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/ % / v * , 'M ' , //' ' " | Abbeville Press and Banner j Established 1844. $2.00 the Year. Tri-Weekly Abbeville, S. C., Friday, Aug. 26, 1921 Single Copies, Five Cents. 77th Year." ' : l T , ZR-2 IS WRECKED ON TRIAL FUGHT GIANT DIRIGIBLE EXPLODES OVER HULL, ENGLAND, AND PRACTICALLY ALL OF BIG CREW BELIEVED TO HAVE ' BEEN LOST. .London, z%?me new aui* erican dirigible ZR-2 was wrecked by an explosion near Hull today. It is known at least six survivors have been picked up, one of them with a broken leg and one severely burned. The two jumped from the blazing bag in parachutes and came down safely. I The machine was nearing the end of a trial flight trip, which was to establish her fitness for a transAtlantic trip to America. Going up late yesterday the great machine worked perfectly, responding readily to the contro^ levers and riding easily despite a high wind which was encountered.. x - While over Hull at 5:45 p. m. today, shortly after she had signalled that she was going to ? make a test flight for speed, the huge gas bag exploded. The derigible broke in two and plunged into/tne iuver numroer. , Captain Maxfield, of the United . ? States navy was on iboard. Tie remainder of the crew was, composed of thirty-one British air service men who were instructing the Americans in the handling of the giant bag, preparatory to starting the flight for the United States within a few days. * A dispatch to The Press association from Hull says five men were saved from the crew of forty-nine. A ^message from Hull received shortly before 7 p. m., said the airship's captain had been rescued. Some bodies, the message, added had been recovered. < 'Following are some facts about the ZR-2: I.?ngVs f-et 095; diinreter, feet, 85; capacity, cubic feet, 2,700,000; total life, tons, 83; engines 6; ceiling or maximum altitude, feet. 25, 000; cruising radius at 60 miles per hour 6,000; officers and crew, men, 42; gasoline supply, gallons 8,000. / ^Tells of Tragedy. Hull, Aug. 25.?Most of the British and American members of the crew of the ill-fated dirigible ZR-2, were killed by the explosion which followt ed the buckling and snapping of the girders amidships, declared Flight Lieutenant A. H. Wann, 'in command of the craft as navigating officer at :he time of the disaster in a statement to the Associated Press today. Lieutenant Wann said the ship had run beautifully at 60 knots an hour and that he had reduced the speed to 50 knots when there came a violent cracking sound. He thought several of the girders broke. The whole *h:ng happened in five seconds. There; was no sign of anything wrong when we passed over Hull," he added, "but everything happened afterward. I was in sole control at the :ime." "Thfere was no sign of anything vient," said Lieutenant Wann, whose :juries are' not serious, "the craft had been sailing perfectly. She had I'een passing through various difficult tests and the speed had been rpduc ed, when suddenly, while crossing the broad estuary of the Humber, I heard the grinding and cracking of girders and the airship pitched forward ncse down, from an even keel. "As soon as humanly possible, I epiptied the water ballast to enable the craft to resume its normal position but at this instant, a tremendous explosion occurred. The great ship seemed to halt for a moment and then it dropped like a rock. The concussion threw me down in the navigator's car where I was pinned by the wreckage. The section of the craft ' in wh;ch I was riding remained above SWINDLE SCHEME INVOLVES BIG SUA FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS UN EARTH PLOT THAT MAY CON CERN TWELVE MILLION DOL LARS?(OPERATING ON NA TIONAL SCALE. Chicago, Aug. 25.?