HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1907-12-06, Page 2BARONESS FOR
HIS PARTNER.
REGINALD SPAULDING'S SCHEME
RE COURT PRESENTATIONS.
Lady Suffield Denies AR Knowledge of
the Man—Spaulding Tells Police
That He is Acting in Conjunction
With Daughter of the Famous Henry
Baring.
London, Dec. 2.—"I've never heard of
Reginald Spaulding in my life and can't
imagine how he came to select my name
upon which to hang a fabrication about
a debt," said Lady Suffield to-day
through her husband, Baron Su
Lady Suffield is a daughter of the late
Henry Baring, founder of the great fin-
ancial house of that name, and a sister
of Lord Revelstoke, the present head of
the house. he is at preent a Lady
of the Bedchamber to Her Majesty,
Queen Alexandra. The story of a debt
iu connection with her would seem amus-
ing, even without a. denial.
Spaulding Attempts Suicide.
Pittsburg, Dec. 2.—Reginald Spauld-
ing, the youug Englishman arrested here
on Saturday, has made the astounding
statement that he has been author-
ized by Lady Suffield, Lady of the Bed-
chamber to Queen Alexandra, to nego-
tiate with Pittsburg millionaires for
presentation at the Court of St. James'
for a financial consideration.
While this sensation was sweeping
over the city Spaulding put a climax
to the developments of the day by
desperately attempting to hill himself.
Sentenced to five days in jail, pending
investigation, Spaulding was hurried to
the Bertillon bureau. i e fought every
move made to take his measurements.
When the camera was brought out he
leaped toward a, tray of chemicals, and
before he could be prevented had swal-
lowed the contents of a bottle. Only
the fact that he seized the wrong jar
saved. his life. What he swallowed was
a vial of salts. Beside it was enough
cyanide of potash to kill half a dozen
men.
Spaulding's revelations regarding Lady
Suffield were made when he was ar-
raigned before Magistrate Brady this af-
ternoon. Brought from the cell -room
at the Central Station, where he had
-reposed since Saturday night, and ar-
raigned on the charge of being a suspici-
ous person, he was asked what he had
to say for himself.
"I can't see for the life of me," was
the reply, "why you have brought me
here. I came to America and to Pitts-
burg on a legitimate enterprise,,. which I
am fully. able .to carry out: `^
"I have a great friend in the Coun-
tess of Suffield. You may not know
it, but the Countess and her husband,
the Earl of Suffield, have always been
very close to King Edward. In fact,
they were menders of his household
while he was still the Prince of Wales.
"The Countess and the Earl enter-
tained the King lavishly while he was
Prince, and largely through this enter-
tainment they became impoverished, and
have continued so since,
"More than a year ago the Countess
of Suffield borrowed a sum of money
from me. She has been unable to pay
it back since, and e::: told me that if
I knew of any rich americans who want-
ed to be introd....d at court she would
make the press.:.atinn in lieu of the
money elf 9W" me, I to make out of it
what I could.
t. "It 1FM oil this proposition that I
Carrie to Pittsburg. This sort of thing
is done in England, and I had no
idea I was doing any wrong in ad-
vertising to introduce daughters of
wealthy Pittsburghers to the Court of
England.
(While the Suffields are often called
Earl and Countess, their true titles are
Baron and Lady.)
".1 made no false representations
when 1 advertised that I would make
the presentations. I can do it. It
can be done through the Countess of
Suffield, who is my friend. If she can
make money through her social influ-
ence, what harm is there?"
That Spaulding is not an ordinary man
there is ample reason for believing. He
has all the polish of a drawing -room fav-
orite, and Ins knowledge of English so-
ciety is thorough, from whatever source
it has been secured. And the confi-
dence that he has been able to inspire
in those whom the police declare he
intended to victimize is s' :king. Men
as well as women have i..,.0 his dupes.
