The Barnwell people. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1884-1925, February 01, 1917, Image 7
7
TDnnDQ QTADT fllIT ESCAPED FROM OFFICER
I nUUiq 01ARI Ut I while riding on train
PERSHING BEGINS MOYEMENT ix*perado Rubs Red Pepper in Dep-
TO AMERICAN BORBER
BEGINNING OF THE END
Officials Admit That Punitive Expe
dition is Coming Out—Villa and
Zapata to Fight Carranza Together
- for the Evacuated Territory-—
4
Trucks Begin Long Trip Back
Home. -
Troop movements preliminary to
withdrawal of the American expedi
tion from Mexico are being carried
out at the southefrn extremity of the
American line under war department
orders and as soon as, they are com
plete the main body oy the expedition
will start north.
For the first tim^ officials admit
ted that the wRkorawal of outposts
from El Valle and other points about
Colonia Dublin had more than a
local significance and was being car
ried out'on orders from Washington.
uty Sheriff’s Eyes, Takes Pis
tol and Gets Away.
• After blinding the deputy sheriff
with a double handful of red pepper,
a desperado charged with a serious
offense in North Carolina snatched
the officer’s pistol away from the
representative of the law, ran the
conductor out of the car, and held
all, passengers terrified until he could
jump from the train, according to the
story told in Spartanburg by people
who were on a Southern Railway
train Thursday morning between
Spattanburgrund Asheville, N. C.
Geter Davis, alias Joe Bennett,
alias Job' Henson, was tried in Bun
combe 'County, N. C.,. about two
months ago, and sentenced to serve
two years on the chain gang. As of
ficers were taking him to jail he
made a break for liberty and suc
ceeded in reaching South Carolina.
Here he chanced to run against an
officer and when searched a pistol
was found on his person. For carry
ing unlawful weapons he w'as sen
tenced to serve thirty days on the
Spartanburg chain gang, and that
sentence was completed Wednesday.
When the North Carolina authori
ties were notified they dispatched
They made no announcement as to cu i*. ts n r,
the probable time when the general! J e ^ )UtJ ' ^eriff Bell to Spartanburg
northern movement would befetn and If 0 secure the prisoner and bring hid
-would not even admit that TVtttidraw- •‘‘.ack, first warning of the officer that
AN UNFRIENDLY RECEPTION
-\
idences that a determined! t0 vis ' t t, 0 " 6 } “"i 1 !; he otf l cer . r « :
months-in Mexico was at hand. .Since
the effort to effect an agreement
with Gen. Carranza ended iix failure,
the administration has indicated that
its next step would be made known
through action rather than by an
nouncement.
Officials are much interested^ but
apparently little concerned, over
growing ev
struggle for possession of the terri-
; tory evacuated by Pershing may be
f in progress soon between Carranza
troops and revolutionists. , *
Official "dispatches say that Villa
and Zapata, the'two most conspicuous
revolutionary leaders, had allied
themselves for operations against the
de facto armies and that eight
thousand men had been concentrated
near Chihuahua for a Vi 11a'campaign
, in‘the north.
Siace Carranza declined to accept
the Atlantic City protocol officials
have indicated that such problems as
are developing about Chihuahua not
only would be left to the first chief
for settlement but that herWould be
held responsible by the United 'States
government for their settlement in
such a way as to protect foreign 11-
terests. .
Meantime raising of the embargo
om arms to Mexico and the dispatch
of Apnbasasdor Fletcher in Mexico
City remain in abeyance. There
were Indications that the prospect of
sending the ambassador to his post
had been made more indefinite by
the two developments construed In
some quarters as a renewal of prac
tices of the Carranza government
against which the United States -re
peatedly has protested. Officials are
surprised and perplexed over the
drastic measures taken by the first
chief against two banks whose metal-
. lie reserve recently w as seized and by
what some contend Is a revival of
persecution of the Roman Catholic
clergy.
Information reaching the British
embassy from an official of the Bank
of !x>ndon and Mexico and the Na
tional Bank of Mexico was that the
bullion and specie taken from the
banks was a forced loan only in the
sense that it was forced. From the
Bank of London and Mexico the
amount taken was valued at four
million pesos. The National Bank’s
quota was five million pesos. Re
maining in the vaults of the first are
sixteen million pesos and the institu
tion’s officers fear that this may also
be removed. Agents of the de facto
'government are in possession of the
building and the keys to the vaults.
