Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / March 9, 1914, edition 1 / Page 1
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OWING PA I CAROLINA TSi & FAST GR NEWS NORTH NEWS - N I G H T TION S TODAY reater Charlotte's. 99 PAGE ews paper N Daily, 1888 Sunday 1910. CHARLOTTE, C, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1914. Price: Daily 2c; Sunday 5c ! .. I'' -- -T - ' - 1 " I Dozens of Pa sons fifty av e in Fl ames BULLARD & CO. TO GO WTO BUSINESS All EE fire Destroys Hie Athletic Cliaj and i Missouri d Boatman's club, and his wife were aroused by the smoke. They discovered the fire in the dining room on the thiid floor. Beside seeking their own safety they rushed up and down the halls waking guests. Both were badly burned. The telephone operator, a boy, re mained at his post on the ground floor even after the firemen began pouring water into the building, Many of the guests credited their escape to him. At 6 o'clock this morning, four hours J Loss Over a Million- fwo Score of Persons Badly Inured s! uwn ucau 2? Uunaccounted For. tornWff List of the Missing wx. Z. r.,.i no D At b ociock tnis i pjnii no i P H I I ."I V." ! i n 1 r Ai r i ji i .1 J il. . I uldY us . aiier me nre naa ueen discovered, uiw SENATOR FILL URGES UNCLE SI TO ACT B TTER SCH ETTEii CIT! BETTER GIT DDLS: fnrp Complete List of the rad is Known Acts of Heroism Full Accoutn of Disaster. $: Louis, March Six men were sted for. and about thirty were iTfj in a fire that destroyed the ith'eiic Club today. Three dead are sdeatified. The property loss was more than jgj.ai). The building was owned by :en s iianK, wnicn oueuyieu oi the first tioor. In the vaults ;e burned Duildine. bank offi- were Sl,349.0"0 in currency :3 ?27,l,i'0 m com. Uncertainty as to the number ot a in the" building when the tire rke cut made ii difficult to deter ge the exact number of missing. K Ringer, night clerk at the id said 45 members had rooms at 3 dab. and that the registration ot pests brought the total number :or the night to To. Some of the miar guests, however, may not live been in their rooms when tbe fcs broke out. The ruins cannot '!e searched until cs&t or tomorrow. 2 -atd St. Louis, Mo., March 9 Three men Kfctown to be dead, dozens o. others i'3 believed to have been burned to kfath and two scores were seriously Ehred in a fire which early tday de yed the seven story building hous the Missouri Athletic Club and ie Boatman's Bank at Fourth street Washington avenue. i ociock this morning besides tae tnre-e known to be dead in the f1- Athletic Club 3re officers of organization bad t:ie names of flf- unaccounted for. These were P-'jjpcaKy given up as lost. T-e exact number of dead in the nis ot the magnificent club house P sot i.ie known for several days, jvers of the club differ as to the -3er Of Mis-OS i'l fno lMillHino- "- L'e "''o atiirrn vns vivan Wot:. fcf tae missina varv between 15 CI lnij 4erJ'ndred, h:" l-:rr-ftve Persons eree.Sler?a at the club last night. many we- m tbe building at tbe or the hre i, not known. Of wJ10 Were iri tbe club 35 have n accounted for. I'Ctiln3 wh0He dead bodies fea Vis--- - , fe-v-y - st. Paul, -to mitr, If. 4I Slnro ri.r.. Property dan oank covert-! : ' At ,1 :- ont and re,, oot had ca -s: floors ; ' '" fel en'',,,. 'v - I'-u uoor wh. e is estimated In the vaults h; the ruin are ' 1 urrncy and iylip'ut only part wa:is remained, it; carrying sev i side walls ti.e roof to the f"'"Ujied by the blaze was believed to have been un der control. Half an hour later, how ever, the boilers in the basement be gan to explode and for ihe first time the firemen under orders of their chief withdrew from the street immediately in front of the building. It was feared the last two remaining walls would collapse and bury them. Hundreds of automobiles belonging to members of the club who had been apprised of the fire lined the down town streets early today. Relatives and friends of men who were known to have lived at the club rushed to hotels, then to hospitals and then to the morgue in their general search Judge CorricK Bishop, assistant cir cuit attorney, roomed on the sixth floor. "The sound of flames crackling like giant firecrackers awoke me," said Judge Bishop. "There was a fire es cape in front of my window. 