Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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^ <p f Abbeville Press and Banner ^ ? Established 1844. $2.00 the Year. Abbeville, S. C., Friday, Feby. 21, 1919. Single Copies, Five Cents. 75th Year. FRENCH PREMIER -SHOT BY ASSASSIN George* Clemenceau Struck by Three Shots But Will Survive?Had Just Left Home for Visit to House? "France's Grand Young Man" Speaks Lightly of Hurts. Paris, Feb. 19.?Premier Georges Clemenceau, characterized by Lloyd George as "France's grand young man," was attacked today by an anv archist, Emile Cottin, known as "Milou." Seven shots were fired, three of which struck the premier. One bullet lodged in the muscles of the shoulder, penetrating deeply, but, so far as it at present known, not injuring the spine or penetrating to the lungs. Two bullets bruised the on*) hand wViilp two other XlgilW ailU MiiU UHiiV) ???W bullets are reported to have passed through the premier's clothing. At the time of the attempted assassination M. Clemenceau had just life his home to drive in a motor car to a conference with Col. Edward M. House of the American peace delegation and Arthur J. Balfour, British secretary for foreign affairs. Though bleeding profusely, M. Clemenceau was able to return to his home, where he reassured the members of his household and waved aside . anxious inquirers with, "It is nothipg." j Latest reports from his attendants; were that his condition was satisfac-j tory and that he was cheerful throughout the day despite occasion &l fits of coughing. For the present it has been decid-j ed by the surgeons that extraction of, the bullets may not be necessary, and < arrangements have been made to take radiographs of the injured parts. "Enemy of Humanity." Cottin, whom the police believed to be a somewhat harmless person ,as sociating with anarchists and aiding in their propaganda, declared that he . had planned to kill the premier because M. Clemenceau was "the enemy of humanity" and was preparing for another war." After temporary aid had been given M. Clemenceau, Professors Gosset and Tuffier, of the University of Paris, were hastily summoned and had a hurried consultation. They de i cided upon an X-ray examination. One of the surgeons said that per * l-i --J- V- ? 4-^ ft&ps It wouia not, ue ucwkmujr tv remove the bullet, as no bones were Mattered and no important blood easel had been touched, although the wound was quite deep and bled proftuelj. > Upon emerging from his car M. Clemenceau passed his wounded hand ver his face, leaving the face neared with blood, and this was the reason for the first report that he -kad been wounded in the head. * Marshal Foch arrived about 10 j 1-A J Mo- ! t-viwft aixu mtcr was juiucu uy Auoi-| shal Petain. They remained for a considerable period. Premier Clemenceau was quite, cheerful, in spite of occasional fits of. coughing. He declared to members \ of his household that 'he thought hei , knew his assailant. He had seen him I last evening when entering his home! bat the man had slunk away. Policeman Goursat, who was wounded in the right eye, said: "The bullet which struck me went through the Limousine, as I was directly in line with the assassin, who was rushing towards the premier's ear. "This man surely was not a Frenchman; his whole appearance is much HKe tne iNininsxs wno are iamumr on the left bank of the Seine." KAISER'S SON ARRESTED. Copenhagen, Feb. 20.?Prince Joachim, of Prussia, youngest son of Former Emperor William, has been arrested, according to a dispatch from Munich. The dispatch state* his arrest was on suspicion of his being connected with "certain intriguoe." GOOD ROADS BILL KILLED IN HOUSE Debate Goes on Until Past Midnight. Vote For Referendum?Amendments to Meet Objections of Opponents Voted Down by Overwhelming Majority. Columbia, Feb. 19.?Good roads legislation originating in the house this session was discarded with reckless abandon last night. The vote of the central committee's substitute : bill, which was a combination of all j the ideas proposed, was rejected by i a vote of 51 to 63. The Burgeson ! measure, for which the committee I measure was a substitute, was then i rejected by a vote of 27 to 76. The I hand of the clock had already passj ed the meridian when this last vote I was taken, and the house then adj journed until 12 o'clock noon, today. Unsuccessful effort was made to j amend the committee substitute bill j to meet every contention. An amendj ment was offered to allow the expenditure in each county of its funds j thus derived under the bill. This wa3 j rejected. Two amendments were finally adopted, oneto submit the committee substitute in referendum to the automobile owners, regardless of color of voter, the fourth Tuesday in ; next August, adopted by a vote of i 61 to 56, and another amendment to ! cut the proposed license fee of $1 in I half. The referendum bill was strenuously opposed by the leaders of the measure on the negro issue. Only two votes were needed to carry the amendment proposing a one mill levy on all the taxable property, j this vote being 59 to 60. The debate which was begun in: the morning