The problem presented by the
seizure has been called to the atten
tion of the state department again
\by representatives of stockholders
.•who are for the most part British
and French. If representations are
made by the American state depart
ment they probably will be based on
the assumption that the interests of
American stockholders may be in
jured.
Army officers Including those ar
riving frotn Columbus, predicted a
formal order from the war depart-
_ ment within the next forty-eight
hours for the withdrawal of the
troops from Mexico. They said Gen.
Pershing’s main column should be
under way to the border before the
end of the present week.
All sick soldiers in the field hos
pital at Colonia Dublan and in the
smaller hospitals along the line of
communication were sent to the bor
der. Four hundred motor trticks are
plying between the border and head
quarters and have brought ordnance
stores, supplies and equipment which
are being stored in large tents at Co
lumbus.
Government agents claim to have
Information that Villa has warned
„ hjs men In western Chihuahua not to
' snipe upon the American jtroops for
fear of delaying the . withdrawal.
Villa, troops were reported at. Janna^
the offender was a dangerous man.
Officer Bell secured his man about
ten o'clock and took passage on a
Southern train for Asheville, first
seeing*to it that Davis had- heavy
handcuffs on his wrists. «
When- Melrose was .reached where
the heavy grade begins on the rail
road the prisoner asked permission
Wilson's Address Gives Englishmen
Electrifying Surprise.
* President Wilson’* address to the
United States. Senate has furnished
the British government and public
with a surprise as electrifying as his
medi^tpry -note to the belligerents.
With the exception of the Manchester
Guardian and The Daily New«, which
are the only papers in Great Britain
that can be classified as pacificatory
in policy, the press gives the presi
dent’s utteranpes an unfriendly re
ception and engages in much specu
lation over the meanings which it is
considered may be concealed behind
certain passages. ;
Public men interviewed begin with
courteous tributes to the president’s
good intentions and end by support
ing Great Britain’s measures. While
the government cannot make any
direct reply to a communication from
the president to the United States
Senate there is certain to be discus
sions in parliament. The usages of
the House of Lords give.even greater
latitude for addresses on any topic
any member wishes to discuss than
the American Senate, w’hile the ques
tion paper of the House of Commons
furnishes an equally good opportun
ity for the advancement of personal
views.
It is already foreshado,wed .foy
members of the Commons that a dis
cussion will be insisted upon viien
parliament reassembles and speeches
from members of the present and the
late cabinet are expected. Possible
action by the American congress oh
committing the nation to membership
in an international peace league is
OUTLAW GANG WIPED OUT
THAT TERRORIZED OKLAHOMA
Bandita Who
PUN HARDER BLOWS
ALLIES AND TEUTONS PREPARE
GREAT SPRING DRIVES ,
NEW BLOW IN THE WEST
Germane Expected to Strike at the
French in Alsace While Entente
Plans Worry Berlin—Neutral Na-
tions are . Fearful—Switzerland
and Holland Eye Belligerents
Doubtfully.
Europe’s winter has now locked
the war campaigns in its icy grip, but
in a month or six weeks the great
struggle will break forth again with
increased intensity. All tile nations
concerned in the struggle are busily
engaged in preparing for the spring; Their plan of operations was novel,
and summer ordeal this year, for it is;They would ride to a bank in a small
realized that the results obtained will > town and post sentries at the* doors.
TRY TO TAKE
Preyed on Country
* Banks are Rounded Up and '
—v Shot to Death. •
Three bank robbers, members of a
band which had terrorized Southern
OklQhams^for six months with almost
daily robberies in broad daylight,
were kiled in a battle with a posse of
Oklahoma deputy sheriffs and Burns
detectives in Deep Fork canyon about
eighteen miles southwest of Okmul
gee, Okla. A fourth had been killed
the day before the final battle and a
fifth r member of the band was wound
ed and is In jail in Okmulgee.
