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N" l' $ -4 i Established 1891. PLAN FOB RIVER ROAD GETS RUNNING START County Authorities and Legislative Delegation Agree to Help. Public Meeting Saturday. To the Citizens of Fort Mill Township: As a committee appointed Monday morning at a meeting of . Fort Mill township citizens to confer with' the board of county commissioners and the county legislative delegation relative to the construction of a permanent highway between Fort Mill and the Catawba river bridge, we feel it our duty to call a second meeting of the citizens of the township to report the progress we made in our conference with the two bodies and to invite a general consideration of the whole road situation in Fort Mill township. We are taking the lib? erty of naming Saturday afternoon, April 9. at 4 o'clock p. in. as the time of the meeting and the town hall as the place. T B. Spratt. L. A. Harris, S. W. Parks. J. L. Spratt, A. O. Lytic, Committee. Discussion of the construction of a permanent highway between Fort Mill and Catawba river bridge, a distanee of about a mile and a half, reached the public meeting stage Monday morning when a number of Fort Mill township citizens and representatives of the chamber of commerce of Rock Ilill held a conference in the Fort Mill town hall with County Supervisor Brown, County Engineer Miller and N. (1. Walker, member of the State highway commission. J. J. Bailes was elected chairman of the meetinor ?O' Following a general discussion of the matter by Fort Mill and Rock Hill citizens, after Mr. Miller had given an estimate of what \ bethought the undertaking would cost, from $40,000 to $45,000. and hod expressed his opinion of the .ability of the county to help finance it from funds now in V hand. Supervisor Brown said the county would agree to build a steel bridge and abutments across the branch near the river and that other financial assistance might be given by the county, but he could not say how much. A motion was adopted authorizing the chairman to appoint a committee of five Fort Mill citizens to take up the proposition with the county commissioners at the mouthy meeting in York yesterday. The committee also was authorized to appear yesterday before the legislative delegation to ascertain how much money, if any, the delegation would agree to provide from county fuuds at the next session of the Legislature to aid in the project. Col. T. B. Spratt, Capt. S W. Parks, L. A. Harris, Dr. J. L. Spratt and A. C. Lytic were named as the committee. Before the meeting adjourned Mr. Wal Ker stated that Kort Mill township could depend upon $10,000 federal aid to help build the road if the highway commission were assured that the county and township would put up the balance for the project. Yesterday in York the Fort Mill committee and a number of Rock Hill citizens presented tlioiviews of the necessity of the proposed road to the county commissioners. who agreed to furnish $10,000 for the project, the cost of the bridge and the abutments to be deducted from this sum. and to recommend to the State highway commission that $10,000 of York county's allotment of federal road aid be set aside for the project. The legislative delegation also agreed upon a resolution to provide $20,000 of county funds at the session of the Legislature in 1922 upon condition that the town of Fort Mill build one mile of concrete street to connect with the mile and a half of concrete road the citizens of Fort Mill and Rock Hill were asking for and upon the further condition that Fort Mill township ' agree to release the county from any further obligation to construct public roads*in this township under the provisions of the Stewart road law. The resolution was signed by Senator Hart and Representatives Pnrsley, Oarothers and Mitchell. Represen* c i The F VERDICT FOR MNINCH. Twenty Thousand for Owner of Charlotte Brick Plant. Saturday afternoon the Mecklenburg county jury which for three weeks had been hearing the evidence in the superior court in Charlotte in the suit of S. S. McNinch against the American Trus^t company of that city awarded the plaintiff $20,000 of the $100,000 damages he claimed was duo him as a result of the sale by the\ defendant company of the Charlotte brick plant, located at Grattan, two miles south of Fort Mill, for much less than the actual worth of the plant and in violation of an agreement he had with the company. Attorneys for the company at once gave notice of an appeal and Saturday after* noon next was set by the presiding judge as the time he will hear their arguments. Considerable interest