CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MAY AGAIN
BE LEGALIZED IN COLORADO AS
A RESULT OF PORTER'S CRIME
taken up this fight to purify the city In
earnest, and we propose to carry It to a
successful issue."
Chief Devery was 'asked to-day if he had
read the letter "sent 'by. Bishop Potter to
Mayor Van Wyck calling attention to an
alleged laxness in the police department.
"I have nothing to say touching on or
appertaining to that matter," he an
swered. He made. a similar reply when
asked if; the investigation and resultant
complaints made by the' Tammany com
mittee 'of five in the search after vice
would be treated in the customary man
ner, i • . . . - -•': ;
Three Lieutenants Wounded.
LONDON, Nov. 17.— An additional list of
wounded in South Africa issued to-day
includes the names of the Canadian Lieu
tenants J. B. Elmsley, L. E. W. Turner
and H. C. C. Cockburn.
TACTICS OF
WEYLER TO
BE ADOPTED
Reconcentrado Sys
tem in South Afri
can Republics.
Kitchener to Depopulate the
Towns and Herd Non- .
Combatants.
WAR'S HORRORS JUST BEGINNING
Letters From Boer Women Show the
Pitiful Distress Which Has Fol
lowed Burning of Farms.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
LONDON, Nov. 17.— Kitchener has de
cided to depopulate several towns in the
Transvaal, owing to the difficulty of
handling the Boers, who are hampering
the civilian population.
Kitchener is now for the first time un
hampered in carrying on the South
African war and it promises to be widely
different than under Roberts. He has
faced the grim fact that the "enemy"
means the entire population and has
greatly tightened the censorship, while
he finds it necessary to carry out certain
military police acts j more suitable to a
campaign of sheer extermination and ag
pression than consistent with the policy
of ultimate conciliation and nelgHborli
ness. The Transvaal and the Orange
Free State are now opening the second
season, since a crop was sown and it is
fourteen months since the normal import
of foodstuffs ceased. The railways are
still broken for several days .weekly.
These things combined make the'feed
ing of the occupants of the two republics
a work of great difficulty; which is in
creased, by the finding of towns with
stores under garrison." ' These garrisons
the Inhabitants betray to commandos,
which thereby easily ' replenish their
store, thus making the starving
out of , the fighting burghers Im
possible.- "Kitchener's alternative is the
Weylerizatlon of the two republics by
means-of the depopulation of towns, mov
ing every non-military inhabitant toward
the coast, where they will be more easily
fed, while freeing the army's'hands. This
will Involve great time and labor and It is
doubtful If it' Is feasible. Kitchener's
movement shows the fearful desolation
to which the war has reduced the coun
tries.
The publication of letters from Boer
women showing the pitiful distress which
has followed the burning of farms is not
heeded here. The people will forgive any
thing which will bring the fighting to an
end and release the troops. Instead of
that, however, the Innlskilling Fuslleers,
who returned to England from Natal a
few months ago, have been ordered to re
embark for the Cape.
the conditions: these are In the hands of
the Mayor. He .says his letter -is In ac
cordance with Instructions laid on him by
the convention of the Episcopal church
of this diocese, and he leaves the matter
in the Mayor's hands.
Mayor Van Wyck at once replied to the
Bishop by a letter, in which he said he
passed the Bishop's communication to the
District Attorney, and then adds:
"I wish here to assure you that I will
exert every power which the law has
given to right the wrongs and to do away
with the conditions of which you com
plain and to secure a hearty and efficient
co-operation by the -Police Department
with all who are working to do away with
public violations of law and decency. I
stand ready at all times to assist and co
operate with you in this matter."
