St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 26, 1915

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be EDITION VOL. 68. NO. 6. SPORTS Lieahe =e in the Big Real Rotate and - GERMANS CAPTURE BREST - GREAT LITOVSK, FORTRESS at Powerful Individual Stronghold in Russia, 120 Miles East of Warsaw, Surrenders When Teutons Enter Central Works After Storming Strong Positions on the North- western and Western Fronts. By Associated Press. . LONDON, Aug. 26.—A German submarine has been destroyed near Ostend, Belgium, by a bomb dropped by an aeroplane. Official announcement to this effect was made here today. BERLIN, by wireless to Sayville, N..Y., Aug. 26—The Russian fortress of Brest-Litovsk has been captured by Teutonic forces. Announcement to this effect was made today by the German Army Headquarters. German and Austro-Hungarian troops stormed the works on the western and northwestern front and succeeded last night in entering the center fortress. The Russians, the statement adds, then gave up the fortress. Brest-Litovek Most Powerful Indi- vidual Stronghold in Russia. The Russian fortress of Brest-Litovsk had been considered one of the strong- erst. fortresses in Europe and was the southern base of the second Russian line of defense to which the armies of Grand Duke Nicholas retreated after the fall o: Warsaw. The citadel is situated on the Bug River and at the junction of several railways, 181 rviles south of Grodno and 12) miles due east of the Polish capital. The storming of Brest-Litovsk by the Teutonic forces is probably the most in:portant military achievement since the fall of Warsaw, three weeks ago today. The town, which had a population of nbout 90,000, was one of the most im- portant depots for military supplies near the western frontier of Russia proper. - The fortress was rated ty military crit- ior as a much more pepee tae strategic ¥e Brest-Litovsk is situated a ‘tie jun- tion of the Bug and Mvkhovets Rivers and the fortress of the city was built at thé point of confluence. It lies upon the right bank of the Hug, where: the river turns from the north to the north- east. Intersecting here are railroads from: Odessa, Kiev, Moscow, Warsaw, Vilna and Bast Prussia. - Brest-Litovsk, according to informa- tidn complied by the National Geograph- feal Society, contained one of the oid- est important fortresses in Northern| Kurope. The older fortifications were ted about one mile east of Brest- tovesk and had a circumference of four miles. The field works were k up to date and everything possible has been done by Russia, it was said, to make them unconquerable. Brest-Litovsk was generally regarded in Rursia as the most powerful individual stronghold in the empire. Grand Duke Nicholas had his Leadquarters there early in the war. The capitulation of Brest-Litovsk means, in the opinion of military ob- servers, that the Russia:s wil be forced to &bandon their secowl1 defense line, which extended from Brest-Litovsk northward to the Baltic bays of Riga. The fall of the fortress appeared in- evitable several days ago, when the Austro-German forces succeeded in throwing troops from the left to the right bank of the River Bug, just northwest of Brest-Litovsk, following which five separate Teutonic armies be- gan a terrific onslaught on the Russian Cefenses. On Tuesday the army on the southwestern front succeeded in break- ig through the@'@@Vance positions of the! fortress. The Russian line of defense, upon which the defenders of Brest-Litovsk, Warsaw, Ivangorod, Novogeorgievsk and Grodno are compelled ‘to retreat, runs through the middie of the country Known as White Russia. The line be- gins on the north at Riga on the Baltic, and follows the Dvina River to Duena- burg, then turns south, and follows the railroad through Vilna, Lida, Barano- vitchi. The line then runs through tract- less swamps of Pinsk and the Pripet River to Rovno, which lies 120 miles ee of the Galician capital, Lem- erg. Russians Expected to Dig Themselves ‘in When They Reach’ New Defense Line LONDON, Aug. %.~The invaders. of Ruétsia are now rapidly gaining the whole triangular railroad system, which | ‘ with its apex at Bialystok, also serves Grodno and Ossowetz. : re oe ffeld maneuvering will count for the German armies than the of heavy artillery against fortresses, eaet Pipeaadse movements may be checked by the reported determination of the Russians to dig themselves in ‘their line has been reformed. No further advance has been reported along the Riga-Kovno line, which pre- - gents a perilous problem to the Russians. pa hint has been given, however, that he Russians entertain anw fear that de ‘armies will be. trapped. - According to the Times’ Petrograd cor- respondent, the Russians already have é Bialystok, but will ‘continue to hold Grodno until the bulk of the of the Grand Duke have reached their: paeaieten secon to the east of oe . ne ee ‘Up Retreat Until In Reached. ooaghett 26.