University of South Carolina Libraries
ESTABLISHED EST \ BRYAN POPUL?R As a Lecturer and Makes Fifty Thousand a Year. CROWDS HEAR HIM. X? Won't Speak on Sundays or for the Benefit of Idividuals, and Is Most Liberal in Hi Treatment of Local Managements. He Always Makes His Own Terms With Lec ture Bureaus. W. E. Curtis writes in The Chica go Record-Herald: According to the report of his agents, William Jen sings Bryan is making about $50,000 a year from his lectures. Charles L. Wagner, secretary of the Slayton Lyceum Bureau, which manages his lecture tours, tells me that he has filled 175 dates during the year 1907 and that his receipts for the season i have averaged more than $300 for ?ach appearance. Mr. Bryan stands at the head of the list of platform speakers today for the size of his audience, for the receipts at the box office and for the demands for his appearance. Mr. Bryan's regular charge at Chautauquas," said Mr. Wagner,1 "is the first $250 taken at the gate and half of all the receipts over $500, not including season tickets. He is the only man who can make such a liberal contract. For evening lec tures in a course he charges $200 cash as a guarantee and half of all the receipts at the door. For single evening lectures not in a regular course he asks half the gross re ceipts. "His average for the season under these terms has been more than $800 a lecture, and he has probably filled 175 dates under our management without including his political speech es. He started out on the 6th of Jan uary last and spoke almost every day until September 10, frequently twice a day, and once during the summer three times, morning, afternoon and evening, in thre?. different towns in Iowa.' In addition to these he has made a large number of political speeches during t'.ie year; he has spoken at conventions, banquets, eollegecommencements, Y. M. C. ?. ^_^arid, church meetfogs, and on-other: occasions without a fee, of which I have kept no record. "Mr. Bryan uses a special form of contract prepared by himself, which differs in terms from the contracts of all other lecturers. The chief fea tures of his contracts are the stipu lation that the general admission to his lectures shall not exceed fifty cents; that he will not lecture under individual management or where the Profite go to individuals. The con r tract reads: 'It is further expressive ly understood and agreed that this engagement is given under the aus pices of some church, lecture course, literary, educational, fraternal or charitable institution, and all profits realized from this lecture shall be used for the benefit of said auspices under which said lecture is given. It is further understood that should this lecture be given under the aus Eices of a lecture course there shall e not less than two other lectures advertised to appear on said course of entertainment.' ?'Mr. Bryan never spoke fof* mon ey on Sunday except at Chautauquas where an admission fee is charged. He prefers to speak to free audienc es on that day and nearly every Sun day during the last summer he spoke at least once, and usually twice, for some church, some Y. M. C. A., or some college. He always likes to visit small colleges and help them. I do not know what he charges for po litical speeches or what arrange ments he makes. I have never had anything to do with them. "We advertise three lectures for him 'The Prince of Peace' he likes the best himself, and it is the most popular with the people. It is a eu logy of Jesus Christ and His teach ings, and his description of the cru cifiction is one of the most eloquent word-paintings ever heard by human ' ears. He has delivered that lecture at least 600 times and never varies a word in delivery. His memory is so accurate that he never makes a mis take. 'The Value of an Ideal' is an older lecture, and although it is not delivered so often these days it has probabiy been heard quite as many times as the other. 'The Old World and its Ways' is his new lecture and is the result of his recent tour around the world. He delivered that at many Chautauquas last summer and probably 150 times altogether dur ing the past year. "The greatest indoor audience Mr. Bryan ever had was at Seattle last January, where he delivered ''The Prince of Peace' to about 8, 000 people, and his receipts were over $2,000. The greatest audience he ever addressed at a Chautauqua was a Carthage. Mo., where 12,000 people gathered to hear him. "He closed his tour for 1907 on the 10th of September with the excep tion of a few political engagements in the South. I wanted him to give me one lecture in Chicago, but he J declined because it uojld be a viola- j tion of his rule not to speak for the profit of individuals." "Did Mr. Bryan deliver any lec tures abroad?" "When he started on his tour around the world he asked me to have our London representative ar range a few dates for him in Eng land. The latter replied he feared it would be impossible. He explain ?