Republican news item. (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, December 02, 1910, Image 1

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    VOL. xv. NO. 30
SUES TO DISSOLVE
THE SUGAR TRUST
Government Moves Against
American Company.
MANY CONCERNS INVOLVED
Havemeyer Accused of Accepting $lO,-
000,000 Gift In Violation of Fran
chise —Long Legal Battle Expected.
The federal government began in
New York one of its most important
actions against great corpoiations
which are said to have violated the
Sherman anti-trust law.
Henry A. Wise, United States dis
trict attorney, filed in the United
States district court for the southe: n
district of New York a petition asking
for the dissolution of the American
Sugar Refining company and twenty
nine other corporations which compose
the so-called sugar trust.
The petition charges an illegal com
bination in restraint of trade, and asks
from the court relief in whatever form
may be necessary, including a receiv
ership, if deemed advisable.
The thirty companies composing the
sugar combine have an aggregate cap
italization of $230,000,000 and control
a large percentage of the output of
sugar In this country. The petition
charges that for years the companies
have violated the law, and have op
pressed competitors and ground them
out of existence. Railroad rebates and
customs frauds are mentioned as de
vices which were employed to raise
the combine to the commanding posi
tion which it occupies.
The present suit, which, it is esti
mated, will be in the courts for two
years before a final adjudication is
reached, is expected to rank in im
portance with those of the government
against the Standard OH company and
the American Tobacco company, which
are now pending in the supreme court.
Opposed to the government in the
struggle will be some of the most
memorable corporation lawyers of the
country. James M. Peck, formerly of
Philadelphia, former assistant United
States attorney general and now coun
sel for the American Sugar Refining
company, will lead the attack on the
government's position. Mr. Deck said
that the sugar combine was not a mo
nopoly, but that if it appeared, when
the supreme court interpreted the
Sherman law in the tobacco and oil
cases, that the sugar company was in
any respect violating the law, steps
would be taken immediately to com
ply with the law as thus interpreted.
The government's petition is a I
lengthy one, occupying 221 printed
pages, and is a sweeping arraignment
of the defendant companies.
One of the allegations is that the
late H. O. Havemeyer, of New York,
long the head of the sugar combine,
received $10,000,000 common stock of
the National Sugar Refining Company
of New Jersey, as a gift at the time
the corporation was formed to take
Into the combine four independent
concerns—the National Sugar Refining
company, run by D. H. Howells Son &
Co.; the New York Sugar Refining
company, of Long Island City, N. Y.,
operated by Claus Dosher; the Mollen
hauer Sugar Refining company, of
Drooklyn, and the W. J. McCahan Su
gar Refining company, of Philadelphia.
Those companies up to 1900 were
Independent, and, it is said, the Amer
ican company was determined to ac
quire them. Under a plan inaugu:ated
by Mr. Havemeyer, John E. Parsons
and James H. Post, the National com
pany was formed and took over the
four plants, Mr. Post obtaining options
on them. When the new stock was de
livered.the netition sets forth. Post
COLE'S 4 SSr~ —
Up-To-Date
HARDWARE
whatever it may be—"shall I buy? Don't ponder over these things,
nor spend your time looking at pictures in "cheap goods" mail-order
catalogs. Come to our store and let us solve the problem. We have
a fine variety of standard goods to choose from When you think of
HARDWARE think of COLE'S. -
SANITARY PLUMBING.
We give special attention to Piping, Steam, Hot Water and Hot
Air Heating. General job work and repairing In all branches, prompt
ly and skillfully executed
Samuel Cole, - Dushore, Pa.
Republican News Item.
JR. Btate Libra
JAMES M. BECK.
Counsel For the American Sugar
Refining Company.
delivered luO.OOo shares of common
stock, the entire issue, with a par
value of $10,000,000, to Mrs. Havemey
er. The petition says that those shares
"were Issued In the first instance con
trary to law, in violation of the cor
poration's franchise, and for no con
sideration, as both said Post and Have
meyer then well knew."
The government also alloges that
when the American company took over
four Philadelphia companies—the
Franklin Sugar Ileflning company, the
Spreckels Sugar Refining company, the
Delaware Sugar house and the E. C.
