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ESTABLISHED EST 15 SHORT OF FUNDS Two County Treasurers Charge d With Heavy Shortages IN THEIR ACCOUNTS i Kesu.lt of Investigations Made by Comptroller General Jones?The Action of Gov. M. F. Ansel Taken Upon Reports Submitted After Weeks of Investigation. Columbia, Dec. '19.?Comptroller General Jones has reported to Gov. ' Ansel the result of an examination of the books of the treasurer of Hampton and the treasurar of Edge field counties and from the figures submitted it is charged that there is a shortage of $7,723.46 in the ac counts of J. T. Pattison,'treasurer of Edgefleld county, and that there is a shortage of $17,670.79 with J. C. Langford, the treasurer of Hamp ton county. The report of the Hampton exnm Ination is given as follows: ""Ijp His Excellency, Gov. Martin F. Ansel, Columbia, S. C. "Sir: The annual settlement for the taxes of the fiscal year 190T of "Hampton county was made as of date June 30, L908, and was checked up and balanced to October 24, 190$ snowing cash balances due by Mr. J. C. Langford, county treasurer, as tollows: Cash Statement. June 30, 1908, cash bal ance due State treasur- , er .. ...".$ 2,665.71; June 30, 1908, cash bal ance due county funds 13,812.24 June 30, 1908, cash bal ance due school funds. 9,796.05 Amount of money bor rowed since June 30, 1908 . 4,000.00 Collection dispensary' funds since June 30, 1908. 2,436.99 Fines, licenses and costs since June 30, 1908 .. 267.82 Superintendent of educa tion. . - 87.41 Cash collected from taxes from 1908 . 5396! Total cash balance, June 30, and collec tions to October 24, ? " 1908 .$33,170.18 Disbursements. Paid State treas urer .$ 369.20 Paid county claims. 7,022.70 Paid school claims .. .. 934.97 Total dis bursements to Oct. 2*1 .$ 8,326.87 Cash balance due October 24. 1909, State and county funds .. .$24,843.31 "County Treasurer Langiord ac counts for the above cash as fol lows: Cash in office. $ - 807.49 Claims Beau fort county . '60.00 Checks. 49.35 Cash in Bank of Hampton, c a s h.i e r ' s certificate . 3,157.60 Cash in Hamp ton Loan ? E x c h ange 1 Bank, cash ier's certi ficate . . . . 18,265.02 Cash in Bank / of Brunson, cashier's cer tificate .. . 2,544.75 Total cash on hand and in bank, QcTbber 24, 1908 _ $24,8S4.21 Excess cash on hand and in bank, Octo ber 24, 190S.$ 40.90 "On the 17th day of December a telephone message'was received at this office from Mr. R. O. Bowden. cashier of the Hampton Loan and Exchange bank, stating in substance that the certificate of SOS,265.02 given October 24 was found to be incorrect, there being a difference of from $13,000 to 814,000. The cashier was asked to explain how it was possible for such a difference to remain undiscovered to this late date. No satisfactory explanation was given by him. I immediately wired Hon. Giles L. Wilson, bank examiner, to come to Columbia at once. I acquainted Mr. Wilson with all facta in connecBion with (this case, and requested that he proceed to Hampton at once and make an examination of the Hampton Loan and Exchange bank with ref?rence to the county treasurer's account. It appears from the report of the bank examiner, which is made a part of this report, and other records in connection with Mr. J. C. Lang ford, coiuuty treasurer, that he io short in his cash $17,070.79. The check drawn by J. C. Langford, Oc tober 24. 190S. was evidently du plicated in the certificates given by the Bank of Hampton and Hampton Loan and Exchange bank, thus mak ing the shortage as above stated. "I report this matter to your excellency In order that you may take such action as you deeni prop er. 1 ' , "Respectfully submitted, "A. W. JONES, "Comptroller General." The Edgefleld Report. The report to the comptroller gen eral on the Edgefie'd investigation goes fully into the figures and shows the books to" be badly out of bal ance. The letter sent Gov. Ansel is as follows: "To His Excellency, Gov. Martin F. Ansel. "Dear Sir; -I have had made an examination of the books and ?c counts of Mr. J. B. Haltiwanger, county auditor, and Dr. J. H. Pattison, county treasurer of : Edgefleld county, and find from the report of Messrs. E. B. Wilson, cnief clerk, and Carl ton W. Sawyer, auditing clerk, em ployed by this office, that tue county auditor's office shows carelessness, -ueglect, errors and omissions both ?n the duplicates, abstracts and an nual settlements of that office. "In the settlement for the