PRAISE FOR TAFT. Hev. Vattinan Gives It With out Stint. A REPORT TO BISHOPS. It Deals with the Status of tlio Catholic Church IN THE PHILIPPINEISLANDS The Chaplain of an Infantry Itetfl mcnt \VIH> Went to the I'hlllppiueft Hive* Itin Opinion of Church Attaint in That I'art of the World. Washington. May 2. —Extracts from the report of Father IS. J. Vattinan, chaplain of the Twenty-ninth United States infantry, to the Catholic bish ops assembled in annual convention here last week on the status of the Catholic church in the Philippines, were made public Friday. Father Vattman, with the consent of the war department and under direction ■of the church authorities, recently made a careful investigation of Cath olic interests in the islands. He is unswerving in his praise for Gov. Taft and others of the Philippine, commission for their honesty and equality in religious affairs. He comments on the influence of Aglipay, an insurgent priest in the islands, and expresses the belief that had an American bishop instead of Monsignor Gnidi been appointed to Manila the breach would not have been so wide anil it would have been ■closed quickly. Father Vattman re gards the present feeling toward the friars as most unfortunate. "To my mind," says Father Vatt man's report, "it is deplorable that certain of our Catholic papers per sist. in misrepresenting Gov. Taft and his administration, lie is a clean and honest man. broad minded and liberal, with no taint of bigotry in his composition. His attitude towards the church and to Catholic interests in general is simply admir able. You may be certain that he thoroughly understands the charac ter and the selfish designs of the ren egade Aglipay and that he has a pro found knowledge both of the men •and of the conditions around him. 1 repeat, the governor is honest and impartial and we have nothing to fear from him—he can always do the right thing. "Commissioner Wright. Gov. Taft's :vble coadjutor, is also fair minded and impartial. He is straightfor ward in his dealings and there is no •evasion or hypocrisy about him. He is an exceptionally good lawyer, an excellent latin scholar and is well versed in canon law. of which he has made a specialty. Tlis wife is a de vout Catholic. "Judge Smith, another member of *rhc commission, is a Catholic, and surely our interests would he safe in his hands. Mr. Ferguson, secretary for the? Philippines, a former Washingtonisui, is another broad minded man with not a taint of bigotry. Tn fact, the commission itself and all its members aire possessed of the right spirit and we Catholics need fear no injustice at their hands. "As to the Asrlipay heresy—for it may be so called—it bodes danger to the faith of the people. Remember there are 10.000.000 Catholics in the Philippines, about as many as there are in the whole United States." Forest I'lrett Under Control. Punxsutawney, Pa., May 2.—The forest fires which have been raging throughout the greater part of Me- Calmont township and adjoining townships to the north and east, are ■under control. The loss of property will amount to thousands of dollars. Clark, Kiser & Kipp, whose sawmill is located at Cortez, had almost 3,000,000 feet of logs 'burned, entail ing a loss of SIO,OOO. The Keystone •kindling wood factory, also located at Cortez and operated in conjunc tion with the sawmill, lost about $6,000. On Sandy creek several houses and barns were burned and many families narrowly escaped with their lives. Three Children Cremated, Baltimore, May 2. —William Hughes, 3 years old; his sister, aged 2 years, and Harriet Gardner, 1 year of age, were incinerated Friday in the home of the father of the -first, two named, at Lansdowne, a suburb of this city. While the father was at work in a field Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Gardner locked the children in and went to a nearby stream to fish. The house caught fire from some unknown cause and the children were dead be fore assistance could reach them. A -5-year-old Hughes boy was rescued. All the children were colored. A Coiiftit! in Trouble. Solingen, Rhenish Prussia, May 2. United States Consul Landger was yesterday fined $7.50 by the judge of a local court for disorderly conduct in the court room, where he was present, as a witness. Mr. Landger protested that he was a United States official and could not be fined in that manner; thereupon the judge sen tenced him to one day's arrest for •continued disorderly behavior. Death Lit! To tain 84. Seattle, Wash., May 2.—A special to the Times from Frank, N. W. T„ says: The coal mine of tlie Cana dian-American Coal and Coke Co. is not greatly damaged. The death list has been increased by the names of William and John Bobbles, .lolin Lieuma and John Clark, all miners. 'Two men reported dead are found to be alive. The total death list now numbers s !vt "- IIIM ...p vuii.