The San Francisco call. [volume], October 05, 1899, Image 1

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

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VOLUME LXXXVI-NO. 127.
BLAZING SNOWSHEDS
ILLUMINE THE SIERRAS
Southern Pacific Property Valued at Thousands
of Dollars Ruthlessly Destroyed
by Incendiaries.
/"> ACRAMEXTO, Oct. 4.— A terrific
fire raged in the Sierra 1 . ada
Mountains this morning, and
K_/ when it had spirit its fury a
mile and one-sixth of sheds
•werr- but charred and smoking embers
and over a mile of steel rails were bent
and twisted by the tierce heat.
Two passeneer trains, one eastbound
nnd the other west, were stalled, and
t.h*» read was practically under block
ade all day. Th<=-re is no question as to
the origin of the fire. '• was plainly
the work of an incendiary. The Placer
County officials are at work on the case,
aided by th*» shrewdest of the Southern
Pacific detectives, and no means will b»?
spared to apprehend the miscreants.
Almost every year the railroad com
pany suffers from fires in the snow-
Fheds. and ■■■'■ are generally of a so
rlous character. There are lons
stretches in the mountains where the
sheds are absolutely needed to protect
the track from avalanches of snow
wl>i«-h, w*re it not for the sheds, would
roll down upon It. The rotary snmv
plnv.s invented as a substitute for the
Hh&ds- do not avail in the* steep passe?
in th* high Sierras, and the ra-'.road
company has been obliged to maintain I
the long system of sheds in the face of
thf fact that it costs an enormous sum
yearly to preserve and rebuild Ih^m.
Naturally, bfir.rr constructed of p:n°
and subjected to th» drying process of
the rainless summers in the high alti
tude of the mountains, the shed 3 he
com* very inflammable and it takes but i
an application of the incendiary's torch
to convert them into a sinuous serpent
of fire.
Profiting by its costly experience, the
railroad company has established ftro
trains at the Summit and Blue Can
yon, r.n which steam is k*pt constantly
and a crew of firemen ready night and
day to respond at a moment's call. For
the fire train every piece of rolling !
stock must turn aside at the nearest
switch^ No train thunders through the
hills at such sp^ed^ and the work of the
crew is as exciting as it Is perilous. To
complete the system of precautionary
measures a lookout station is located
on the crest of Red 1 Mountain, near
Cisco. Here a man and his wife live,
and here every ten minutes of the
twenty-four hours, one or the other,
with field glass in hand, sweep the en
tire r>tretch of snowsheds from • Blue
Canyon to the Summit. Besides these
lookouts fire watchmen traverse the
sheds constantly. A telephone line
runs through the sheds, up to. Red
Mountain and down again to the fire
train. When the lied Mountain senti
nel sees a fire, or is informed of one
through the telephone, he sends a mes
sage to the fire "trains to rush to the
E ■ -
Last night at 9 o'clock the Red 1
Mountain sentinel sent in word to rail
road headquarters that the telephone
line had evidently been cut or broken
somewhere in the sheds. The Western
Union Telegraph wires, which are in
closed in a cable running under the roof
of the sheds, about 2 a. m. refused to
work, and it was at once realized that ■
the cable had been cut. • About this
time the Red Mountain lookout saw a I
fire on the shed line near Butte bridge.
The agent at Cisco wired to Sacra
mento that the sheds were on fire. Di
vision Superintendent Wright dis
patched the fire train at Blue Canyon
to the scene. When the fire-fighters ar
rived they discovered the incendiary
character of the blaze. The sheds run
along continuously until they come to
butte near a bridge which is 430 feet
long. There the shed system slops, to
« ; '
Coiumbia-Shamrock Yacht Race
To-Day
BY WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.
SEE THE CALL'S BULLETIN BOARD TO-DAY.
The San Francisco Call.
CENTRAL PACIFIC FNOWSHEDS, VISITED BY AN INCEN
DIARY FlkE.
be resumed when the bridge is crossed.
Yet at both ends of the bridge the fires
had been started, and. though a
stretch of Iron 430 feet long intervened.
the sheds on both sides were madly
aflame. A strong south wind was blow
ing at the time, and passengers de
scribe the scene as magnificent. The
flames Illuminated the heavens and
placed the towering pines of the sur
rounding hills in bold relief against the
reddened sky.
Up to a late hour to-night no arrests
have been reported here in connection
v Ith the fire.
A Bhort time ac<> the lookout at Red
Mountain detected some men in the
•" - ttlng fire to the pine forests on
the other side of the American River
Although a search was made for
them the men could rot be caught.
