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? ^^^^^^EMI-WEEKL^ l.M. GEI8T S sous, Puburiur..} & ffttsjaju: ^or tht promotion of fh? political, ?o?ial. ^jritttltapl and flnmmeiiriat JnttrMls of the geojl*. {TB^?'e?4.? ?mVAK* t ESTABLISHED 1855. YORKVILLE, S. C., FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 19Q9. 3STO. 67. 77/e Cam BY OPIE READ A] ^ Copyrighted by Laird & Lee, Pi By Permission i CHAPTER XXX. . A Good Timepiece. Tt win election day. and all places of business were closed; election, the first held by the people since the old days, when the "eagle orator" and the "silvery tongued" set forth the wrongs of the nation and the woes of the state. At night a rain had fallen, there was no dust, and the air was cool. Crowds were gathered about the polling places, every one expecting blood to be shed, though wise men stood about to give counsel to hot heads. "We have lost a mighty issue by blood, and blood will not win us an election," said an old man, a lawyer who had sat upon the supreme bench of the country. Occasionally rough hands were laid upon a "repeater," to choke him, to beat him and to drag him off. The brass bands were still 0 snorting, and ambitious young orators stood at public places, welcoming the day of deliverance. The Carpetbaggers had not given up the fight. They knew that the party in ^ power always has a chance, for pos' session in politics means quite as much as it does in law. But the shrewder ones knew that the old carpetbag would not hold straw after this day; they did not have to look to know it; they felt it, the atmosphere was against them. The legislature did not take a recess, each member being Interested in a selfish measure, and, fearing that his time was short, continued to harangue and to struggle. How lawless a gathering under the protection of the law! Never again was the country to see Its semblance, the scrambling end of a riotous misrule. It was a revolution. Negroes, tremulous with the newness of suffrage, stood about astonished, ballot in hand, the voice of the people in the palm of yesterday's slave. The negro was not yet the white man's enemy. He had with strange fidelity taken care of the mistress and the little ones while the master fought, and there was a kindly remembrance of f it; but now had come the beginning of the long and bitter struggle between the Anglo-Saxon and the African. The old ruler of the soil could forgive the negro's freedom, but he ^ could not forgive his vote, unless he should vote with the native whites, and that his gratitude toward his Northern liberators could not permit him to do. It might have been a false gratitude, or rather a blind gratitude, but that was for him to 4 decide. The hope of the Carpetbaggers lay with the negro, but the freedmen were new as voters and could not be sufficiently organized. By eleven o'clock, the Democrats knew that Reynolds was far in the lead, but there were several "heavy negro districts" to hear from and the outcome was not certain. The legislators took fresh hope. They had received encouraging news, but their spirits flagged at noon, dashed by a dispatch which simply read: "The negroes don't know what they are doing. It looks bad." Then the scramble began anew. Early in the day, the gentler ?lenient of society had retired from sight, behind closed doors, expecting ^ that there would be trouble, but latsr the embarrassment was thrown off and the women came out to see the "struggle for new freedom." Gov. Melville Crance was the coolp est and the calmest man in the littla capital city of Mississippi. The election of Major Reynolds was over, except the shouting, and the shouting t*aA1# Vvaornn A a tho HflV WO TP JlPCIl uau W5UII. na VMV w - on, the pent up feelings of the people could no longer be restrained. The streets were thronged by excited citizens, singing, cheering and laughing with all the careless exuberance and enthusiasm of college boys out for a 4 lark. Little bands of marchers, keeping step to fife and drum, went about the city shouting the glad tid-' lugs of the political regeneration at hand. The saloons were closed, but the whisky bottles were not, and the ardent spirits of the marchers were accentuated by the ardent spirits they consumed en route. Toward night, the demonstrations became louder and more boisterous, The feeing of respect for the Carpetbagger, due to his unexpected attitude toward his political antagonist, Ik was beclouded by the fumes of liquor. He either was crazy, they said, or else he had struck something better up North. At any rate he deserved no consideration at the hands of ^ the outraged people he had so long oppressed. At times the manifestations assumed a threatening aspect. Some of the paraders, bolder than the rest, halted beneath the Govern or's window to Jeer at him ana to hurl opprobrious epithets at the man they hated. Lummers was frightened. "GovT ernor," he said tremblingly, "I don't like the looks of things outside. The town's full of drunken men and there's no telling what those fellows will do when they are in liquor. ^ Hadn't we better close up?" The Governor glanced up from some letters he was examining and stopped whistling, for recently he had relearned how to whistle at his work. "Nonsense!" he said. "There is no danger. If you are afraid you may go home for the day. Jim and I can get along all right alone." "I'm not afraid," continued Lummers, though his voice told a differ^ ent story, "but you'd better take no chances today. If those fellows ever start, they'll go gunning for bigger game than I am. Watch out for them." "Why, everything is going their & way. What more could they ask? They wouldn't make anything by riddling a political corpse and they cer ^ 'ETBAGGER m ? ND FRANK PIXLEY lblishers?All Rights Reserved. af the Publishers talnly are sensible enough to know it" . "When a man has mislaid his brains, or has soaked 'em in whisky," said the secretary, "he isn't sensible enough to know anything. I tell you the whole town is wild." "Then you and I will set the town a good example." "All risrht." oersisted Lummers, "but I warn you, just the same. Look out for yourself today." He took from a pigeon hole of his desk a heavy Colt's revolver and thrust It into the Governor's hands. "Keep that where you can get at it." The Carpetbagger gazed at the weapon curiously and shook his head. "I've got through with that sort of work," he said, and, opening the left hand drawer of his desk, he laid the revolver in it and closed it again. A few minutes later, he retired into his private room. Jim came in, whisp^ed mysteriously to Lummers, and tiptoed out again to usher in Willetts. "Is the old man??" whispered the lobbyist. "Sh!" interrupted Lummers, pointing toward the door of the Governor's den. "Have you got the Midland bill here?" asked Willetts in a low tone. "AO. i aon i Know wiicrc k ??. *. ic looked through everything and can't find It." "Do you think the old man has it? * "No. I presume it's up at the house." "Well, we've got to have it and we've got to have It quick. Understand? Go after It. Tell 'em the Governor sent you." "If it's at the house I can't get it." "Of course you can. Go through everything until you find it. Say the Governor wants it. And get back here just as quick as you can. Hurry!" "I don't like to?" "Nonsense. You'll never be missed. It won't take ten minutes. Jim can look after the office." Lummers hurried away and Willetts went out with him, saying he would step up to the senate chamber to see how matters were going. Shortly afterward Mrs. Fairburn's card was brought In. "Pardon me for disturbing you, today," she began, "but I want to see you on a matter of urgent importance." "I am delighted to see you, Mrs. Fairburn," responded the Governor. "Won't you be seated?" "My laundress," continued the widow with considerable excitement in her speech, "was the wife of a negro, Zeb, who was found murdered in Thompson's lumber yard. A short time after the poor thing came to me, half distracted, and asked me for enough money to defray the funeral expenses. She insisted on giving me something for security and thrust into my hands this watch. * Look at it." The Governor took the watch and inspected it casually. "It looks like a valuable timepiece," he remarked. "Probably it was stolen. You know the colored brother doesn't always limit himself to henroosts and watermelon patches." "Look inside of it." The Governor onened the case*. " 'Presented to Wiley Jones by his constituents. Spencer county, Mississippi, April 10, 1866,'" he slowly repeated, read'ng an inscription. "Where did this come from?" he hastily inquired. "Who had it?" "The negro, Zeb." The Carpetbagger sprang to his feet. "It's as clear as day," he cried. "That black scoundrel shot Jones and stole his watch." "Pardon me," interrupted Mrs. Fairburn earnestly, "but that is only the beginning of this affair. Suppose we take it for granted that Zeb killed Wiley Jones. Who killed Zeb?" "That doesn't make any difference. What we're after is the fellow who murdered Jones." "Ah, but it does make a difference. Listen. That negro was decoyed from his home?" "'Decoyed ?" "Beyond any question. He went to meet a man who owed him money and never was seen again alive. His widow believes he received the money and on his way home was waylaid by robbers and killed." "Quite likely. "I don't think so. Governor, the killing of this negro, in itself may appear an insignificant thing, in these days when human life is held so cheap, but it holds the key of old Mr. Reynold's innocence. I feel sure of it. Zeb was not murdered for his money?negroes never have money? he was killed because he knew too much." "I'm afraid I don't quite follow you," remarked the Governor, reflectively. "Why was Mr. Jones murdered?" Mrs. Fairburn continued. "What was the motive? Not money?he had not enough to tempt anyone. Not robbery?no one would do so desperate a deed for this watch. If Zeb killed him he was hired to do it by some one who wanted Jones out of the >iav AnH th? man who nairt that negro to commit the first crime has silenced him forever by a knife thrust." The Carpetbagger carefully looked out of the window. "It may be worth looking into," he said at length. "I'll send for Chief of Police McCullough and talk it over with him." Turning to his desk he wrote a brief note, folded it and rang for Jim. "Take this to police headquarters," he said, "and get back just as soon as you can. By the way. where's Bummers ?" "Mistah Lummers done stepped out foh a few minutes, sah." "All right. Hurry back." The widow arose to go. "Governor," she said, "find the man who was last ^^L/g C?