>Ja si "* SHOOTS HIS WIFE And Mother-in-law and Then Shoots Hiiinself. Just at the expiration of the twelve months' pledge he had given the court not to molest his wife, Major H. G. Coates Phillips, one of the heroes of Spion Kop, rushed in to the home of his wife in the vil lage of Crookham, England, Thurs day, and, wounding two visitors and leaving his beautiful wife in the be lief that he had murdered her, end ed his life with two revolver balls fired at close range. His death took place in the', presence of his twelve-year-old daughter. It was the wife's good fortune to faint at the first shot fire at her, which just grazed her head. Her fainting saved her life. The wound ed visitors are Mrs. Phillips' mother, Mrs. Lucena, who was visiting her daughter a London solicitor, who had hurried to the village to give his wife legal advice. Mrs. Lucena probably will die of her wound. Mrs. Phillips divorced her hus band in 1906 od the ground of mis conduct while in South Africa, and in the course of the hearing of the case last December, Major Major Phillips entered her home and attempted suicide with gas. After ward on the last day of 1907, he gave his pledge to the court not to molest his wife for a year, his broth er being his surety. TWO MEN KILLED A Fatal Explosion Occurs in a Steel Plant. Two men were killed and thirteen injured as a result of an explosion in converter No. 3, of the Egar-Thomp son plant of the United States Steel corporation at North Braddock, Pa., Thursday. Six of the injured were Americans and the others Slavs. No official statement as to the cause of the explosion has been made but the old converter men say the cause can hardly be other than by some molten metal shifting through the soapstone lining of the convert er and coming in contact with the steel sheathing which perhaps was damp. " When the explosion occurred the bottom of the converter dropped out, throwing fifteen tons of molten metal into a pit where fifteen men were. Working at ladels. The force! of the explosion blew a sheet iron coof off the converter a mile and i arnsed-two wails to collapse. ed that Mr. Bryan was not popular in England and he did not think the public would^Day to hear him speak. The British people did not take any interest in American politics and did not have much respect for American politicians, while Mr. Bryan person ally was practically known in Eng land because of his sympathy for the Boers during the South African war. The writer closes his letter by say ing that he did not think Mr. Bryan would draw three shillings in Lon don. I seht this letter to Mr. Bryan and he read it at Franklin, Ohio, im mediately after the lecture that brought him the largest receipts of that summer. It appealed to his sense of honor and he replied that it came just in time to keep him from getting 'chesty. He said that he in tended to frame it as a reminder. A month later, while he was in our of fice in Chicago, I handed him a let ter from our agent in London stat ine that he had an offer of five pounds for one lecture from Bryan in that city and asked me to cable the reply. Mr. Bryan read the letter and then remarked. 'That isn't a bad in crease; he has raised the quotations for my lectures from three shillings to five pounds in three weeks. Just watch the market and when the bids reach a reasonable figure take a few dates.' "Mr. Bryan did not lecture in Lon don for money," said Mr. Wagner. He spoke for the American Society on the Fourth of July and at the in ternational peace congress, where he made a great sensation. "Mr. Bryan has a standing offer from Winnipeg for two nights for $1,000 a night. The managers of the lecture course there explained that they could not accommodate all who want to hear him at a single lecture, and insist that he shall give them two nights, but he has not accepted. We have on file more than twelve hun dred applications for the present winter and for next summer, but have been compelled to refuse them because Mr. Bryan has decided not to appear upon the lecture platform again until after the Presidential campaign. He could get an engage ment for every night in the year on his regular terms of $200 a night and half the gate money. He is in great er demand than ever, and I think his popularity has increased instead of diminished, judging from the anxie ty of the lecture managers through out the United States to secure him. We have been acting as his agent for four years and have booked him for an average of 150 lectures a year during that time. He has never al lowed us to