SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 5 August 1901, Page 4

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

(Per s.s. Yemura, at- Auckland.) Shocking Railway Collision.

San Francisco, July 10.

The Chicago and Alton’s VestibuledLimited, passenger train collided with a fast live stock train between Marshall and Norton, Missouri. Seventeen people were killed and seventeen are in the hospital- The passenger train was travelling in three sections, and the wrecked portion of the train was the first section. The trains collided head on, and the engines were pushed on either side of the track, the baggage and chairs wore piled on the top of the engines, and the diningcar tipped over. The forward cars of the train telescoped, and some of the cars took fire. The wreck was a blazing mass, and steam and scalding water escaped from the engines, burning many passengers frightfully, and enveloping the wreck in a cloud, which made rescue work difficult. The bellowing of the cattle was mingled with the shrieks of the injuried people. Many passengers wore imprisoned in the cars, and scalding steam poured upon them. They prayed aloud, and pleaded the rescuers to hasten. They were taken out as rapidly as possible, but there were not enough helpers, and after spending hours in a terrible situation the injured were compelled to endure a long ride to Kansas City on the rescue train.

The train which was wrecked was one of the finest passenger trains in the United States. Sixteen persons weae killed, and about fifty injured in the train.

The wreck of the Indiana train was another shocking occurrence. It consisted of eleven cars going at a high rate of speed when it plunged through a trestle bridge undermined by rains. The embankment on both sides of a little stream had dropped at a sharp degree for a distance of forty feet. Owing to the momentum of the train the engine 'appeared to fall back to the bottom, and five cars went down the bank. One sleeper and a private car remained on the track. Proiparity of the United States. The fiscal'year of the Government of the United States has closed. The books now show the most prosperous period in the history. The revenue exceeded the expenditure by about 77,000,000d015. This showing two years after the foreign war, is belieyed to be unequalled in the financial history of any nation. The balance-sheet will show receipts of about 587.000. and the expenditure of 510.000. The surplus named is, in fact, extraordinary. The expenditures for army and navy and for civil administration of insular territories, etc., will reduce the income about 40,000,000d01s annually, so next year the surplus will not be over 35,000,000d01. The administration is gloating also over thef increase in foreign The figures show a balance of trade in favour of the United States of 670,000,000d015., or about 14D,000,000d015. more than during the previous year. An Act of Heroism. A cable message from St. Petersburg, dated July sth, says “ A.n act of heroism was accomplished a few days ago at Oconstadt. The crew of the cruiser Variag were engaged in loading shells on board the vessel when a small carriage containing five or six shells broke away from the rest, and began to run down *he deck. It it struck the opposite side an explosion was inevitable, which would have caused the loss of the ship and all on board. Suddenly Lieutenant Derichter, a young officer, threw himself before the. carriage and stopped it. He lost three toes of the right foot, and received a deep wound in the leg and another in the chest. He was taken to the hospital, where he is on the road to recovery. It was feared his leg would have to be amputated. The courageous young officer is the only son of General Othon Doriohter, aide-de-camp of the Emperor. The Kaiser as a Railway Magnate.

A despatch from London states that the Emperor William has blossomed out as a builder of electric railways. It is esserted that the Kaiser is a joint partner in a great fast express lino venture between Berlin and Hamburg. The intention is to shoot trains to the seaboard at the rate of one hundred miles an hour. The Emperor is said to haye contributed to the enterprise several million marks from his private fortune. An engineer, who rode over the completed portion of the road, said the Emperor desires to benefit by the undoubted financial success that will attend the project. Ho also wishes to set hie countrymen a Hoyal example in the development of electricity. The road, when completed, will be unique as being built on an embankment 20 feet h gh, 54 feet wide at the top, and 112 feet wide at the bottom. All the intersecting lines go over or under the embankment to avoid the grade crossings. Ten trains an hour will run in each direction. Motor cars will be fitted with sharp-nosed fronts to avoid the air pressure incident to high speed. The cars arc of huge design. The American air brake is the only piece of American equipment so far ordered. Mr Hay’s Tragic Death. The death of Mr Adalbert 8 Hav, formerly United States Consul at Pretoria, was most deplorable. Mr John Hay, Secretary of State, and father of the young man, was for a time so much prostrated as a result of the shocking nows brought to him, that his condition was considered altrming. The late Mr Adclbert Hay was a graduate of Yale’ College, and he went to Newhaven to attend to biennial reunion. He arrived on Saturday evening, and after a drive with some friends and his class mates, he went to his room at the hotel for the night. Later his body was found on the sidewalk, and beneath the fourth storey window, from which he had fallen. The arrangements of the room showed that Mr Hay intended to go to bed, and the clothing he had removed

