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THIRTY-NINE DEAD Disaster Wrought by Bursting of Boiler on Gunboat, j EIGHTY OTHERS INJURED I The Bennington Was Torn Almost to j Pieces in San Diego Harbor and j Many Sailors Mangled.?Horrible Scenes Witnessed. i I Thirty-nine members of the crew ! ol the United States gunboat Bennington were killed and 80 sailors ! were injured, 24 seriously, at 10! o'clock Friday morning, by a boiler j explosion that disabled the vessel in San Diego, CaL, harbor. Fifteen saU-! ors are missing. There were more j than 250 men aboard the warship when the accident occurred, and many men were hurled or forced to jump j into the sea by the terrific explosion ; which lifted part of the deck and compelled the beaching of the ship. The Bennington, at the time of the accident, was lying in the stream jfest oft the commercial wharf at the foot of H street. The warship had received orders Srom the navy department at Washington to sail for Port Hartlord, where she was to meet the mon- ; itor, Wyoming, and convey the vessel j to Mare Island navy yard. Steam was up and everything was in readiness for sailing, when suddenly and with- | out any warning whatever, the star- : board forward boiler exploded with a deafening roar. The % explosion was , terrific, people standing on the shore saw a huge cloud of white steam rise above the Bennington. * I | A number of boats were in the vicinity at the time, and these hurried to the rescue, lending valuable aid in picking up the wounded sailors ' and transferring them to the shore. At the time of the accident, Commander Lucien Young and Surgeon F. E. Peck were on shore. The two officers, as soon as they learned of the disaster, hurried to the water front, where Commander Young immediately took charge. On board the Bennington were presented terrible scenes. The force of : the explosion had torn a great hole in the starboard side of the ship, and ' the vessel was already commencing to list. A section of the upper decks ! was carried away from stem to stern. Blood and wreckage was distributed over the entire ship, the after cabin and the vicinity of the ship adjacent to the exploded boiler resembling a charnel house. A dozen or fifteen men were blown ; overboard by the force of the terrific explosion. Captain Wentworth, who was looking at the Bennington when the disaster occurred, says he [ saw human bodies hurled over a hundred feet upward. ! The bodies of many of the men tak- | en from the wrecked interior of the ship were mutilated almost beyond ! recognition. For a long time the hot steam pre- i rented access to the space between j * decks, where most of the dead bodies 1 lay, and it was not until late in the afternoon that the last were removed. ; Several bodies were so tightly wedged : In by a bulkhead, that the woodwork had to be hewn away to free them. Most of the bodies yet unidentified have been mangled almost beyond hope of recognition. The boiler which exploded, it is i 8aid, was regarded as unsafe. Com- j mander Young stated that during a : recent return from Honolulu the ! steam pressure was kept reduced in that particular one. When the explosion occurred the j engineer was inspecting tne .Doners , as a preliminary to the vessel's leav- I ing port and he was not seriously in- : jured. The following is the list of dead: J. Newcombe, B. A. Hughes, A. Bensel, A. Kamerer, W. W. Wright, C. i Hoggboom, E. Dresch, W. Parish, M. G. Quinn, G. Brownlee, J. L. Burns, W. : Chefrey, E. G. Geiss, C. Kuntz, seven ! unidentified dead on board, seven un- ! Identified dead ashore. Fifteen othera unaccounted for. I MERCER ELECTS A PRESIDENT. I College Finally Secures a Head After ; Considerable Difficult. The board of trustees of Mercer university, at their meeting in Macon, Ga., Friday night, unanimously elected as president, Charles Lee Smith, recently of William Jewel col- I lege, Missouri. Dr. Smith is a full graduate of ) Wake Forest college, "North Carolina, j and doctor of philosophy of Johns j Hopkins university. Later he was elected to the professorship of his- ! tory and political economy in William j Jewell college, where he has taught i for fourteen years. WHOLESALE MURDERERS. Bulgarians Attack Two Villages and : Not a Soul Allowed to Escape. A report received in Salonica says that a large Bulgarian hand attacked . the villages of Baltina and Gradeshuitza, in the Morinovo district, at f night, murdering the entire population ! indiscriminately and that the carnage j did not end untr! morning. The