THURSDAY, JANUARY Muir is Acquitted on Charge of Theft from Hudson's Bay \. McB. Young Made the Most of the Weakness in the Case for th(, Crown, .In Returned Verdict of "Not Guilty'1 After Deliberating Three Hours. Tne case of Rex vs. Hugh Muir, charged with the theft of $3000 from the Hudson's Bay company, was laken up on Tuesday morning. It iljeged that Muir, while acting �: � [ghter for the company, and I ing t he coin pa ny s mail ad- ,:i ;ed to the posts at MacLeod i.,-.Ke and Port Grahame, withheld the sum of $3000 which was dispatched through the mail to the company's agent at Fort Grahame. liis defence was conducted by A. McB. Young, and I'. E. Wilson acted for the crow n. The jurors selecte were: W. K. McKi M. B. Fasten, Mapes ser Lake; c. W, Gaernaert hoof; C. H. Byers, rs'lchol; pie, Mapes; p. A. Fraser, M dot", T. Cadden, A. K. 1 Donald .Stevenson and G. Prince George. The crown traced the ni<>n was lodged in the postoffici officers of the l<>( al branch Hank of Montreal, addressi company's agent at. MacLe to Muir. There was one IRAK' FIVE CENTS. TENSION OP BRITISH MANDATE FOR 25 YEARS Bagdad, Jan. 19.�The Irak hous ol representatives today ratified th treaty with Great Britain nnde which the British mandate is extended for 1" of twenty-five y< ai r Ira maximum perio PRINCE GEORGE) MORS LIMITED IS THE TITLE OF XKW INCORPORATION Progressive Leader Would Welcome Any Coalition Denies That GovcrniKg lit Offered Bribe for Party's Support Friday Morning. Prince George title of the m has taken over s wh f to try the case izie, foreman; It. Steele, Fra-Vander-M. Sein-T. \Val-ourchier, Jackson. Th( is the which 1 I). Corl has Cond'UC garage. Tl | ( ofporat ion i (Jorle is an< I company will dea i products which ii ! McLaughlin-Buicl ' mobile, Pont lac n j cars, ami i he ''�. for t)i,. seaa W. A 1 ive (i| if Che ors i corpi bus o for some tin the Fourth Eockholders in t] e E. A. Wright Tr. hii Duncan. imited. ration Would Join Sensible Conservatives and Liberals to Relieve lhe Situation. / FIRST SNOW FALLS IN IX 20 ., London. Jan. 19.�The island of | Guernsey iy experiencing its first; snowfall withijr twenty years. In i Ireland, the^efty of Dublin and vicn-| ity is exBjerftencing one of the worst j storms/ih many years. PREMIER OLIVER NOT YET SATISFIED WITH WESTERN RAILWAY FREIGHT HATES' Fred Cyr Acquitted For the Killing of Alex Ducharme Confession Made by Accused Was Chief Defence on His Trial for Murder. Jur \v past enue Ottawa. id Jan. eneral !the c ikland, evrolei trunks Th< Motofg adillac. foil-, t al n,i. "rida v 1, ith nta ad En flen fro ow mpany. w hi< h included $2000 for at MacLeod and $3000 for at Fort Grahame. The pa taken from the local pus an order from Muir. by R. �. svhtch By the of the ed ii)S4jc sod Lake, pack,me. the agent t he agent ckage was toffice, on .1. Carvev, Two Labor Men Save Government on First Division With One Conservative Absent Prein. ner King Musters a .Majority of Three. Five of Vote the Progressive Followihj Want of Confidence With Ctmservat ives. and sent, forward by freighters to Muir at Summit Lake. None of the men who bandied the package knew of its contents. It was delivered by Garvey to a man named Breeze, since deceased, who was freighting company merchandise from Prince George to Summit Lake. W. Pink-ortnan, who was driving another team, saw Breeze with a package. He also saw Breeze deliver a package to Muir at Summit Lake. At the lake, after the arrival of the package, Muir displayed consid- ,, erable sums of money. It was brought out that company- mail w;is stored in a warehouse at Summit Lake which was occupied by freighters. There were two boats in Muir's party when he left the lake for MacLeod and Fort Grahame. the company being made Up Of Muir and three others. After Muir had left someone discovered that a sink, believed to contain mail, had been left behind. The forest ranger and one of the crown witnesses went after the Muir party and caught the BOCOnd boat, tossing the sack into it. Muir at the time being in the lead-Ing boat, and just making a turn in the river. While the $2000 was delivered to the company's agent at MacLeod the larger sum of $30.00 was net delivered to thp company's :it Fort Grahame. isrs. Rodgers and Walker, a � of prospectors, testified to met Muir at Summit Lake, Ottawa, Jan. 19.