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f GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY J S Iho Iteiiioeratic national convention will Ik- hold 1 in M. Louis. It will convene Juno 14. MM. This 1 *!"■ ,n» decision of the Iioniooratio national ooui- i nntt.-c yesterday, whioli adopted resolutions calling 4.n-i ronoiniuation and re-election of Wood row i pi.iKiii as "tiie trusted loader of national Deni- i ••cr» y." With tho national iH-nmoratic convention » *-.ing to St. Louis, it i* now generally conceded l ti-at Chicago will pot the Republican convention w:oii tho Republican national committee meets here ue.vl week. St. Iouis, which has lieen a bidder for | imiIIi conventions, is expected to stand aside anil | throw its influence to the support of Chicago. Two ballots by the I emocrats wore necessary to effect a choice of the convention city. On both ballots St. Ixmis led Chicago and Dallas, the two opposing ; cities. The selection was made unanimous on too- tkm of Committeeman Cato Sells of Texas when it was apparent St. Louis had won. The deciding bal- ■ lot was: St. Louis. 2S: Chicago. l." : Dallas. 9. On the first ballot St. Louis mustered 25 votes. Dallas 4. and Chicago 13. Each city bid 00,000 for the , big event. St. Louis and Dallas put up negotiable checks for this amount, while Chicago submitted a pledge by the Association of Commerce of that city to pay the sum to the committee on demand. Roger C. Sullivan of Chicago personally guaranteed the Dlinois citys offer. The following official communication covering Iterations on the western front was issued by the war office at Paris: In Belgium our artillery, in concert with the Belgian artillery, shelled an enemy work in the region of Het Sas. The work was shattered and two munitions depots were blown up. In Artois the artillery engagement became more pronounced in the course of the day. The bombardment was violent on both sides in the region of , Givenchy. to the north of the Bois en Haohe. where fighting with large bombs took place. In the sector of the road from Lille our artillery successfully shelled the enemy underground passages. In Champagne the action continued for the possession of the advanced trench to the south of Saint Souplet. Oil. 4-otinter attacks have already enabled us to regain :i large part of the lost section. The Belgian official communication read: Positive indications permit of the conclusion that the extensive inundation in the region of the Yser has caused great difficulties to the opposing troops, who have abandoned, under the menace of the water, a great number of their advance works. A dispatch from Alexandria. Egypt, to New York, apparently confirmatory of the reiiort received by I.ond .•! Lloyds, that the oil tanker Communipaw was safe, was received yesterday by the Standard Oil office at New York. This message stated that the Communipaw reached Alexandria on Sunday last and would sail for New York on Tuesday. Tlie dispatch came from Captain Nordstrom of the Coin-ntuuipaw. and was given out by David T. Warden, manager of the foreign shipping department of the Standard Oil Coni|iany of New Jersey. "We are anxiously awaiting word from our vessel, the Petro-lite." said Mr. Warden, "but have received no news except what we saw in the papers." Whether a mistake has been made in reporting the Communipaw tor|iedoed. or whether it was torpedoed after leaving Alexandria on its home voyage. Standard lil officials in only conjecture. Cnoffieial information reaching Washington Tuesday night of the sinking of the American oil tanker Communipaw off tlie coast of Tripoli has created grave apprehension in official circles, where the fear is expressed that Austrians may have begun a systematic campaign of destruction against the American oil ships engaged in carrying fuel oil lo warships of the allies oi orating in the Dardanelles. It is regarded as gravely significant that this report should come on the heels of an official dispatch from the commander of the United States cruiser Dos Moines, now at Canea, Crete, telling of the attack by an Austrian submarine on the Standard Oil tanker Ietrolite. which was fired on, but appears to have escaped. One member of the crew of the Ietrolite is reported to have been wounded by the shell fire. The Saloniki correspondent of Reuters Telegram Company semis the following dispatch to London under date of Tuesday: Weather conditions having improved, the Bulgarians on Monday bombarded the entire British line at Strumuitza for the whole day. Then they launclied an infantry attack, which was repulsed, although the fighting on this front still continues. Whetlier the Bulgarians intend to press the attack, and what their strength is. it is difficult to establish at present. The British casualties thus far are reported as slight. At Krivolak there was an unimportant local engage- ment between Trench and Bulgarian artillery on "Monday. It is reported here that complications are threatened lietween Bulgaria and Turkey and that the distrust is increasing on both sides. Rumors on La Salle street credit C. W. Pard-ridge with having cleaned up about ,000,000 in grain and stock sales. That Mr. Pardridge had returned to the market was not generally known until a few days ago. Then it developed that the old trader had quietly "come back" and bought heavily of l»oth stocks and grains affected by the war. A few days ago lie began to unload, according to Hie reports, and his profits have mounted high. He is said to have cleared twenty cents a bushel on 4. 