attached locally to the outcome of the suit. Numerous Fort Mill citizzens appeared as witnesses in the ease A few years ago the Charlotte brick plant was a live enterprise and its operation brought an appreciable volume of trade to Fort Mill merchants. Hut the business did not continue to prosper and a mortgage was given upon the property, including a valuable tract of adjoining land, by the owner. Mr. McNinch. to the American Trust company. This mort}T}1 fre \\*ns fnT*<?r?lr?coil nii.1 fi?Am tli., sale of tlx* brick plant and land about $25,000 was realized, barely enough to cover tin* mortgage of the trust company. Mr. McNineb claimed that the property \va? sold at a great sacrifice and contrary to an understanding he bad with the company as to its sale.. ITence the damage suit. Cotton Acreage Locally. The consensus of opinion of farmers and others who are in position to know what is happening in Fort Mill township is that the cotton acreage hereabouts will be cut not less than 25 pel' eon. perhaps more, this year, due in no small measure to the fact, that commercial fertilizer is bard to obtain. The fertilizer companies are requiring cash or bankable paper before they will supply their product to the farmers, and as neither is plentiful at the present time, the consequence is that there is a decided falling off over normal years in the use of fertili y.or. Tilero was 11 recent slump in flic price of fertilizer, but the decline has sot stimulated its sale locally. Ordinarily during; the spring; there are more than 100 carloads of commercial fertilizer shipped into Fort Mill for use in the cotton crop of this section, but not more than half a dozen ears have been received here thus far this season. Preparing: for Pageant. Wintlirop college is preparing? a pageant of South Carolina history which will he presented 011 the campus on the afternoon of Mav 6. Practically the entire student body of more than 1.000 voting women will take part in the pageant, which will present the history of the State in 11 dramatic episodes, portraying in beautiful scenes important epochs in the life and growth of South Carolina. Indian scenes, life among the pioneers, the iords proprietors. Revolutionary history. scenes from the Civil war. reconstruction times, with the Red Shirt riders are to he produced with every effort after historic accuracy. tr.tive Bradford was not at the delegation meeting, h;? "ider 1! 1--! ? * 11 1 1 Kuiiuiiii<r nemg inai me ueiegation was to come to Fort Mill township to inspect the condition of the road the county was asked to improve and that later in the I day yesterday a meeting delegation was to he held in Fort Mill to consider the matter. The Fort Mill committee was not authorized to either accept or reject the proposition of the legI islative delegation and after reJ turning to Fort Mill yesterday I afternoon the members decided 1 to issue the call printed herewith for a public meeting in the,town | hall Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock when the whole township j road proposition will be eonsidt ered. ORTl FORT MILL, 8. 0., THUR1 VISITS "PEONAGE FARM," DEATH TRAP FOR BLACKS Former Fort Mill Mail Sees Graves of Alleged Victims of Big Georgia Planter. Floyd Smythe, until a few months ago a resident of Fort Mill, who is now making his home at Covington, Ga., writes his father, Ira G. Smythe of Fort Mill, that within the last fortnight he has seen some of the graves of Ihe 11 negroes .John Williams, wealthy Georgia farmer is alleged to have killed or had killed on his plantation in Jasper and Newton counties, Ga. Williams' plantation is oniy a few miles from Covington. Following the peonage investi(VnllAtl WfillintMo' n foil' r?,,Vu vii n iiiiuuio jnavc a xtr*v months ago by federal agents, he and a negro, Clyde Manning, who is said to have confessed to helping Williams kill some of the negroes, were arrested a few days ago on federal warrants charging peonage and both have since been indicted in the State courtR for murder. Williams, it is charged, made it a practice to visit the courts in .Jasper and Newton counties and pay the fines of negroes convicted of crime upon the promise of the negroes to repay him in work on bis farm. Once they had gone to work on the farm they were virtually prisoners, being guarded by armed men while at work and locked up in a stockude at night, according to the stories. Clyde Manning, Williams' negro foreman, is said to have confessed that, under direction of Williams, of whom he stood in great fear, he killed four negroes with an axe, all of whom, along w-iin ilit* others of the 