PRICE FIVE CENTS.
VOLUME XCIV— NO. 73.
BLACKLEGS SEEK TO MAKE
TOWN OF COLMA A PLAGUE
SPOT OF GAMBLING HELLS
Sell Jliflesto Insu
gents to Obtain
Food*
Turkish Troops in
Macedonia Are
Deserting.
Anxiety Over Dis*
appearance of
Mandelstam.
Not Heard From
After Starting
for Monastir.
SUCCESSOR OF MURDERED
RUSSIAN COMSUL FAILS TO
REACH HIS DESTINATION
Citizens Condemn
Conspirators'
Schemes.
Continued on Page 2, Column ' 1 .
lock, to be reported back by him at the
meeting of that body which is to be held
on the 17th of this month.
MAKE STRONG DEMANDS.
After setting forth the fact that none
of the territory sought for incorporation,
is at present under municipal govern
ment, the petition demands that the fol
lowing territory be turned over to the
municipality to be known as the town of
Colma: ',' r ; '
. Beginning at a point on the northern
boundary line of San Mateo County,
where said northern boundary line Is in
tersected by the line dividing the land
of the Concordla Land Company and the
land of the Crocker . estate (being at the
eastern boundary line of Jefferson School
district), and running thence west on and
along the said northern boundary line of
San Mateo County to the shore of the Pa
cific Ocean; thence southerly along the
shore of the Pacific Ocean to Its Intersec
tion with the northern boundary line of
Rancho San Pedro; thence easterly on a
straight line to the common corner of the
lands of Elizabeth McMahon, H. W.
Westphal and Flood & Mackay (betns the
most southerly corner of the land of Eliz
abeth McMahon) as shown on the "Of
ficial Map of San Mateo County, Califor
nia," approved by the Board of Super
visors of said county in August. 1334;
thence northeasterly along the line divid
ing the land of Elizabeth McMahon from
the lands of Flood & Mackay and of john
Lennon, and along the extension of said
dividing line to the northwesterly line of
the main county road to San Jose; thence
easterly crossing said road to the point of
intersection of the northeasterly line of
said 'county road with the line dividing
the- land of Holy Cross Cemetery and D.
Zudo (being the southeastern boundary
line of Holy Cross Cemetery); then north
easterly along said line, dividing the land
of the Holy Cross Cemetery and D. Zudo
to the northwestern boundary line of the
lands of the Abbey Homestead Associa
tion; thence southeasterly along said
southwestern boundary line of the lands
of the Abbey Homestead Association to
the most southerly corner of the lands of
the Abbey Homestead Association and
the western line of the land of the Crock
er estate; thence northerly, northwester
ly, southwesterly, northwesterly, north
easterly and northwesterly along the line
dividing the lands of the Abbey Home
stead Association from the land of the
Crocker estate, to the dividing line be
tween sections aevA (7) and eigTit (S), ia
township three (3) south, of range five
(5) west. Mount Diablo Base and Merid
ian; thence north on and along said di
viding line between said sections seven
(7) and eight (3). and along the divldins
line between sections five (5) and six (6),
ia township three (3) south, of range five
(5) west, to'the dividing line between the
lands of the Crocker estate and of Col
lins et al.; thence northeasterly alon?
said dividing line and along the dividing
line between the land of the Concordia
Land Company and the land of the Crock
er estate to the place of beginning.
ELECTORS' NAMES USED.
The petition bears the names of the fol
lowing alleged electors and residents of
the territory designated In the Instru
ment:
George C. Luce, J. T. Casey, 3. R. Thorn
ton, Will Horst, A. J. Spring, C. J. Ad
ams. Antone Sturla, Eugene Geary, Rob
ert Parkinson, James O'Connor. A. L.
EVwln, B. Engler, A. Stampanonl, J. W.
Johnson. Edward Oakes. B. Semlnoff
(His X Mark), M. J. l.»aloney, ; Steve
Waterdoll, Edward Parkinson, George
Sharrnan, James O'Regan, Patrick Callan.
J. H. Dennis, James Oakes. S. Belli.
Harry Pierce, Alphonso Giangi, A. F. De
camilli. Enrico Blgglo. Carlo Chiosso, V.
J. Hohruann, L. Lagomarsino, J. K.
Rodgers, T. Lagomarsino. J. T. Mc-
Carthy, Thos. Eagan (His X Mark), G.
Selicani, F. -C Kelly, Daniel Neville.
Michael S. Griffin, John H. Maloney.