«r Mies. Newton, Mass., May 2.—Hishop Ilandolph S. Foster, of the Methodist Kpiseopul church, died Friday, aged .XJ years. Death was due to apoplexy. GOOD ROADS CONVENTION. " Necessity for the Construction of Metier HIGHWAY* I* Irgriit. St. Louis, April 2'J. —The sec on d day's session of the national and in ternational good roads convention opened with a better attendance than on Monday. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, who is president of the national high way commission, made the principal address of the forenoon. Gen. Miles spoke on the subject "Military Roads and a National Highway." Ex-Gov. Hogg, of Texas, pointed out the necessity for good roads, which, he believed, could be secured only through the aid of the national government. Sam Hill, brother of President James ,T. Hill, of the Great Northern Railway Co., and president of the Washington Good Roads association, told of the vast amount of business that is being done with the Orient through Puget Hound and said the only sure way of building it up and holding it from all competitors was to improve the highways contiguous to water and rail lines. Col. \V. J. Bryan spoke at the aft ernoon session and received an ova tion. Gen. Roy Stone, chief engineer of the Union Terminal Co., of New York, a pioneer in the movement, presented a strong paper in favor of highway improvement. lie took the stand that national aid is essential in securing this end. He told what had been done since 1900 and out lined a detailed plan for extending the work. Gen. Stone closed as fol lows: "Goorl roads are coming, whether by easj- ways or hard. Federal aid is in the air, our younger statesmen are eager to promote it and the old est no longer have the cold shivers when it is mentioned. It, has reached the very top. Within this month, a president of the United States has said what no president has dared to breathe in almost a hundred years, that the federal government can and should 'co-operate' in the building 1 of common roads." i GEN. BELL SPEAKS. He Kays Our Army Should Not ho Al lowed to Hest I'nder a Stigma. Southampton, England, April 29. Gen. J. Franklin Bell, U. S. A., who is on his way home from the "Philip pines, iwas shown the cabled digests of the report of Lieut. Gen. Miles. He said to a representative of the press: "I must decline to make any com ment on the statement further than to remark that all complaints made to Gen. Miles while he was in the Philippines have been investigated by the war department. In the ordinary course of events these reports of in vestigations probably have been for warded to Washington." When asked if he did not wish to say anything concerning the truth or falsity of the accusations, or of the complaints of occurrences in Batan- province, Luzon, while he was in command there, Gen. Bell replied: "I would greatly regret to have the American people believe that any American officers or soldiers had been wantonly cruel or inhuman in their treatment of natives. However, I have said in official reports all I care to say on that subject. Ido not be lieve that anything I can say unoffi cially will change any one's opinion; nothing certainly would make any one who served creditably in the Phil ippines think that the conduct of the American army has been character ized by cruelty, nor could I change the opinion of any one who wished to believe the contrary." IS NOT A BAD TRUST. National Wholesale I)rusgluts' Asso ciation Is Held to be a Legal Com bine. Albany, N. Y„ April 29.—The Na tional Wholesale Druggists' associa tion has won by a decision of the court of appeals, its tight over the firm of John D. Parke & Sons, of Cin cinnati. The Cincinnati firm are so called "cut rate druggists" and also manufacturers of proprietary medi cines. They brought an action against the Druggists' association (which is an unincorporated concern composed of 125 manufacturers, jobbers and wholesalers of drugs from Maine to California) charging that the Latter conspired to prevent the sale of cer tain drugs to the plaintiff company because they refused to enter the combination. The Parke Co. therefore endeaVored to break up the associa tion. The lower courts held that the as sociation under its peculiar agree ments was not a combination in re straint of trade and the court of ap peals yesterday affirmed the decision. WERE TIRED OF LIFE. Three Residents or Washington Sui cided by the t'arbollo Aeld Itoute. Washington, April 29. —Three per sons committed suicide in this city Tuesday. All used carbolic acid as : means of ending life. The three si c.ides were Leonard H. Mangum, former clerk in the census office; Guy E. Padgett, a real estate and insur anee agent, and Mrs. Sadie Plummer, a young woman whose husband keeps a lunch room on Pennsylvania ave nue. Mr. Mangum was a native OJ North Carolina, but lived for many years in Arkansas. It is said that he at one time was wealthy, but lost his money and was compelled to come to this city to seek employment. lie lost his position in the census office last July and since then has been un employed. His body was found be neath a tree in the reservation south of the White House grounds. Will Strengthen Iler Fleet. Honolulu, April 29.