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C GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY J From Sun Antonia Texas .a dispatch of yoster-«lay says: Ono of the aviators missing from the squadron that went to join Gen. Pershings column descended somewhere south of Casas Granele-s. it was learned at Gen. Funstons headquarters today. His name was not given. Earlier reports had indicated that both came down somewhere along the line of communication between the border line and Casas Grandcs. Gen. Pershings advanced base of operations. Reports today explained that one reached Casas Gramles and was sent south over the country in which the three detachments of calvary are operating. No details relative to his disappearance were received. With Gen. Pershing reported at Lake Bibrocoro. Col. Dodd in the district between Kl Valle and Namiquipu. and a third American column near Carmen, contact with the forces of Francisco Villa is regarded as inevitable today if the wily old fox of the Sierra Maelre mountains is still hemmed in between the fast-moving troops and the line of Carranza soldiers to the south. If "Pancho" has slipped through the cordon of Carranza soldiers and won his goal in the fastnesses of the Guerreo region, the chase it is conceded, will be weeks, perhaps months, longer. American soldiers. unaccustomed to weather conditions south of the border, are dropping out from pneumonia and dysentery. Seven soldiers who reached the border for treatment told graphic stories of how sickness was thinning the ranks of Gen. Pershings column. The intense heat of the semi-tropical desert country is claiming its victims by day, they asserted, and the extreme cold of the Mexican nights has resulted in a pneumonia epidemic of serious proportions. Insufficient water caused much suffering. After months of camp fare along the border, many soldiers have found it impossible to march on the meager ration allowed by the quartermaster in the last hurried bourse before their departure One week of marching on a diet of beans, bacon, coffee and bread has placed many solaiers under the care of physicians and the more seriously afflicted are being sent back to the border as rapidly as possible. Gen-Pershings failure to report an encounter of his troops and those of Francisco Villa and the ab seme of news from Mexican sources relative to the outcome of the fighting between Villas men and Carrauzas troops in the vicinity of Namaquipa caused some army officers at Port Sam Houston today to believe that once more the elusive Villa bad escaped. President Wilson has accepted General Carrauzas terms of co-operation in the pursuit of Villa. Acting Secretary of State Polk :nil Elise o Arredondo. Carranzas "ambassador designate to the United States, are in conference on the provisions of the protocol under which the American and Mexican troops will operate in the joint endeavor to take Villa "dead or alive." The protocol provides that Carranza shall allow the- United States to transport sustenance supplies for the American troops over the Mexican railroad from .luarez to Casas l.rande-s. It also provides for joint operations by the Ameri-raa and Mexican troops in pursuing Villa and sets forth the circumstances under which attacks may lie made upon towns in which Villa may take refuge. The protocol also makes it clear that the American troops tire to remain iu Mexico only so long as is necessary to effect the capture of Villa and will be withdrawn as soon as the purpose of the punitive expedition is accomplished. Under the terms of the agreement Carranza is to be permitted to exercize all the privileges in pursuing American outlaws on American soil that lie grants to the Vnited States in connection with the expedition against Villa on Mexican soil. As soon as an agreement upon the terms of the protocol is reached by Mr. Polk and Senor Arredondo the convention will be transmitted to General Carranza for approval. It therefore is likely to be several days before a definite agreement with Carranza is reached. A Petrogrnd dispatch of yesterday says: The Russian operations on the northern front promises to develop into the most serious movement undertaken by either side in this theater of war # since Field Marshal von Hindenburgs campaign against Dvinsk last autumn. Taking advantage of the German pie-occupation at Verdun, the Russian staff decided to anticipate possible German plans for an offensive in the Dvinsk region by a series of maneuvers which, if successful, will not only make it impossible for them to institute the advance they apparently intended, but will force them out of the positions now held. The position of the German forces takes the form of an arc. extending into Russian territory. This alignment makes the line particularly susceptible to flanking attacks north and south of Dvinsk. These, as officially announced, have already begun. In the region of Lake Narocz. the Russians advanced along a ten-mile front, threatening the Vilna railroad and German communications with Dvinsk. It is unofficially reported that this movement was accompanied by maneuvers against the northern flank in the neighborhood of Fi-iedri.-hstadt. The effect of these two attacks, if successfully executed, will be to squeeze the Germans from their extended position before Dvinsk and convert the present arc into a straight line from IriUrichstadt to Svientsyany. A dispatch of yesterday from London says: "Abandonment of Czernowitz, capital of Bukowina. by the Aastriaas is reported in an unofficial wireless dispatch received here today from Rome. Liquid fire played its most successful role since the beginning of the war in the combats in which the Germans poshed forward ten miles northwest of Ae-rdun. according to dispatches received here. The German artillery bombardment in Avoeourt woods was terrific, but ineffective. Paris reports. It was the jets of flame bursting ill long, red tongues from billows of smoke that drove the French from several hundred yards of positions in the- wood southwest of Malancourt. The success of the Germans in this new offensive, it is admitted here, menaces several square miles of French positions northwest of Verdun. The latest dispatches from Paris, however, insist that the shifting of the German attack is only a confession of failure. The news of the Russian victories on the eastern front convinces the Paris critics that the Verdun offensive of the crown prince must soon be abandoned. Confidential advices received at Washington from Amsterdam n present tin- government of the Netherlands determined to maintain its neutrality unless attached, but espresa Bears that public indignation