Frank S. Knowles. John Blgglo. P. Jen
sen, Patrick Taylor, Joseph Smith, Pat-
>»GANG of pothouse , politicians.
£Jk0 blacklegs and gamblers have
JBjf launched a scheme whereby the
"^ ™ town of Colma Is to be made
a plague spot of vice and the
silent cities of the dead in its vicinity
are to be defiled by. the presence of open
gambling hells and poolrooms aX their,
very gates. '\ '¦'¦ ,•/>-¦• '¦¦'•
Not only do the gamblers plot to estab
lish their unsavory nests within a stone's
throw of the cemetery gates but under
the pretext of legitimate taxation for the
support of good municipal government
they have designed that the cemeteries
with their : countless habitations of the
dead shall pay the dole by w^ilch the
depravity of the living may be pandered
to. All of this is cunningly disguised
under the petition for the Incorporation
of the town of Colma as a city of the
sixth class, which is now in the hands of
the Supervisors of San Mateo County.
But in their zeal to accomplish their
purposes under the hollow sanction . of
the law the conspirators have revealed
their purposes by their very "acts. In
order that the town of Colma may sup
port a municipal sovernment the gam
blers have found It necessary to incor
porate in their demand a territory twelve
miles square, almost the area of San
Francisco. From the present site of Col
ma they have asked that the extent of
the incorporated city embrace a district
extending up to the southern boundary
ct San Francisco C«unty and west to the
sand wastes of the ocean. The taxes
from this vast tract of territory, added
to the blood money which would be ex
torted from nine cemeteries, would be
sufficient to maintain a municipal govern
ment, and thus give sanction. to the main
tenance of the gambling resorts.
BACKEB BY GAMBLERS.
' s But the five Supervisors to a man ad
mit that the scheme for the incorporation
of Colma Is the wcrk of San Francisco
gambTers, T working under the cover "of
agents In San Mateo County. They ac
knowledge that the incorporation of Col
ma will, be the signal for a rush of the
riffraff of San Francisco to the very gates
of the sacred places of the dead. They
have not the power to refuse a petition
signed by fifty bona fide taxpayers of the
district, but the option lies with them
to curtail the territory, demanded by the
petitioners. It now remains for the Su
pervisors of San Mateo County to so far
reduce the enormous area sought as to
render the support of a municipal gov
ernment out of th« question.
It is known that the gamblers have
been at work on their scheme for some
time. Several months ago Superintendent
E. B. McPherson of the Cypress Lawn
Cemetery was approached with the offer
of political-preferment if he would launch
the Incorporation movement. ¦ He refused,
and, shortly after R. S. Thornton, J. T.
Casey and George C. Luce appeared as
champions of the cause. On July 6a
petition was handed in to the Board of
Supervisors demanding Incorporation. For
some unaccountable reason this was later
withdrawn and a second submitted at the
meeting of the board held on August 3. '
-When this second Instrument was placed
In the hands" of the SuDervIsors it bore
the names of sixty-three reputed taxpay
ers of. the district. H. W. Brown, an
attorney ' living In Colma, protested to
the; petition on the grounds that It con
tained th« . names ; of several who were
not ; lesa I electors of the township. Act
ing on .his objection., the board referred
the matter. to' District Attorney J. J. Bul-
Afterward the widow was declared re
sponsible to thiSredltors of the company
for 100 cents on every dollars. Thus
while the company may be debarred from
recovering the balance of SO cents on
each share sold for 20 cents, the creditors
of the company are not so debarred, and
may appeal to the original purchasers
of the stock for. settlement.
Hundreds upon hundreds of oil mining
companies have been organized under the
laws of Arizona and most of these com
panies, especially those known as "wild
cat" corporations, have a'dvertlsed In
their prospectus that the stock was' not
assessable and If a share of stock of the
par value of 5100 is purchased for. two
bits or less, the purchaser'cannot be as
sessed '" for any • purpose. This Judge
Trask holds is not good In law ahd that
the man : who . paid two bits for; a share
of stock is liable for $100 of the debts of
the company, and that the same is'true
of 'every share of stock which he may
have purchased. . ; . . .