The loss of the railroad company by
the present fire will probably reach
I. It will be necessary to rebuild
the sheds before the heavy snows set
in. and a large forc<* of men will at once
-t to work. The track is rapidly
rebuilt and new rails laid, and
trail..- :; be running on schedule
time.
SENATE WILL STAND
FOR GOLD STANDARD
Financial Bill. It Is Said, Will Be In
troduced the First Day the
Senators Meet.
WASHINGTON. Oct. 4.— The Post to
the first day of the
approaching Bession of Congress the Sen
ate financial bill will be introduced in the
latter body. It wil • ■ the samp
as the Hove -it will declare
equivocation for the gold stand
ard.
Senator Aldrich. who, ap chairman of
the Finance Committee of ;he Senate, has
a prominent part In the framing
of the bill, said yesterdaj thai the meas
ure had been prepared, but that it would
not be made public until It had bt-=-n
wn to a numbei •■: R . Sena
■ present intention of the
Finance Committee to ;:>k ,i speedy con
sideration of the bill ;n the Senate in
: ; disposed of as early
sion ad possible.
CANAL COMMISSION.
The Entire Body Shortly to Hold a
Meeting in Washington.
WASHINGTON. Oct. 4.-Admiral John
jG. Walker, chairman of the Isthmian
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SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1899.
I Commission, has returned to the
city and was at his desk this morning.
mission will meet here in
a few days, when the time at which they
will go south will likely be determined.
It is no) lies h >wever, that the com
mlssion will be ready to sail before late
.ember. Meanwhile an exploring
party will be sent to Panama and another
to Greytown.
SALE OF HAWAIIAN
LANDS IS STOPPED
President McKinley Issues the Order
to Solve Difficulties at Pearl
Harbor.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4.— The Navy De
part tv I .veil as the War Department
having been obstructed in the acquisition
of the lands in Hawaii actually needed
for their purposes, particularly in the . x
n of the Pearl harbor improvements,
the President has issued the following ex
ecutive order to meet the case:
"The President of the L'nited States
hereby directs that all proceedings taken
or pending for the sale or disposition of
the public lands in the Hawaiian Islands
:.tinued, and that if any
sales or agreements for sale of said pub
iic lands have been made since the adop
tion of the resolution of annexation the
purchasers shall be notified that the same
are null and void, and any consideration
paid to the local authorities on account
thereof shall be refunded."
The order is dated September 11 last,
but it has been withheld from publication
here until it reached Honolulu.
MAX REGIS SPEAKS
ABOUT HIS ARREST
Says He Is in No Way Connected
With the Orlennist Plot, but
an Anti-Semite.
Special Cable to The ''all and the X»w York
Herald. Copyrighted. I*:> 9. by James Qor
don Bennett.
BARCELONA. Oct. 4.— Max Rn K ! s wafl
interviewed here to-day. He paid he and
a few friends left Algiers on board the
Kalancelle. They were overtaken by bad
weather and transferred to a schooner
which landed tlum at Ibiza. whence they
went to Barcelona by stoamer. On their
arrival here they were arrested as suspi
cious characters and taken before th*
.-t of Police, who released them
after twelve hour?' detention. Two Lebel
revolvers In their possession were seized
X Kegis declares that he is n>> way
rned with the Orleanist plot, but is
purely and simply an anti-Semite He
will it-main here until the result of the
prosecution against him is known. He
will probably marry a young lady belong
ing to the aristocracy of Paris.
ACHIEVEMENTS
IN WIRELESS
TELEGRAPHY
Marconi's Reports of the Race
Will Be Sent to The Call
To-Day.
NATIONS INTERESTED
• —
Germany and Japan Alsd Send Rep
resentatives to Witness and
Report on the Results.
«
Special Dispatch to The Call.
NEW YORK. Oct. 4.— The Mall
and Express says: "All accounts
agree that the thorough test
made yesterday in connection
with the yacht race of th-- Mar
coni system of wireless teleg
raphy resulted in eminent satis
faction. Not only were complete
bulletins sent from the sea by
Signor Marconi and his assist
ants to the highlands of Xave
sink. being transmitted thence to
the city b> wire, but return
messages were received on ship
board containing the leading
news of the day. The average
time of the transmission of
yacht news from the steamer far
out upon the water to the wait
ing crowd in New York is said
to have been sixty seconds. It
was a significant, even startling
demonstration of a new depart
ure in scientific achievement, the
eventual value of which may be
illimitable. As a journal^
of great and lasting merit this
has never been surpassed.