Knight company—Mr. Havemeyer and
his brother, Theodore Havemeyer,
bought 15 per cent of the stock of the
Spreckels company, and then sold It
at a large profit to the American com
pany, of which both were directors.
In general, the petition charges that
the defendants "for some time past
have been, and are now er.gaged In an
unlawful combination and conspiracy
to restrain the trade and commerce
among and between the several states
and territories of the United States
and with foreign nations, in raw sugar,
sugar beets, refined sugar, molasses,
syrups and other by-products of raw
sugar and sugar beets and to monopo
lize the same. Such unlawful combina
tion and conspiracy is the result and
outgrowth of a series of wrongful acts
extending over a period of many years
and participated in by defendants, re
spectively, in the manner and to the
extent hereinafter more fully set forth.
In participating in the various acts,
agreements and combinations herein
after described all of the defendants
have been actuated by wrongful intent
to restrain said interstate and foreign
trade and commerce in raw and refined
sugar and related articles, and to mo
nopolize parts thereof."
Pay Bet With Two-Ton Hat.
A sheetiron hat, weighing about two
tons and standing eight feet high, has
arrived at Atlanta, Ga., on a flat car
from Richmond, Va.
The hat is In payment of a bet be
tween the editors of the Richmond
Evening Journal and the Atlanta Jour
nal as to which city would show the
biggest population in the 1910 census
returns.
Banker Gets 10 to 18 Years.
August Ropke entered a plea of
guilty to five counts of the indictment
charging him with embezzlement of
the funds of the Fidelity Tru-I com
pany at Louisville, Ky. The total ol
his defalcations was $1,490,000. Ttu
amount was reduced by recoveries to
$1,190,000. Ropke was given a sentence
of from ten to eighteen years in the
penitentiary, this penalty covering all
his offenses. Ropke was secretary ol
nie Company's hanking department.
LAPORTE, SULLIVAN COUNTY PA. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1910.
TELLS HOW HE
SLEW AGED PAIR
i ———
Sears Believed He Would In
herit Pastor's Estate.
QUARREL WITH VICTIM
Murderer Had Been Reprimanded by
Rev. Armstrong—Went Out Gunning
to Establish Alibi.
Pride over the idea, strengthened
in his mind by frequent repetition, in
to a belief that he was a near relativo
of his victims and would inherit the
estate, caused half-breed Jack Sears,
it is thought by relatives of the dead
couple, to commit the murder of the
aged Rev. Amzl L. Armstrong and his
wife at Dutch Neck, ten miles east of
Trenton, N. J., to which Sears has
confessed.
Sears thought that he would then
Inherit some of the wealth of the Arm
strongs. Sears' confession, preceding a
dramatic reproduction of the doublo
murder in the quiet and lonely parson
age at Dutch Neck was followed by the
arrest of his mother, Mrs. Rachel
Sears, a negross.
The old "mammy," Is said, If not to
have actually witnessed the murders,
at least to have boon told by her son
that he had killed his lifelong benefac
tors.
Sears is thirty-throo years old, and
for all but three weeks of his life he
has lived with the Armstrongs. He
was ashamed of his mother, but proud
of his white stock. His constant dec
laratlons that he was related to the
Armstrong family angered the mem
bers of that family, according to the j
aunt of Mrs. Armstrong. She said that
her son, a lawyer, had repeatedly ex
pressed his indignation that Sear?
should so openly profess his lineage.
The immediate provocation for the
crime is thought by connections of the
murdered man and woman to have
been a reprimand administered by
Rev. Armstrong to Soars, his farm
hand, for having sold some of the
products of the farm and keeping the
proceeds for his own use.
In his confession, vouched for by the
police, Sears told how he shot down
Dr. Armstrong when the latter hail
come hurrying into the parlor, alarmed
by the frightful screams of Mrs. Arm
strong. Then, using the same shotgun,
he fired at Mr. Armstrong, who drop
ped to the floor, dying in a few mo
ments.
It is thought that in the confession
that Sears is reported to have made
he told what ho did with the watch
that was torn from around Mr. Arm
strong's neck. It Is also understood
that detectives went to the Armstrong
home and found the time piece in the
woodshed where Sears is asserted to
have said he put it.