1 ran down the six flights. I saw some men jump and bounce off the sidewalk like rubber balls. I was only slightly bruised." The known dead; C. F. Kessler, 49, general manager of Ludlow-Sajrlor Wire Company, St. Louis, killed in jump from sixth floor. John Martin Rickey, 40, o2 St. Paul, general auditor of the Ford Automo bile Company, found burned to death on third floor. James Riley, 55 a guest. The missing: James McGinnis and Allen Dow, buyers for large St. Louis department store. Bert Crouch, sales manager, West ern Electric Company, St. Louis. Allen Hanock, typewriter salesman. William E. Becker, president of paint company. John Retz, president of plumbing company. William J. Kinser, president of con struction company. Thomas Shyne, manager typewriter exchange. William Shields, president lye com pany. Daniel Weatherly, salesman whole sale dry goods company. Thomas Wright, secretary of the Apollo Club. William Erd, real estate dealer, East St. Louis, Ills. Men Slid Down Rope, Thirteen men escaped from the fifth floor by sliding down a rope made of two sheets. Their adventure was re lated by Lewis Gaylord, an advertising man of New York. Gaylord was in a room on the west side of the fifth floor. When he took the room he ex amined the fire escapes and noticed that the roof of the building occupied by a seed company was only fifteen feet below his window. Awakened by screams Gaylord donn ed a bath robe, ran into the smoke filled corridor and rushed to the stair way. The carpet was ablaze and flames roared in the elevator shaft. He then started for a window opening on the roof of the seed store. In the I New Mexico Senator Urges Uncle Sam to Use Troops in Protecting Americans and Other Foreigners in Mexico. Gives List of One Hundred Per sons Alleged to Have Been Killed or Maltreated Cites Action of McKinley in Case of Cuba. By Associated Press. Washington, March 9. Specific charges that more than one hundred American and other foreigners have been killed, murdered or outraged during the last three years of revolu tion in Mexico were laid before the senate today by Senator Fall, repub lican, of New Mexico, in a speech m which he urged armed intervention not for war but for protection of non-combatants and assailed the ad ministration's policj. Senator Fall's list gave names, dates and circumstances and was gathered from his own sources. Secretary Bryan, when he heard ot Senator Fall's charges, said he would make no statement until he had read all of the senator's speech. Washington, March 9. Urging the use of the armv and navy of the tCe!1 firemen a. S?S4bbs: Cas from - He 1J'ti t' 1 n a ft.-.v... "in..: . - V? a'JI;arentb- r; .6 gr "e fighrr-r . ' U f on atl:'K CT aad b il ota 'ilUt V.l. . '3t and ,: said . j he i i! All Lev ;ot wT6 teres - x names were cor and all the f 'jr. fior. Men i'low-.s or climb '' ij&d clothes, biruped several ijang buildings or less ser lhj caed un-'i- in night 'i. u: til they ;uto neighboring ' atealy dodged -'j find them '.'rir.g mass ' '-adore Levy :-: to a window :,!;; -v ere scorch- ": ' e was about ;i-b 1 'i him about i own a lad- T-ie men who from the win- ' r ji!ayHed they '- nbers onto 'U'lidtngs and for .":ti'c; a general I the cli, if V-,,! appara- a., brought to the Manager of the corridor he heard some one crying am blind. Don't leave me here to die." He made out in the smoke a man groping his way along the wall. Gay lord led him to a room occupied by Henry Baker. In Baker's room Gaylord and the unidentified blind man were joined by nine others. A young man took com mand of the situation and tying two sheets together fastened one end of the improvised radiator. The twelve men went down the rope and all were rescued from the roof of the seed store. While they were escaping another man staggered to the room and fell unconscious. He recovered quickly and went, down the rone. Meanwhile smoke began pouring into the roonx forcine the men still waiting to close the door and to cease calling others to join them. J. R. Stevens was the last man to go down the improvised rope. As the men stood on the roof of the seed store they saw about twen ty men at the windows of the sixth and seventh floors of the athletic club. One jumped to the seed store roof and broko his les. Gaylord and oth ers went to the edge of the roof and shouted for help. Firemen raised a latted through a trap door but it was too short. Another was sent up and the Gaylord party descended without waiting to see whether the men on the upper floors were saved. They think, however, that all who crowded the windows were rescued. Fall, republican, of New Mexico, addressed tbe senate toaay and gave a list of eixty-three out