taxes of the .fiscal year 1905 errors, om issions and overcredits were found aggregating the sum of $1,819.42. Undercredits were discovered in the sum of $-841.52, leaving a net charge of $977.90 to be accounted for by Treasurer Pattison. "In the settlement for the taxes of the fiscal year 1906 errors, omis sons, overcredits and under charges were discovered amounting to the sura of $2,269.80; undercredits, om issions and errors were found ag gregating $525.49; leaving a net balance to be accounted for by Treas urer Pattison of $1,744.31. "In the settlement of the taxes of 1907 overcredits and nude-ehnrees were found aggregating the sum of $729.85, and net undercredits of 74 cents, leaving a net balance to be accounted for by Treasurer Pattison for 1907 of .$729.11. Net balance of errors to be charged to County Treasurer Pattison on account of taxes brought forward for 1905 of $9 77.90 and on^a*bcount of taxes brought forward for 1906 of $], 744.31, the total charges to county treasurer in excess of charges in or iginal settlement made by auditor and treasurer are $3,451.32. "The accounts of Treasurer Pat tison were checked down to October 19, 1908, and the following bal ance found: Balance due the State..$ 1,866.71 Balance due the county.. 8,316.96 Balance due the schools. 3,936.68 Total amount due_$14,120.?5 Credits. By amount of cash in office .$ 139.27 Balance, . cash in Bank of John ston. 1,261.48 Balance, cash in Bank of Edge field .1,155.67 Balance, cash in Bank of Tren ton ..'. 219.97 County certifi cates on hand 3,712.64 $6,489.03 Less taxes collect ed account of 1908 . 92.14 - 6,396.89 Leave a deficit of .$7,723.46 "It appears that County Treas urer J. T. Pattison is short in his accounts the sum of $7,723.46, that amount being the difference between the amount of funds with which he is properly chargeable and the amount of cash and evidenoes of cash he had on hand October 19, 1908. 1 therefore report the matter to your excellency in order that you' may take such action as you may deem proper. "In closing this report permit me to say that the financial affairs of Edgefleld county were found to be in a deplorable condition. The float ing and bonded county debt were found to be $103.S33.SS. "The schools of the county are being run on credit. It will require It is safd, $15.000 to place the schools on a cash basis. "These matters will be covered more fully in my report to the hon orable the general assembly. Respectfurly, "A. W. JONES, "Comptroller General." WANTED TO GO TO? HADES. And Doubtless He Get His Want Supplied. Charlotte, N. C, Dee. 17.?Henry Harvey, a, negro, who was hanged at Rocklngham. N. C, today for murder, refused the attentions of the ministers who approached him this morning to administer spiritual com fort, telling them that he desired to go to hell for a special puropse. On the march to the gallows a chicken flew over the heads of the party and the condemned man ex claimedj laugHingiy: "Somebody catch that chicken." Harvey's crime was the slaying of Hugh Price, also colored, at Rockingham last summer. Both the deceased and his murders were from Roanoke, Virginia. * Fiend Hanged. Charlotte, Dec IS.?Will Graham, a negro, was hanged at Concord, X. C, today for atempted criminal assault on Miss Pearl Tucker, a sixteen-year-old white girl of Ca- . arrus county. ? Hl - c)3 ORANGEBUR HOW WE GOT IT One Feature of the So-Called Panama Canal Scandal THAT NEEDS PROBING The Louisville Courier-Journal Dis cuses the Republic of Panama, How it Was Formed and Ameri can Participation in the Event.on the Isthmus at the Time. The Louisville Courier-Journal says the story of how the United States came into possession of the Panama canal ought to be of interest to all readers. It is neither so tech nical nor so complicated, as to put any strain upon the popular mind. On the contrary, it is perfectly sim ple. The New French Company having acquired for twelve millions the rights of the Old French Company, and sold these to the United States for forty millions, a treaty between the United States and the republic of Columbia was all that was need ed to confirm the deal. Mr. Hay was our Secretary of State. Mr. Herran was the Minister of Colum bia at Washington. They made a treaty known as the Hay-Herran treaty which, promptly ratified by our Senate, was sent to Bogota to be ratified by Columbia. This done a stock-jobbing scheme, begun in Paris and successfully exploited in