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So| Ni, v. SEWARD. THE GATEWAY TO ALASKA. SATURDAY, JANUARY Id, 1915.____ l<n ("'1_—
GERMANS GET READY TO RUSH
SENSATIONAL WAR DEVELOPMENTS ARE PROMISED
TURKS GET READY
TO INVADE EGYPT
British Express Confidence In
Ability To Repulse
the Attempt.
START TO INVADE EGYPT
LONDON, Jan. 16— A startling new development of
the war for this country is that the Turks are certainly
now advancing on Egypt for the invasion of that coun
try. The Turks are reported to be massing in force south
of Syria for the advance on the Egyptian frontier. The
travelling over the desert is much easier in winter than
in summer so that the Turkish forward movement may
be expected to be pushed at once. The British military
authorities are confident that they can repulse the attempt
at invasion but that the Turkish army massing for the
advance is great is hardly to be denied. The first attempt
of the Turks will probably be to take possession of the
Suez canal. If they should succeed in this it will be rathei
serious as it cuts off the best means of communication
between Britain and India. Australian and Canadian
troops are believed to have been sent in large numbers to
defend Egypt and they will probably soon receive their
first real war education in a short time. The authorities
in Egypt are taking strenuous measures to prevent an
uprising by the Egyptians in behalf of the Turks. The
khedive himself will probably accompany the Turkish in
vader’s.
TO OVERWHELM SERVIA
LONDON, Jan. 16.—Another development promised
by this afternoon’s dispatches is that a combined
Austrian-German movement is being prepared to crush
the opposition of Servia. Forces are said by the most re
liable authorities to be now concentrating to launch a
terrific invasion across the Servian border for the un
doubted purpose of overwhelming that country once for
all and so leave the Austrian army free to be thrown in
full force against the Russians. As the German general
staff is now in full control of all the armies of Germany,
Austria and Turkey German generals will probably lead
the new attempt to reduce Servia to the same position as
Belgium.
BELIEVE PARIS SAFE.
LONDON, Jan. 16—The British military authorities
are belittling the German advance at Soissons. They de
clare that Paris is not threatened by the German victory
and that nothing may come of the success of the enemy
except what has already occurred. Dispatches from the
continent today assert that the Germans are planning a
new offensive movement of tremendous force in Belgium
and northern France in the hope of reaching Calais.
Trains after trains of German troops are now reported to
be moving into Flanders from Germany and if signs count
for anything there is a frightful period of bloodshed
ahead for the region in which the British, troops are
stationed The troops of the enemy now being sent to the
firing line are those which have been sent from interior
Germany and are all supposed to be fresh men. With the
reverse of the French in the center and a tremendous at
tack coming on the allied left the allied generals know full
well that a crisis may be approaching in the affairs of
Europe. The British are still rushing troops across the
channel and many of those being forwarded are being sent
before the full period of training has been spent by them.
It was learned this afternoon that the Germans are still
maintaining their offensive movement around Soissons
and a fierce battle is reported to be raging in that quarter.
The seriousness of a further retreat by the French is ad
mitted but there is full confidence that the allied line will
hold in spite of any tension.
GERMAN ADVANCE SLOW
LONDON, Jan. 16.—The German forces are still con
centrated west of Warsaw but are making little advance
according to the latest intelligence received this after
noon. The weather is undoubtedly against the Germans
but it also is unfavorable to any attempt on the part of the
Russians to make a forward movement for the purpose
of driving back the invaders. The chief object of the Ger
mans still seems to be the city of Warsaw as they have
not apparently deviated one inch from their course al
though they are clearly not making the progress they had
counted upon. .
MAY PROSECUTE
WHEATSHARKS
PR ESI DENT DIR ECTS IN VESTI
GATION AND ATTY. GEN
ERAL THREATENS.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16.—Presi
dent Wilson has directed the attorney
general to investigate whether there
evidence of any illegal combinations
nection with the rise in price of wheat
and flour. Mr. Gregory promises *hat
a prompt prosecution will follow any
eidence of any illegal combinations
to raise the price of wheat or flour or
any other food products. The depart
ment of commerce will probably be
asked by the President to furnish in
formation showing in what degree the
exports of wheat increased since the
® outbreak of the European war. The
officials of the department of com
merce declined to make any comment
>n the matter. Suggestions have been
made to the President that embargoes
should be placed on wheat and other
exports so that the home prices might
be kept normal.
PARIS THREATENED
WITH GREAT FLOOD.
Feared That Another Misfortune Will
Be Added to Those Other Ones.
PARIS, Jan. 16.—The river Seine
is rising rapidly and fears are enter
tained that a flood similar to that of
a couple of years ago is about to oc
cur. The banks of the river in the
city are already flooded while large
tracts of land outside are inudated.
CONGRESS GIVES HUNDRED
FORTY MILLION FOR NAVY.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16.—'The na
val bill which appropriates one hun
dred and forty millions of dollars for
naval purposes was reported by the
committee today.
WHEAT CLOSES STEADY.
CHICAGO, Jan. 16.—Liberal export
sales steadied the wheat market to
day. Many wheat closed at a dollar,
forty one and five eighth.