—Th i British warship Amphion and the torpedo boats Sparrow Hawk and Virago have arrived here from Victoria. The vessels will be convoyed to Flong Kong by the Arnphitrite, which is also in the harbor. On the arrival of these vessels in Asiatic waters, the already powerful fleet which Great Britain maintains in the Orient will •be greatly strengthened. It is learned from British naval officers that Great Britain contemplates making im mense additions to her Asiatic squad ron and improving the Asiatic sta tion in many ways. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1903 THREW OUT ROCKS. Mountain in Town of Frank, X. W. T., in Eruption. Fllty-alx Live* Lout In a Mining tamp llonaea and lliilldlnt;a ('malted to (Mecca by liu niciiae itlaaaea ol ■ lock. Vancouver. 15. C., April 30. —The lit tle town of Frank, situated in the foothills on the eastern slope of the Itocky Mountains, was overwhelmed with disaster about 4:110 o'clock Wednesday morning. What was ap parently a volcanic eruption on the top of Turtle Mountain, overlooking the town, scattered an immense quantity of rock and debris over the town, stopping a mine, imprisoning the miners. The telegraph lines all went down and news is meagre. The entire top of Turtle Mountain was scattered over the sleeping village of Frank. Immense pieces of rock were thrown high in the air and descending crushed in the roofs of houses and stopped up the mouth of the Frank mine. Most of the buildings in the town and many of the houses were crushed like eggshells and their in habitants instantly killed. The vartli was opened by a gigantic fissure, three-quarters of a mile h-ng. The Old Man river, which runs through the town, was completely dammed up and the railroad track was rendered impassable for a distance of two miles. Frank, N. W. T., May I.—lt is defi nitely known that 56 people lost their lives here Wednesday by the sliding of the rocky top of Turtle mountain down upon the sleeping village of Frank. Ileside killing 56 people, the slide destroyed the plant of the Canadian- American Coal and Coke Co., did a vast amount of damage to the mine and completely devastated about ten square miles of the finest and most picturesque section of Crow's Nest pass. Many of the bodies of the dead never will be found. Some cabins are buried under 150 feet of rock. Although organized efforts were made to search for bodies, only 19 so far Have been discovered. Most of the corpses were mangled almost be yond recognition. Simultaneously with the falling of the rocks on Turtle mountain, an immense fissure of the earth opened on the northern side of Turtle moun tain. This fissure extended for a distance of three-quarters of a mile and was many feet in width. This yawning chasm still remains open. The slide from Turtle mountain continued throughout Wednesday night at intervals, depositing millions of tons of limestone on that which had come down before. EDWARD AT THE VATICAN. Kiitfland'a Kliig Vlalta Pope Lro In Home. TJome, April 30.—King Edward vis ited Pope Leo at the Vatican Wednes day afternoon, going direct from the British embassy in a closed carriage. He was accompanied by Col. Lamb, the British military attache. The carriage bearing the king was fol lowed by another containing mem bers of his majesty's suite. When the royal party reached the grand staircase leading to the pap.il apartment. King Edward was greet ed by the Marquis Sacchetti, who act ed for Prince lluspoli, the introducer of sovereigns, who is ill; Monsignor Mery Del Val and Prince Antici-Mat tei. King Edward addressed a few words of thanks in return for the hearty greetings offered him. The royal party then proceeded between ranks of the Swiss guards, whose hal berds gleamed in the sunlight that streamed through the windows. The hum of the busy city alone broke the deesp silence that reigned within the Vatican. At the Clementine hall the party was met by the papal master of the chamber, Monsignor Bisletl, who was attended by personages of the secret antechamber. Upon arriv ing before the private apartment of the pope the guard rendered military honors to the British sovereign. At the conclusion of this ceremony the door of the pope's apartment was opened and the aged pontiff was re vealed standing at the threshold. King Edward remained with the pontiff for 20 minutes. A bell was then rung and King Edward's suite was admitted and presented to the pope. A FATAL CRASH. Three Jlpn Killed and I I Peraona In jured, Two Fatally, in a folllalon. Terre Haute, Tnd., April 30. —Three ■persons were killed, two fatally and a dozen seriously injured, in a wreck in the railroad yards here last night. A westbound Vandalia passenger train struck a switch engine and two cars near the Highland steel mill. The killed: Clarence Keinliart, Columbus, 0. Nicholas A. Lutz, baggage master. Unidentified man. Attached to the train-was a special car carrying a party of 27 people from Philadelphia to the national Y. M. C. A. convention at Topeka, Kan. Another car carried the New Jersey delegation to the Louisiana Purchase exposition dedication. None of the members of either party was in jured. The killed and injured were in the day coaoh. Stuart Hobaoii IMea. New York, April 30.