rages upon Americans, concerning which he said he had personal knowl edge. "With the solemn declaration that we do not war upon the Mexican na tion nor people," said Senator Fall, "that it is not our purpose to ac quire territory, and an invitation to the masses of the Mexicon people , jntervais Messrs. J. W. Bullard and J. R. Nix, Whose Place of Busi ness Was Wiped Out by Big Fire of Sunday Morning Say They Will Re-open as Soon as They Can Find Suitable Place. Eighty Per Cent of Stock and Fixtures Was Covered by Insurance Yorke Bros. & Rogers Damaged to Extent of $10,000 From Water Flames Were Very Hard to Reach. "We will begin business again just as soon as we can find a suitable place and can get affairs adjusted," said I.Ir. J. W. Bullard and Mr. J. R. Nix of J. W. Bullard 6c Company this morn ing, whe- business at No. 19 West Trade street, was totally destroyed by the fire which broke out at 2:55 o'clock Sunday morning. The company an nounces that it has temporarily taken an, office at No. 204 of the Realty building and will immediately begin plans for going into business again at the earliest possible date. 80 Per Cent Insured. Messrs. Bullard and Nix stated to a ponnrtnil fnr- TViq TVTowa tnnnv that an- proximately 80 per cent of the value of! United States for protection of Amer their stock of goods and fixtures were ) icans and other foreigners m Mexico, covered by insurance. While they I which, he said, would prevent war, nlri not state, nreciselv the value of Senator, aii, republican, the goods and fixtures destroyed, Un placed it between $90,000 and $120,000. They had just installed their new stock of spring goods of all kinds and had planned to have their spring open ing next Wednesday. It has been a long time since there was a fire in the city of any size, ac cording to firemen and citizens who have noteJ such things that was as com plete in its work of destruction. With the exception of a part o. the first floor and the front part of that floor, the fire made a clean sweep from base ment to roof. The office fixtures, books and all kindred paraphernalia associa ted with the office was destroyed. Those goods that were local d on the counters in the front pare of the first floor escaped being burned, but are thoroughly water-soaked and smoke- stained so that he goods that can be used for any purpose whatever, other than to throw in the rag bag, is slight indeed. The building, it is stated, was the first in the city to have steel used in its construction and was tnereiore something of a landmark. There was not a post on the floor space of the building from basement to roof. The floors themselves were, of course, com posed of wood and were burned. Noth ing but the steel giraers remain stretching from brick wall to brick wall. The upright steel columns of the elevator shaft on the east side of the building remain, but the elevator pulleys and wheels and part- ot the car lie in a heap in the basement, whether they dropped when the rood- en fixtures in which they were built had burned away. Building Insured. The building, which belonged to the Burwell & Dunn Co., and was valued at between $30,000 and 435,000, was covered by insurance. The building was thirty-three feet wide and 108 feet deep. Thi first floor was stocked with dry goods and notions, th-? second with corsets, underwear and chil dren's garments; the thirJ, with mil linery and ladies' ready-to-wear goods and the fourth was occupied by sur plus stock. The store carried a very highclass line of goods and catered entirely to women's and children's wearing apparel trade. As stated in the city editioa of The Sunday Morning News, the firemen had a hard job of it in fijhtlng the flames, bv reason of the location of the building and its construction and the fact that the ladders tney naa c uia Tint hr. n5Pfl tO advantage. "You can sav for ud." said Mr. J. it. Nix this morning, "that we, the lexers, have onlv the highest praise ior tne mag. nificent fight the firemen made m handling the situation. .1 never saw better work under more adverse cir cumstances. The. firemen worked heroically and deserve special com mendation for the manner in which they went about the work. Only their splendid work kept the fire from reaching across the alleyvay to Yorke Bros. Rogers'". Fire Wall Saved Ivey & Company. J B. Ivey & Company, next aoor to the house that was destroyed by the fire, probably owe their safety to the fact that a solid wall of brick two feet thick