INDIAN TROOPS TO
DEFEND Sl'EZ CANAL.
PORT SAID, Egypt, Jan. 16.—The
mainstay of the defense of the Suez
Canal is a large body of Indian troops.
A volunteer defense corps is also
being raised, including English anil
Maltese, who will act as special con
stables.
Many of the boats belonging to
shipping firms or private individuals
have been commandeered by the auth
orities for use in connection with
plans for the defense of the canal.
MORE LOTS BOUGHT.
The rush for city property which
has been in evidence for the past
couple of days was continued today
when four different lots in the Bal
laine addition were purchased by lo
cal people. Dr. Romig who was the
agent in the sales did not give the
names as he did not have the consent
of the purchasers to do so.
ALL ITALIANS
ROME, Jan. 16.—In answer to en
quiries from several foreign embassies
it is stated that all the victims of the
earthquake are Italians. Not one
foreign victim has been heard of.
Visiting cards, invitations, anything
pretty i* done by the Gateway just as
well as outside.
ASK PRESIDENT
TO VISIT US
JUNEAU INVITES HIM AND ASKS
ALL OF l!S TO DO
SAME.
JUNEAU, Jan. 16.—The city coun
cil of Juneau last night unanimously
passed a resolution to invite President
Wilson to extend his western trip in
Spring to Alaska at the time he visits
the San Francisco exposition. Other
has been a violation of the law in con
urged to follow suit as there is a be
lief that if the invitations were many
and warm there would be a good
chance to get Mr. Wilson to come and
see us.
WHEAT DROPPED FIVE
CENTS EARLY TODAY.
Reported Movement to Stop Exports
of May Wheat Altogether.
CHICAGO, Jan. 16.—-Wheat dropp
ed five cents in the first five minutes
today. The board of trade reports
there is a movement to stop all ex
ports of May wheat. The price closed
at a dollar forty soon after opening
and this drop may ! ' due to the ru
mor. Should the exportation of wheat
be stopped it will mean the ruin of
numerious speculators. It would cer
tainly mean a tremendous drop in
price.
ADMINISTRATION
PLAN IN DANGER
REPUBLICANS FILIBUSTER AND
ONLY 46 DAYS LEFT
OF SESSION.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16.—Despite
the pleas of the leaders to cease dis
cussion of the question and turn to
the appropriation- bills the senate de
voted the whole sitting today to the
prohibition debate based on the pro
posal to suspend the senate rules and
to attach a prohibition rider to the
District of Columbia measures. This
is merey a filibuster but it endangers
the administration bills seriously.
Only forty six days remain to the
life of the present congress and four
teen appropriation bills remain yet
unpassed. The democrats will caucus
late today in an effort to overcome
the tactics of the opposition but in the
meantime there is a fear that the ship
purchase bill is the only Wilson
measure that stands a chance of pas
sage.
EXPECT 15,000 PEOPLE HERE
John Gilpatrick who has returned
from a trip to the outside says that
the general opinion in Seattle is in
favor of Seward as the railroad term
inal. They expect that not less than
fifteen thousand people will arrive
here before the first of July. Mr.
Gilpatrick also says that matters are
improving outside.
MORE MARIPOSA PASSENGERS.
J. M. Ryan, Mrs. Ryan, John A.
McLean, James Sampson and I. E.
Reid went out on the Mariposa in ad
dition to those whose names were
published yesterday.
WATSON LEAVES JUNEAU.
The Watson left Juneau this morn
ing at five o'clock.
NOMINATES NEW
DISTRICT ATTY.
■ --
J. A. SMISER GETS JOB FROM
PRESIDENT AT
JUNEAU.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16.—Presi
dent Wilson has selected J. A. Smiser
as district attorney for the First divi
sion of Alaska. His nomination will
go to the senate soon.
The new district attorney is probab
ly an outsider as no such name ap
pears on the list of attorneys in the
territory. Senator Ray says there is
no such man in Juneau nor in any part
of Alaska so it is assumed that one?
more a carpet bagger finds footing
amongst us. John J. Reagan has been
acting as district attorney for the
First division since the retirement of
John Itustgard and evidently had the
support of the democratic organiz
ation.
TWO WEDDINGS TAKE
PLACE AT CHISANA.
It is estimated that there are about
275 people in the Chisana camp this
winter, and there is considerable pros
pecting going on, with the miners
hopeful of the ultimate outcome of the
work being done.
Socially the camp has been quiet, al
though two weddings have taken
place. One is that of Bill Zacharias
and a Miss Roberts and the other that
of Joe McLenan, the Bonanza creek
operator, and Miss Sadie Gilman.
R. J. F. Mill, formerly of this city,
but later of Cordova and Juneau, died
on Christmas day in Portland, Ore.
Diabetes is said to have been the
cause of the death. Mrs. Mill was
with her husband at the time of his
death and was taking him to California
in the hope that his health would im
prove in the warmer climate.
DORA SAILS 6 P. M.
The steamship Dora, Captain Mc
Mullen, sails at 6 o’clock this even
ing for the westward.