/t. Wil/AMA COMMANDERS OF RIVAL FORCE! Preparations equal almost to those setts, Ail of the Massachusetts natloni to the blue, or defending, army undei troops from New Jersey, New York. C< army, under Brigadier General Taskei of Bristol and Plymouth counties, wai Leonard Wood was designated by the * England coast can be properly defend< seen with that negro; find the man who owed him money, or promised him money, or paid him money; find the man who sent for him last night; find the man whom he met?and you will be face to face with the real murTnnnu onH alovOP fit 1 UCI CI V/A. TI 1ICJ W UliVO U1IU W?u/ va Zeb; thus will the Innocence of old Mr. Reynolds be made clear." "A woman's heart is the best detective. Perhaps you are right; we'll see." CHAPTER XXXI. Mr. Willctts Makes A Point. Shortly after Mrs. Fairburn left the state house Nellie and Roy called 1 at the Governor's office. The Carpetbagger himself had withdrawn into the inner room and neither Jim nor Lummers was on duty. They looked about the room, surprised to find it unoccupied, and sat down at the Governor's desk. "Isn't it Just awful," remarked the young "soldier" disconsolately, "that we can't do anything but sit down f and grow?" I "Awful." echoed Nellie with a sigh- 1 "And if I do go back to Chicago you'll forget me in six months, I s'pose," "I won't forget you in six thousand years," cried Roy, vehemently. "You just wait and seel" "I don't want to wait. That's Just 1 the trouble. Of course I promised 1 father I wouldn't run away; but If 1 any one were to come along and carry me off I couldn't help that, could ' I?" . 1 Roy shook his head. "Couldn't do it," he said, "i have given mm my word of honor." "Oh, what did you do that for!" 1 "What could a soldier do when he ' was treed?" "Treed? When were you treed? ! Who treed you?" "Never mind." 1 "Well, Captain Koy Falrburn, I 1 don't think you have managed this affair well, at all. You said you would ' meet me at the magnolias the other 1 nig.it, but you didn't, if you had 1 come?" "I did." "You didn't do any such thing," , "i aia. "Captain Koy "Falrburn! What a , story!" "I tell you I did." "Well, where were you then?" "Never mind." j "I didn't see you." "The Governor did." t "Well, do something! Think of something! Suppose this horrid election should go wrong!" "They'd take you back to Chicago ?if they could; but could they?" Nellie's pretty pink lips were dangerously close to his own. "Do you think they could?" she asked, and the Governor in the next room heard a sound which startled him from a reverie and brought back the days ( when he used to hear whippoorwills in Illinois. | "Hello!" he cried, giving a premonitory cough as he entered the room, "What are you doing down here?" "We won't have to go right back to J Chicago, will we?" inquired Nellje, blushing ulmost as red as the rose in ' her hair. "Well?you needn't pack your ( trunk tdnight." "I don't see why anyone should want to vote against you anyway. , Why do they?" "Political reasons, I guess." "I don't believe there ought to be any such reasons." ' "Well." laughed the Governor, "I uon i Know mai i uu cimci, uui uiuei j folks seem to think differently." "I don't want Xellie to go back to \ Chicago," chimed in Roy. "Why not?" ( "Oh, because." j "Reeause what?" j "And I don't want to go buck, elth- . er," interrupted Nellie. "Why?" ( "I'd rather stay. Up there there's nothing but school all the time and you never see a?" "Whippoorwili ?" That's so?it has ( been a good many years since I heard ; one up there." 1 "I don't want Nellie to go back," J spoke up the young lover manfully, j "You know what I mean. I want her i to stav riirht here?always." A kindly light shone in the Gov- j ernor's eyes. "My boy," he remark- ; ed, "you are merely wasting your ] time with me. You know what I told J you the other night. Go home and , talk to your mother." i Roy seized his cap. I'll do it!" he 1 cried. "You stay right here," he con- . . ]ps I S IN WAE GAME, INVOLVING 20 for actual war were made lu advance al guard and three troops of the Tenth r Brigadier General William A. Pew, , onnecticut and the District of Columbia r H Bliss, U. 8. A. The plan of campa) i decided upon moDtbs ago by United i war department as umpire, witb Insti ?d against a foreign foe The estimate* tinued, addressing Nellie. "I'll be back In a Jiffy." "Father," began Nellie when they were alone, "you areri't sorry today, are you?" "Sorry? Nonsense! Why should I be sorry?" "You aren't sorry because we are going to be poor again?" "Poor! My child, I am the richest man in the world