T- l " AMERICAN SHIP TVRNED BACK. " mmiwimi iiiibbii i i Stesvmer Caracas Not Allowed to Land Its Cergo at the Port of La Guayra Venezuelan Shipping Captured by the Allies Correspondent Tells of Conditions of Life in the South American Republic People of Seen Jia.n, Porto Rico, Welcome AdmiraJ Dewey. 4 t I A merchant ship owned by citizens f tho United States was Hont away tfrom the port of La Guayra, Venezue 'Ja, and with half Its cargo still aboard had to go to Wlllenistad, Curncoa, to land tho goods. Tho vessel, the Caracas of the Red "D" line, first waa given permission to enter and discharge Us cargo, but later was ordered out to sea for the night, and then was notified that It would not be allowed to re-enter to complete the landing of cargo. Apparently thero aro serious differ enccs of opinion among tho allies, as the driving away of tho United States vessel after onco being admitted was tho result of conflicting ordors. First tho British commander agreed to the entry of tho Caracas and then tho Italian commander fori) ado It admis sion. Later tho captain was notified ho would be allowed to disembark his cargo on condition that ho would leave before nightfall, returning tinder tho samo terms tho next day. These conditions were accepted, and with ono-thlrd of Its cargo still aboard the Caracas put out. Then camo tho notlco that tho vessel must not re turn. Lieut. Commander Dlehl at four o'clock in tho afternoon endeavored to obtain from tho commanders of the foreign warships an extension of a few hours in tho time given the Caracas to remain at its dock in order that It might finish unloading. His request to ithis end was refused and he did not 'insist. Tho commanders of the blockading 7warshlps explained that they wero act ling on tho ordors of the British ad Jmlral and that tho orders given to per mlt tho Caracas to discharge more .than tho mall had oeen given to sat isfy Commander Dlehl. The Caracas 'consequently left Its berth at La Guayra at C o'clock when It had land ed not more than two-thirds of Us cargo. The rule made by the allies that 'steamers reaching La Guayra before 'Dec. 30 wero to bo allowed to enter Iport and discharge tholr cargoes dur .Ing tho day, but were not to be al lowed to take cargo on board, created (general dissatisfaction at that port. As thero Is no oxport duty on goods shipped from Venezuela, tho ruling does not aifect the governmont. Only the ship workers aro affocted. Tho German warship which passed La Guayra towing two large schooners was tho Panther. It captured the ves sels near Maracalbo. The Bausan and the Tribune cap tured tho following prizes: The schooner Castor, loaded with salt, from Araya. The schooner Maria Lulsa, with car go of cocoa, from Caronoro. The sloop Josellta Carmln do Vega, loaded with a general cargo, from Car onero. A blockade of the Venezuelan ports of Puerto Cabello and Maracalbo has been declared officially. Tho German admiral Is at Willcmstad, Curacao. The Germans continue to cut tho mainmasts of Venezuelan vessels and then set them free. Tho Venezuelan insurgents aro increasing In numbers and tho revolt against Castro is gain Ilr strength, WILL APPOINT A BOARD. Plan of President Roosevelt to 8ettle the Dispute. It Is understood that the President's plan as arbitrator in the Venezuelan dispute Is to nppolnt a board of arbi trators. Ho would not confine this important undertaking to any one man, nor docs ho feol able himself to spare tho vast amount of time neces sary for an examination in detail of each of the many claims that would bo presented against Venezuela. Noccssarlly tho President's own board would include somo members of a high order of legal talent, as well as others thoroughly verBed In tho prac tlco of international law. It 1b said that tho crucial point to go before tho arbitration board is tho famous "Calvo doctrine." This doctrine, which was laid down by tho greatest of Latin American international lawyers, and for many years has been regarded as boyond question by all tho Latin-American republics, denies tho right of any nation to intorveno diplomatically in c in t. d,y ,t -' ftl. jMxHmF. t , LflPMfi fliU J n TYPE OF VENEZUELAN TROOPS AND TWO NOTED AMERICANS WHO HAVE FIGURED IN uehalf of ono of its subjects where the courts of tho country aro open to his application for justico. WELCOME. TO ADMIRAL DEWEY. People of San Juan, Porto Rico, Cheer American Sailor. Tho reception to Admiral Dewey on his arrival at San Juan, Porto Rico, was a tremendous success. Tho parade which he led with the naval offlcors was an imposing spectacle. There waB an tmmenso crowd of spectators. Later there was an official reception at tho palace. Tho admiral and Gov, Hunt received the various officials and citizens generally, who greeted them enthusiastically. The admiral ox pressed himself as highly pleased with his reception. Tho governor gave a ball in honor of the admiral. IN THE CITY OF CARACAS. The Home Life and Surroundings of the Venezuelans. Tho exteriors of Venezuelan houses are almost exactly alike, so much so that it is a wonder a man in