(Federal in vestigators delving -into ^he affair of Charles W. French, alleged hea of a group of swindlers operatin; on a natoinal scale, today estimate that twelye million dollars might b involved in the Iband's activities. It manipulations, it is charged, wer the most audacious ever uncovere by federal agents and included a] leged banking schemes (bond ma nipt lations and stock transactions invoh ing seventeen companies and thre banks. Three alleged confessions wer in the possession of federal author: ties today. Government agents hav also recovered a million and a ha] dollars worth of doulbtful notes an have made eight arrests. Alva Harshman, for the last si years French's secretary, confesse yesterday to John V. Clinnln, a?si: tant United States district attorne regarding the band's activities, Mi Clinnin said. He was released i $5,000 bonds and is expeced to b the star witness for the governmen 11Von/>li tito a orrcafivl anmoHm I ; Jfk | VjMVU f?C*U M&4VWVVW WVU4VVJUI ago in connection with, the activitic of John W. Worthington, allege head of a group engaged in dispos ing of securities Qbtained in ma robberies. French is held here under $25,00 bond. Besides French and Wortt ington, both of whom are under ai rest, Harshman in his alleged con fession implicated a number of oth ers. . K. Strolbel, Akron, Ohic real estate man, Elmer Gerber,( o Cleveland and A. E. Strelzin, of Mi] waukee were yesterday taken int custody in those cities as agents o French. Today federal officials wer said to 'be hurrying to Washingto: to question the cashier of a ban there. MRS. JOSEPH L. JOHNSON 0 After a severe illness lasting tw weeks, Mrs. Joseph L. Johnson, wif of Chief of Police Johnson, die Thursday afternoon at her home o Church street. Funeral services wer conducted at 3:30 this afternoon b the Rev. C. E. Peele and the Rev. i B. Hillhouse, interment following a Sharon. Mrs. Johnson, whose maiden nam Woe Micc Minnio Hf pTTorryiQ woo A years of age. She was the daughte of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. M. M( Kenzie of this county. Mrs. Johnso spent all of her life in Abbevilh having been born near the place o her death. She was an active an j zealous member of the PreSbyteria i church and had a wide circle o friends, as well as an extensive fam ly connection, who join in extenc ing sympathy. Surviving Mrs. Johnson are he husband, Joseph L. Johnson, chief c police force, two daughters, Missc Lena Belle and Frances Johnsoi three sons, Maxcy, Fletcher and A pheus Johnson; six sisters, Mis Belle McKenzie, Mrs. Essie Nickle: Mrs. Oscar Jackson, Mrs. Frank I Jones, Mrs. Frank McNeill and Mr: Motte Gilliam; three brother Charles M. McKenzie, Kay McKenzi and Robert McKenzie all of whoi live in Abbeville. the water after the ship plunged ir to the Humber and I was rescue after being imprisoned for 15 mir utes. That is all I am able to say." Lieutenant Wann denied local r< ports that he had heroically plunge the ZR-2 into the river rather than o shore which was crowded wit^ thous ands of spectators. The disaster oc curred so quickly, he said, that an such action was impossible. CONGRESS RESTS . I TILL SEPTEMBER 21 |. BOTH HOUSES QUIT WORK FOR |. TIME WITHOUT VOTE ON BILL PREVENTING MANUFACTURE .. AND SALE OF BEER TO SICK. HARDING SIGNS MANY BILLS. i- Washington, Aug. 25.?Congress s took a recess tonight until September ^ 21, without a vote by the senate on a bill prohibiting the manufacture 5 and sale of beer to the sick. The d senate ended its work at 11:34 o'clock* e and the house at 11:58. s President Harding was at the cape itol late tonight to sign a number ^ of bills. The last to be put before him was the dye embargo extension, the last measure to be passed by the i- senate. r- The senate is expected to resume ? work upon reconvening but Representative Mondell, the Republican e leader, obtained an agreement to i- have the house declare three-day re w cesscs xrum ucptcuiuci ^x w ww ^ ber 3. d Announcement1 of adoption by the house of the recess resolution was * made to the senate while Senator d Stanley ( Democrat) of Kentucky, J- was in the midst of a speech attacks'1 ing provisions,of the a^ti-beer bill. r* After it had beeen laid aside temporn arily, senators opposing it were on e guard to see that it was not called up again in an attempt to obtain a quick vote. Prohibition leaders ear's ly in the night abandoned their efd fort to hold up the recess until it had been passed, failing even to obtain " an agreement fixing a date for a vote on it by the senate, after congress 0 reassembles next month. l" President Harding arrived at his u officg the capitol while the debate l" on a bill for three months' extenl" sion of the dye embargo was under way, ready to sign bills. Among the * first to "be signed was the shipping board deficiency bill with an amend0 ment carrying $20,000 for expenses * of the disarmament conference. e Objection by Democrats prevented n senate consideration of a bill passed k by the house imposing a duty of 90 J a. 1 * 1J 1-.