Washington, would be completed, vastly enriching its promoters, Mr. Edward Lampre, Mr. W. N. Crom well and Mr. Phillips Bunau Verilla representing a blind-pool of these. Being a blind-pool, with its head quarters abroad, it will not be possi ble for the American Congress to get at the bottom of the facts. But, mark the sequel. The "act to authorize the construc tion o; the canal connecting the wa ters of the Atlantic and Pacific ocean," approved June 28, 1902, authorized the president to obtain "by treaty"?and in no other way? control of such territory "from Co lumbia," as might be necessary for that puropse; and it proved also that if he should be unable to do so "within a reasonable time" and upon "reasonable terms," he should then proceed to acquire the neces sary teritory from Costa Rica and Nicaraugua. This act, known as the Spooher Act, appropriated ten mil lion dollars to be used by the pres ident "toward the project contem plated by either route." Let it be borne in mind that this was the bill which authorized him "to pay ?for the property of the New Pana ma Canal Company forty million dol lars," when he "shall have obtained by treaty the necessary territory from Columbia." Of course it did not contemplate any arrangement with Panama di rect, but .was based on the likeli hood that the treaty authorized by It, signed by Messrs. Herran and Hay, and ratified by the senate on March 17, 1903, would be ratified by Columbia. The act did not au thorize the president to employ the navy of the United tSates to "pre vent the landing of Columbian troops within fifty miles of Pana ma," which he subsequently did, ov to commit any other act hostile to Columbia. It did not authorize him under any circumstances to wage war, but required him, in case of failure to come to terms with Colum bia, to seucre another route for the canal. In October, 1903, Columbia, act ing strictly within her rights, re jected the Hay-Herran treaty. The work done by Messrs. Lampre, Crom well and Bunau Varina, was about to be wrecked in port, as it were. Then the first overt act in the Pan-; ama "revolution" was performed by the administration at Washington, and not upon the Isthmifs of Pana ma. It was in the direct interest of the New Panama Canal Company. On November 2, 1903, the gunboat Nashville reached Colon, in the De partment of Panama, Republic of Columbia, having been ordered there by our government; and on the same day an order was sent from the Navy Department at Washington to the Nashville, the Boston and the Dixie, also in taose waters, contain ing these instructions: "Prevent landing of any armed force with hostile intent at any point within fifty miles of Panama. Gov ernment forces reported approach ing the Isthmus in vessels. Prevent landing, if in your judgment land ing would precipitate conflict." This meant war with the "gov ernment forces" of Columbia, if it meant anything. From this point things went forward at a lively pace. At 2:40 p. m., the very next day, November 3, 1903, the assistant sec retary of State cabled from Washing ton to the consul general of the United States at Panama, which is less than "fifty miles" from Colon, i and on the opposite side of the | Isthmus, as follows: "Uprising on Isthmus reported. Keep department promptly and fully informed." The consul general replied: "No upris ing yet, reported there will be to night;" showing that, he had notice of the secret revolutionary program During the day the Columbian warship Cartagena arrived at Co lon, "within fifty miles of Panama," and Generals Tobal and Amaya land G, S. C TUESDAY. DE< NIGHT RIDERS CRIME RELATED BY TAYLOR, THE AGED LAWYER Who Asked the Riders to Spare Rankin and Kill Him Because He Was Old While the Other Young. Union City, Tenn., Dec. 19.?Fol lowing his caution to the press yes terday not to print the testimony in the night rider cases, Judge Jones today cautioned the ministers of lo cal churches not to refer to tho cases in their sermons on Sunday since jurors might be present. He took no further action regard ing the press, although he conferred personally with the correspondents of several State papers, impressing lipon them the necessity of following out the court orders. The first witness was Col P. Z. Taylor, who was the companion of Capt. Rankin on the night of the murder of Capt. Rankin. He is a veteran of the Confederate army and a wealthy man. Col. Taylor and Capt. Rankin went to Reelfoot lake to lease