-�Encouraged by the success which attended their first j [n reply to attempt to secure a want of confi-j porke said: d h' Emphatically iositively RerfSert Forke, Prove leadepf denied last night he Progressive party had re-;.�!!;/ bribe or bid in the nego-ljKwhich had preceded the criti. in the commons early on j morning when the govern-! ient was sustained on a slim ma-j nity of three. Speaking in the con-nuation of the debate upon the address he.said: "I never sot any bid and I never received any bribe." Referring to the interview on the part of .some other members of the Progressive party with Premier King and Hon. Arthur Meighen, he said he rather doubted the wisdom of the mission as a piece of political tactics. but he was bound to say he saw nothing dishonorable in it, either to Premier King, to Mr. Meighen, or to !he Progressive party. Everything had been open and above board. The Progressives, Mr. Forke said, found themselves in a rather trying position, as power had been put into their hands which war. none oi their 1 seeking. But he was sure they were honestly endeavoring to use that power for the good of the country. He expressed his conviction that if a few really sensiblP OonGervativee and Liberals got together with the Progressives some solution might be and for the present '/difficulties. a direct question Mr. "I would favor any co- Victoria, Jan. 20.:�Speaking today of the ratification by the board of railway commissioners of its order of lasi September, reducing rates on export grain and rrour to Pacific coast points fo proportionate east-bound rates, Premier Oliver said British Columbia's fight for lower west-bojjnd rates did not end with the latest action of the hoard. He added that the railways had not yet fully obeyed the order of the commissioners equalizing east-bound; and west-bound rates. "So far as 1 can see," he added, "there is no rea_ j son why Hi,, beard should not ren-' , Following Twenty-five Minutes Consideration, Brought in Acquittal Verdict. der an early d as, our applicat the board for a cision on that point, ion has been before long tme." Stampede Will be Repeated on July First and Second Local Fair Association Will Strive to Make the Show Bigger and Better. J. Justice Murphy Passes Sentences dence through an amendment to the i alition to get us out of our troubles address in reply to the speech from ' ._________,______ the throne, the Conservatives have now moved a second amendment which expresses regret that the address gives no indication of a policy designed to enlarge the volume of employment in the dominion. The division on the first amendment was reached shortly after midnight on last. The total strength of the Conservative party in the house is 116. but one of their number. Alex. Chaplin. member for Kent, Ontario, was ill in hospital to vote. The Conserva- >ded in taking five of the members from the gov- nd thus brought their ip to 1 20. The rest of Robert Forke's Progressive follow. ing voted with the government, as did the two Labor members, and the and unabl tive; succ Progressiv ernment. total vote wa a"eni Mess couple having and to his haying shown them a considerable sum of money. Walker said he saw a thick Stack of bills but they appeared to be of one-dollar denomination. With three of these bills Mur dscharged a debt wheh he owed to Rodgers, Lewis M. Walker said that Muir, in Hashing money around, told him he had $10,000 of the Hudson's Bay compan] money, and said that indicated the manner in which the company trusted him. Walker gave his lestmony a Sherlock Holmes touch. Like most prospectors he carried a diary of his movements. Although he had no interest in Muir. and had never seen him before, he said he was so impressed with whal Muir told him about having so much of the company's money in his possession that he XVIt)le llis word8 down in his diary. It was abolt the middle of May when Walker met Muir at Summit Lake, and after his departure for MacLeod Walker did not see him again until the first HLeefe In August. Walker was talking to sheriff !'