Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ESTABLISHED 1865. NEWBERRY, S. O., FRIDAY, JUNE 5 1908 TWICE A F TERRIBLE TORNADO SWEEPS GAINESVILLE. ONE HUNDRED LIVES LOST, 150 INJURED, AND 800 HOMELESS. The Property Loss Will Probably Exceed A Half M1llio'a Dollars-Details of The Terrible Disaster. Gainesville, Ga., June 2.-A tor. nado of terrifle force struck Gaines viyle Monday afternoon out of a clear sky, causing a fearful loss of life in this city and New Holland and White Sulphur. It now seems certain that the death list will not be much short of one hundred; perhaps somewhat over a hundred, considering the num ber of dangerously wounded, whose chances for recovery cannot now be calculated. But through all the rloom and desolation that surrounded Ae town like a pall of darkWess there radiates a beam of hope and encour agement-hope that the death list may not be so numerous as reported; and encouragement to those who are so bravely and devotedly assisting in the work of relief. The death dealing storm appeared suddenly a little before 1 o'clock, a6d within two minutes it had killed nearly a hundred persons, torn two stories from the five-floor brick fac tory of the Gainesville Cotton Mill@, demolished almost two hundred cot tages, razed two brick stores to the ground and blown down innumerable outbuildings. By what appears to be a miracle the tornado's fury was confined to the outskirts of the city, the main business and residence por tion not being touched. Torrents of rain accompanied the wind, but within five minutes after the first onslaught the sun was shining upon a scene of fearful destruction. The list of the dead is conflined mainly to operatives of the Gaines. ville Cotton Mills and the Pacolet Cotton Mills, and two-thirds of them were women and children. The tornado did its appalling work in such an INOREDIBLY SHORT TIME that it is difficult to obtain a cohe rent description of its character. It appears to have swept down from the southwest, striking the Gainesville Mlls with at roar like the report of artillery. After lifting two stories from the structure it swept on to. ward the northward, leaving a trail ot destruction along Summit. street, which is inhabited almost exclusively by negroes. Nearly a hundret? cot tageu of colored people oni this street were lovelled to the ground, but by a fort tnsat eireinatance the teniants were~ all absen'it. htavinig left: the city in the mi ernin~g to take part~ in a no gro picemei. P'ACoL.ETi CiOTToN Ml LLS, at N,ew Holland, two mnIes fromi the Southern st ation,. This is one of the largest cott on mills ini the Sont hi, em ploying more t huan six hiundred hands. TIhe setormn spared t h.le. 'let factory, butt entirtly demolished a hundred. of its cos ges staundinig nuearby and tenanttedl by its opierat ives. Here th. fat alitie~s we'rt greatest, nipwards of thirty five prsons~ being buried in the rmits of t he cottages. Bodies were bulown hundre'ds of yards and many of them wheun picked up bore no semb)lance to humanity. The .trunk of one young boy was found with the head taken off as if by the guillotine. From New Holland the tornado swept onward to the east in the di rection of White Sulphur, a town of about one hundred persons. The extent of its destruction ther e can not now be definitely told, but re ports so far received indicate consid erable~ loss of life. The bodies of moest of the dead in the two cotton mills were fearfully torn and mangled; the skulls of many of them were crushed and the limbs broken; some were torn and crushed atout the abdomen, with the viscers visibly protruding. The local phy sicians who gave the first aid to the injuredl say tho sights were horrible beyond dlescription. KILLED AND woUNDED. FPiguring from all available sourcel and giving credence only to those reporta which are believed to be trustworthy, the following is a sum mary of the efloots of the tornado in Gainesville and its environs: One hundred killed. One hundred and fifty injured; of whom probably twenty will die. Eight hundrrd homeless, their residences having been wiped out of existence. Property loss of about half a mil lion dollars, none of which was cov ered by storm insurance. A concise and accurate statement of the casualties cannot be rendered for sevetral days, but the physicians