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XS5UEID SEMI'WEESL^ l. H. grist & sons, Publishers. } $ 4amil!| 3Jm>sj>ai>fn 4<>r Ihe promotion of (he political, gorial, ^grituHural, and <gammti;tial Jnter^sfs of the geaplt. { TERMsSino$le?coAFt! hve cents*"08, established 1855. yorkville, s. c., wednesday, april 17, 1901. no. 31. ABHDME BY THOMAS B. Copyright. 1901, by Thomas P. Montfort. CHAPTER VIII. A CRUEL AWAKENING. What did it mean? This was the question Sim Banks asked himself as be sat there holding that note in bis hands, reading over and over the few lines it contained. Wl?i?fr rmild it mean, and who could have written it? Though Sim pondered these questions long, he was able to find no answer to them. The whole affair was wrapped in a thick and impenetrable mystery which he could not solve. He felt, however, that there must be something dark and unpleasant back of It all, and a sensation of uneasiness took possession of him. After his experiences of that day, which had been a day of events in his uneventful life, he was in a state of mind to expect all manner of curious and unaccountable happenings. Could it be possible that Louisa had an Important secret that she was keeping hidden from him? Could It be possible that she and some man had formed a friendship, or at least an acquaintanceship, the existence of which they had guarded so well that he had never even so much as suspected it? That the author of the note was a man be was assured from the first. The strong, bold chirography and the language of the note convinced him of that This much, and this much only, was clear to him. The thought that his wife and some man should be linked together by a secret which no one else must share made his heart sick. To his. mind it aL_3ru "You tvill never know J rom me." smacked of a dangerous and unwarranted intimacy, and it caused him to surmise the possibility of unpleasant things. For the first time in his life be felt the bitter pangs of jealousy. It did occut- to him for a moment that the note might have been written by Melvin, which was very natural considering all that had happened that day and in view of the fret that Melvin was the only strange man who had been at Beckett's Mill for Vf-eks. A little reflection, however, decided him that he would have to look further for the author. Melvin was a total stranger there, so what could Louisa know of him or Ids name? Sim said nothing to bis wife that night about the note, but the next morning when they were seated at the breakfast table he took the scrap of paper from ids pocket and handed it to her. remarking quietly: "Tiler's somotliin 1 found last night, Loueesy. an from what I can make out It must be your'n." Louisa reached out and took the note, and as she glunced over it Sim was watching her. He saw the color mount to her face, while her head drooped until her eyes were fixed on her plate. *** * ? ? ? ? *- '1 ?i */! <-? f+nn n ??A_ sue reuiuuieu suciu, unu unci a uivment's wait he said: "Loueesy. is that your'n?" There was a short pause. Then she looked up. and instead of answering his question she asked: "Where did you get it?" "I found it on the floor, where you'd likely dropped It. Is it your'n?" "Yes. It is." she admitted hesitatingly. "Then what does it mean, an who is It from?" he demanded almost sternly. "That I cannot tell you," she answered In low tones. "Why can't you?" "KeCUUsse i iiuve nu rigui iu u-ii. "No right to toll anything to j-our (nan, your own husband:" "Not that. You had as well say no more about it." Sim looked at his wife very hard for almost a minute, his face rapidly changing color and a variety of thoughts dashing through his mind. "Loueesy," he said at last, "that note was wrote by a man, an 1 want to know what it means. I have a right to know." She dashed him a look full of resentment. "Whether you have a right to know or not," she replied, "you will uever know from me." "Why?" "Because, as I have already said, 1 * cannot tell you." "Can't tell me? Loueesy. what am 1 to think of such talk as that?" "You are to think what you please, I presume." "But what can I think when you and some man have a secret between you that I ain't allowed to share?" She fixed him with her eyes and with a scornful curl of her lips retorted: IE HERO. . MONTFORT. % I "And wbat am I to think when you and some woman have not only one secret but many secrets, between you that I am not allowed to share?" He looked at her in astonishment ~ ,x K o t?a onnrnto !" "illC UII SUilJC \> uuiau uuvc otciww, he repeated. "What do you mean by that?" "I mean just what I say. Last night was not so long ago that you should forget what took place then." "I don't understand you. I've never had a secret from you in ail my life, much less a secret between me an any < woman." < "Are you so sure of that?" "I am." "Then you must have forgotten Mary i Mann." i Sim's face flushed instantly, and his head drooped. He bad forgotten Mary Mann, but now he remembered ber, as well as his meeting with her the night before. It was the memory of that meeting that made him blush, and he i blushed, not for himself, but for her. "And your meeting with her last i night," Louisa added after a pause. "Who told you about that?" Sim asked inconsiderately, thus admitting the truth of the charge. "Then you did meet her?" Louisa said. I "Yes. but it was not my fault. Who told you?" i "It doesn't matter who told me. Although you say you have never bad a i secret from me, I am certain you < would never have been the one to tell i me that." "You're mistaken thar, Loueesy. Thar ain't no reason on earth why I should i not 'a' told you, an I'd 'a' done it. NotbIn happened at that meetiu, so far as i I'm concerned, that I'd be ashamed to i tell to the whole world." i "!