Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

ESTABLISHED IN 1* TWENTY WCTlMS. -Found After Tenement in New York Was Burned. SLACK HAND OUTRAGE Fire Started in the Store and Spread With Sach Rapidity that Score Met Death and as Many Badly Burned. The Bodies of the Dead Were Found in Many Unexpected Places Among the Ruins. A shocking loss of human life and ?the destruction of property worth more than one million dollars, were 'Caused by fires in New York and its immediate vicinity in the 24 hours ? ending at eight o'clock Sunday morn ing. The fire wave struck Coney Island .and before it subsided Steeple Chase park, a score of hotels and many amusement attractions were in ruins ?and many persons homeless. Four women were discovered dead . in a closet where they had rushed to hide from the flames. The body of a woman was found lying over a child as though she had tried to protect it from the flames. Five bodies were found crowded around one doorway -on the top floor, showing that they had been struck down while trying to escape. After an all night search of the ruins of six story tenement on Chris tie street, burned shortly after mid might, the police announced that there were twenty victims of the fire, i The bodies of the dead were found 'in all sorts of unexpected places to which the people had fled when the ?fire broke out. Almost all of the bodies were burned beyond recogni tion, many to such an extent that it was impossible to distinguish the sex. A majority of victims, the po lice balieve, were women and chil "dron. The burned building was a tene ment common to the east side, with a store on the ground floor and apart ments up-stairs/crowded with ten ants, mainly Italians. . / The fire started in the store and ;swept through the building with such rapidity that a fifth of the 100 ten ants met a horrible deatu, another score, though they escaped, were more or less burned. It is thought the fire was caused T>y an explosion, a citizen reported that he heard a loud-report and saw the store "window crack and fall to pieces. If tnis is true it is possible that the great loss of life is due to a Black hand'' outrage. FATAL ACCIDENT. One Man Killed and Two Others Hurt in Auto. Dr. J. T. Killebbrc-w, one of the most prominent of. the younger phy sicians of Mobile Ala., was ground to pieces under the wheels of a moving freight train, Perrin Bestora, a prom inent young attorney was seriously, and W. P. Horn, a well known bus iness man, was slightly injured in an automobile accident Thursday after noon. They were driving in an automo bile and when crossing a railroad track the approaching train was seen. Although the automobile crossed the track, Dr, Killebrew jumped and was caught beneath the wheels of the train. Dr. Killebrew was president- of the Mobile County Medical society, a lec turer on the diseases of women in the University of Alabama and an assist ant in the Ingo-Bondurant infirmary at Mobile. He was born and reared at Nashville, Tenn. SHERIFF COMMITS SUICIDE. Driven to Act By Memory of Man He Recently Hanged. Because the hanging of a negro in the line of his official duty preyed on his nerves, Sheriff Joseph B. Bennett, cf Starke, county, Fla., blew out his brains. The deed was committed at his home in the presence of his wife. About two weeks ago the sheriff adjusted the noose and sprung the death trap for a negro who had been convicted of murder. Although a brave man, Sheriff Bennett could never bear the sight of suffering and he could not rid himself of the mem ory of the man dangling at the rope's end. He became uuable to go to sleep and told friends he would never again have peace of mind. After a sleepless night, he arose, secured his pistol, and shot himself through the head while his wife was still ii bed. Mrs. Bennett awoke just as her husband's body fell across the bed. SIX DEATHS. Following the Stings of Black Flies in Canada. A startling tale of fatalities has reached Aurora, N, Y., through John Grijn, who has just returned from the Algonquin Park locality- of Can ada. Griffin expected to he gone for several weeks on a hunting trip, hut the fact that six deaths resulted from blood poisoning, following the stings of black flies, near his camp, drove him home. GOT FIVE YEARS. Woman Defrauded Members of Well Known Families. At London Mrs. Josephine Leslie was found guilty on the charge of de frauding members of well known families by false pretenses and sen tenced to five ye&rs penal servitude. It was her custom to represent her self as a friend of J. Pierpont Morgan and declared that he guide;! her in vestments. SSallcyJr 10.???? 