Ip the final fight Oscar Poe, leader
of the band, and Will and Harry
Hart, his chief lieutenants, were the
victims. Chief of Police Mel Bow
man, of Okmulgee, was wounded in
the hand. Investigation was rovoaled
that every member of the original
Poe gang was an ex-convict.
' Poe and his fellow robbers rank
among the boldest bandits who have
infqpted^Oklahoma in recent years.
go a long way toward bringing* about
the final phase of the struggle.
The paramount questions now* are
where will the big blow fall, and
which side will strike first. The En
tente allies have been preparing fev-
erishly since- winter weather halted
the great Somme drive. This has
Then part of the band w’ould enter
and take all ready cash. Thfey would
lock all persona In the vault, in the
bank and then leaver Usually the
robbers would obtain a flying-start
before the imprisoned bankers were
released. In this way they robbed
moved the handcuff from the left
hand. Deputy Bell meanwhile sta-
tionCTT himself outside the door and
as the train lurched afoujid a curve
on the mountain side, running ap
proximately five miles per hour, the
prisoner stepped from the toilet and
flung the red pepper in the officer's
face.
Before Mr, Bell could see or get
his breath Davis had snatched the
officer’s pistol from the holster and
notified every man in Hie car that
one move meant instant death. As
the conductor entered the car his life
was also threatened and the railroad
official was forced to retreat in haste
from that coach. A few* minutes
later Davis swung from the train and
is now supposed to be at liberty in
the North Carolina mountains.
, banks in Alluwe, Vinita, Centralia
been no secret. But it has become, ami Hajrah and carried away over
kno-wn only recently that ^Germany, 1 one hundred thousand dollars. They
too. ip preparing for a gigantic of- were so successful that the bank in-
awaited with greatest interest. Both; tensive move t-his spring, and there | surance companies withdrew risks in
some sections of Oklahoma.
The pursuit of the bandits was
takep up in earnest qfter the robbery
at* llarrah. The thieves w ere tracked
through some of the wildest regions
of Oklahoma. They made their first
stand at OKemah, w here one robber
David Lloyd-George, in his historic. is every reason to believe that von
maiden speech as prime minister, and | Hindenburg is planning to get it
Viscount Grqy, while minister for
foreign affairs, stated Btcongly that
membership in such a league with
out obligations to force its decrees
by arms would be useless.
The effect of President Wilson’s
policy bn the status of the Monroe
doctrine is discussed with equal in
terest. Several British publicists,
notably L. J. Maxse, editor of the Na
tional Review', suggested recently
that Great Britnin Is entitled to a
v.'cighty voice in any international
movements in the American hemi
sphere,- because of-the growing im
portance of Canada as one of the
foremost nations of that hemisphere.
under way before the Allies’ are
ready to strike, just as. the Germans
did at Verdun lasl year.
Germany’s greatest concentration
of troops and guns, according to
NEW TEUTONIC ATTEMPT TO
BAG RUSSIAN BALTIC PORT
<s . . ^ » »
RUSSIA ADMITS LOSSES
•
German* Capture Three Thousand
, Prisoners in Fierce Battle Over
Frozen Ground—Zero Wenther
Harden* Terrain Making tt Strong
*
Enough to Bear Preetnre of For-
... . « .
ward Movement.
What three weeks ago looked like
the beginning of a huge Russian of
fensive on the northernmost end of
the eastern battle line, southwest of
Riga, has developed into what now
appears an earnest attempt on the
part of the Teutons to break through .
to th$ big Russian Baltic port, at the
gates of which Hindenburg’s drive
stopped khort more than a year and
a half ago. ^ ^
Seventeen hundred and * fourteen
pHsoners were taken by Prince Leo
pold's troops Thursday in a continua
tion of the previous day’s offensive,
which netted them fifteen hundred
prisoners. .The original attacking
front of a mile and a half has been
extended to ond of six and a half
miles. Last night’s Berlin war office
bulletin asserts that '’progress was
made on both banks of the Aa river;’*
The Petrograd official report, after
admitting the withdrawal on a depth
of a third of a mile, adds: “Obsti
nate battles are continuing.”