some land to Carpenter. They drove over the proposed prop erty on the night of October 19, and left orders for horses for another trip the day following. Then they retired. Col. Taylor related the story of his experience the night Rankin was murdered. He said he and Rankin were taken from the hotel. Rankin was led under a tree when a rope was adjusied and jthrown over a fork of the tree. "Give him time ito pray,' said a :ight rider. "I have attended to that," was Rankin's quiet reply. Rankin then was raised from the ground until his toes scarcely touch ed the ground. "You are choking me, gentlemen; I pray you to let me down." Some one fired a shot, the witness said, whicu was instantly followed by a fusillade, most of the night riders firing into the air, how ever. Taylor told his captors he was tir ed and wanted to sit down. He crouched ho his knees .'ready to spring, and wnen the firing stopped he jumped into the waters of the slough. The firing was immediately renewed. Taylor dived, but heard bullets strike the water. He iswam i a log and clung to it while bul lets struck it like hall. When all the sounds ceased he swam to the opposite, side of the lake and took to the woods. After telling of the hardships ho endured during hia wanderings Tay lor said he hid in a canebrake until hirst drove him out and into the c rms of his friends. Taylor suffered from delusions during his wander ings, seeing bands of masked men. Just before the night riders killed Rankin Col. Taylor said: "Gentle men, I am old man. I can not ex pect to live many years more. By killing me you will not be cheating me of much, but Capt. Rankin is a young man with mnnv years before him. Do not kill him." The leader curtly replied, "Shut up." The aged witness made a most profound impression. He was asked only one question on cross examina tion; did he recognize any of the j riders positively the night of the crime? He did not. * ed, and sought transportation for their troops to Panama city. This was denied by the officials of the Panama Railroad Company;-but the two officers were allowed to go to Panama without their troops. They were thrown into prison at Panama that evening. This act of the "rev olutionists" had been anticipated by the navy department. The next, step [ of the "revolutionists" was to orga nize a junta and appoint a mulatto I named Mollendes to be mayor of Colen, and thus to "precipitate con flict" with "government forces" at that point immediately. Mollendes returned to Colon from Panama on the 4th; and on thej same day Commander Huobard land ed blue jackets from the Nashville, and thus gave moral and indirectly^ military support to the insurrectibn on Columbian soil. November 6, the Republic of Pan ama was recognized by the president of the United States. The same day Bunau Varllla, a French citizen and chief of the Pan ama blind-pool, was appointed by the Panama junta to be minister of Panama to the United States; he, a party to the conspiracy, being al ready cocked and primed and on the ground, a veritable "Johnny on the spot." There was not the least quibble, or dealy. Bunau Varilla and Hay proceeded at once to prepare a treaty. Immediately after the junta appointed Ur. Amador and Mr. Boyd as commissioners to negotiate a treaty witl - the United States. These gentlemen ai .Ved In Washington on the 18th. All they had to do was to indorse the treaty which had al ready been prepared by Bunau Varil la and Hay, and which was signed the 22nd day of January following. It is needless to add, that then., were done in plain violation of the Spooner Act, amounting to a usur pation by the president of war power vested exclusively in congress, being in point of fact, lawless in kind and open to every manner of reasonable suspicion. ? JEMBKE 22, 190S. LEST WE FORGET Senator Bacon Tells Why the South Will Remain TRUE TO DEMOCRACY He Calls Attention to the Fact That the Efforts of the Republican Par ty to Convert the South Into Another Hayti Was Defeated by \ the Democratic Party. Senator A. 0. Bacon, of Georgia, in a letter to tne Savannah Press, makes striking answers to the in vitation of the Republican Coders for the Southern people to Join the Republican party. We present be low some extracts from Senator Ba con's letter. He says: We have of late been advertised I by Republicans high and Republi cans low, that it is their purpose j to seduce the South from its alle giance to the Democratic party, which has