today." Tenderly he stooped and kissed her. "See what I've got left." Then in a lighter tone he added: "How would you like to be my little secretary today and help me with my letters, eh?" Nellie clapped her hands for joy, and giving the old man another kiss and a hug, went with him Into the private office. (To be Continued.) EXECUTING MAZEPPA. Peter th? Great's Odd Way of Punishing a Deserter. Peter the Great, czar of Russia, punished a traitor on a notable occasion In a way that the numerous victims of the present czar's wrath might .well wish were still in vogue. Mazeppa, chieftain of the Cossacks, had deserted to the king of Sweden, with whom Peter was at war. Mazeppa was at once tried by court martial and found guilty of high treason. Sentence of death was passed upon him. Mazeppa, howe^ er, was safely in the samp of the Swedish king, but this tact was not permitted to stand in ?he way of the carrying out of every part >f the sentence. A wooden effigy of Mazeppa was made, and the punishments were inflicted upon the Cossack shjeftaln's substitute. The effigy was first dressed in Majappa's uniform, and upon its breast were pinned all of the medals, ribbons Wd other decorations that the real culprit had worn. While the commanding general and i squadron of cavalry stood near an officer advanced to the wooden man md read the sentence. Then another officer wrenched oft the effigy's patent of knighthood and his other decorations, tore them up and trampled upon them. This done, he struck the wooden gentleman a powerful blow in the pit of the stomach, knocking him over. Next a hangman appeared. While the soldiers shouted he threw 1 noose over the imitation Mazeppa's tiead and dragged the effigy to a nearby gallows, where it was "hanged by the nook unt|l it was dead."?Scrap Book. VICTORIA AS MATCHMAKER. fhe Queen Liked to Act the Part of Fairy Godmother. Queen Victoria used her influence on several occasions to further the muse of love's young dream. AVhcn the engagement was announce.) between Princess Fredrica of Hanover *nd Baron von Pawel-Rammlngen. the king of Hanover opposed the match, and the queen of Hanover was so cross with her daughter that <he practically cast her off, says TitBits. Queen Victoria thereupon steplied in and acted the part of fairy godmother. Our late queen not only ?ncouraged. the match, but gave the bride away and provided a home for tier and her husband at Hampton :ourt palace. Again, it was Queen Victoria who encouraged the deep attachment of the Princess Louise for the Marquis of Lorne, now Duke of Argyl, when all her relatives were uiolentlv ODDOsed to the match. The German emperor's marriage on tils 22nd birthday to the Princess Aujusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, i niece of Prince Christian, was immensely popular throughout Germany, the reason being the fact that the bride was a native princess and not from a foreign clime. It is said that 3ueen Victoria brought about the union between the kaiser and the princess, and we all know that the emperor made his future wife's acquaintance at Balmoral when he visited his grandmother in 1878. The acquaintance was renewed at Silesia in the autumn of the following year, when me ntuser wtus aiiuui.1115 un me eaiuic 3f Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Hol steln, the father of Princess Victoria. Here an engagement was arranged ind the marriage was solemnized on February 27, 1881. Born in 1862, Prince Henry, the Kaiser's brother, married, on May 24. 1888, his cousin. Princess Irene of Hesse, daughter of the late grand iuke of Hesse and Princess Alice. 3ueen Victoria helped to bring this jnion about, and it is said that she ivas partly responsible for the marriage of the kaiser's sister with the hereditary nrince of Saxe-Meininsren. O. 2*. B., on February 18. 1878. am going to toll the people of this state about this mileage business In some speeches this week and next." A Solemn Warning. Senator Tillman warned the Farmers' union against permitting Its organization to develop a political parfv Thn Allinnpp waa a nnn-noHHro 1 organization, but somehow it developed the organization of the Populist party. The Democrats of the south must not divide their strength. The danger lies in negro domination. You may feel a sense of disgust for the way you have allowed the politicians to treat you and feel that you must look after Betsy and the baby, but we are not out of the woods on the negro question. As long as the 14th and ISth amendments are a part of the constitution we have no guarantee of white supremacy. Spreading Molaases. The people of the north use the negro to subserve their own political ends. President Taft has been In the south and is coming again to spread all the molasses he can. "I warn you, Mr. Taft's purpose Is to bring the negro back into power, and is going to do it if he can. The interests of the mill owners and industrial capitalists of the south are such as to coincide with the interests of northern Repub Means, and they work hand in glove together. "Some people say I am a