- 11.^ I per cent, on war supplies suiu uy tne | government in France and shipped back to this country. o SUNDAY SCHOOL FIGURES e , d University of South Carolina Bullen tin Gives Interesting Facts. e y A bulletin recently issued by the r. Department of Rural Social Science, it University of South Carolina, enj titled, "The Rural Sunday School," e' gives some interesting facts in reK! tn this hran^h of Christian en r J deavor. The following Is one paraj graph of the bulletin: n "In 1825, the American Sunday School Union reported l,150*Sunday if schools with 11,295 teachers and d 82,697 scholars. In 1831, the semin centennial of the founding of the if system of Raikes, the American Suni day School Union reported 600,000 1- scholars enrolled. In 1910 the Sunday schools of the United States !T numbered 193,495, with 1,749,894 f teachers and 15,380,694 scholars. In is 1917 the Protestant 'and miscellai; neous Sunday schools had over 19,1 000,000 scholars enrolled and the js Roman Catholic schools 2,850,000. s, The Protestant enrollment was dis}. tributed as follows: Methodist, 7,s. 000,000 scholars; Baptist, 3,800,000; s, Presbyterian, 2,000,000; Lutheran, :e 1,000,000; Disciples, 940,000; Conn gregationalist, 750,000; Episcopal, Reformed, and United Brethren, - 500,000 each." l d REPRESENTING THE TEAM l- Billy Long and Bruce Galloway leave Saturday for Columlbia ?- where they go to attend the pracd tice school for coaches now in pron gress in that city. The boys will reps' resent the Abbeville team and will bring back to the boys enough new y stunts to put the team in the champion class. SOLDIERS' BODIES SAVED FROM FIRE FIVE HUNDRED * REMOVED FROM PIERS?FLAMES REACH SIDE OF GREAT LINER BUT ARE DRIVEN BACK AFTER STUBBORN FIGHT. Hoboken, N. J., Aug. 25.?Five hundred bodies of American soldiers dead, awaiting shipment to the home^ of relatives, were removed,in safety late today when fire of unkonwn origin swept over the army waterfront reservation here, destroying pfers five and six and adjoining ar my storehouse a/id barracks. iPier foul:, at which the giant Leviathan and the transport Wheaton were docked, was saved with difficulty. The flames licked the sides of the Leviathan, damaging a small section of woodwork on the bow and ! the forward mast, but a fire bofct I wedged its Way between the liner and the (burning pier and successfully fought off the flames as they spread to the huge craft. When the fire broke out there were 500 bodies in the large rooms at the junction of piers four and five. As soon as the alarm was sounded, Captain Wilbur, officer of tta day, called out the entire army personnel, albout '150 men, who started removing the bodies. Four hundred longshoremen on duty at nearby piers assisted. One thousand other bodies were lined up on pier four, Ibut inasmuch as the flames did not came nefer them they were not disturbed. The transport Wheaton, which "recently arrived here with 5,000 bodies, still had 2,000 alboard when the fire broke out but it was on the opposite side of the pier from which the fire was lo cated. ATTENDS POTATO MEETING Hodges Farmers Interested In Production of Tubers. Secretary G. T. Banes of the Chamber of Commerce, attended the meeting yesterday at Hodges in the interest of sweet potato production, i He said there was much enthusiasm j among those present and that steps | were taken that will- lead to a full I storage room another year. There is already a potato curing house at Hodges. Enough pledges were secured yesterday at the meeting to