MAIL ARRIVES.
The mail from the interior left Mile
Thirty-four at 9 o’clock this morning
Tind was due to arrive in Seward about
press time.
WORKING IN THE FIELDS
NEAR THE BATTLE LINE.
(By The Associated Press.)
PARIS, Jan. 15.—The sugar-beet
fields retaken by the French have not
been ravaged by shells, lacerated by
trench diggers and furrowed by the
wheels of gun carriages, but have
been so trampled by infantry and
cavalry that the extraction of the
roots became a difficult problem, not
yet entirely solved. It is the modest
heraine of the war, the French peasant
woman, who is working on it in the
unoccupied regions close to the battle
front where she can not only hear it
but see the smoke of it.
In all this region the plough follow
closely upon the conflict and seeding
necessarily followed so hard upon the
plow that some apprehension was felt
as to the summary preparation of the
soil; there was no time for harrow
ing but the seed caught and the new
crop showed its head even while the
pointed helmets across the line were
taking in the last of the belated
harvest.
Statisticians say the seeding is little
inferior in acreage to that of 1913.
4
109,000 NOW BELIEVED
KILLED OR INJURED
First Reports Too Conservative
30,000 Are Believed Dead
In Italy.
&
ROMti, Jan. 16.—It is now learned,
that the lirst reports of the result ofj
the earthquakes in Italy were too con
servative and that the number of dead
and injured is much greater than had,
been supposed. The only place where:
the losses were exaggerated was in
th town of Sora. It is now known that
the number of people killed in that
town is three hundred and sixty out of
a population of seventeen thousand.
In all the other towns affected the
numbers of the casualties are greater.
The newspapers, after having the
whole matter investigated by their
correspondents, estimate the number
of dead at thirty thousand. The res
cue and relief work is proceeding with
feverish haste. Thousands of soldiers
are engaged digging out the buried
victims and helping the survivors by,
every means in their power.
Very cold weather prevails and con
tinues, adding much to the suffering
of the victims. Wooden shelters are
being rapidly erected and the whole
resources of the government are be
ing enlisted in the work. The Pope
paid a second visit to Santa Maria
hospital today and personally spoke
words of comfort to the sufferers. The
king and his mother are visiting all
the hospitals and doing everything in
their power to allieve the grief and
suffering. The great mortality is at
tributed to the dry method of the
Italians in building their houses.
Stone walls were made without mortar
and that kind of structure just
crumbled into heaps of rubbish as the
earth shook. The buildings erected in
a modern manner with reinforced con
crete escaped altogether.
PARIS DENIES GREAT LOSSES
LONDON, Jan. 16.—Dispatches from Paris categori
cally deny that the losses of the French troops in the hat
tie near Soissons were so great as the Germans said. Ber
lin reported that the French left four thousand dead on
the field after their retreat across the river Aisne and that
five thousand two hundred French soldiers fell into the
hands of the Germans as prisoners of War. f iguring on
the total losses with these figures as a basis it would mean
that the French lost about twenty thousand men, wounded
and all, but the dispatches from Paris say that only three
French brigades took part, in the battle altogether and
that it is absurd to place the French loss at so high a
figure. Paris does not deny, however, that the reverse was
a serious one. Dispatches from Berlin show that the Ger
mans are celebrating the victory with wild rejoicings. It
cannot be denied that the driving of the French across the
river Aisne is serious as, at the very least, it means that
any forward movement by the allies now' w*ill entail a
forcing of the river once again. The battle has come to be
know'll as the battle of Soissons. Later reports show it to
have been a very great and important engagement al
though the allied forces are inclined to give it much less
significance than the Germans. Berlin hails it as a gieat
victory which, it believes, is the fore-runner of still
greater.
PERSIA NEUTRAL
LONDON, an. 16.—Advices this afternoon show that
the entrance of the Turkish troops into Tabriz, Persia,
was totally unopposed by the Persians. The Russians
withdrew without making an attempt to hold the city and
the advance of the Turks into it was made according to
plans arranged between the American consul and the com
mander of the Turkish forces. Persia has announced her
neutrality and the hope of the Turkish for aid from the
Persians seems to have been without foundation. At the
present time there are only six hundred Turkish troops
in Tabriz and this rather tends to show that no objection
to the occupation of the place by Turkey is being made
by the Persian government. The Turks announce that
the withdrawal of the Russians means the end of Turkish
rule in that country.
FIGHTING NEAR SOISSONS.
PARIS, Jan. 16.—Severe fighting is still proceeding
near Soissins and along the river Aisne in that vicinity.
The French are still .holding some positions on the noith
bank of the river but the Germans are launching dotci
mined assaults and are apparently bent on following up
their success of yesterday.
GERMANS EVACUATE TOWNS
OSTEND, an. 16.—The Germans have evacuated all
the Belgian coast towns and villages to Mariakerke which
is only four miles from this city. The allies have not yet
taken possession of the evacuated places and they are ap
parently afraid that the Germans have evacuated them
for some hidden purpose, possiby to lay a trap for the
British, Belgians and French.