Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A,'S SaIfei Ji SkfeJ ESTABLISHED EST 18 LATIMER DEAD. The Senator Dies Thursday Morn ing After a Short illness. SHOCK TO STATE. The Senator Was Operated On For Appendicitis at a Washington Hos pital on Sunday.?At First He Got Along All Right, But Peritonitis Followed and He Soon Passed Away. Senator Asbury C. Latimer died at Providence Hospital at Washington -on Thursday morning after a few ?days illness. He was 'taken sick on Sunday night and was taken to the hospital at once, where he was oper ated on for appendicitis. He got on very well until Tuesday, when complications set in, and the Senator grew rapidly worse until Thursday morning, when he passed away at nine o'clock Mrs. Latimer and two daughters vrere present when the end came. Senator Latimer was about fifty seven years old. He has been ia the Sesate nearly six years. Before going to the Senate, he served ten years in the House as a Representa tive. He was a candidate to succeed himself and would have been voted for in the primary this Summer. His remains were brought from "Washington Thursday night in charge of a committee of Senators and Re jresentatives on a special train and interred at Belton, at which place he lived. Senator Latimer was a high toned up-right gentleman. He had been for years a member of the Meth odist Church. He leaves a wife and several children. Among the prospective candidates developed for the unexpired term to be filled by the Lgislature, are E. Marion Rucker of Anderson, Ex Speaker of the House Farnk B. Gary of Abbeville, Senator LeGrand Wal ker of Georgetown. LITTLE BOY BURNED TO DEATH. Match Ignited OiPSoaked C'oth Plac ed on his Chest. A special to The News and Courier from Louisville, Ga., says Walter, the little 9-year-oid son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter FarreU was burned to death at their home last night in a very touching and pathetic manner. The little fellow was suffering from a se vere cold ,ard a flannel cloth saturat ed with turpentine was placed over his chest. During the night the skin became irritated, and the child was restless; the mother arose to com fort it and, striking a match while leaning over the little fellow, the tur pentine ignited. Mrs. Farrell was Beverly burned in her efforts to ex tinguish the flames.' The child died in a short time. READS LIKE FICTION. Left a Fortune of One Hundred Thousand Dollars. A story reading very much like a tale in. a novel has developed at Au gusta, Ga., in which Mrs. Joe Koger, of Columbia County, has become heiress to a fortune of about $100, 000. About forty-five years ago her brother, Col. Elisha Bates, went out to the Santa Fe country and engaged as a stage driver. He was penniless, but hoarded his little earnings uut'l eventually he became the operator of the stage line, and later made other successful business ventures. A short time ago Col. Bates died, leaving an estate of $100,000, to ?which Mrs. Koger, now a resident of the Columbia County, is heiress. KILLED IN RIOT. Two Dead and Six Injured in a Pcmr syivania Town. Two men were killed and six others we~e seriously injured in a riot at Dunbar, Pa., Tuesday night. Two of the wounded are Americans, the dead and the other wounded being foreigners. Forty-five persons were arrested by the police who were call ed to quell the disturbance. According to one of those arrest ed the trouble is tue outcome of ri valry between two boarding houses conducted by foreigners. It is said that six Croatins-who lived in a box car went to an old homestead which another gang of foreigners had turn ed into a boarding house and after battering down the doors, started a fight. WENT FROM THIS STATE. Man Who Klled Another in Mississip pi is From Spartanburg. J. F. Wilder, who shot and killed j W. L. Booth of Dallas. Texas, at Epps, Mississippi. last Saturday af ternoon, Is ?? native of Spartanburg county. He has a brother living in STJartcnburg and has many relatives \r, the county. Twenty years ago Wilder was runring n sr.w mill en gine at Woodruff at 50 cents a day. lie leff here lr? years ago for Mis sissippi where he operated a saw mili on his own account. He made menev f-rt. and is now worth about cue million. Charges Extravagance on Part of Dispensary Commission. What He Said, What He Reiterates and "Responsible for What I Say, Here and Elsewhere." There was another personal priv ilege statement in the State sea ate Tuesday, anent the dispensary winding up commission and Attorney W. F. Stevenson, over the irrepressi ble Clark purchase. Senator John son was the speaker, he said: "Mr. President: In my