—Stuart Hob son, the veteran comedian, died last night of heart disease at the Hotel Savoy. He was 67 years old and had been on the stage for 51 years. Mr. Uobson was taken ill early in March and was obliged to rest completely for two weeks. He resumed his en gagement on March 19 and after playing in New York and Brooklyn appeared in various towns in the up per part of this state. A few ago lie was taken ill in Auburn. X. Y., and was then brought to this city. The interment will take place at C'o- Mi'jSS.. on Friday. BIG CROWD THEBE. World's Fair Buildings Dedi cated at St. Louis. Ul'aL'rrcHlili' Ucnllirr Wai the Only DrauliHik A t.rand miliary U aa a Feature »r the Ded ication Ceremonies — A Ureal Day. St. Louis, May I.—The buildings of tile Louisiana Purchase exposition were formally dedicated to their pur pose yesterday with all possible pomp and ceremony. In every way, save one, the exercises were a suc cess and this one circumstance was the weather. ]t would be difficult to imagine a more disagreeable day. The wind blew fiercely from the west, sending great clouds of dust whirl ing into the faces of the troops as they marched past the president, and at times so nearly blinding the presi dent that it was well nigh impossi ble for him to see across the street upon which the troops were march ing. Added to the discomfort of the wind and dust was a temperature which sought for the marrow and generally reached. The ladies, who came in summer dresses to the re viewing stand, suffered keenly and hut for the thought fulness of officers commanding the guard thrown around the reviewing stand, who provided them with blankets, many of them would have heen compelled to leave the place. Roth President Koosevelt and ex-President. Cleveland remained in the reviewing stand, ex posed to the icy wind until the end of the parade, although their faces were 'blue and their limbs stiffened by the cold. Conditions in the liberal arts build ing, where the dedication ceremonies prepor were held, were little better. There was no wind, but there were manifold drafts which, added to the dampness inseparable from newly erected buildings, produced a pene trating chill that was uncomfortable to a degree. Despite this heavy handicap, how ever. the cermonies proper were splendidly handled and the program was carried out to the letter. The police work was excellent and the patrolling of avenues by the First Missouri infantry was ably done and all possible consideration shown to the crowd, which numbered about 45,000. The parade which took place in the morning was somewhat longer in passing before the president than had been expected, and he was 15 minutes behind the scheduled time when he was escorted by the com mittee into the liberal arts building. Tn order to arrive even as early as that he was compelled to take his noonday meal under somewhat un comfortable circumstances. During the lunch, which he took at the conclusion of the parade, he was shoved helter-skelter by half the people who had been in the grand stand. The food was placed on a rectangular counter and the presi dent, like everybody else, "helped himself." The important ceremonies in the liberal arts building were handled with all possible dispatch. Early in the exercises word was brought to Senator Carter, the president of the day, that some portions of the hall were becoming dangerously con gested and he was asked to avoid de lays as far as possible. He did so and from first to last the events of the program succeeded each other rapidly. Of all the speakers. Presi dent Roosevelt alone was able io make his voice carry further than 50 feet from the stage. By far the largest part of the assembly could hear nothing. Thousands of people occupied an immense grand stand near the ad ministration building during the evening to witness the display of fireworks. The display was delayed until the appearance of the presi dent. when a great battery of 15-inch aerial moons was exploded in a sa lute which was almost deafening. From this beginning for nearly two hours the air was a sclntillant screen of flashing colors. The night was made brilliant