book him in Nebraska. He has never lectured for money in that State and has declined to do so repeatedly. In his settlements with committees hchas been more gener ous and considerate than any lectur er I have ever handled. If his audi ence is kept away by r.iin or by any accident he never insists upon his full price. He always gives the man agers the benefit of all doubts. He has never had a dispute of any sort, although I have known on several occasions when he has teen very bad ly treated. Nor will he allow us to engage in a dispute over receipts and settlemeuts on his account." W. R. H.: "Hello, stranger! Thai W. J. B.: "Well, he's got my brand DIRE CALAMITY Predicted by a So-called Proph et in Pennslyvania. Says the World Will Come to on End in the Latter Part of Decem ber Next. A York, Pa., prophet, at least one who claims to be a prophet and whose prophecies have attracted the attention of people who care for that sort of thing, has issued his 1908 bulletin. It is his habit and his livlihood, of course, but this one is more startling than some of those previously issued. The following is his last bulletin: The end of the world. The end of this world will come to an end in winter, in the end of the month of December on a Sunday, in the year 1908. Heaven and earth will pass away. Nineteen hundred and eight will be a year of trouble, such as was never known before, Nation shall rise against nation. Kingdom shall rise against kingdom, There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes. Rivers will dry up. The fish of the sea will die. The sea will boil up with a great noise. The cities of the nation will fall. Mountains will not be found. Islands will pass away. The city of Boston will sink. New York will go up in smoke. People will flee to the mountains. The land will dry up to get ready for fire. The crops will fail and prosperity will be cut off. The banks will keep on failing. This can not be stopped. Roosevelt will get rid of all his money. The treasury will go dry. People will carry their money in their pockets and hide it in their homes. Families will steal it from one an other. This is the gold that is piled up for the last days. This gold will rust in your pockets. It will give you more trouble than good. Labor organizations will come un der one head and rule the land. There will be great wrath among the people. Hatred, killing one an other, hanging themselves and child ren will rise against their parents: two against three, and three against two; mother-in-law against daughter in-law. All plagues that are writ ten in the Bible will be brought forth. The land be full of lice, frogs, and crickets and locusts. Whoso ever be stung of the locust will die. There will be signs in tha sun, in the moon and in the starr. In the end of time the sun will ^e black, and the land will be in distress. The moon will be as blood, the stars will fall and the heavens will be shaken. This coming summer and (fall the elect, the saints, will be gathered together. '"For unto Je sus shall the gathering be." The bride is gettinjr ready to meet Jesus, the bridegroom, and we will be changed in the'twinkling of an eye and meet the Lord in the air. Commits Suicide. At Manning William Herbe, col ored, ended his life Wednesday morn ing by shooting himself in the right temple with a 32 callibre pistol. He was the trusted employe of W. P. Hawkin & Co.. liverymen, andenj >y ed the confidence of the entire com munity. The deceased left a note in his pocket which read as follows: "Mr. Hawkins, please send body to mother at Newberry." JRG, 8. Cn FRIDAY. JA] AGREED. t your steer?" I on him in several places. But 1 guess if SLAIN BY BURGLAR. Another Burglar Slain While Breaking; In a Store, Georg? H. Fisher, Newark's Ten ement Inspector, Is Shot Leaning from Window. A burglar shot and killed George H. Fisher* Newarkfs tenement house inspector, Thtrrsday^norning at the Fisher home, No. 110 Congress street, Newark, N. J. At the time of his death Mr. Fisher was leaning out of a window shouting for the police. At the same hour in Williamsburg, David Jaffe, a bird dealer at No. 146 Messerole street, shot and killed a burglar who had forced an entrance to hi? home. Mr. Fisher, with his wife and their young son and daughter had watch ed the old year out and the new year in. Soon after 3 o'clock in the morn ing Mrs. Fisher was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. She arous ed her husband, and they looked out of the window. They saw two men in the rear of Feindt's store, adjoin ing their home, trying to open a win dow. Mr. Fisher went to the window, raised it and shouted "Police!" In stantly one of the men below the window fired the bullet going through Mr. Fisher's head. He fell across the