interfered between their store and the seething, red-hot mass of wreckage on the other side of the wall. No such wall was intervened " (Continued on Page Nine.) , T T OF Tl By Associated Press. Sacramento, Cal., March 9. Three militia companies stood guard today to sec that "General" Kelley and 1,700 unemployed men obeyed orders when a special train was made up to carry them out of the city. It was planned to ship them back to San Francisco. , The marchers, who left San Francis co last week for the purpose, it was announced, of going to Washington D. C, have beeen camped on Southern Pacific property. The situation at the "army" camp Sunday was both ludicrous and threai ening. Baseball games, boxing match es and imDassioned speeches were features. Thousands of persons view ed the camp. Sanitation was becoming bad, city Banners on Which These Lines Were Inscribed Borne Aloft by Army of School Children on March Today. Striking Demonstration in In terest of School Tax Election of Tomorrow-Streets Block ed During Long Parade. "Better Schools, Better Citizens, Bet ter City," was one of the striking slo gans borne aloft over the heads of Charlotte school children when at noon today they paraded the length oi lryon street in demonstration m favor of the increased school tax which will be voted on tomorrow. Officered by the teachers and offi cials of the city school, the children formed a long marching line from the; health authorities said, and it was as- North Graded school building. Theyjscrted that if the army was permitted came down Tryon street from the j to march it would become a menace to north in twos. For the occasion it Lad been an nounced that there would be only a half day of school today. Before 12 j o'clock, the studies ceased and the school children were gotten in order ready for the parade. Banners had been prepared for the occasion. These were borne over the head1 of the chil dren at various Intervals. One of them read, "Seventeen children and no desks." Others emphasized the need of money; of teachers, of room, and general equipment. The streets were blocked for the parade. Only the street cars were per mitted to break the line. In - the streets, numbers of spectators lined up to watch the parade. . A cold blast of wind swept Tryon street during the parade but the chil dren were in good spirits and wonder fully serious about the whole matter. Ihe boys of the High School under Pi of. R. L. Keesler, in regular march ing order went through manoeuvres on the square and gave school yells. at health ! 1 RUIl ! 1 II 111 to co-operate with us, we ehould im mediately direct the use of the land and naval forces of this government for thep rotection of our citizens and other foreigners in Mexico, and lend their assistance to the restoration of order and maintenance of peace in that unhappy country. ' "I might cite authority after au thority and pile precedent upon pre cedent as justification under interna tionallaw for such action, but I will only read from the message of the martyred McKinley with only the suggestion that we insert the name Mexico' in lieu of that of Cuba or Spain." Quoting McKinley he said. " 'It is not to be forgotten that during the last few months the rela (Continued on Page Nine.) Every school in the city was rep resented in the parade and practically every school child in Charlotte took part. The manner of forming at the IERS FIGHT IS 1 E Persons Whose Identity is Un known Secure Body, Carry it to U. S. Side of the Rio GrandeTexas Officials Say Rangers Did Uo do it. Body Showed IVIarks of Torture Preceedmg Killing Presi dent Calls on-Governor Col quit and Consul Garrett For Full Facts. By Associated Press. Washington, March 9. Presidenr Wilson expects a full report from Gov. ernor Colquitt and American Consul Garrett as to the manner in whicn the body of Clemente Vergara, an American citizen killed in Mexico, wag returned to American soil. After reading news dispatches, some saying Texas Rangers had crossed into Mexico and had availed themselves of permission by the Mexican federal au thorities to American Consul Garrett to recover the body, the president ana Secretary Bryan conferred at length. The president said afterward that no official information had been received, that he doubted very much whether Consul Garrett had any permission to take the body and that he would await a full report from Governor Colquitt before making any comment. The president pointed out that the Huerta