number of victims is no: known. YELLOW JAfK APPEARS. Suspicious Cases at New Orleans -Dociared to Be Genuine Disease. Quarantine Quickly Applied. Drs. Goldthwaite and Mocre of the Mobile board of health visited New Or- j leans Friday on the invitation of the j Louisiana board of health to investi-! gate two cases presenting symptoms of yellow fever, and save it as their opinion that it was yellow fever, with the result that the Mobile board of health immediately put on a quarantine against passengers and household ! goods. There will be no quarantine ! against merchandise, as the ship- j ments of that will be under regula-1 tions of the conference of southern ; healtth boards. Dr. White of the marine hospital service has been ordered to the city j to take charge of a detention camp, ! which will be located at Avondale, I where travelers can go and remain i five days and then, with a certificate of non-infection, will be admitted to any city. Up to date there has been no an- ! topsy, and until that has been held ! the state board of health will not ! make any announcement. Quarantine against New Orleans | was put on at Mobile Friday after- | noon, and quarantine inspectors were j placed on all south bound trains leav- ! ing the Alabama city for New Orleans. | A special from Houston, Texas, j says: State Health Officer Tabor Fri- j day night issued orders to all roads 1 having lines between New Orleans and Texas, positively prohibiting the j entrance of any person from New Or- j leans into Texas. Dr. Tabor will go to New Orleans i to make a further investigation be fore formally declaring a rigid quar- | antine against freight. According to his information, there | are several cases of yellow fever in | that city. The interdiction of the i passenger traffic was made effective j Friday night. FREE PASS BILL DEFEATED. | Hall Measure in Georgia House of , Reoresentatlves Lacked Two Votes. With but two votes needed to send j it over to the senate, the anti-free j pass bill by Mr. Hall of Bibb went | down in defeat in the Georgia house ! Friday, because it fell barely short of j the required constitutional majority, j Advocates of the bill declare that ! they needed but one vote more to j pass it; that if it had received 87 ; instead of 86 votes, the vote of Speak- j er Slaton would have made the re- ; quired 88, which would have meant j the passage of the bill. Speaker Sla- j ton would give no intimation as to i how he stood, but the friends of j the measure stated that they had ev- j ery reason to believe that he was with [ them and would have so voted. It was believed for a time that the ; bill would get S7 votes on its passage, because that was the vote by which , the adverse report of the committee ' of the whole was disagreed to?87 to i 72?and a vote disagreeing to the ad- j verse report of the committee was r almost equivalent to a vote for the j bill. When the measure came up direct- , ly on its passage, however, the vote | was 86 to 72. The vote lost to the : friends of the bill was that of Mr. j Cureton of Dade, who voted against j the adverse report, and afterwards ! voted against the bill. The vote on the bill was reached after four days of debate, including a j large amount of filibustering by its j opponents. Mr. Hall gave notice that i he would move for a reconsideration, j BOYCOTT WELL UNDER WAY. ? Ban on American Goods in China is j Now in Working Order. A Shanghai special says: The boy- ; cott of American goods is now work- j ing, but it has been agreed that the I completion of all running contracts j will be allowed. Meanwhile all the i Chinese shops refuse to sell American j goods, including Standard oil. All I schools and colleges have decided to ' discard all American books. FREE PASS BILL OPPOSED. Dilatory Tactics Against Measure In Georgia House of Representatives. The warmest fight of the session is on in the Georgia house of repre- j senfcatives. The Hall anti-free pass | i bill is the measure over which the wrangle has begun, and the members are lined up in strong array on eith- j er side of the proposition. The opposition to the bill at once ! developed a decided inclination to fili- ; bustering, and it succeeded, at least, i in preventing the measure from com- i ing to a vote. I TOWN ALMOST WASHED AWAY. Cloudburst Whelms Georgetown Caus- j ing Great Property Damage. Georgetown, Ind., on the Southern j railway, was almost washed away Friday by a cloudburst. The water in the main street of the town was : three feet deep and great damage