window sill his head and should ers outside. Mrs. Fisher screamed, and the shot awakened the two children who ran into the room. The mother, son and daughter drew the body back into the room and laid it on the floor. Dr. Frank Devlin, who was called, said that death had been instantaneous. The only clue that the police have was given by a woman who lives about a block away from the Fisher house. She said she was with her sick child when she heard the shot and screams. She looked out of the win dow and saw the men running along Congress street toward Jefferson. They turned the corner and disap peared. The man shot by Mr, Jaffe in Wil liamsburg has not yet been identifi ed, but the police are holding a man whom they believe to have been im plicated in the attempted burglarly. Mr. Jaffe and his brother, Morris, were asleeo in the store and were awakenea by someone trying to open the door. Several times attempts have been made to rob the store, and ! Mr. Jaffe was certain this was anoth ea. He drew a revolver from under I his pillow and fired just as the door I swung open. The bullet struck the intruder in j the forehead and he fell dead. Anoth | er man who was with him ran to j wards Graham avenue. Patrolman Dahier of the Stagg si. ~?t station, turning into Meserole street from Graham avenue, saw a man running and arrested him. The man said he was running for a car, but t ?e po liceman took him to the station. There he said he was Thomas Bay ne. of No. 141 Leonard street, but refused any other information. He was held without bail on a charge of burglary, pending an investigation, j Dr. Constantine, cf St. Catherine's Hospital, who saw the body of the dead man, said he had been killed I instantly. Mr. JafFe was charged with homi i cide and was released on parole. Train Wrecked. A Pennsylvania railroad express ! which left Buffalo Thursday night, j which was due in Philadelphia at 7.32 a. m., was wrecked at Montandon, Pa., early Thursday and more than a dozen passengers injured. STUART 10, 1908. you can ropo him you can have himl" ?Triggs in Now York Pres?. WILL RIDE CHEAPER. The Southern Railway Will Reduce its Passenger Rates. Makes This Concession of Its Own Volition and in Appreciation of South Carolina's Kindness. South Carolina will sret the bene fit, so far as the Southern Railway is concerned, of the reduction in rates made by Legislative enactment in other States of the South, but with out the turmoil of Legislative agita tion and without the expense of pro longed litigation. The Columbia correspondent of the News and Courier says President W, W. Finley, of the Southern Railway, at a conference in the Governor's of fice Friday stated that on April 1, 1908, the Southern Railway would put into effect in South Carolina the following rates. For straight tickets, 2 1-2 cents per mile. For family mileage books, 2 1-4 cents per mile. For 1,000-mile and 2,000-mile mile age books, 2 cents per mile. The conference was attended by Governor Ansel, Attorney General Lyon, Chairman Caughman, of the railroad commission, and Commis sioners Sullivan and Earle on the part of the State, and by President Finley, Vice President Culp. General Coun sel Thorn and Division Counsel Ab ney on the part of the Southern Rail way. The conference was held in the office of the Governor and was open, being attended by the newspaper men. Mr. Finley, in a conversational way, put the proposition of the Southern before the Governor, ex plaining as he went along the rea sons for the different rates and the reasons governing the railroad in making this proposition. He ex plained that the Southern on ac count of the fairness with which South Carolina had treated the rail roads had a disposition to give the State the benefit of the reduced rates, and consequently the South ern intends, without compulsion, to put into effect the rates which it has proposed as a compromise in North Carolina. Georgia and Ala bama. He felt assured that the agreement entered into would be made effective in these States, and j perhaps in Virginia also. The same I treatment promised South Carolina would be given Tennessee, which has also been liberal in the matter of legislation. The 2 1-2 cents rate will apply to all Inter-State passenger business on straight fares. The 2 1-1 cents rate for family mileage books, which contain the name of the head of the family will cover books for 500 miles, entailing a minimum expenditure of $11.25 ZJ, The 2-cent rate for mileage books of 1,000 and 2.000 miles relates to individual mileage books and also to what are termed mercantile books, good for members of a firm or bus iness concern up to five individuals, the names of each of whom shall appear in the book. Declined Them, (lev. Hughes of New York refus ed