23 Berkeley Buying ??9. SAYS HE IS INSANE. Operator on Ship Asks Police To Meet Him at Pier. Looses Mind While on Voyage and Twice Attempts Suicide, Second Time Jumping Overboard. After sending a wireless message telling of his own insanity, John H. Quinn, De Forest wirdless operator on the New York and' Porto Hican liner Coamo, was met at the pier when the ship arrived at New York by the police and sent to his home at Bayonne, where he is recovering his mind. ' Quinn made two attempts to com mit, suicide by jumping in the sea, one at Aguadilla, where man eating sharks abounded. His condition was noticed as the ship was leaving San Juan, when he paced the deck and talked to himself, at the same time making the wildest motions with his arms. Suddenly he rushed to the rails and laped over. First Officer Bernard Olsen jumped in and, after a fight rescued the crazed man. Quinn made no effort to sink, but swam about still talking to himself. He was put in irons, and a passenger who knew a little about wireless tele graphy, sat at his post. Quinn recovered so far, seemingly, that at Aguadilly Capt. T. J. Dalton took the irons off and confined him in a room. It was only a little while till he crawled through a small hole and once more leaped overboard right among the hungry sharks. Second Officer Coughlin went af ter him this time and dragged him back. He was again ironed. When the Coamo reached Quaran tine Quinn was wild-eyed, but ration al in a way. Capt. Dalton went to him with a singular request. "Quinn," he said, "we're your friends, but you can't take care of yourself. The man at your job can't send a mesage, and I want you to send it. It's about you, too, and you mustn't be angry. I want you to have a policeman meet you. That's a good boy." Quinn never moved a muscle. In a moment, however, he got up and started for the telegraph tower. There, while half a dozen men guard ed him, he flashed these words: "Quinn, wireless operator, aboard Coamo, off Quarantine, insane. Con fine in room; not responsible for ac tions. Need police help at Pier No.. 35, Brooklyn, on arrival." ' The crazed operator then faced his guards and said: "I've done my duty, haven't I?" The operator at the De Forest sta tion at No. 42 Broadway, was startl ed. He flashed back this message. "Who's sending this?" And Quinn, with a queer grin on his face, replied: "Quinn, himself." The man was then again locked in his room and guarded. When the boat tied up at her pier, Quinn's brother James, was there with police men from the Hamilton avenue sta tion. The operator made no resistance' and seemed rational. James took him home. He is twentw-two years old, and one of the best wireless men in the business. KILLS HERSELF. Wife Of One of Pittsburgh Wealthy Men Tire of Life. After charming her nurse with the beauties of one of Chopin's nocturnes and then asking her to go out on the porch so as to enjoy the music more, Mrs. Margaret J. King, a prominent society woman, of Pittsburg, took ad vantage of her absence by commit ting suicide. When the nurse from the porch heard that the music had stopped she feared trouble and- has tened inside. She could not find Mrs. King anywhere, until at last she dis covered her in the cellar with her head nearly hacked off with a razor. Mrs. King, who was the wife of Eugene H. King, secretary of the J. C. Russel Shovel company, which was the largest of its kind in the world, had recently returned from a hospi tal, where she had been suffering from nervous prostration. As she was given to spells of despondency, a trained nurse had been engaged to keep close watch over her. SEAL WAR IS ON. Between the Russians and Japs in North Pacific. News was brought by the steamer Empress of China to Victoria, B. C, last week, of a fatal attempt by the Japanese sealers to rail Copper island where the Russian seal rookeries are located, beyond the end of the Aleu tion chain in the North Pacific. A Japanese Sealing cshooner fro Tok io reached Copper islad on the night of June 27 and dropping anchor a short distance from the seal rocker ies, sent a number of boats ashore with their crews armed with rifles. The landing was made and while part of the sealing company was engaged in skinning seals on the rockeries the Russian guards opened fire on them and drove them off after killing one. ENGINE BITCHED To Prevent Collission With a Pas senger Train. Engine No. 74 on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad was derailed at Fredericksburg, Va., Thursday, pinning Engineer Reuben O'Brien beneath it. The locomotive was purposely ditched in order to prevent It from crashing into a pas senger train on the bridge crossing the Rappahannock river at that place. Had a collission occurred, the pas senger train on a portion of it, prob ably would have gone into the river and the death and injury of many of the passengers would have resulted. O'Brien was seriously but not fatally ORANGE! DEEP LAID PLOT Of Blackmailers to Extort Money or Murder Victims. DEATH WAS RESULT Of Refusal to Pay Sum Demanded By the Blackmailers?One Rich Merchant Was Killed for Refusing to Pay?He Was One of the Ten Men to Be Killed If They Did Not Pay Up Promptly. Seeking a motive for the murder of H. S. Travshanjian, the Armenian rug merchant, of