HARRISBURG IHS® TELEGRAPH
LXXXV1 — No. 66 18 PAGES
TRUCE PROPOSED AS MEANS
TO PREVENT RAILWAY STRIKE
PIN HOPE ON
A LAST HOUR
CONFERENCE
Federal Mediators Hit on Definite Proposal Upon Which It
Is Believed Labor Chiefs and Railway Managers Can
Agree; Coporations Said to Have Been Supported
Unofficially by Representatives;
tion Encouraging
New York, March 17. The prospect that the great railroad
strike due to be inaugurated within a few hours would be prevented
or at least that a truce would be declared, brightened this afternoon
when shortly before 2 o'clock Secretary Lane, member of the
mediation committee of the Council of National Defense, announced
that the situation was encouraging.
Mr. Lane said lie would have an important statement to make
at 3 o'clock. The announcement came soon after the mediation
committee had finished a three hours' conference with the brother
hood chiefs of railroad employes. At about the same time the com-'
mittee of railway managers was summoned to the hotel where the
mediation committee had been in conference with the brotherhood
Whether a joint conference of both sides of the controversy was
planned or whether the mediation committee would cohfer with the
managers alone could not be definitely learned. Newspapermen were
barred by hotel employes from approaching the rooms where the
activiteis were going on and there were conflicting reports as to
precisely what the next step in the negotiations would be.
There was reason to believe, however, that Secretary Lane had!
a concrete proposal for submission to the railroad managers which
he expected would meet with their approval. This proposal, it wasi
St. Patrick's Day Recalls
Local Flood in 1865
Old residents recalled to-day that
on St. Patrick's Day, 1865, five feet of
water covered the southern district of
llarrisburg, extending to near Wash
ington street. Augustus Blacksmith,
the oldest member of THE HARRIS
BI'RG TELEGRAPH family, who resid
ed in Paxton street, was a passenger
in a boat that carried him from the
Hooded district and enabled him to
reach his accustomed place in the com
posing room of the Harrisburg Tele
graph, then located in Third street,
next to the Hotel Columbus.
COAL CASE ORDER EFFECTIVE
The order of the Public Service Com
mission in the anthracite coal cases be
comes effective to-day as notice was
given that the appeals had been %vith
drawn. The Philadelphia Transit cases
will be taken up later in the month.
SEVENTEEN' WANT PARDONS .
The calendar of the State Board of
Pardons for Wednesday contains seven
teen new cases but no applications in
first degree murder cases. There are
seven cases for rehearing.
THE WEATHER
For llarrlnburg anil vicinity: I.iKht
rain thin afternoons cloud} to
il IK lit; Sunday fair ami polder;
lowet temperature to-night
about 30 degree*.
For Ivulrrn I'ennsylvnnlai Haln
to-night; Sunday fnir In south,
cloudy In north portion, colder;
strong south and southwest
winds.
ltlver
The Vpper North and Vpper Went
■tranche* will probably rise noine
vi hat to-night, the rliie extending
to the lower portion* during Sun
day and Sunday night. Other
streams of the system will fall
slowly or remain nearly ntatlon
ary. A ntnge of about 0.8 feet la
Indicated tor llarrlnburg Sun
day morning.
General Conditions
Precipitation In the form of rain,
sleet and mow have fallen gen
erally east of the Rocky Moun
> talus In the last twenty-four
m hours, except In the extreme
Houthern districts with strong
winds and gales In the Lake Re
gion and In the Ohio, middle and
upper MiMNlftnlppl valley*. The
highest velocltle* reported were
ntl mile* from the northwest at
Duluth and SO miles from the
south at Buffalo. A general rise
of 2 to 22 degrees lias oecured In
temperature from the l.uke Re
gion eastward and east of the
Ohio river, and In the Southern
Rocky Mountains and over the
Pacific slope. It la 2 degrees to
22 degrees colder In the Missis
sippi Valley.
Temperature) 8 a. m., 34 degrees
above sero.
Sunt Rises, OilS a. m.
Mooni New moon, March 30.
River Staget 7.0 feet above low
water mark.
Yeaterday's Weather
Highest temperuture, 47.
Lowest temperature, 34.