to accept for collection $1,000.0001 worth of repudiated North Carolina bonds saying that he did not think it proper for him to accept claims by which he would have to prosecute a sister state. FARMER'S FIGHT WITH SWANS. Flock of Birds Attacks Japanese and His Horse, A Japanese farmer, one of the many who have leased much land around Russellville, Ore., on the Base line road, had a most thrilling adventure with a flock of white swans last week. He was out plow ing in his field, so E. N. Emery says, when suddenly several hun dred swans made their appearance. At first he paid no attention, but they soon began circling close down on him. Then they made a sudden sweep and nearly knocked him down. The swans renewed their attack on the Japanese with more vigor than ever. They dashed at him and struck him in passing from all directions. He sought to drive J them off by swinging his hat but this had no effect. He then ran to the nearest fence, followed by part of ! the flock', and seizing a rail, defend ed himself; but still the swans at I tacked him until he had knocked 1 down several. The horse which the Japanese had left hitched to the plow was al so attacked by more than a score of the angry birds. The animal did the best he could to defend himself with his heels and teeth while his owner was wielding the rail at his assailants. Suddenly the whole flock by an impulse took flight, leaving the Japanese master of the battlefield '*It was the most remarkable and comical fight I ever witnessed," re marked Mr. Emery. "The Japanese certainly had his hands full. Part of the time he was half-covered by the swans. He fought with the same determination that his com rades fought the Russians. The ground around where.the fight took place was strewn with feathers." VETERAN OPERATOR DEAD Joseph W. Kates, Who Served the Confederacy Well. A dispatch from Richmond, Va., says Joseph W. Kates, for many years the most prominent telegraph operator in Virginia and perhaps in the entire'Sduth, passed away Thurs day night at Manchester. He was at one time superintendent of the South ern district of the Western Union company at Richmond and later gen eral , superintendent of the Postal Telegraph-Cable company, with headquarters in this city, ' Mr. Kates was in charge of the of fice at Manassas, Va., during the battles of BlacKburn's Ford and Man sissas and for several weeks did the work of the office by himself. It was he that transmitted the famous mes sage from President Jefferson Davis to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Win chester, ordering that officer to make a junction with Gen. Beauregard at Manassas. In the fall of 1861 he was again transferred to Richmond and in the spring of 1862 to Columbus, Ky.f where he was operator at the head quarters of Gens. Polk and Beaure gard. _ LABOR TROUBLES. Strikebreakers Stoned and Beaten iu Muncie. Rioting occurred on the streets of Muncie, Ind., between striking em ployes of the Indiana Union Traction company and strikebrakers. Shots were fired and stones and other miss ies were thrown. Nine persons were injured, those hurt the most seriously being Morris Maley, who received a bullet wound in the groin, and Harry Gardner, who was badly beaten. Others were hit with stones. Cars were started Friday without interruption, each protected by from seven to nine strikebreakers. A crowd soon gathered at tne interruption station and in 30 minutes 2,000 per sons surrounded the building. Cars were stoned as they started out. At other parts of the city cars were stopped and the strikebreakers weie driven off. Two cars collided on account of the inexperience of the motormen and several people had narrow escapes. QUEER ACCIDENT. Blow from a Stove Lifter Caused an Explosion. Mrs. Josephine Cominsky, 18 years! old, of No. II Pearsall street, Long| Island City, became angry Thurs day night with Caster Gussuo, who! boards with her, and and struck him 1 on the side with an iron stove lifter, j Immediately there was a loud report j and Gussus fell to the floor scream- ' ing with pain. Mrs. Cominsky calied an ambu lance from St. Johns hospital. Thei surgeon found that Mrs. Ccminsky'Sj blow had exploded a cartridge that Gussus had carried in his pocket, and the bullet, striking against a twenty-five cent piece, had driven the coin partly in his side. The hospital doctors cut out the coin and Gussus will recover. The coin unr'oubedtly saved the man's life. Mrs. Cominsky was not arrest ed, as Gussus corroborated her story of the accident. Four Persons .Murdered. A report has reached the coroner at Piitsburg, Pa., that four mem bers of a family living at Grays Mills near there, have been found mur dered. No details accompanied the report. The coroner has parted au investigation. 