remarks on Thursday last on bill No. 669, Mr. Christenseu's bill, to appropriate the sura of 515,000 .to enable Mr. Lyon to secure counsel to prosecute alleg ed grafters, I stated in opposition of the bill that the investigating com mictee had already spent $20,000 of the people's money without any re sults. That the winding-up commis sion had spent $50,000 during the year of their existence, and if state ments and charges in the public prints were true and to be relied upon, in refusing to accept an offer that was said to have been made by a firm or corporation outside of the state, to take over the entire stock of liquors, wines, etc., including dead stock, odds and ends, at their origi nal invoice price, and having subse quently sold the stock at a discount of 20 per cent, on the dollar, which resulted in another loss of $200,000, to the people of South Carolina, I did not say how or for1 what pur pose the $50,000 was spent, but, I simply said that it had been spent by the commission, and any state ment to the contrary is false. But it now develops, and is shown by their own record that S59.3S9.56 was spent by them, insteau of $50.000 as stated in my argument, and tae $15, 000, given them by order of Judge Pritchard, and the $20,000 spent by the investigating committee, togeth er with the $15,000, carried by the Christensen bill, will make an ag gregate of the enormous sum of $110,000 in round numbers of the dispensary fund that has been got ten away with in one way or another, which is over one eigth of the total amount of the entire assets of the dis pensary. . ? "Now comes one, W. F. Steven son, who is said to be the attorney for the commission, and who claims that no such offer was ever made ex cept in a jocular way, by a Mr. Bull, of Peoria, 111. "This alleged offer and loss caused thereby will however, be investigat ed, but Mr. Stevensen says, if such an offer had been made it could not have been accepted under the act. This is a most remarkable proposi tion to come from a man who claims to be a lawyer, but not altogether surprising to others in view of the fact that if an offer had been made, and accepted, it would have been fol fowed by the loss of some fat lega' fees. I do not believe, however, there is a real lawyer in South Carolina, who would read the act creating the commission and place any such con struction upon it. "Now I have presented the facts and figures relative to the matter, just as they appear, and have repro duced my remarks upon the subject just as they were made, and any charge or in'.imation of unfairness on my part is Jalse and without founda tion no matter by whom made. I will further state that I am respon sible for wLat I say, here or else where." SPEEDY JUSTICE. Quick Work in the Trial of a Con fessed Fiend. Committed assault Thursdav, ar rested and jailed Friday, indicted the following Monday, tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged Tuesday, is the record established by the Trazewell, Va., Circuit Court in the case of the Commonwealth against Walter Rippey, the convessed negro rapist. Rippey was tried for assault on Mrs. Mary Dancey. Mrs. Dancey testified and in the course of her story was several times overcome, and the Court had to wait until she regained her composure before pro ceeding. The recital was one of the most harrowing in the annals of crime in that section. The jury was out a short time and when the ver dict was returned Rippey was sen tenced to hang on March 25. TRAIN RAN DOWN BUGGY. Young Man Killed and Father and Sister Seriously Injured. Train No. 99, the Seaboard Air Lino's southbound Florida limited, ran into a buggy containing Mr. Jerry M. Thomas, of Dentsville, and his son and daughter, Tuesday morning at about 11 o'clock, at Waddell, ten miles north of Columbia, the acci dent resulting in the instant death of the young iau and the serious in jury of the girl. The vehicle was smashed to pieces nnd the mule killed. Somehow the f--tVt-r v -vhO with hurts not more serious th-t't minor contusions. The accident occurred at a crossing a ]j':le above Waddell where limited trr.i'is run at a hW.h speed. The supposition is thai the proper signals were not given or that they were unheard, or else disregarded by the occupants of the buggy. ORANGE BTJ3 Senator Blease Answers the Tes timony ofr j. Lewis Parker. NO LANAHAN AGENT. Submits Affidavit From One of the Firm and From Members of Board of Control?Says There Is a Con spiracy Against Him by the Gov ernor and Mr. Patton and Some Others. One day last week Senator Blease of Newberry, arose in the State Sen ate to a question of "personal priv ilege" and