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Tl " VOL 23. NO. 38. SEMI-W BLAME FOR WRECK * 'FORMALLY PLACED, ' ??? Coroner's Jury Says Crew of No 18 Did Not Carry Out Company's Rales. K FALLS UPON THE FLAGMAN fi Contradictory Testimony Heard 11 HI as to Placing of Torpedoes Hv u Flagman Locklier After He 51 ing Called in by His Engine. J'( 2 ft Columbia. S. O., Fob. 28.?Ro a I sponslbillty for the Southern Rail '' way wreck at Frost Monday after noon, when 12 people were killed 01 placed Tuesday by the coron er's jury on the crew of train No. 11 18, who, It alleged, failed to prop- ^ erly observe the rules of caution " The verdict read: ,( "That the 12 persons came to their deaths by train No. 4 2 from ,s Spartanburg to Columbia running (' I into train No. 18 from Greenville to 0 Columbia at or near Frost, occasioned through the rules of caution ** being not thoroughly carried out by e crew of train No. 18." A thorough investigation was also ^ conducted by railroad officials and immediately thereafter the following statement was issued by F. S Collins, superintendent of the Co 1 luinhia division: "Investigation developed som< contradictory statements between some members of the crews, but it is clear that if the flagging rules had been observed by train No. 18. the ^ accident would not have occurred." ^ Flagmen's Rules. r "When a train is stopped at an j unusual point or is delayed at a rog- \ ular stop over three minutes or ( when it fails to make its schedule .y time, the flagman must immediately 1 go back with danger signals to stop ,1 any train moving in the same direr- t tion. At a point one-half of a mile v (or 18 telegraph polos ) from ihe j rear of his train he must place one torpedo on the rail, on engineman's side; he must then continue to go 0 fl^ek at least three-fourths of a mile (l (or 27 telegraph poles) from the :t rear of his train and place two torpedoes on the rail, ten yards apart f (one rail length), when he may renirn to a point one-half of a mile /Af 1 C t olooe.. ok r - - *?' > u (< n II|MI 11(1111 lilt* |i rear of his train, and he must re- f main there until recalled; hut if a passenger train is due within ten / minutes, he must remain until it sr- t rives. When he comes in. he will > remove the torpedo nearest to the train, hut the two torpedoes must he v left on the rail as a caution signal to I any following train. s "If the delay occurs upon single fi track, and it becomes necessary to v protect the front of the train, or if any other track is obstructed, the t front hrakeman must go forward and use the same precautions. If the front hrakeman is unable to n leave the train, the fireman must be / sent in his place. t "On descending grades, or during .1 blinding storms or fog. the flagman o must go as much farther than the a distance named above as will insure v absolute safety, placing the torpe- j, does at relatively greater distance? a from the obstruction." t Train No. 4* was three or four v minutes late at Frost, one-half mile r front 1 he wreck. Kngineer Long testified, and his train was running. F be said, about 4i> miles an hour a when the collision occurred. r> Another phase of the inquest about which much inquiry was dl- a reeled was Rule 09 under which a flagmen operate, requiring a flag- t man to remain at his post and dis- t regard "call in" signals, when a tl trailing passenger train Is only ten p minutes behind another train on an n '^regular stop. Strict compliance h <FYth the rule would have required Kocmier in nave siurx i>y Tits pro- N teoting station until train No. 41 ? arrived and then to have mounted ^ *he engine and proceeded on the h trailing train, as train No. 18 was on No. 4 2's schedule. fj Torpedoes in Question. ' Harvey l,ooklier flagman on train ti No. 18. testified at the coroner's in- 1' quest that when his train was ha'f. " ed Monday afternoon he intmed'ete- n ly ru?hed hack up the t u<k hetwe ? v HE Li HI- LJ EEKLY. VAXHAW MAN IS NOW r PRISONER IN GERMANY I . II. Arrant, of Wnxlmw, Hold at llrnndenhurg, Ills Sister Is Informed?I'IckinK Cotton. C Monroe, Feb. 28.?During th" ood weather for the past several ays, the Union county farmers ave gathered much cotton from the ' elds. During December and Janary the weather conditions were . itch that a great deal of cotton was >ft in the fields. Prices for picking re running as high as $2 per 100 ounds, but