his cups ever finds his home, Until you aro insldo tho Inner door you havo no way of knowing whether you are to see splendor or squalor, whether thero Is to be ono little dirty patio, with slov enly women and numorous naked chil dren, or a beautiful, spacious potlo, with gardens and trees beyond, with furniture from Europe and Inmates beautiful in face, figure and attire mont. In Caracas there is no fash ionable quarter, tho poor and the rich dwell side by side; but since tho house wall or the garden wall sepa rates tho two, and since there aro no front porches to sit upon, it matters little who your neighbors are. The general arrangement of Vene- zuelan houses is alike. Tho front door opens into an outer vestibule, Its longth being the width of the front door, or rooms. At its end a second door opens Into tho patio. Ev erything goes in and out this door callers, grocers, servants and often oven tho burros. Somo of tho finest havo back gates and doors, but tho ordinary house has no alleyways. An American cannot but bo astonished, ns Bhe sits in the drawing room visit ing, to hear tho feet of a burro clatter along tho patio, down tho fow steps, poslbly through tho kitchen, into tho back patio or into the corral, its quar ters. Sho docs not object though, for next to tho sweot-tompored chil dren and pretty women, sho likes tho burro best of anything in Venezuela. Ho is so grave, so graceful, so indus trious and so self-respecting. Tho patio is usually oblonc or square. Tho centre may bo a real garden, with shrubs, treos, vines and flowers, or It may bo cemented or tiled, having its plants in pots. In clthor of theso cases thero aro usually fountains, gold fish, orchids, birds and sometimes monkeys. Tho roof projects over part of tho patio, mak ing a porch and here the family really lives. The .drawing room or parlor runs tho full length of tho house, exclusive of tho vestlbulo. The windows havo Iron bars outside and wooden bllndB Inside. They need no glass windows and have none, except occasionally ono of tho panels of tho blinds may bo glass. The bedrooms and dining room aro on each side of tho patio, the kitchen and servants' quarters bad;. This arrangement Is sometimes varied by having tho dining room back and a second .patio between that and the kitchen and servants' quarters. Tho floors aro of cement, covered with hardwood, but more oftener with rugs or matting or oilcloth. Fow rooms are carpeted all over. Most of tho larger houses of Venezuela havo water works and electric lights. Few have sewerage and plumbing. Cara cas has plumbing and sewers from tho houses, but tho creeks servo for the general sewerage. Under ordinary circumstances this would not bo well but the hills aro at such apgles that the fall Is two ways and the sewerage is good. Tho sudden showers send tho water down the mountainside, flushing tho creeks so that Caracas Is one of the most healthy cities In the world. Generally bpeaklng, tho houses In Venezuela havo but ono story and no cellars. The best houses are con structed with two brick walls, ono foot and a half or a two-foot space filled with cement. Other houses havo walls of cement or cement stone. Theso walls are made by filling wooden molds with cement until It sufficiently hardens to hold Its weight. Tho molds are then removed and plac ed on top, refilled with cement, and so on to completion. Small houses, especially thoso In tho country, are constructed by erect ing two rows of poles, somo six to olghtccn Inches apart, the cpaco ' be tweon being filled with stones or clay. Outside tho poles, wet natural cloy is plastered on and smoothed with a board. The sun dries this to hardness, but in wet weather It often becomes spongy. The houses of the poor and many fences are made of largo bricks of wet clay, dried in tho sun, but not burned. Small cabins In tho country are built by sticking poles Into the ground and nailing to these clapboards roughly made from the outer wood of the royal palm tree. This class of houses Is too cheap and poor to warrant an expensive roof, and they aro generally thatched. In tho wooded part of the country the leaves of the palm are tied In bunches and bound on the roof frame in layers. These bunches aro about two feot thick and lap each other just as our shingles do. Where wood Is not plentiful and palms aro not to be had the roof is thatched with bunches of young wild cano. Tho palms and cane aro tied on to tho pole rafters by means of a long vine of the nature of our grapo stems, called bajucca. This grows from fifty to one hundred feet In length, varying In thickness from ropo to twine. It is so strong that THE WAR NEWS. lumbermen use It to fasten their logs together in booms, boatmen to tio their boats and divers to tether their burros. It is very flexlblo and can bo tied in any kind of knots. Many of tho mannerisms of Vene zuela women remind ono of tho south ern women, whllo In other ways they aro llko women In the most conserve t'vo parts of Europe. No woman of respectability goes upon the streets alono In tho evening In Caracas, and young unmarried