made some remarks re garding the testimony given before the state dispensary commission by Messrs. Lewis Parker and E. A. Smythe to the effect that he had been employed by Lanahan & Son to rep resent them before the former board of directors of the state dispensary. He said: ? I wish to ask the Senate to allow to be published in the journal five affidavits which I hold. "Just before the campaign of 1906, Mr. President, the report was circu lated that one in the employ of the State was an agent, for a liquor house. I had not any Idea in the world, sir, that that meant me, and I never thought so until Senator Till man, riding on a railroad train one day, was asked the positive question as to who he referred to and he said to this gentleman, whom I suppose he thought was a very intimate friend of his and not a friend of mine, that Blease was the man whom he meant. "I immediately sat down and wrote to the different gentlemen and asked if it was true, and if it wasn't true to send me an affidavit. I read those affidavits at Union at the cam paign meeting two years ago. Just about the opening of this campaign, this year, just after I had something to say about Mr. Avery Patton, along with this winding up commission, again this matter is brought up. The governor is from Greenville, Mr. Avery Patton, of the winding-up commission, is from Greenville, both of the witnesses are from Greenville, the correspondent of the News and Courier is from Green ville. Right at the opening of this campaign of 190S here comes the governor with his?I want to be mild and I want to lie polite?his wit nesses and his appointee Patton of the winding-up commission, all from Greenville? "And in addition to that a news paper correspondent from Greenville, and if it ain't a political conspiracy I have never seen one?a newspaper reporter from Greenville county mak ing his report come out, headed 'Blease Hired by Liquor Houses.' They put a question mark after that, and it is well that they did. "Now, Mr. President, I want, to thank the Columbia State once in my life for being fair, honest and straightforward in this transaction; not only the correspondent in this chamber, but the man who is in charge of that office, with the way it is put in the paper this morning: 'Hlofxc is Alleged to Have Been the Man.' "I am not afraid of this matter. Mr. President, because 1 have never epresentcd any whiskey house in my life in the capacity of a sales ngent ?i the people of South Carolina after this thing was circulated and when I had hardly time to answer it gave me nearly IS,lino votes for go' Vjncr; and this summer Gov. An IG, S. C. FRIDAY, FEBI WHO'S IN THE HOLE NOW? j the conspiracy between him and his I sei will answer to those people for Greenville allies and newspaper cor respondent. He will not only an swer politically, but he will also an swer to me as a man, face to face, be he governor or be he what he may." Senator Blease here read an affi davit from Sam J. Lanahan saying that he never told Lewis W. Parker or any other person that Cole L. Blease was in his employ to look after his interest in the whiskey busi ness in South Carolina; and as a mat ter of fact he did not have Cole L. Blease so employed. "Now, Mr. President, this affidav it was published in the summer of 1906. Lanahan was then living and Parker did not deny it, or attempt to have Lanahan retract it. Now Lan ahan is dead and c?i net. speak; and the Greenville witness shows up. Why? Because I hit Greenville's Pat ton and am a candidate for governor against Greenville's Ansel. Yes, sir, that is my belief as to the reason. If a man, Mr. President, says?if my good friend, the senator from Richland says?that the senator from Bamberg told him thus and so, and if I go to the senator from Bamberg and he says that the senator from Richland is a liar, what more can I do? The fight is between them. Equally so the fight in this case is between Lanahan and Parker; and why did Parker wait until Lanahan was dead? I do not say that Parker is a liar, but Lanahan says that Par ker is a liar. If Lanahan said that I was his agent he lied; and if Par ker savs that I was Lanahan's agent he is a liar." Senator Blease then read affidavits dated August 7, 1906, from Jodie M. Rawlinson, John Black, Jos. B. Wy lie, H. H. Evans, John Bell Towill and L. W. Boykin, who composed the two last state boards of control of the state dispensary, all of whom say that Cole L. Blease has never directly nor indirectly solicited busi ness or asked that purchases be made from Samuel J. Lanahan or any other party engaged in selling whiskey or other articles to the State