in attendance believe that it will not go very far above one hundred, al though twenty five or thirty are des. perately injured and may die within the next two or three days. The death list so far compiled in. oludes 32 at the Pacolet Cotton Mills, at New Holland, all of whom were killed in the demolition of the com pany's pottages; and 36 at the Gaines ville Cotton Mills near the Southern Railway station, where the tornado first struck. The entire pathway of the storm, extending two miles from the Gaines. ville Mills, around the outskirts of the city to the Pacolet Mills, at New Holland, is a mass of ruins, but for tunately the cottages in the trail of the tornado between the Southern station and New Holland were those of negroes, who were all absent from thr city on an excursion. Business is almost entirely sus pended throughout the city, the at, tention of everybody being given tc the care of the wounded and suffer ing. There im no lack of medical at tention, many surgeons being present from Atlanta and other cities. Therc is great need, however, of clothing, antisceptics and other medical sup plies. The local militia have been called out for police duty. The city i very orderly and quiet and only E few instances of pillaging have been reported. The work of the tornado was com plete, From the factory, where it first descended upon the doomed city, to the hills, beyond New . Hol land, where it rose into the upper air, the destruction of property is appalling. Along this entire course for a dis tance of two miles there is not i fence standing, not a habitable house, most of the latter being reduced t( strips like laths, and scarcely a tref ,left. At New Hollaud the storm did its worHt. Nothing but. the barren ret hills are left there to tell the stor-y of t he aw ful dist res-. For a (<hstac of t hree quarrterm of a mrile on t he himl sides anid ini thE valley t o the left of t he Pacolet Mills the ground is ob)s<:ured almost en tirely by the fragments of the 15( houses that were there when thn twisting torando swept down. Standing on the . hill top nearest the city of Gainesville and lookin1 northeast, a strip of perfectly smooth swept territory is presented to thle eye of the observer, and the enitir< vista is paved wvith the wr-eckage o de'st roy ed hiomes. CAPERS SCORES DBAS. Because He Characterizes Roosevelt's Ad ministration at the Rottennst That Ever .Dsgraced the South. The State. Charleston, May 31.-United Stote District Attorney John 0. Utpvar sent a communication today to th New York World, denying state ments contained in an interview wit E. H. Deas, colored, who claims t be the Rlepublican national commil teeman, the oflMee which Capers holdi He takes exception to Doas' charat terization of President Roosevelt administration being "the rottenes that has ever disgraced this section. Capt. Capers declares Doss to be garrulous follow who lost his federm office shortly after Mr. Roosevelt be came prosident and has been delive ing himself of such expressions ovi since." Capt. Capers shows tI Deas is endeavoring O prevent Sont Carolina from falling into the Roosi velt column, but says that Dess wi not succeed. He only noticed tI statement of Deas because ho signe himself as national comm itteema which office he does not hold. SOUTH CAROLINA NIWS. Items of More or Less Interest Con4onsed In the State. The two-year old little girl of Col. W. G. Stephenson, the superintend. est of0te Ring's Mountain Mihtary, Academy, Yorkville,4iee this,week from the effecls of eating glass. It was thought at first that the little one was. suffering from dysentery, but- upon examination of,the excre ment oumerous. pieces of electric light bulbs were found. A terrifie- hail storm visited Green Wood 1\[onday aftornoon. The news ppers, report many .ail spies waich -measured six inches in cir cumference. The storm at Anderson Monday afternoon killed George Hammick, who was standing on the fGont piazza of his home at Orr Mills. Hammick was 25 years old and leaves a yonng wife, whom he had but recently married. An order published at the war de. partment revokes the former order naming the fortifications on Sulli-| van's Island Fort Getty and directs that they be called Fort Moultrie. The Carnegie librar) for Union is Comme JUN OurSoda Fou Cool. Fe Ice Cold