He advertised last week for a num pos-
sessing $500 to accompany him on a for-
eign trip as secretary, and received an
answer from a Pittsburg man, who is
Worth at least $2,000,000. This man con-
sented to occupy the position in order
that he might be introduced abroad by
the Englishman.
The police believe Spaulding to be the
man who under the name of Oscar
Frederick Spate was connected with a
proposed scheme to put chairs in Cen-
tral Park; New York, a few years ago,
and rent them to park visitors.
w. V..
NO LONGER AN AUTOCRAT.
The Douma Robs Czar of One of His
Titles.
St. Petersburg, Dec, 2.—The Doutna
to -night decreed that the title of auto-
crat which has been. borne by the Em-
perors of Russia for centuries, is no
longer tenable within the Russian' State
and is incompatible with the regime in-
augurated by the manifcs'to issued by
Emperor Nieholas on October 30, 1905.
At the close of at great constitutional
debate the Russian Parliament, by a
vo'te of 112 to 240, rejected the word
'`autocrat," and then 'tad ..11•ted
the address from the throne unanimouse
ly, amid seems. of intense excitetueut,
prolonged cheering and the singing of
the national anthem..
The result. of the session is regarded
as a fine victory for the Constitutional
Democrats, under the leadership of Pro-
fessor Paul N. '_1filukoff, who succeeded
in forcing the Oetoberis& hand, The
final vote was taken after the demon-
strative withdrawal of , tike Extreme
Right Social Democrats, members of the-
C;roup of Toil and the .Holes.
WILD TIMES.
INDIAN DEBAUCHERY ON KAMSACK
AND OTHER RESERVATIONS.
Girls' School Broken Into and Inmates
Made Drunk and Maltreated—Whites
and Halfbreeds Took a Hand in the
Orgies.
'Winnipeg, Dec. 2. — Unscrupulous
whites, bad italfbreeds and luclians in
search of excitement; have beandebauch-
ing the Indians on the reservations at
Kantsack, Keyes and felly, forcing the
Dominion Government to take action
and institute wholesale prosecution;. De-
baucheries have been indulged in which
have left some participants lying in the
bush in an incapacitated state for two
days at a time. The Indian school was
broken into, and the occupants of one of
the girls' dormitories have ben intoxie-
cated and assaulted by a band of young
roughs, and gambling and vice have been
rampant at Kantsack. where the Indians,
whites and hal fbreeds have indulged in
wild and disgusting orgies. These are
facts obtained by the Department of In-
dian Affairs, whieh placed the matter
in the hands of the Canadian Detective
Agency.
'Air. Charles Driver, the local superin-
tendent, despatched a detective to the
scene of the alleged trouble, with the re-
sult that •some forty odd prosecutions
are taking place, while a report has
been received by tlul department show-
ing that the state of arena's was deplor-
able. As far as information hag been
received there have been twenty-three
eontictions. After working fur some time
the detective collected sufficient mater-
ial to convict a large number of offend-
ers, and the department decided on
stamping out the evil at once.
Notice was sent to the reserve that
a "give-away dance," an Indian dance,
hat usually results in excesses and
vicious freedom, would take place at
Kamsack on Nov. 21. All the suspects
therefore were counted on attending,
and when they did there was a wholesale
raid by the police, who worked from
early morning of Thursday and the
greater part of the following tlrly, in
placing -the* Men tite5>. nanted ,nor° ar-
rest.
On Saturday morning the e'otirt was
opened at 10 o'clock, and many fines and
sentenees were imposed. A man who
ran a butcher ;shop there was sent to
jail for nine months, and fined $900.
SUES DOCTOR.
MISS BELLARD WANTED $to,000
DAMAGES FROM DR. NEVITT.
Lady Admits That Surgeon's Skill Saved
Her Life and Restored Her Health,
But Says the Operation Was Un-
authorized.
A Toronto despatch: Admitting that it
is only owing to the wonderful result of
a skillful operation performed by Dr. R.
B. Devitt, of Toronto, that she is living
to -day, Miss Appehne Belland, a young
French-Canadian lady, sued Dr. Nevitt
WASHINGTON'S
ALLEY SLUMS.