kept faithful watch and ward over its dearest dnterests through forty years, and to convert it to the party of governmental spoils for the favored few, the party j of absolutism and of centralization I'of power, the party of profligate ex travagance and of oppressive tax ation. And this is to be accomplisn ed through the superior wisdom of these high and low Republicans in pointing out to the people of the South how they will be blessed by being taken into the loving arms of a political party which, so long a? there was a possibility of success in their efforts, strove desperately to destroy everything that was worth living for in the South. The pre sumptuous claim that Republican policies and Republican rule are ne cessary for the development of tho South is the veriest rot. Where In all time has there ever been such development of the wealth and re sources of a country as there has been In the South during the last fort, voara of uninterrupted Demo cratic rule. Who that turns the pages that tell of this wondrous De mocratic rule? ^ Who that turns the pages that tell of this wondrous wealth of many thousands of mil lions of dollars, who that passes through our fruitful land and views our cities and tow'n, our broad fields with their white and golden harvests, our warehouses and barns bursting with the garnered cotton and grain, our stores of merchandise and myr iad industries, can fully realize that this scene of present marvolous de velopment and abounding wealth was forty years ago but a bed of desolate ashes. The Republicans and the South. The prime factor in the creation of all this wealth has been the great agricultural production of the South which has overflowed Into the pro motion and creation of all other in dustries?and agricultural produc tion of many hundreds of millions of dollars each year, which while it has entered most largely into the preservation of the balance of trade for the whole country, has had no assistance from the Republican par ty or Its policies, but has depended for its gigantic success upon the rule of the Democratic party in the Southern States, preserving social order, insuring honest and econom ical local government, and protect ing all In the rights of property. When the Democratic party in its rule in the Southern JJtates fails in these particulars, it will be time ?enough to listen to the presumpluous offer of the Republican party to undertake through its policies J.nd guidance, the material development of the South. The alluring contention that the protective policy of the Republican party is necessary of the develop ment of the enterprises of the South Is plausible but fallacious. At the outset the proposition is met by the fact that the largest and most im portant part of the productive bus iness of the South is that of ag Iculture, in which, with a very 9mall exception, t rye re can be no aid from the operation of a protec tive tariff. On the contrary, under that system the agriculturists of the South, while compelled by reason of the tariff to pay two prices for all they consume and use other than food supplies, must of necessity sell their products of cotjton, etc., (In unprotected markets and at unpro tected prices. And again, as tc all other enterprises which could be ef fected by the tariff, the sjmple re ply Is this: Those who advocate the benefits to be derived from the protective tariff base their argu ments upon the assumption that the alternative is between a high pro tective tariff on the one hand, and no tariff at all on the other hand The enormous amount of revenue which Is necessary to support, this government will always require a hinhor tariff than we could wish, in order to supply the revenue. No one recognizos that actual free trade is a possibility. The revenue must be raised and the tariff cannrt be reduced below the point necessary to raise it. Republican Contention. The contention is urged by Re publicans, both high and low that the dangers to the South growi-ig out of the reconstruction measures having passed, there is no longer rea son why Southern men should not become Republicans. In othcrwords, the effort of the Republican party to convert the South into another Hayti having been defeated by the Democratic party, there is no rea son now, the danger being thus re moved, why the South should not abandon the Democratic party and join the Republican party. Indeed a. curious logic this! Especially ia it an interesting