.....r Gunn, in Edmonton, at the time. H8 Bald he saw a man with dyed hair. He did not recognize the voice or tho features, but from the manner in which ho filled his pipe he said he know hm as Muir. the Hudson's Bay man, whom he had m�l at Summit Luke in May. and who was charged with theft of the company's funds Walker said he communicated his conviction to Sheriff Gunn, who wan formerly Hudson's Hay agent at Port St. John, and that the two of them thereupon went to the Edmonton office of the company and communicated the information. Walker denied any ability or .weakness for slouithing, but could not explain why the manner in which Muir pressed his tobacco into his pipe made n greater impression than the man's features or his voice. amendment government mltted the aimed at the hous he swun umn on i ment th. feated. house in morning, when recorded, was the history of the except Ion of (Jonserval;\o mi one of the 24�"> i were in the p' was a The. it clear hope to defeated on a total te of 12o. It is ad-'seni amendment is the two Labor members in If the two of them could into the Conservative col-want of confidence anu-nd-government would be de-is saiil the situation in the the early hours of Friday �Alien th vote was being vithout precedent in he. dominion. With i he speaker, and the mber for Kent, every nembers of ihe house ices, and the result government majority of three. resull of the division makes that the government cannot carry on, and it is doubtful t will be able to survive the ses-1 sion. Two hundred and forty-five is a large company, For the moment! When the ussizc court re-sum d at 2:3O this, afternoon Mr. Justice Murphy sentenced the two prisoners who were found guilty by the jurors trying their cases. Harry Higginbotham, the Empire Valley rancher, found guilty of having carnal knowledge of Louise Carrigan, a foster child of eighteen years, was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. Arthur Hollos, of Prince George, convicted of assaulting Richard B>rotherston; with in-ten< to do actual bodily harm, was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment in the penitentiary. In passing sentence upon Higgin. botham the conn observed that the njuxtmuim penalty '�for his offe.'ice was two year.; imprisonment. lie thought the maximum should lie greater and that the court should H. Johnson Was Re-elected President at Annual Me. ting Held Yesterday. the After twenty-five minutes consideration, the jury charged with the trial of Fred Cyr for the murder of Alex. Duchame, near Chilco lake, on November 5th, brought in a verdict of "not guilty" at five o'clock last evening. The jury trying the case was composed of J. B. Lambert, foreman: W. McLaren, Charles Edwards, R. McCaffrey, J. Alunroe, T. Sullivan. W. K. McKenzie, M. T. Waldof, W. M. Ferrier, A. J. Buchanan, P. A. Green and E. F. Ruggles. There is li*ile of the revulsion which attaches to me taking of human life in the story unfolded by Fred Cyr in his confession of the killing of Alexander Ducharme, a few miles south of Chilco lake, on November 5th, and for which he was placed on trial for his life yesterday* before Mr. Justice Murphy, and a. jury of his peers.^V All that the crown knows about this killing is what CyrNhimself has told in his confession, and what was learned on the trip of officers of the law into the remote section of Chilco lake to exhume the body and verify as far as possible the statements? made by Cyr. Chilco lake is about 12") miles due north of Vancouver, It is close to the coast lire, but is by the range of At the annual meeting of Prince George Agricultural & Indus.' cut off from it trial association, held yesterday af- | mountains. To reach it by the only tarnoon, J. H. Johnson was re-elect-; existing roads and trails would mean ed president, A. E. Sibley was elected j a trip of approximately one thous-vice-president, and R. C. S. Randall, i and miles, secretary-treasurer, with an honor- j orium of $100. The meeting did not fix the date j for the fall fair, but decided to pro- The Chilco lake section has almost empire extent, but it is inhabited only by three white persons. This was brought out by N. H. ceed with arrangements for the hold- i McDiarmid. a young lawyer of Likely, j ing of a Stampede at the fair grounds \ and a son of F. A. McDiarmid, of on Thursday and hiiV|i t he po \ i :ii jury, ho make a reco l'i order that should know concerned he � :t<< i to their i'->'t impelled sentence of on er tD order whippings ever, had si en 'H to mmendation to mercy, members of juries that so far as ho was was willing to gi'.