TWENTY THOUSAND PERSONS LIVE
IN SQUALOR THERE..
Seme of the Conditions Defy Description
—Blood Alley, Pig Alley and Jonah
Row Significant Names—One Near
the Senate—Queen's Court and the
British Embassy.
Washington, . Dee. 2.—The' national
capital, with all its pride of marble
c,• d bronze, its broad attenues and
green circles, is nevertheless declared
to he "rotten to the core." The
phrase is Jacob Riis's. He "turned
Washington inside out" a few years
ago and went back to New York's
r'ast Side for a breath of fresh air.
Things have taken a •turn for the
better since then, but the whited sep-
ulchre is still n likely metaphor hu
be used in connection with the na-
tion's City Beautiful. Last spring
President Roosevelt got so stirred up
over some reports of the Washington
alleys that he appointed a conunis-
sion to devise a way of removing
the literal and moral stench front
the people's nostrils.
These alleys are without a parallel
in any other city. There are 286 of
them, and they harbor a population
of 20,000 persons. When Jacob Riis
declared that Washington had a rot-
ten spot at the core he added:
"I mean that; for I have in mind
the hidden back alelys, so well hid-
den that I passed thorn day after
day, pleased with the fine front the
block was making and without the
least suspicion of what it harbored
within."
Perhaps if he had known the names
of some of these pestilent byways he
might have suspected their nature.
Ambush court is one, Blood alley is
another, Jonah row is another, and
there are Pig alley, Splash alley, Cat
alley and other names full of signi-
ficance,
But the name is not an unfailing
guide. Othertrise Snow alley would
not be the tortuous, filthy lane which
it really is. And as Queen's Court—
not two blocks •from the British Em-
bassy it would scarcely have shown
itself to the shocked investigators,
as it did for years, a labyrinth of
dirt, disease and immortality.
"The alleys," says Charles F. Wel-
ler, of the Aseoeiated Charities of
Washington, "are hidden inner worlds
standing often in close proximity to
the chief • centres of the city's wealth
and culture: ;;Lunch row, not seven
blocks from,thelVh.ite House and only.
three blocks from Dupont Circle, was
indescribably bad:"
Chinch rows was an arm of Queen's
Court, and it was only recently that,
after years of war upon it, its hovels
were torn down. ,Some of the de-
plorable houses remain, however, so
near the fashionable centre of the city
that the contrast is startling.
The ordinary newspaper does not
print the sort of reading which the
descriptions of many of these alleys
matte. It is hardly fit for anything
but the reports of `charity committees,
and even they furnish an apology
with each report. Very few of the
alley houses have either water or
sewerage connection, and it is hard-
ly to be wondered at that the health
authorities of the city are always
fighting typhoid.
Prior to 1903 the Government Bur-
eau of Labor collected for several
years official statistics of cities. In
its bulletin for 1902 Washington was
shown as having the highest death
rate among the thirty-nine largest
cities in the country. •
It Was particularly strong in typhoid
fever; tuberculosis, grip and malaria.
Some of the causes certainly are not far
to seek, no further in fact than the in-
side of many- fair appearing city blocks.
In most towns an alley is a straight
line between two streets and is for the
use of delivery men, stablemen and the
alley cat. In Washington the peculiar
plan of the city has resulted in the great-
est assortment of blocks of all shapes
and sizes, from the little three -sided
scrap of land with room for only one
house ti squares that measure about six
hunch -el feet on each of their four sides.
The hidden world within one of these
blocks trill consist of half a dozen wind-
ing lanes lined with hovels and stables,
the latter being far the cleaner of the
two. Not all of the alley houses are so
bad, but in all of them there seems to be
developed an alley type of family which
has lower standards than those of the
people who live on regular streets.