even at this it is prol'able as the farmer gets from 23 to 7 cents for this damaged product, nd there are several hundred bales \ the fields at this time. ^ T. 11. Arrant, of Waxhaw, in this ( ounty, is a prisoner of war in j trandenburg, Germany. This infor- { lation was conveyed to his sister, j, Irs. M. S. Ashley by the Red Cross ational headquarters at Washing j, in. 1). C. She had not heard from ? er brother for more than a year and , he did not know whether he was end or not. It develops that he was ^ aptured off a British vessel about a K, ear ago and taken to Brandenburg | p ml has since been held as a prison- f r. ? GERMAN FIRE RETURNED , SHARPLY BY AMERICANS Cticiuy Attack* Followed l?y I?< ;?< 11> Retaliatory Work on Part of I'nitetl States Troops. With the American Army in Vance. Feb. 28.?In the American eotnr north went of Tmil f li*? tans tried the tactics of coneen- 1 rating artillery lire on one of the J, mieriean positions, apparently with lie purpose of obliterating it. The imerican Runs immediately punish<1 the German batteries with a lonbly heavy retaliatory lire and ben swept the enemy lines with a icions barrage, undoubtedly inllicte ng considerable damage. The German guns promptly ceasd lire. Whether they were silenced r stopped firing for other reasons is inknown. but since that time hardlv v shot lias been fired from that point. At night a German patrol was ^ ound once more within the Ameris an fire. It was driven hack by ma- ( bine gun and ritle lire. American ( atrols worked freelv, without interc erence. j The Germans dropped into the ( American trenches an entirely new ( ype of bomb, resembling a baseball. Jo damage was done. Along the front generally there , fas less firing, owing to low visidlity. Tin* Cermans continued to f hell their targets in the towns helind the lines, aiding one town ( ihich hitherto has not been shelled. f fl/TtlX AMI \VIIJ,.\ltl> M\V ' ItK MATt HKI) KOIl A I ItdlT , New Orleans, Feh. 2 8 Donii- ^ ii< k Tortorich, matchmaker for the ^ ithletic club which staged the Ful- j on-Moran bout here, telegraphed , ess Willard at .laTksonvllle, an offer j f $ 100,000, "to he split any way greeahle to the pricinpals" for a world's heavyweight championship natch here between the titleliolder j nd Fred Fulton. The only condi- t ion included in Tortorlch's offer >*as that the fight be for 20 or more j oumis. iFred Pulton, who knocked out 'lank Mornn In the third round of scheduled 20-round bout, an- f ouneed that he was "ready half and three-fourths of a mile v rd placed two torpedoes on the fi rack and then withdrew the cus- d omary snace back toward the sta- s lonaiy train and placed a third tor- a edo. as the rules require, and re- v mined at that post until signaled in ? y his engineer. t Five members of the crew of train CI 'o. 4 2 testified that no torpedo was t? xploded by their train and that in A II their railroad experience they f ad never known such a coincidence n s two torpedoes failing to exp'ode. w Te explosion would have halted the s aln. they all explained. Those of s rain Xo. 4 2 testifying were: F. p iranch Long, engineer: W. II (leiton. conductor: H. Kirkland, flr? b tan; I). H. Harris, flagman, and J I. Law son, baggag' master. \NCAi LANCASTER, S. C., FR1 iNTENTE REJECTS 1 THE OLIVE BRANCH Chancellor von Hertling Fails to ( Drive a Wedge Between the Allied Nations. )FFENSIVE IS IMPENDING I; Serial Activity of Great Inten- 1 sity Reported By Germans Who Claim to Have Brought Down 15 Entente Airplanes. Imperial Chancellor von Herding as failed to drive a wedge between vv he entente allies by his reply to :resldent Wilson. The declaration hat German aggression in the east 0 * not intended for conquest has V win' ai u nine n ucii vjrciuian acis 1 ielie the words of the chancellor, , rul Paris and London have officially ejected any proffers of the olive ranch that the more hopeful of the '' eople saw in the acceptance, in ^ rinciple of the four points enuneiatd by President Wilson as the basis ^ or peace negotiations. Arthur J. Balfour, the British 1 ecretary for foreign affairs, sound- ' d the keynote of the entente allies ' i hen, speaking at London, he said v hat, until German militarism was a ' hing of the past, and there came in- *' o existence a court armed with excutive powers making the weak na- ' ions as safe as the strong, the war ' oust go on. He characterized von v lertling's attitude toward Belgium 1 is unsatisfactory and insisted that !l leriuan practice does not coincide s ..;*u n-?i J * ??