—The _ fol- al statement was Bere ‘made bere today (before the fall of ‘Litovsk was announced): en strategic conditions so de- Brest-Litovsk will be: aban- as easily as we abandoned other: _Deints of support after. they’ contained in a Havas dispatch from Punkirk. . The German destroyer was more pow- erful than the French, the dispatch States, and the commander of | the French boat asked by wireless for assistance. He did not wait for the arrival of help, howeyer. but engaged the German craft. The French boat fired first:and scored a hit. She then launched a torpedo, which sank her edversary. After the first shot took effect the damaged German vessél sailed toward Ostend, where a German coast bat- tery fired at the pursuing destroyer, but succeeded only in ‘{reventing the rescue by the French destroyer of the crew of the sinking German boat. A. French torpedo boat; which re- plied to the destroyer’s call for help, arrived only in time to see the Ger- man vessel go down. Autuma Mud and Mist Now Allies of the Russians, — LONDON, Aug. 26.—The shell crisis in Russia is over, according to an an- nouncement made by Chairman Shinga- ER OF VEREIN HELD IN CASE OF PASTOR'S MURDER Prisoner Says He Was in Fight Night That Minister Was Killed in Gary, Ind. DISSENSION IN CHURCH Lynching Threat Said to Haye Been Received by Kayser the Night He Was’‘Shot. GARY, Ind.. Aug. 2—With the ar- rest today of George Sclireider, a mem- ber of the Gary Saxon Verein, in con- nection with the murder of the Rev. Edmund Kayser, whcse body was found Tuesday night rear his par- sonage in Tolleston, a suburb, the po- lice announced that they virtually had abandoned the theory that the German pastor might have been slain because of his pro-German utterances. Schnel- der’s face Was cut and truised. He is said to have told a relative he was in a fight Tuesday night. The police pronounced his story unsatisfactory. “Schneider answers the description of the man we-have bee looking for,” Chief of Police Heintz said. Tells of Overhearing Plot. Two women whose names were withheld by the police, were brought into the case today. One of the wom-. en told the police that when visit- ing the grave of a child in the Ger- man cemetery near the Kaiser home Tuesday night, she came upon a woman and four men talking to- gether. She said she overheard them plotting the murder of the pastor. At one stage, she said, the five flipped a coin, apparently to decide who should perform certain tasks in connection with the attack on the pastor. Chief of Police Heintz said the woman alleged to have taken part in the plot had disappeared from her home. Concerning the eavesdropper’s story he said hig men had followed it up and found the footprints of a woman and four men in that part of the cemetery where the eavesdrop- Schneider has bi murdered minister’s congregation at St. Jchn’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Tolleston, but is declared to have been his enemy. The Rev. Mr. Kayser, it 1s said, had incurred the displeasure of members of the Saxon Verein because of his opposition to pvilans of that or- ganization. The Saxon Verein, tion in which many his. congregation are said to have been interested .had raised a con- siderable fund. According to a story given credence in the vicinity of the murder, Kayser demanded the money for the church. This; it is said, was denied. Kayser was the head of the land syndicate in which members of the organization had invested to a large ex- tent. He is said to have acquired a deed of his residence, worth $6000, al- though it was built with funds of the church. He is said to have brought to Tolleston most of the 200 families which composed his congregation. Threatened With Lynching, August Schultz and hie wife, members of Kayser’s church, who discovered the body, talked with the pastor an hour before he was found murdered. He de- clared then, they say, that he had juBbt received an anonymous telephone call ‘informing him that he would be lynched, but that this sort of warning had become so common that it had ceased to cause him alarm. “T have four enemies,’’ Kayser is said to have told his callers, “and they are the only ones I am afraid of. And,if I have trouble with them it will be be- cause of my private affairs. I am not afraid of anything happening because of my political policies.’’ Kayser was shot in the chest as he sat in his library by persons on the cutside standing In the dark, the po- lice believe. When he staggered to the doorway to grapple with his assail- ants he was shot again. this time the bullet .entering the fugular vein and an organiza- members of (Continued on Page 2, Column 3.) _ Continued on Page 2, Column 4, Oe Te ee ee ee Genuine Satisfaction Our home mefchants constantly show their preference for the POST-DISPATCH because they an immediate and consistent result-bringer. ( Wednesday ) they again made the POST-DISPATCH the prime favorite. Post-Dispatch alone . Three out of all four of its competitors, combined POST-DISPA erat, Republic excess over Globe-Demo- and Star, all added together.. Readers, Reliability, Results — —— know that it is Yesterday 39 cols. 34 cols. 5 cols. Circulation first 7 months, 1915: < (eae aN ata e-e | ae “Phat in Bverything.” | ation of street cars. OFFIGIAL S EUCHRE GAME WENT ON East St. Louis. Mayor Chargés Drainage Commissioner With Indifference in Flood. REFUSED TO LEAVE BAR Frank Payeur Says It Was “*Too Muddy,” and Commission Had No Money Anyway. _- oo As an aftermath of the flood through which portions of East St. Louis have just passed, Mayor Mollman today criti- cized the inactivity of