000.00f» bushels of wheat, fifteen cents a bushel on 3.000.00a bushels of corn, and five cents on 1.000.000 bushels of oats. His stock investments also are 6aid to have been highly profitable. A search by two steamers, one a Greek and the other Italian! #at the spot near Tobrug. Tripoli, where the American oil steamer Communipaw was sunk by a submarine, failed to reveal any sign of the tank ship or of survivors. These steamers were sent out as soon as word was received at Tro-lirug that a ship had been sunk. The Communipaw had aboard 15.000 tons of oil and had been held up at Genoa to settle a question concerning 3.000 tons of this oil. which the Italian authorities suspected might be contraband. The Communipaw was released after a satisfactory explanation had been received and the American embassy at Rome had made representations to the Italian government. An official communication published at Petrograd says: Near the village of Krevo. south of the Viliya river, we shot down an enemy aeroplane and" captured its occupants. In the region of the village of Janovka. northeast of the town of 1 1 i i i » l | | ; ■ , , Ruezaoz. the enemy, protected by a violent artil- j lory tire, endeavored to advance eastward, but was repulsed toward Hie village of Pelava. Equally unsuccessful wore enemy attempts to attack our troops t near the villages of Zayolvcrz and Kyschkovtze. ; in the Buczacz region. West of Lake Sventen and • south of the Viliya. near the village of Tsebroff. , northwest of Tarnopol. our scouting parties carried out successful reconnaissances. Following a successful appeal to the State Supreme Court. States Attorney Hoyne has reopened before Judge Windes the quo-warranto proceedings ; aimed to oust the union loop from the downtown ; district. Evidem-e that stocks and bonds amount- : iug to .:Kr7.000 wore issued by Charles T. Yerkes ; and his associates in organizing the loop company, while only ,277,551 was spent iu construction and equipment, will be placed before the court by the j states attorney. That the overcapitalization was so gross as to warrant the forfeiture of the loop franchise on the ground of fraud is the contention of the states attorney. Congress was not in session yesterday. Both houses had adjourned over until Friday in order to complete the organization of working committees. The Cologne Gazettes Constantinople correspondent says: The entente allies have begun a grand I offensive at the Dardanelles, perhaps in consequence ; of Earl Kitcheners visit, but the Turkish authorities are inclined to believe that it only a bluff. Thirty entente allied aeroplanes attacked Usun Kue-prue. an important military and railway center on the line from Constantinople to Ardiancple, throwing many bombs, but traffic on the line was maintained. The German press treats the Ford peace mission only as a manifestation of American eccentricity. Local opinion is that the mission will have but slight chance of exerting its efforts in Germany or other belligerent countries. In view of the fact that the passports of its members are good only for neutral countries. It would be possible, of course, for Germany to relax its regulations and permit the Ford party "to enter Germany without passports, but in view of the Herman knowledge that the mission comes without official inspiration or the approval of Washington it is unlikely to do so. Final arguments in the suits against the North German-Lloyd Steamship Company for the failure of the steamship Kronprinzessin Cecelie to deliver ?1 2.000.000 in bullion to consignees in England and France at the start of the war were made Tuesday in Boston before Inited States District Judge Hale. The plaintiffs are tlie National City Bank and the Hurauty Trust Company of New York, and two passengers. The plaintiffs contend the Cecilie could have discharged her gold and passenegers before the war began. They seek damages. That Syria may be the battleground between the Hermans and Turks against the English forces protecting Egypt is the belief of members of the Syrian colony in Now York. News has come through devious channels to the Syrians in America that great preparations have been made in their home country for some sort of operations. Private advices received here say that the Turks, with the assistance of German engineers, are pushing a railroad toward Suez over 150 miles of desert, and are paralleling it with a water pipe line. Additional tugs were to be dispatched from San Francisco yesterday to the assistance of the disabled freighter Minnesota, in response to a radiogram received late Tuesday night by Port Capt. C. W. Wiley, from Captain Garlick of the Minnesota. In his message Captain Garlick stated that although the wrecking vessel Iaqua and the tug Dauntless, sent last Friday to the aid of the crippled freighter, were standing by. more assistance was imperatively needed, as the Minnesota had been drittiug helplessly for three days. An Athens dispatch to the London Exchange Telegraph Company says that, according to the Greek papers. Col. H. D. Napier, the late British military attache at Sofia, has been taken off a Greek steamer by a German submarine near Mesina. A British official reiiort received tonight says that Capt. Arthur Stanley Wilson, member of parliament for Yorkshire, has been made a prisoner of war. Word has been received at Buenos Aires that a British cruiser has captured the steamer Winnebago, it is also reported that a British cruiser has captured on board the steamer Vauban a German officer who, it is alleged, was involved in certain affairs in the Inited States, from which country he made his escape. A San Antonio. Texas, dispatch says that fourteen Mexican womeu were executed December 5 at Casas Orandes by Villa military authorities on charges that they were spies for Carranza, say advices received tonight at the Carranzn consulate. All were stood up against an adobe wall in one line and shot by a long firing squad. Hugo Halm, manager of the German-American bank in Mexico City, made a statement Tuesday relative to the money transactions of that institution with the former Mexican government. He denies the German institutions tried iu any way to bring about difficulties between the United States and Mexico. One hundred thousand dollars has been distributed among servants and other employes of P. A. B. Widencr. traction magnate and art collector, who died last month. This was confirmed yesterday by the lienefioiaries. who received amounts ranging from ,000 to 5,000. Fort Cogndee, one of the most important features of the old defenses of Namur, Belgium, has boon completely destroyed by au explosion, according to the newspaper Echo de Beige. The explosion is said to have caused the death of eighty German soldiers. Secretary Lane announced yesterday that he had approved orders of designation which have brought under the operation of the 320-acre homestead law about 950,000 acres of land in Colorado, Idaho, Montana. Oregon and North Dakota. That England, against the wishes of hor allies, favors the withdrawal of the expeditionary forces from the Balkans, was strongly hinted following yesterdays session of the allies war council. The admiralty announces in London that the British steamer Commodore has been sunk. All the members of the crew excepting the cook were saved.