Soda WC ICE C Our Chocolate ( Has been so often i that it has become a Try it and be conv Claretaid A Maraschino Cherry IN EACH ONE 5c. GILDI PartiCular Phi I NEVM assured, and the cit izens bave been called upon for fifty per cent. of their subscriptions. Five colored . nurses on Tuesday night received their diplomas from the Oolored T1raiininig School for Nurses in1 ObarleBton. The Good Roads Convention of York met on Tuesday, and was at tended by Senators Tillnani and President 1-yatt and Governor Hey wvard, all. whom made addresses. Mrs. Alama Boozer, wife of J. C Boozer, of WVillia&mstoni, was shot ae. cidentally and probably fatally wounded Monday morning. While arranging some clothes in a ward. Srobe a pistol which was inside wai knocked off the shelf and discharged .the ball ploughinig its way tnrongi a the body of Mrs. Boozer, penetrating 0 the left lung. Th'e Rev. Jno. T1. Morrison, ai be .loved Baptist preacher of Fairfax s was taken suddenly ill just as he wvat F)nth ulpit. about to begin his ser mon on Sunda y. Mr. G. B. Allen, a flagman on th< Seaboard1, was ground to death or Wednesday just, as his train wal rpunlling out of Camden. He wai h boarding the train when his fee slipped and he went under th< II wheels. d CJol. Frank Coxe, proprietor of th, i,Battery P'ark Hotel, at, Asheville (lied an Tnamlday morning GENERAL NEWS NOTES. Items of More or Less Interest Condensed Outside the State. A. E. Ames & Co., a big firm of bankers and brokers of Toronto, Ont., failed fQr ten millions on Tuesday. The failure caused a panic in Mon treal, which was reflected on the New York Stock Exchange. Women led an attack by strikers of the Rockmen and Excavators Union upon workers and policemen in New York on Tuesday. The women ased stones and bricks as weapons. One policeman was injured. Eight arrests. were made. The strike of Philadelphia's tex. tile workers for a fifty five hour week has spread to the hosiery mills and eight thousand more have joined the army of strukers, tiemng up Philadel phia's textile industries. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat prints a story from Enid, Oklahoma, saying that John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, survived his victim nearly forty years and com mitted suicide at Enid on the 14th day of January; that the man killed in Virginia supposed to be Boot h.was a it an named Ruddy. ,noement E 8th, 9th and ntain will be the Lms running day - xter, Milk Shakes, Lem( REAM SODAS, ETC., oream Our iraised Became that you Chestnut CREAM I inced. Orangeaid A Slice of Orange IN EACH ONE 5c. R &, WI 3.rmacists, Corn /BERRY, - - The preliminary hearing of Macber before a United States Commnissione: will take place today. Postmaste General Payne says that all salen pomnts in the p)ostoilice investigatioi will have been disposed of by th, last of this month. Mr. and1 Mrs. Samuel WVestmnore land living in ' he little village ; Rtankin, 14 miles from Waxahiachii Tier. were shot 11(1 killed Tuesda night, while at their supper tiabb~ It is alleged the shooting was (1on by Mrs. Westmoreland's brother, wvh has not been captured1. Sama Davis was killed near Knoy ville, Tenn., Monday afternoon, Fal Milton chopping his head off an: burying an axe several times in b body. Msisippi's hanidsome nemwca tol building, erected at a cost of or million dollars, was d1edicated1 C Wedlnesday. Contracts have beena awardled f< the construiction of the Vermon~ Minmne4ota and1 K(ansas, three ne battleships, which will he t he moi powerful in the niavy. Ernest Haywood, who killed Lu< low Skinner on the streets of Raleig some time ago, has been granted ha TLhe case. has excited an unusu *amount of interest on acount of tl p)rommen1ce of the parties. MR. M'LAUIN'S ILL LUCK. He Seems to Have Been Done Out of $100, 000--the E3x-Senator Tells a Sad Story. News and Courier. New York, June 3.