with varied colored lights, framed in appropriate devices. The spectacle closed with the print ing in letters of fire of the words "Farewell Until 1904." The Chinese ambassador was an especially pleased spectator. The great military parade which was designed to be distinctively the show spectacle of the dedication ceremonies was held in the morning, and it proved to be -it 11 that its pro moters could wish, and all that the regular army officers who controlled it could hope for. There have been many military parades that revealed more men in line—there may have been some that were as gorgeous to look upon, but it Is doubtful if there ever have been any that were more carefully handled or more superbly managed than this one. An Kxpreaa Agent Itobbed. 'Mason City, la.. May I.—Agent .Tohn Peterson, of the United States Express Co. at Britt, forty miles west of this city, was compelled by two masked and armed men to open the shipping safe in his office yester day morning and permit the robbers to take a package containing SIO,OOO. They also secured other packages of money, and after binding and gag ging Peterson, they escaped. Fatal Flamea, Ebensburg, Pa. May I.—One life was lost and SIO,OOO damage done by a fire which broke out at Loretto yesterday. The people of the town gathered quickly, but owing to the limited facilities for fighting the fire, it made rapid headway and the house of Michael Farabaugh, where the lire started, was soon consumed. The fire spread to the residence of P. W. Litzinger. After the fire had been gotten under control it was discov ered that Michael Pfoff, a brother of Mrs. It. W. f.itzinger, was missing ami it is generally believed that Mr. Pfoff lost his life TERRIFIC EXPLOSION. I'owder Factory Hurled Into the Air and Nine People Killed. IfoUidaysburg, Pa., May I.—The plant of the Crescent powder works, owned by Pittsburg capitalists and located on I'iney creek, ten miles south of this town, was wrecked by an explosion Thursday. Nine work men were killed. The dead: Koss Kennedy, Charles Ross, Oeorge Fay, Tony Fabrico, an Arabian; William ~yons, Frank Mc- Kiernan, Fisher Frank Straesser, Andrew Gabrillac. Superintendent Harry Taggart, of Pittsburg, is fntally injured. Near the factory are limestone quarries of the American Wire and Nail Co., where 500 men are employed. These quarries have been deserted and all who lived in the neighborhood hur ried to places of safety. In the magazines and storehouses of the factory are 1,400 blocks of ex plosives and it is feared the greatest explosions are yet to come. The Piney Creek branch of the Pennsyl vania road runs past the factory and because of the danger the railroad company has refused to allow any trains to pass over thTs branch. Fourteen men and 16 women were employed in the factory which was destroyed. Most of tliem were brought from Pittsburg. They are regarded as experts in the manufac ture of powder. The women man aged to escape from the building be fore the explosion came. All were cut and badly burned. The force of the explosion was so great that it wrecked all buildings in the vicinity and broke window paines in towns five miles away. The cause of the explosion is a mystery. The nine men killed were blown to pieces. Superintendent Taggart was the only man in the fac tory who escaped alive. The buildings caught fire immedi ately after the explosion. Because of the immense quantity of dynamite stored in the plant the rescuing party dared not approach the fire. A house owned by William Treese, located near the factory, was wrecked by a second explosion which occurred about an hour after the factory was blown up. The Treese family barely escaped with their lives. FORESTS ABLAZE. Loaaca In Pennnylvaiila Will Asjre- Ifatc More Than $1,000,000. Bradford, Pa.. May 1. —The worst forest fires in the history of this sec tion of Pennsylvania are in progress and a million dollars* worth of prop erty has been destroyed. The for ests have been ablaze for the past week, but the tires were kept under control by large gangs of men until Thursday morning, when a stiff southeast gale sprang lip and fanned the smoldering embers into a roar ing mass of flames. Watsonville, ten miles south of this city, is reported as being de stroyed. and it is feared that a num ber of lives have been lost. The last word from there was about 2 o'clock. At that time Ilhe fire was on all sides of the place and the people were fearful of being burned to death, as there was no avenue of escape. At Simpson, where the forest is thick and a large number of oil wells are located, the fire was very fierce. On both sides of the railroad the woods were a mass of flames and swept over an area of two miles, tak ing everything in its path. The peo ple of the town were rescued by a special train being run as far as Davis City and brought to this city. Fires are reported from all sec tions, and a number of lumber camps and chemical factories are reported as being in ashes. Punxsutawney, Pa., May 1. —Forest fires have been raging in the vicinity of Cortez, a lumbering town near here, since 11 o'clock Thursday apd nearly a thousand persons are'fight ing the fire. DYNAMITERS GET BUSY. The Ottoman Hunk at Salonlca, Gu> ropean Turkey. 