Of course in Washington, with its 100,-
000 colored inhabitants—which makes it
the largest negro city in the world—it is
the clarity who to a great extent popu-
lates the alleys: Of the 200,000 inhabit-
ants of these tyw•ays about 18,000 are
colored.
in the Non -Jury Assizes this afternoon
for $10,000 dagames for perforating the
operation.
Miss Belland said in her evidence
that she consulted Dr. Nevitt while
she was in a serious condition from
tumor and consented to an operation
on condition that certain organs were
not to be removed. The operation re-
stored Miss Belland to health; but she
claims that the doctor did not follow
her instructions,, and sued for damages
for trespass, assault and battery.
Dr. Nevitt in his evidence contradict-
ed Miss Belland's version, saying that
the promise he made was that he would
not perform the operation unless abso-
lutely necessary.
Miss Beliand's counsel admitted that
his client would have died had the oper-
ation not taken place as it did, and Mr.
Justice Mabee, who heard the case, de-
cided. that Dr. Nevitt's judgment was to
be accepted by his patient, and that he
took the only course open to him when
the operation revealed the real source of
the disease. The claim was, therefore,
dismissed.
STORM SWEEPS PACIFIC COAST.
Wires Down and Many
Isolated.
Vancouver. B. C., Dec. 2.—The big
rainstorm which descended on Vancouver
late yesterday afternoon did not play
any favorites along the Pacific coast.
Practically every mile of coast from
Alaska to California was swept by the
storm, which in some Iocalities carried
with it rain, and in others snow.
Telegraph and telephone wires all over
British Columbia, Washington and Ore-
gon went down before the gale.
There it no communication between
Vancouver and outside points to -day
save from the east and south. The O. P.
11, telegraph lines were carried down in
the vicinity of North Bend, where seven
a74:'," '"Rlt Y ''w hours.
Cities Almost
worst of the lot. Some of these enter
froin a single street, bore their way into
the block, turn and double and finally
end in a ctrl de sac, Others are the arms
of alleys which are open at each end.
But one of these open alleys may have
half a dozen blind branchings. As the
resort of criminals they possess advan-
tages which are highly appreciated. They
are like the impasses of Paris, except
that they are less imposing.
In 1892 a law was passed prohibiting
any more buildings of alleged habitations
in Washington alleys. Since that time
some of the rotten spots have been cut
away and a few have withered of them-
selves;
hemselves; that is, the shacks which formed
them fell into ruin. But 20,000 human
beings are still herded in the houses that
remain.
In his message three years ago the
President called the alley slums of
Washington by name and urged their
elimination, but Congress has not as yet
been fired with similar zeal.
A law for the compulsory repair or
condemnation cel buildings unfit for
human habitation was struggled for dur-
ing almost a decade. One year the
House passed it, but it was defeated iu
the Senate by the opposition of only one
man. "And he," says Mr. Weller, "re-
presented a distant State whose entire
pupmlation was less than one-sixth that
of the District."
Everybody who has investigated the
alley slums says that there is only one
way of reforming these conditions. That
is to do away with alleys as places of
residence.
Some of them -]rave so much land abut-
ting on them that it seems rather waste-
ful to close them entirely to res -ideate,,
but in these cases the remedy would be
to widen and straighten the alleys, Mak-
ing them into small streets.
The President's Hones Commission at-
tempted to carry out this work with the
co-operation of the District Commission-
ers. The opening of twelve such streets
was recommended, and two of these
were confirmed by the courts. But a de-
cision by the United States Supreme
Court has checked the further carrying
out of these plans, and again the only
hope is .in help from Congress.
If the wives of members once grasp
the fact that they themselves are rather
intimately in touch with these same
hidden alleys the activity of Congress is
likely to be livened up by a few .heart to
heart home sessions. It is an 'actual fact
that many of the servants in well-to-do
households come from alley shanties and
go home and sleep there every night.
As for the servants in many of the
hotels, no man knoweth where they
come from. Many colored women living
in alley houses of the most uncleanly
and unsanitary conditions make their
living by taking in washing. If they
went out to wash it would be bad
enough. But the irony of their cleans-
ing the clothes of others is exaggerated
when they go through the form under
;the conditions in their wretched homes.