government had supplied little information about Vergara, declarmf i simply that it would investigate, but f I expressing the opinion that Vergara Lawyers for had j0jnetl e constitutionalists. Con By Associated Press. Atlanta, Ga., March 9. Leo M. Frank, under death sentence SU1 Garrett's dispatches have said Ver- for the murder of Mary Phagan today gara came to his death-at-the-hands were busily engaged in the arrange ment of new evidence which will be submitted to the superior court with an extraordinary motion for a new trial. The newly discovered evidence is said to include several affidavits which have net been made public. There apparently is little probabili ty that Frank will be executed on April 17, the date recently designated by Judge Hill of the superior court. Indications are that the extraordinary motion for a new trial will not be submitted until a few days before the schools instead of at some central Qaie s.ei Ll lu BiB.v'uu.uu-. " " spot guaranteed that none of them traordinary motion is denied by the fi r,i hi-o rr,ur vQ wh superior court judge it is abated that were necessarily absent from school ! an appeal u m eiai - win De mauti, xms acnuu w uuil . 't"i r 'j r 't c f ' r ' i" 'i v t 't '. 'it? i-'i f v THE WEATHER Forecast for North Carolina: Fair weather and slowly rising -? temperature tonight and Tues- day. Frost tonight. Light to w moderate west winds. - , -? f, . O f. -f. l 0 J ,st..5k tf -( r'l-r --r?'i' .. 't i""; 'i v" r r r r r i '.rd i Bid You Ever Buy or Sell Goods by Auction? 1 r i 4 Probably you have never appre ciated the opportunities for buying very cheaply good merchandise , of every description at Auction Sales. Families constantly offer their house hold furniture for sale at Auctions for ridiculously low prices. Proba bly right now you may find on our Classified page the announcement of an Auction Sale where you can se cure just the goods you want per haps household furniture or jewelry. Turn to the Classified section for one of ' the most interesting parts of this paper. "The WqntAdWay" s today were missing from the line of march. The teachers marched at the head of each room. Each child has been urged to exert every influence to secure the registra tion of his or her father and in fact all the male members of the family of voting age. From time to time they have been given letters to take home and petitions to secure signa tures to. This morning each child had a badge pinned on his coat significant of the occasion that is before the vot ers of Charlotte. With this much of a demonstration the officers of the schools are willing to rest the matter of the vote tomor row with the people of Charlotte. Ev ery argument possible was presented by means of the banners, closing with the striking exhortation, "If you are going to do anything for us, Do it now," Vote Against Registration. It is understood that in the election which will be held tomorrow the major ity of the votes cast will not decide the election. On the other hand tut vote will be against registration. iu Gther words, if a man registers and does not vote, the result is the same as if he voted against the tax. There has been some misunderstanding rela tive to this but it. seems to be authori tative that this is the case. tomatically result in an indefinite stay of execution. Activities of the defense were ex pected to be renewed this week by the arrival of the head of a detective agency of national reputation whose agents have been working on the case. That the state is not remaining in active is shown by a new afldavit in which George W. Lpps, Jr., repudiates his affidavit to the defense in which he declared that he perjured himself during the Frank trial. In the new affi davit Epps declares that he was co erced into repudiating testimony giv en during the trial in rgard to the movements of the Phagan gill on the day she ii supposed to Lave been killed. IMG IE II FEDERALS !E DEFEATED TURBULENT SCENES 111 STREETS OF ROME Rome, March 9- Squadrons of cav alry charged and dispersed crowds of turbulent strikers in the streets of Rome today, wounding several ot the demonstrators. The action of the troops followed rioting between the strikers and police after an immense demonstration on the Piazza del Po polo. In these disturbances se)veral policemen and manifestants had been badly injured. England's View of Huerta Proposition. London, March 9. The view of the British government is that it would serve no useful purpose to