insure that the plant will be taxed to capacity next year. The plan is that the farmers will simply store their potatoes and agree that costs of storage shall be paid out of the proceeds resulting from their tale by a marketing committee or manager. This plan eliminates the necessity of having sufficient capital to purchase the tubers outright, and allows the owners the advantages to be gained by large lot sale ana cooperative enorr. Mr. Barnes hopes that plans may soon be perfected for the erection of a potato curing and storing house In A'bbeville. From appearances and reports, he says, a substitute crop must soon be found to take the place of cotton. There were present at Hodges yesterday a number of Abbeville county farmers, who appeared much interested in the proceedings, and some of them signed up to plant a definite acreage of potatoes next year. HUNTING SEASON BEGINS Open Date Comes September 1 For Some Game. The open season for the hunting o^j opossums, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, fox, plover yellow legs and deer (bucks only) begins September 1, Thursday of next week and continues to March 1. There remains, therefore, only a week in which to secure licenses, oil up the old gun, and acquire a reliable dog. MOB AT WIN I LYNCHES NEGRO j SLAYER OF NOAH FRICK PUT S TO DEATH?HUNDREDS OF SHOTS FIRED INTO BODY OF WILL ALLEN?REMAINS LEFT BEHIND . Chapin, Aug. 24.?Will Allen, negro a'bout 60 years old, was shot to ^ death by a mo-b of about 150 men , two miles from Chapin at 2 o'clock /? this afternoon for the killing 'of Noah F. Frick a highly respected far- t mer, late Tuesday. Immediately af- E ter Mr. Frick had been shot, a posse \ was formed and search for Allen be- t giun.. He was known to have gone in- .. to a swairfp after the shooting and all last night and throughout today * until Allen was found crouching in I a ditch, the search was kept up: Though armed with a Winchester 1 rifle, the weapon with which Mr. * iFViW wnn Ifillpf?. AHpti maHp nr? prf- C fort to resist the officers. He came * out of the ditch with his hands up. ^ Helber L. Meetze, found Allen in a ? ditch about ten feet wide and eight * feet deep. The negro was hidden by 11 undergrowth. Officers Foy of New- ' berry county and Rural Policeman i Koon of Richland county took charge of the prisoner. They were jftined ' immediately by Sheriff Roof of Lex- c inort.nn nr>H Qovprnl nfhp-r nn/1 t j ?o?. private citizens. These were on their way to their cars in which they intended to tafte the negro to the penitentiary for safe keeping when the moib with masks on their faces took the negro from them. Allen was led a quarter of a mile fcway and killed. An inquest was conducted later in the afternoon by Coroner Weed of Lexington. The verdict declared that Allen came to his death fcrom I gunshot wounds at the hands of un known parties. ^ c Late today the body of Allen was still where it fell.' Negores are said to have declared their intention to |( let it remain unmolested. (Hundreds of shots were fired into Allen's body, the head and chest be- ^ ing largely shot away, while the entire body is literally snot into a ^ shapeless mass. { Allen's rifle was jammed, and but ] foV this people here!1 believed that . members of the searching party might have been shot. One cartridge I \ had been snapped but failed to ex- { plode. The rifle then had refused to . eject the snapped cartridge. Allen had with him a bag con- < taining a pone of corn bread and a i ] glass of jelly. He bore a bad repu- < I tation in the community, even with < his own race and is said to have 1 once been tried for killing another i negro. Coroner Weed this afternoon also < held an inquest for the killing of Mr. Frick, the verdkrt of the jury 1 being that Mr. Frick came to his ' death from gunshot wounas at the i hands of Will Allen. i The funeral of Mr. Frick will be 1 held at Mt. Helbron Lutheran church 1 Thursday morning at II o'clock, 1 conducted Iby the Rev. J. M. Senter. ' Interment will be in the church vorH 1 Deputy Sheriff H. C. Oswald stated < today that the report printed in