*? .1111 1 n-niui-ui ? 1IKOI1 s proposiions. *' Philipp Seheidmnnn. the German ' oeialist leader, has voiced the proest of his party to the peace that ' s being forced on Russia. In a de- ^ >ate in the Reichstag he said that x eruiany must negotiate a pence by ' inderstanding and that tlie inde- ' ?endence of Helgium must be securd. lie says that the Flemings and *' Va I loons must settle their own <lif- ' erences. While the Gorman 1111 nuri'i I ( rnment is trying to convince the vorld of its disinterestedness in the uture of Itussia, the advance of the IVuton armies toward Petrograd till goes on. It now appears that here will be no armistice on the tussian front until peace is finally onsununated. In spite of the claim ?y the Molshevic government that lie Kussians were fighting hard for he city of Pskov, the Germans h ive ' tushed far to the eastward of that 1 own. It is rumored that the Ten- 1 nns have reached the city of Luna. liidway between Pskov and Petro- 1 rrad. Morisoff. 60 miles northeast it Minsk, has been captured by the 1 lei mans. The German official re- ' tort says that the Teuton troops in kraine have reached f'orostisheff, ' est of Zhitomir, which brings the ' nvaders within 50 miles of Kiev. ' "he Russian troops have refused to ight and those who have not ah- ' eetly surrendered arc fleeing in a lisorderly tnol> toward the capital, f there is any resistance to the Ger- ' nan invasion, it must come from the 1 teasants. American troops have been sub- ' ected to a heavy bombardment of :as shell from German batteries. Three Americans are reported to t save died from the effects of gasjf ind nine others are said to have \ offered severely. i) There are no lacking indications 1 hat the long expected German drive n long the French and British fronts v s impending. Aerial activity of d ;rent intersity is reDorted tiv it?.. s lermans. w ho claim Jo have brought own 15 entente airplanes. At the 11 ;<rne time, the infantry in not idle t rd raids have been attempted at c widely separated points in the past a 4 hours. One of these was an at- h ack in considerable force by the t< lermans against French positions * ?.,F 0.0 t> ? v.... . iiuuk i'u ftipsnu. which the h unerican artillery assisted In cap- n urliiK recently. The other was orth of the Oheniln Des Dames, o irhere American troops are under- F tood to he in training. Both as- tl aults were broken tin hv the n rompt action of the allied artillery. 'I British forces have repulsed a a ostlle attack near St. Quentin. h German "friRhtfulness" has aRain ?< pen exemplified by the sinklnR of ~ STER [DAY, MARCH 1, 1918. 'a nnnrrAiivn nnn u rKUJtiuit mtw WHO LYNCHED BEST lovernor Manning Says Every Effort Will Be Made to Apprehend Guilty Parties. S BACK FROM CHICAGO The Governor, Not Familiar With Details of Lvnchimr. Will Call Barnwell Sheriff fori Conference. Columbia. Feb. 28.?Every effort ill be made by the governor's office r> thoroughly investigate and proseute the persons guilty of lynching Valter Itest, a negro, near Fairfax, la rn well county. last Saturday light, stated Governor Manning esterday afternoon. The governor as just returned from Chicago and Vashington. Walter Best was accused of killing Yilliam Wilson, a white man. in a tarage at Fairfax and was being aken to the county jail at Barnwell iv Sheriff Morris and Deputies John t. ltoss and J. F. (Jubbs, when he ias taken from the officers by a mob f hot woo ii i\ ft v nnil olvfv ccording to reports from Fairfax. As'the governor had just arrived 11 the state he was unfamiliar with he details of the lynching, but he vas emphatic in the assertion that he lynchers would be apprehended nd prosecuted if it is in bis power o to do. He intends to call Sheriff Jorris to Columbia in the next few lays for a conference on the matter 10 said. Governor Manning talked interstingly of his trip to Chicago and Vashington and of the incidents vhich happened while he was at >oth places. lie stated that if was danned by the war department rradually to till up Camp Jackson, nd he thought it probable that fully .000 men a month will be sent to he local cantonment. * JEKMAX REVOMTION IS FORECAST IN REICHSTAG otcinlisf Saj x <><>1111:111 "People Will 'I'-iki- llu* Fate ?