dispensary. "Now, Mr. President," continued Mr. Blease, "there is the record. That is all I have got to say. I do not want to be harsh in this matter. I have endeavored to speak without feeling and without temper, and I have told this senate what I believe. I have told this senate what I pro pose to tell the people of South Caro lina. And the man that will come to my face and tell me that I was Lana han's agent, then, Mr. President, the world will find out whether he and I are both brave men or not. "I thank the senate for its kind ness and ask that these remarks and i affidavits be printed in the record." AN ACTOIST SUED For Making a Mule Run Away and j Killing Driver. Mr. Harry Buhl, a wealthy resi dent of Pittsburg. Pa., who, winters! in Augusta. Ga.. is being sue dby Melissa McClady, a negro woman, for $3,000 for tue death of her husband. While autolng on a country road a few miles out of Augusta, Mr. Buhl's j machine frightened a mule which the woman's husband was driving, cans-I (ing it to run away and kill him. j - For State Senator. Ex-State Dispensary Director Hub iEvans authorizes the announcement if his candidacy for stale senator from Newberry. He was formerly mayor of the town of Newberry, and was recently defeated for another term in. tha.t office by only eleven votes. lie is one of the few si;" dispensary officials of his period service not under indictment. A. I personally he is one of the most pop ular men In the state. JTJARY 21, 190S;! ?Dcmar :n Philadelphia Record. At Wright's Hotel hi June, 1900, and in Justice to All Parties Con cerned Calls on Blease to Name the "High State Official" Who Rep resented the Lanahan Firm Before the State Board. To the Editor of the News and Courier: Please pardon a few words in answer to Senator Cole L. Blease in his recent remarks in the State Senate with reference to my testi mony before the winding-up commis sion. The absurdity of the charge of conspiracy as made by Mr. Blease must be apparent, but there may be some conditions not understood by all. Neither Capt. Smyth nor my self was a supporter of Governor Ansel in the recent campaign. For myself, though I had the highest per sonal regard for him, I differed with him on the issues of the campaign and voted for another. I have never had a communication with him or any one else referred to by Mr. Blease with reference to my testimony, except with Mr. Avery Patton, to whom, after having been subpoenaed as a witness before the winding-up commission I wrote on December 30, urging him "not again to put me to the humiliation of ap pearing in a matter about which I; know practically nothing." To this letter I have had a reply and had not seen Mr. Patton until I appeared before the commission a few days since. Mr. Blease asks the question why I waited until after Mr. Lanahan's death to answer the question as to who Mr. Lanahan had told me was representing him in South Carolina. I agree with him that it was unfor tunate that the answer had to be made subsequent to Mr. Lanahan's death, but I had no choice in the matter. No one knows better than Mr. Blease why the que,-tfjn was not an swered two years ago at the time of the hearing before the Lgislativc committee, in June, 100G. It was upon Mr. Blease's own motion and by the effort of his own vote that I was excused from answering the question at that time, against the earnest protest of Mr. Lyon, now Attorney General, and two other members of the investigating com mittee. Having been excused by the investigating committee from answer ing the question then, it. certainly would have been improper and incon sistent for me subsequently to have rushed into print to make public statements which I had asked the Legislative committee to excuse meI from making before them. Having been excused then from disclosing the personage referred to by Mr. Lanahan, I was not called upon to | note any denial by him that Mr. : Blease was the person referred to. It will be noted, however, that Mr. Lanahan never denied any part of the conversations referred to by me| in my testimony. He merely denied that he had told me that Mr. Uleaso represented him, which at that time [ had not testified to before the com-1 mittee, because, as stated, I had been ( xcused. Mr. Blease certainly surprises me. however, in his statement to the ef fect that he had no idea that I re < FIRST IN THE SOUTH Colored Photographs Taken by Two Clemson Professors. How the Pictures Are Taken?Art of Photography Will, It Is Predict ed, Be Revolutionized. A special to the News and Courier from Clemson College says two mem bers of the faculty, Prof. F. H. H. Calhoun, of the geological