was j done to stores and other property. So far as can be learned no live? i were lost. QUARANTINE IS ON Fever in New Orleans Causes; Health Boards to Act. (JhHUIALS AKt CAUIIUUS l i Belief is That Disease Can Be Confined to Italian Quarter of City. ; i Detention Camps Are Established at Various Points. A New Orleans dispatch says: Tho official autopsy on a patient, an Itai- i ! ian, who died of what has been called j suspicious fever, has disclosed that the disease was yellow fever. President i Souchon of the state board of health j has notified Governor Blanchard and \ the health officers of Mississippi, Tex as and Alabama. Arrangements have j been made for a detention hospital to j treat the remaining cases. Applied- j tion of the same merhods which were 1 pursued at Havana is to be made, and i the authorities are hopefull that the j disease can be stamped out. Presi- j dent Souchon said: "No cases of the fever are known ; to exist outside of this area, save ! two or three which are directly trace- ! able to it and the infected area, a few squares in extent, is under vig- j orous disinfection. "It is expecied that the measures 1 adopted and operated will be success- * ful in eradicating the infection, the j nature of which is suspected to be yellow fever, though the autopsic find- 1 ings in one case only determined this : as a conclusion." The quarantine situation affecting ' New Orleans is not serious in that it i applies on y to persons and baggage, j and this will be relieved by the lm- ! mediate establishment of detention J camps on the lines of all the railroads, ; where travelers who desire to go to the quarantine territory may remain ; five days and secure a certificate of j non-infection from the marine hospital | service. Surgeon J. H. White of the ' United States marine hospital service Sunday arranged for the establishment of camps at the following points: Slidell, on the Queen aria -Crescent; Avondale, on the Southern Pacific and Texas and Pacific; Kenner, on the Mississippi Valley and Illinois Central, and Waveland, on the Louisville and Nashville. Alabama quarantined on the basis of opinions expressed by her health officer. Mississippi and Texas quar- j antined on the basis of information j telegraphed them. The state health and city boards of health of Florida, Saturday, ordered a quarantine against New Orleans. Freight will be permitted to pass after) fumigation, but inspectors are sttw tioned at. Flomaton with instructions to allow no persons from New Orleans to pass. Sunday the city of Montgomery* Ala., through Acting Mayor C* P. Mo > Intyre, issued an official proclamation j( of quarantine against the city of New i Orleans. i The board of health of Selma, Ala., Sunday afternoon sent back to New Orleans a thirteen-year-old girl of that city, who arrived Saturday to visit relatives. The girl's parents reside [ in the Italian settlement of New Or- j leans, where the yellow fever is said j to have been discovered. Havana Quarantines. A Havana dispatch says: On ac- j count of the existence of yellow fever j at New Orleans, quarantine has been I declared against that port. Mexico Won't Quarantine. The health authorities of Mexico j City say there will be no quarantine j against 'New Orleans. The sanitary ' inspection of arriving passengers from ! infected ports is strict and suspected cases are isolated. Merchandise from ports where yellow fever exists is not j detained. The theory on which the J Mexican sanitary authorities deal with j yel'ow fever is that -it is only com- j municated by a species of mosquitoes, j thus the unreasonableness of quaraa- I tine precautions. Washington is Aiding. The officials of the public health j and marine hospital service at WTash- i ington are working in harmony with : those in Louisiana in the effort to | prevent anv snread of the fever. Dr. ! A. H. Glenaan, acting surgeon gen- j eral in the absence of Dr. W'ymaa, ! who Is now in Honolulu, has dis- j patched Surgeons G. M. Guiteras from i Cairo, 111., T. H. Richard from Savan- j Dah and J. H. White from Mobile co j proceed to New Orleans and assist j the marine hospital officials stationed ! there. A thorough outgoing passenger med- ( ical train inspection service will be organized so as to prevent the departure of any persons who have been ex- ! pcsed in any way to the disease. JURY CONVICTS BOMFORD. Despoiler of Capt. Parks' Home Guilty j of Aggravated Assault. At Tampa, Fla., after being out 24 i hours, the jury trying Harry Bomford | for assault with