NEW YORK. Oct. 4.— From all
parts of th^ country, east, west,
north and south, queries and
congratulations poured in to
day up<">n Signor Marconi as a
result "f the Bplendid results achieved
on Tuesday in reporting by wireless
telegraphy the first contest between
the Columbia and the Shamrock for
the Herald and The Call.
In San Francisco the * terest in Sig
nor Marconi's work was greater than
| that in the yacht race. From that city
| came a request that the Herald "tele
graph whether Marconi met all expec
tations." Prom Atlanta, Ga., and from
New Orleans. La., ' came similar re
quests for information. To all of these
thrre could be made only one reply.
Signer Marconi had exceeded every
reasonable expectation.
One result of wireless telegraphy
with stations aboard the Grande
j Duchesse and the Ponce is the greatly
increased demand for tickets for these
ships. Excursionists desire to have the
double satisfaction of witnessing the
contest between the two greatest
yachts ever constructed and at the
same time watching the operations of
the latest marvel in the field of prac
tical science. Each of the two ex
cursion boats thus favored will to
morrow carry the limit in the matter
of passenger list.
The work of sending bulletins will
to-morrow be divided between the
Ponce and the Grande Duchesse.
Signor Marconi, as usual, will be on
the Ponce, guiding from the chart
room of that steamship the operations
of the four stations. From the Ponce
he will bulletin the start of the ruc>
and describe the contest until 12:30
o'clock, when the operators on the
Grande Duchesse will take up the work
and follow the challenger and cup de
fender around the first stake boat.
There Signor Marconi will again open
communication from the Ponce, the
work on th>- run home being divided
the same as in the run for the first
mark. A red flag flying from the tall
spar above the mast of the Ponce will
indicate that Signor Marconi is flash
ing bulletins to the shore. If no flag
flies at the masthead of the Ponce th
operators on the Grande Duehesse will
flash bulletins by those mysterious cur
rents which have just been controlled
for the service of man. Bulletins will
be sent from that ship to the receiving
stations at Xavesink Highlands and on
the cable ship Mackay-Bennett.
In addition to four representatives of
the United States Government, who
have been detailed to give a careful
study to the Marconi system, there will
be on the Ponce a lieutenant attached
to the German embassy in Washington
and a Japanese naval officer. These
gentlemen have been detailed by their
governments to profit by the work be
ing done by Signor Marconi. They will
report upon the results accomplished.
The work done Tuesday. Important
as it was, will no doubt be far sur
passed to-morrow.
A i "all representative in the Herald"s
telegraph room forwards Marconi's
bulletins by special overland wire di
rect to The Call's business office. He
la seated between two operators. On
his left the Marconi reports are re
ceived from the Xavesink Highlands
wireless telegraph station and at his
right hand is an operator working the
San Francisco wire.
By "reading copy" over the shoulder
of operator No. 1 and dictating orally
to No. 2, the messages reach The Can's
bulletin board on Market street only
a word or two behind their receipt in
the Herald office, and only one or two
minutes after they are filed by Signor
Marconi on the steamer Ponce, which
follows the racers.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH A
HEAP OF CHARRED RUINS
Sacred Edifice and Contents Totally Destroyed by Fire and
Other Properties Damaged.
When Hie Supports ol the East Steeple Burned Away It Plunged a Fiery
Mass Mo the Street, Severely Injuring Five Men.
INJURED.
LEO COSTELLO, engine 14, severe
laceration of the scalp, with concus
sion.
EDWARD McGONIGLE, 31 en
gine, severe laceration of the scalp,
with concussion.
WILLIAM J. KENEALEY, fore
man engine 14, severe injury to right
hand.
Two other firemen, whose names
and the extent of whose injuries are
unknown.
F ; LAMES have licked their way
through the First Baptist Church
from altar to the big steeple? that
have kept vigil over the righteous
for many decades and the house of
worship is now a heap of blackened j
ruins. Fire broke out in this tabernacle,
located on Eddy street, between Jones
and Leavenwcrth, shortly before 5
o'clock last evening. The crumbling roof ]
and time-dried timbers crackled as tlie
flame tongue crept through and within
five minutes the building was an inferno, i
Up the tall coiner steeples the flanus
crept, cut away the supports and with j
the grace of divers the weighty sp;r B
plunged out Into the street. Men wore
carried away injured and bleeding from
the scene: firemen, without regard f< r
life, worked up beneath the tottering .
walls and guided powerful streams Into
the flames while on every side tangled
wires -were spitting death-dealing electric
fluid In fiery flashes. Now the smoke
belches forth trom the burning church in
suffocating clouds and again the liames
reach toward th<- outer supports and en
velop them in their iiery embrace. It
was as though the arms of Halemaumau
were wrapped around the doomed struc
ture and had finally reached out and
drawn adjoining buildings with the burn- ',
WHEN THE STEEPLE TOPPLED.
ing circle. Out from the rear of the j
church' the flames reached and left a
charred, path across the buildings near,
and across the street in front the new- i
placed paint withered from the heat.