The fighting centers around the
village of Kalntzem, twenty-one' and
a half miles from Riga. It is here
that the Russians recently endeavor-.
meager reports, is not along the Rus-.and a deputy ^sheriff were killed and
elan and Roumanian lines in the east, a robber was wounded and captured. ^ ^
Hindenburg’s favorite field of battle, j The pursuers kept up the chase unti11 e c *f to Vre*aic~thTough^Tirico tiTe"lines
hut'on the west Just where this| where the posse numbered ten and in this region are closest to the im-
Germaii blow is to fall is highly un- the bandits four. v nortant base at Mitau and 1nelrierr~
CROSS THE DANUBE
ROOT PRAISES WILSON
fifty miles northwest of Colonia Bub-
lan. .
A train of Carranza troops
Juarez to garrison El Valle. The
first American outpost itoops report
ed to have arrived at Colonia Dub-
lan. Before leaving El VUTle,, they
dynamited all the adobe houses
which they had built as shelters.
Truck drivers arriving reported
that five thousand natives and for
eigners in the zone occupied by the
punitive expedition were preparing to
march «to the border behind the
troops. All fear Villa will occupy
v, the country as soon as it is evaev-
The Russian premier, Alexander
the fight at Grand Fork canyon,
,/ated by Gen. Pershing’s troops.
■ ♦ ■»—
Danish Steamer Sunk.
The Danish steamship Klampen-
borg of seventeen- hundred, and
eighty-five tons gross Tt«9 been sunk,
Lloyds announced Wednesday. The
Klampenborg was two hundred and
eixty-five feet long and was Owned in
Copenhagen.
Says PreHldent’s Address is a Denun-
. elation of Germany's Cause.
The world peace address of Presi
dent Wilson to the Senate was Inter
preted by Ellhu Root in a speech in
Washington Thursday night as an
admission that there is no way out
of war except by preparation for war
and as a denunciation of the couse
of Germany. He said he was in full
sympathy with the purposes of the
speech, which contained “much no
ble Idealism.**
Mr. Root turned also to the presi
dent’s suggestion that the present
war must end in a “peace without
victory.”
“Now I sympathize with that,” he
declared, "but the peace that the
president describes involves the ab-
solue destruction and abandonment
owRhe principles upon which this
war yas begun. It does not say Ser
bia. it does ont say Belgium, but
there the chosen head of the Ameri
can people has declared the princi
ples of the American democracy In
unmistakable terms. And every
word of that declaration, which I be
lieve truly reprgpenta the conscience
and jurgment of the American peo
ple* denounces the sacrifice of Bel
gium and Serbia and the principles
upon which they were made.**
The speaker’s plea for universal
service brought his hearers to .their
feet cheering time and again.
FOR COAST DEFENSES
House Committee Revolts Big Flrti-
fleations Bill.
The House fortifications commit
tee has reported favorably a sixty-
one million dollar bill providing a
comprehensive scheme of defense
for New Vprk harbor, eight sixteen
Inch mortars for Cape Henry, two
sixteen Inch guns for Puget Sound,
forty-eight hundred thousand dollars
for an elaborate aero service for
coast defense and eighty thousand
dollars for anti-aircraft guns.
Emplacements are provided also
for eighteen twelve-inch long range
guns which the war department con
templates placing at Pensacola, Port
land, Me., Boston, Fort Hancock,
Fort Delaware, Galveston and New
Bedford. /
The coast defense airship projec
tion contemplated the maintenance
of one squadron each In the Philip
pines and Hawaii and
Bulgarians Attempt to Outflank Rus
sian Left Flank.
A new development in the Rou
manian campaign was revealed * in
Tuesday’s German official statement
which reports a Bulgarian movement
northward in Dobrudja across the
southern estuary of the Danube.
The crossing was effected near
Tulchata, thirty-eight miles south
east of Galatz, and places the Bul
garians apparently on one of the
large Islands In the course of the
river near its mouth. The Teutonic
advance is thus carried nearer the
Besarabian boundary, which here Is
formed by the northern estuary of
the Danube.
It remains to be developed wheth
er the Bulgarian move is the prelude
of an effort to turn the Russian left
flank by compelling the crossing of
the stream at this far easterly point.
In any event, It gives Field Marshal
von Mackensen a firmer hold on the
Danube nearer its mouth, the only
stretch where he had not already
complete control of the river.