intent to murder on Captain C. L. Park, rendered a ver- i diet cf guilty of aggravated assault Tuesday. The sentence was deferred, pending ; a motion for a new trial. i BILL AGAIN BUTTING IN. German Emperor and Czar Nicholas In Conference?Meeting Comes as a i Sensation?Much Speculation. A special from St. Petersburg says: ! On the eve of the peace conference i and with a suddenness already discon- I certing diplomatic and court circles, j the emperor left Peterhof Sunday on ; board the imperial yacht Polar Star j for a conference with Emperor Wli- j liam, who is cruising on the Hohen- I zollern in Finnish waters. The czar is accompanied by his j brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexan- ; drovich, and a considerable suite, ineluding Count Ecnckenaorff, marshal j of the court; Count Heyden, chief of i the imperial chancellory; Admiral Bir- j ioff, minister of marine; Captain Von j Essen, who commanded the battleship Sevastopol during the siege of Port Arthur; Captain Chagin, who commanded the Almaz, the only cruiser c* Admiral Rojestvensky's fleet to reach j Vladivtsok, after the battle of the sea of Japan; Captain Hintze, nava] attache of the German embassy and also a party of courtiers and the emperor's escort of sailors and marines with a guard commanded by Admiral Nuloff. It is noticeable that there is no representative of the Russian* foreign office among the emperor's entourage j nor is the German ambassador on board the Polar Star. This gives color to a report that the meeting was arranged between the two emperors j directly without recourse to the usual | diplomatic channels, Emperor William j suggesting the rendezvous by tele- | graph from Hernoehand, Sweden. The j idea, the report says, met with the j czar's favor, but the final arrange- j ments were only completed Sunday I and some members of the imperial family were hastily commanded to accompany his majesty. Many diplomats were taken completely by surprise by the news. The 'action of Emperor William j in seeking a conference at this moment is generally interpreted as an assurance of his moral support of Russia in the coming pour parlers at Washington and Portsmouth and to show that German participation in the recent Japanese loan was not a mark of the alienation of German sympathies from Russia. Emperor William, whose keen interest in the lessons of the Russo-Jap war is well known, fcae al90 taken advantage of the occasion to discuss the details with eyewitnesses and the presence of the naval officers who distinguished themselves in the far east is due to his special request. A special dispatch from Paris says: Emperor Nicholas' cruise in the Gulf of Finland to meet Emperor Williams is the subject of much comment in the press. Certain newspapers express the fear that the German emperor will influence the carrying out of the peace program, while others are of the opinion that Emperor William will seek to estrange Russia from France. The London newspapers of Sunday morning noted with inquietude the | sudden resolve of Emperor Nicholas to visit Emperor . Wlilliam, and all kinds of speculation are indulged in as to the possible motives for, and the results of such a momentous interview at a time when so many difficult problems are facing European diplomacy. The Moroccan and Scandinavian questions are regarded as possible subjects for discussion, and it is also supposed that the reactionary party in Russia may have succeeded in persuading the emperor of the impolicy of permitting M. Witte to conclude peace on a basis acceptable to France and Great Britain. All the correspondents agree that the interview was of Emperor William's seeking, and the result is awaited with the greatest anxiety. No news of Emperor Willaim's whereabouts h3S reached London since he left Gafie, Sweden, and was cruising northward. There is no harbor at Borgo, and the imperial yachts must be in the open sea. Telegrams from Berlin indicate that the meeting between the emperors is as great a surprise there as elsewhere. GRAND JURY AFTER JUGGLERS. Beach Announces That Probing of Cotton Leak Will Now Begin. The grand jury of the District of Columbia will take up the allegations that there has been jugglery in the cotton crop statistical reports of the department 01 agriculture witn a view of possible indictment or indictments. The announcement that the grand jury would meet to consider the subject was made in a statement issued by United States District Attorney Morgan H. Beach at Washington Friday night. CALL FOR CANAL