New York, tbe dis trict attorney's office was led to an investigation of a reporc that Trav shanjian was one of ten wealthy Ar menians who had been marked for slaughter if they failed to give up $10,000 each to a blackmailing band of their countrymen. No color was given to this theory by Pedros Hain pertzoomian, who killed the rug man. when the prisoner was arrained last week. In court he maintained a stolid indifference, waived examina tion, and was remanded to the coron er. Later he made a statement to a representative of the district attorney In this he declared that he had come from Chicago for the express purpose of killing Tavshanjian, but the crime was justified by no one and no other person or socitey was involved. Prom other sources carefully pro tected by the authorities, came infor mation of a startling character and said to be accurate. This is to the effect that a secret society of Armen ians originally organized for what the members held to be patriotic, though revolutionary purposes, had degenerated into an instrument for blackmail. The organization had dis banded, while the better elements wiiudrew from all connection with the society. The killing of Tavshanjian and the others, it is stated, was planned more that a year ago. They received let ters which they interpreted as mean ing that they must pay or take the consequences. The threatened men discussed the matter at a meeting ar ranged to decide what they should do. Tavshanjian was present. A number of the merchants were in favor of acceding to the demand. "Better give them money and live," they said. "No," said Tavshanjian. As a mat ter of principle we should not pay. You can do as you will. They will get nothing from me." Mr. Cambere, Tavshanjian's secre tary, visited the attorney's office, and there declared that the death of his employer grew out of attempted blackmail. "There is no government here," cried Cambere excitedly. I cannot understand why you have such laws. In Turkey they would have rounded them all up. This man who commit ted the murder is only the dupe in the hands of a bam? of blackmailers." Cambere gave Assistant District Attorney Smythe a list of wealthy Ar menians who he said had been forced to pay blackmail to this band. "This is the work of an Armenian in this^city who is the worst man in the world," said a prominent Armen ian . "He has been responsible for many murders and lesser crimes, and too cowardly to commit them him self. He gets men of small intellect to do the work for him by making them believe that they are working for their country." Another well-to-do Armenian said: "A priest who tried to fight the band was murdered in Odessa. Father Kasper Vartarian, killed in New York was another victim." THE HEART THINKS. Says The Brain Is Merely an Organ For Heating. That the brain is merely a vital organ for heating the body has been asserted by D. Joseph Sims, the fam ous physician, who recently returned to his home in New ~ork after a tour around the world. Dr. Sims says that years of obser vation and study have convinced him that man does not think with his brain, but with his heart; that the brain is a vital organ maintained for t$ie purpose of heatng the body. As tending to strengthen his theory he says he has found that great men, as a rule, have small brains and large hearts, while those below nor mal and imbeciles have large brains and small hearts. As bearing out his theory that the brain heats the body he says that in the frigid zones the people have large brains, while in the torrid zones their brains are small. ELECTRIC STORM. Does Considerable Damage in City of Augusta, Ga. A terrific wind, rain and lightning storm passed over Augusta at 7:30 o'clock Thursday night doing such damage to electric wires that the city was in darkness and all electric current turned off. Trees through out the western section of the city covered the streets with debris. Damage to the electric company is roughly estimated by an official at $15,000. Five hundred telephones were burned out. Roofs of several building were reported torn off. Lightning set fire to the residence of M. O'Dowd and it was impossible to turn in an alarm, the wires being down. From the companies which re sponded four firemen were injured by falling walls. NINE MEN KILLED. Harbor Strikers and Police Have Fight in Bueuos Ayres. Nine men have been killed and many injured in a fight at Bahia Bianca, Buenos Ayres, between the harbor strikers and the police. iUKG, S. C., THURSDAY, DEADLY LIGHTNING ?T. Loss of Life Much Greater Than / Commonly Supposed. Animals Rush Under Trees and Are Caught?Men Also Forget It Is Unsafe Under Field Shelter. Lighning has done a great deal of damage in different parts of the State this summer. Many people have been killed by it and many animals have been killed. People ought to use the ordinary precaution to protect them selves from the deadly bolt. It is very foolish to expose yourself