Sears, who is a half-breed negro, was
not much given to associating with
colored people. He is or was a mem
ber of the New Jersey National Guard,
belonging to a company at New Bruns
wick, and it was in this way that h°
formed the acquaintance with Rudolph
Norhaus, the young white man who
came to Dutch Neck togo gunning
with Sears. The prosecutor is satisfied
that Norhaus has no knowledge of the
double crime.
Sears' mother, the housekeeper of
the Armstrongs, is still at Dutch Neck
under watch, and It is understood that
Prosecutor Crossley will question her
further to learn if she knows anything
about «>e murder.
Around Dutch Noel:, where the wo
man is well known, t'-.ere is a feeling
that she is innocent of any connection
with the shooting. oh says she has no
knowledge of the murder. It Is believej
she told the story of seeing her son
come in at 1 o'clock only in order to
shield him.
Of lite years Se.rs has been of a
mor< * turn of wind. He is said to
have taken a d'-l'ke to his mother,
and at one UE.<J a . Armstrongs were
forced to send him away from the
homestead because of this. Later he
waa permitted to return.
White House Calf Is Dead.
When the stork called on Pauline
Wayne at the White House stab'e
at Washington recently, President
Taft gave the thoroughbred calf to W.
W. Price, who works as a correspond
ent at the White House in the daytime,
and farms by night in Maryland. All
the other Washington farmers thought
Price was lucky.
Price bought a fancy new milch cow
to serve as a foster mother to Paul
ine's first born son. He called at the
White House stable to get the cali
and found that "Big Bill" had passed
away In the night. Price now has a
high class new milch cow he will sell
at cost.
"Too much federal supervision," he
complained to the White House stable
attaches, who had showered every pos
sible attention upon the tender young
life.
ANDREW CARNEGIE.
.
Gives Pittsburg Technical School
$3,800,000.
Carnegie Adds $2,000,000 to Gift.
The trustees of the Carnegie Insti
tute In Pittsburg, Pa., announced that,
following Andrew Carnegie's gift of
$1,500,000 for immediate use in build
ing extensions and equipment of the
technical schools, the school pa
tron has also given an additional sum
of $2,000,000 in 5 per cent gold inter
est-bearing bonds of the United States
Steel corporation, which are said to
have a market value of $2,300,000.
The earnings of these bonds is to
go for the maintenance of the enlarged
schools that will increase the student
body to 3000. This makes a total do
nation at this time of $3,800,000.
When the announcement of the sl,-
500,000 was made a week or more a.;o
it was stated that in all probability
another donation would bo made for
the maintenance of the schools when
the enlarged school facilities had been
accomplished.
The second gift came sooner than
was expected, however, and Is looked
upon by some as a birthday celebration
since today is Mr. Carnegie's anniver
sary.
Magistrate Whips Wife Beater.
Justice of the Peace J. C. Hay den,
of Swoyersville, near Wllkes-Barre,
Pa., used a horsewhip to vigorously
thrash Albert Gey, who is a chronic
wifebeater and who had again beaten
and badly injured his wife.
Sho went to the ofllco of Justice
Hayden and told how her husband had
brutally beaten her and asked that he
be punished. "I'll punish him properly
this time," declared the justice, anu
sent a constable for Gey.
When the prisoner arrived he found
the justice in his shirt sleeves and
armed with a heavy horsewhip.
"Take your coat off and get down
on your knees, you brute," roared the
magistrate. "The law doesn't provide
the proper punishment for the like 3 of
you, so I'll give you a taste of the
medicine you like to administer."
Swish fell the whip i . .ss Gey's
shoulders, and other blows followed as
the man jumped about the room beg
ging for mercy and protesting that he
would behave himself in the future
and never strike his wife again.
"You bet you will not,' cried the
justice, slashing Gey about the legs
and body, "because I'll teach you not
to,"and he continued thrashing the
prisoner until he was out of breath.
"Now go home," he said to the weep
ing and cowed man,"and remember It
is your duty to love and protect your
wife, for if you ever beat her again
I'll give you a double dose of this,"
and he shook the whip in the frighten
ed man's face.
Largest Submarine Plant.
