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To L.XL. M). 91. NEWBERRY, S. C.. FRIDAY. MAR('II 11. 1904. TWI1CE A WEEK. -1.50 A YEA. R CHARGES OF CRUELTY TO CHAIN GING CONVICTS INVESTIGATION BEING CONDUCTED BY F. H. DOMINICK. Testimony To Be Reported to Next Court. Startling Revelations Made On Wednesday. There were some rather startling revelations in the testimonv taken on Wednesdav afternoon by Ref eree Dominick. in the investigation. ordered by Judge D. A. Town send. of the charge of alleged cruelty to the. convicts on the county chain gang. reported by the grand jury in their final present ment at the last term of court. The evidence will be reported to the next court. The reference. which was held in Referee Dominick's office. was begun at i o'clock and continued for about two hours. at which time an adjournment was taken until one day next week. T. B. Hunter. Esq.. appeared for the county su pervisor and the chain gang author ties. Three witnesses who had been subpoenaed by Referee Dominick were examined and then a number of witnesses were put up at the re quest of Attorney Hunter. Mr. Ben. M. Koon. against whom as guard of the gang several of the chhrges of cruelty were made in the testimony taken on Wednes dar afternoon. (lied some weeks ago. The testimony taken is as fol lows: ALBERT SCHRODER. who is a farmer living about six miles west of Newberry. sworn, on direct examination hv Mr. Domi nick. said that while the chain gang was working near his plice last summer, he had seen Guard Ben Koon hit a convict twenty-five licks. Then the convict who had received twenty-five licks tent and gave another convict seventy-five licks. 200 L.ASHES ADMINISTRED.. Then the convici who had re ceived- the seventv-five licks. testi fed Mr. Schroder. went and got John Jones. a third convict. and Mr. Schroder had counted 200 lashes which had been given John - lones when witness' wife called him and he left. It had taken four negroes to whip John Jones. The fourth had taken hold when Mr. Schroder left. Jones' clothes were removed and the lashes were on the bare skin. Year before last he had seen one fiegro whippd. He did not known for what purpose the ne groes were whipped. So far as he couild see the negroes were work ing very well. The weapon was a strap such as the convicts wore around their waists. He had once worked the gang two wveks as guard and had never hit one. On cross-examination witness said he was about igo y-ards away when lie saw the whipping last year. Mr. Koon was the only guard present at the time. The strap was about an inch or an inch -andl a half wide and pretty heavy. He thought the whipping last year took place about the latter part of ktober or the mliddle of Novem ber. On re-dlirect examination witness said it looked to him like the blows were p)retty heavy. .\RTilUR witsoN. Mr. Arthur WVilson. sworn, said he h:.d known a goodl deal about Ka workings ,~ t; gais for sev eral years and had Sredl the engine :. -.1 (lays la .tmn'ier, and lhe had seen only one iaegro whippe 1. and that negro was given about fiftee'n lashes with a leather strap. not oni th.e b-tre back. l.\L.MER D.\vEN PoRT. U--. P almer Dav'enport. sworni. W \V114L,1 it wa:_- iwar ~ ' a iI e i \\iLilard lc'W''m;- ' .- 0 i z, ,rs distant whn 11s whil n)<Ie" red. Thr negr(i w cr ed all la afterwards. Cross-examined: witness said .\Jr. Ilen Ko,)n was present wh. whipping took place. FoR T1m-: nEF.NCE. Referee Dominick announced that the above were all the wit nesses he had subpoenaed so far. but that he would he glad to haie testimony taken from any wit nesses the defense might desire to put upl). THE C'NTY SUPFRVISi1R. County Supervisor 1ohn i. Schumpert. sworn. on examination bv Mr. Iunter. said that last fall T. I. Richardson was general su perintendent of the gang and Messrs. Ben Koon and M. B. Chal mers w re gu.rds. It was never reported to him that Mlr. Ben Koon had cruellv treated a member of the gang. If it had so been report ed to him and he had found it -to be true. he would have discharged any one guilty of such ~cruel treat ment. His instructions had been to give only a few lashes if neces sary to make negroes work. Cross-examined by Mr. Domi nick, he said he knew of Johni Thomas. a convict on the gang. dv ing. but he knew nothing of his hay ing been whipped seriously. He had sent Thomas to jail when the negro was sick, but -on the advice of County Physician McCullough. the negro had been sent back to the gang. The negro had died a short time after. the same week or the next week or something like that. No inquest was held. Dr. Senn pronounced heart failure the cause of death. That was last fall. during the time Mr. Richardson was in charge *the negro was in jail se% - eral weeks before being sent back to the gang. Witness said he w-ent to see the negro while in jail. The negro didn't say what was the matter with him. just that he was sick. He was one of the grandest scoundrels on earth. Mr. Schum pert said he had told County Phy sician McCullough that the negro would play off on him if he could. and to send him back to the gang as soon as he could. T. P'. RICH.