session was resumed, last night at 8 o'clock and the battle ( for and against the measure was; kept up until past midnight. Similar' measures are pending in the senate. J Mr. McDonald of Oconee argued, for the passage of the bill. Oconee ! County was the first to pass an au-| tomobile license law. His people werej opposed to the measure until the( plan was explained, then they were; heartily in favor. Mr. Miley of Bemiberg, wanted a1 bill that would distribute the burden1 equally. There was something behind the suggestion that the automo-i biles should pay. TAX COMMISSION STANDS. The proposition to abolish the pre-j sent Tax Commission, and to pro-J vide for a Board of Assessors of, seven men, received its death blow in( the Senate on Wednesday. Explaining that he did not fully understand] the terms of the bill at the time, and j that he allowed his name to be used,1 as one of the authors of the bill be-j lieving that it would tend to decen-! tralize the powers possessed by the! present commission, and that he had! learned on further examination thati the bill would have no such effect, J but would merely transfer the pow-j ers now possessed by the present commission to other office-holders. Senator Moore of Abbeville, voted i against the enactment of the propos-j ed law. MARK SMITH IN JAIL. Deputy Marshal Bruce returned from Washington on Wednesday, to which place he had gone to bring Mark Smith back to Abbeville. Mark j made no further objections to com-' ing after requisition was granted. He was lodged in jail and will re-j | main tnere until next weeK wnen ne ! will be tried. Mark is the negro charged with shooting Deputy Sheriff Cann. I . ! vvvvvvvvv vvvvvvV K v V COTTON MARKET. V :V Good cotton on the Abbe- V V ville market brought 28 cts. V, ' V yesterday. March futures V V closed in New York at 23.32, V being up about 90 points. V V V vvvvvvv^vvvvvvy HOUSE STANDS FOR SMALL ARMY Declines to Vote for Half Million Men?Old Plan Approved?Bill Passed Providing for Peace Strength of Less Than Two Hundred Thousand. Washington, Feb. 19.?Legislation providing for a temporary military establishment of about 540,000 'officers and men during the fiscal year beginning next July 1, was eliminated from the annual army appropriation bill tonight in the house after passage of the senate bill for resumption of voluntary enlistments in the peace time army, which would be restricted to the maximum of 1175,000 men authorized in the national defense act of 1916. The senate measure now goes to conference and will become effective upon its approval by President Wilson. The army bill also was adopted by the house without a record vote 1 a it. x. !lL 'A. I ana now goes 10 uie senate wiui ita completion there at this session re-J garded by many leaders as doubtful. It carries a total of $1,070,000,000 for the war department for the 12 months after June 30. It was explained by members of the house that the senate bill did not affect the present war time army, which, under the selective service act, must be demobilized within four months after peace is formally declared by presidential proclamation. Decision of the house to consider the senate measure was by a vote of 172 to 162. Chairman Dent by direction of the house military committee, had asked for a rule to make the temporary army legislation in the regular appropriation bill in order, but the ults commitete took no formal action on the request. Instead it voted 7 to 5 to report a resolution giving the senate measure the right of way. Ten Republicans joined with 162 Democrats in voting for the resolution in the house after a sharp debate. * Before adopting the senate bill, j the house amended it so as to provide j that recruits should be enrolled ,in^ the regular army for only one year: without further service in the reserve. Their pay was fixed by another amendment at $30 a month, the war time basis in the army. DEATH OF MRS. LUCY SYFAN MERCK I The distressing news was receivedin Abbeville Thursday morning of .the death of Mrs. Ralph Ashford Merck, at her home in Gainesville,; Ga., after a short illness of influenza, j Mrs. Merck was the third daughter, of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Syfan, of Fort Pickens, and as Miss Lucy Syfan was known and beloved of a wide circle of friends. w - ? * ? if 1. Mr. ana mrs. raercK were uayyuy married last April, since which time they have made their home in Gaines- ! vilte, where Mr. Merck is a promi-. nent merchant. Mrs. Merck was a graduate of the, high school here, finishing her studies in 1914. She was in her twentyfirst year and during all her short life she had been a dutiful and loving daughter, a warm friend. Sha was a consistent member of the Methodist church. ~ XI.. J- -1- i.1?j. If, uwing 10 me iact uuat mi. is himself desperately sick with the| same disease, no funeral arrange-; ments had been made up to the press, hour of this paper. Since the above was written news has come that the infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Merck has died since the death of its mother. The people of Abbeville, in her childhood home, grieve with the family at the death of this young woman with so much in life to live for, and who a few days ago apparently had just begun its pilgrimage. PLAN TO HOLD COTTON AND REDUCE ACREAGEj All Growers and Producers in United States Will Be Called on to Act in Concert Resolution Drawn by Committee Headed by Manning. New Orleans, Feb. 19.?A program for the reduction of the 1919 acreage planted to cotton and the holding of the present crop for higher trices was embodied in resolutions passed at the closing session today of the conference of bankers, merchants, and farmers from all of the cotton producing States. The salient features of the resolution are:.. 