The effect of .such a. ruling upon the
thousands of persons who during the' oil
boom several years ago purchased stock
by the hundreds of shares. If the decision
be : affirmed : by. the Supreme .Court. Is
manifest, ;.for it gives the "creditors of
such companies -the means of collecting
In full'what .Is owed r arid what .Is more
they; can by ¦; application to . the courts
compel such corporations . to disclose the
names ; of the stockholders. ;' < -
"Fairbanks. Morse & Company
against A. A. arish, et al," is the title
of the suit that gave rise to this deci
sion. According to the facts brought out
a widow bought 40,000 shares of the stock
for J2CO0 with the understanding that the
stock was rion-asscssable. The company
soon spent the 52000 In trying to locate
an oil well and then the Investor, becom
ing frightened at the possibility of being
called upon to aid the defunct.' concern,
disposed of her stock to a niece for a
consideration. This was before any. suit
was brought against the company by any
of Its creditors.
LOS ANGELES. Aug. 11.— If a decision
rendered by Superior Judge Trask is sus
tained by the Supreme Court it will be
of great importance to thousands of peo
ple throughout the State and upon many
of them it may have a serious effect
financially. In a word, the decision is to
the effect that the stockholders of a cor
poration are liable for the debts of that
corporation to the full amount of the par
value of their stock regardless of whether
such corporation Is organized" under the
laws of any other State, and that while
the corporation itself may not be able
to compel the payment of the full value
of the stock, the creditors of such cor
poration may do so.
Decision of Great Importance to
Investors Is Rendered at
Los Angeles.
Special Die patch to The Call.
RULING MAY AFFECT
MANY FINANCIALLY
About 3" o'clock this ! morning ';* con
tractor of Folsom,. who Is visiting the city,
appeared at the Central police station and re
ported that he had seen the three fugitive
convicts, "Redshirf* Gordon, Fabey. and
Woods, in the doorway of a houre in an
alley on Washington street, between Du
pont and Stockton. Detectives were at
once detailed to accompany the Folsom
man in a search for the fugitives. The
Chinatown squad was also notified to be on
the lookout. The Folsom man says he is
positive the men he saw were the convicts.
Would Incorporate
arid Tax Grave*
yards.
OFFICIALS WHO ARE TRYING
TO BLOCK SCHEMES OF
GAMBLERS.
Folsom Contractor
Notifies the
Police.
SEES THREE
CONVICTS IN
CHINATOWN
The scenes at the mouth of the tunnel
where the victims were brought forth
were of the most ! heart-rending descrip
tion — crowds of weeping men, women and
children struggling forward in an effort
to recognize their missing relatives and
friends. Most of the victims are from
the middle and working classes, as the
trains were^ carrying them home from
their woik. -Although the accident oc
curred at 8 o'clock last evening the offi
cials and firemen were unable to descend
into the tunnel this morning owing to the
blinding clouds of smoke from, the burn-
Ing train. Frequent attempts were' made
by heroic volunteers whom It was neces
sary to rescue, half^suffocatcd. "•:'
At ten minutes after 3 o'clock Sergeant
Ahrens, wearing a respirator, . succeeded
in making tho descent. He remained, sev
en minutes and brought the first Informa
tion to the effect that corpses were strewn
all about tho roadway in the tunnel.
Then he collapsed and was taken to : the
hospital. Twenty : minutes later firemen
forced their way down through the tunnel
station at Menllmontant and . returned
soon afterward with seven -bodies— three
m^n, two , young 'boys and two young
women. These persons had been asphyxi
ated as their positions showed they had
been groping their way through -the
smoke that filled -the" tunnel, -seeking a
way- to escape, .when they were overcome.
• The work of bringing iip the bodies went
on steadily, after' that under the persona!
While the two trains were burning a
third train approached from Fere \ la
Chaise. The officials at Menilmontant
warned the driver of the danger and he
at once reversed direction and went back
as quickly as possible, thus escaping with
all of his passengers.
WILD RUSH OF PASSENGERS.
Meanwhile another train came up from
Bellvillo behind the burning trains and
stopped at Les Couronnes just as .uu
smoke began to -enter the station from the
tunnel. Then the catastrophe occurred."
On seeing the smoke the passengers jump
ed to the station platform and :uced in
the direction of Menilmontant, trying to
make their way to the staircase at the
end. 'They were driven back by the
smoke toward the other end of fhe plat
form, where there is a white brick wail.
There they crowded together and later
seventy-five bodies were found there in
a heap.
Deserted by the flight for safety this
fourth train also took fire and was con
sumed. Many of the 'rlghtened passen
gers, seeing escape cut off, huddled in tha
cars and probably were suffocated N by
smoke before the flames reached them.
SCENES AT TUNNEL'S MOUTH.