\RDSON& who was superintendent of the gang last fall and until January 1 of this rear. on direct examina tion by Mr. lunter. testifled that the supervisor had instructed him mn case of serious matters to whip the convicts in order to make them work or to' have one of the guar<1s do it. HeI knew nothing about the whipping of convicts wvhen they were gven 2oo. and 75 lashes each. Today was the first time he had hear<d anything about the whipping bel'ow NI r. Schroder's place. .\lr. Koon had wvorked three negroes below Mr. Schroder's house only one dar. Cross-examlination byr Mr. Domi nick. writness said some of the ne groes wrere whipped pretty otten. From 3 to to as miany as 25 and o lashes were given. Hie knew 'no thing about the whipping Mr. Daenport referril to. IIe didn t t~ink 75 lashes with a strap such as the convU icts wo re around their wants. an inch -md an inch and a half in width. u1ministceed on the nakedl back as heavy as it was us naiy put on hr the' guards. would To~'lm Th1'mas. testil .\Jr. Rich arlo n. lived only a day and a half after he camne out of jail. Mr. Rihiardsion had given -him ten lashes on his bare hack the (lay he ( Continued on Page 53 HON. GEO. W. CROFT DIED IN WASHINGTON REPRESENTED THE SECOND DISTRICT IN CONGRESS. The End Came Yesterday Morning-He Had Been Ill For Eight Weeks-A Native of Newberry. Special to The I lerald and News. Columbia. March io.-lon. George W. Croft. representative in the national house of represen tatives from the Second District of South Carolina. died at his resi dence in Washington at 7.08 this morning. -Alr. Croft had been suffering from blood poison. vith compli cations of stomach trouble and heart failure. due to a protracted illness. Mr. Croft's illness dated, back about eight weeks. when he experienced sharp pains running through the base of the thumb. His niece ixamined the hand and pick ed from the thumb a minute splin ter. For a time the inflammation de creased and Mr. Croft was able to attend to his duties at the Capitol. However. it became acute' again and the whole right arm was affected. Mr. Croft was a native of New berry county, having been born December 20. 1846. His early ed ucation was at the common sclools, in Greenville. He was at the Cita del when the cadets of that insti tution were placed in the Confed crate Irniv and Mr. Croft contill tied to serve there until the close of the war. lie subsequently stiulied law un der B. F. Perry. at Greenville. and was admitted to the bar in 186r. and in 1870 located at Aiken where he has continuously practiced his profession. Mr. Croft served two terms in the house of representatives of this state and also served in the state senate. le was twice president of the South Carolina Bar association. He was elected to the Fifty eight Congress (the preesnt Con le was a law partner of the Hon. lames 11. Tillman and ' was the leading counsel for 'Mr. Tillman in his %ial for murder in the killing (d Editor N. G. Gonzales. in which trial Mr. Tillman was acquitted. TILLMAN UNDERGOES OPERATION. Stood A Successful Operation On His Throat Yesterday-He Is Now Without Fever. Sp ecial to The IHerald and Newvs. Charleston. Miarch to.-Senator Tillman's throat was successfully operateud on today. He is .nowv witho ut fever. andl only needs com1 plete~ rest. Senator Tillnman wvas regarded as a very sick manm yesterday. IlIe has been confmedl to his resi dence in Washington for more than a week hw a severe attack of grip. accompanied byv am .evere sore thr' at. I Ie thought afew days' rst woulid enable him to proceed this homeIn at Edgefield for a chan'gc of air and( surroundings. Tnsteadl of getting better he .'rewv steadily worse and his physicians a odre him to bed. SlIe reTilt (4 the operation oil his thr, at today is very gratify A NEW FOSTAL SCANDAL. Congressmen Who have Used Their In fluence To Lease Postoffice Buildings or To Get Better Pay for Post masters. A dlispatclN from Washington states that another chapter in the p).stoffice investigation of last sum mer was revealed when Chairman ( )verstreet. of the house committee on-, postoffices and post-roads. laid before the house of representatives a closely printed doctilent of 2iS pages recounting the instances on tile in the postofice department in which members of the senate and huse of representatives had used ther influence with officials of the pstoft:eepartment. with more or less success to get increases in sal aries of postmosters. additional clerk hire. and advantageous leases jor building. for postoffce pur The cases are set forth in which mimber, if Congress own build ings which are leased by tile gov ernment tor postoffice purposes. The members involved are J. W. Wadesworth. of New York: J. D. flowersock. of Kansas. and George L. Liller of Connecticut. The history of 161 cases is given in the report wherein members of Congres figure in getting author ization for clerk hire in excess ot the amount the office in (uestion was eatitled to. Alany of these in creases were only temporary and have been (1iscontiflRd. Among those whose -influence" seemeld good with the postoffice d partment are Senator Clay and Representative Griggs. of Georgia: Senator I ritchard secured an in crease tor clerk hire for Greenville. N. C.. from $70 to Sigo per anium. which on December 1. 