was carefully folded. As the late_ Mr Abelbert Hay was a man of much ability and beloved by a large circle of friends, it would appear he could hardly have tired of life.

A despatch from London says that the people there are not unmindful of the fact during the earlydays of the Boer war Mr Adalbert Hay discharged honorary duties on behalf of the British prisoners at Pretoria with the utmost care and discretion. It is felt this tragic death closes one of the most promising careers in the diplomatic service. All the papers refer to the debt Great Britain owed to the late Mr Hay for his many kind offices.

The Great Motor Car Contest. A despatch from Berlin says ; —“The arrival hero of the Paris-Berlin racing motors, with M. Fournier as winner, was generally recognised as the great sporting event of the season. As an evidence of this the high road from Spardon to the west was thickly lined with people. From Berlin thousands of bicyclists and automobilists and very many of the most fashionable turnsout toiled up the hill loading to the West End suburb, about six miles from Berlin proper. There is the largest trotting park in Germany. The victorious participants in the Paris-Berlin race arrived one after another before a fashionable assemblage of some ten thousand people. The stands were decorated with French, German, and Belgian colours. Five military bands played inspiriting music. Many nobles were to be seen, and hundreds of Army officers in bright uniforms, with crowds of ladies in elegant costumes enlivened the scene. There was a tedious wait after the arrival of the first tourists, and a despatch from Hanover announced the start of only fifty-one of the seventy-three motors which had arrived there the day before, owing to the dusty condition of the roads. M, Fournier was the first seen at a great distance in a thick cloud of dust, approaching the goal like a whirlwind. The enormous crowds outside and inside the park, began cheering wildly, and at the same time the bands struck up the “ Marseillaise,” while all the French people present waved small tricolour llags. As M. Fournier halted before the goal an immense wreath of laurel, decorated with ribbons of French and German colours, and inscribed in German with the word “ Victory,” was handed to him. Then M. Fournier completed the circuit of the track, and left his auto-car, while the bands played rousing marches. The victor was taken hold of by a score of French and German athletes, who lifted him to their shoulders and carried him across the field to the main stand. M. Giradote passed the winning post second, M. Brassier third, and M. De Kieffe fourth. M- Fournier said in an interview: “The weather during the past four days has been splendid—not a drop of rain since we left Paris. The plans adopted for finding the roads were faultless, and the reception everywhere was enthusiastic — more so in Germany than in Franco. It is owing to these conditions that the time of the Bordeaux-Paria races was not beaten.” The first five of the racers to come in were Frenchmen, but every time the same deep-throated cheer was sent up, and each man was carried in triumph on the shoulders of enthusiastic German and French sportsmen. All the arrivals complained of the heat, dust, and poor roads. Almost every newspaper in Franco pub lished a leading article about the political consequences of the Berlin-Paris contest. It is felt that the Germans were not without a selfish motive in their friendliness. It is assorted also that when the Germans once emerge from their usual calm they become fired with enthusiasm, and that the university classes have always been friendly to Franco. The nobility is, and always will be, cool and reserved. Prince Yon Hohenlohe’s Death. Prince Von Hohenlohe, formerly German Imperial Chancellor, died at Kagatz, Switzerland, on July sth. His death was unexpected at Berlin, which place he left a few weeks since apparently in good health, although increasing weakness was evident. Death is attributed to weakness of old age. Because of the relationship the Emoeror always called Prmco Yon Hohenlohe “Uncle Chlodwig.” He will postpone the trip to Norway to attend the funeral, which will bo quite imposing. The remains will be conveyed to Hohenlohe’s ancestral homo at Schillingsfuerst, Bavaria, where the body of the Prince’s wife is interred. The ex-Premier was a good friend to America and Americans.