Suddenly, . as the first carriage was
drawing into Menllmontant station, a vio
lent explosion occurred. Blue flame arose
between the carriage containing the mo
tor and the next one. In a few minutes
the whole sixteen carriages were fa sheet
of fire. The officials jumped to tlie rails
ahd fled toward the station. They were
just in time, as the flames had -already
reached the roof and walls of the tunnel.
Electric wires were fizzling and the tun
nel, except for the flames of the burning
vehicles, was in darkness.
Thick smoke began to enter Menilmon
tant station and also to roll toward Lea
Couronnes.
IGNORES THE WARNING.
The stationmaster at Lee Couronnes no
ticed small jets of flame arising from be
neath the carriages and catching the bot
toms of the. cars. He shouted to the
driver:
"Stop! You will not-ha\*e time to reach
ydTmJesttnaticm.-*^— •-¦/?.»¦ ?' _; >
"We shall get there all right," answered
the motorman.
The two trains then proceeded into the
tunnel, the officials shutting the doors.
PARIS, Aug. 11.— Paris is appalled— that
Is the only word that can describe the
feeling produced among the population by
the dread catastrophe of last night. When
access was gained this morning to the
stations of the underground railroad > at
the scene of the fires and subsequent
panic eighty-four bodies were foynd on
the platforms. As many persons were in
cinerated in the burning cars, it is proba
ble that the total number of dead will be
found to have been far in excess of one
hundred.
This is' how the catastrophe .occurred:
Train No. 43, on the Metropolitan Under
ground Railroad, consisting of eight
crowded carriages, coming from the i-orte
Daiuphine and going toward the Place de
la Nation, stopped at Boulevard Barbes,
owing to a slight accident to the motor.
Its passengers were landed. Then train
No. 52 came along. Its passengers also
got off. The two trains were- combined
and No. 52 pushed No. *3 toward the
workshops.
Herald Publishing Company.
Special Cable to The Call and New Tork
Herald. Copyright, 10C3, by the New York
Panic-Stricken Thousands
Throng Entrances to .
Subway.
Number of Victims* Is
in Excess of One
Hundred,
Horror of the Paris
Tunnel Tragedy
Grows,
DEAD LIE
IN HEAPS ON
PLATFORMS
Continued on Page 2, Column 0.
ST. PETERSBURG. Aug. 11.— The Rus
rjan Ambassador at Constantinople tel
egraphs that uy command of the Sultan
the latter's son. Princi Ahmed Effendi.
called at the embassy to express the deep
distress and regret caused in the mind of
the Sultan by the murder of the Russian
Consul at Monastir and requested the
Embaseador to notify the Czar of this
second expression of the Sultan's sorrow.
Sultan Continues to Apologize.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 11.— Sensational
Wall street news came to Philadelphia
by wire* after the close of the market to
day. It accounts for the strength of
Reading. The message came from the
usually reliable house of Moore & Schley
to its Philadelphia correspondents.
The message said it wa3 reported in
Wall street that the Delaware and Hud
son Company and the Delaware," Lacka
wanna and Western Railroad Company
would guarantee a dividend of 4 per cent
en Reading common.
Ah arrangement of this sort would very
nearly complete an effectual community
of interest among the anthracite produc
ers and carriers. The report that th«
Reading will be leased indicates that J.
Pierpont Morgan may be about to con
summate his plans for a close union of
coal Interests. One reason for his delay
probably has been a desire to establish
the Reading's earning capacity to the sat
isfaction of the lessors.
The earnings are now eminently satis
factory. The Reading is paying a full
dividend of 4 per cent on first preferred
and Is believed to be able to pay the full
rate (4 per cent) on second- preferred also,
while it Is earning a handsome sum for
the common. It Is well known that the
Pennsylvania Railroad, through the Bal
timore and Ohio, and/the New York Cen
tral, through the Lake Shore, own large
amounts of Reading first and second pre-"
ferred stocks. Hence It would be im
possible for the lease of the Reading to be
made unless it met the approval of both
the Pennsylvania and the Central man
agements.
Both William Rockefeller and John D.
Rockefeller Jr. are directors of the Lack
awanna and these men are Gould's allies.