United States naval officers on duty
In Narragansett bay waters learned
that the largest submarine torpedo
boat plant in the world is being built
at New London, Conn., and will be
completed early next year. Submarines
and their parts will be manufactured
at the new plant instead of at Quincy,
Mass. Fuel oil engines and other war
munitions will also be made.
Boy Killed at Football.
Harry Lee, aged seventeen years,
was killed at Winsted, Conn., In a
game of football between the Tierney
Cadets and an independent team com
posed principally of Gilbert Prepara
tory school cadets.
Young Lee's skull was fractured and
he died a few minutes after the ac
cident and before medical aid could
reach him.
Two Killed at Steelton.
Henry Kelley, a blast furnace man
at the Pennsylvania Steel Works at
Steelton, Pa., was overcome by gas
and fell over on a pile of red hot iron.
It is said he was dead when he fell.
Shortly after Henrick Muller was cov
ered with hot dust from an explosion
and died at the Harrisburg hospital.
RICH MERCHANT
ACCUSED OF ARSON
Charged With Setting Fire to
Rival's Warehouse.
The- arrest of Ulysses O. Bullock,
the wealthy Kelton, Chester county.
Pa., merchant, on the charge of having
eet Are to the warehouse of Prank G.
Evans, In that village, on the night ol
Nov. 7, has caused a sensation.
Bullock owns a large store at Kel
ton, Is one of the richest merchants In
the county and has always had an un
blemished reputation. He Is married
and has three children. Ho was raised
as a Friend, his father, the late Eli
Bullock, being a strict adherent of the
Friends' Society.
The district attorney announced that
Bullock will be given a further hear
ing, when Detective Charles Franklin,
of Philadelphia, who had the accused
merchant arrested, will show what evi
dence he has in hand.
Bullock was greatly annoyed when
the big warehouse was built last sum
mer near his store, and the neighbors,
knowing he was greatly distressed,
added to this by telling him Evans was
going to start a rival store in the new
building. The Bullocks have been in
business at Kelton for more than hnli
a century, and they have never had
any competition.
AMPUTATES HIS OWN HAND
Virginia Farmer, Hut In Corn Shred
der, UEes Razor and Knife.
Cutting off his own hand with a
razor alter the hand had been crush
ed in a coin shredder, J. Bruce Vaug
hail, a farmer, of Eureka Mills, Char
lotte county, Va., carefully bandaged
the stump and calmly awaited the ar
rival of a surgeon to put the finishing
touches to the operation.
Vaughan while at work on the farm
got his loft hand caught in a corn
shredder. The machine mangled the
member horribly as far as the wrist.
Medical assistance was not to be had
for hours. Going to his home, Vaughan
took his razor and performed the op
eration.
FOOTBALL PLAYER DIES
Received Internal Injuries In Sharp
Tackle.
William Hancock, aged twenty-three
years, of Minersville, Pa., died as the
result of Injuries received while play
ing football.
Hancock was a member of the Min
ersville eleven and was a fast athlete,
playing behind the line. Following a
sharp tackle, in which he was heavily
thrown, Hancock failed rapidly in
health until his death, which was due
to an abscess which developed from
the Internal Injury he sustained.
SEA WASHES UP FISH
Ocean City Residents Having a Feast
Provided by the Ocean.
Large quantities of fish are being
washed up on the beach at Ocean
City, N. J., and many of the residents
are now enjoying what are consid
ered great feasts. Others catch the
fish'and sell them for 7 and 8 cents
a pound.
The fish come in close to shore to
feed and are washed up on the strand,
wriggling in a much alive shape, but
are easily caught.
For Rural Parcels Post.
A limited parcels post for the rural
free delivery routes will be recom
mended by Postmaster General Hitch
cock In his forthcoming annual report
In making this announcement the
postmaster general foresees the estab
llshment of a general parcels post
throughout the country as soon as tin
postal savings system is thoroughly
organized.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK,
CAPITAL STOCK
$50,000 W. C. FRONTZ President.
Surplus and FRANK A. REEDER, Cashier
Net Profits,
75.000.
DIRECTORS:
Transacts a General Will. Frontz, John C. Laird, C. W. Sones,
Banking Business. w. C.Frontz, I< rank A.Reeder, Jacob Per,
* ...... Lyman Myers, W. T. Reedy, Peter Frontz,
Accounts oflndivid- j A s> Bal]> John Bull
uals and Firms
solicited.