LABORERS. Bids Asked for Four Thousand Chinese and Dago Workmen. The first attempt to secure laborers in large numbers for work in connection with the construction of the Panama canal were made Saturday, when bids were asked by W. Leon Pepperman, acting chief officer of the Panama canal commission, for 2.000 each of Chinese and Italian laborers. J f STRIKERS LOSE OUT! J Great Contest at Chicago Finally Comes to an End. TEAMSTERS SURRENDER Men Will Seek Old Places Without Agreement of Any Kind?Strike Lasted Nine Months and Cost Thirty Lives. The end of the teamsters' strike that be so greatly disturbed conditions in Chicago for the last three months is at hand. The strikers have made a complete surrender and will seek their old positions without an agreement of any kind with the employers. The first break in the ranks of the strikers came Thursday afternoon when the lumber teamsters voted to return to work regardless of what action might be taken by any other union. Thursday the department storedrivers and the railway ejxpress drivers voted to call off the strike and seek their old positions in the morning. U is expected that about 60 per cent of the department store drivers will be reinstated, and the express drivers declared that they believed that about one hundred of their number would be taken back by the express companies. The express companies have declared all through the strike, however, that not one of the men, who struck would ever be reinstated. The truck drivers and one or two smaller unions will vote on the question of calling off the strike, but there Is no doubt that they will decide to seek their old places again. The officials of the teamsters' union declare that they expect such action to be taken. The only concession that the men nave gainea Dy going Daca co wont is in the ca3e of the lumber drivers? the right to wear the union button. In the case of all other unions, the men by seeking their old places tacitly agree to the terms of the employers, which were that only such men would be taken back as weze needed after the non-union men had been provided for, and that the question of wearing the union button should be left to the decision of the individual employer. The strike has been one of the most annoying, bitterly fought and expensive affairs of its kind that Chicago has ever known. It originated last winter over the demand of the Garment "Workers' Association that the firm of Montgomery Ward & Co. refrain from sending out any work to non-union men, although there was In the contract between Ward & Co. and the unions *o clause prohibiting such action. The garment workers employed by Ward & Co. went on strike, and their places were filled by non-union men. Four months after tho cf-rifcA nf thA earment workers the teamsters' union called on Ward & Co. to arbitrate the strike. The refusal of Ward & Co. was followed by a strike of all the teamsters in their employ, and the strike rapidly spread to such other business houses as attempted to make deliveries to Ward & Co. About thirty lives have been lost during the strike, and there have been hundreds of cases of assault, in many of which the victims were seriously Injured. PUGILIST AS PICKPOCKET. "Jim" Hall Nabbed by Chicago Police on Charge of Robbery. "Jim" Hall, formerly a well known pugilist, at one time champion of Australia, and who fought with Robert Fitzsimmons for the largest purse ever offered in a prize ring, was arrested in Chicago Thursday on a charge of robbery. It was claimed by the police that Hall was one of the three men who attempted to pick the pockets of a passenger on a street car. ? FIVE NEGROES IMPLICATED. Coroner's Verdict on the Murder of Mrs. Smith, Near Gadsden, Ala. The coroner's jury empanelled to investigate the death of Mrs. S. 5. Smith delivered a verdict implicating four negro men and one negro woman. The verdict sets forth "that Mrs. S. J. Smith met her death by unlawful means, her neck being broken by cnoking, strangulation, licks or strokes; all of which was in perpetration of a criminal assault upon her person, and that Jack Hunter, Will Johnson, Vance Garner, Bunk Ricnardson and Lucy Mayo are guilty thereof." f RUSSIAN ZEMSTVO CONGRESS Convenes in Moscow with 225 Dele gates in Attendance. The Russian zemstvo congress open ed at noon Wednesday in the residence of Prince Dolgorukoff. The congress was attended by 22o delegates. Count Heyden, leader o: the deputation representing the congress, recently received by the emperor, presided. HEAT WAVE IS BROKEN. Before