Mean temperature, tO,
Normal temperature, 38,
' 1 w *' > JPPI 1 IWJ>
Republic of Russia Is Organized
[Continued oil l'agc 13]
PA. LAD PRAYS
FOR FORGIVENESS
AS SHIP SINKS
Otis Tucker Ran Away From
Home in Little Town of
This State
The local police department this
morning received an appeal from Uni
i versity Park, lowa, asking that an
j effort be made to locate the relatives
| of Otis Tucker, who went down with
j the steamship Saloniki, 250 miles from
! Malta.
1 A clipping was enclosed from a Uni-
I versity Park paper giving an account
of the sinking of the ship as told by
two young men who were aboard, but
escaped.
Seek to Sparc Mother
They say that Tucker, a boy about
14, was last seen on deck praying!
aloud that he might be forgiven for
leaving his home in Pennsylvania
without his parents' consent. He
spoke of a mother in a Pennsylvania
town whom lie desired should be told
how he had died. After the ship had
sunk he was not among those who
were picked up. The survivors were
unable to remember the name of the
town.
The writer of the letter is anxious
the relatives be located, especiall "the
mother "that it may save her years of
uncertainty and worry for the boy
who left home and never returned."
Zeppelin Attack Over
London Causes Little
Excitement in Capital
By Associated Press
London, March 17.—The air raid
last ntght was the first visit of Zeppel
ins in many months and it seemed lo
have been expected as It failed to
cause any excitement even among the
home-going theatergoers. The raid
ers were favored by a dark and moon
less night.
The foregoing dispatch Indicates
thnt London was attacked by Zeppel
ins. At 12.30 o'clock last night an
official communication wad Issued In
London statin* that an air raid had
taken place over the southeastern
countries of England and was still In
progress. A further communication
it was said, would be Issued during
the morning, but this Is presumably
bbeing held up by the censor.
HARRISBURG, PA., SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 17, 1917
ERIN GO BRAGH!
THE WEAIIIXG OF THE GREEN F" ~~
Oh, Paddy and did you hear the | _■ -= 3 * jllT" —■ .. .
The it forbid by law to grow - ■ -
In n et with \ tipper Tandy, and hs took jl ~
A And he said, "How is poor old Ireland, \J ' =- gK V iSJ e l =r ~- . ... —
\ oi . u , how does she stand?" /sV\ = s = * !3 e 3 f"— .- ~
\ Shea the most distressful country that "9. j J -■—•
I They're hanging men and women for 6io -~ ~*= |t? -
L the wearing of the green. Jf ~~=~ _j 5-S-, J- ~
Oh, if color we must wear is Eng- M --——rr l - __ m _ -
I „ blood that we have shed. UN "■ - -=" -=-
(L IOU may take the shamrock from your V "—=.
C\ __ , not and cast it on the sod, 1 -■ '■ - .
>J But twill take root and flourish there, 1
[ though under foot 'tis trod. J) ~~—^
\ \\ hen law can stop the blades of grass II
l a from growing as they grow, rf) f , \
And when the leaves in summer time ftf) / l\U A i
/ Then I win th*'co?or ''wear in \ ( MH, HtS h
L But till \huV day? 'plea*® r.od. I'll stick J) V FINE LAD S
to wearing of the green. -
P But if at last our color should be torn y —— ✓-Tv/-*.
J\ from Ireland's heart A / ___ O/vN
0 Her sons with shame and sorrow from I) /
1 the dear old isle will part: I /i. / . (Q
lj Ive whisper of a country that J\ V\ /
U and poor stand equal in the XQ j
A O, Erin, leave you, driven by \
l\ Must we ask a mother's blessing from |U
U. a strange and distant land? \l \tr // ? /'i \ \/\
ylni the cruel cross of England shall l\ M // / ' ' '
Tv- And whore' please God? n we'U live and JjJ S / iC(J ) ' UO
HARRISBURG TO BE
SELF-SUSTAINING
IF STRIKE COMES
Advantageous Location in Agri
cultural District Would Stave
Off Starvation
Harrisburg, located as it la in the
heart of a rich agricultural section,
would not be hit as hard by a general
railroad strike as many other less ad
vantageously-situated towns.
The city, it is believed, would prove
self-sustainisg as far as staple food
products are concerned. In case of a
general tie-up enough hard coal could
be freighted overland from the upper
Dauphin county mines to keep many
of the mills and Industrial plants run
ning part time but the price would be
virtually prohibitive.