>r Their Killers Into Their t )\\ 11 Hands." Amsterdam, Feb. L'S V revoluion in (it-imany was predicted by >r. Colin. independent socialist, leputy. in an address to the Iteichtag Friday, the Vol Its Zeitung, of 'ologne says. I?r. t'ohn's addresR. aade during the debate on the peace roaty with Ukraine, threw the teiehst a g into an uproar. "It is not correct to say that the eople of Russia's Raltic provinces ire longing for Herman rule," he leclared. "The treaty with Ukraine is not he first step toward general peace. see the day coming when revoluion will reach CJermany, and the toople will take the fat<> of their tilers into their own hands." The independent socialists cheer(I the speaker. From other parts of he house came shouts of "traitor!" he I'.ritish hospital ship fllenart 'astle. According to the latest adices, there arc 1*>4 persons missng from the ship, which was fully ighted and carried the distinctive narkings of the hospital service ilien fired upon. American torpeo boats assisted In picking up the urvivors. Unrest in Ireland, which was beleved to he very serious, is now said o be of little consequence. The enters of the threatened uprising re reported in the west and south, nit arrangements have been made r> cope with the situation. Sinn Yiners who have been "hungertriking" have been released in a umber of instances. Negotiations looking to a union f l.ithunania and Saxony, with 'rlnce Frederick Christian, son of he king of Saxony, as king of the e\v state, are said to he under way. 'he Polish ambition to bring about resumption of the ancient union etwcen their country and Idthnanla eems to be doomed in the light of' ecent developments. New SUB: JUNIOR AUXILIARIES 1 ARE BEING ORGANIZED ^ .Now Most Kiigrossing Branch of Rod Cross Work in Lancaster ? County. The most engrossing branch of work in the Red Cross just now is the organization of the Junior Aux- ^ (Maries in the various county schools. The history of tlie movement and plans for the development of this department were presented by Rev. Mr. llu?h R. Murchison, chairman of the executive board, and Mrs. Krnest Moore, vice-chairman of the chapter, in addresses before the county teachers' association at their patriotic meeting last Saturday. The Lancaster Central 1 school was the first school to com- ' plete its Junior Red Cross organiza- tion. Its total enrollment of 4 71 ' DtlDils is now oiiinllo.l > T: ? I 1 Auxilliary. With the 35 pupils al- ' ready members of the Lancaster 1 chapter deducted the amount raised by 25-cent Junior fees amounts to $109. All of this money will be ex- l pended in the purchase of material to be made up by the pupils into Red Cross supplies. Kven the very youngest children are being assigned work. The work of organizing other schools in the county is being rapid- 1 lv pushed by the chapter school committee. Mrs. T. M. Hughes, chairman of the co-operative committee, and Mrs. John I'oag, executive secretary, together with Mrs. Springs, visited the schools at Riverside, Cane Creek, Stoneboro, Pleasant Hill and |Klgin in all of which the vote was unanimous to organize Junior Red Cross Auxiliaries. The chapter officials wish to express publicly their sincere appreciation of the cordial response and hearty co-operation of the teachers in all the schools visited. Ant inch and Ifuford will be appealed to for organization today. . + MFMVtilTIS F.\< ITF.MFNT NWFFl'S OVFK (ill I \KV (lafl'ney. Feb. 28. ?There was great excitement in (JatTney yester day caused by a report that there were several cases of meningitis in town. The physicians of the town immediately got in touch with Dr. If. C. Cody. 1'nited States health officer in charge at Camp Wadsworth.l w ho came over to tiaffney and after examining the cases said there was no meningitis. PROMINENT MEN HELD FOR NE(iR() L V N (' 111N (* Seventeen Required to 1'urnish Heavy Itail I'pon Warrants Swih ii <*>ut |?y Sheriff. Columbia. S. Fob. -8. ? Sev? 11teen white iron of Harnwell county were placod under heavy bonds by Circuit Judge W. H. Townsend hero today for allowed participation in the lynching of Waller Host, a negro, last Saturday. The negro early that day had shot William Wilson, a young white hoy, to death in a blacksmith shop. Five of the men were required to furnish bail to the*ntnount of $7,500 each and 12 to give $5,000 bail. Some of the men are prominent in the business