The morning call., 1891-11-07
SOUTHERN SUBURBS.
POtrerO Hotels at the Mercy of
Sneak-Thieves.
a Record Of Incidents and Casualties Which
Have Happened During the Week at
South San Francisco

For ten days or more the police force In
the Potrero has been a good deal puzzled by
The depredations off sneak-thieves, who have
been purloining various and sundry articles
OF value, such as clothes and money, from the
guests Of the boarding houses around the
rolling-mills and iron works. Not one OF
the lOdging-houses has been overlooked. The
thieves, it is thought, made their raids after
the boarders have sunk into the heavy sleep
Induced by the arduOus labor OF the day.
Yesterday Maggie Young, the laundress at
the Union Hotel, complained that sum of
money had been distracted from her room
in the hotel. Inquiries were set afoot end
il was learned that man named Alexander
Balantine. who is employed in the rolling
mills had been seen in her apartment. 1t
was also learned that he had changed five
dollar piece at neighboring saloon. and
Officer Reardan arrested him. When taken
to the station Ballantine con1esse1 the the1t
and gave up $50 which he still had left, but
he denied having had anything to do with
the other thefts reported from time to time.
Sergeant Bennett is skeptical on this point,
however, and thinks the depredations will
soon cease.
TWO TOPICS OF CONVERSATION.
Residents of South San Francisco have
two very large items as topics OF converse
tion during the past few days. One was the
Gosch murder and suicide, which has been
recounted in detail and the other was mar
row escape of that suburb from terrible
confiagration. On Saturday evening coal
Gil lamp exploded in the rooms of John
Mahol@y at Is B0wen's Block, on Railroad
avenue. In few moments everything IN
the ROOMS was in blaze. An alarm was
turned in and responded 10 by the depart
ment, but as the block is Of frame cOnstruc-
ton an alarm was also turned in 10 the
Potrero station. which at once responded.
Its assistance was, however, of no avail as
the water supply was so meager that the en-
CINE could not be worked. The South San
Francisco department worked arduously and
saved the building, although good deal of
property was lost and damaged ere the
flames could be extingnished. Those who
suffered losses were: John Maholey, fur
niture entirely destroyed and uninsured; P.
Pioneer, furniture destroyed, insured /;
Thomas Kelly, furniture damaged by water
and smoke, insured; DR.. Mclaughlin. NJ
Wunch and Miss ROsekamp, furniture dam
aged. The loss on goods and building Is es-
timated 10 De between $500 and 5000.
TO HIS NECK IN MUD.
About 8 o'clock yesterday morning Officer
OConuell of the POtrero Station had bis
attention called to man who was up to his
neck in the mud opposite the Deem Saloon
on Kentucky street With the assistance
of some of the bystanders the man was
soon eXtricated from the slough. lie was
we'll scraped and then hosed until lie was
clean enough to be removed to the ReceiV-
ing Hospital He gave the name of Charles
Schmitt, carpenter of the ship Abarcorne,
and said he had fallen in the mud about 6
o'clock on the previous evening, having re-
manned in that exposed condition all night
long Some three years man fell in the
mud at the same place and died OF sufoca-
ton.
FIRE AT THE IRON WORKS.
On Wednesday a fire was discovered at
thu Union Iron Works, and the smoldering
blaze was located under the brick flooring
of the galyanizing department, which is
supported by heavy ioists resting on piles.
Owing to the composition OF the floor 1t
took about three hours TO reach the source
Of the fire and eXtinguish il. The owners
OF the property, for some unknown. reason,
maintained a reticence in regard to the mat
ter. aud would not say what the damage was
estimated to be.
UNDER A LOAD OF MEAT
Andy Bruno. butcher, met with a seri-
Gus. though not fatal, accident on Thursday.
While assisting In loading one of the large
meat-wagOns Tor the city the vehicle, which
had been unevenly loaded, tOppled over,
burrylng him beneath several hundred
pounds of meat When eXtricated from his
predicament it was discovered that he was
painfully crushed about the chest. DR..
Todd attended to him and relieved his suf-
ferings.
RUN OVER BY TEAM.
a German teamster in the employ of
George Schret met with a serious accident
on Thursday afternoon. While driving q
very heavy truck lie fell of, and the wheels
passed diagonaliy across his body, breaking
his left shoulder blade and right leg. His
Injuries were attended to by DR.. Wemple
and. while very painful and serious, are moi
necessarily fatal.
POLICEMAN DETAILED.
Iu view of the large number of complaint Is
from the residents of Southern Heights 10
regard to having policeman in the district,
Chief Crowley has detailed Officer O'Nei
to that locality, and he was placed on duty
last evening
FRESH WITH NEW PAINT.
Sergeant Bennett and the Potrero force
are shaking hands with themselves on hay-
ing secured new and more commodious quar-
tiers. Everything looks nice and clean and
The odor Of fresh paint perfumes the air.