�- recommeniiatiohs. he to impose the lesse.' ar's imprisonment. hi one of t' to record the next divislo may be one or ment following ii 1 (esperate effort s the government holt ing Progressi government fold and Boutellier, of servatives is too ill j te. but by the time j London, Jan n is readied there debt negotiation ITALY DEMANDS BETTER TERMS FROM BRITAIN THAN' FROM UNITED STATES wo of the goverii-i he same posit ion. ;>re being made by to bring the five , es back into the These are Lucas Alberta, and Camp-�hael, of ell. Fansher avd farm laskatchewp.n. With a view to iri'i'.'in " about a closer unity of the .ibefats and tlie Progressives it is aid tho government will propose omething in the way of a coalition �overnment. nssigninn thr> Progres-two of the portfolios. Toronto Globe, speaking for liberals of Ontario, is insisting an early election. The busi->f the fifteenth parliament, it >rts, is to vote supply and make �mother appeal to the electorate in thp hope thai one of the two parties will be enabled to secure a following which will enable it to carry on the affairs of the country. C1I1VESI deadlock as t preseu tatives terms from Bri cured by Italy states. Winston lor of the excheq the annuities oi shall be the Rani( by the United St l!>.�The Italian have reached a result of Italy's re-demanding better tain than were se-from the United Churchill, chancel-er, is insisting that the Italian debt as those demanded tes. sive Th. the 1 upi nes Rev.. 11. Klfri services in the * "ran church on morning and 7 The subject for "Marriage is Ho LEADTEK WILL MAKE REPRISALS AGAINST .I.APW IN MANCHI'RIA On Tuesday e friends of Mr. turned in a sun The visitors did in the evening, a retired, but the) thj� house and under way and until 2 o'clock lg will conduct the onnaught Hill Luth. nnday at 11 in the :>0 in the evening. the eveing will be lorable in All." .��ning a number of ind Mrs. P. Pavich rise party on them. not arrive until late liter" Mrs. Pavich had y took possession of soon had a dance kept the fun goin in the morning. Thursday and Friday, July 1st. and 2nd. In view of the great success which the Stampede proved last summer it is expected that it can be repeated with advantage, and prqve of great assistance to the fair in the fall. The financial statement of the as^-, sociation showed disbursements" for the year of $7532.07. This was met in part by the sale or hypothecation of bonds to the value of $2075, and i there remains outstanding accounts ! to the amount of .$2320.19, inelud-a bank overdraft of $18.56.. Against this indebtedness the association has the fair grounds, the purchase price of which, as well as the improvements placed thereon, amounts to $4441.14, or slightly in excess of the total amount of the indebtedness. On motion of II. G. Perry a vote of thanks was tendered to the officers for the past year. The meeting appointed Messrs. John Gait, yV. L. Hornsby and C. AS Pyne as the finance committee, and Messrs. Hornsby and Gait will also act as auditors. The following directors were ap--n�4n4��4;-Gpa-r�"a_P-e4-ers,_C�A. Pyne. John Gait, R. W. MacLeod, Marshall Sales, W. L. Hornsby. J. C. Pidgeon, Alex. Wimbles. E. A. Lynch. T. S. CarmichaeH, W. Rolling. R. ! H. Moore, Claude F-oot, G. IT. Gower, W. Manson, Ed. Hall, G. B. Williams. F. D. Taylor. R. A. Ren wick, B. Hornby. R. W. Alward. Paul Wie-land. I. 15. Baird. A. McB. Young. W. Golder, W. Loekyer. Fred Loek-yer, B. Parker. W. J. Allan, Hugh Blackburn. F. J. Claxton. A. Leith, M. T. Waldof. A. J. Rogers. Andy Miller. J. Ryekman. R. G. Sutton, E. J. Down, S. McNeill; S. Johnston. P. E. Wilson. R. J Garvey. H. E. Taylor. II. G. Perry. S. W. George, W. Vancouver, who for several years was