-John J. Mc Lanrin, farmer United Stiates Sonator from South Carolina and political foe of Senator Tillman, is in this city, striving to gather soni fragients of his fortune, which, he declares, has been shattered by the endorsement of notes If he cannot realize on the collateral given to him as security Mr. McLaurin, who was worth some thing like $100,000, says he will scarcely have money enough to got back home. Mr. MoLaurin, who is staying at the Imperial Hotel, declar. ed today he was not in a position to say the security obtained by him was worthless. lie feared that he, as well as others involve(d, would be able to realize only a very small portion of their i vestment. Continuing, the former Senator saiid: "I will say, how. ever, that the properity given us as security was rol:resented as being gilt -edgod, and it is yet to be proven that, the representation is as stated. Our security consisted of live notes of the promoters of the Brunswick Week, 10th. place to keep mnd night. nade, Coca Cola, ETC. Cherry Cream so popular last year can now get CHERRY Lnywhere. Try it and ..learn why... A Maraschino . ;erry IN EACH ONE 5c. B EKS, er Drug Store, s. c. and Birmingham Rtailrod, given on r April 21, and payable one month af r ter date. They were endorsed by t Mr. Umsted. When they fell (ue however, pay menit wais niot fort hcoum. ing, and since then myself and asso c'intos in the transaction have beer using every means in our power t< atrrive at the exact. value of the prop erty. WVhat we have learned is nio reassuring."' Mr. Umsted., against wvhose propI ert.y thle attachmlinent was issued, oc cuplies apa rtmients in thle WVellingi~ ton. According to a represent at iv of Mr. Umstod, the deal in which Mi .McLaurin is involved was a frienidl e onie, anid Mr. UJmsted1 wvas makin di every effort to guarantee the amouni is due to the former Senator from South Carolina. Mr. McLaurin said that he wau eunable to say just how long bi w ~ould remain in this city, hut this he had been adlvised1 by counsel i stay until 50ornothinig dotinite wa (,1done. Legal steps wvill 1)0 taken m w a few (lays. That the situationi at critical was evidened( by the0 fac liht. both Senator McLaurin and( Co Brown were in close consultat io with Attorneys Osborno and H ess 1 il. the Bar Association rooms unit il noal al ly midnight. Col. Brown camone '10 this city with Mr. McLaurin severn (Aso. gennn O'Neill. THE MISSISSIPPI THREATENS ST. LOUIS. A RISE TO TiRItTY-FIVIi FEET fix A Square Mile of Land Between Venice and East of St. Louis, Is Under 12 Feet of Water. St. Louis, June 3.-Slowly the Mississippi,ltiver crept up the levee today inch by inch, until between sunrise and sunrise the gaugelmarked it rise of six inches and tonight stood at 31.7 feet. The surface of the flowing water wats thickly strewn with driftwood, which seemed to in crease as the day drew on, indicating that the crest, of the flood is ap. proachinig. A nmthr of frame houses, submerged to the roofs, patssod St. Louis, and now and then a dead an imal, but, no human bodios were seen, although a vigilant. watch has been maintained. Harbor dlepartment, officials look for a thirty-five-foot. stage )) Satur day. In South St. Louis several houss along the river's edge have been floodod, but the occupants have removod their iropt%rty and Viteitd. On the Illinois side there is It 1m10r" sori-)uls floodI C'mdition. V r icle, sitmit(ed ii )rti of East St. Lonis, is ii almost inmndiaito dan ger of inuidation. A rise of one foot imioro will suiorge ie wot portioni of the towi und manufac turiig inust ris will suffor heavy losses. iet woen Veico und E1.1st St. Loumisi it low aiiml in,, n4d as rarm ing lands. Wator now covers this area to a depth of 12 foot, formiiig a lake about a mil i s<lar". Many 'squatter" faimilies hmve beon forced out, leaving overything behind. People atlouig the river have re ceived a general warming, -nd it. is believed that. all ii dangr have escaped to higher ground. AFTER Til'. FL.OOD IN TOPEKA. A Summary of the Conditions as they Ix isted Wednesday. Topeka, K isi, June 3.-The Kainss River is ritpidly falling. In a tow more diys the work of rohab ilitat ing Nort h Topeka mty egin. Tho tiituationl tonight 1may ble sm marizod thius: At 2 o'clook tle river had fitden four fool. Totatl numiiber of known dead 22; Clommiareial (Club will i crepit ali D)ept h (of river is yet 23 foot, which is 7 fee iii 4've high est ioer knuowrn p rev iousi-y. (Goivernior Iiley bi t is.Aui- al proc hatnationi enthing for help and askint tha t ~onlt ribuiis h 11 e s41rit to) WV IThe genieral reif fund hi ti ias patssO( $14,000.. The kiks' frud hias pitssed $4I,00t T1he funde ini the hiinds oif the Gov Tihie wenit bor hnirean piredicits for