Mayor Van Wvck's letter to the Dis
trict Attorney requests him to co-operat*
with Bishop Potter and the Police Depart
ment in the movement. In a letter to tus
Board of Police Commissioners the Mayor
Incloses a copy- of the Bishop's letter and
directs the commissioners to at once con
duct a searching investigation into the
duct of the two police officials who. the
Bishop says, insulted the Clergyman. He,
also directs them to do away with the
conditions complained of on the East
Side, The Mayor's closing paragraph Is:
"I wish it distinctly understood that to
this end I ehall use to j the utmost limit
all the power vested in me and that I
shall hold to personal responsibility those
who fail to exert themselves in like man
ner."
BEFOEM WAVE HITS CR0KEB.
Gives Tammany Hall Credit for the
Movement Against Vice.
NEW YORK, Nov. 17.— Richard Crokcr
sailed for England to-day on the steamer
Lucanla. Before starting Mr. Croker said :
\ "This movement . by Tammany Hall
against vice means business. We have
• • • • . : : •.•¦-: :'¦>/.: -• -.' . .-» -,-t '-'•.' - .- -
BISHOP HEXRT- C. POTTER: OF THE^PEOTBSTANT' EPISCOPAL DIO
CESE OF NEW YORK, WHO DECLARES THE NEW. YORK POLICE
DEPARTMENT IS IN LEAGUE "WTTH- VICE.
Protests to Mayor Van Wyek: Against Insults
Offered Clergymen When They Seek to Pro
mote Virtue' and Order* in the Community.
NEW YORK. Nov. 17.-PIans are now
being perfected for a general con
ference of all societies that have
during the last few years been en
fie&vcring to Etamp out vice and crime In
New York. The details have not been ar
rar.ged, but It seems to be the general
visa that there should be a foregather
ing of those who are in earnest in their
desire to purify the city. When this con
ference is held no representation will be
allowed the recently formed Tammany
vt ce committee. Among those who have
been persistent in their efforts to achieve
xtform no one can be found who places
Bay reliance on the Integrity of purpose
of those who have been named by Tam
many to drive vice from the lower East
Side. At the same time Bishop Potter
end the clergy generally are waiting for
the members of the Tammany committee
to Indicate their line of action before crit
icism Is passed.
Poolrooms and gambling houses were in
full blast In all parts of the city to-day.
In the lower East Sid© resorts of vice,
concerning which so much complaint has
Leen made, were wide open, the police as
J et having made no move against them.
President York of the Police Board ad
dressed the Brooklyn police captains, as-
Buring them that the present crusade was
intended earnestly.. He told them that
gambling must be prevented in Brooklyn
find that their own interests demanded
that they be kept as clean as possible.
President York attempted to have a
meeting of the Police Board, but was not
successful In getting a Quorum. A ses
eion wUl b© held on Monday, when
diarges may be preferred against In
epector Cross and Captain Herllhy.
The first gun in the anti-vice and anti-
Tammany campaign was fired by Bishop
Henry C. Potter of the Protestant Epis
copal Diocese of New York, who sent a
letter to Mayor Van Wyck in reference to
vice In this city, and especially on the
East Side. This letter is the one prom
ised seine weeks ago. when the Bishop
publicly announced that one of his rec
tors had been grossly insulted by the
commanding officials of a certain police
eiatlon, and that he proposed to take up
the matter In a manner which the heads
of the police force should feel.