0 $1.50 PER AOTTUM. MANY MAD WOLVES. They Are Rapidly Increasing to the State of Texas Efforts Being Modo to Protect Stock and People Who Are in Exposed Places. The ranchmen of this section, says a staff correspondent of The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, are making a desperate effort to eradicate the wolves which infest their pastures. Notwithstanding the fight which has been waged against them for many years their numbers show an annual increase. They srem to thrive with the settling up of the country. Thjy are not only a menace to the live stock, but of late years rabies has spread among them to an extent that is alarming. Many instances are known of the victim of one of these animals dying of hydrophobia. Since the estab lishment of a state hydrophobia in stitute at Austin three years ago more than a hundred persons have gone there for treatment of mad wolfe bites. The wolves are of the coyote spe cies. They skulk around at night' and kill young calves and make away with lambs and kids. The last Legislature passed a scalp bounty law which carried an appropriation of $100,000 to pay for the scalps of coyotes and other wild animals, which cause serious losses to the stockman. [Gov. Campbell vetoed the measure. Many of the ranchmen have hun ters constantly employed to kill the wolves' wildcat and other depreda ting wild animals. This method of eradication is slow and very expen sive. A few years ago Clement Bonter ant, an Englishman, purchased a ranch west of here. He soon found that the covotee were carrying off most of his calves and lambs. He employed Mexicans to capture half a dozen coyotes alive. He placed a sheep bell upon each of these coy otes and .turned them loose upon his ranch. It was Mr. Bon terant's theory that the belled coy otes would frighten away all the other coyotes of the place. Instead the belled coyotes attracted other coyotes to them and in a few days each belled coyote bad a hig flock of" followers and these hordes of ani mals were playing worse havoc than ever before. After many efforts the belled coy otes were recaptured and the belk removed from their necks. Mr. Bonterant then tried the ex perience of catching coyotes alive and placing them in a pen with man gy dogs which he had brought from San Antonio for that special pur pose. The coyotes soon contracted! ihe mange and were turned loose. That experiment worked with bet ter success than the one which he first tried. Nearly every coyote in southwest Texas is now afflicted with the mange. Mad wolves are such a menace to this section thnt many ranchmen have built corrals around their homes as a means of protection for their wives and children against attack by the animals. When afflict ed a coyote does not hesitate to enter the open door of a house or go boldly into a camp where men are sleeping and attack whomsoever it happen to run across. A few days ago a party of deer hunters were sitting around a camp fire over on the Nueces river, The night was dark and the air chilly. The men were enjoying the comforts of camp life when they suddenly heard the growl of a coyote and be fore any one could grab up a gun. the animal walked into the circle of light and r>assed squarely through the flames and coals of the fire. It then turn 3d and started toward one of the hunters. Before the mad an imal could get to him the man man aged to get hold of his gun and kill it. The coyote when suffering from an attack of hydrophobia will attack and bite full grown cattle. The bite produces rabies in the cattle and the losses of livestock from this cause are considerable. It is very dan gerous to enter a pasture where shere are cattle which are suffering from hydrophobia. The animals, charge everything in sight. Tom Hub bard had a gang of Mex (icans at work constructing a water hole, or "tank," as they are called, on a ranch near there recently. The laborers lived in an open camp and had taken no precaution to prevent attacks from mad wolves, One night they were lying asleep upon the ground around the camp fire when one of the mad wolves made its appearance among them. Two of them were sent to the State Hydrophobia Institute, where they were treated. The other Mexican refused to take the treatment and on the ninth day after being bitten died. Took the Gas Route. ^ Marquis C. Gaster. a wealthy re tired tea merchant, and formerly secretary and assistant editor of the Scientific American, was found dead from inhaling gas Ihursday in his room at his home. No. 30 West Fif ty-third street, New York. He bad been ill recently and feared that he was losing his eyesight. Another Victim. 7 '?"15r? At Swansea, Russia, Col Broberoff chief of the proyincial gendarmie. was shot ard killed in a crowded street Thursday.