depart ment, and Assistant Prof. E. T. How ard, of the mechanical department, have succeeded in producing photo graphs showing the original colors of the objects photographed. This has been accomplished by means of the Lumiere autochrom plate. The process was discovered about one year ago only by Lumiere, at Lyons, France; and the specially prepared films have been on the mar ket about three months. Dr. Calhoun and Prof. Howard are among the very first in this country to try the process, their order for plates being the 33d. Out of eight plates they succeeded in getting sev en excellent color photographs of various scenes around the College, and they are naturally very proud of their success. They are doubtless the fiFSt people in the South to under take the matter. The film used in making these col or photographs is so made that it contains coloring matter, which is af fected by the various colors in the picture to be taken. The plate is exposed as usual in photography, ex cept rather longer through a special ray filter. Great care needs to be ex ercised to handle the plates n a dull red light. They must be washed in nine solu tions, the first two in total darkness. The others take place ii the open daylight. The colors appear imme diately upon taking the plates into the light; but the remaining process es are essential to the intensifying, clearing and fixing of the colors. The newly discovered process, by means of which any scene may be pictured in the original colors, seems destined to revolutionize the art of photography. DRANK DISPENSARY DRY. Georgians Closed North Augusta thop for a While. The troubles of the North Augus ta dispensary continue to exist. The people of the little South Carolina town have tried to close the liquor shop and failed on several occasion:;; but the people of Augusta have been more successful. The little shop was closed, the third time since its openiug during the early afternoon, because the stock had again been ex hausted. And the dispensary trad" in or from Augusta is increasing ev ery day. ferred to him in my statements be fore the investigating committee. When I testified in June, 190G, Mr. Lanahan had been advised of my having been subpoenaed and of the necessity of my testifying to my con versation with him if the Court de creed that I should do so; further more the attorneys representing Mr. H. H. Evans had been advised be fore I testified of the purport of my testimony. As the intimacy between Mr. Blease and Mr. Evans was well known, I had presumed that it had been com municated to Mr. Blease what my testimony would be. This precaution was confirmed in my own mind by statements of Mr. Blease to me. On the evening of my testimony, whilst Mr. Haynsworth and I were supping together at Wright's Hotel, Mr. Blease, who had been taking supper at a table some distance away, stopped at. our table a moment, and after expressing his approval of the position I had taken with reference to testifying said in effect that he was familiar with all the facts with regard to the employ ment of the party referred to by me by Mr. Lanahan; that he had no apoligies to make to anyone for vot ing to excuse me from giving the name, but that in justice to the party referred to he wanted to say that that party had not undersood fully the service expected of mm when he accepted the employment, and when he did learn what was expected he declined to serve furthr, and re ceived less than two hundred dollars for his compensation. 1 understood the statement of Mr. Blease to be a diplomatic acknowl edgement of his connection with the natter, and. as. expressed in legal terms, "a idea of confession and avoidance." Mr. Biease now denies that he had any connection with .Mr. Lanahan. I may add that. T am advised by Mr. Wo, Elliott of Columbia, who was my attorney in the proceedings before the Supreme Court, that Mr. Blease made to him practically the same statement as made above. In justice to Mr. Blease himself, and in justice !