in.iv demand action of some sort slKiuld it he estab-lished that a Teutonic- submarine torpedoed the liner Tubantia. Present indications, however, are that the cause of the sinking of the Tubantia never may be definitely determined. The state department has received no definite information, although the consul general at Amsterdam has been urged to forward details without delay and so informed Chevalier Van Rappard. minister from the Netherlands. who called upon Acting Secretary Polk. The minister also requested information regarding the reply of Great Britain to the American note on the seizure , and detention of neutral mails. The reply now is on its way to the United States by mail and is expected soon. Czernowitz, reported evacuated by the Austri-ans. is a Strongly fortified city of 90.000 inhabitants, the- capital of the Austrian "crown land" or province of Bukowina, It may be described as the back gate to Galicia, but its political importance at present is even greater than its strategic value. Bukowina is about the size of the state of Connecticut and contains approximately S00.000 inhabitants, nearly till of whom are Roumanians, eager to unite with their brethren in independent Roumania. It was reportexl some time ago that Roumania was ready to join the war on the entente side, provided it were first given possession of Bukowina and the Roumanian part of Ilcssarabia. and that Russia had agreed to the terms. The evacuation of Czernowitz. therefore, may mean that Roumania, with its fresh army of 000.000 men. will strike the Austrian flank. The Cruiser Rrooklyn. which sailed from Manila last Thursday, is due to arrive at Guam. Himoan Islands, from which port, it is understood, she will convey to San Francisco the German cruiser Cormorant, which sought refuge the-re when she was pursued by a Japanese warship some months ago. The Brooklyn left Manila under sealed orelers. and her destination had been the subject of more or less conjecture. During the flight the Cormorants crew tore up the woode-n deck floors for fuel, and the exposed . iron radiated so much heat that they suffered, several of them developing symptoms of insanity. As a result it was later decided by the naval authorities to bring the Cormorant and her crew to the United States. Mayor Thompson yesterday signed the ordinance passed recently by the- city council providing for the sale of the Automatic- Telephone company to the Hell system. Farlier in the day he he-lel a consultation with Walter L. Fisher, special attorney for the city and the mayor. Mr. Usher said the- eerdinanee was valid as far as he- could determine, and that it should be signed. Under the te-rms of tin- ordinance, the itoll company will pay ,300,000 to the Automatic- eempany. and the eity will receive $.".00.0011. According to Mr. Fisher, it is an open secret that the money from the stile of the system will be used to retire the telephone-bonds. With the telephone bonds retired, the Illinois Tunnel company, the parent company, will issue new- bonds to improve the subway system, it was said. With the departure of five troops of the Fifth Cavalry from Fe.rt Sheridan vest, relay for the Mexican border came word from Springfield that Quartermasters and commissary officers of the Illinois National Guard had been informe-d that it would be well for them to report as s.ion as possible to the army depot quartermasters for instructions in event of the mobilization of the National Guard. Officers of tie- National Guard here saw in the Springfield dispatch the first move toward sending the guttrd to the border to do patrol duty while the regulars were engaged in pursuit of Villa. No official weird has been received here, however, concerning the mobilization plans. Pershing and Dodd and their followers are doing some riding in Mexie-o. The colonels column is flying light, while the generals is trailing heavily, but both outfits are- making fast headway in the face of te-rmendons natural difficulties. With some thousands of men with him. General Pershing has been making about thirty -five miles a day over sand and rocks and through defiles that make "wrecks" imminent. The speed of his troops is the speed of the least speedy among them. Army officers in Washington are watching the outcome of this bandit hunt in Mexico with deep anxiety, and they are watching the records of travel made by the troops with keen interest. Some records may be broken. The state department has taken cognizance of a published report that Ge-rmany had intimated to the United States that the time was rip-- for the American governme-nt, as the- largest neutral nation, to begin peace negotiations, and that Chancellor Rcthmanii Ilollweg had intimated to Ambassador Gerard that his proposed vacation was inopportune, by authorizing a flat denial of the story. Department officials declare they had no advices whatever to warrant such statements. A strike of ."iOO.OOO Welsh coal miners is threat-ened as the result of a failure to secure a settlement of disputes with the mine owners regarding Sunday work bonuses. The executive council of the South Wales Miners Federation has decided to recommend that the conferene-e delegates next Monday pass a resolution giving fourteen days notice throughout the coal fields of an intention to strike unless a settlement is affected. General Pershing, in a wireless received at Fort Sam Houston late yesterday afternoon, states that an mummed aviator from Columbus. X. ML, was seen flying over Colonia Juare-z on Monday. Major Samples, commander of the Columbus camp, telegraphed that according to his information, the missing aviator is Lieutenant Gorrell. Lieutenant R. II. Willis, according to Major Samples, is safe. One death was caused by the freak electric and snow storm which swept over the city early yesterday. James Wlogh. 1000 Fry street, was killed by a Chicago and Northwestern railroad train at Carpenter street. His view of the track was obscured by the blizzard, and the high wind drowned the sound of the bell. Ninety -one immigrants. most of them from Albania are in quarantine on Hoffman Island, owing to the discovery of a plague- known as pedi-e-ulosis aboard the- steamship Patris, which arrived in New York Tuesday from Piraeus, "•recce. The disease- is caused by a minute pest which attacks the foe-t. The treatment is a rigorous course of antiseptic baths and fumigations. King Ferdinand has returned to Sofia, according to advices received by the London Morning Past by mail from Budapest. u his recent visit to Vienna the King was taken ill with an attack of bronchitis. The last advices from Vienna, early in March, said that lie was improving.