to lightning, whenJtso easy to go in a house and out -1 danger. Some people think it co wardly to try and protect yourself f. >m lightning, but it is not. It Is j^st as sensible to avoid the lightning bolt as it is to get out of the way of an oncoming train or anything else that might hurt you. In America there is no means for ascertaining precisely what is the amount of damage done by lightning. This much also is certain, that scarcely a day passes but the news papers contain accounts of strokes of lightning which have proved fatal to man or beast. In France, Germany and England complete statictics are kept of all fatalities with the view to reducing the number if possible. To accomplish this end it has been recommended to attach iron rods to the trunk of trees^with one end near the top and the other running into the 'ground. Lightning rods are also recommended for all buildings. The object is to have the electricity from the clouds conducted to the earth without the terrific force o? the bolt jumping from the sky to the earth through the air without a conductor. Cattle and sheep are killed in the greatest numbers by .lightning. The reason assigned for this is that they run for trees as soon as they see a storm coming. Trees are conductors of electricity, but are not so good as the body of an animal or a man. The result is that when the current com ing down the tree and finds a better conductor it leaves the trunk and jumps into the body of the living creatures under the tree. Men as well as animals have failed to learn that it is dangerous to be under a tree in electrical storms, as it is evidenced by the number of fatali ties reported. According to the lightning rod con ference held a few years ago in Lon don, the solid rod is the best sort of conductor. Such a rod should be in one piece and run-, from the top of the tree to the gfound. The same should be used on houses. The re sult would he that when animals run under a tree hi a. thunderstorm they would not be rushing into great er danger. The rod would also he a protection to men who forget and go under trees in similar storms. The iron rod should be pointed. The lightning rod is intended to carry electricity from the earth to the clouds or from the clouds to the earth, as the case may be, without any disturbances in the surroundings of the rod. BUTCHERS ASSAULTED By Customers Because Price of Meat Was Raised. The Jewish quarter in Philadel phia was the scene of wild disorder when women of the quarter made de monstrations against all of the Kosh er butchers as a protest against the increase in the price of beef. Shops were invaded by angry wo men, prospective customers driven out, windows broken and kerosene in number of instances poured over all meat in sight. A number of arrests were made by police, and reserves of three police districts were kept busy dispersing women and sympathizers. Demonstrations were against two police station houses in which sev eral of the women were held prison ers and police were compelea to use considerable force in dispersing the crowd. WOMAN HAS LEPROSY. The Sixth Case Discovered in Boston and Vicinity. The State hoard of health of Mas sachusetts has confirmed the report that the young woman who was re cently removed to the Massachusetts General hospital after being employ ed as a domestic for several months in some of the wealthiest families in Boston is a victim of leprosy. She will be removed to the leprosy ? colony at Fenikese Island off the coast near New Bedford. The pa tient, whose name is concealed, had been under treatment during the past year for skin disease before the real nature of the affliction was discover ed. This is the sixth case of leprosy discovered in Boston and vicinity during the past twelve months. A GENERAL SLAUGHTER. Danish People Expect to Kill Eight Million Rats. Because the rats which infest the fields and houses are doing great damage to crops and seriously injur ing many thing in other ways, the Danish government has offered a reward of two cents for every dead dodent brought to the specially ap pointed office. Already the populace has killed at a rate of more than S.000 a day, and it is thought that before the year is out over S.000.00? will have taken the same journey. FATAL FALL. Two Men Killed and Several Wound ed in Ohio. Two men were killed and five ser iously injured by the falling of scaf folding upon some work at the Pitts burg and Conneaut dock Thursday. The dead are: A. Matson and B. Hulck, of Cleve land, structural iron workers. AUGUST 1, 1907. ?s Des cribed by Two People Who Were on the Columbia. DROWNED LIKE RATS. Mrs. Leldell Who Was On 111 Fated Colombia Relates of Drownings and Perils of the Night on Raft? Graphic Description of the Sinking ToWl by Chief Engineer Jackson? Screams of Doomed Were Awful. The Pacific Coast Steamship com pany's passenger steamer Pomona ar rived in San Francisco from Eureka at 10:30 Thursday, bringing