Even if one's own servants do not
conte from the alleys, or if one's own
Washing does not go to them, they are
the constant menace of every household,
for the servants visit back and forth al-
most as freely and irresponsibly as the
flies which buzz from the filthy alley to
the marble Capitol.
Of course Washingtonians themselves
might fret as touch as ever they wished
without accomplishing anythings. At
least that is what sone of them say.
They have no votes. Congress spends
their money for them and taxes their to
supply half the budget. But the people
who have seen the alley shacks and tried
to help the alley folk think it is time
that somebody was doing eotue fretting
and doing it loud and clear.
Snow alley lea 289 Black men, women
and children to help it belie its name.
But the charity workers in the alleys cm-
eupied by whites say that even when the
Caucasian families try to climb out of
Sodom the alley influences drag them
back.
The alleys are foun& all over the city.
Bassett's alley. with a half concealed
entrance only three feet wide, is but a
few minutes walk from the Capitol. It is
full of families having only one room
apiece in wretched old shacks,_ with
floors a foot below ground level and with
almost no windows at all. •
The Senators can find Bassett' alley
easily. It is only a block from their
new office, building. There is no water
or newer"n" in the alley. although the
office building is a modern marvel of
plunlbi:in.
The blind alleys are, of course, the
TRIPLE FORGERY.
THREE BROTHERS JENKINS IN-
DICTED AT NEW YORK.
Were Officials of the Jenkins and Wil-
liamsburg Trust Company -Another
Accusation Alleges Making False
Entries.
New York, Dee. 2.—Jo'an G. Jenkins,
jun., until recently President of the Jen-
kins Trust Compony of Brooklyn;.
Frank Jenkins, deposed head of the
Williamsburg Trust Company, and Fred.
Jenkins, formerly a director of the
latter inst.—ution, were jointly indicted
to -day for forgery in the third degree.
The indicted men are brothers, and
the charges against them grew out of
loans made by the brokerage firm of
F. & J. G. Jenkins, jun., & Company
by the Jenkins Trust Company. The
transactions were disclosed during the
examination of the trust company's
books made by the F'tate Banking De-
partment after the institution had sus-
pended.
The Jenkins are jointly indicted on
four counts alleging that they caused
false entries to be made in the books
of the Jenldns Trust Company, whereby
loans made by the trust company to
the President in excess of what he could
have Iegally secured as an officer of
the institution were made to appear as
loans to employees of the firm of F. &
J. G. Jenkins, jun., & Company. The
specific charge against former Presi-
dent Jenkins is that a certain part of
the $557,000 secured as a loan from the
trust company on October 1st and stand-
ing in the names of several clerks of
F. & J. G. Jenkins, jun., & Company
was in reality a loan to him, and that
the whole amount had been loaned to
him and his firm, and not to the clerks
to whom it was nominally paid..
• IN THE TOILS.
CARRIED DOWN MOUNTAIN.
Lumberman Caught in Log Slide in
British Columbia.
Vancouver, Dec. 2.—Crushed between
two heavy logs and carried down the
side of a mountain with them, Patrick
Cummings, a hand -logger employed near
Chatham Channel, B. C., received in-
juries from which he died a few minutes
later.
Cummings was working with Andrew
Galinsky just above the channel when
the accident occurred. He was carried
down into the water, sustaining fright-
ful injuries. Galinsky removed him from
the water, and, placing him in a boat,
started for Allison's camp across the
channel. Before the camp was reached,
however, Cummings was dead.
s• o
THIS WAS IN TORONTO.
Turned a Picture of the Saviour to the
Wall.
Trento despatch: Rev. W. F. Wilson,
of the Trinity Methodist Church, made a
statement at the annual meeting of the
Toronto civic mission to -day in pointing
out the danger of the foreign element,
which, he said, is flocking into Toronto
in increasing numbers.