GIRL HOLDS OFF MOB
•
Hampton Jailer'* Daughter'Threat
ens to Use Her Pistol.
A mob went to the Hampton Jail
Monday night for a negro who was
arrested for a trivial offense. Just
as the crowd reached the door, the
jailer’s daughter, who is about four
teen years of age, ran into an ad
joining room, grabbed one of her
father’s pistole, and rushed back to
the door, covering the lynching party
with the revolver and declaring that
she would shoot the first one that
entered the door. .
She held thetn thus at bay until
her brother, fearing that some harm
might overtake her, took the pistol
from her, whereupon some of the
crowd rushed in and went upstairs,
overpowered the jailer, took the pris
oner and fled in automobiles in the
direction of Estill.
Subsequently the negro was found
a few miles from Hampton, badly
beaten and still drunk. The negro
stated that he did not know who the
members of the party were.
certain, but there is growing . evi
dences that it w ill be against the ex
treme right wing of the French line
in Alsace, where, Jt is reported, the
Germans h6pe to capture the very im
portant fortress of Belfort, and thus
outflank the entire French line from
Verdun southward.
This gathering of troops^&nd artil
lery by the Germans in Alsace has
brought the fear to Switzerland that
Germany intends to violate the neu
trality of that country, and addition
al Swiss troops are being called to
the colors. It is pointed out that the
easiest way to' force the French line
in Alsace would be through Switzer
land.
Troops for this new attempt In the
west are even being brought from
the Russian and Roumanian lines,
while at least a dozen corps of re
serves, a total oC nearly five hundred
thousand men, are being worked
westward from their mobilization
points in Germany.
Holland, it is said, also fears for
her welfare, as there has been report
ed a suspicious concentration of Ger
man reserves along the Dutch fron
tier. But Berlin has seml-officjally
excused this by stating that England
is considering violating the neutral
ity of Holland, a statement which
has called forth strong denials from
London. ,
Germany, it is reported, has tired
of winning victories and getting no
where against the Russians and the
Roumanians, and is planning to
stake- all on a terrific blow on the
western front, a blow beside which
Verdun and the Somme will sink In
to Insignificance. At the same time,
it is rumored, submarines will begin
TO HOLD SECRET CAUCUS
“BONE DRY” PROHIBITION
completion
and maintenance of six reserve
iAquadrons in continental United
leftf^tates, each squadron getting an ap
propriation of six hundred thousand
dollars.
Practically Decided Upon for Alaska
and Hawaii.
/‘Bone dry” prohibition for both
Alaska and Hawaii virtually was de
cided upon Tuesday by the House
territories committee. The reintro
duced Wickersham bill to prohibit
manufacture, sale, gift, posaeRslnn nf
PSSIANS SUCCESSFUL
Conti ter Attack Breaks Teutonic
* w
*■ Lines in BnkowUife.
On the < Bukowlna-Roumanlan
front between Jacobenl and Kimpo-
lung the Russians have delivered a
vicious attack which resulted in the
piercing of the line of the Teutonic
allies over a front, of nearly two
miles.
Numerous prisoners and a consid
erable amount of booty fell into the
hands of the Russians. Berlin ad
mits the withdrawal of the Teutonic
forces along the Golden Bustritza
river in this region, saying that it
was necessitated in the face of su
perior Russian forces. .
transportation of liquor in Alaska
was ordered favorably reported to
the House. The Hawaiian bill was
then taken up and the main features
of the Alaskan bill were Written into
it after the committee had eliminat-
■ed provisions that would make prohi
bition dependent upon petitions of
the Hawaiian people.
CANT DELIVER SHELLS
British Government Stops Work on
American Shipment*.
* The British government has refus
ed permission to the Hadflelds, limit
ed, to proceed with work on the con
tract lor shells for the American navy
“so long as the exigencies of war
continue.’*-
The announcement is made in the
form of an official notice by Dr.