commissioners of Drainage District No. 1, who were in charge of the drainage canal in which the dike broke and flooded Lans- downe. Commissioner Frank Payeur, the Mayor said, was too busy playing euchre in a saloon last Sunday night to come out and visit the flood district with him. In contrast to the commissioner's ac- tivity, the Mayor pointed out that he himself had left his sick bed to visit the broken dike and see what steps should be taken to remedy the flood situation. Mayor Mollman, after working ~-in the rain, directing the rescue by boats of residents in flooded sec- tions, went in search of the drainage commissioners. He drove to Tom Reay’s saloon, in Edgemont, where he had been told Commissioner Pay- eur could be found. Sent Messenger to Saloon. The Mayor waited in an automobile while a messenger went into the saloon and told the drainage commis- sioner that the Mayor wanted to see what could be done about repairing the dike. Mayor Molliman said Payeur con- tinued playing cards and would not come out and discuss the flood. Pay- eur, when told of the Mayor’s criti- cism, said he had told the Mayor's messenger that “the commissioners did not have any money to do any- thing with, and that besides it was too muddy to work on the canal.” The cahal is outside the jurisdiction of city officials, and any action taken by the city would have to be gratu- itous. Payeur, discussing the flood situation, said a special tax would be levied next month to pay for repairing the drainage canal around East St. Louis. The drain- age district, he said, now has only enough funds to meet the interest on its bonds and pay the salaries of the Drain- age Commissioners. The Commissioners meet onee a week and get $2.50 for each meeting. Besides Payeur, they are Rich- ard Dunham and Charles Idoux. Aill are elected to office. Break Was Already There. Payeur said the break in the dike of the canal near Sixty-fourth and State streets, which flooded many residences in that vicinity, had been there six weeks. It had not been repaired, he sai., because the ground around it “‘was too muddy.” That part of the dike which broke and flooded Lansdowne had not been in- spected by Payeur since the middle of July, according to Payeur’s own admis- sion to a Post-Dispatch reporter. At that time, he said, it ‘‘was in pretty good shape.’’ He understood the other Commissioners had visited it since then, but was not certain about this. The commissioners, Payéur said, have been investigating a hole in the dike ad- joining the farm of John B. Jerome, near.the Dayline tracks. A year ago, he said, water went through an opening 12 feet wide and spread over the farm, depositing several inches of soil on the land, which was low. After this, he said, the break was repaired twice and again broken as many times. Mayor Mollman announced that no re- lief fund would be collected. Persons in the flooded district, he said, are financially able to pay for the flood damage. In Washington Park the water has re- ceded so that boats no longer can be used. There still is a few inches of water and mud that prevents the oper- With no boats and no street cars, residents of that district are wading in water and mud in boots. GUN TESTS COST $140 A SHOT 12-Inch Mortars at Fort Totten Fired 18 Times. NEW YORK, Aug. 26.—Dighteen shots were fired today from the 12-inch mor- tars at Fort Totten at a moving target between six and seven miles distant. Officers said the accuracy shown was “most satisfactory.” Each shot was fol- ,lowed by a concussion which shook towns on Long Island and in West- ehester County within a wide radius. Instructions had been issued for all windows to be left open and pictures wad tnantage 66 te ieieeid teen wate The firing tests will be resumed to- | night, ween 2S eee ae ene ree ilet a moving target. The target will be iiuminated by searchlights from the fort. Each projectile weighs about 700 a . Boy Killed by Thrown Baseball. WHITESBURG, Ky. Aus. 26.— Forester Adam, 13 years old, was killed yesterday by a thrown baseball He was watching a game btwees tea. = = —— said. be ent Ww , ney Mayor did nd ee cht a the firing of each shot, costs | : | Cena Chasen Who Telle 2g Steps Taken to Satisfy U. ba ETN HILLS WOMAN WORKER, 40' YEARS: IN-STORE Seamstress, 76 Years Old, Struck by Gate in Shaft at J. Kennard & Sons. Is Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, 76 years old, of 2245 Shenandoah avenue, died in Barnes’ Hospital yesterday aft- ernoon a few hours after her jaw and | several ribs were fractured by an eleva- tor gate in the building of J.. Kennard | & Sons Carpet Co., Fourth street and Washington avenue, where she had been employed for 40 years. An undertaker | today brought to the Coroner’s office a death’ certificate signed by a doctor at Barnes’ Hospital and the Coroner's of- ‘ice has called upon the police to make a report of the case of which the police’ had not learned of until the death cer- tificate was presented. J. B. Kennard said to a reporter that Mrs. Hamilton had been in. the employ ef the firm as a seamstress until about a year ago when she ended her # years of continuous service with the firm, but j had returned for tempofrary work to’ meet the rush of fall trade. The elevator is one' used for employes in what is known