crank. The young bucks who wore knee breeches when I was younger, and who run the papers now, are the ones who criticise me." The senator extolled the purity aud virtues of the women of South Carolina in speaking of the marriage laws. He believed in laws that provided that when a man and woman get hitched they should stay hitched. "We have a good system of government, but it needs watching. All governments need to be watched. If you do not watch the scamps will run away with things. ./hy Watch the Robbers? "I left Washington?yes. I did not ana tho ,,cu> nf gtavlnff In Waahlnirtnn to look at Aldrlch and Payne and that gang shaping thlngB up to rob the people while we had no representation to make effective defense." The senator asserted the necessity for white rule. The situation resolves Itself thus: Democratic: white; Republican: negro There is the whole thing in a nutshell. He criticised the attitude of the state press towards the administration of Clemson college. He described the method of administration of Clemson as complex and a machine more difficult to run than the state government. Admitting defects that have existed there, he said the trustees are now looking for a man to take Dr. Melt's place. He deplored that the life trustees and state appointed trustees must always be at cross purposes. He believes it wise to make no radical changes in method of administration. In any event, whatever changes may be made, by the will the nrnnertv remains that of the life trus tees. As long as he lives he la going to see that It Is not wrecked. Senator Tillman extolled the present common school system that has resulted in producing great changes for the state's welfare, but he declared that the campaign for compulsory education would result, if successful, in educating the negro so he could qualify for franchise registration, and that means negro domination. Why This Cry of Alarm. "I serve notice on those papers that are fixing to kick me out of the senate that you will have something to say about it. Look out for those who have some axe to grind." Tqe foregoing does not pretend to be a verbatim quotation from- Senator Tillman's talk, but only a synopsis. The speakers' unique mode of saying things is well known to most South Carolinians. Senator Tillman seems to feel resentful for the criticism of the South Carolina press relating to his absence from the senate on a lecture tour at the timo every Democrat's presence seemed most required. The Aroma of the Tea. He la "sore" on the papers for IIIC1I Itcamiviu Ul mo VlOlliOVll ww*~ lege situation; and for their criticism of his attitude on the tariff question with relation to his proposed protective duty on tea. The feeling is especially directed against the State. He announced on the platform that these papers would come in for a drubbing at his hands in the speeches he is to make over the state. Going to Oo Some Exposing. On the train from Richburg to Chester was a party including Prof. W. S. Morrison of the Clemson faculty. President J. G. L. White of the Farmers' union of Chester county. Editor Erwln of the Chester Reporter and the reporter of the State and Senator Tillman. In the course of the conversation Senator Tillman declar eu u to De ms purpose 10 expose me weakness of the state newspapers criticising him. Especially In his animosity directed to the State and the News and Courier. He made the assertion that the State and News and Courier are suborned, and said that "when the State takes snuff, all the county papers In South Carolina sneeze." The Floodgates of Billingsgate. Senator Tillman's speaking dates for the remainder of this week and next week follow: August 19?Fountain Inn, under auspices of the Woodmen of the World and the Masons. August 20?Richland, picnic. August 21?Heath Springs. August 22.?Anderson, Red Shirt review. August 26?Llckville, picnic. Other Speakers. Other speakers at the picnic were Messrs. J. O. L. White, president Chester county union; W. F. Caldwell, editor of the Chester Lantern, who spoke on "Good Roads in Chester County;" Hon. J. K. Henry, county solicitor, who also spoke on good roads and proper measures for building them; Col. T. B. Butler, miscellaneous topics, mostly jokes, and Prof. W. S. Morrison on "The Work olemson College is Doing." iX3T It's a good plan to tell the truth, provided you don't do it out of pure imssedness. 