11, were put out of the way because Williams feared they would tell something relative to labor conditions on his plantation. On one occasion a negro known as "Big .Jim" was taken to a pasture and put to work digging a well, according to the story. When the well was about six feet deep Williams touched Manning on the elbow. Manning knew what that meant. He grabbed an axe and struck "Big Jim" a terrific blow 011 the head as he was standing up in the well. "Big Jim" crumpled up at the bottom of the well and his body was found in that position when Manning showed the officers where they would find his grave. Williams tlml Manning are now being tried at Covington for the murder of one of the 11 negroes they are charged with having disposed of. BURIED AT DT D ttomtk ?? vai*/ MV1UXJ. Walter 0. Leazer, World War Victim, at. Rest in Fort Mill. In the presence .of perhaps as many as a thousand people, funeral services were held at Confederate park. Fort Mill. Sunday afternoon at II o'clock for First Class Private Walter (). Leazer. World war victim, whose body arrived Saturday afternoon from Camp Jackson. Columbia, where il had been taken from Iloboken, N. J., after deing disinterred in France and brought home for filial burial. The funeral services began with a song by a select el oir, which was followed by prayer by the Rev. *J. B. Black. Willie II. Nims then deliever an address in which he praised the gallantry of the young soldier w hose memory was being honored and tlin Iiokawi 41*" ' """ v. ...? nvi uiu n wi r\ ui lilt' tUllf round to which he belonged. Company G, 118th infantry, ..10th division. Following the services in Confederate park, the body was taken to New Unity cemetery and interred beside those of his comrades. Sergt. Tom Hall and Sergt. Fli Hailes, in the plot of the Fort Mill post. American Ijegion. The services at both the park and the grave were under the auspices of the Fort Mill legion post. Walter O. Leaser, son of Mr. and Mrs. I). A. Leaser of Fort Mill, lost his life in action in France on October q 1918. He was a model soldier, for whose record his comrades have onlv praise. He volunteered for service overseas with the Fort Mill company at the outbreak of hostilities with Germany and was the youngest of the Fort Mill boys who lost their lives in the conflict. )ft%. ... - . HILL ' SPAY, APRIL 7, 1921. ARKANSAS PEOPLE SUFFER FROM GOOD ROADS LAW State in Bad Shape as .Result of Heavy Taxation for Highway Improvement. Many South Carolinians have complained of the inefficiency of the State highway act passed at the 1920 session of the Legislature, and much of the complaint appears to be justified by the failure of the act to produce the improved highways needed through, out the State; but whatever the shortcomings of the South Carolina highway act, it has had no such effect as the socalled goo<l roads law passed a few years ago ir ArkllTlHSIU whiipn " OA*i.ncr>n?i ? ? ?< i*Vt \Jy (( VVI ? iOJJV/ir dent of the New York Times reports, that "thousands of Arkansas land owners are today facing financial ruin as the result of the enactment of socalled good roads laws." He quotes Governor McRae. the new executive, as declaring that "this road business has turned out to be the greatest disaster that has ever befallen the people of Arkansas." The ambitious good roads law enacted in Arkansas was given wida and generally favorable publicity on its initiation under an earlier State administration. The New York Times was prompted to investigate its present condition by reports reuehing Washington to the effect that Arkansas land owners were in many instances being taxed "in the name of fTOOll pnndu nltnnut ? ?..J., t ^ ? m WM?|? |4Mllunt I \M 1 lie JIUHll where the levies amounted to practical contiKoution of the properties." It was wUlori that the federal highway bureau had withheld a large part of the allotment of good roads money to Arkansas pending revision of the State road laws. After vifiitiug counties in eastern, central and western Arkansas, The Times correspondent reports that "evidence of the truth of the reports that came to Washington was everywhere easy to obtain. Mortgages were executed which were filed within the last ten-days?mortgages given as security for money to pay road taxes that in some instances amounted to approximately 10 per cent of the total value of little farms and homes worth less than $1,000." lie cites, among other specimens, the case of "a widow whose total gross income was less than $4,000. and whose road tax. due the 10th of April, is $2,800. Millions of dollars." he adds, "have been expended on roads tllfit In