\ot even your uun^iu^ u?<ri iuc i feDce and making love to Mary Mann?" "I never done it. Loueosy. an any i body that weut an told you any sicb a i thing told you a p'lnt blank lie. 1 nev- ( er made love to nobody In all my life ( but you." i "That will do for you to tell, but you , can't fool me. If you were not making love to Mary Maun last nlgbt, why , were you with her?" "1 was jest passln along the street, an she called to me." i "And you stopped?" "Of course. What else could I do?" "Nothing but stop and make love to her." I "1 tell you I never dorn any sicb a j thing as make love to her. You ask her If 1 did." Mrs. Banks tossed her bead disdainfully. "I'll be apt to ask any woman such a thing as that, and that woman in particular." "Waal, you needn't then. But'lt was Jest like 1 say. 1 never dreamed of makin love to her." "But you stopped there with her and bung over the fence and talked to her?" "Waal, s'pose I did. 1 couldn't help myself. 1 couldn't jest walk on an leave her while she was talklo, could IV" "Certainly not when her talk was so sweet and interesting. You must have found it real pleasant to have her assure j'ou that 1 didn't love you. but that she knew some woman who did." "1 didn't hnd It pleasaut, an if 1 had I wouldn't 'a' done the way 1 did." "Wouldn't have staid to listen to her?" "I wouldn't have let on that I didn't understand what she meant an discouraged her ever' way I could." "By hanging over the fence and talking back to her?" "If I did hang over the fence an talk j back to her. I never said nothiu out of , the way an nothin to be ashamed of. nary a word." I "Some people haven't a very keen i sense of shame." Sim paused for a moment. Then he , said very soberly: i "Loueesy, you don't love inc. If you Aid. you wouldn't never believe the lies somebody's gone an told you when I tell you they are lies. A woman that loves her man ain't never a-goin to believe some old long tongued tattler as ag'in him. It's a gospel truth, if ever 1 spoke one In my life, when I say I never made love to .Mary Mann, an I'd swear to it on a stack of Hi hies a hundred feet high. Von ain't got no right to accuse me of any sieh a thing." "I?ut you have a right to accuse me of something just as bad?" "1 ain't never accused you of notliin Loueesy. an you know it." "Not exactly in so many words, per haps, but you have intimated it pretty plainly." '".Me intimated that you made love to some other man besides me?" "Something like that. You rcnieiu her, 1 suppose, what you said about that note?" "I never said an I never meant thai 1 1 t? j'UU IUVVU suiuruuut> uiau. "I know what you think." "If I thought sich a thing as? that, would 1 'a* told Mary Mann yisteddy that .she was a-lyin when she said what she did? An lust night, when Jim Thorn hinted at the same thing, do you know what I done to hint? I jist knocked him down plumb flat on his back, an if they hadn't 'a' held me I'd 'a' stamped the very daylights outeu him." Louisa looked up. a surprised and pained expression on her face. "Did Jim Thorn dare to say such a thing as that of me?" she cried. "He. did," Sim replied, and, feeling sure'of "her gratitude at least, be added: "But be ain't never goin to say it no more, I bet I done settled him for that." "Yes," she said; "but you've gone and set everybody else to talking. I wisb you had let Jiui Thorn alone." I Sim was amazed, and the look on bis face showed it. "Why, my land. Loueesy," he ex- < claimed, "you ain't aimin to say I done wrong In knockin Jim Thorn down, ] are you?" "You had better not have done It" ] she replied, "and I wish you hadn't" j "Waal. I'll be blamed! Why. Pap , Sampson an Hicks an Jason an all the (' rest, they all 'lowed 1 done jest right, j an ever' one of 'em said he'd 'a' done ] jest like I did if he'd 'a' been in ray nlnce. Lord. I was countin shore on , you beln pleased 'cause I tuck up for you that a way, au uow you don't think 1 ort a' done it! 