'fr?" The man who is disappointed in love generally lives to be glad of it. ^ M ,000 MEN, IN MASSACHUSETTS of the great war game id MassacbuUnlted States cavalry were assigned Jr? of the Massachusetts forces, and constituted the iDvading force, or red Ign. constituting invasion and defense States army experts. Major General uctlons to decide whether the New 1 cost of the war game is $1,000000. TILLMAN AT RICHBURG. Senior Senator Again in Old Time Form. Special to Columbia State. Richburg, Aug. 17.?Did some one say Senator Ben Tillman Is an invalid and has lost his power of invective? The Senator Tillman who addressed some 3,000 people assembled from every part of Chester county, and from over the state, at the Chester County Farmers' union rally and picnic. today saw a man in rugged health with power of invective unimpaired, and wielding the pitchfork with all the vigor that has made him unique in public life. His jabs were directed at the press of the state in general and the State in particular; at the railroads; at the state senate and at the present campaign for compulsory education. He also handled the negro question at considerable length. This was the first public address made by Senator Tillman in South Carolina in the past year. He will make a number of speeches during this aud next week in South Carolina and promises to "rub it in" on the interests that have incurred his antagonism. The speech at this place was made * ? ~ ? Ko in respunstt lu tin Uiviiauvu nviii Wi?v Chester County Farmers' union. He was introduced by Senator P. L. Hardin of Chester county. In opening, Senator Tillman said he could not brag of being a farmer, but that he has a little farm on which he has a better crop than any he has seen. He acknowledged that he himself is not much of a farmer; in fact that his farming is usually considered something of a joke. He alluded to his long absence from home, and said his return from time to time was to get cleun clothes. Substantially he said: Hammering It In. "I have been among the northern yankees, hammering into them a better understanding of the negro question. With the yankees of the north the negro problem is a theory; with us of the south it is a condition, "I am not yet a member of the Farmers' union. I was a member of the Grange and of the Alliance, and I will give the Farmers' union a chance to reject me. "I am not going to make a prepar ed speech. I don't cook up my speeches before I come to meet my people. I will say something about the matter of mileage system the rail" roads, with the connivance of your venal legislature, have imposed upon you. "There is no reason why when the railroads Ip South Carolina sell a mileage book for 1,000 miles at 3 cents a mile they should require you to take your mileage book to the ticket agent and buy a ticket to where you are going. In the state of Pennsylvania the mileage in a book is good on the train for any distance within the 1,000 miles, and can be used to < pay the fare of yourself and family I and anybody else, as long as the mile- i age lasts. The railroad company gets i your money. You get the mileage and use it to pay your fare. < "In South Carolina they make you : go to the ticket agent and exchange your mileage for a ticket, often caua- i ing delay. < "This morning when my wife and I went to take the train at Belton the i connection was short, and I hurried i to the ticket office to get my mileage exchanged. Before I could get my wife's ticket through the red tape I proceedings the train started and I i had to grab up my books and we ran to catch the train before it left us i there. "When the conductor came around he said I must pay my fare. I told him I would be put off the train before I would submit to being made to i pay the fare over again, and I tendered the mileage I bought and paid for. "Same as the Yankees." "My friends, we must be given the I same rates on the railroads that the Yankees have. You can get your rights if you contend for them. As I long as you keep rascals in your leg- I islature and let them do as they i please you will continue to get the I worst of it. I can no* watch the ras- I cals in Washington and the rascals In ' Columbia both. < "When this mileage measure was pending in your legislature, It was voted down by the house; but the j senate was in the pay of the railroads < and the measure was forced through. It's up to you to do some watching. I | WATSON WRI1 01 A <4<aIa r^An^nlno Minnli aiuuc vtumaiua inutu terest to Those Ft Columbia, August 24.?In the August number of the Good Roads Magazine is to be found a very interesting article by Commissioner Watson on the improvement of roads in South Carolina. Several pages of the magazine are given up to illustrations, showing sections, completed and under construction, of the sand-clay roads of Richland county. The article contains much data that is of especial interest just now, in view of the fact that a good roads' movement is sweeping over the state. It is pointed out that good roads throughout South Carolina will save in freights to the cotton producers of the state alone, 1460,000 annually. In reference to the number of miles of roads in the state, the paper says: "Probably at this time fully 6,000 of the 41,830 miles of public roadways in the state have been worked, the bulk of these finished roads having been given the sandclay mixture treatment. There are something over 100 miles of shell road and possibly 200 mile* of granite macadam. Everywhere road building Is being engaged In at this time, no county neglecting it" It is explained that the shell roads are in the coast counties, where oyster shells are easily obtainable, oyster fisheries and canneries being numerous. The roadway, generally through deep sand is prepared for a