from the latter place one of the surviving pas sengers of the wrecked steamer Col umbia, and the thirty two members of the Columbia's crew, who were saved out of her total complement of 59 The passenger is Mrs. 0. Leidell, of San Francisco. The crowd was made to stand back and keep a lane open while the Pom on'a passengers came ashore. Each was sitopped at the foot of the gang plank .and asked excitedly "were you a passenger upon the Columbia?" With one exception the answer was "No." The exception was Mrs. Leidell. Clothed from head to foot in a dark brown ulster and her features hidden by a brown veil tied over her hat and under her chin, she came falteringly down, the gang plank and made her way uncertain through the crowd. She held her hankerchief to her face as she walked and when asked by newepaper men fbr a recital of her experience, she broke into tears and turned, shaking her head. "I don't want to say anything, I don't: want to talk," she murmured. Later Mrs. Leidell consented to talk and in describing her experience said: "When the crash came I got out of my stateroom. Every one was ex cited?every one except the captain. He atood on the bridge, his arms ex tended, begging the passengers to be cool. The crew rtood at the boats, cutting away at the lines that held thera. There was no chance to lower them. All who could piled into the boars. Lots of people jumped over the side, trying to climb onto bits of I wood which were floating in the wa ter. * I did not have time to think,' I ran to the side. There under the side was a raft. There was nobody on it. I jumped and struck on the raft. Other women got on it also. One crawled from the water, others jumped from the boat. "Then the Columbia went down, bow first. The raft drifted around and water washed over us. Two wo men and a little child were washed off and I never saw them again. One woman was left. Her hold was weak. She begged me to help her. I tried to hold her on, but I was too weak. She died before my eyes. Ch! I can't forget that. I'll never forget that. She drowned and I could not help her. Who she was I don't know. Now and then I got a glimpse of an other raft or boat. We got some pieces of wood after awhile and used them for oars, and finally?It must; have been hours afterward?we climbed on the San Pedro. It was a terrible climb up her side. "Men helped, but I felt so odd and weak I never thought I would get over it. The waves kept striking ov er us. We were dripping wet, and it was so cold. On the San Pedro we were sitting on two little narrow pieces of lumber. Suddenly a wave carried away the lumber we were sit ting on. "We managed to stay on the ship, however, but there were t>orae who got that far, who got no fuither, for without any warning, the rear mast of the San Pedro gave away and swept several into the sea. One or two were brought back alive, but of the others we saw nothing. And the darkness hanging over everything made it terrible. We did not know If the San Pedro would hold together,) although the officers and crew did their best to cheer us up. The day broke. The fog still hung low, and the light only appeared gradually, but then we could see who was saved, and who was not. That sight I can't tell you about it. Everything about it was so desolate and dismal. And then the Elder came up. They got us aboad, cared for us, and at Eureka I secured the only remainlag berth on the Pomona to come back here." Chief Engineer J. V. Jackson gave the following account of the wrecked steamer Columbia in an interview to the Evening Post. "I was in my stateroom when the crash occurred, and I scrambled into some clothes and came up on deck. All was confusion and turmoil. The oar of the water as it poured into (.he hole in the Columbia's side was deaf ening. Then desperately swimming away I caught a rope thrown from the San Pedro. From there I looked back at the Columbia just in time to see her plunge beneath the waves. As she sunk I could dimly see many men dash across the deck toward the San Pedro: the next moment the fog had nidden the dreadful secnes. "I am sure that many steerage passengers did not leave their state rooms as the interval was so short between the time she was struck and the time she sank that the men had not time to get to the deck, and those that did jumped overboard and were sucked down by the vortex created by the sinking vessel. "When I rushed across the deck it seemed to be deserted, hut I knew that many were about me, for the screams and cries were awful. I thank God that I am safe, but I would have willingly have given my life, as Captain Doran did, to save those that perished. I did not real ize that the end would come so :soon as it did, and I believe Capt. Doran was of the same opinion." rAM_ COWARDLY CAPTAIN Commander Hansen Is Charged With Gross Inhumanity. Many More Lives Could Hare Been Saved if He Had Taken on More of Rescued. A dispatch from San Francisco says after the