Morning journal and courier., 1889-02-16
A sso,eoo FIRE IN WORCESTER.

A sSo,eOO FIRE IN WORCESTER. Twenty-three Streams of Water Are
 Thrown For Two Hours-The origin
 of She Fire Unknown.
 WORCESTER, Feb. 15.-The No. 2 mill of the Washburne & Moen Manufacturing com- pany was badly damaged by fire tonight. The mill is used for drawing copper wire and making bale tie wire. The building is 175 feet long and 50 feet wide, four stories high, with full basement. The fire took in the third story and burned up into the upper story, destroying the roof, badly gutting the floor below and considerably damaging the third floor. The entire building was deluged with water, twenty three streams being pour ed into the upper stories for more than two hours. The loss will be in the vicinity of $30, 900, which is fully covered by insurance in the New England Manufacturers compa- nies. The output of the mill will not be in- terrupted. The origin of the fire is unknown.
 THE PARNELL COMPASSION. Parnell,s slgnatures-The Times Pays
 Large sums for Ev1dence-An Alleged
 Attempt at Bribery.
 LONDON, Feb. 15.-Mr. Parnell was present at to-day's session of the Parnell commission MT. Soames, solicitor for the Times, was fur ther cross-examined. He offered in evidence schedule of all the signatures of MT. Par nell that he possessed. He said that MT. Parnell's writing varied considerably, and produced a letter in which MT. ParnelIs name was written in six different ways. Pre- %I, &I,A1 1ok&, be photographed.
 Continuing, the witness denied that he had heard that Pigott and the league clerk he in- terviewed in Ireland had grievance against MT. Parnell. Pigott, he said, had made g statutory declaration that Solicitor Lewis had offered him 91 ,000 if he would swear that he had forged the letters said to have been writ ten by Mir. Parnell. The Times paid Pigott only e4O or $50. The witness had Pigott watched, and traced him into the company of Mr. Labouchere. He paid Houston, sec- retary of the Irish Loyal and Patriotic union altogether 5000.
 Upon redirect examination Mir. Soames said that no bargain was made when the let- ters were first brought to the Times. Their gennineness was to be tested before any pay ment was made.
 MT. Soames said Pigott told him of inter views he had with Solicitor Lewis and MT. Labouchere. The latter sent Pigott several e10 notes. One of these notes was forward ed to Ireland and there re-directed to London. Witness produced a copy of the letter which accompanied it. It had never occurred to witness to ask Pigott how he had acquired the letters. Neither had he asked Houston. Pigott showed witness letter from Solicitor Lewis scous- ing him (Pigott) of having admitted that he fha let and hia Ypnlp. whareunnn witness required that the statutory declara- tion be made, in which Pigott detailed all the communications between himself and Solicitor Lewis, including the offer of e1, 900 by MT. Lewis, on behalf of MT. Labouchere, if he would swear that he had forged the let- ters.
 This statement caused sensation in the court room.
 Mir. Somes said that man calling himself Wilson wrote to him offering to give informa- tion. He recognized the writing as that of 8 man named O'Brien, who was an emissary from Egan to Labouchere. The offer to fur- nish information was simply a "plant." After that he had OBrien watched. At Mir. Labouchere's instance O'Rrien was sent to London to see Pigott. In Dublin O'Brien assumed the name of Sinclair. The men fol- lowing O'Brien traced him to Lsboucheres and Pigott's houses, and then traced Pigott, Solicitor Lewis and MT. Parnel to
 
 knew O'Brien as a man who was known in America as Robertson. It was "Rob- ertson" who deluded Detective MosLer with letters which since were admitted to be forgeries. Kirby was paid 925O to go to America and procure from Sheridan the original Parnell letter, fac -simile of which was published in the Times. MT. Hurlburt saw this letter.
 Mr. Soames was re-examined by Sir Rich ard Webster. He said there was no bargain whatever with the Times to purchase letters If the Parnell letters were forgeries then the writing of the others signed with the names of Egan Campbell, Davitt and O'Kelley must have been forged. The bodies of six dis puted Parnellites were in the handwriting oi o. Campbell. MT. Walcott, an employe ot the Central News, deposed that in an inter. view with Mir. Parnell on the appearance ol the fac eimile letter in 1887 MT. Parnel called the letter an impudent forgery. Upon ncross-examination witness said he never asked how Houston got the letters. He had asked about the difference in the writing in the body of the letters and in the sigma ture and Houston replied that it was prac tice of the leaders of the movement that one wrote the letter, another signed it and g third person addressed the envelope. Wit ness afterwards ascertained from other sources that this was an actual practice. Witness never heard that the letters were offered other papers, but had heard that the documents had been offered to Lord Hart. ington before they were offered to the Times.
 Houston produced no voucher for sums paid. Six months were occupied in inquir- ing if the documents were bona fde. Wit ness was convinced that the letters were gen. uine and he thought before the second read- ing of the crimes bill would be a fitting time to show to the country the character of the men making themselves prominent in Irish affairs. The commission at this point ad iourned