1903. was (liscontinted altogether. He also obtained an increase from S40 to Z140 for Wake Forest. N. C.. which was redluced to the former amount October 1. 1903. . Senator McLaurin appears for an increase in South Carolina. Representatives lIrownlow and Gibson obtained several increases i Tennessee. which have been re duced since. Six out of eleven cases in Virginia are down to the credit of Representative Swanson. while Park Agnew's name also ap pears for others in that state. There are accounts of 177 in stances in the report. where mem bers of Congress have inade recom men(lations in coinnectioln with leases of. buildings for postofhce purpses.()ri:1 iste ir Senato r oemni h we f the building in which the post ofice at Salisbury. N. C.. is kept. The rep)ort says that on taking his seat as a Unitedl States Senator he offered to surrender the lease. but the otter was1 dleclined by the g, iderment. it being held that the lease was not invalidated byv his election as Senator. The report dleclares that the tiles in the postoftice d1epartment in dicate that the offnce at Tuskegee. .\la. i., owned by Representative Th iopson0i. o f A\labaima. The re p rt gives the corresp)ondence he tween B 'eavers a nd Representative Thipson in his successful efforts o have the rent all'owance increas ed from $240 tio $300 annually. and members applear in the report as having made representation to the post' fnice department concern - ing leases of premises for post oftices. andl for allowances for rent. ful and light appears that of Con gressman Finley. of South Caro {EPior C.wsi-:5 uIVELY TIMEs. Washingtoin. March 9.--That an invetiation of the nostoffice de NEGRO LYNCHED FOR YURDER IN OHIO LYNCHING FOLLOWED BY FEARS OF RACE WAR. Troops Ordered Out To Preserve the Peace-The Situation Is Considered Threatening. Richard Dixon, a negro, was Shot to (leath at Springfield. Ohio, on Monday night by a mob for the kill ing of Policeman Charles Collis, who died to-day from wounds .re ceived at the hands of Dixon on Sunday. At i1 o'clock the negro. Richard Dixon. was taken from the jail and shot to death in the jail yard. and the body was taken from there to the corner of Main street and Foun tain avenue. and hung to a tele graph pole where the mob spent the next half hour riddling the body with bullets from several hundred revovlers. The mob forced an en trance to the jail by butting in the east doors with a railroad iron. On Tuesday a race war in Springield was threatened and the mayor ordere(d out eight compan ies of the state militia to preserve the peace. All the saloons were or dered closed. Threats were made by a mob to burn the negro section of the city and a building was fired. but the fIames were checked. The negroes were surly and moody. SITUATION ON wEDNESDAY. On Wednesdav the situation was considered by the authorities to be more threatening than at any time ince the beginning of the race troubles. It was estimated that ful Iy 25.000 people thronged the streets. The negro saloons and ne gro quarters were ordered closed. The mayor issued a proclamation warning people to keep off the streets and to refrain from congre gating in public places. In the Mayor's Court. The monotony of no cases in the mavor's court yesterday morning was broken by one case. John Kel lev. coal black. was brought before the bar of justice charged with cursing and~ drawing a knife on a negro woman. Mayor Earhardt sentenced him to pay a fine of S3 or serve 15; days on the county chain gang. partment by the house of represen tatives will result from the publica tion of the report involving mem hers of congress in that connection. was indicated by every expression possible short of a vote in that body t.odav. With a whirlwind of )ro test ~the repo rt was taken up byin dignant members, their personal connection with it exp)lainedl. and ep)ithets hurled at Fourth A\ssistant Postmaster G;eneiral Bristo w. "'The Bristow report was con ceived in iniquity, horn in sin and has traveled its course until it has struck the public of the t~nitedt States as a great attack upon a b)ody of mnu as tree from wrong doing. corrutionl. crime andl irregularity as any equal number of men on the face' oi the earth."~ This was the 1arting shot of Representative Grosvenor of Ohio in paving his tribute to the report. "That document is the produc ti n of a liar and a scound(re'l." sh uted Representative Hlill of Con meticut on making an explanation f his conne~cio with certain leas e. HeI add(edl that he should vote to investigate himself and also the fourth assistant postmaster general. "Thlere is nothing in any of it t impugn any improper motive or c nuct up~on any member of the house."~ was the expression of Chairman Overstreet of the com mittee. who combatted the idea of an investigation.