Mr. Wilson said that in the Elizabeth
Street School, located in the "ward," and^
where the Jews are numerous, a picture
of•the Saviour had been turned to the
wall.
Mr. Wilson further.stated that he es-
timated that one out of every twelve
persons in the street were frau. igners.
It is probable that Mr. Wilson's state-
ment regarding the school will be in-
vestigated.
eek
SHORT MONEY, SHORT SHOVELS.
Foreign Quarry Laborers' Reply to Cut
in Wages.
Bedford, Ind,, Dec. 2—On account
of the financial situation 100 foreign
laborers who used the pick and shovel at
the Hoosier quarries had their wages
cut from 15 emits to 124 cents an hour,
The angry men marched to the machine
shops and had two and a half inches cut
from their shovels to meet the corre-
sponding reduction in wages, They say
short money, short shovels.
J. F. LAVERN WANTED IN OTTAWA
ON CHARGE OF BIGAMY.
Wonderful Tales Told at Sault Ste.
Marie Regarding the Prisoner's Ad-
ventures in New York, and His
Matrimonial Experiences.
A Sault Ste. Marie despatch.: J.
F. Lavern, alias Lange, was arrested on
the American side yesterday and
brought to Canada by Chief of Police
Downey. He will be sent to Ottawa to
answer a charge of bigamy. Canadian
officers were notified of the ease by the
Chief of Police- of Ottawa, and the man
was identified from a picture enclosed in
a letter from there. It is also asserted
by the police that Lavern was connected
with a recent diamond robbery in New
York.
When taken to police headquarters he
was attired in fashionable wearing ap-
parel, and appeared to be a man of pros-
perity. Ile promptly asserted his inno-
cence and demanded a lawyer. The police
ransacked his pockets and brought to
light 49 cents, apparently all the tnoney
he had. When arrested Lavern was told
that American officers intended to no-
tify the New York police, so he consent-
ed to come to the Canadian side without
trouble.
Lavern's pockets contained a number
of letters from women, mostly from
Duluth, Calgary and Hancock.
Lavern is wanted in Ogdensburg, N.
Y., on a bigamy charge. It is said he
graduated from a livery stable to the
swell set of New York, and secured
85,000 in jewels from Mrs. Olive Jewett
there before decamping from the metro-
polis on a marrying tour.
Lavern has a wife in Ottawa, where
he posed as a New York millionaire,
While there he masqueraded under the •
name of Lang. It is said Lavern has
two children in Ogdensburg, aged six
and ten years.
COLLINS' CONFESSION.
Murderer of Miss McAuley Admitted
Crime Before He Died.
St. John, N. B., Dec. 2.—The Tele-
graph will announce to -morrow, from
what it declares asource which cannot
be questioned, that a few days before
his execution Thomas F. Collins, hanged
at Hopewell Cape on Nov. 15, for the
murder of Mary Ann McAuley at New
Ireland, N. Be made a verbal confession
that he committed the murder. The
confession was made in the presence of
Rev. H. B. Thomas, who ministered to
Collins in his last hours; Sheriff Lynds,
and a third party, whose name is with-
held. Collins said that after killing the
woman with • the' axe he hid it in Father
McAuley's bedroom, where it was not
found until months later.
Collins' confession was not given out
because of . his request that it be not
published. The evidence in the Collins'
trial was circumstantial, and doubt of
his guilt had been sometimes expressed.
FAMINE IN TURKEY.
•
Harvest Generally Light—Grain Supply
Already Exhausted.
New 'Stork, Dec. 2.—Famine prevails
in Turkey, according to a cable despatch
received by The Christian Herald from.
Secretary Peet, representative in Tur-
key of the American Board of Foreign
Missions, and made public to -day. The .
despatch comes from Philippoliolis, and.
reads: "harvest generally light here
and in neighboring countries, Advices
show grain for winter and seed already
exhausted in many places, Many people
will die unless relief comes soon (Sign-
ed) Peet"