SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12911, 3 September 1902, Page 2

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

(Per R.M.S. Sierra at Auckland.) SAN. FRANCISCO, August 14. OIL FUEL. Oil has proved an unqualified success on the Oceanic Steamship Company’s Mariposa.. The vessel reached port on August--11, after a trip of 7200 miles to and from the South Seas, Using only oil as fuel. To tho astonishment of everyone she reached port a day ahead of schedule time. Lieutenant Winchell, of the United States Navy, who went to Tahiti as a passenger on board the Mariposa in order to report the results to the Government, that he became satisfied long before Tahiti was reached that oil as a fuel was eminently satisfactory in all respects. The fine display made by the steamer is regarded a.s proof that oil can, be depended upon in the engine-room. The passengers were delighted at the absence of smoko and dirt, and took much pleasure in inspecting the work of the engines, as they would never have been able to do in comfort when coal was used. The vessel came in as clean and bright as when she left port, and the occasion was one of general rejoicing, as the result of the experiment is regarded as of great importance to shipping interests as well as to the oil producers of California and elsewhere. Oil has been discovered in immense quantities in this State, and railways are to be built direct from the fields to the tide water, so that the new fuel can be furnished at lower rates even than those which at present are deemed sufficient to make the use of oil instead of coal a wonderful saving of expense. A HUMAN TIGER. Harry Tracy, an outlaw from the penitentiary at Salem, Oregon, who held his pursuers at bay for more than two. months, is dead. Ho died by bis own hand. too. though lie was so seriously wounded that he could not have long survived. Closely pressed, he attempted to hide in a wheat field. He was shot in the leg, and, bleeding terribly, dragged himself about seventy-five yards. He attempted to staunch the flow of blood, but, finding that hopeless, he placed his revolver at his temple and fired. His body was found several hours later. Tracy had killed ten men, nine of these while he was trying to make his escape and during his flight. He was a strange creature, and absolutely outside all the restraints'which appeal to the ordinary human being. Yet he was careful of the feelings of tho women and children with whom he came in contact, and desired that these should think well of him. In death he presented a horrible sight. He was covered with blood, and was worn by his struggles. Ho was not exactly emaciated, but was all bone and muscle, without any superfluous flesh. His powers of endurance wc-ro almost, superhuman, and his quickness and strength were such a.s to make it possible to describe hint only as a human tiger. His eyes were wide apart, and had a piercing look. He had a wide forehead, sloping back from tho eyebrows. The back of his head was rather flat, and his chin somewhat projecting, and rather broad. His lips were firm even in death. Such an example of misdirected energy and power is not often encountered. Ho had plenty of ammunition to the last, but relied once too often on the terror which his presence inspired to prevent its betrayal. He allowed an eighteen-year-old boy to leave the ranche where he was staving, warning him not to give any notice of his whereabouts. The boy hastened to inform, am-d a hastily-organised posse of citizens managed to do the work which the comity officers of two States had been unable to accomplish in two months. A MINE DISASTER. Near Trinidad, Colorado, a coal mine explosion occurred on August 7. These disasters have occurred- go frequently of late as to suggest the necessity for some Government supervision in order to lessen the dangers to which miners aio exposed. On tha day in question the powder house in mine, probably containing one thousand pounds of powder, exploded. The exact number of lives lost is not known, but nine mutilated bodies have been recovered. Itis believed that the entire mine is ruined, or can only he put in order after months of labour.