tales of heroism sur rounding the Columbia wreck?the glorious death of Captain Doran, and the self-abnegation of the girl May be::le Watson? comes the other side of the disaster. A charge of gross inhumanity and th-j sacrifice of many lives has for mally been made against Captain Hansen of the San Pedro, by the third officer, Robert Hawes of the Columbia. It has been' made to Local Inspector Bolles. It is part of the record of the Uni ted States. If that charge be true, the women of San Francisco would bo justified in meting out to Captain Hansen the fate of Captain Ireson, of Marblehead. celebrated in song: Old Flud Ireson, for his hard heart, Tarred and feathered, and carried in a cart, By the women of Marblehead. Ireson sailed away from a sinking ship. Now comes the accusation in so many words that Captain Hansen was the cause of many men and wo men, struggling in the water by re fusing to take any more of the res cued on the San Pedro?a steamer ! that could not sink because she car ried a cargo of lumber. The fearful charge is calmly made under oath by Third Mate Hawse. He solemnly says to Captain Bolles i;hat he brought a boat load or rescu i nd passengers up to the San Pedro and requested that they be taken ?:are of. He declares that he was met wth a refusal to receive any more of the Columbia's passengers. "I repeatedly asked them to take I the women?one of whom was half naked and delirious," says Hawse Id his sworn statement. Such an appeal would ordinarily melt the heart of bronze, but Hawse I declares that the man in command of the San Pedro refused to shelter any more passengers of the sinking Columbia. Then comes the fearful accusation: "If the San Pedro had taken these passengers, I could have saved many more lives." Hawse says his boat was so full he feared to take any more in it, lest it be swamped. He saw many more men and women struggling in the water and all he needed was his empty boat to go to their assistance. That is a dreadful accusation for Captain Hansen to face, particularly when his steamer is safe in the harbor of Eureka and the photographs show that she could have taken away many more men and women aboard with out endangering the lives of any. But Third Officer Hawse does not stop with his charge against Captain Hansen. He has a sea dog's con tempt for the men whom he rescued in his boat and did not show any evi dence of chivalry In the hour of hero ism. One of the four women he had picked up was out of her head. All the women were scantily attired but three of them were heroines, and Hawse In his sworn statement, says: "I desire to speak in the highest terms of praise in regard to the three noble women and in lowest terms of contempt for the men passengers who would not inconvenience themselves to make the lot of the women more comfortable. And then come a tribute all around to the man who was on his bridge when through a fog and not in bed, as was Captain Hansen. This tribute comes from all sides to Captain Peter Doran who did everything that a man could do to save the people, and then went down with his ship to his death rather than crowd some of his pas sengers from a life boat or a raft. PYTHON LOOSE IN SHIP. Suspected of Having Swallowed Ape, Chickens and Chinese Boy. A New York dispatch says the British steamship Montrose, ground ed off the Battery on Monday, has a python loose in her hold, and the longshoremen unloading her have been warned to look out. The python, according to rumor in South street, is anywhere in length from twenty two to forty-four feet. It recently took aboard a flock of chickens. A young orang-outang and a Chi nest boy, originally on the manifest of the ship, are missing, and it is said that the eight-eight foot python may have surrounded them. Early morning gossip in South street hint ed that the 174-footer had been dis covered coiled along the garboard strake, making an effort to digest the boy and orang. Still later there were doubts whether the python was in the ship or the ship in the python. TOOK A LONG TIME. A Letter on Its Way Nearly Thirty Two Years. f A prosperous Norwegian citizen of Stanley, Wis., has just received a let iter which was on its way to him for 32 years. The letter was mailed from Norway to a port in Mexico, where he had been stationed as a youth on board a vessel. When the letter reached Mexico he had gone to South America. The communica tion was sent to South America, but the man had returned to Norway. The letter went back to Mexico and remained in the post office. After re maining there for many years it was sent back to Norway, and from there to this country and reached the ad dressee at Stanley, not long ago. LAUNCH CAPSIZED. Only Two of the Ten on Board Are Saved. A gasoline launch capsized in a storm at Sunny Side, Toronto, On tario, and of the ten men who were in her only two are known to be safe. Three bodies have been washed ashore. ^^_m^mm -- SI.00 PEB ANNUM. A PAUPER'S