women never go alono at any time and under any cir cumstances; further, they aro seldom left In tho house3 alone. Married women can f,o about In the daytlmo with discretion, but they are very apt to go In pairs or groups. Young women never see young men alono, and they usually do their visiting and love-making through tho Iron bars of tho windows. American tin enters Into tho con struction of some Bmall huts In Vene zuela. Few Americans realize how the peon prlzeB our tin can. Ho utilizes It for purposes wo would never think ho could. Cans, great and small, are flattened out and used for siding and roofing, being held in place by cano or vines. If thero was money to paint this tin, it would last a long time; as it is it soon rusts. The partition walls of tho best houses aro built like the outsldo ones. The roof has first round sticks of lignum vltae for rafters and tho inter stices are filled in with cano held In place by wire. This is covered with cement and red tile, laid in cement, covers all. This tile roof Is used on all houses alike (except, of course, the little huts referred to) so tja" when one stands on Calvarlo in q&. racas or any hillside near any tovQ ono sees masses of red tile be'ony variance In color being due to ,SOf tue oiu ones ueing moss-grown. LIVES ARE LOST FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT ON GRAND TRUNK RA-ILROAD. TWO TRAINS CRASH TOGETHER Number of Derd Reaches More Than Thirty Responsibility for. Accident Is Believed to Rest on Teegraph Operator. V. LONDON, Ont. A train wreck bringing death to over two score of passengers and terrible pain and suf fering to about thirty-five, occurred at 10:10 o'clock Friday night at Wan stead, Canada, a station on the Sarnla branch of the Grand Trunk, forty miles from this city, when the Pacific express, flying westward at the rate of fifty miles an hour, and crowded to its capacity with passengers returning to their homes 'from holiday visits, crashed Into an eastbound freight Tho latest estimates of the fatalities Is thirty killed and thirty-five or more Injured. Tho darkness of the night and the raging of a blizzard added horrors to tho wreck. Fire broke out in the wreckago of tho day coach, but It was smothered with snow, which was thrown on It before it gained any headway. The Pacific express is a fast train. Last night it wns delayed two hours by tho heavy travel and at Wanstead It was speeding to make up time. The freight was working slowly east under orders to take tho switch at Wanstead and allow the express to pass. In the blinding snow storm neither engineer saw tho other train approach ing, apparently, and tho freight had just commenced to pull in the siding when the passenger train came up. Tho shock waa .awful. In a second the baggage and express cars of tho passenger train telescoped Into tho day coach. This day coach was reduced to splinters and fragments back to the last three windows. As It was- crowd ed, the results wero terrible. Fire that broke out was quickly smothered, but tho fire was scarcely more dangerous than the cold. For three hours or more Injured passengers were pinned underneath wreckage, crying plteously for help, while they suffered from ex posure to the elements. Exposure probably hastened the death of somo of the injured and caused the death of some of those who might have been saved If It had been only a question of extricating them from the wreckage. The Pullman cars stayed on the track and were comparatively unin jured, although the passengers In them wero severely shaken In tho shock. Andrew Carson, tho operator at Watford, the first station cast of the wreck, whose failure to deliver or ders to Conductor McAullffe of the Taclfic express to pass tho freight at Wanstead Is said by tho Grand Trunk officials to have caused the wreck, made to the Assdciated Press his first statement since the wreck. He says he received tho order for No. 5, the express, to pass tho freight at Wanstead at 9:4S o'clock, but .de clares positively that, a few mlmttes later Dispatcher J. G. Kerr at Lon don called" him and drdered him to "bust" or cancel the order. He said: About 9:54, after calling Wyoming and ascertaining that the freight was there, the dispatcher called me rapidly a half dozen times. When I answered on the wire ho told me to 'bust this order. I wrote 'bust It' across the order just as McAullffe came in and asked mo what tho order board was out against him for. I told him wo had had an order for him but the dis patcher had 'busted' It. He asked me to hurry and wrlto him a clearance order, which I did. After the train had started and was out of my reach tho dispatcher learned that tho freight had left Wyoming. I told him I could not stop No. 5, as it had left. He immediately began calling Kings Court Junction, the station between Watford and Wanstead, on the rail road wlro and I tried to raise them on tho commercial wire. We both failed to do this, however, until after the express had passed the Junction." Carson admitted that he knew that it was against the rules to cancel a train lorder without