'Pears like can't nothin I do please you. Loueesy. an evei** time I try to do somethin for you' I seem to make a mess of it." Sim's voice was so pathetic and bis disappointment so evident that, in spite of her ill humor, Louisa was touched. She looked at him. aud there was au expression of pity and somethiug like sympathy in her eyes. Slowly and sadly she said: "Sim. it is a sad thing to say, and you may think it cruel, but God knows It Is true. It would have been better for us both If we hail never met." "Loueesy!" Sim exclaimed fearfully, starting to his feet, all in a tremble. "What Is that you say? Surely you don't mean them words." "I do. and what I say Is true. It would have been far better for us both If we had never, uever met." He stared at her a loug time In silence. and he noticed that her face was painfully white and drawu. His. too, be kuew. bore the marks of a great dread aud fear. "Loueesy," he said, his voice husky and scarcely audible, "for God's sake, don't say that! Remember, you are my wife. Please take back them words. Say they're not so." "1 cannot. Sim. I cannot, for I would only be lying if I did." She folded her arms on the table and dropped her head on them and began to sob. Sim stood watching her, a sickening dread stealing over him. Uncertainly be hesitated for a moment, then went to her and put out his band nrwi ?,iimn fncti-nt-M hpr hair. She drew away from him. and a cold shudder ran 1 over her. He stood aloof and looked i on her. bis face painfully white and drawn and a bard, tense sensation 1 clutching at his heart. i "Loueesy." he said presently, "what i does this mean? Why do you treat me < like that?" < She made no reply, but continued to ] sob. He reached out his hand again i and placed It gently on her head, and i again she shrank from him as though 1 his touch were poison. Her action cut i him dee)>. and a pain, sharp and polgn- ^ ant. passed through his sou!. When j be spoke again, his voice was low and ? husky. t "Loueesy," he said, "Is It true, as ^ Mary Mann says, that you don't love , me none?" 1 She did not answer, and when be bad ( waited a moment he repeated bis ques- t tion. This time she looked slowly up j until her eyes met nis. r roin iuai ujument there wa9 no need for her to speak. In her eyes he only too plainly read her answer to his question. Slowly, as one In a dream, he turned to leave the room. There was a queer sensation of emptiness about bis bead, and everything, around him bore a strange air of unreality. At the door he stopped and put his hand up to his forehead and for a full minute stood like one dazed. Then, turning his eye9 once more on his wife, he said: "My <!od. I.oueesy, you are killln me! You have broken my heart. Oh. please, please tell me It Is not true, that look I saw In your eyes, and that you do love me!" She did not raise her bead, but between her sobs he heard her murmur: "I can't, I can't, for I don't love you!" Without another word he passed from the room and went staggering uncertainly down the walk to the street. He felt that he had received a deathblow, and in reality lie had received that which was far worse, for death would have brought an end to pain and" suffering, and tins brought pain and Suffering only. At the yard gate he stopped, and, leaning heavily against a post, he look ' immAi; 1 *IMJ\ < l ?); "For (Jod a sake, don't say that!" ( eel back at the house. Through the . window he saw his wife sitting as he , had left her. and a great yearning came , over him to take her in his arms and j hold her to his bosom and kiss her. But j the next moment he remembered the . .vords she had spoken and the look she , had given him, and, laying his head ( against his arm, he said sadly: "But she is uot mine! She Is not , mine!" , TO BE CONTINUED. 1 < pisfcttancous Reading. WHALEY'S GREAT TRIUMPH. Columbia's Olympia Mill Stands Alone, Superior to All. Charleston News and Courier. The Olympia Cotton mill, In Columbia, is the largest cotton mill under ane roof in the south, and one of the largest cotton mills in the world. It is the first cotton mill In the United States built for the employment of ilectricitv generated by steam and not by water. It Is the highest type of mill in construction, equipment and in the adaption of electricity to the solution of problems of economy in the Dusiness of cotton manufacturing. About four yetirs ago, Mr. W. B. Smith Whaley read a paper before the \merican Society of Mechanical Engineers, in which he compared the relitive cost of power transmitted by steam and by electricity and the advantages that would result from the ise of electricity derived from genera:ors directly connected to steam engines. The general opinion of mill sngineers was that the use of elec:ricity in cotton mills, "although possessing features of advantage overoth;rs systems of transmission, they vere thought to be of insufficient value :o warrant the increased cost of the ilectric system over the others which lad been employed." Mr. Whaley had lemonstrated, however, the advances of the electric system by a prac;ical test of steam and electricity vorking in two of his mills, side by side, and determined upon the plans 'or the construction of the Olympia mill, which marks the most Important idvance in mill construction that has ;ver been made. The results which le has obtained have so impressed the nanufacturing world that at his invitation the General Electric concern sent a company of distinguished manifacturers and engineers to