at The Annex at the southwest corner of the building.. The elevator has a gate that falls and rises as the elevator passes a.floor. Kennard said that as nearly as could be léarned, Mrs. Hamilton was looking into the- elevator shaft as the gate came up and struck her, first striking her body and then her jaw. Emergency treatment was given her in the store and she was then sent to Barnes Hospital. The_ accident occured about noon. Her death was at 4:30 p. m. Kennard safd that Mrs. Hamilton probably was the oldest employe of the firm. | Mrs. Hamilton is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Thomas Scully and Mrs. Jacob Merer. The funeral will be held at 2p. m. Saturday from her residence Burial will be in Bellefontaine cemetery. WAS HIN GTON, adel th daderetary DOWN’ FOR LETTING ROOSEVELT SPEAK ————— Garrison Directs Him Not to Al- low Similar Occiitrences at Other Teen: a. Garrison today telegraphed Major-Gen- eral’ ‘Leonard’ Wood expressing his de- brecation that _apportunity was given at the: citizen soldiery camp at Platts- barg, N.. Y., for Col: Roosevelt's sen- sational ‘speech of yestergay and direct- ing. that. nothing similar ‘should be per- mitted . any of'the other camps. RAIN TOWGHT AND TOMORROW — MORNING; COOLER TONIGHT THE TEMPERATURES. La 3 *eee+eeeee eee : ohineaa ove : ne dp aca an saa Ample Reparation Will Be Offered. zIGR MANY PORTED. READY 10 GRANT AMERICAN DEMAN Chancellor Intimates. : That U-Boat Commander Exceeded Instructions ' in the Arabic Case. | POLICY ADOPTED DESIGNED » TO SETTLE SEA PROBLEM Ambassador Bernstorff Confers for an Hour With Secretary Lansing— Washington Officials ©“ _ Believe Friendly Relations Will ‘Not Be Broken. :. tit¢ are i A? Sh See By Associated Press. ae BERLIN, via, London, Aug. 26—TThe Associated Press is in & position to state today on the best of authority that the Arabic incident may be considered as eliminated as a source of discord between Germany and America; or, at least, is regarded by the German Government in that light. Moreover, Germany, in its.de- siré to continue its friendly relations with the United States ‘had adopted before the sinking of the Arabic a policy designed to set: tle completely the whole submarine problem as affecting America, on the basis of good will and mutual understanding. This is shown clearly by the statement of Chancellor. won Bethman-Hollweg last night to The Associated Press- particuiat- - se : : ie * + ee, lly by his concluding remark to the effect that not until all the CHAN CELLOR VON BETEMANN-HOLLWBG. circumstances in connection with the sinking of the Arabic Had been cleared up would it be possible to say ‘““whether’ the com- mander of one of our submarines went beyond his instructions,’’ in which case Germany would ‘givé complete satisfaction to the United States. Furthermore, during the conversation, the Chan- eellor twice again referred to the instructions given to submarine comanders. He did not specify in detail the nature of these instructions, but it-may be said that they are designed to prevent a repetition of the Lusitania case and to provide the opportunity for escape for American non-combatants upon torpedoed ships, which the United States desires. | Having given these instructions, Germany asked of judgment on. the Arabic case until the facts were ascertained, . ing confident it will be shown that the sinking of the vessel. vas not an unprovoked attack without warning by a German subma.- rine, but was attributed either to a mine explosion or to some action of the vessel itself. Should it develop, however, that a submarine acted contrary to instruct- ions, ample reparation will be offered. Germany still is unable to understand why Americans in these troubled times travel on belligetent ships, instead of taking American or other neutral steamers, but since they, in some instances, insist upon taking passage on ves- sels belonging to belligerents, Germany will do its utmost to provide for It is not permissible to quote remarks made by the Chancellor in the course of the conversation, other than the formal statement which he made. interest in the state of feeling in the United States concerning the sinking of the Arabic, and expressed the hope that the American people would yn si of the story. He spoke with emphasis of Germany’s desre to maintain the friendship of America. This is the statement which the Ghanesiler shade to the Associated ‘Press correspondent last evening: Arabic have not been fully cleared up, it is impossible for me to make a definite statement. Thus far we have received no report about it, Nor. mine or by a torpedo, fired from a German submarine, nor do we know whether in this latter case the Arabic herself may not by her actions ‘*Only after all these circumstances have been cleared | of one of their safety. it may be said, however, that Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg showed genuine form an opinion on the basis of conflicting statements giving only ond s t Made by G Ch lor, | a 2 , ‘‘As long as the circumstances surrounding the sinking of the we do not even know whether the sinking of the ship was caused by a. perhaps have justified proceedings of the commander of the case the tt iit | ; | ii : i F 1 #2 i THe a . @ ol . ” ¢ ae of ‘ e J tilt i