1M Attacked. Salonica, European Turkey, May 1. —The Otttoman bank was destroyed by dynamite yesterday. The Turk ish postoffice other buildings were also attacked, resulting in ;i panic, during which two men were killed. A detachment of 3,000 addi tional troops has since arrived here from Smyrna. The attack on the 'bank was carried out by two bands of men. One of them attacked the guard on duty at the bank and the other hurled the bombs. It is thought the strong room resisted the explosions. Several of the men who took part in the attack have been arrested. The destruction of the French steamer Guadalquivir by an explosion while leaving this port Tuesday was evidently caused by a bomb. A Bul garian has been arrested in connec tion with the outrage. In an encounter with Turkish troops on Wednesday at Xevrokop, European Turkey, 18 Bulgarians were killed and 14 were made prisoners. There was also a serious encounter near Djumnha'ba, where a band of over 100 insurgents was annihilated. Vienna, May 1. —Telegrams re ceived here from Sofia declare that, the Mitylene bank at Salonica also has been burned. An official telegram reporting the Salonica outrage says that SO other dynamite explosions occurred in dif ferent parts of the city at file same time, and that many persons were killed or wounded. Jury Convicted Howard. Frankfort, Ky., May 1. — In the third trial of James Howard for the killing 1 of Gov. William Goebel, over three years ago, the prisoner was found guilty. The jury first reported that it could not agree. Judge Cant.- rell then sent its members back with instructions to remain until an agree ment was reached. A half hour later the jury again reported with a ver dict of guilty and fixing the punish ment at life imprisonment. The jurors all voted for a verdict of guilty, the disagreement being to the extent of punishment. ItEFDSES TO TALK. Mr. Truesdale Declines ta Answer Questions. AS TO MINES AND MINING? Lips of the D., L. & W. Presidi dent are Closed. THE PROFITS OF RAILWAYS ITIr. TriicMlali- IllllVrx l'roiu ,Tlr. Kuel* In IIIm Opinion «n to What Dividend Itallroad* Should Hum and Says 4 Per Cent. In Mot Enoushi New York, May 2.—The hearing lit the complaint of William R. Hearst against the coal carrying' roads of the anthracite region was continued by the inter-state commerce commission Friday and .Mr. Shearn, counsel for Mr. llearst, announced that he de sired an adjournment for two weelca that he might prepare, for submis sion to the federal court the ques* tions involved in the refusal of the railroad men to submit to the com* mission the contracts between them selves and the mining companies, and the books of the coal companies which show the freight rates charged and paid. William 11. Truesdale, president of the Delaware, Lackawanna & West ern railroad system, was put on the witness stand. He gave the capital ization of his road at $36,000,000 and described its routes and . terminals and the anthracite lands which feed it. A clause in the company's char ter. Mr. Truesdale said, gives it authority to own and operate coal mines. It does own and operate 21 mines. The annual capacity of the collieries he estimates at more than 5,000,000 tons. In 1901 the output was nearly 6,000,000 tons, and 1,500,000 tons were purchased from mines along the company's roads. Con stant changes are 'being made in ma chinery to increase the product and to reduce the expenses of operation. On the advice of his counsel Mr. Truesdale declined to answer any questions relating to the mining or sale of coal. He said the regular rates are paid for transportation by its own coal companies, the same rates as are charged for independent coal carried by the company's rail road. "Mr. TSaer told us yesterday." Commissioner Veomans said, "that the Reading Railroad Co. would be satisfied with 4 per cent, on its capi tal invested; how do you feel about that?" "A railroad ought to earn more than 4 per cent. There is a large capital invested and the risks are very great." Mr. Truesdale said lie frequently had conferences with Mr. Baer, Mr. Thomas and other men interested in the coal roads and that the coal prices of all were the same to a cer tain extent. "We have exchanged circulars," he said, "but there is no arrangement between us." Counsel for the complainant took up the matter of the Temple Coal and Iron Co. agreement. Mr. Trues dale declined to answer any ques tions as to the formation of the com pany and the share the Delaware. Lackawanna