! THIS WEATHER : CLOUDY TO-NIGHT EAIN TO MORROW ■'Utnilcd Hrpurt. Pagr 6 "VOL. 77—NO. FLAMES SWEEP FORD AUTO BUILDING; ! 3-STORY BRICK STRUCTURE COLLAPSES; 34 CARS LOST; 5 MEN LEAP FOP. LIFE Pillar of Fire Rises 4 Times as High as the Mulberry Street Via duct When All Four Walls Fall at Same Instant During Dan gerous Cameron Street Blaze —Fre- quent Explosions Make Firemen's Task Most Perilous TOTAL LOSS IS PUT AT $30,000 Firemen Flood Cellar Containing Big Tanks of Gasoline and Pre vent a Catastrophe —One Smoke-eater Hurt by Falling Glass —Water Tower Dam aged When the Walls Collapse In the moot spectacular daylight fire that has occurred in recent years in Hnrrisbuxg, the big three-story brick building of the Kor.i Motor Sales jxuiy. No. 14 5 Sontii Cameron street, close to the $300,000 Mulberry strct«t. viaduct. was wiped out in twenty rain- j titos this afternoon. i At 12.30 o'clock t ie first alarm was sounded ami at 12.50 the whole struc ture ex i' : small st ,-tiot s of t -e walls o ; e tirst store. came to the ground ' •with a crash. Along with tiie building were de stroyed tb rty four Ford automobiles that were in the second and third floors. Twenty-four of these were brand new ■ -he remaining ten had been sent of thoir Harri-dvtiy owners to the building for repairs. Every iive nf fire fighting apparatus in the city was called to the scene by J'ire Chief K.U'iler. Patrick Driaeoll, is.anager c the Ford I'lisiness in this city. sad t. at the tl rty.four destroyed nutos avo-._-.-i $425 apiece in value. They wen- all reduced to junk. Air. l>n? -oil ie.» tile total loss, in hiding building :n »• tei at $30,000, only partly insured. Fire Chief Kin Her late this after noon discre lited a rumor that a man had been can.lit in the ruins when the building collapsed. For live tnir.utea after the -building fell flames shot into the air to a dis tance four rimes as high as the Mul berry street bridge, which at that point is ainiosr 100 feet ahove Cameron street. In tie crash of the building a one-story blacksmith shop nearbv was crushed an 1 five firemen, who had been directing a stream of water from t:io ■top of the shop, sa\ e- i their lives by jumping in the nick of time. Another l.re- an was ba Lly cnit by falling glas !•: i was taken to the Harrisburg hos pital in the police ambulance. The firemen on the roof of the black smith shop arc members of the Sham rock Fire ijnmpany. They were sta tioned on the roof of the one-storv structure that was owned by I"rick A. Frederii kson. It was on the north si.le of the burning building. The firemen were directing a stream into one of the upper floor windows. The men performing this dangerous duty were John Moore, Irvin Wenriek, William Low, Newton Metzger and-S. < Weaver As the flames hamrtxk and Allison. loiter he seat in the general fire alarm, , the "two-tarees" call, which brought all the engines of the department. 1 That was about 12.45 o'clock and five minutes later the whole burning build ■ iu£ collapsed Before the crash of the structure an imperviso.l water tower was made with the use of the aerial ladder of the Mt. Vernon Truck .ompany. To this was attached a hose line w! ieh was used to send a stream into a third storv win | dow. When the building fell part of a ! wall hit the water tower, put it out of i commissi n and did some damage to the truck. Cameron street is an important thor oughfare for trolley cars o; the Steel ton and Mi-ivlletown lines and as hose lines prevented the cars passing the building they were sent to the lower end of the county by the Vine street route. Before the building collapsed, Ray Yohc, 2 4 years old. 125 4 Derrv street, who responded on the first alarm with the Mt. Pleasant Engine Company, struck by glass from one or the upper windows that was broken by the heat. Li is head was badly gashed and he was rushed in the police ambulance to the Harnsburg hospital. The surgeons there said Yohe will recover from his injuries. F:re department officials sai l that the whole builling collapsed at the same time, at 12.50 o'clock, or just twenty minutes after the first alarm was sound ed. Some of the falling bricks an l blazing timbers fell on a frame build ing nearby, used as a blacksmith shop and wrecked the latter structure. The Ford Motor Sales Company build ing was a 3-story brick structure, prac- i ti■ ally new. It was opened last April. 