Relief Came to Long Suffering New Yorkers Nearly Two Hundred , Deaths Were Recorded. With the thermometer reaching a maximum of only 86 degrees Thur3day, there was a general relief in New York and surrounding cities from the withering beat of Tuesday and Wednesday. Normal summer ^weather prevailed throughout the day. During Tuesday and Wednesday nights, a total of 234,000 persons slept on the park lawns, according to reports received by the park commissioner. Although the heat wave is evidently a thing of the past, the effect of the ' recent high temperature and humidity was stili apparent during Thursday. UP to ii o'cjock p. m. iweuiy-uvts deaths had been reported in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with several others reported in Jersey City and nearby towns. The prostrations numbered ta addition thirty-five. The wave of heat which held the city in its grasp for more than a week caused nearly 200 deaths, several times that number of serious prostrations and untold sufferings to irfllions. *3 SHERIFF INTERRUPTS LAWYER. ~ Features of Trial of Milton Rawlingt at Valdosta. Milton Rawlings made his statement , in the Carter murder cases at Valdog- V ta, Ga., Thursday morning. "A network of perjury has thrown me under 3 the shadow of the gallows," said he, as he dropped Into the witness chair, just before the court adjourned for J dinner. f'jj Resuming his story as he could steady his voice, the prisoner went ' ^ through his actions during the day previous to the heartless slaughter of the Carter children, as well as his location on the night of that tragedy. As he ' ? neared the end of his story, he broke down completely, and for two or three minutes sat a mute obejct of observa- % tion for the great throng. The sensational feature of the after- % noon was the interruption of the argument by Attorney Smith by Sheriff Passmore, when Attorney Smith was , / arraigning the McDonalds, brother-in- /x law and nenhew of the sheriff. Attorney Smith asserted there was just an mueh reason to charge the McDonalds with the crime as there was to put it to the credit of the Rawl- /> ings. "For," said he, "it has been ^ proven, and proven by the state's witnesses at that, that the McDonalds were there in that yard that night, and that they had guns with them." Sheriff Pass more, kinsman of the McDonalds, jumped to his feet in front of the court room and declared thai > 3 the McDonalds had not been arrested, because there bad been no evidence1 warranting that action. This brought from Mr. Smith -the declaration: "If there is any one. . '-i here who doesn't like it because I have taken it upon myself to defend these prisoners, let them say so. If they don't like it, let them lynch me; let them hang me. I have the satisfao tion of knowing that I have done py duty." < f; CHINA IS BUTTING IN. . Insists on Being Consulted When the , Peace Proposition Comes Up. China's official notification to t?e . powers that she will not recognize any arrangements regarding Manchuria' ^ J concerning which she has not beenconsulted before hand, has reached Washington. - ; Before addressing this note to the neutral powers, China sent to St. Pe- V; tersburg and Tokio an identical note containing this notification. } ii TOKIO TO WELCOME TAFT. N. Secretary and Party Will Be Given Hearty Reception by Japs. Extensive preparations are being made in Tokio for the reception of Secretary Taft and party. Beside official receptions, imperial and other wise, the bankers and other influential associations and societies are appoint' ing reception committees. All Tokio is inclined to give the ? heartiest possible reception to Secre. tary Taft. EXCURSIONS PROVE PROFITABLE Fitzgerald Collects $100 from Negroes and Have Five in Jail. When Acting Mayor Hooker of Fitzgerald, Ga., Thursday morning counted up the amount of fines already collected from the negro excursionists, who were arrested on various charges ' Monday, he found the city's funds increased by $100 cash, and the chief of police's desk covered with personal effects, tendered by those who had failed to And the money to pay their fines, and there are still five in the pen. MORE TROUBLE FOR EQUITABLE. New York Legislative Committee Wilj Probe State Insurance Affairs. There will be a legislative investigation of the life insurance business as carried on in New Y6rk state, both by state corporations and by those of other states doing business within the stare. This investigation will be made by a special joint committee with ample powers.