make rep resentations at Washington regard ing the recognition of General Huer ta as provisional president of Mexico. This announcement was made today by- Francis Dyke Acland, parliamen tary secretary of etate for foreign affairs in answering a question m the" house of commons. By Associated Press. Washington, March 9. connrmanon of the defeat of Mexico federals by constitutionalists at Altamira, near Tampico, was received at the navy de partment today. Admiral Fletcher re ported the constitutionalists at Ala mira to number about 4,000 while the federal garrison is about i.ck - The hospital ship Solace La3 been ordered to Tampico and sht, will take wounded combatants aboaid if that is warranted. The British cruiser Her mione and the German cruiser Dres den are due in Tampico today, having gone up from Vera Cruz to guard the interests of their nationals in the dan ger zone. The cruiser Des Moines is at Tampico. REFUSE REVIEW " BF DYNAMITING GASES By Associated Press. ' Washington, March 9. The su preme court today refused to grant a review of the conviction of ,the "dynamiting cases" of Frank M. Ryan, and 23 other members of the Bridge Workers' Union.. Only a par don can now keep the convicted men out of the penitentiary. cf Mexican federals. Officials of the state and war de partments were without any advices whatever today on the removal of Ver gara's body to Texas soil. Secretary Garrison called upon Brig.-Gen. Bliss on the Texas border for an official re port. Rangers Did Not Do It. Austin, Texas, March 9. Texas Rangers did NOT cross the Mexican border, nor participate in the expedi tion by which Clements Vergara's body was secretly exhumed from an Hidal go, Mexico, cemetery, and deposited by persons as yet unidentified on the Texas tide of the Rio Grande Sunday morning, according to the official ver sion ot the Vergara incident from state capitol sources today. This ver sion was borne out by dispatches from Laredo, Texas, the nearest point tc Hidalgo, where investigation could be made and transmitted by wire. The words of Captain Sanders' firsf telegram, "I proceeded to Hidalgo" ir the light " of his later report to tht governor, are capable of two meanings Sanders is stationed at Laredo, 45 miles from the point where the body was brought across the river near Hi dalgo. To get the body Sanders and Ameri can Consul A. B. Garrett, at Nuevo La re do, had to make the 45 mile trip from Laredo, Hidalgo being one of the few places in that section large enough ' to have a name designating its location, Sanders' telegram has been interpreted as usibg the words "to Hidalgo'' sim ply to indicate a section - of theN bor der. Hidalgo is on the Mexican side of the river close to the American side. Last night's statement that rangers recovered the body was based on tha following telegram from Ranger C&ir tain J. J. Sanders: "I proceeded to Hidalgo, Mexico, d. ta'ned body of Vergara. Have it here." The telegram was dated Laredo but the word "here" was explained today i referred to the point above Laredo, where Vergara made his home. State officials accepted the telegram as meaning that Sanders actually entered Mexico. Governor Colquitt wired San ders for details . early today, and after talking to the ranger captain over the long-distance telephone gave out the following statement: "Captain Sanders, commanding Co. B of Texas Rangers at Laredo, adviS' ed me by telegpraph that he had re covered the body of Vergara. I wired him for full particulars. He advises me that he did not go into Mexico at all, but was informed that the body of Vergara would be delivered on the Texas side of the river at a particular place named at 3:30 o'clock Sunday morning, where he went and found u. As to who brought it across he does not know. He had no assistance in this transaction except from the family and relatives of Vergara who fully identi fied the body." . The governor said today he did not . know whether he would have a fur ther statement to make until he could get additional facts. He declared last night that he had not issued specific instructions for rangers to cross the ' border. The persons who exhumed the body from its Mexican grave have so far in-' dicated that they intended to keep their identity secret. If any ranger or rangers, acting as individuals, partlci (Continued on Page Nine.) 4 f t C ff i I I: . '
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 9, 1914, edition 1
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