Evening star., 1939-07-09
Fifty Years Ago
In the Star
Dam Owners
Held
PeeooneihIe
In The Star Of July 8, 1889 is a news
account Of the findings of the coroner's


no court at Johnstown, Pa,
regarding the cause of
1e'o the disastrous food of
Responsible May 81. The verdict
was as follows
I'VE. the undersigned. the jury i'm
paneled to investigate the cause of the
death of Ellen Hille on May 81, after
hearing the testimony find that Ellen
Hille came to her death by drowning;
that the drowning was caused by the
break Of the South Fork Dam. We fur
ther find, from the testimony and what
we saw on the ground that there was not
sufficient waste weir, nor was the dam
constructed sufficiently strong nor of the
proper material to withstay the overflow,
and hence We find that the owners of
said dam were culpable in not making 1t
as secure as it should have been, espe-
cially in view Of the fact that a popula-
tion Of many thousands were in the VAL
ley below and We hold that the owners
are responsible for the fearful loss of
life and property resulting from the
breaking of the dam"
The following dispatch from London,
fers in interesting terms to
'ono""o complications arising in the
Nono' matter of the Panama
Iroubles Canal project in which this
country was greatly interested:
THE main cause of the difficulty be-
tween Costa Rica and Nicaragua, it is
affirmed from French sources entitled to
credit, Is that the former republic has
been induced by the parties who hold
the remnants of the Panama Canal
scheme in their hands to claim jurisdic-
tion over the lower part Of the San Juan
River forming the boundary between the
two states. In case like this and be-
tween countries where party rule is of
such transitory nature and each ad-
ministration pronounces as void the acts
of its predecessor, pretexts and prece-
dents for any desired course are never
wanting. The Costa Ricans have sud-
denly developed an intense reverence for
the treaty of 1858, which gave each state
equal f1uvial and riparian rights from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Castillo Rapids.
Any cession of her share of such rights
to Nicaragua since that time, it is
claimed by the party which has lately
succeeded to power, was illegal both as
ceding inalienable territory belonging to
Costa Rica and as an act which was the
result Of open bribery.
Arms and money have been poured
into the latter state and she is in far
better condition for war than Nicaragua.
1t can be guessed where such opportune
aid came from and, while it cannot be
expected that the parties interested will
openly acknowledge their implication,
there is open rejoicing in Paris at the
promise of serious implication. A former
power on the Bourse who has been al
most as completely wrecked by the COL
lapse of Panama Canal shares as M.
Secretan was by the copper corner, says:
From the inception of the Panama
Canal scheme the United States proved
its most bitter and relentless enemy. BY
its irritating and threatening references
to the ill-defined and impudent Monroe
Doctrine 1t prevented the investment of
English capital IN the enterprise and de-
prived 1t of the benefit of that English
conservatism which would have so ad-
mirably supplemented French genius
and secured brilliant success for the
greatest triumph of man over nature.
att cannot be expected that we will
sit by with folded hands and see the
results of our labor and expenditure be
rendered nugatory by the completion Of
a canal through Nicaragua. The COM
pany formed for this work has the unen-
viable task before 1t of conciliating a
Jealous people and bribing a swarm of
greedy leaders, each Of whom will expect
a fortune as the price Of quiescence. nor
can one count an end to their number.
We have had dealings with this class and
know them we'll"