Columbia :his week to inspect the Olympia mill, rhey spent two days in the thorough ;xamination of the mill, and were en:ertained by Mr. Whaley at an elegant banquet in Columbia on Wedneslay night. In the opinion of these very practical men, Mr. Whaley has accomplished one of the greatest triumphs of ;ngineering skill of modern times, and las built the model cotton mill of this progressive generation. rne oramary layman is imprcoaeu ay the Olympla mill because of Its mmense size; the expert engineer is mpressed by it because of the application of power and the economies of >peration. The mttl is 553 feet long and [51 feet wide and contains four floors md a basement, each story being 18 'eet high. The engine room is 120 'eet long and 50 feet wide, and the soiler room is 140 feet long and 40 feet ltde. The walls of the mill are 43, 39, I4f^and 25J inches thick at the first, ;eco?id, third and fourth floors, respec:ively. The absence of heavy transverse walls in the constrution of the nill reduced the cost of the mill buildng 10 per cent.; the adoption of the electrical system saved 66 per cent, of he cost of belts and ropes; "the savng due to these three items was sufIcient, it is said, to more than pay 'or the cost of the electrical equipnent of the mill." And the same elec;rical plant with which the mill is equipped is sufficient to light the town ind operate a street railway without n any way interfering with the operition of the mill. Deducting the cost >f the cottages occupied by the operaives of the mill and the excess of eower generated by the power plant >f the mill not required for its operaion, but available for uses outside of he mill, the cost of the mill per spindle is $13.54, as compared with a cost of $15 per spindle in one of the iest of the New England mills. All of these things are of special inerest to technical students and mill ixperts; the general public is only inerested in the broad fact that the }lympla mill is the most completely ippointed cotton manufacturing esablishment in the country, and the lewest and best product of modern engineering skill.* The people of South Carolina, and practicularly the people >f Charleston, have cause for congratllation in the fact that the genius unler whose direction this mill was constructed is a native of Charleston. Ne are making progress, Indeed, when he mill builders of New England actnowledge, as they so cheerfully did it the dinner in Columbia on Wedneslay night, that Mr. Whaley has set a lew mark. in modern mill constructor It would be a proper tribute to lis ability and skill if the mill owners if New England should Invite him to luild a modern mill In New England ifter the Olympia pattern. Not only is the Olympia mill the nost modern in all its construction ind appointments; but Mr. Whaley las provided for the best possible care >f its operatives. He has built a vilage of 325 cottages, furnished with electric lights, which will be supplied jy the company at the cost of produc ion, and equipped with an tne moaern jonveniences, his idea being that the letter the treatment of his employees :he better their service. Twelve years ago Columbia was the leadest town in the South. Its people lad no faith in themselves. Nearly all >f them were croakers, and they croak;d and croaked. About five years igo Mr. Whaley went to Columbia and jpened an office. He was a modest young fellow with a purpose. He saw :hat there was an opportunity of bulldng up a great manufacturing centre it Columbia. Some of "the old souls" were astonished at his rashness, and fid not take kindly to his schemes. There were a few men, however, who were willing to back him, and to risk iverythlng they had in a supreme effort to build up Columbia, while the irowd went by on the other side. They stuck to him, they had faith In him they signed all his notes when he fount It necessary to give notes, and the: have triumphed with him. Twelv< years ago the total amount of wagei paid out in Columbia to the operative! engaged in a single small manufac turing industry, which was all tha Columbia had, was $1,200 a month; to day the amount paid out in Columbit to the operatives in the manufacturinj establishments exceeds $60,000 a month Houses are going up all over the city the prices of real estate have mor< than doubled in the last five years, nev and modern hotels have been opened the streets have been paved, the citj is supplied with a splendid system o: electric cars, the stores are crowd' ed with customers, the railroads hav< kept up with the actual requirement! of the business of the city, the population has increased at a most encouraging rate, and the croakers are nearlj all dead, thank God! Mr. Whaley is entitled to a greai deal of credit for what he has done t< inspire the people of Columbia with t proper respect for their own advantages; but he would protest, we are sure that without the loyal support of th< handful of men who have worked wit! him he could not have accomplished the upbuilding of the community. Hi! triumph is all thfkgreater because he ii so ready to