Sugar and other imported staples, if
[Continued on Page 13]
POLICE AND FIRE
ALARM WIRING TO
GO UNDERGROUND
Now Getting Estimates For
Cables to Replace Over
head Network
Removal of at least 150 poles and
many overhead electric wires in the
city will be part of the additional im
provement work to be done thin year
to beautify the city and minimize dan
ger.
Much of the wiring in North Court
street for fire and police alarms is
to bo placed in underground conduits.
Two thousand fivo hundred dollars
was provided in the annual budget to
complete some of this work which will
bo In charge of City Electrician Clark
E. Dtehl.
To Remove Arc Lights
Estimator are being made on the
cost of cables, and removal of wires
will be statred as soon as possible.
Another Improvement will be the
removal of overhead arc lights Jn
North Third street from Calder to
Kelly, In Federal Square and at the
Philadelphia and Heading Railway
station. These will be replaced with
single or cluster lights on standards
with underground wiring,
&he Star- Unflcprnbent
BAPAUME FALLS
TO BRITISH IN
FIERCE BATTLE
By Associated I'ress
London, March 17. —Bapaume, on
the Franco-Belgian front, has been
captured by the British, Keuter's
agency reports.
Reuter's correspondent at British
headquarters in France telegraphs that
the towns of L,e Transloy and Achiet
le-Petit are also reported to be In the
hands of the British.
"Our troops entered Bapaume this
morning after stiff fighting," Keuter's
correspondent telegraphs. "The place
was in flames, the Germans having
evidently made all plans for setting
fire to it when forced to retreat.
"Our troops are reported to he be
yond the town."
BniMiuuir Objective Point
Bapaume has ben considered from
the first the British objective in the
ERIE DIRECTOR
TELLS OF ITTNER'S
SERVICES THERE
Letter flakes Interesting Ref
erence to Effort For Local
Architect
The Municipal League, which con
ducting an investigation into the quali
ties of William H. Ittner. of St. Louis,
the architect selected by the special
advisory committee of the School
Board to plan the new high school
buildings for Harrlsburg, to-day made
public a letter from Marvin E. Gris
wold, of the Griswold Manufacturing
[Continued on Page 10]
Brotherhoods to Direct
Strike From Pittsburgh
By Associated Press
Pittsburgh, March 17.—Pittsburgh
will be one of the centers from which
the threatened Railroad strike will be
directed, according to announcement
made to-day at the local headquar
ters of the railroad brotherhoods. Of
ficers of the four brotherhoods will
come to Pittsburgh to-morrow to at
tend a meeting of employes of all rail
roads east and west of this city. Two
brotherhood officials, It was announc
ed, will remain here to direct actlvl
i ties.
Somme operations, so far as any one
place could be so classed. For months
the progress of General Haig's armies
has been measured in distances from
Bapaume as they drew closer and
ploser to it, creating a salient here
and another there, crushing in the
sides and forcing back the German
lines.
The movement halted by the advent
of winter with the British advanced
line still several miles from the ob
jective, has been greatly accelerated
during several weeks past .by the re
tirement operation of the Germans on
the Somme front, beginning late in
February. From day to day with only
brief intervals the retirement has been
Kept up, assisted at times bv strong
pressure fro mthe British until early
[Continued on Page 13]
HERSHEY WORKERS
GET AN ADVANCE
OF TEN PER CENT.
Third Increase in 18 Months;
Factory Busy; Prosperous
Days Ahead
Hershey. March 17.—The Hershey
Chocolate Company at a meeting of
the board of directors to-day voted
an Immediate increase of 10 per cent,
to all time and piece work employes
in the service of the company. About
1,500 people are affected.
This is the third increase of wages
factory 110611 months at the Hershey
The chocolate works was never
busier than at present ana prospects
are bright for a prosperous spring and
summer. Notice was posted at noon
to-day of the increase.
Commissioner Gross to
Talk at Forum Meeting
City Commissioner E. Z. Gross will i
address the Forum in Wesley A. M. K. j
Zlon Church to-morrow afternoon at 3 I
o'clock, on "Good Citizenship." The i
choir of the Pine Street Presbyterian I
Church will sing. The meetings of the
Forum during the past winter have!
been very largely attended.