Bishop Potter first calls attention to the
¦work that is being done at the pro-cathe-
Crai. 130 Stantoa street, in endeavoring to
Improve the condition of the poor of the
East Side tenement district. In which It 'r
located, and says it has been recognized
as an Important factor In promoting the
virtue and good order of the community
in •which It ministers. He goes on to tell
bow. when the clergymen called at the
police station of the precinct to complain
cf til© notorious condition of affairs, one
cf them was told by the police captain
that he lied, and that when, disheartened
by such an experience, the clergyman car
ried his complaint to a higher authority
In the police, he was met with insolent de
rision. The Bishop continues:
"I am not, I beg to say, unmindful of
the fact that the existence of vice in a
great city Is practically an inevitable con
dition of the life of such a community. I
am not demanding that vice shall be
'ftamped out* by the police or any other
civil authority. This Is a task which
would demand for Its achievement a race
of angels and not of men. But I approach
you, sir, to protest with all my power
•gainst a. condition of things In which vice
Is not only tolerated, but shielded and en
couraged, by those whose sworn duty it
Is to repress and discourage It, and. In
the name of unsullied youth and Inno
cence, of young girls and their mothers,
who, though living under conditions often
cf privation and the hard struggle for
a. livelihood, have In them every Instinct
cf virtue and purity, that are the orna
ments of any so-called gentlewoman In
the land, and before God and in the face
of the citizens of New York, I protest, as
roy people have charged me to do, against
these habitual insults, the persistent'men
ace, the unutterably defiling contacts, to
which, day by day, because of the base
complicity of the police of New York with
the lowest forms of vice and crimes, they
fere subject.
"And In the name of these little ones,
the weak and defenseless little ones,
Christian and Hebrew alike, of many
races and tongues, but of homes where
Cod la feared and his law "reverenced and
virtue and decency honored and exempli
fied, I call upon you, sir, to save these
people, who are in a very real way com
mitted to your charge, from a living hell.
defiling, deadly, damning, to which the
criminal suplneness of the constituted au
thorities, set for tho defense of decencjr
and good order, threatens to doom them."
Bishop Potter, in conclusion, says he
has no methods to suggest for bettering
BISHOP POTTER DENOUNCES NEW
YORK'S POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR
SHIELDING AND ENCOURAGING VICE
LONDON. Nov 17.— An entirely new de
parture in Arctic exploration will be made
text summer. Russia will send north her
wonderful ice ship, the Yermak, with in
struction* to cut her way through to the
pole. The performances of this vessel in
cutting her way at three or four miles an
hour through immense ice fields In the
Baltic Sea. and other Russian waters have
txcited amazement among, all who have
ritnessed them. She Is now being equipped
Russian Ice Ship to
Be Dispatched on
a Perilous
Voyage.
TO CUT HER
WAY TO THE
NORTH POLE
and improved for the greatest of all
tasks.
The Armstrongs at ElBwlck have just
completed a new bow which is especially
designed to. encounter fields of ice In the
Arctic Sea, which are heavier and thicker
than any which the Termak has attacked.
The original bow was easily capable of
dealing with any : of the enormous ice
fields which Russia produces.. She went
to a high latitude on her trip last summer
and accomplished all that could 'be ex
pected of her in the assaults' upon the
eternal ice which she then encountered.
Alterations now being made were sug
gested by "this experience.'
Admiral Makaroff, who will command
the expedition and who is superintending
the changes, has the greatest confidence
that his ship will cut her way without de
lay straight to the pole and will return
safely In the same season. Every pre
caution has been taken to fit her out for
a long stay in case of accident or block
ade. Admiral Makaroff has refused to
give the details of the plans or even ad
mit that the expedition will be under
taken, but there is no doubt on this point.
UNITED STATES TRANSPORT INDIANA, WHICH HAS MET DISASTER
IN- PHILIPPINE WATERS WHILE CONVEYING SOLDIERS OF THE
TWENTY-SECOND INFANTOT. " ' W
BECEPTTON OF MR. KRTTGER.
PARIS, \ Nov. 17.— jSr. Leyds and Dele
gates Wolmarans, . Fischer and Wessels
reached Paris to-day. This evening they
held a conference at the Hotel Schrelbe,
where . ex-President | Kruger will stop.
They leave in the morning for Marseilles.
Mr. Kruger, they: Bay, will land at 10
o'clock in the morning and' will arrive In
Paris ner.t Friday. .
MARSEILLES, Nov. 17.— The final ar r
rangements have been made for. Mr.
