STRIKE GOVERNMENT RAILROAD
MEN DEMAND HIGHER WAGES; EADES SAYS NIX
ALASKA IIS
WASHINGTON. Feb. 12. - The
postofflco department Is contvniplat
ing installing an aeroplane service for
(lie carriage of mails in Alaska. One
of the routes suggested is between
Seward and Nome, from thence
to Fairbanks and from Fairbanks to
Valdez. Most of the routes will eall
for a delivery oi mail twice a week
throughout the year. The contracts
being prepared require the air craft
to make the journey 'between the
various towns mentioned in two days.
The airships would make round trips
from Seward, ending at. Valdez. The
longest of the trips would he from
Valdez to Fairbanks, 358 miles.
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IN[RS KILLED
ID ENTOMBED
TNDANA, f’a., Feb. 12. — \u explo
Rlon occurred in a coal mine in fhe
town of Ernest today, burying a 'targe
number of the miners. The exact
number of casualties is not known, but
twenty five dead bodies have been re
eovered so far. Although large num
bers of men were at once set to work
in an attempt to rescue the entoiifbed
men. and the pulmotor employed <on
the bodies as fast as recovered, it bras
been impossible to resuscitate any ot
the bodies so far recovered. The
mine is known locally as ihe Clear
field mine.
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GERMAN VESSEL
KIO JANEIRO, Feb. 12. The Ger
man steamship Ascunsion. which lias
been Interned in this port, today made
., a daring attempt to violate the terms
of the internment and escape to the
open sea. The master of the vessel
had requested permission to approach
the wharf and obtain water, and his
request had been granted. He got up
steam on his ship, a dense fog arising
in the meantime, and starting for the
wharf, she suddenly headed about
and started to put out to sea. Bra
zilian warships in the harbor fired
blank shells as an order for the ship
to stop, but failing to have their warn
ing heeded, projectiles were fired,
which exploded dangerously near the
fleeing ship. The Ascunsion then
turned round once more and went to
her anchorage. When questioned by
the harbor master, the captain of the
Ascunsion contended that he had no
intention of escaping.
There wll1 je two masses at the
Catholic church today, as follows:
First mass, 8:30 a. m.; second ma-s
10:30 a. m.
WASiltXCTOX. K#b. 12. litair
nv.m William <Kdes, Of the Alaska
engineering commission, issued a
statement today, asserting tTmt the
complaints being received by Ihe gov
ernment against the wage conditions
obtaining under the commission's ad
ministration of the building of the
government railway in the northbind
were sitrpli the result of pent up en
ergies of fifteen hundred workingmen,
who were compelled to spend the King
winter months in idleness in ice locked
Anchorage. He contended that f.hert
wns no retail dissatisfaction with (In
wage conditions among the employee*
ol lilie commission. Owing 1® Hie se
vere winter and the fact that Hie at,>
prcipriuticm had run out. but iiftj run
w ere working for tlie commission ’liiit
winter, practically all work on Hit
road having'been stopjied He as.i-rt
ed that there was no disorder .-11110111!
tlie men. am) that the whole matter
had been greatly exaggerated by cer
tain men in Anchorage, who were Irv
inn to stir op strife and hamper the
work of himself and his fellow mem
her- on the hoard, Mr. Meal's and Mr
Higgs, lie said further that no at
tempt would be made to resume -wort
on the railroad until the Presiden
had signed the urgent deficiency hill
which was now in the House awaiting
for action on concurrence with cer
tain slight changes in the measure
adopted by the Seriale. T(ie hill ear
ries two million dollars fwr the com
mission, which is now without funds
and as soon as the bill is passed !>:
the House and signed fry Mr. Wilson
the money will W available and wtiTl
commenced at once. '.Mr. Kdes sail
that lie felt no apprehension about he
ing able to secure nil the men he
needed at the rate of wages put In
force by the commission, namely
37 I 2 cents per hour.
Anchorage View of Situation.
The steel gang employed on the gov
eminent railroad at Meters’ creek, near
Anchorage, have gone on a strike for
higher wages. This w-ns followed by
the organization of w federal l.ahor
, Union At the meeting held, it is es
timated a thousand men were present
and resolutions ws-re adopted oitrtng
• for * minimum wage stt.tle of fifty
rents an hour, time and a half for
overtime and double time for holi
. days, 'fine strike at I‘c*ier's cretk was
c.ttdors«| and i> motion prevail* d that
, none '6ike fledr places. A strikers’
: rtimmttee wr.is selected. Ttie skin
I nets also quit work. All nationalities
■ were represented at the meeting, and
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a few of them speak radically, hut
most are, conservative, ami unless Un
tiling is agitated too much it is he
lieved that the officials and the men
will come to an agreement and will
go along smoothly.