parliamentary agent of the Un-on of B. C. Municipalities. The younger McDiarmid is defending Cyr upon the charge of murder. The evidence which Cyr's counsel presented went a long way to strengthen the story of Cyr that his fatal quarrel with Ducharme was forced by reason of Ducharme's determination that there should be no prospecting for gold or other minerals in the ! Chilco lake section in which he was trapping. Ducharme had been trapping in the district for close upon ten years. He wirs probably peaceful so long as no attempt was made to encroach upon his trapping ground. He went into the district shortly after the completion of the Grand Trunk Pacific, and Mr. McDiarmid produced evidence to show that the trap line he called his, and which he guarded so jealously, was usurped from a friend and held with threats of violence. Antonio Belanger was the first white man to own the Ducharmo trap line. Belanger combined trapping in the winter with prospecting in the summer, and was one of the first to bring back to civilization stories of possible mineral riches of the district. When Ducharme first reached Chilco he an act of kindnes ed to permit hku line for one :>eas< hipr v.hen Belaap was broke, and as Belanger consent to trap over his n. The nevt KUtti- '-r reruu'l t> Ins trap line he found Ducharme building a cabin on the trap line, and asked him why he was building on another man's trap line. The answer of Ducharme was that the trap line no longer belonged to Belanger, but was his own property, and there was just that element of suggested violence that Belanger did not consider it advisable to assert his right to the W. Bexon, Harry Guest. John Daw-son. Dr. C. Ewert, John Newsome. J. E. Bateman and A. Wemkin; and Mesdnmes J. H. Johnson. R. G. Sut-ton, F. D. Taylor. A. Flaten. C. Neil-son. P. Welch, j. Gait, and Misses K. Renwiek, Ruth Hornsby and F. Blackburn. Tokio. Jan .19 �It is "officially announced that Chang Tso Lin. in �>�,'li:'tion for Japan's action during| the recent Chinese troubles, and for nlTeirad violntiona of .an existing treaty, has issued an order forbid- There was evidence of Muir being ding'foreigners from leaving Man- (Continued on Page 41 churia. Frank Ciddio. one of the old-time residents of Prince'Gecrge. wag in the city lasf week renewing acquaintances. For the past three, years Frank has been in California, in the employ of Harry Carleton. and is now on his way to his former home in Gosenza, Calabro, Italy, where he expects to holiday for six months before returning to the United State*. H. Simmons. A. lluble, H. A. Carney, trap line. In this way Ducharme becarrie established on what he called his trap line. There may be likely gold prospects in the Chilco lake section, but it is certainly on,-, of the best trapping sections in the province. For marten it is said to be one of the best. Ducharme was not a very active trapper but. it is said he averaged $2500 each winter from his traps. There was one other man who was trapping and prospecting in the Chilco lake section. This was Frank Anger, but when he .-r>s drowned in the Chilco river, about throe years ago, Ducharme was left virtually iu sole possession of the entire lake section. Much of this Information would have been lost to Cyr on his trial but. for the remarkable coincidence that McDiarmid. having been charged with Cyr's defence, had the good STORM SHUTS LLOVO GEORGE VP IN CHURT RESEDENlDE ON SIXTY-THIRD BIRTHDAY London. Jan. 19. was snowbound in Lloyd George his C.hurt resi- dence on his 63rd birthday. Numerous friends who tried to reach him today wiph their congratulations were unable to do so. FRENCH CHAMBRR DECIDES UPON >fBASURDS TO YIELD ENORMOUS REVENUES Paris, Jan. 19.� The French chamber has decided upon a new taxation proeramme which it is estimated will yield forty billion francs. The im-nost is necessary to meet the deficit in the nation's budget. fortune--to encounter Antonio Belanger in this city, where he has been living for some time, and to produce him as a witness. He did not know anything of the quarrel between Ducharme and Cyr, but he knew of the quarrel of years ago, when Ducharme (Continued on Page 4) �