flio ... juiuuiuiiy expressed opinion of Assistnni Justice Hart of the State supreme Ibourt, hepin nowhere and end nowhere." Governor McRae was elected 011 a platform pledpinp reform of the road laws, but charges that his efforts to secure remedial legislation have been blocked by the opposition of the State senate, containing many holdover members. Mecklenburg Bond Eelection. Some interest is felt in Fort Mill in the election to be held in Mecklenburg county, N. ('., on April 19 to pass upon the proposed *2,000,000 road bond issue for that county. The act providing for the election was passed at the session of the North Carolina Legislature last February. There steins to have been little demand for such an election, judping from | statements made at the recent I anti-band meeting held in Charlotte. The aet also provided that supervision of the county roads should pass from the board of county commissioners to a county road commission, the personnel of which was named in the aet. The Mecklenburg members j of the Legislature have been severely criticised for what oppo- ; nents of the bond issue declare I was high-handed legislation for . which they are responsible. Engagement Announced. Mr. and Mrs. ,1. B. Mills have J issued invitations to the marriage at their home in Fort Mill on j Wednesday afternoon, April 20, j c* their niece, Miss Frances Jo- < sephine Smith, to Avery Clarence | Cray ton. Miss Smith is a former t<acher in the Fort Mill graded school and is popular with a wide circle of friends in Fort Mill. 'For some time she has made her home in Charlotte. Mr. Craven is a business man of Charlotte. Timej NEWS OF YORK COUNTY. Current Items of Interest Found in the Yorkville Enquirer. T. O. Purvis, white man of Rock Hill, committed to jail several days ago ou a warrant charging him with malicious mischief in that he did damage to a freight cab in the yards at Rock Hill, while in an intoxicated condition, has been released on bond in the sum of $500. T. B. Glenn, manager of the Tirzah ginnery and magistrate for Ebenezer township, was painfully hurt when an oil cup which he held in his hand came in eontact with the engine wliool th?? cup striking him on the heand and knocking him over. His injuries, while painful, are not serious. MeConnelssville people who were in Yorkville Monday morning said that Stewart & Jones, road contractors, were making fair progress in the wark of repairing the South road between the Chester line and Yorkville. Considerable difficulty is being met with in the matter of getting sand, long hauls being necessary. Hock Hill printing houses have given notice of a cut in wages to employees, it was learned Tuesday morning. The cnt is effective next week and is made necessary by the general business decline. There has been no kick on the part of the employees, it is said, who realize that a wag" cut is necessary in the general effort to reduce operating expenses. Sheriff Fred Quinn has found an entirely new use for copper and galvanized iron stills v hich l.e and other officers capture from mnonsliiimrc Tl.*... 1 - > in^t (iit vrrv desirable as chicken coops, according to the sheriff, who has ? number in service in his yard at the jail for that purpose. The sheriff has the largest and most varied assortment of stills to be found anywhere?the collection totaling between 40 and HO. Announcement is made of marked reductions in the prices of fertilizers following conferences among representatives of the leading manufacturers of the country. On February lf> the port price on 10 per cent acid was $29.50 a ton. The price has dropped to $12 a ton. and the price of standard 8-3-3 fertilizer bus dropped to $20.08 from $47.50 in January. The fertilizer people explain that the drop has come about largely through the repeal of the Lever act, but just bow is not fully explained. Fire last Tuesday morning destroyed the residence of W. A. If-ir? -- - iwA'iYinney on York No. 2. together with all the furniture and household effects. The fire is thought to have originated from a small blaze which was left in the fireplace, no one being at home when the fire was discovered. D. B. McKinney suffered a laceration to his leg while breakirg out a window sash in an effort to save some furniture. The loss was only partially covered by .insurance. The fire marked the third dwelling that Mr. McKinney has lost by fire in 27 years. There are a total of 2M1 applications for Confederate pensions for 1921, according to information brought before the York county pension commission at a meeting of the commission held here last Tuesday. The commission does