share the honors of a successful Industrial campaign with hli associates. THE PROMOTION OF FUNSTON. President McKinley Thought the People De manded it. This interesting article on the promotion of Funston is from the Nev York World: It is a favorite saying with peoph close to President McKinley that wher he has a question of public policy tc decide the president "has his ear t( the ground." By that they mean Mr McKinley is waiting to see how th< public, as reflected in the newspapers feels on the proposition before him. The president is an omnivorous reader of newspapers. He goes througt hundreds every week. About the onlj irritation he ever displays is when th< newsman who supplies him with papers, is late. If the train bringing th< New York papers is behind time th< president is one of the first in Washington to know about it. He insist! that his mnrnincr newsDaDers shall b< at the White House on time. If then are not, it is quite likely there will b< some lively telephoning between th< executive mansion and the newsman. Mr. McKinley does not confine hii newspaper reading to the papers of hii own party. He reads all kinds of opin ion and averages it up to suit himself He does not patronize the press-clip ping bureaus to any extent. He wanti his news first hand. He not only desires to see what the editors are say ing about the policies he has in mind but he looks to see how the news is handled. He knows all about headlines and news position. He remarks if t certain piece of news in which he is interested is run on the inside pages He does not read his papers for news ne MlUWa llie nova nc nama IU inu. before he begins. What he is after it public sentiment. His course after Funston capturec Aguinaldo illustrates his methods. Foi two or three days after that exploit al the president read was Funston matter. Great piles of papers were taker into him with the Funston mattei marked around with black pencil. H? took up each paper, read what the editor and people thought should be don< for Funston, and passed on to th( next. He saw then that there was ar almost unanimous opinion that Funston should be generously rewarded Secretary Root and officers of the wai department were opposed to doing much for Funston. Last Saturda.5 Mr. Root and General Corbin sale when the department closed that nothing would be done for sometime. Thai evening the president asked Mr. Rool and General Corbin to come to th? White House. "I shall appoint General Funston tc a brigadier generalship," he said to th? astonished secretary of war and adjutant general. "The people demanc that he shall be rewarded." There was nothing for it but to assent. Then the president asked th< two visitors to take dinner with him and they talked of other things. Thf appointment was made at 10 o'clock. Tt was the same with Aeruinaldo The president still has "his ear to th< ground." He is reading what the great newspapers of the country say on thf subject of the Filipino leader's treatment. While he goes through the largei newspapers every day, his field day is Sunday. At the beginning of each week he gives to Secretary Cortelyou a list of the subjects ir which he is interested. The newspapers are given to clerks, who gc through them and mark the comments and news of each paper on the subjects selected. They use heavy crayon pencils, and draw big, black lines, so thai the president can pick out the articles .i. - ?1 0..M he wants to see at a giancc. v^n Sunday morning the great pile of marked papers is brought into the president's office. Then, in his velvet house coat and smoking one of the three cigars ht allows himself each day, he goes through paper after paper, throwing those he has finished in a heap on the floor. Sometimes he makes a note 01 two, but generally he carries all he wants to retain in his memory. He spends from one to three hours at this task. When he has finished he knows the newspaper sentiment of the country thoroughly. A close friend of Mr. McKinley, whc has little time to read the newspapers, said that he got about all of his newspaper gossip from the president. He said that when they were together the president would frquently tell of this i, or that news story or editorial he had 1 read, analyzing the motives of each / paper with that keen insight his years e in politics have given him. 9 THEY'LL FIGHT TO THE END. t Boers Concentrating Their Powers of Offense and Defense. i , The transference of the seat of government of the South African Republic from Pietersburg to Leydsdrop In ; the Zoutpansberg by the vice-preslT dent, General Schalk-Burger, indicates the beginning of another and probably r the last stage of the South African t war. Having made up their minds to rej sist to the end, whatever it may be, 3 the Boer leaders have had a consulta. tlon at which they have formulated . their plan of campaign for the coming r winter. Generals Botha and De Wet are reported to have met, after which t the latter returned south of the Vaal ) and was last heard of at Vrede in the i Vesamel Breg, in the northeast corner . of the