Ito iniorrow: "CloodyI~ tontight. iand omior row, wvith pirbably light showeri - risinig t em peratur. It is exp~ected thfat thle water snj 3 night. -All w.hio atre hel ini buildingsi SNorthIr Tipeka are safe atnd co)mforti ble. No one4 ini ihie floodod1 (dist riet isi danitger. All the homolhoss are being wc cured for. Over 200) deputies are guardir property ini North Topeka. The only railroads operating o1 of Topeka are tile Missqouri Pacij Ssouth, anid the Santa Fil west. " T1hie (Governior may c,all an ext tSession of thle K(anmsna Logislature .lprovidoe Stato relief for all sufFere ri fromi floods in Kansas. t Glovernor Bailey hopes his atppe for help vwill bring enough money meet the emergency. If it fails, sid, he would probably ask the Ie tI islature to make the necessary pronriations FEARFUL WRECK NEAR SUMTER. NEGRO A. C. L. EXCURSION PLUNGES INTO A WASHOUT. Conductor and Three Negi o Passengers Killed-Eight Seriously Inqured, Twenty-Six Hurt. News and Courier. Sumter June 2.-The most fatad and disastrous wreck in the history of this division of the Atlantic Coast Line occurred two miles east of Wedilotield, near Cane Savannah flag station, at, 9.55 this morning. Con ductor J. J. Clements, of Florence, and thro negro passengers were taken from the \ovrck dead, and an other negro has since died. The injured number tbirty-four and many others have more or less bruises. Eight. of the injured are classed as seriously injured, as some of them have internal injuries that may yet take a serious turn. The train wrecked was an excur sioi train, being run by negrooi from Nichols, Marion County, to Colum bia. The train was made up of a baggage car and fivo day coaches, pullod by Engine No. 66. There woro about, 150 passengers on the train, and it was duo solely to the fact that most of the passeongors were in the two roar coaches, which did not. leave the track, that the n1111 ter of killed and wontided wits iot far greater, for a more complite wreck is seldom seen. The most wonderfil part of the whole affair was the escape of the engineer and fireman. They wors both injured, and will suffer from the wounds received for many days, but. that they are alive after passing through such a wreck is nothing short of miraculous. They stuck to the engine to the last, in fact had no time to jump and save themselves, and when the engine wont doivn in the washout they were thrown out, one to the right, the other to t.he left. Engineer (orge Wilson was badly scalded on the arins and so verely bruised, vhilo Fireman Mak Diouglass has an arm and shoiider injured. CAUS oF 'iiE wFVI W(WK. Tie scono of t1,w wreck is riot. ior. than half a m1ili, porhaps less, from the Cane Savannah siding, just at the head of a sial branch. There was no stream there, but the 111nd rose sliarply on the north side of tIho track to the high ground, while on the souith side' there was a th read of am smnall branch, wit h low gronrd on either side. Theo ermebankuient carry - inig thIe track across the bot.tom was tifteern or more feet in height. 'lThe unrec edenitedly heavy rain la st, night. caused an irinmeonse head1 of water to accutnuiilate ini tihe low ground oin the northi side of t he track, whIiich finally washed away the omnhank mont for a dlistance of forty feet. and escaedi)( int,o the branch on the nmorthi Hide. The0 rails andi crosst ios were left suspended in t he air, spanni ig lhe chasm, and1( when the eniginie st ruck it, it plun geud ini and the bag gage car' and t hrei 'oac'hies fol lowed. wars ({uickly madeI up1 inl Snutomr atid i)r Van Telboirg Hiofman, the Atlar.. tic Coast linc physician; Dr .J. A. Moodl, D)r A. C. D)ick and D)r Wale.P.r nl Cheyne, Mr C. (1. llowland Mr T. V. IWalsh, .Jr, the agent, arid 11ooad M aster George Bruner were carried ni to the wreck ais quickly as8 possin. Everything that could possibly be 11done to relieve the suffering of thme woundied was dione at 0once, and( thle dead andl woundled were then placed on thme relief train and b)rought to this city. Lit ho It has been an nouncrwl nthorita ra tively that Secretary of the Navy ho Moody will not remain in the cabinet rm after President Rtoosevelt's present term. al to lie President D)avis' birthday, the *g third of June, was observed in Newv P- Orleans and many other places in the South.