not as yet know how much monev will he Mvnilnhle fr?r distribution nninn<r Confederate veterans and wives of veterans in York county this year, but this information is expected at an early date. The pensioners this y^ar will be divided into two classes. A and B. (Mass A will include those veterans and wives of veterans who are in bad condition physically and practically destitute, while all others will be included in (Mass B. The pension commissioners for York county are W. S. Wilkorson of Hickory Grove, .T. J. Hagins of Rock Ilill and S. II. Epps of Fort Mill. York *Jaif Full. Thirty-three * prisoners are in the York comity jail awaiting trial at the April term of court, which convenes on the 188th instant. This is said to be the largest number of prisoners in the York jail in nearly a score of years. 1 > . r * -V.:- ; ' ' St' ' '" ) $1.60 Per Year. SHORT NEWS STORIES FROM MANY SOURCES Current Events Gathered Here and There and Boiled Down For Times Readers. Hale and hearty, John Thomas. Confederate veteran, 10J years old, of Newport News, Va<, fell in a well near his home and was drowned. Federal prohibition agents who >irroMt...l tjw. vv:ik * .v.. ,.iv mi, n 111 lit 111 milHTson, a negro preacher of Mr Kinley Heights, Ohio, say they found two stills in the cellar of his home. Lucking but three years of the century mark, William .1, Crane of China, Me., is teething for the third time. ?A full set of healthy white teetli are gradually working their way through the gums. The British government, shocked b;> the 1921 models of bathing suits for women, has decided upon government control of women's bathing costumes and has appointed a bathing costume controller. Women employed in State depart ments now housed in the temporary capitol in Charleston. W. Va.. must lay aside cigarettes. The State auditor says the women 1! II11 .rl.-l ' ? ...... r-' ? ninilUtVlTS I1I1VC lll'CU smoking* as freely while :it work lUS tllO MH'II. After selling; a feather bed for $10 to huv food for her husband |and 11 ehiUlreu, a Buffalo. N. V.. woman broke into the home of the purchaser at nigrht and stole I it back. The judg;o permitted | her to retain the bed on condition that she repay the $10. j Immediate steps are to hi* taken | for the relief of disabled veterans of the World war. This decision was rear lied at the White House when President Harding; went over the whole situation with t'ol. F. W. (lalbraith. national eoininaiuler of the* American Bejjion. A new world's record for a parachute leap was made when Lieut. Arthur (3. Hamilton dropped 24.000 feet, more than four and three-fifths miles, from an aeroplane at t'hannte Held, Cluimprigrn. 11). Me slept during the hour and 2(> minutes recpiired to make the ascent, nut kept nuieli awake during; the drop. No more eracked dishes are to he allowed in restaurants in Texas under the provisions of a law approved by (lovernor Neff. The law also provides that all restaurant and hotel dishes must be sterilized after use and prohibits the employment of persons with nneciious or contagious diseases ir. dairies, restaurants, hotels or meat markets. If it is humanly or physically possible, (Jrover Bcrgdoll. millionaire draft dodder of Philadelphia. who escaped a military prison in the United States ami is mow at large in (lermany. will be nought back to this country to serve out the five year sentence imposed upon him by a military court martial. Secretary of War Weeks summed up the attitude of the government when, in response to questions, he tersely stated: 'We are going to gel Bcrgdoll." flames S. Kslinger. f>l years old. who has been asleep for nearly three years, awoke the other day in the county hospital at Fort Smith. Ark., yawned, and then went back to sleep, according to the nurse attending him. Kslinger entered the hospital in 11)14, a sufferer from nellatrra. In An gust, 1918. lie fell into the sleep which has just hern broken for the first time. He has been foil through a tube since his lengthy sleep began ami has not lost in weight. Dorothy Miller. lf> years old. of Trenton, N. J., who offered to marry in two years any white man who met her requirements as to refinement .and education and who would give her $1,000 to permit her mother to have a vitally needed operation performed. has been informed that a wealthy man in St. Paul. Minn., who refuses to disclose his identity. has mailed her a certified check for $1,000 and that the girl would not have to marry him to cash it. The unknown benefactor. it was stated, declared the girl's readiness to sacrifice herself to save her mother made a ..trong appeal to him. . ' m