1 T'ae fire, which started in an upper i floo-. was discovered by \\*illiam Wor den. of the Worden Hoofing Company, who was having an automobile repaired j at the building. T:;e flames quickly spread. Smoke ! was pouring out of the third-story win- j dows when the first engines responded ! to the alarm. The alarm was sent in from box 19. Cameron and Kittatinnv streets, to which the central district apparatus re- [ sponded- Before the first streams were on Fire Chief Kindler had called out I e\ ery company in the city. During the progress of the fire there was a series of explosions in different ' Continued on Eleventh I'agr. ' -11ARRlSin'R(i. PA.. TITURBDAY EVENING, FEBRUAHV I. 11 PAdKS. DOCTORSHOTDEADBY POSSE Georgia Physician Charged With As saulting Young Married Woman, Daughter of Prominent Citizen ■ Uj) J.isnct Water Board Pium to Be Relinquish d by Man Elected to Congress The resignation of Benjamin K. Focht, of I'nion. Congressman-eh < t, as a member of the State Water Supply Commission, will not be handed in un til Marvh 4, when Focht takis his seat m Congress. Focht says he does not intend to retire until the last day left him fo'r di ing so. when he will notify the Governor. Three candidates for the place are prominent. l>av.d I'ritchard, of So an ton, i< being backed by the Mate Sportsmen's: former Senator Walter MoNichols, of iserautou, who served in the Senate from IHII to 191 a an i was defeated for re-election, and f. rmcr Auditor (.teller:! 1 Howard 11. Hard n- InTuii, of Wavue, who i> backed by tile politieai organisations of tiie north extern part of the State. The position pays Sd.OUO a year and the teftu is lour years. Focht was appointed more than a year ago on the resignation of Fred. W. lleitz, of Svranton, and his appoint ment was resented by the Lackawanna politicians who calmed that as Fie t/i was from Lackawanna the aj'j>pintmcui I belonged to that ounty. ltence the two i>, rauton caijiiiidatis in the tieid at present. For Hardenbergii it is claimed that the position docs not belong to ;,uv par ticular county, but to a p-ditioal" s.v t.on, and that he represents the entire northeast. This is disputed by the •"S rant nians, who say they are deter- > mined that Lackawanna siiai: land the plum. I>K. KitEiDLU (.LiS JOB HACK Former Bull Moose Candidate for Con gress Goes to Work Again on Hiil Dr. J. 11. Kreider, of this city, who was the Lull Mo- e candidate for Con gress in this district last fall, has been reappointed to *a clerkship in the Au ditor General's Department and began iiis duties this week. * \\ hen Auditor General Powell first, t.iok olii e he appointed Lr. Kreider, to a $2,000 job as ifcierk in the Bureau of Cor; orations, and Kreider was fixed for four years. Last summer, when the primary campaign o.ened and candi dates for office were making their an nouncements, Dr, Kreider became a ; candidate for Congress on the Washing ton party ticket and he obtained the j nomination without much eflort. When ! the campaign was about to begin Dr. I Kreider, knowing he would have to de- ' vote his time to his canvass, resigned 1 his clerkship, went to work but went j down to defeat. Since the November election his ef forts to be reinstated were unsuccessful until this week when, a vacancy occur-! ring, ho was reappointed to his old place. Not Enough Worksrs to Eemove Sn 3 w lly A.is ir.t' tl Prt'ss, New York. Feb. 4.