This proposed lease may be the first sign
of truce between the Pennsylvania and
Gould factions. It will be the first open
step whereby Gould's friends acquire an
interest In the Reading and the prospec
tive results have great possibilities, if it
develops that the Pennsylvania is to per
«inlf Gould to get into Philadelphia and
)Vew York over the Reading.'
tempting to prepare the mind of Europe
for a massacre of innocent Christians. '
General Tzconcheff, " president of the
Macedonian committee,' has addressed an
appeal to his adherents to assist the;in
surgents in Macedonia even by revolu
tionary means. *
Special Dispatch to Th$ CalL
TAFT GETS
ROOT'S POST
IN CABINET
The representatives of -the committee
also publish u. contradiction of the re-:
port of alleged atrocities committed by
Bulgarians and accuse the Turks of at-
The representatives of the Macedonian
revolutionary committee announce that
the revolution broke out in the vilayrt
of Uskub last Sunday and in the vilayet
of Adrianople on Monday. • Telegraphic
communication is Interrupted. Adria
nople forms the seventh revolutionary
district, with Chief GhirdJIkoff and Cap
tains Ikonomoff and Madjaroff . in com
mand.
SOFIA, Bulgaria, Aug. 11.— The Pre
mier and the Minister of the Interior
have proceeded to Dubnitza with the in
tention of inspecting the Bulgarian posts
along the Macedonian frontier. This is
regarded as additional proof of the Gov
ernment's desire to maintain peace. It
is now said that Prince Ferdinand will
not return to Sofia until after his fete
day, August 15, as he wishes to show he
Is not responsible for the present situa
tion in Macedonia,
Men of All Political Parties Aiding
the Macedonians.
•
BULGARIANS BEYOND CONTBOL.
The Sultan has offered an indemnity of
140,000 to the widow of the late M. Roat
kovski. She is a member of the well
known Russian family of Muravieff, and
M. Rostkovski was related to the late
Prince Lobanoff. who was Russian Min
ister of Foreign Affairs; hence the anx
iety of the Turkish authorities to have
the matter satisfactorily settled with Rus
sia. Rostkovski was In disfavor with the
Turkish authorities in Monastir, owing^to
his persistence In investigating all the
fighting In the district
It is rumored , here that the Turkish
troor~ in Macedonia have become so de
moralized by their failure to receive pay
that hundreds of them are deserting and
selling their rifles to insurgents in oraer
to obtain provisions. "•;-.
appointed to succeed the late M.
Rostkovski. In spite of the refusal of
the Mutesarif (Governor) to givj him an
escort. Dr. Mandelstam insisted upon pro
reeding to his new post and, after refer
ring the matter to Hllml Pasha, the In
spector General, he obtained an escort
and started upon his own responsibility
across the country for Monastir. Noth
ing has been heard of him since. '
CONSTANTINOPLE, Aug. 11.— Gre t
anxiety is felt for the safety of
Dr. Mandelstam, the acting Rus
sian Consul at Uskub, who was
OVETER BAT, I* I., Aug. 11.— Elihu
t Koot will resign as Secretary of War, the
resignation to take effect about the first
of next January. He will be succeeded
by Judge William H. Taft. now Gover
nor of the Philippines.
For a long time Secretary Root has de
cired, for pressing private reasons, to re
tire frcm the Cabinet. When Mr. Roose
velt became President, Secretary Root in
dicated his wish to leave the Cabinet
within a year, but his friendship for the
President and his interest in pending
questions before the War Department
caused him to remain for a longer period
than he had intended. Even now he has
rot Indicated to the President Just when
he may leave the Cabinet, but he and the
President have discussed the subject
many times and have a mutual under
standing regarding it.
It is expected that the Secretary will
not present his resignation to the Presi
dent before he leaves for England to take
up the work of the Alaskan boundary
commission. He has not presented his
resignation yet and has not informed the
President when he will present it. It can
be said that the President expects that
the country will have the benefit of Roofs
serxices for several months, certainly un
til the beginning of the next year.
That Governor Taft will be Root's suc
cessor as Secretary of War there can be
no doubt. He Is familiar with many of
the problems which the Secretary of War
v.-M have to meet and solve; he is a warm
personal friend of the President, who has
an abiding confidence in his ability and
patriotism, and it is understood that he
would welcome the change Involved.
Of course, his appointment as Secretary
of War would necessitate the appoint
ment of a new president of the Philippine
Commission. In all probability General
Luke Wright would succeed to the pres
idency of the commission, his work as a
member of the body having been eminent
ly satisfactory to the administration.
Home other changes would be involved in
the appointment of Governor Taft as Sec
retary cf^War, but nothing definite con
cerning them can be taid at this time.
FOREMOST BULGARIAN OF
FICIAL AND TYPICAL MACE
DONIAN SCENE.
GREAT TRUST
OF COLLIERS
AND CARRIERS
SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1903.
The San Francisco Call