The officers of the Kedeinl Labor
Union are: President. Jack Suther
land; vice-president, John Blaze; sec
tary. John Boss; treasurer, K. B. A1
lenbaugh. cmnductor. Peter Mullamet;
sergeant at arms, Tony Kaloff and U
Miller; Trustees. O'Kofski, Baker
Hansen. The committee that went tc
the froni to investigate the strike re
port Bine men working. A number ol
me® Who went out to cut ties weri
asVe-d to replace the strikers, but the>
rMittsod. and returned to Anchorage. .'
cMrirmlttee has been named to consult
with Lieut. Mears regarding an in
crease of wages.
^ a ■ ■ ■ C"
IS JOINED IN
Attorney A. J. Dimond uniil Miss
[Dorothea Frances, daughter of Mrs.
Henry \V. Miller, were married at Vul
idez, at the parish church oS the con
(raoting parties. The benicftill cere
niony of the Catholic church was per
formed liy the Very Her. Father ‘Cri
tnout. prefect apostolic, acting bishop
for Alaska, who came uo specially
from Juneau on the Admiral lEvuns. to
* officiate at the wedding; Vie was as
! stated by Father John Corbett, K J .
pastor of the local church.
Tin marriage was solemnized al a
nuptial high mass, only the immediate
friends anil relatives of the bride anti
igroom being present; the choir was
under the supervision of Mother Mary
Angela, and her rendition of Lohen
grin’s wedding march, as the couple
came up file aisle, was exquisite.
Miss Margaret Miller was brides
maid, and A. C. Dowling acted in flic
capacity of best man: Judge George
J. 'Love. Thomas Quinn and Mr;, and
Mirs. Thomas J. Donohue were the
only invited guests, outside the iur
nredittile members of the bride's turn
fly.
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FRENCH STM
BER1.1N, Feb. 12. — The official
bulletin issued by tbe war <>rfice to
day, announcing a violent artifiery
bombardment along the greater por
tion of the firing line iti the Cham
pagne district In France. The French
infantry delivered several strong at
tacks yesterday, the Germans being
forced to give ground before superior
numbers at some places. The French
penetrated the German lines near
Massiges along a front of over two
hundred yards.
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George Brown, of Valdes, came to
Cordova on the Admiral Evans, and
will spend a couple of days here.
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Dave Fenton, of Seward, is renew
lug acquaintanceships with local
friends.
j
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i
j STRIKE IS J
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i 1‘HOKNIX, Pet.. l‘J, A (homsam
J union men employed in the | linen i
! Popper mine went on strike veieerda;
j because two members of tin* nnlo:
1 had been diwfrargetl, Tlie discharge.
J workmen were alleged to have at
tempted to intim'tdiiTt non-union work
ers to join the organization. The ne*i
on strike returned to work again to
. day after a conference between th
leaders of the union and the mine of
licials, the men admitting that the;
were in tin* wrong, and that the strik*
iiad been a mistake For a time ■
recurrence of the recent tiig strita
in this district was feared.
--
. That the strike or, Moore ■creek, ii
the Iditarod district promises to b<
one of the greatest finds for years, i
evident from the information brougli
1o Seward by Kdward A. Smith, thi
brother of the discoverer, mho arrivei
direct from the Iditarod. .Toe Smith
the discoverer of the pay. is an exten
sive -merchant in Iditarod, but Ed ware
A. is -a Fairbanks man, who has ’hii
interest in the Tatiana camp.
After -drilling on Moore creek r
has been found that the ]>ay stretches
from discovery for a mile down the
creek, and the pa yet reak has already
been proven to be :at least 225 feel
wide, with gravel worth a dollar <in,'
a quarter to a dollar and six bits t(
the foot. Mr. Smith believes the pay
m ill be 150 feet in width, and if this is
so the creek is certain to foe one of tit?
greatest in Alaska. The stream has
been drilled all over so that the ex
tent of the pay cannot be doubted
Mr. Smith owns discovery, and found
the pay right there, and a fact which
is of local interest is that one above
discovery is owned by Bennett .lantes.
of Seward.
A snow storm set In about 10 o'clock
last night.
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Tomorrow is St. Valentine's day.
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POISONED BY
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I CHtf'AdO, Keb. 1!. \ hundred i
■ tihe distinguished gif sis who aiifndc
(he lii.miuet held a« the Vr.nersit
1 Club. In trOD.ii of the Roman Oftthol!
I Archbishop ’Mundlein. have beeon:
seriously it... and ttie tronthe hr
been traced to Hue soup Ibai vvt
■ served at the dinner. The snip wa
analyzed today and shown to contai
‘ a mineral poison nf a virulem natur
An investigation disclosed bne fai
' that the soup was made by a coo
i imm. (1 Jean Crones, twenty-nine ycai
i old. Crones disnppeared tie day <
' ■ the lianips't. and tile police brave bee
] una'i le to locate him. 11 is room wn
I searched jmd found to contain a flas
of file same poison discovered to I
in flie son)i Numerous pamphlets o
economic subjects* were also bound, n
* wen as file war songs of the India
j trial Workers -and similar 'literatim
; A Thorough search Is being mad
;Throughout the City in an effort to k
cate the wanted man. as it is believe
that lie is responsible for file whole
sale poisoning. The ill guests are d
.expected to recover, although soiti
jof them are suffering badly.
