of campaign in
the interest of free coinage, and giving no
tice that he will introduce his plan in the
form of resolutions to the State Conven
tion. After relating his position and the
positions, past and present, of the Repub
lican party on the silver question, he says
he deeply regrets the necessity which im
pels him to decline to aid in perpetuating
the gold standard, with its legitimate and
consequent evils, upon the producers and
wage-earners of this country.
The substance of his plan for Republican
! silver men is to "vote for the electoral
ticket which will, in my judgment, be
nominated to procure the election o*
Henry M. Teller. Mr. TeUer is a platform
in himself. His record as a protectionist
is read with pride by every advocate of the
great principle, and as a leader of the bi
metallic forces he is the natural and log
ical candidate for President.
"I shall present to the State Convention
a resolution instructing the electors nom
inated by it to vote for Mr. Teller for
President and for no other man who is not
in favor of the free and unlimited coinage
of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and also in
structing the present representative in the
| Fifty-fourth Congress that in the event
the election should be thrown into the
House of Representatives, that he shall
vote for Henry M. Teller and no other
man who is not unequivocally in favor of
the free and unlimited coinage of silver at
the ratio of 16 toL"
Mr. Hartman's plan to keep the silver
Rpublicans within the party lines is vig
oroujly opposed by Hon. Thomas G. Mer
rill, treasurer of the American Bimetallic
Union. Mr. Merrill said in a interview
to-day that it would be the surest way to
throw the election into the House of Rep
resentatives where 28>£ votes would be
caat for a gold standard man and 16 fora
bimetallism and making positive the elec
tion of a gold man.
PANIC VS. NO PANIC.
How Delegate Wallace Views the
Issues Before the Democratic
National Convention.
CHICAGO, 111., June 28.— Hugh C. Wal
lace, delegate at large from the State of
Washington and a member of the Demo
cratic National Committee, who arrived
to-day from New YorK, where he has been
in conference with Mr. Whitney and other
sound money leaders, says:
"The talk of gold men coming to Chi
cago to buy silver delegates is all bosh.
There will be no attempt to coerce nor
will there be any unfair means used.
There will be a host of strong, earnest
Democrats from the East and other locali
ties of National prominence and leader
ship, who will come to dissuade the silver
leaders from party suicide. They will show
conclusively that the adoption of a 16 to 1
platform by the convention will mean an
nihilation of the Democracy of New York,
Connecticut and New Jersey. There are
those who believe these States liave been
tne bulwarks of Democracy in the past and
are ebsential in the future.
"Shpuld the convention adopt a 16 to 1
platform and nominate a silver candidate
it will not be thirty, days before the issue
is clearly defined and reduced to panic vs.
no panic, with the result tbat the com
bined business interests of the country
will be arrayed against that candidate
whose election means panic. No party
has ever succeeded with the business inter
ests of the country arrayed against it. It
la a long time between now and election
and the waae-earners of the country will
have abundant opportunity to reflect
whether their wages shall be paid in fifty
cent dollars."
HOPEFUL FOR SILVER.
Senator Jones of Arkansas Not
Alarmed by the Stand Chair
man Harrlty Has Taken.
CHICAGO, 111., June 28. — Senator
James K. Jones of Arkansas arrived in
Chicago to-day to attend the meeting of
the Bimetallic Democratic Convention
called for Tuesday next. Mr. Jones said
to-niL'ht that, the committee had a great
deal of work before the opening of the
convention.
"The outlook is very encouraging for
the free silver people," he said, "and we
are quite hopeful. It is our desire to sound
the opinions of delegates and take a view
of the situation further before the conven
tion is called to order. The gold element
is well organized. We wish to be pre
pared to look niter the appointment of
committees and see that we get a fair show
in that direction.
"I have read that Chairman Harrity ex
pects to exclude certain silver men from
the convention. I doubt that Mr. Harrity
has made such a statement, but if he has
we wish to know it. Tbe majority of the
National Committee are gold men, but I
do not think they will try to carry the
convention high handed."
WHITNEY A BOODLER.
Governor Altgreld's Opinion of the
Cold Advocates From East
ern States.
SPRINGFIELD, 111., June 28.— 1n re
ply to a question as to what he thought
DEATH IN A COLLIERY SHAFT,
of William C. Whitney's interview of
yesterday on the political outlook, Gov
ernor Altgeld said to-night:
"Nothing. I have nothing to say about
it. I have read it, but do not care to go
into any argument over it. The American
people are not ready to become the vas
sals of the English money-lenders and
their American agents.
"The policy which the Government has
pursued for more than twenty years at the
instance of these Eastern speculators com
pels the producers and consumers of this
country, who bear all its burdens, to give
those English money-lenders $2 worth of
labor, $2 worth of property and $2 worth
of their' life blood for each $1 that they
ever get from those Englishmen. This is
destroying our country, and the Demo
cratic party intends to condemn this
policy in most emphatic terms, and no
matter how much boodle those Eastern
speculators may be willing to spend they are
going to have a very difficult time in try
ing to prevent the party from expressing
its honest convictions on this subject."