SON. Gov. Johnson, of Minnesota, Came From Low Rank. FATHER A DRUNKARD. He Is Now a Prominent Democrat and May Be His Party's Nominee for the Presidency Next Year?He Is Very Popular With All Classes And Was Elected Governor of His State Twice. Gov. John A". Johnson, of Minne sota, is the son of a pauper father. He is now serving his second term as chief executive of the state and is one of the most popular officers that Minnesota has known. He is a Dem ocrat in a state that is overwhelming , ly Republican, in his election Roose velt carried the state as a candidate for the presidency by a majority of 161,464. Johnson ran 92,453 ahead of his ticket and was elected by a majority of 7,826. In the election last fall his opponent was not "in the running," though all other Republi cans on the state ticket were elected. Gov. Johnson is 44 years of age. He started life handicapped by odds that would have proved insurmount able obstacles for a man or boy with, less stamina and direct ambition. His father was a blacksmith, a descend ant of the peasantry of Sweden. Id 1853 he emigrated to this country in an effort to get away from his old s habits. For several years he lived without touching whiskey and mar ried, but it *was not long before he began to drink worse than ever and his family became a burden on the community. Finally Johnson was de clared a pauper and taken to the poorhouse, where he died from al coholism. Then the mother began to struggle for the life of the family. It is a matter of record that in Gov. Johnson's first campaign for the gov ernorship his opponents carried signs1 which read. "His Father was a Pau per," and "His Mother took in Washing." While a boy Johnson aided his mother before and after school hours, until he reached the High school, at 13 years of age. Then he declare I he would learn a trade and prepare* to become a druggist. From tha time he was the chief support of th& family. In all those years the un dertaker was the only creditor of the family. Three deaths served to take all the spare money from the family and ruined Johnson's opportunity of taking a course in pharmacy. Later I he sought employment in a depart ment store, a position which yielded better pay, but less opportunity for study. At one time he sought em ployment outside of his home town, the village of St. Peter, but he de clared he would live down the repu tation of his father and remained at home with his mother. The day came when he was enabled to pay off the mortgage on his father's old cot tage and pay for the education of his brother and sister. After several years a friend inter ested Johnson in the St. Peter Her ald, a Democratic newsnrper in a Republican community. Johnson took up with the proposition and became editor of a country newspaper. He became an officer in the State Press association. Here began his political aspirations. Twice he was defeated as candidate for state senatorship. On his third trial he was elected. His record as a minority member brought him into, prominence, and later into the chair of the ceief executive. He is the idol of the people of the state he is serving, simply, because as he puts it?"I just tried to make good." HUGE SNAKE AT LARGE. j? - ?1> This Incredible Story Comes From Valley, Nebraska. A dispatch from Valley, Neb., says a monster snake, forty feet long, and with a head like a bushel basket, is causing terror to the farmers east of this town, where It has been seen several times,, and where It picked up Joseph Anderson, a farmer, and threw him twenty feet, breaking two of Anderson's ribs in doing so. The farmers have organized a grand snake hunt for next week, and every man for miles around will take part in it. For twenty-five years reports have been circulated about a big snake which made its headquarters near Agee's Lake, and which occasionally swallowed a pig or a calf. Twice this year the snake has been seen. THE MOB WAS FURIOUS. Songth to Avenge Many Murders in New York. Following the repeated murders, assassinations and fiendish attacks on girls and children in New York a mob was crazy Friday night when a man slashed the face of John Blackman, a motorman, who was repairing a car. The crowd pursued a slasher, who, terrified at the cries of "lynch him," jumped off a pier of East river and was drowned. Only the arrival of the police reserves prevented the crowd from storming the jail on Sta ten Island for the purpose of wreak ing vengance on Joseph Nopwyak, fifty-four years old, charged with assaulting a five-year-old girl. BUYS A TOWN To Knock to Pieces With Big Guns and Shot. In order to experiment with vari ous new guns and projectiles, the Austrian government has purchased outright the Bohemian village of Mlada. All the inhabitants have left, and soon all the latest acquisitions in the line of guns will be trained on the defenseless homes, and the effect of the bombardment will be made a serious study, by. the Austrian officers.