—Although Ncw \ or* City is said to have tens of thou sands of men out of employment, (he street cleaning department announced to-day that it had been unable to ob tain enough workers to remove the re cent light snow. PROBE BY ! GOVERNOR; HILL FEARS jf Brumbaugh Starts In-1 quiry as to Political Backing of Men Em ployed in Capitol RUMORS OF BIG CHANGES; Heads of Departments Direi tly Unilor Governor s Control Instructed to Make Up Lists—Bigelow Among First to Comply tiovernor Brumbaugh, it was learned to-dav, is looking over the departments that come under his direct administra tion with n view to ascertaining all of the information possible concerning them, bat principally to learn the'num ber of employes, their duties and sal aries and under whose political back ing they obtained office. When State Highway Commissioner Bigelow called on the Governor' last week he was requested to give this in formation about his department, espe cially with regard to the number.of em ployes and their political ba king. To-day Commissioner Bigelow was a caller on the tiovernor with as much as he could obtain of the desired infor mation. A new list of employes of the department is prepared each month, ionic. .'i the S;jte attaches are hold-overs from a previous administration so that all of the infor mation regarding political backing can not be obtained with ease, but the greater part of them are known to have got their jobs through political leaders oi the State, on whose recommendations they were selected. It is said that. Governor Brumbaugh proposes to make the same request of the other departments whose heads are subject to appointment by the Govern or of the State, with a view to learning just "who is who" among the political backers in each county. Talk on Capitol Hill is to the effect that the census of departmental at taches is being obtained by the Gov ernor with a view to making some dras tic changes, but this rumor could not fee verified. It has occasioned much consternation in the various depart ments where there are rumors that a big -hake-up is contemplated. meiitf me? m The lowa Lost in L ke Michigan On the Chicago Harbor—No Lives Eeported Lost P' l Ass"< i-ft' <1 Pre-ii, ( hicago, Feb. 4.—Hie steamer lowa of the Goodrich Transit Companv sank in L::ke Michigan about three miles off the river mouth to-day- after being crushed by what lake men declare was the heaviest ice j.im seen in years off the Chicago harbor. The crew, numbering 70, and one passenger struggle 1 over the ice pack as the vessel settled and struggled over the hummocks to shore. Some reached the government breakwater and were rescued by tugs and others landed at different points. Those who reached safety first declared that no one had been lost. Scott to Be Sentenced Monday Robert F. Seott, city patrolman, con victed by a crimina court jury on a charge of murder in the second degree growing out of the fatal shooting of Nathan Backs, will be tailed for sen tence at the regular motion court to lie held next Monday morning, so Dis trict Attorney M. K. St roup" said to day. Half a dozen defendants, now in jail awaiting the action of the Grand Jury on various criminal charges, to day decided to plead guilty and they, too, will be called for sentence on Mon day. :$() D:iys for Bridge Wrecker Vanceboro, Me., Feb. 4. Werner Tl(;rn was to-day sentenced to thirty lavs in the county jail on conviction of having damaged property in this town by the explosion of dynamite under the international railroad bridge. JAP CRUISER IS WRECKEB; Rear Adm'ral Howard Reports the Asama Breaking Up in the i Pacific Ocean FATEOFTHE CREW AS YETUNKNOWN No Further Details of the Disaster to Big Japanese Warship Were Con tained in Dispatch Prom Command- I . er of U. S. Pacific l icet ll;j Associated I'rcss. I Washington, Feb. 4. Hear Admiral Howard, commander of the Pacific fleet, reported to the Navy Department from his flagship San Diego that the Japan ese cruiser Asuma, with 500 men. was wrecked about 350 miles south of Port BartolOme and was breaking up. No further details were jjiven in Ad miral Howard's dispatch and nothing was said of the fate of the crew. The Asama, a sister ship of tiie Tokivra, i -442 feet over all with a beam of G7 i feet, and ca; able of making 2 1 12 kno Is. Ssho had S.OOO horsepower and was armored with Harvey nickel steel. She was built in Klswi.-k, Kngland, in 189 S. She carries four S-inch guns, 14 six-inch and 1 2 three-inch L;IIIIS, four torpedo tubes below the water and one above. Her complement is 300 of ficers and men. As the San Diego was at the city ot San Dieoo prisoner!,, 1M guns and much war material. The French state ment mentions a few small engage ments, which are said to have ended favorably for the allies. The German statement confirms Pe trograd's assertions that another great battle is in progress in Poland west of Warsaw. Russian attacks were re pulsed. the Berlin War Office says, and the Germans were able to make further progress in the vicinity of Behlimow, in the section of the front closest to War saw. Germany to-day notified the United States that American ver=e!s should t onflimcil on Seventh PnKf. MERCK It TO ASK NEW TRIAL He and Leßrun, Who Tried to Sfwindle Banks to Be Heard Again Feb. 15 Before H. R. 