1. Reduction of the 1919 cotton acreage by one-third as compared with 1918. 2. A pledge not to sell any part j of the present crop for other than | "remunerative prices" and to hold this crop until the demand calls for it at such prices. 3. Formation of State cotton acreage reduction associations whose business it will be to obtain written! pledges to carry out the first two provisions from every cotton grower and cotton producer in the United States. 4. To brand any man who refuses to cooperate as "so lacking in public spirit as to forfeit the confidence of the community in which he lives." 5. A future convention of cotton producers before which a detailed report of the progress of the plans outlined above is to be made by every cotton growing State. % . The resolutions which were drawn up by a committee composed of a DanKer, iarmer ana mercnant irom| each of the cotton growing States, headed by Former Gov. Richard I. Manning, of South Carolina, as chairman, further declared that "the accumulation .of large stocks of cotton! in the hands of fanners and mer-' chants of the South and the drastic, decline in the price to figures below' the cost of production, due to . past! war trade disorganization, (o the scarcity of ocean tonnage, to the: restrictions on trade imposed by for-j ?ign nations, . . \. have precipitat-j ed upon the cotton producing, mer-j cantile and banking interests of the' South a crisis fraught with grave menace to the present welfare of the, section as well as to the future pros-! perity thereof." The convention was adjourned sub-| ject to the call of Governor Pleasant' of Louisiana. MRS. ELLA McILWAINE DEAD. | Mrs. Ella Mcllwaine died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ollie Muller, on Thursday morning, 20th inst. from paralysis. She was in the sixty-fourth year of her age. Mrs. Mcllwaine had not been ill before her death. On Wednesday, the day before her death, she visited relatives, and on that evening she attended n -avcr-meeting at the Presbyterian church, of which she was a member. Mrs. Mcllwaine was a daughter of| the late Edward Westfield, who lived! on the Due West road, and of hisj first wife, Virginia Beard. She was,( therefore, a half-sister of Mr. W. W. | Westfield and of Mrs. Will Morrow of Spartanburg. She was born and reared in this county. She was a graduate of the Woman's College of Due West. After her graduation she was happily mar-j ried to Pinckney Mcllwaine of Abbeville, and spent all of her married life in Abbeville. Mr. Mcllwaine died several years ago. She leaves the following children: J. E. Mcllwaine, of Charlotte; W. T. McIl-[ waine, of Lakeland, Fla., Mrs. .Vir-; ginia Richardson, a missionary to^ Utana; Mrs. Mulier ana miss urenej Mcllwaine, now a teacher in the' Mary Baldwin school, of Staunton, | Va. No funeral arrangements have been announced and none will be made until the arrival of the children, all of whom have been notified, and all of whom will be present forj these services, except Mrs. Richard-, j son. BOTH HOUSES HEAR1 CRITICISM VOICED Proposed League of Nation* Attack- 1 ed by Poindexter in Senate and Fess in Lower Body. Addresses Being Carefully Prepared Republican Documents. Washington, Feb. 19.?Vigorous; criticism of the proposed constitution! of the league of nations was voieed ( today in both houses of congress. Speaking for three hours before crowded galleries, Senator Poindexter of Washington, Republican, precipitated a discussion in the senate which embraced other subjects and consumed practically the entire ses- , sion. However, there was no formal reply to the Washington senator from th$ Democratic side. Discussion in the house was unannounced and was not general. Just as the members were settling down for a night session Representative Fess of Ohio, chairman of the Re puDiican congressional campaign com mittee, delivered a carefully prepared address in which he took up the constitution section by section and , denounced the whole as abridging , the sovereignty of the United States , and containing "vicious possibilities." The addresses by Senator Poin- , dexter and Representative Fess were ; the first prepared ones made in con- i gress since the constitution of the ( league was published and since Presi- s dent Wilson requested that discussion ; be postponed until he could confer .1 with members of the senate and house foreign affairs committees at lj the White House next week. j GERMANY FACES FAMINE, j SAYS U. S. OFFICER IN REPORT .] Army Impotent and