New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1906-12-05
ARMED MOB BURNS
TOBACCO Factories
MASKED MEN APPLY TORCH I'd
TWO BIG sTEMMERiEs At
PRINCETON, KY.
MARSHAL SEIZED AND
TOWN HELD AT BAY
Flames Guarded Until All Hope of
Saving Structures Is Passed-Op-
position to Trust Believed to Be
Cause of Work.

Princeton, KY, Dec. 3.-TwO big to-
bacco stemmeries were destroyed
Saturday by fires set by a mob of 800
masked men. The mob held the town
at bay until the flames were burning
so furious1y that they could not be
extinguished.
One of the stemmeries was con-
Quoted by John Steger and the other
by John G. Orr
The Steger factory is controlled by
the American Snuff company, Mr..
Steger being the Princeton agent for
that concern. Mr.. Orr is the repre-
sentative of the Imperial Tobacco
company of New York.
There were about 100000 pounds of
tobacco in each warehouse and all of
it was burned.
The mob took charge of the police
station and the water works. Had the
fremen responded to the alarm they
would have been unable to obtain a
supply of water
The work of the mob is believed to
be the result of the agitation by the
trust. The organization of farmers
is known as the Dark Tobacco Grow
ers' Protective association, but it is
not known that any members of that
organization was in the mob.
Several cottages in the vicinity of
the factories were badly damaged, but
nobody was hurt. The loss is esti-
mated at about $170,0000.
Night Marshal Disarmed.
A mob of 300 men entered Prince
ton, seized the night town marshal
and disarmed him. They then went to
the factories and quickly applied the
torch. Masked men stood on guard
permitting nobody to approach until
the buildings were enveloped in
flames and could not be saved from
destruction.
A squad of the mob took charge of
the telephone office and no news of
the affair was allowed to be sent out
until the work of the mob was fin
ished
When the mob saw that the fire was
beyond control they left the town,
going in the direction of Hopkins
vile, discharging revolvers and rifles
as they departed. The firemen then
:. made strenuous efforts to extlnguish
the flames, but could do nothing more
than prevent the fire from destroying
buildings in the vicinity.
The Steger stemmery was in the
southern part of town on the Illinois
Central railroad, and the Orr building
was in the northern part of the town.
Troops May Be Called Out.
Louisville, KY, Dec. 3.-Mott Ayres,
state fire marshal, left for Princeton
! to investigate the alleged incendiar-
ism of the two tobacco factories. He
has the powers of grand jury to
Summon witnesses and require them
to testify under oath. It is not i'm
probable that Gov Beckham will be
| asked to call out the militia to pro,
| of past outrages.
G. F. Snyder, secretary of the state
board of fire underwriters, says the
insurance companies will not be re-
sponsible for the loss of the plants
under the clause exempting them in
cases of riot and invasion. The in
surance companies are already inves-
tigating fire of incendiary origin
chat destroyed the $4,000 tobacco
plant of w. c. Rice & Sons, at Ere
| donia on the night of November H.
| Previous to the Rice Fire several to-
| bacco barns were dynamited in Trigg,
| Graves and Caldwell counties. The
protective association was formed
throughout the dark tobacco district
| and severest measures were taken
| against growers who refused to join
| it. Marauders visited their farms at
| night and cut down the tobacco plants
with hoes, set fire to their barns,
| and committed other depredations.
| The ill-feeling began about six
| years ago when the Italian govern
! ment sent agents into the dark to-
! bacco field. These agents paid such
| high prices for the tobacco that other
agents were driven out of the field.
Queen Alexandra is 81.
London, Dec. 3-The birthday an
niversary of Queen Alexandra, who
was horn in 1914 woe oolohro+od ~