the 1 morning papers to the effect that 1 Allen had remained on the porch of J his home for several hours after the 1 shooting yesterday afternoon with 1 a gun in his hands defying the offi- i cers was incorrect. Mr. Oswald says s that he arrived on the scene in about 1 an hour after the shooting and that 5 Allen had already left the house * when he got there. R. W. Eleazer, c T. 0. Stoudmire. J. L. Eargrle and ^ George Hiller made the same state- t ment. 1 POSTOFFICE CHANGE t Lucien Lomax is now an assistant in the postoffice, taking the place of Fred Minshall, who resigned. G. A. Neuffer, Jr., clerk at the postoffice, is taking his vacation. (ENNETH GOSSER | GIVEN NEW TRIAL j UPREME COURT ORDERS RE- ' HEARING OF CASE?ACCUSED MAN FAILED TO GET FAIR SHOWING AT SPECIAL TERM, DECISION SAYS. News was received in Abbeville oday to the effect that the Supreme Jourt has ordered a new trial in the ase of Kenneth Gcfesett, who was ried at a special term of court held lere in April, 1920, and after coniction for crhnin'al assault, senfenced to serve 40 years in the pententiary. Gossett is now in the penientiary where he has been held >ending the decision of the court. ?Clerk of Court J. L. Perrin says hat as soon as the court's order has >een received the case will again be /, ! locketed here. He could not say wheV N ^3 ;her it was probable that the case - vould come up in the term of court ' :onvening Monday, September 5, rat it is not thought likely that it .wi|l >e taken up before the February ;erm of criminal court. Appeal for i change of venue was denied. Associate Justice Cothran wrote ^ j he opinion and the entire court con:urred, the new trial being granted m the grounds that Gossett was not jiven a fair trial by the special* :ourt. Justice Cothran severely oritcises the statute under which special :ourts are called and cites a number * j >f incidents to show that an accused las no showing under the present jolicy of special courts. The court also severely criticises he spirit of mobs and' says that vhere trials are held under condi- -?j ;ions similar to those obtaining at .v~ r> ?... .lie uusdeut ttt^c iv ao a /uuivuu ynching." vThe AJbbeville court -Was :alled to try the Gossetts alone. * a The Gossett case has attracted.? :onsiderable attention for more than i year. Two borthers, Kenneth, and fohn Gossett, were charged with ./ J iriminal assault upon two young white women of Abbeville. Feeling igainst the men was said to have >een bitter at the time and a special :ourt was requested by Solicitor Fifteen cents was being offered for best cotton today, but none was sold. Blackwell. This court was ordered md held early in April of 1920. "The defendant is entitled to be * I;' ;ried in an orderly manner,, however guilty he may be, in a calm judicial atmosphere," the opinion says. The rvature of the crime, time of trial, :ircumstances of the trial and th? public mind are all of the gravest concern to the accused, it is pointed >ut, and will have a bearing on the verdict. "What was the reason for a special pourt at Abbeville?" the court asks. There was apparently no :ro\vded docket, as the Gossett case was the only one tried and this could lave waited untrl the next term. "Circumstances of this trial demonsrate beyond a doubt that Gossett inder the operations of the section .ve are now considering was con- V /icted by due process of law and ivas denied equal protection of the law." The fact that ten days' notice is required by the law for the drawing >f the jury and only five were given it Abbeville was not allowed to stop ;he trial, it was pointed out. If the statutory notice had been given, the :rial could not have been held at ihe time, the court says, '^but a slight statutory regulation must not itand in the way." The condition of ^Ibbeville at the time is clearly shown, Mr. Cothran says, when af;er a verdict of not guilty had been lirected as to John Gossett the defendant had to be slipped out of ;own for fear of violence. In conclusion, the court says that to reflection whatever is meant to >e cast upon Solicitor Blackwell. SPOT COTTON