Orange River Colony. A British force had been sent from Harrismith ? with the object of dislodging him; but i the result is not yet reported; nor Is 1 General Botha's whereabouts stated, j though it may be surmised from the 3 fact that the railway between Natal . and Johannesburg was attacked at 3 three points on the same day. It would seem that the Boers have for some time been collecting great quantities of cattle and sheep in the fastnesses of the Zoutpansberg where also they have ample supplies of am' munition, and intend making it a point of ultimate resistance as well as a base of present operations. On the railway into Selatl Valley toward Leydsdrop r from Komatipoort, several thousand wagons forming the rolling stock of 5 the Transvaal railways were concen1 trated after the evacuation of Pretoria, ' ready to be destroyed in the event ' of a British advance, and by that road much of the stores landed at Delagoa ! Bay were sent up to Leydsdorp. Con' siderable quantities were also sent into the Zoutpansberg from Pietersburg, to which place they were carried by rail from Pretoria before the British arrived there. The advantage to the Boers of the Transvaal under the new plan of campaign is that so long as they can keep the British out of the mountains the British horses will have nothing but the withered grass of the veldt and forage imported at great cost and trouble to feed upon, while their own horses are fattening on the fresh grass of the valleys, from where they can issue whenever the opportunity to 3 make a raid presents itself. 3 The Free State burghers under President Steyn and De Wet have evidently aeciaea to mase me normeaaiern tmu the eastern part of their country the 3 field of operations, combining with the Transvaalers a general plan of operations against the British communlca? tions all along the line. Lord Kitch3 ener will have an opportunity, with 3 the fresh troops and remounts he is 1 receiving, of showing his capacity for 3 dealing with the remnant of the Boer forces still in the field, and putting an end to a war now well into its second ' year after almost universal opinion 3 had, at the start, given it not more than a few months' duration.?New 1 York Sun. SOUTH CAROLINA NEWS. W. 8. Lee Murdered. W. S. Lee, a merchant of Whitmire, was murdered in his store sometime during Thursday night. Mr. Lee's hodv wns not found until Fridav morn [ Ing. The circumstances showed that he must have been awakened during the night, either to wait upon a pretended customer or to investigate sus[ plclous noises In the store. His head , was crushed in with a scantling. The \ store was robbed of goods, money and I pistols. At last accounts the people of Whitmlre were engaged In an effort t to capture the murderer or murderers. I Finds Them Everywhere. s Statesburg correspondence of The News and Courier: A young gentleman , from the North, who Is visiting a friend ? here, Is very much Impressed with the . density of the colored population. He j walked Into the depths of the Wateree swamp and standing, as he thought, . all alone on a bridge spanning one of ? the lakes, he picked out a stump some distance off on the edge of the water to [ try his new gun on and see how It would scatter. As he aimed, and just as he was going to pull the trigger, the ; stump jumped up, waving an arm, t and yelled: "Don't shoot me!" He , then saw it to be the ubiquitous Cuffee "fishinin'." I)r. J. It. O. Land rn in Dead. Dr. J. B. O. Landrum died at his I home in Campobello, Spartanburg , county, last Saturday, after an Illness . of several weeks. He was first attacked by a carbuncle, from which blood . poisoning resulted. Dr. Ldndrum was , one of the best known and most valuaj ble citizens .of Spartanburg county. He , was 70 years of age. In his day he was . conspicuous as a soldier, legislator, ; patriot and historian. In the latter j capacity he performed distinguished . sen-ice, rescuing from oblivion many I Revolutionary facts and also leaving , an elaborate published history of Spartanburg county. The interment of Dr. , Landrum took place at Mount Zlon , churchyard on last Monday. ' Pension* For Negroes. ! The records of the pension depart ment in Columbia show that three ! Negroes have applied for pensions on s account of their services in the war i and that their applications have been i approved by their county boards. One of the applicants sets forth that he was a free Negro at the time the war broke > out, and the record on file in Colum, bia sets forth that he did enlist for ser vice. Quite a number of Confederate ! veterans hold that no Negro was really a Confederate veteran, and that no i Negro should be pensioned as such. Camp Sessions, at Abbeville, on last Friday, adopted the following: "Resolved, That while we do not object to some aid being furnished to colored persons who were disabled in the war, in meritorious cases, we disapprove of the granting of pensions to any person not regularly enlisted in the Confederate army, and we protest against the enrollment of such names on the pension