sending a substi tute fol it, but said that tho dispatch er was his superior officer and he dis liked to question his order or dispute his authority to tako this action. Dis patcher Korr's order book in the local Grand Trunk office does not show that the order was "busted" or can celled as Carson claims. According to tho book t was still In force and Bhould Have been delivered to the conductor of lho express. Kerr has not made any Statement even to the railroad officiate and will not until ho takes the stand at the inquest. Division Superintendent George D. .opps of Toroifiy says that the rule against cancelling r "busting" train orders Is the stricTest in the company's cede. "I do ptf believe," ho said, "that It has beef1 violated since the I standard dlspatcfilnS rules went ltno effect Dispatcher Korr Is one of best and most efficient dispatchers! our service. Ho is tho operator xt acqonvpanled tho train bearing tH duko and duchess of York on tt royal tour of Canada a year ago. havo overy confldenco In him." M00R8 PUT TO ROUT. Two Thousand of Sultan's Troops Killed or Wounded. TANGIER, Morocco. On December 22, 10,000 Shereeflan troops, command ed by a-brother of tho sultan's minister of war, received orders to concentrato ind take the offensive against, the pre- ans movid uiyin lm the pretender at tacked them with large bodies of cav alry. The imperial army wns sur rounded, completely routed nnd fled In disorder toward Fez, abandoning all materials of war. The first fugitives arrived at Fez on the morning of De cember 24. Tho gates of Fez at present are Bliut. Shops thero aro closed and the popu lation is greatly excited,' but there has been no disorder. The European colony of Fez, em bodying about 500 persons, Is taking no steps to leave tho town and appears to bo satisfied that it is in no imminent danger, although tho situation Is re garded as serious. It is said that tho pretender's followers havo received nu merous additions since his success and ho Is already negotiating with tho tribes of Wedmaweb valley. The pop ulation of Fez is reported to be gen erally hostllo to the sultan and ready to acclaim any pretender who will guarantee tho town from pillage. No details of the imperial losses have yet been received here, but It is rumored that 2,000 of tho sultan's sol diers were killed or wounded. Tho authorities here aro trying to minimize the disaster. It is said that a section of the imperial troops sent as rein forcements deserted to the rebels and aided In driving tho local troops back to Fez. ASKS FOR ASSISTANCE. Caleb Powers of Kentucky Says His Means Are Exhausted. GEORGETOWN, Ky. Ex-Secretary of State Caleb Powers, who has had two trials and now awaits In jail hero his third trial for complicity In tho murder of the late Governor William! Goobol, Issued the following appeal to the public: "I have had written a number of letters to different states asking for financial aid In my coming trial for' alleged complicity In the Goebel muN der. A portion of tho press has, through a misunderstanding of tho1 facts, attempted to thwart my plan for raising tho much-needed money with! which to defend myself, by circulating1 a report that these letters wero not genulno "because signed by different persons for me. . "It Is true that many or the letters were signed by' different persons, be cause it was Impossible for one person to send them out In the limited tlmo before my next trial, but all of theso letters are genuine. "I havo been continuously in the jails of this state for nearly three years. My means aro exhausted. The generosity of Kentucky has been taxed to the utmost In my former-so-called trials. In a few weeks I am again to be tried for my-life. Henco my appeal now to my friends outsldo of Ken tucky." W. J. BRYAN IN MEXICO. Visit Varied by Slght-Seelng and Offi cial Calls. MEXICO CITY. William J. Bryan's visit has been varied by sightseeing and official calls. Ho has been re ceived In audience by President Diaz and Minister of Finance Limantour. Mrs. Bryan and the children visited the shrine of the Virgin of Guada lopo. Last evening the Bryan party took a train for Cordova, whence they will travel over tho Vera Cruz & Pa cific road to Alfred Bishop Mason's haccionda. The party will return hero Tuesday morning. The government people havo not sought Mr. Bryan for information on silver as his views are well known here. Gobbled by the Trust. LOUISVILLE, Ky. According to the Courier-Journal, Harry Welsslng or, president of the Weisslnger Tobac co company of this city, has closed a deal which has been pending for sev eral days for the sale of his plant to the Continental Tobacco company for J2.500.000. Tho papers have, been signed and Mr. Weisslnger will leave for New York to complete the details of the transaction. The company Is ono of tho largest Independent con cerns of the kind In tho country. Cervera Is Honored. MADRID The appointment of Vlco Admiral Cervera, who surrendered to the American fleet off Santiago do Cuba, to the post of chief of staff of the navy has been published in tho Official Gazette.