Kruger's : reception here. The ' ceremony
at the landing place has. been reduced to
a few words of Welcome, the speeches be
ing reserved • for, the banquet which will
be given In 'honor of the ex-President of
the Transvaal.* even If he Is not there. In
that case other Boers will bo present. ¦
TRANSPORT INDIANA ASHORE ON
THE COAST OF ISLA DE POLILLO
MANILA, Nov. 17.— The army trans
port Indiana, loaded with . supplies
and, carrying a "company of the
.. Twenty-second Infantry, has gone
ashore on the- rocks on the east side of
Isla de Pollllo. The Boldlers were des
tined to act as a garrison at Baler. The
transport Pennsylvania has been sent to
the assistance of the stranded vessel. It
is thought the Indiana can be saved.
The United States army transport Indi
ana is an'iron steamship of 3335 registered
tons and before becoming one of the army
transport fleet Was owned by the Interna
tional Navigation Company. She ¦was
built by Cramps & Sons at Philadelphia
in 1S73 and- made her first trip from this
port for the Government on October -27,
1S98, when she sailed for the Philippines
with the First and Second battalions of
the Kansas regiment on board, in com
mand of Brigadier General (then Colonel)
Funston.
The Indiana made a return trip to this
port with a large number of dead and
wounded soldiers, and after being refitted
was sent. again to Manila. For the last'
nine/months, on account of her large ton
nage, she has been plying in the army ser
vice between Manila and China, carrying
troops and supplies to the command of
General Chaff ee and returning with sick
and wounded to hospitals in Manila for
transportation home.
It is estimated that 700 persons wit
nessed the execution. No women re
mained during the cremation, but many
of them went to the scene before the fire
was lighted and the negro was led from
carriage to carriage Tor inspection. Thu
women's vote .was a unit for burning.
LIMON, Colo., Nov. 17.— The Iron rail to
which John Porter was bound will be left
standing as a warning to all inclined to
deeds similar to that for which young
Porter was burned. A mound of earth
has been piled up around the Iron rail,
covering the ashes, and it will remain as
a monument in sight of all passing trains.
Wanted No Mercy Shown tho Kur-
derer of Louise Frost.
WOMEN" VOTED. FOB BXTBNUTO.
"A great load has been lifted off us," ha
said, "and as for me. I don't care who
condemns me for starting the blaze. No
other father will have to do what I did
on account of that 'nigger,' and. as I said
before, if the brute had been lynched for
his first offense In Kansas my baby would
be alive to-day and our hearts would not
be broken." ¦ *
• - a
The murdered child's father. Robert W.
Frost, returned to Denver to-day from
the scene of the lynching.
baby and I did not have the feeling of
revenge which so many people said ought
to possess me. My one thought was to
save others the pain we suffered. What
ever was done with that brute was right,
no matter what. Certainly he did not suf
fer what Louise did, and she was Innocent,
while hewa3 guilty. May be I would have
some pity were I not her mother. No
one but a parent of an outraged and mur
dered child can know just how I feel."
Whether the wish be father to the
thought. It is certain that the Prince has
made himself very popular during bis
brief visit to England, *
LONDON. I^v. IT.— It Is long since so
ciety has found a more Interesting topic
of conversation than the little rumor
which was set afloat yesterday In the
West End about a forthcoming royal en
gagement.
When It was first announced that hand
some young Prince George of Greece,
Governor General of Crete, was to pay a
visit to this country some wondered and
some suggested that the visit had a cer
tain Interesting significance. It Is now
stated that the Queen has approved of
the marriage of one of the English • royal
Princesses; and that the official announce
ment will b« made before long.
Special Cable to The Call and New York Her
ald. CopyrlKht, 1900. by th« Herald Pub
lishing Company.
It Is Said He Will
Wed One of the
Royal Princesses
of England.
GEORGE OF
GREECE IS
BETROTHED
• T"^J ENVER, , Nov. 17.— Colorado' is
jl shuddering with horror over' the
_// burning of '"John" 'Porter .near
Lake station yesterday— that is,
- all of Colorado except -Lincoln
County. In Denver and Colorado Springs
meetings, of ministers , and business men
have been called to condemn the brutality
of the mob which burned Porter.