Christopher Addison, the minister of
munitions, in which attention is call
ed to the fact that the entire steel
output is under his control.
a destructive onslaught against Eng
land on the sea. *
The Entente allies, in preparing
for their spring and summer cam
paign, have let it be taken for grant
ed that the blow will fall somewhere
on the western front, but Berlin, It is
said, “smells a mouse." Lloyd-
Oeorge’s rise to power in the British
cabinet leads to the belief in Berlin
that the “energetic steps” planned
by the Entente allies may be In the
nature of a surprise, and Germany,
in casting her eyes about the horizon,
sees danger on the frontier lines of
Holland, Denmark and Switzerland,
in Gen. Sarrail’s army in Northern
Greece, at Constantinople, and even
#s far away as Asia Minor.
Military expert^ predict that the
spring and summer of 1917 will see
the hardest and most sanguinary
fighting of the entire war. But just
where It will be, and which of the
two forces will strike first is a* puzzle.
Republicans Confer in Secret—Gar
diner Says Tarty Has Brains.
Republican^ members of the House
have formally dropped the policy of
holdings open public conferences over
party matters and by a vote of 108
to fifteen agreed to secret caucus to
harmonize differences.
The Republican conferences have
been open ever since the days of the
Progressive fight in the House by
Victor Murdock of Kansas. At the
outset of the meeting Representative
Humphrey of Washington moved an
executive session and there was a
half hour discussion that led to the
final decision to clear the House gal
leries and proceed in secrecy. Rep
resentative Gardner of Massachu
setts and fourteen others stood out
for open sessions.
Representative Gardner, on whose
petition the conference was held,
urged bis colleagues to abandon “the
policy of strict and undevlatlng con
servatism which has been so marked
of late years except during Roose
velt's second term” and submitted a
legislative program for the party.
His program Included unemployment
insurance, old age Insurance, a min
imum wage for women and children,
an eight-hour day for women and
children with no overtime, compul
sory arbitration of all transportation
disputes, compulsory military train
ing, Immediate preparedness, the
budget system and elimination of
‘Ipork” in public..building and i»i¥ei»
and harbor acts.
“The brklns are on our side of the
House,” Mr. Gardner said. “Demo
crats spend money like drunken sail
ors but for all that the people will
retain them in power, in * spite of
Democratic Incompetence, If we tarn
our backs on liberal legislation.
DANISH STEAMER HALTED
Fired on Monday Night by Guns of
Brazilian Port. T '
The Danish steamer Hammershus
was fired on and halted Monday night
by the garrison of the port at Santa
Cruz. She entered the port at ten
o’clock Monday night and anchored
near the German ships in the harbor.
It was reported that she had received
a quantity of provisions and explo-
sives from German nhlp 1 ! nnd wae
attempting to put to sea secretly.
It became known, however, that
the captain of the Hammershus made
a mistake as to the place of ancho»>
age and started tp return to the en
trance of the harbor on. learning of
his error. The authorities became
suspicious and halted the vessel, but
the explanations of the captain were
considered to be satisfactory.
GAVE BeVsHARE
Forty-two Per Cent, of Canadian Sol-
-r
diers Have Been Wounded.
Canada has recruited an army of
434,539 men for the> war. one hun
dred and twenty thouliand in excess
of the force Great Britain asked the
dominion to contribute at the begin
ning of the conflict. Sir Robert Bor
den, premier, informed parliament.
Of this, one hundred and seventy-five
thousand already have seen active
service, he announced, with casual
ties x>( seventy thousand.
CHINA AND JAPAN AGREE
Settlement Granty Japan No Police
Right* in Manchuria.
Dr. Wu Ting-fang, the Chinese
foreign minister, and Baron Hayashl,
Japanese minister to China, has ex
changed final notes for & settlement
of the. Chengchlatun Incident, in
which Chinese and Japanese troops
clashed.
China has granted the demands
for reprimanding and punishing the
responsible officers, and also ha*
agreed to warn Chinese soldi'rs
against incivility in their treatment
of Japanese. She also has granted
an indemnity to the Japanese whose
case caused the incident. China has
refused Japan’s demands for police
fights in Southern Manchuria and
Eastern Inner Mongolia, and has dis
regarded the suggestion for the em
ployment of Japanese military ad
visers and Instructors in the mili
tary academy. “* "
Japanese correspondence lays em
phasis upon Japan’s belief that she
possesses the right to maintain po
lice wherever Japanese settle in
Manchuria, but points out that she is
withholding farther Immediate en
forcement of that contention in or
der that the Chengchlatun Incident
may be closed.