rolls." Evans a Candidate. ? Says a Spartanburg special of April 13 to the Atlanta Dally News: Two announcements have been made this week in regard to the race for Senator McLaurin's position. Ex-Governor John C Sheppard, of Edgefield, who has been urged to run, said here yesterday that he would not be a candidate for the senate; but if he made a race for anything it would be for the only place for which he has been defeated?governor. He said the senatorial race was going to be one of the worst scrambles ever seen in this state. Ex-Governor John Gary Evans, of this city, has announced that he will probably be a candidate for the senate. The politicians think the man for them to watch is Congressman Latimer. He is regarded as Senator Tillman's choice and is a popular man. Murder, Hulclde or Accident. On Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock, Captain John J. Griffin, commercial agent of the Norfolk and Western railroad, was shot to death in the room of Major Bernard B. Evans, in Columbia. Major Evans was arrested shortly afterwards and committed to Jail. The story of the tragedy is told in the dispatches as follows: "Evans and Griffin were alone in Evans' room, and occupants of adjoining apartments ! T1?A*?A nf rlinnAt* Mo W TTlfOno Oil m _ I VYCIC a k U1UUC1 iS&a>JVl UTMiO UUllt moned a physician, saying that a man was hurt in his rooms. Dr. R. W. Gibbes found Captain Griffin lying in a dying condition and speechless on Major Evan's bed. A 44-callbre Colt's revolver bullet had entered just above the left nipple. When Dr. Gibbes announced that Griffin was dying, he declared that Evans, who had been drinking heavily, became wildly excited and exclaimed that Dr. Gibbes lied, that Dr. Gibbes and not he himself had killed Griffin. The physician, under pretext of replacing a broken instrument, managed to get out of the room, although Evans declared that he should not do so. Dr. Gibbes summoned the police and they were refused admittance until Judge Ernest Gary, a cousin of Evans, arrived and demanded admission and submission to the officers. Evans struck Judge Gary and was taken to jail in a state of hysteria, having declared that Griffin had taken his own life. In the room were evidences of the fact that one or both of the men had been drinking. Aside from this there is no reason why Griffin should have killed himself or that Evans should have killed him. The dead man's face was bruised on both sides and there was an abrasion of the skin on the bridge of the nose. His walking cane, clotted with blood, was several feet from where blood marks indicated that the fatal shot had taken effect. The right forearm of the dead man showed powder burns, but none were visible in the neighborhood of the wound. Captain Griffin served in the Confederate army with a company from Macon, Ga., and after the war entered the railroad service. He had held the position of general freight agent of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, and subsequently went to the Norfolk and Western. Two years ago he was assigned to this territory. Major Evans is a son of Brigadier General N. G. Evans and a nephew of Major General Mart W. Gary, of the late Confederate army. He is a brother of former Governor John Gary Evans, who was a judge in Havana in 1898, and was himself in the Havana postofflce department at that time. He is well known in militia and political circles, having twice received a large vote for railroad commissioner. On Monday the coroner's Jury rendered a verdict to the effect that in its opinion, Griffin came to his death at the hands of Evans. THE WHISKY PITCHER. Terrible Indictment Against the State's Great Moral Institution. A pitcher of corn whisky, two empty glasses, a pistol with one chamber empty and a corpse in a pool of blood! Major B. B. Evans is in Jail. Here we are promised something in the bloody line equal to the Rice murder trial in New York or even the ghastly Guldensuppe mystery. Major Evans says that Griffin killed himself! But the pitcher of corn whisky, the two empty glasses and the PISTOL ON THE TABLE are the witnesses! What will they say? What have they ever said?the pitcher of whisky, the empty glasses and the PISTOL? Major Evans is reported as not being himself" when drinking, which means drunk. What does our state offer its young men as its first state institution but the dispensary? There is no crime charged to Major Evans in whose room the corpse was found with the pitcher and the empty glasses and the pistol. Major Evans says that Griffin killed himself. Whether Griffin's hand turned the pistol to his own breast or Evans' put the lead into him we blame? The Pitcher and the Two Empty Glasses! The state of South Carolina and the human mind that first saw the benefit of the dispensary as a political institu^ tion are accessories before the fact. The politics in this state are at their dregs when it put>the son of a distinguished soldier and gentleman behind the prison bars with the Pitcher and the Two Empty Glasses as Witnesses against him!?Greenville News, Sunday.