'Mercer and Fred Le- Brun. swindlers, who wore convicted by a criminal court jury on charges of for gery and false pretense, are called for sentence, the Court will hear argument on their attorneys' motion for a new trial and an arreot of judgment. The defendants' counsel contend that the Court erreu in not permitting Mer er's aliened confession, made to the District "Attorney, to be read in its en tirety to the jury. They also claim that sufficient evidence to warrant a convic tion on the technical charge of "utter ing and publishing a forged check," wad not produced by the Common wealth. The eases probably will bo argue-d on February 15. Mercer and are the pair who deposited two fake clerks for SI,OOO each in Harrisburg banks and were ar- , rested when they tried to draw agaiust the "deposits.'" I Appoints Three Minis ters to Take Charge of Civil Government in Mexico • •... < STATES REASONS i? OR ASSUMPTION ; Compelled to Assume Political Author ity On Account of Disrupted Com munition Between Convention Gov ernment and Division Under Him By .1 i u 'i'. El I'nso, Tex., I'Vb. 4.—Francisco Villa has proclaimed himself in charge ol the presidency of .Mexico. This was announced in a telegram troin (leneraJ \ ilia received iast night liy his agents here. Villa appointed three ministers to take charge of the civil govern nicnt. \ ilia gave ns his reason I'or assuming the ollice that his forces had licen sep arated from the convention government headed by Bo<|ue Uon.aUv. Uar7.ll as provisional president who left with the /.apata forces when they departed south from Mexico i ;ty, at its occupation re i cently by Obregon s l.'airaii'a troops. \ ilia tjO.ogr.iphi i from Agaas Calicntes umler date of yesterday the following: Names of His Ministers "On account of communications hav ing been cut oli between the con vention government and the division under my command and as public serv ' ice cannot, bo interrupted on the expen sive zone which 1 control 1 find mvsolt compelled to assume the political au thority creating three political admiu- Continued on Thirteenth Pairr. I KILLED mm SiOTIIY Twenty Others Wounded When Yaquis Rebel Against Supporting Retreat ing Column of Villa Soldiers ; San DiegiJ, 0a1.,* Feb. 4. Four pp.-- ! sons were killed and twenty were wounded, including t«o officers, when 1,000 Yaqui Indians mutinied a: (umv mas yesterday, according to wireless advices received to-day by Roar Ad miral Howard, on board the flagship San Diego, now in the harbor. The mutiny occurred while the In dians were being sent to support a re ; treating column of Villa soldiers which had evacuated Navajoa, Sonora. No , foreigners were injured. The Villa troops sailed for Vbaros aboard the steamer Bouita and the schooner Leonore. The latter vessel was compelled to return to (Juaymas on • account of bad weather. mm Tils u. s. cos iSB!PSSBGULBfIV3 ! DIBID AND WEIT FINCH COASTS | Washington, Feb. 4.—Germany t »- . day notified the Slate Department that American vessels should avoid tin north and west coasts of France. The State Department does not regard the : notice as a formal declaration of block ade by Germany of the French coast. It is said that the mere presence of (icrnia.u submarines or the planting of German mines would not constitute a blockade, which, according to long es tablished principles of the st it,' De partment, requires the maintenance «rf a fleet of warships sufficient to pro i vent any intercourse with the block aded port. Therefore, the department regards I the notice as similar to one issued by the British government and to a pre editing notice from the German govern ment regarding the waters of the North sea, both of which recited that mines ! had been sown within specified lim.ti, and that the waters would be unsafe for passage of neutral shipping except under pilotage. Technically, the waters on the north and west coasts of France, there!ore, are to be regarded as within the war aone and American mariners are sup posed Artillery, Make Repeated but Umm ccsr.ful Attai ks on Important Belgian Trenches Amsterdam, via London, Feb. 1. f1.33 A. M. The '.'