Danger of Of-1 ^ fensive No Longer Exists?Erz- ' berger Tells Some War History. ' Spartancan Mobs Attack Ger- ' man Prison. I ( ' l( Paris, Feb. 19.?Captain Walter ' Gherardi, of the United States navy, 1 who has been in Germany for two, i weeKs studying economic and general ( conditions, has returned to Paris and reports that he found much unem-, ployment throughout the country j and a restless, fluid condition that; contains a threat against the peace of the immediate future. He says Germany's food supplies are limited o nearly exhausted reserves, which cannot last longer than next month, leaving a great gap to be filled be'ore harvest. The German army, Captain, Gherardi says, has shrunk to insignificant figures, and is no longer formidable. If the new armistice terms now be- < 'ng framed, involving disarmament i of all but a sufficient number of soldiers to nrevent internal disorders i are observed by the Germans, it is 1 believed by most of the entente rep- .1 resentatives here that France need s have no further fear from that quar- f. ter and that there can be no reason i for delaying the conclusion of the 1 peace treaty. r 11 Stockholm, Feb. 19.?Spartacanj mobs in an attempt to free Karl Ra-: < dek, the Russian Bolshevik emissary,'* attacked the famous Moabit prison in J < Berlin twice Saturday, according to1 dispatches received here today. Bothj1 attempts were replsed by govern-j ment troops. Other dispatches reported Sparta-j can outbreaks in Bavaria. Premier Eisner's secretary is said to b. en-j couraging the Spartancans there, whO| already have succeeded in arresting several government officials. I A SICK FAMILY. The family of Mr. G. W. Syfan in Fort Pickens are all sick with the j1 "flu". So far none are seriously sickl r.rd friends hope to see them out( again soon. j I GENERAL ASSEMBLY PASSES MANY BILLS House Gives Greater Citadel Measure Final Reading?Tax Commission Bill Up?Compromise Bill as to Consolidated Agreed Upon in Senate. Columbia, Feb. 19.?The bill providing for a greater Citadel was jiven its final reading in the House today and sent to the Senate. The House measure Drovides for an an propriation of $300,000, payable in three yearly instalments. It is proposed to erect the new plant on the Ashley river on a 200-acre plot of ground donated by the City Council of Charleston near Hampton Park. Among the important bills passed by the House to the Senate today was the measure appropriating $100,000 for a building for a school for the feeble-minded and the bills forfeiting vehicles and vessels apprehended transporting intoxicants in violation of the prohibition law. Bills were passed from second to third reading in the House allowing adjacent counties to consolidate their chain gangs; providing for the edu cation of disabled soldiers at the University of South Carolina, the Citadel and Clemson, prohibiting warehousemen allowing the use of cotton stored with them by other than the owners, and authorizing the con3tructidn of a bridge across the South Edisto river to connect Charleston md Colleton counties. All day long the Senate discussed the. bill to substitute. a new taxing board for the present tax commission By substituting a new organization the purpose is to thereby abolish th? present tax commission. The Senate passed a bill that wa? i^ery dear to Senator Wharton. He is a Confederate soldier, and -for it ae and Senator Alexander, of Pickjns, fought valiantly. The purpose )f the bill is, first, to increase the confederate pension from $300,000 ;o 350,000. Then it provides 1 that n the administration of the pension noney the making up of.the list shall )e in the hands of Confederate aolliers, and it stipulates that all pe*lions shall be alike, that is, that ?r?ry Confederate soldier today on the tension roll shall be paid a flat tufii >f $96 a year, instead of seven classifications, as at present. The Berguson^bill, which has already passed the House, and which s intended to exempt from taxation irmories used exclusively for miliary purposes, passed the Senate, vith an amendment including in this exemption property owned by the T. 5V. C. A. and the Salvation Army. Dther classes of religious property ire already provided for. On account of the blowing up of ill good roads legislation in the louse bills have been introduced )oth in the House and the Senate to secure South Carolina's quota of th? government good roads fund by th? mposition of a direct three-mill tax evy on all the property in the State, rhis fund if voted is to be under th? lirection of the State Highway Comnission, and it is deemed necwary ;o secure the quota of money nojr ivailable by the United States G?t;rnment in aid of post roads. WILSON COMING HOME WITH 2,332 SOLDIERS Washington, Feb. 19.?On board ;he George Washington, which is jringing home President and Mrs. Wilson, are 100 officers and 2,332 nen of the American expeditionary forces, the War Department has anlounced. The announcement said ;he ship is due February 26. T!:e port .vas not named, although it has been announced the President is to quit the ship at Boston. Kinney Cann is out again after a severe attack of influenza.