PURCHASE OF ST. THOMAS.
One Clause In the St. Louis Plat-
form Causes a Sensation In
Denmark.
LONDON, England, June 28. — The
Times will to-morrow publish a dispatch
from Copenhagen saying that the sugges
tion in tbe Republican platform adopted
by the St. Louis convention, that the
United States should purchase the Danish
colonies in the West Indies, creates some
sensation. It is believed that the Ameri
cans covet St. Thomas for a naval station.
The consensus of opinion in Danish cir
cles is that the Government is prepared to
sell at a suitable price.
The Times, in an article which it will
publish to-morrow, will indorse the cur
rency views expressed by the Hon.
W T illiam C. Whitney, but will say it re
gards his threat to secede from the Demo
cratic party as a last despairing effort to
stem the tide of silver sentiment and to
save the situation at the Chicago conven
tion. Possibly, for strict electioneering
purposes, the paper adds, the adoption of
a silver programme at Chicago will be a
good political move, but tbe Democrats
are in a tight corner and are not likely to
triumph in November.
JEROME ROWAN A SUICIDE
The Father of the Actress Who
Challenged Corbett Ends
His Life.
Gives His Reasons in a Letter Which
His Wil w R- loses to Make
Pub'ir.
BATAVIA, N. V.. June 28.— Jerome
Rowan, an ex-banker and father of Miss
Lansing Rowan, a California actress, who
has challenged Corbett to meet her in a
scientific sparring match, committed sui
cide yesterday in a baru in the rear of his
home in this village by shooting himself
through the heart. He left a letter ad
dressed to his wife, the contents of which
she declined to ruakp public.
Mr. Rowan was an eccentric man.
Some are of the opinion that his
daughter's challenge caused the act.
Miss Rowan has made her home with an
uncle in Los Angeles, Cat, since she was a
child. Mr, Rowan was t>6 years of age.
CHICAGO'S BOLD FOOTPADS.
Four Men Raid a Saloon and Attack
the Proprietor and One Is
Wounded.
CHICAGO, 111., June 28.— The thir
teenth hold-up of the series now running
resulted, about 10 o'clock to-night, in the
wounding of Rudolph Stiechel, a saloon
keeper at Kinsie and Leavitt streets,
whom four men attempted to rob, and in
the wounding of one of the bandits, who,
however, escaped with the rest of the gang.
Mr. Stiecliel was< cut about the head by a
wine bottle that one of the robbers broke
on his skull, and as the latter fled the
saloon-keeper, kneeling behind his bar,
hit the robber with a bullet. Frank Keer,
a customer, narrowly escaped death, a
bullet from the robbers revolver lodging
in a watch he carried in an upper pocket
of his vest directly over his heart.
When the bandits fled Officers Gretza of
the Warren-avenue station, Dudley of the
West Chicago-avenue station and* Watch
man Boss of the Panhandle Railway pur
sued them down the Northwestern
tracks, the fugitives finne behind them
and the officers emptying their revolvers
after them. Boss is certain that one of
his bullets hit the smaller of the men, as
he saw him stagger between two freight
cars. Search of the yards by officers failed
to reveal any trace of the wounded man
or his companion.
SIX PERSONS REORNED.
Taeht Capsize* Tturing a Gale on Lake,
ShotP'fno, Wis.
OCONTO, Wis., June 28.— During a gale
which prevailed on Showano Lake last
night a yacht containing nine persons was
capsized, and six were drowned. Their
names are: Margaret Crowe, St. Nazianz.
Wis. ; Mrs. Herman Drackery, Pnlciver,
Wis.; Louis Gokey, Puiciver, Wis.; Mrs.
Louis Gokey, Puiciver, Wis.; Miss Emma
Garbrech', Showauo, Wis.; Mrs. 0. A.
Risurn, Puiciver, Wis.
The party was on its way to the north
shore of the lake for a few days' outing.
The bodies of none of the drowned have
been recovered, as there is still a high
wind on the lakes, which makes it almost
impossible for boats to accomplish any
thing. Searching parties are being organ
ized, and the work of looking for the
bodies will be prosecuted as Boon as the
wind aoates.
Financial A.id for Labor* Caute.
BROCKTON, Mass.. June 28.— The Cen
tral Labor Union to-night voted financial
aid to the Trades Assembly of Kansas
City, to be used by tie Coopers' Union in
its fight against an injunction, said injunc
tion c>eing the ca?e of the Armour Pack
ing Company serving a notice on its fire
men in the struggle for shorter hours and
higher wages.
Wife Murder and Suicide.