proposition when it is recalled that the last Republi can national convention said In its platform. "We declare once more and with out reservation for the enforcement of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the consti tution." The present complete enforcement of the fifteenth amendment, as or iginally designed by the framers of it, would still convert the South in to another Hayti. I repeat what 1 have said upon a former occasion that there was never In all history a blacker or more Infamous crime attempted against civilization than the effort which the Republican par ty made in the years succeeding the civil war to overthrow the rule and power of the intelligence and virtue of the South, and to place them un der the enforced domination of the utterly ignorant and debased in their midst. It was a crime against so siety and civilization, unsurpassed, unequaled and unprecedented In all the ages to endeavor by legislative enactment to take millions of black men, the most Inferior In blood and development of the human race, ut terly wanting in the equipment for governing themselves or others, and to place them in governmental pow er and control over the white people of the South?a people of education, culture and refinement?a people who, not only by their own charac ter, attainments and achievements, but by the character, Laalnments and achievements of an ancestry of a thousand years, justly ranked as a not inferior part of the foremojc and most illustrious race of all the earth. What the South Escaped. I repeat that if the South is not today another Hayti, It is because the Republican party failed In a des perate effort to make it so. And the Republican party In its latest utterance says that It is In favor of the present enforcement of the fif teenth amendment, the chief agency by which that degredatlon and de struction of the South was attempt-j ed. Let those forget it who will, but the men who in that darkest day of heroic effort and unstinted sacrifice thus saved the civilization of the South, never will forget It; and their sons to whom has been bequeathed that civilization thus preserved never shuld forget it. I take no pleasure In recalling the horrors and animosities of that frightful period In pur history. I would prefer that that dead past should remain dead, but when with the promises of the reward of po litical favor and power, the people of the South are conjured to ally themselves with the party that thus sought to destroy them, there is pre sented again the time for plain speak ing. When the time comes for a change of political parties In the J South, her people may well say to the Republican part}'. "Take any shape but that!" The polibical solidarity of the South does not bring to It political isolation, as has been suggested. The Democratic party is not a sec tional party. The Southern Demo crats are In political asso ciation with the Democrats of the North, who constitute a majority in some of the Northern States, and nearly half of the vot ers in most of the other States of the North. The Republican party is the isolated, sectional party, which exists only at the North, and which practically has no membership at the South except to hold federal offices and furnish delegates to the national Republican conventions. With some Republicans there does not seem to be a realization of the fact that the Southern people, in their long and painful vigil of forty years .have been influenced and sus tained by a higher purpose than that which animates the spoilsman. For the Republican, either at the North or South, who believes in the princi ples and policies of the Republican party. I have no criticism further than for what I conceive to be the error of his political judgment; but to the suggestion, now so freely made, that those men of the South who believe In the principles of thn Democratic party and who revere its great past, should for political power and spoils of office, abandon these principles and dishonor the self sacrificing record of forty years, 1 would recall the example of the Master when he was shown the wealth and power of all the earth, and was told *hat all should be his if he would bow down to that which he knew to be evil. ? Fatal Drunken Fight. Wrens, Ga., Dec. 15.?John Kitch ens and his son, Monroe Kitchens, who live in Jefferson county, near here, became involved in a drunken quarrel, while here today, the row terminating in a duel with shot