and agricultural interests. The warrants were sworn | out by Sheriff Morris, of Harnwellj county, who said in an affidavit that ! ho recognized most of the men ap i prehended, eight or nine of whom ' he designated as going into theC swamp with the negro after dragging him from the officers' machine. One of the sheriff's deputirr made I affidavit corroborating the sheriff's testimony and also named a n.an who he says dragged the negro from the automobile. The men placed under heavy bond are: C. H. Sanders. John Dunbar. O. B. Dynes. E. (1. Connelly and Oscar Carlton. These furnishing bail to the amount of ff?.000 are: J. R. Blount. W. M. Sanders. (J. A. Sanders. B. B. Best. S. W. Dominlck. Deo Todd. Dnwrence llarter. Grady Barter, H. ID Young Simms O'Neal. (Jeorg?* Hogg and Frank Barter. SCRIPTION $2.00 A YEAR TENSE SITUATION GROWS MORE TENSE strain in Relations Between Germany and Austria Appear to Threaten Conflict. WILL NOT FIGHT RUSSIA Neither Will Austria Take Part in Action Against Rumania. Violent Measures Would Be No Surprise. Washington. Feb. 28.?Further evidence of the growing strain in relations between Germany and Austria over the refusal of the latter :o participate in the renewed attack upon Russia is given in an oiiicial lispatch received here from France. It quotes the Austrian premier as formally reiterating on February that Austria-Hungary will take no part in military action against Russia or Rumania, and will not send her troops into t'kraine. The dispatch refers to the meeting between Kmperors Charles and William February 22, and says there seems little doubt that a serious conflict has arisen between the lwo_ nations which Germany is deU nnined to settle by violent measures if necessary. Tim il iunntch fnllnu c "Charles I paid a visit to William II ihe 22nil of February. Ludentlorfl was present at the interview*. If we are to judge from the tone of the interview it must have been lacking in cordiality. There seems to he little doubt but what a serious conflict lias broken out during the week between the courts of Vienna and llorlin and which Germany is determined to settle if need he by violent measures. "The situation of the dual monarchy is such that the Vienna government in order to avert a catastrophe has been obliged to distinguish by means of public declaration its own policy from that of Germany. The report thai at, the conference of February 14 Hording and I-udendorff had decided to pay 110 attention to the Russian demobilization and to prepare to begin the conflict on the east front caused a great s(jr throughout Austria. It was not simply the dissenting nationalities, the Czechs, the Slovenes, or the Roles, who do not desire to fight any more, hut it is the mass of the population ot' Herman origin who tefuso to sacrifice t hcinscl vos any longer to assure tho triumph of Prussian imperialism. "An official nolo of tho l.'.th had announced that Austria for her part would continue to consider tho war as terminated with Itussia and would abstain from taking part in tho operations plannod hv tho (Serin. n oomntantl. A sooond noto of the li'tb n pealed tho snmo statenu nl. When askod to give fnrthor particulars at tho sitting of tho ohantbor on tho 22nd tho Austrian pronvor formally stated: " 'The words uttorod by difforont deputies have proved that tho explanation which has boon furnished up to present by mo have not boon sufficiently oxplioit. I repeat, therefore. that Austria-Hungary will participate in no way in tho military action which is now being carried on l?y Germany against Russia. I repeat that there is no nuestion of having our troops pene'rate into Ukraine with whom we are at peace. I repeat that the armistice exists between Austria-Hungary and Rumania and that we are only considering entering as early n<-: possible into peace conversations with this country.* "These declarations are serious. Without a doubt in his speech on the 19th of February, Sevdler pleaded bis fidelity to the alliance. But more and more Germany runs the risk of seeing Austria, and after her Bulgaria and Turkey, take a positive attitude and, practically withdrawing from the struggle, witness as spectators the continuation of hostilities." I'of War T:me IV diibition. Washington, Feb. 21.?War time prohibition in Hawaii is provided In a bill favorably reported to the house today by the territories committee.