THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 17

THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL

AMERICAN SUMMARY. The P&c'fic Coast has recently been horrified by two atrocious crimes — one the poisoning of kis brother and sister by Frank Below, oE Sirsun, California, and the other the murder of his brother by William Clarke, of St. Helena, California. The murderers both confessed, and t; ere taken to gaol. An awful outrage is reported in the Southern States. Because the postmaster (named Baker) at Wake City, Georgia, is a negro his home was attacked by k< Wbitecaps " on the nighb of tha 22nd February. The house w»« burned and leffc in ruins, and the postmaster and a babe were killed, and his wife and their daughters shofc and maimed for life. The first indication cC tbe asitult was the ariiral of 100 white men, armed with pistols and thotguns. They first fired the house and then shot down the intaates as they attempted to eaeapa from tha burning structure. Baker was BCGfc dead as he crotsed the threshold, and then the cro"!?d opened fire on his wife, who, T?itb. » baby in her arms, was following him. A bullets crashed through the infant's skull, and then ths vroman fell bleeding from several wounds'. There is gaeafc excitement over the outrage. Spain and the United States stand on the threshold of war. In view cf tho excßemenfc thai; prevails regarding the situation in both, countries, ib will be strange indeed if tha threatening clouds now hovering so, near pass by. The American people especially are worked up to a dangerous point. Two incidents have occurred during the past 30 days that were enough to upset the equanimity of any nation. Ote was the open insulting of President: M'Kinley by the Spanish Minister at Washington, and the other the blowing up of the battleship Maine. On the Bth February there was made public a letter written by Dr Lome fco the editor of a newspaper in Madiid. The following sentence, which appears in ifc, is the one that Btfc the United States on fire : — •' His message (referring to President M'Kinley) lias nndeceived the insurgents, who txpeefcad cometbing elae, and ht.e paralysed the action cf ths Congress, but I consider ib bad. Besides, tbe natural and inevitable coarseness with which h« repeats all that the pre«s and public ophiiou of Spain has aaid against General Weyler shows once more that M'Kinlc.y is weak and catering to tbe rabble, besides being a low politician who desires to leave tho door open to aland well with the jingoes cf his party." The storm created by this letter can wtll ba imagined. Every newspaper in the country demanded satisfaction in the r>ame of the American people. The angered officials aS Washington were not slow to ect, and the Administi afciorr was not in the «tate of mind to accept auy excuses. The Spanish Government were prompt to act, %t ence ordering the writer to surrender his portfolio and return to Madrid, but he forestalled his di&cbarge by sending ir* his resignation.