Just how the fire started is a "mystery., |
Although adjoining buildings were some
what damaged there is no doubt
but that it first kindled in the church. ;
Mrs. E. ! Jewel was perhaps tne first to !
see the flames. She occupied a suite of j
rooms in tne Normandie, ;£t> Eddy street,
and looking out of the window saw the
flames reaching out from the church to
ward the hotel. She shouted an alarm
through the corridors of the hotel, wnence j
it was taken up and carried down the
street. Ottlcer Harry Hook heard the I
shout and rang in the alarm. A tew min
utes later' Chief Sullivan arrived and or
dered a second and a third alarm turned
in. This brought the engines from outly- |
ing districts, and within fifteen minutes j
alier the names were first seen a Siamese '
nozzle, fed by three, engines, was tnrow
ing a stream into the burning steeples.
The supports were too nearly eaten away, j
however, and slowly the one on the west j
bent over and plunged into the street. j
Firemen, citizens and police skurried to I
places Dl safety, and then the stream was i
turned to the remaining steeple. In a j
minute later it was seen to waver, and :
just as the voices of half , a thousand
people shouted an alarm it seemed that
the confined gases within the .walls ex
ploded beneath this steeple and it went
nurtling into the street.
It was too late for the firemen to flee,
and borne down by the fiery mass five of
them lay bleeding on the pavement. Will
ing hands released nozzle and hose and !
hurried to their rescue. Lee Costello of |
engine 14 was among the first placed on
his feet, and although suffering -from a
severe laceration of the scalp and con
cussion he retained his consciousness and I
assisted by a fireman and Mayor Phelan i
was taken outside the lines, placed in a '
carriage and driven to the. hospital. Ed- 1
ward McGonigle of engine 31 was practi- i
cally unconscious. He was taken by four j
firemen to the Ellis-street Clinic. Dr
Hereford took twelve stitches in a lacera
tion extending almost from ear to ! ear. '
Later he was removed to the Receiving
Hospital and thence to his home, 12 Flor- !
ence street. William J. Kenealey. fore- j
man of engine 14. who resides at 901 Bu
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
chanan street, suffered a severe injury of
the right hand. As aon as the i
was dressed, however, he refus<
his home, but returned to continue the
battle with the flame?. Two other fire
men were injured by the failing steeples,
but they were quiekiy removed to their
homes, and up to a late hour their r.
had not been given out. All are n
well and it is not thought that a fatality
will result from the injuries received at
lire fire, although the escape of the in
jured fireman from instant death was
miraculous.
After the injured had be^n removed the
work of extinguishing the flames was re
newed with increasing- vigor.
The Hotel Normandie. which caught fire
shortly after flames w^re seen bursting
from the rcof of the church, was occu
pied by Mrs. Alice M. Marshall as a lodg
ing house. There are fifty rooms in the
house, which were all occupied. The mo
ment fire was discovered next door the
guests grabbf-d their valuables and rushevl
to places of safety. Many of the inmates
of the house were out at the time and
their effects sitill remain in the rooms,
broken and spoiled by falling plaster,
and smoke. Mrs. Marshall stated
that the house had been furnished at a
cost of S-JOoO. and that the furniture wra.s
Insured for (8000. The building, whicn is
owned by a Mrs. Botsford, was badly
damaged in the rear and on the east
side.
Police Officer Frank Riley and his wife
were both confined to their room in the
hotel by illness. They had just managed
to crawl from bed when the firemen en
tered and carried them out.
Jacob Immel. the sexton of the church,
was in the edifice when the fire started.
The first information he received that
the- building was on fire was Imparted
to him by a stranger who rushed into tho
church and" yelled to him that the roof
was on fire. It was Immel's opinion that
the fire was caused by sparks from the
Hotel Normandie chimney. He bases his
opinion on the fact that the kitchen <>f
the hotel is on the side of the building
where fire first broke out. Immel was
alone in the church when the fire was dis
covered.
Policemen guarded the adjacent houses
from thieves durintr the fire. In the
flurry of excitement caused by the im
pression that the flames could not be
Continued on Second Page.
Readers of The Call's Bulletins To-Day
Will Get Reports of the Yachts' Movements
TWO MINUTES
After They Occur, by
SPECIAL WIRELESS TELEGRAPH.