guns. Monroe Kitchens fired a load of shot into his father's brea? just below the heart, killing him almost instantly. * Horses are Burned. Indianapolis, Doc. 17.?In a tire at the stock yards Wednesday 80 horses were cremated, two large barns were burned and other prop erty destroyed. The loss is $00,000. Cause of fire not known. * 0 $1.50 PEE ANNUM. SHOOTS BROKER Arrest Follows Desperate Strug gle With Clerk of Victim. TELLS WHY HE SHOT Claims Broker Refused to Pay Him for His Invention Rut Declines ra Disclose Nature of Device?Crowd About New York Curb Market Threatens Violence to Inventor. New York, Dec. 19.?Henry P. Suydam, a mining stock broker, member of the curb stock market and an Alderman of Plainfield, N. J., was shot and dangerously wound ed in his office at No. 39 Broad street today by John C. Lumsden, an in ventor, who claimed that Suydam refused to pay him money for an in vention. Lumsden was arrested after mak ing a desperate struggle with a clerk employed by Suydam. Lumsden as serted that he fired the shot in self defence. Trading in the curb market was temporarily suspended as Lumsden was being taken from the building I to police headquarters and a crowd gathered, threatening violence upon the inventor. They were avoided by the police, however. Lumsden would not discuss his In vention or disclose what claim he had against Suydam. Suydam's recovery is doubtful. He made a statement to the coroner in which he said he was a director in an electric vibrator company, in which Lumsden owned stock; that the company was in financial dif ficulties, and that Suydam obtained a loan by pledging Lumsden's stock is collateral. Notes were given to Lumsden with the assurance that they would be taken up by the earn ings of the company, but today Lumsden demanded payment under pain of death. Lumsden told the police he was a native of Raleigh, N. C. The struggle in the window of Suydam's office was witnessed by at least 200 curb brojers and others connected with the market, but ,'? was supposed to be a bit of horse* play until the shots were heard and glass was broken, when the broken rushed into the office, as Lumsden was led from the office there were 1,000 men waiting him in the street and the police had a hard time for a few minutes protecting him. Lumsden said Suydam owed him $090, for a long time and he need ed the money. He added "He gave* me notes for money which he hr.i raised on collateral which I had giv en him. I asked for the money fre quently and this morning went down, with the expectation of getting it. I was told to wait until after the market had opened and I sat dowi. Th<3 three men jumped on me and i picked up a pistol from somewhere and shot." * ROW ABOUT A DOG Caused Killing of One Man and Wounding Another. Goldsboro, N. C, Dec. 17.?Newa r*" u"d here today from Dudley, in this County, that Ira Hatch, a prom inent resident of that place, had been shot and killed by Badger JL Bowden, mayor of Dudley. Bowden is in bed from wounds re ceived immediately after the shoot ing from a shot gun in the hands of the dead man's son. About 1 o'clock this, morning some one passed Hatch's house and shot his dog. Hatch and his son took shotguns and went out to reconnoiier and some distance on the streets met Bowden, whom the eld?r Hatch immediately accused of shooting his dog. Hot words ensued and Bowden shot Hatch through the heart with a pistol and thereupon the younger Hatch shot Bodwen with his shot gua, but inflicting only flesh wounds. ? VERY SAD DEATH. Lad Killed While Carrying Letter to Santa Claus. New York, Dec. 17.?The body of a frail little fellow, apparently about ten years old, lies in a police sta tion here today last night under the trucks of a trolley car near the branch postoffice in Third avenue near Fifty-second street, while on his way to mail a letter to Santa Claus. As he breathed his last under the wheels, .his hand stretched forth and the pitiful letter was seen by the crowd. A bystander seized it and it was dropped in the postoffice before the boy expired. He ran di rectly in front of the car, evidently wraped In thought ahout his letter. The motorman was held or a techinal charge of homicide. no one in the neighborhood seemed to know who the child was, but he probably will be identified today. * Killed by Kick. Atlanta, Ga.?While playing and chasing a mule about, his father's lot little Kirby Eason, of College Park, was kicked to death in hia stomach. *