The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-24

cuted on November 20, 1884. By its
&erms Henry @. Friend and wife
covenant with the Electric Sugar Re
fning Company, said Friends, having
invented a process for refining differ
ent grades of sugar at prices below
the market value, making ninety per
cent. pure sugar, with a loss in weight
of not over five per cent. There is
nothing in the contract stating that
raw sugar shall be used. The entire
contract is based upon the secret
process. The company absolutely
bound itself to in no way attempt to
find what the secret was. ANY at
tempt on the part of the company,
their employees, agents or lawyers to
find out the secret forfeited all rights
and any stock they held. On the
contracts are the endorsement of ten
payments, aggregating 100000,
made between June Both and No
vember II, 1884. The wonder of the
whole matter is that any one should
have paid any money on contract
so one sided
Mrs. Friend says the company is
trying to force from her another
secret by which she makes a superior
article of sugar from grapes, instead
of getting the secret their contract
calls for. This last secret she refuses
to divulge for any amount. No ar
rests have been made, and none were
even threatened by the company's
| agent who visited her at Ann ArbOr.
The English stockholders, however,
have got out warrants for her and
some of them boldly assert that
Friend himself is not dead, as no one
saw his corpse. DIR. John B. Crosby
of New York says that Friend is
dead, and furthermore in his last
illness" used to drink a gallon of
brandy a day. The whole thing is
being Investigated by detectives and
| prosecutions are certain.
It is not to be expected that the
California refners escaped without
being called upon by the agents of
the company. The details are not
unknown here. Some time ago a
man named E. w. Keller visited
San Francisco and called upon
the officers of the two sugar
refineries. To them he unfolded
his great scheme, first exhibiting
his sugar and depositing some Of it
with the State Board of Trade.
There is no question that he had
beautiful samples with him. He
tried, in particular, to get Spreckels
into the project, arguing that the
company would smash the Sugar
Trust in no time. According to
Keller, there wasn't anything in
the way of sugar refining that
the process could not accomplish.
He offered to turn black Manila or
jaggary sugar into cube, powdered
or granulated sugar with a loss of
about one per cent. of saccharine
matter, without dissolving the raw
sugar, and at saving of Sc ton
over the present methods. But the
was that, though he wanted Spreck
els to invest, he would not let him
see the entire process. There was
clark room" stage in the manu-
facture, and Spreckels absolutely
refused to put in any money IN
less he could get within the secret
of that stage of the process. The
versatile Keller would not permit
this and the negotiations came to
an end. Keller is still in San Fran
cisco but cannot be made to say
anything about the company. He
admits, however, that he is "slightly
Interested" even if he holds no
stock
The officers will not make any
other statements for the present.
miscellaneous.
The steamship City of Picking ar
rived on the 9Th inst, III days out
from Yokohama aud q days from
Hongkong. When she was boarded
by Quarantine Officer McAllister it
was discovered that she had three
cases of typhus fever among the few
Chinese in her storage. She was at
once ordered into quarantine, but not
before a row had broken out between
Deputy Surveyor Fogarty and Quar-
antine Officer McAllister as to who
was in authority. The crew and pas
sengers were transferred to the hulk
of the South Carolina, where they
still are detained. Fogarty appeared
to believe that there was vast guam
tity of opium concealed on the YES
sci.
The strike of engineers on the
Southern Pacific which was threat
ened some time since has been
averted. The company heard the
grievances of the men and remedied
them.
Walter H. Levy has been chosen
Presiding Judge of the Superior
Courts of San Francisco. OF the
new Judges, J. P Hoge has been as
signed to Maguire's place in Depart
ment 4, and Eugene CARRIER takes
Toohy's place in Department II.
Election contests are the order of
the.day. j. Sullivan has contested
the seat of W. .. Banks in the State
Senate, and two contests have been
filed by Republican candidates for
Supervisor, John T. Cutting wants
G.. S. Bush's place from the Fifth
Ward, and @. B. Rode wants H. Pill
ster's place in the Ninth.
BY a decision IN the Circuit Court
on the Sd inst, the owners of the
British steamer Strathairly will have
to pay S4,46O to the government.
She arrived at San Francisco in 1882
with 1,056 Chinese in her Storage
when she was only licensed to carry
$50. The government originally
claimed S22, 400.