Lincoln County, j however, has no re
grets. R. -W. Frost is actually pleased
with his revence. He set- the match to
the pyre in which was consumed the negro
murderer of his little daughter at almost
the precise spot where the murder was
committed.'
"I have done nothing that I would not
do again," he said. ,
His neighbors went to-day to the scene
of the burning and built a fresh fire over
the little heap of blue bones that lay in
the ashes beside the steel stake to which
Porter was cKalned. When the bones were
wholly consumed the ashes were scattered
to the winds, away from the weeds dyed
with the blood of Louise Frost Her
father did not want the negro's dust to
defile 'the spot where his child had been
found dying.
The Coroner's jury visited the. spot soon
afterward, and In ten minutes reached a
verdict that Porter "came, to his death at
the hands of persons unknown to tVie
jury.";
I Porter was one of the many low negroes
.brought in to work on section gangs.
Warning, was sent out by the lynchers to
all these negroes' to get out of the State,
and to-day, there Is not a black working
on the'Union Pacific sections. west of the
Kansas line. A few of the sightseers from
.Denver and other Colorado and Kansas
towns have con;e home from the burning
;with bits of bones picked from the fire,
but relic hunting .was sternly discouraged
by the farmers, who executed Porter as a
matter of duty. The Bible which Porter
carried in his walk to his death- was dis
played in Denver to-day.
j A meeting will be heid In the First Bap
tist Church here to-morrow afternoon to
pass resolutions condemning. the lynching.
The leading pastors of the city will speak
and many sermons will be preached on the
subject to-morrow. The Governor - has
promised to make a speech, and business
men and lawyers, many of whom would
have heard without a qualm that. the ne
gro had been hanged, will denounce hla
burning.
• One probable effect of the lynching will
be. the repeal of the law forbidding capital
punishment in- Colorado. Many who con
demn tho lynching say it would not have
occurred if the people could have been
sure that the negro would be hanged. The
free exercise of the pardoning power by
Colorado's Governor, particularly In the
cases of murderers, has aroused a strong
sentiment In favor of the return to the
old law. .A strong lobby for' the repeal bill
was at work long before the Porter lynch
ing, and it now has an argument which
.will appeal to everybody In the State, for
even District Attorney Malone, who con
demned the lynching/ when pressed with
questions said: . .
"If I had been Frost and my little girl
had been murdered I should have shot
that scoundrel full of holes."
Therein he. expressed the sentiment of a.
good many who denounce ' Frost's venue
ance. .
GLAD THE NEGRO SUFFERED.
Execution.
Parents of Louise Frost Talk of the
DENVER.^ Colo., Nov. 17.— "Well, no
other parents ¦will suffer from that brute's
crimes." * t \. r '
These were the first words spoken by
Mrs.' Frost to-day when asked for, an ex
pression on the punishment of, the negro
who confessed that he was the murderer
of her child. •
' ''Of course, I was not consulted as to
the punishment to be meted out and I did
not, know what fate awaited him," she
continued. "I did not care, - just so he
was removed from the face of the earth.
Nothing: can atone for the death of my
PRESTON (JOHN) PORTER JR.. THE MURDERER OF LOUISE FROST, WHO WAS BURNED AT THE STAKE BY
, A MOB OP COLORADO CITIZENS AFTER HE HAD CONFESSED. REPRODUCED FROM A LIFE STTjDT
MADE BY A DENVER TIMES ARTIST. !
Pages 13 to 22
VOLUME LXXXVIII-NO. 171.
SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1900— THIRTY-TWO PAGES.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
+. . ? (
Meeting of Business Men and Clergy to Be Held
at Denver and Colorado Springs to Protest
. Against the Burning of the Negro Criminal.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL.
Dofrpc ft tn 99
i/l VI. a I I II! //
1 llwlAJ IkJ IV LL