width of about twenty feet, properly crowned and then the shells are placed thereon from dump wagons and spread to an even depth. Steam and horse rollers are worked over the shells, crushing them as additional layers are put on. The final depth is about five Inches. The actual cost of constructing is heavy, being about the same In the end as that of a good macadam road?approximately 14,000 to $5,000 per mile. 8and Clay Roads. Of greatest interest is the sandclay road, which is destined to become the standard of the state, because of its durability and cheapness of construction. The paper says: "The aon/1-/>1atr *?aori In A mnr_ lauict ui. uic oouu-uiaj iwu *4i 44441V* lea id the present county supervisor of Richland county and he has a reputation fer building lasting roadways that Is almost national. By his example all of the counties of the state have been enabled to undertake the building of good roads. This man Is S. H. Owens, and he has Just completed a long stretch of 30-foot wide sand-clay speedway over which I have ridden In a heaVy motor car at a speed exceeding fifty miles per hour?indeed with more satisfaction than over many of the best roads In England and France over which I have motored. Convicts are worked In gangs of twenty-five and they are housed In comfortable tents. "The food bill Is 121 cents per day per mtyi. This gives a substantial bill of fare?corn bread, flour bread, bacon, always .vegetables In season and beef twice a week. This is accomplished by strict economy in the management and the men do not suf fer for lack or rood, me siripea suns cost $2 per suit and each suit lasts from three to four months; the shoes cost 11.60 per pair and the underwear 75 cents per suit, each lasting about three months. Each squad of twentyfive convicts has one overseer, four guards and ten head of mules. The real cost is in the feeding of the mules, this amounting to $16 per month per mule. The squad operates one road scraper, costing $250, one dump wagon to each pair of mules, five "wheelers" (two wheel scrapers) and a supply of shovels. No roller or harrow is used, such Implements having been found unnecessary. The mixing of the sand and the clay Is accomplished by the passing of traffic over the surface. "The total cost of construction ?f one mile of the best 30-foot wide sand-clay road, taking all of the above items into cunsiueiauun is uui ??? $400 per mile as an average. The cost of maintenance does not average over $10 per mile annually, if the repair work is done constantly. If the season is a rainy one repair work should be done once a month. A floating gang of two or three men?all that is necessary?is maintained for this purpose. With two or three men four or five miles a day can be put in perfect condition." "This year Mr. Owens has $35,000 to spend in the conduct of road-building work, in 1899 he had $20,000; in 1908 $50,000 was spent, but a considerable portion of that was spent on a threeijn'le macadam speedway. Routes of roads are being changed to reduce erades and all work is being done on a 30-foot wide roadway basis. One stretch of seventeen miles, built since January, is pronounced by experienced motorists to be one of the finest and fastest speedways in the entire country." Richland County Roads. In a personal letter Mr. Owens presents the following facts regarding his methods of constructing sand-clay roads: "As requested I will give you a short sketch of the sand and clay roads of this county. In January, 1899, I took charge of the roads of this county, which were then in deep sand in two-thirds of the county, the bal ance being through sticky clay hills, with the exception of about two miles of macadam roadway which had proven too expensive for our county to continue to build. "I commenced the sand on the old Camden road with clay to about ten Inches In depth. At first the people were displeased. It had rained a great deal and they were not accustomed to seeing muddy roads. I continued to throw sand on the clay until It quit bogging and sticking to the wheels, keeping It crowned with an ordinary road scraper. After I hud built a few miles of the road and It became hard and smooth the people became deItchted. "About this time, which was in the spring of 1899, the late N. G. Gonzales, editor of the State, published an account of my work. This attracted rES F GOOD ROADS. i Data of Especial Inivoring Movement the attention of Prof. J. A. Holmes of office of public roads at Washington; he came here and inspected my work and distributed pamphlets from hlsde- * partment recommending the sand and clay roads. Later on, in 1901, Prof. Spoon examined the roads of this county, but was not fully satisfied that they would last He then came back in 1903 and saw that they would last as well as any road. He then /ery strongly endorsed my work in the government year book of 1903, with photographs and a detailed description of the method. 