RUSSIAN TROOPS TO
DECIDE IF NATION
IS TO BE
Only Improbable Events Can Prevent Empire From Joining
World's Great Democracies; Grand Duke Michael
Accepts Throne Until Constitutional Assembly
Marks Out Permanent Course For Government to
Pursue; Czar's Son Reported Dead
Petrograd, March 16, via London, March 17.—Unless improb
able events occur Russia has to-day become a republic. The out
come depends on how the manifesto of the new government is re
ceived by the six million soldiers at the front.
MYSTERY HANGS
ABOUT FATE OF
THE ROMANOFFS
Reports From Petrograd Con
flict as to What Situation
Really Is
. Py Associated Press
Somewhat conflicting advices are
coming out of Russia regarding the
fate of the Romanoff dynasty.
Dispatches this morning announced
that Grand Duke Miohnel line! accept
ed the throne from his brother, Nich
olas 11, subject to the consent of the
Russian people expressed through a
plebiscite.
Last night's advices reported the
abdication of Nicholas II in favor of
Grand Duke Michael and the subse
quent abdication of Michael, thus
bringing the Romanoff dynasty at an
end.
Of the abdication of Emperor Nich
olas there can now be no possible
doubt, as the text of his manifesto
announcing it has been received from
Petrograd. What has occurred in the
case of Grand Duke Michael, how
ever, is still far from clear.
The stirring news from Russia has
detached attention largely from the
military Operations of the belligerent
powers. Nevertheless these are almost
daily assuming greater scope and im
portance.
RAILROAD STRIKE IS POSTPONED
FOR FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
NEW YORK, MARCH 17,—SECRETARY LANE,
OF THE FEDERAL MEDIATION COMMITTEE,
ANNOUNCED AT 3.45 P. M. THAT IT HAD BEEN
AGREED TO POSTPONE THE RAILROAD
v STRIKE FOR 48 HOURS.
THIS IS VERY LIKELY DONE IN THE HOPE
THAT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
WILL BE READY TO HAND DOWN A DECI
SION IN THE EIGHT-HOUR LAW THE COURT
HAS BEEN WORKING ON THE DECISION FOR
SOME TIME.
/
WOMAN IS MURDERED IN HOTEL
New York, March 17, An autopsy performed to-dav
on th< bod} of a young woman found dead in a Broad
way hotel yesterday disclosed that she wab murdered 1r """
strangulation; She is said to be a Brooklyn woman who
had $2,500 worth of jewelry
READING PLACES
Philadelphia, March 17. An embargo on all sh>p
ments except foodstuffs, livestock and railroad supplies
originating on the lines of the Philadelphia and Reading
Railway intended for trans-shipment to or from connect
ing lines Was announced to-day by the Philadelphia and
Reading Railway Company.
TRAINS CANCELLED
Boston, March 17 —'The New York, New Haven
Hartford Railroad's Knickerbocker Limited, due to leave
for New York at 1 p. in. and the Merchants' Limited
scheduled for 5 p. m. were cancelled to-day on account of
the strike situation.
.•> . ,
.
— : ________
MARRIAGE LICENSES
Arthur Howard Lehman, Steelton, and EthM Grace Roddy, Annvllle.
'** **************** —l IX.
Single Copy, 2 Cents HOME EDITION
DEATH OF CZAR'S
SON RUMORED
IN PETROGRAD
House of Romanoff at End
After 400 Years on Rus
sian Throne
Petrograd, Starch IG, via London,
March 17. —The autocracy which has
held Russia in its grip since the be
ginning of history fell to-day. The
House of Komanoff, which has ruled
the empire for 400 years, came to an
end with the abdication of Nicholas
11, perhaps the weakest representa
tive of his line. Following on the
heels of this startling development
came the rumor to-night ot the death
of the little son of the emperor, whose
[Continued on Page 10]
FRENCH DESTROY ZEPPELIN .
Paris, March 17.—A Zeppelin has
been shot down in flames near Com
piegna. All of its crew were lost.
The Zeppelin was sighted shortl'
before dawn and was reached b
French anti-aircraft guns at a gren
height, probably three miles. Tlu
airship caught lire and the wreckage,
with the burned bodies of the crew,
fell outside Compiegne.