FIERCE FIERTINE
CHAMPAGNE
DISTRICT
PARIS. Feb. 12. — The French of
ficial communique issued this morn
lag. states that fighting in the Cham
pagne district has been renewed on i
large scale. Both sides having beer
bombarding each other with theii
heavier guns, and numerous attacks
and counter attacks by men in the
trenches have occurred. The fighting
has developed no decided advantage
for either side, although the French
have won a small section of the first
line of German trenches, and have
managed to hold on to them despite
desperate attempts by the Teutons to
dislodge them. If the French can
maintain their foothold in the Ger
man trenches, they will be able to
force a retirement along a wide front
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Special attraction. Empress tonight.
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FBI SEATTLE
Advices have been received Iron
j Seattle, stating that the ealile shi]
Burnside will leave Seattle on Kebrti
v
arv 15, to begin the work of repair
c
ing tlie breaks in tlie governmen
cable. About two weeks ago th
s
cable connecting Alaska with th
S
outside world went out of coin-mission
s
a break having occurred north o
Sitka, and on Sunday morning las
tlie Seward branch went down.
1
Cordova, Valdez and points in in
terior Alaska are being served by th
s
navy radio stations, ami with the ex
■I
eeption of a short time when engin
n i
trouble was exjierienced at Sitka, th
s |
service hits been good The bleak ii
k
tlie line to Seward completely isolate
e [
| the westward, except w hen vessel
n I
equipped witli wireless are in port.
s
As the cable ship Burnside was re
ported in drydoek several weeks ag<
when a break in the table occtirret
e
near Seattle, it is believed that sht
^ is undergoing extensive repairs atu
possibly receiving new boilers.
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RUSSIA LIKELt
I
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PETROGRAD, Feb. 12. — The Hus
sian offensive is maturing rapidly
along the whole of the front in Ga
iicta. The Germans and Austrians are
now on the offensive on three import
ant rivers, namely, the Pruth, the Se
rets and the Dniester. Cernovritz, the
6
capital of Bukowina. is again the ob
ject of a strong Slav attack, and is
threatened with being captured, the
defenders fighting desperately to stem
the advancing Russian tide.
GIVEN SIX MONTHS IN JAIL FOR
ASSAULT.
Bast evening Emil Davis, of Valdez
was given a hearing before United
States Commissioner Medley, on the
{charge of having beaten up Wilfred
Groom in O’Brien & Simpson's saloon
late Friday night. The court found
Davis guilty and sentenced him to
serve six months in the federal jaii
at Valdez.
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L ME IONED
AS SEGRETKRY
WASHINGTON. Feb 12. — Preai
jdent Wilson and bis wife left here to
day on the presidential yacht. May
i flower, for a week-end cruise around
Chesapeake bay. and escape the duties
of his offices for the purpose of ob
taining a much needed rest. It Is un
derstood that the successor to Secre
tary of War Garrison has been practi
cally chosen by the President, and it
is stated on good authority that the
new appointee will be announced as
I soon as the Mayflower returns. Rumor
I has it that Secretarv of the Interior
I Franklin K. Lane is being seriously
considered for the place, and is the
most likely of all those so far men
tioned to receive the appointment.
Others under consideration tire Sec
retary of Agriculture David F. Hous
ton. of Missouri, and Counsellor Frank
I Poly, of the state department.
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*i SAIjO.NIKI, Fell 12. — II was re
ported here today that the French
t troops have crossed the Vardar river
• and are now encamped in force on
i the right bank of the stream in the
ij region of Janitza and Veria. .lauitza
• is an important railroad station on the
line between Saloniki and Monastlr.
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WASHINUTON. Feb. 12. — The
I diplomatic representatives of Italy,
j France, tlreat Britain and Russia to
iday called on Secretary of State Lan—
| sing and made oral representations in
answer to the recent note of the
United States, stating that allied mer
chantmen! entering American ports
with guns mounted would be given
only the privileges extended to war
!
vessels in neutral ports. Mr. Lansing
refused to discuss what passed at the
; meeting, except to tell the reporters
| the subject of the discussion. It is
; believed that the allies are unwilling
to accept the interpretation put on
the matter by the state department,
and were seeking a compromise
ground of agreement preparatory to
their respective governments replying
i officially to the American note.
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Rev. Father Crimont, of Valdes, ar
rived on the Admiral Evans to con
duct services in the Catholic church
today.
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The dance of the Cordova Stringed
Orchestra last night was a very ett
joyable affair.