1 doubt whether the sand and clay roads would be a success in the northern states, even if they had sand, where the land freexes deep. Method of Building. As to the method of building, the first thing to do is to grade the road and give it a very slight crown, not over two inches to every ten feet from center to ditch; then the clay should be put on six inches deep, then sand on the clay, as clear of vegetable matter as possible; this keeps down dust; it depends entirely on the quality of the clay as to the necessary amount of sand; if It is pipe clay or chalky kaolin it requires a great deal more sand; same has to be applied after each rain until the clay stops cutting and bogging; the ruts should be kept closed and the proper crown kept on the road with a road machine until it becomes hard. The important thing is the sand It should be as clear of soil as possible, if the sand is fine and badly water worn the result Is not as good "As to the cost, that depends entirely on the haul of the clay; In real genuine sand hills like portions of this county and Lexington, where day can only be found by digging pits on the hillsides In the bottoms, it# costs about $400 per miles for a 30-foot road; where the clay can be found near the roadside and often In the ditches by digging two or three feet, it Is much less. "Gravel roads are often mistaken for sand and clay roads. They are as old as macadam and It does not require the skill and cars to build gravel roads as It does those of sand and clay, especially where the clay changes from half sand and half clay, and from that to a red, sticky clay and sometimes a white chalk or stiff pipe clay, which Is the condition in our sand hills. It requires close attention in the application of sand where this is the case. I have never recommended sand and clay roads in the northern states, although possibly it would do. 1 have had as good results putting sand on clay roads as I have clay on sand. n LtitA.. wunuHH7> "A3 to the durability of the sand and clay reads, ihey will last as Ion* as macadan. There are stretches of sand and clay roads In this county, where they are evel, that are in good condition that were built ten years ago, wh le the macadam road built to Hyatt's Park twelve yeara ago, was entirely rebuilt last year. Then too, the sand and clay roads are easily and cheaply repaired, for the reason that the material is always convenient just here. I would say my experience is that automobiles improve sand and clay roads. I think the opinion of all road experts is that they damage ma* cadam roads very much. Since the automobiles are here and more are coming every day it is absolutely necessary to widen our roads to at least thirty feet "One thing I would like to mention, that is, in building sand and clay roads, very little machinery is needed. I have never used a roller. All the tools that are necessary are a road scraper, wheelers, dumpwagons nortj onH fho moH ntnu; A flTPAftt deal of harm has been done the good roads' movement by shrewd machinery men loading up counties with impractical and unnecessary machinery. "There are no drains. The crown extends to a "Jaw" at the roadside, which carries all of the surface water better than a cut drain. Through swampy places the road bed is raised and underdrained." Project For Giants. Down in the southwestern corner of the country a great river flows in a gash in the earth approximately one mile deeD. for a distance equaling that from Albany to Buffalo. The point at which the Colorado river canon Is approached by .railroad in Arizona has become one of the show places of the continent. What would happen if engineering skill could so far advance that it would be economically possible, some miles above this show place, to dam the canon, there impounding the water? With the enormous depth of the artificial reservoir thus produced, at least thirty times the height of Niagara, the power possibilities would be bewildering In their magnitude. This dam would flood the canon up to approximately the level of the tableland through which its course has been broken. This would make incidentally possible, irrlimtion bv windmill nnmnln-ar thus opening up an area of fertility in what is now unbroken desert. At the single show place to which tourists now go no great change need be effected. After the water had been impounded, the spillway from the power station would send down approximately the same volume as that which now flows there?and this is one of the large rivers of the continent. During the Impounding period, of course, the stream below the dam would go dry; and how long it would take to bank up the basin of water a mile deep and fourteen miles wide across the top of a canon and back for perhaps 100 miles is something for mathematicians to compute. A dam to hold back such a body of water would prove one of the greatest works of man. Would it not be odd if in some distant age of the world another Pitts Durg snouia come imu uemg m avi mern Arizona, and. If, further, by pumping some of this embanked flood over the surrounding tableland, which has lain dormant for centuries, a degree of verdure should there appear In that southern latitude unequalled in the world.?Boston Transcript.