.e'giau positions on the ' \ so- near Wo-storndo again have been the seem' oi' lioi o attacks by the Gor j mans in which the bayonet was used > by the troops i>n both sides of thn 1 trenches, the "Telegranf" states in a ilispa:. !i from iis SI : correspondent, i The Germans after the usual prepara tory bombardment by artillerv, the cor respondent «a; made repeated but un successini attacks on ov.-ral important i Bo :in trenches. The dosoorate nature of the fightinj of the ] nst two days is ; i'd by the largo ciyivovs of wounded bo::i ; sont to Germans'. French Attn- ks at Perthes Repulsed Berlin. l*c;>. I. iiv Wireless to Say , ! v:!ie.--The announcement on the prog ress of (he war .".ivon out to-day bv the liermpn oiic-al -. :i!V says the Germans, near .via hjefl have boon successful over the French, occupying their posi la • s for more than a mile and the cap turing of over 600 men. They claim iijs>> *invc-s iii t lie fi;'ill ii> ton skiis in j the V os::e-, tiii- oa. iein area of (Tie war no im portant engagements spoon to have oc -1 currt 1. German, Austrian and Huti ■jgarian f'Miers are deacjibod as fight ing su i-s : til Iside bv side in the Car | atli ans. Kisi•whore in the oast the Gorman report claims success. The j statement is as follows: ''estenkn s:iw nothing more than i artillery engagements on the front 1 com the North Sea n< far as Bheiuis. 1' urtsior French attacks near Perthes ( wore repnlseu with lii--.es to the oiieniv. "Gorman forres yesi r .lny delivered attacks at points north mil northwest ni' Mes-iges and t« the northwest of St. Monohouhi. Piioy -formed thr, o linos of French trenches, mio behind the other and occupied the principal positions for a distance of two kilo | metres (1 Mo miles). All the French ; counter attacks which were continued during the niglii wore repulse.l. We ; took prisoners seven officers and tlOl soldier- and wo captured !» machine guns. n il,, other gams of' smaller calibre j and much war material. Germans on 3!uis 3uccessf-.il "In the middle Vosg.s there oc curred the Jir~t encounter of lieiimui Iroo f mount oil ou -kiis with French , chasseurs. The outcome was successful for us. ' '''."st Prussia, Russian attacks aga uC % Gorman position smth of the Mem el river were driven back. "In Poland, north of the Vistula, there have been skirmishes between small detachments of Herman and Rus sian cavalrymen. At a paint s oulli of Soeliaczcw, tie Ku.-.-ians delivered rn peatod night aftacks u|ion our positions. They were forced to retire with heavy losses. The German advance in the vi cinity of Bolimow is progressing, and 'his iu :to of the vio.out II isiian counter attacl. ■. The nt.mbcr of prison ers We are taking is increasing. Fight Shoulder to Shouicler "In the .th .in mouiit:i: . < Ger man and Austrian and Hungarian sol diers have boon fighting sliouldei to shoulder for some days. \V e and our al lie- have been several times successful iu this difficult, snow covered mountain i ous country.'' Russians Drop Bombs on Germans Petrograd, Fob. I. —Russian aviators on February 2 successfully dropped i bombs on the mobilized rc.-orves and | trains of the Germans at Bawa, ar ! zecze and Bogu v'.yc. about fifty miles | southwest of Warsaw, according to au official announcement issued hero to day. WALL SI REE 7 CLOSING New York, Feb. I.—There was re current sslling o. leading sto;iiu iu the ) afternoon and Bethlehem Steel reached a point or. denial of dividend rumors. : Specialties also declined on profit-tak ing sales after which trad.'ng laps d nto dullness. The extreme dullness of the afternoon was followed by further sell ing in ;lic final dealings. The closing v/a- irregular. Mixed price movements were the chi-f characterise feature of to-day's stock market. Dividend issuos were under pressure, with advances in some of the specialties.