NEW LONDON. Cokn., June 28.— James
Romkey last night killed his wife and
then took his own life. They had been
living apart, and although Romkey had
repeatedly asked his wife to return to him
she refused to do so.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
Scores of Men Entombed
a Thousand Feet Below
the Surface.
CRUSHED OR IMPRISONED
BY CAVING EARTH.
Walls of a Mine Give Way as
Workmen Are Propping
Them With Pillars.
CUT OFF IN ALL DIRECTION 3
FROM ESCAPE.
Rescuing Parties Have No Heps of
Reaching the Unfortunates
Within Three Days.
WILKESBARRE, Pa., June 28.— The
little city of Pittston is in mourning
to-night as a result of another of the ter
rible mining disasters which have cost so
many lives in Pennsylvania. A large
number of her citizens, variously esti
mated at from 80 to 125, are en
tombed at the bottom of the
Twin Shaft, owned by the Newton
Coal Company, and at a late hour to-night
the prospect of saving the lives of any of
these unfortunate men is exceedingly
slight. Among the victims is M. J. Lar.
gan, Mayor pro tern of Pittston, who was
superintendent of the mine. A number of
minor officials of the company ara also in
the pit. The list of the missing, as nearly
as can be learned, follows:
M. J. Langan, mine superintendent,
Mayor pro tern of Pittston, married,
leaves wife and ten children.
M. F. Lynotte, mine foreman, married,
seven children.
Alexander McCormick, fire boss, mar
ried, ten children.
Thomas Ten penny, assis J **irt fira bow,
married, three children.
Thomas Card on, assistant fire boss, mer
ried, leaves a wife.
John O'Boyle, assistant
children.
Anthony Kane, driver bo- \ single,
Thomas Murphy, driver w«r
Conder McGuire, tracif-lv ■■-.:, ">&■
four children.
John Gill, married, two c
Michael Hughes, night I
ried, one child.
James Dailey, footman.
Michael Conneli, fnotma
John Hart, footman, s:n
M 4>aughan, footman, &
James Golden, married,
James Wall, married, eif
John Kehoe, married, sir. < nidrei,
his son Frank.
Edward Delaney, marric ».r children,
Peter Martin, laborer, si
Martin Gilbride, laborer
Dominick O'Maliey, miu<^, single.
James McDonald, married, two children.
Thomas Barrett, miner, single.
John and Thomas Gaffney, brothers,
former single, latter married, seven chil
dren.
Peter Joyce, laborer, single.
Peter Kelly, laborer, single.
John Sulvester, married, three children.
Patrick Costelio, miner, single.
T. O'Brien, wife.
Timothy Demg, laborer, single.
Patrick Ruane, married, seven children.
James Burke, laborer, single.
Michael Burke, miner, single.
Edward Kildea, married, two children,
Thomas Duewig, laborer, single.
Robert Haston, master mechanic,
single.
Daniel Ward, machinist, married, two
children.
Edward Hughes, married, two children.
Anthony Tollaski, married, one cbild.
Peter Saviski, married, five children.
Andrew Slomaski, married, two chil
dren.
Simon Mascovitz, married, two children.
John Candanish, single.
Anthony Gordon, footman, single.
Owen Lee, door boy.
Daniel Gavin, miner, single.
Michael Ford, miner, single.
John O'Boyle, laborer, single.
J. F. Hart, married, three children.
John Hoistrich, married, three children.
Joseph Zurindo, married, five children.
The disaster, which was at first at
tributed to an explosion of gas, is now be
lieved to have been caused by a general
cave-in on tbe lower levels. It was
noticed several days ago that the rock be
tween the fifth and sixth veins was "work
ing" and since that time a large force- of
men has been at work taking measures to
insure the safety of the mine. About 3
o'clock this (Sunday) morning, without
warning the roof of the level in which the
men were working collapsed with a shock
which aroused every one in the town,
causing them at first to think an earth
quake had occurred. The truth was soon
learned, however, and within two hours
thousands of excited people were gath
ered about the head of the shaft, the rel
ativ sof the unfortunate men below in
dulging in the wildest manifestations of
grief. The women and children who had
lost husbands and fathers were frantic.
But four men escaped from the mine,
and not one of them could tell a connected
story of how the disaster occurred, or what
was the condition of the lower levels. The
work of rescue was begun as soon as possi
ble, but the first four trips made into the
mine were without result. Later a con
ference of mining officials decided on a
more systematic plan, and a large force
was put to work with all necessary appli
ances to endeavor to reach the imprisoned
men. It was found impossible to work
through the mass of debris in the direction
of the regular passaees, and at a late honr
to-night it was decided to drive a gangway
from an adjoining colliery. This will un
doubtedly take several days, and it is
feared tbat in the meantime such of the
unfortunates as were not killed by the
cave-in will perish of starvation.
Nearly all tbe men in the mine were
married-, and some of them have large
families. As stated, the estimate of the