MANY DIE IN EARTHQUAKE
-- ♦
More Than Thousand Buildings De
stroyed In Malay Islands.
,Fifty natives were killed and {wo
hupdred injured in an earthquake on
th A Island of Bali, in the Malay archi
pelago, according to a dispatch from
Amsterdam to The Central—tffbws.
More than a thousand houses and
factories and the native temples were
destroyed. The governor’s palace
was seriously damaged.
Big Ship Destroyed.
The British auxiliary cruiser Lau-
rentlc, formerly in the White Star
line’a Canadian ‘service, has been
sunk off the Irish coast by either a
mine or a torpedo. Twelve officers
and one hundred and ninQ men on
board .the vessel were saved.
portant base at Mitau and inciden
tally closest to the east . Prussian
frontier.
The large Tlrul swamp lies be
tween Riga and the Teuton lines.
V1 rttiaTTy TmpassaliTe In Tlie iiumme?,
it now is firmly frozen and the pres
ent is the only season in which Riga
could be approached from this direc
tion. The German offensive in this
sector has assumed first importance
in all news from the eastern front. It
is more than likely that it is the fore
runner of a great winter campaign
aimed at forcing Russia out of the
war before spring, in order that the
bulk of the Teuton military force*
may be used in the west for the *n-
preme test on that theater.
Major Edwin W. Dayton, the war
expert of the International News Ser
vice says: * : /,, j
“It was long an accepted theory
that an extended offensive movement
was impossible in winter in northern
climates. Like many another old
military axiom, this, too, has been
disproved by the remarkable ability
of the Germans and Russians to en
gage in midwinter in Important mil
itary operations high up in the snow-
clad Carpathians or even close to the
northern frontiers of frosen Russia.
Southwest of Riga is die great
Tirul swamp, with an east to west
width of fully fifteen milee. The
German attack headed toward Riga
is gaining ground between the
swamp and the Babitza and River Aa
on the north.
“The higher ground is only u con-
pie of miles wide at the western end,
biit spreads to a width of over five
miles as it extends toward Riga. The
topography is Important because an
attack in that region would be ex
tremely hazardous in the summer.
Armies hardy enough to fight In the
extreme cold now prevailing have the
advantage of being able to move sup
plies and troops over frosen ground
that would be impassable In want
weather.
“The Germans are ten or a dosen
miles west of Riga and will enconut
ter a stubborn resistance If they at-,
tempt te drive their attack farther.
A serious effort to take this northern
port would certainly develop into an
attack from the south as well ae from
the west.
“The Germane have for a year and
a half held strong'positions twenty
miles south of the city along the
Dwina river and have In'the city of
Mitau an excellent base from which to
develop another asault upon the well
defended Russian stronghold. Rail
roads from Mitau would facilitate at
tacks on both the western and south
ern fronts of Riga. The roads tra
verse the region of the present at
tack and the direct main line from
Mitau to Riga runs between the Tlrul
swamp and the Dwina river.”
BRYAN AGAINST LEAGUE
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Commoner Would Not Have Europe
Dominate Our Annies.
“The president’s message is a won
derfully eloquent appeal to the na
tions at war,” William J. Bryan said
Tuesday. “Insofar as It suggests
terms of agreement, it is entirely
sound and reflects what I believe ta
be an almost unanimous sentiment.
"But I dissent entirely from the
proposition that this nation should
join iu a movement to effect peace in
Europe. If 1 know the sentiment of
the American people It is inconceiva
ble that they should be willing to put
the American army and navy at the
command of an international council
which would necessarily hi controll
ed by European nations, and allow
that council to decide for us when We
would go to war.
“I have more faith in our people
to help them by example than I ha^e
In our country to help them by en
dorsing the European plan of rely
ing, upon force and terrorism.
“In the president's appeal to them
be presents the philosophy of broth
erhood and cd-operation, apd this la
inconsistent with the proposition that
it be backed op by a larger display
of force. In other words, the presi
dent has sown wheat and tares to
gether. * I hope that the Senate will
approve of the wheat and reject the
itaree."
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