Safe Deposits Boxes for Rent, One Dollar per Year.
3Jper cent. INTEREST PAID ON TIME DEPOSITS.
75C PER YEAR
24 Dead In Newark Fire.
Twenty-four dead and fifteen seri
ously Injured was the reckoning made
In the Are which swept the four-story
factory building at 216-218 High street,
Newark, N. J.
The bodies of five were taken out
of the ruins, and an equal number who
are still missing are now being sought
under the heap of charred and twisted
debris.
There are eight bodies in the morgue
that cannot possibly be Identified, and
will be burled together In one name
less grave. Those who were Identified
were removed to their homes, and
their funerals will be conducted pri
vately by their relatives.
Sadie Hanson, of 20 Stone street,
was cleaning carbon filaments for in
candescent electric lights in the shop
of the Anchar I,amp company, on the
third floor. This is a process in mak
ing the electric bulbs. Within a few
feet was a lighted bunsen burner. The
girl picked up a big gasoline can and
poured the gasoline over the carbon
filaments, and the fumes were Ignited
by the bunsen burner. The explosion
which followed burned off all her hair
and part of her clothing. The floor
was saturated with oil. and the flames
spread rapidly.
Instantly there was pandemonium.
Girls, stricken with an overpowering
fear shrieked so loudly that they
could be heard by the workers on the
flor above and the floors below, above
the noise of the machinery.
It was not long before the fire had
reached the fourth floor, which was
occupied by Wolf & Co., manufactur
ers of muslin underwear. There were
about fifty girls employed on this floor.
Meanwhile the girls on the fourth
floor had run to the stairway, but they
found that It was on fire and their es
cape was cut off. Then the horrible
scenes began. Mad leaps from windows
of the fourth floor before the firemen
arrived with life nets and ladders
were what swelled the list of casual
ties, fifteen having been killed in this
way.
High street in front of the building
was a grewsome field. Bodies of girls,
some doad, others dying, lay about.
The scenes of wild distress upon the
arrival of relatives and friends were
heartrending. Fathers, mothers, broth
ers, sisters, not knowing the fate of
their kin, moved from place to place,
turning over the bodies to see if per
chance they could find the remains of
their dear ones.
Falls to Death With Huge Stone.
A stone weighing 500 pounds fell
from the new Farmers' Trust building
at Johnstown, Pa., carrying with it
Otto Melander, an expert stonecutter,
who was iustaatly killed.
Illinois Census Shows 5,638,591.
The population of Illinois Is 5,638,-
591, an increase of 817,041, or 16.9 per
cent over 4,821,550 in 1900. The in
crease from 1890 to 1900 was 995,199,
or 26 per cent.
GENERAL MARKETS
PHILADELPHIA FLOUR quiet;
winter clear, $3.65@3.80; city mills,
fancy. ss.so(fi 5.90.
RYE FLOUR quiet, at $4©4.10 per
barrel.
WHEAT quiet; No. 2 red. new, 92%
@93c.
CORN quiet; No. 2 yellow, local,
60»/4@_61c.
OATS steady; No. 2 white, 88&
38V&C.; lower grades, 37c.
POULTRY: Live firm; hens, 14{J
14V£c.; old roosters, lOVfec. Dressed
steady; turkeys, choice, 24 (g' 25c.;
choice fowls. 17@17%c.; old roosters,
13c.
BUTTER steady; extra creamery,
33c. lb.
EGGS firm; selected, 40@42e.; near
by, 35c.; western. 35c.
POTATOES quiet, at 58®60c. bush.
Live Stock Markets.
PITTSBURG (Union Stock Yards!
CATTLE Flow; choice, $6.25®6.60;
prime, $0@6.20.
SHEEP higher; prime wethers, $4.10
@4.25; culls and common, $1.80(32 5":
lambs, $4.50® 6.75; veal waives, $9.50
@lO.
HOGS active; prime heavies, $7.40:
mediums, $7.40: heavy Yorkers. $7.40
@7.45; light Yorkers. $7.60©7.55; pigs,
$7.60; roughs. $6.25@6.75.