<> 'he memory of Mr. Lanahan. Mr. Blease is now, it seems! to me. called upon to say who was the "high State official." whom Mr. Lanahan had employed, as he has acknowledged full acquaintanceship in the matter. Whilst 1 cannot con ceive that l have been mistaken a3 to statements made to me by Mr. Lana han, still if Cere be error in what Mr. Lanahan stated t') me. Mr. Blease can clear it and should do so. Respectfully, Lewis A. Parker. Greenville, S. C, February 17, 190S. SI.50 PER ANNUM. WILL BE LIVELY. Gov. Ansel Will Not Have a Walk Over This Summer. CANDIDATES GALORE. C. L. Blease Has Announced That He Will Be in the Race for Cover* nor, and So May C. C. Feather stone, W. B. Nash, Jolui Calhoun O.'ts and Cue or Two Others. The Columbia correspondent of the Augusta Herald says up to a few days.ago the probability has been strong almost to the poin: of certain ty that Governor Ansel would glide into a second term without opposi tion, as was the good fate of Gov. Heyward, but the gathering of the legislature, and its actions recently, have wrought several radical, cruel changes In this program. The practical certainty now is that the gubernatorial race this sum mer will be an extremely lively if not sensational one, with half a doz en men in the race, with a great va riety of liquor platforms from which to choose. Blease of Newberry. State Senator Cole L. Blease, of Newberry authorizes your correspon dent to formally announce his can didacy for governor. His liquor plat form is the present local option sys tem with a license feature for those counties that desire this way of hand ling liquor. He ran for governor when Ansel was elected, and in spite of the unpopularity of the state dis pensary system, which was his plat form at the time, he received nearly 18,000 votes in th race where the vote was split up among a number of candidates. It has been thought that he would offer for re-elcetion as senator, but developments of the past few weeks have decided him other wise. In spite of his politics being distasteful to a large body of the sen ate he has for years been one of the smartest and most influential mem bers of it. John G. Richards. It is also practically certian, unless there are further radical changes ia the political situation, that Repre sentative John G. Richards, for a number of years one of the house floor leaders for the state dispensary, will be in the race for governor against Ansel on a state v/ide pro hibition platform. His fight through ten continuous years for a repeal of the agricultural lien law has brought him into prominence on account of the adverse action of the senate on that measure. Urged to Run. A number of delegations have come to him and offered their support and urged him to run promising to work for him regardless of his liquor plat form. Some of these have urged him to run for lieutenantgoverneragainst President of the Senate McLcod on account of the latter's vote against the Crouch lien law repeal bill in the senate. But although Mr. McLcod's vote against this bill was applauded on the floor of the senate at the tim by the anti-repeal forces his ac tion is said by his friends to have been misconstrued, that he was vot ing against the Crouch bill in order to get the Richard's house bill passed so as to hasten enactment of repeal. C. C. Featherstone. C. C. Featherstone, of Laurens, a former candidate for governor, has been in Columbia several days hold ing conferences, and it is predicted that he will announce himself for governor on a state wide prohibition platform in a few days. He has beeu making prohibition speeches in dif ferent parts of the state recently. The friends of Mr. Richards and other prohibition candidates have gently intimated to him that he has read himself out of the pro hibition forces by his interview pub lished recently to the effect that the next change in the liquor law should eb to declare a state of prohibition and allow such counties as desire it to vote in dispensaries. His attitude the past year has been construed that he would not oppose Mr. Ansel, but If others are coming in he will join the merry band. Represent! Nash. Representative ->;? h. of Spartan burg, a life-long prohibitionist, .s ex pected to announce his candidacy for governor soon as the legislature ad journs. His friends say that the rea son he does not. announce now in thai that course would reduce his influence and hamper him in his work on the floor of the house. .John Calhorn Otts. Still another state wide guberna torial possibility is s::i 1 to be Repre sentative Johu Calhoun Otts, o* Cherokee, a former dispensary advo cate, but last year a champion of lo cal option in the senate. Ansel's Platform. It is thought highly probable that Governor Ansel himself will switch t? a state wide prohibition platform before he files his pledge next June. He was electe 1 on a local option plat form, but he has always been a work er for prohibition, chosing local op tion as the next best thing. It is -known that he hesitated mrny many I moons before recommending a con tinuance of local option, in his mes sage to the present legislature. Mr. Ansel is a former state dispensary supporter. He ..? s the advi ntaa s ia the coining r of the str ng senti ment iu frv of second termism.