Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL XLV NO, 6 NEWBERRY, S. C., TUESDAY. JANUARYTWCE A WER OUR LEGISLATURE LETTER. Review of First Week-Committee at Work-Will Get Busy This Week. Special to Herald and News. Columbia, Jan. 20.-It takes a least one week for the general assen bly to get a start. This year the get eral assembly met as late as it is pos siible under the law for it to meet the meeting is set for the secon Tuesday in January, and the secon Tuesday cannot fall later than th 14th, which was the case this yea Then Lee's birthday, which is a lega holiday, and always observed as suet came on Sunday and was observed o: Saturday, when the members went t Winthrop college on a trip of inspee tion, so that there was not much tim for serious work last week. al though the committees did do some thing in the way of discussing meas -ures that had been referred to then This being the second session of th assembly, there was no time waste in organization, and as there is onl; one election in which there is to b .a contest there will be nothing mor to divert the attention of the hous -and senate when 'the elections ar disposed of, which will probably b done on Wednesday. On the first day of the session there was nothing done except ti swear in the new members, electe to fill vacancies, and to hear the read ing of the governor's message. Th senate however decided to send al bills on its calendar back to their re spective committees, so that the; can be gone over again carefully 11 the light of the developments of thi last 12 months. The house on Wed -nesday took up " only unconteste< matters." that is only such measure as no one would object to, and in tha way got to third reading, a numba ,of bills introduced and unaeted o Tiast session, while others that ari now out of date were withdrawn b' their authors. The engrossing depart ment has been kept busy enoug "with the new bills, but 'has been abl to keep pace with its work. Ther ,are no new bills of a startling natur so far.'there 'being the usual numibe: ret'ui-'i -ailroads and amendin; the labor jaws and repealing th lien law, and so on. Mr. Nash has begun to fight fo: his prohitbition bill, in whieh he hai the support of many of the old Stat dispensary faction. and the measur, -was brought up for the first time o Friday. when the house by a vote o: 49 to 45 declined to strike out the en actinr words. 'There were 30 absen tees when this vote was taken. si that it dloez not necessarily follov from this vote that the house is i' favor of prohibition. -Th'e questio1 is apt to be mueh more fully discuss ed before the session is over. It is expected that the eleetioni will be held on Wednesday or suoi thereafter. The withdrawal of Hon T. P. Cothran from the raee for as~ sociate justice of the supreme eour ~ensures the reelection of. Hon. E. B G ary. There is a 'fervent . contes for the position of judge of the see ond circuit to fill the place vacate< by the resignation of Judge Jast Aid ric, the candidates being Solicitol Davis, Col. 'Robert 'Aldrich and Col Calude E. $Sawyer. There are severa trustees and direetors of the Stati insitutions to be 'elected, and Mis! L H. LaBorde, State librarian. wil be reeleeted without opposition. 'The two houses adjourned Frida: to 'meet again on Monday night, bu this will be only a formal meeting and adjournment will quickly be tak en until Tuesday morning. The mos of the work during the early part o: the session is done by the commit tees. and it is not only not necessar: but is not advisable for the sessions of the houses '.o last very long, al this leaves little time for the corn mittees to meet. The more thorough ly a bill is digested in committe5 the better prepared will the member. e to discuss it and to 'explain o1 attack it when the matter comes uil on the floor of the house. The tw< committees of th-e house which have most work to do are th-e committee o1 ways and means and the committei -n jicary. These are however con sidered the "star" assignments, as a newspaper man would say, and s i thou::h the members are hard-work .2d they are in~ position to exert much influence on legislation. The chair of the ways and means committee is Hon. J. A. Ba.1ks, a farmer and mer m chant of Orangeburg county, living at St .Matt.hews, and the chairman iof the judiciary is Hon. T. B. Fraser' .of Sumter, one of the most careful -and conscientious lawyers in the State. The two similar committees .in the senate are the finance, of which Senator Mauldin of GreenvilTh -is the chairman. and the judiciary, i.of which Senator Carlisle of Spar-: i tanburg is the chairman. n COMMITS SUICIDE. Mr. A. E Da~rgan, Chief of Police of Darlington, Kills Himseif Sun day Morning. The State. Darlington, Jan. 19.-This morn >ing at 10 o'clock the dead body of Mr. A. E. Dargan, chief of police, .was found in a room adjacent to his *sleeping apartments. His death hasf -saddened the entire community, a e double sorrow being added to the ,deep sense of loss because of iie ragie circumstances attending his death. The body, when discovered, was on the floor, a bullet hole was in th' forehead, a revolver with one empty chan ber was near and death seemed to have occurred some hours before. Mr. Dargan attended to his duties yesterday as usual, though his sister, .at dinner, told him he seemed very tired acd that he should take some much needed rest. As usual he was up until 12 o'clock last night and be fore retiring, Mr. Dargan instructed t Policeman Fields to calW him at 10 r o'clock this morning. At this hourh the dead body was di.covered in an e unoccupied room across the passagei from Mr. Dargan's room. Mr. H. Appelt occupies a room ad joining Mr. Dargan's and he says Mr. Dargan was with him when they e went to their rooms last night. About e 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning Mr. r Appelt thought he heard the report of a pistol, but thought nothing of it. eThe pistol found Velonged to Mr. Dargan and was a Smith & Wesson 44-calibre. Although the attendant circumstanees suggest that this was suicide those who know Mr. Dargan can not reconcile themselves to such ani opinion. The coroner's jury at the inquest this after carefully con sidered all the facts and the autopsy . has been held by Drs. Edwards and > 00-rhall. The jury announced no y verdict. but adjourned to meet againl Thursday, in order to have full pos session of all ajvailale information, . before announcing their conclusion. Circum.stances Indicate Suicide. i There seerns to be'no real reason, I I at least so far as is now known, why I -the suicide theory should be other 1 -. than a matter of conjecture. The cir cumstanees seem, however, to indA i -eate that Mr. Dargan took his own~ Ilife, but no reason for this has yet - been found. The funeral services will i be held at the Baptist ehureh tomor - row afternoon. SMr. Dar.ean was a native of DarI - nton and was 52 years old and un married. For about the past 20 or 2 years he has been chief of police, position given him practically by'I the entire community. His tragic death will carry sorrow wherever he was known. Tt is not the enlogy of one who knew and loved him to say that in this man the :highest at.tribu -te3 of noblest manhood found their natural home. This is the literal Itruth. His heart was loyal. steadfast., - Itrue. Duty was the watchword with Shim always and to him the word fear had no meaning. His couraste xas splendid, making complete the cool, - self-controlled man, capable oi meet-. -ing any emergency, of being just and fair to all. Love and sympahy. lie n perfect blend in his daily life and these characteriatis not on l endeared him to his friends. but )formed a bond between him and those with whom he came in contact1 ~!in' the diheharge of his official du ties. -Ta seeowa therea nmore g-eneronus heart than was that which is now stilled forever. He was "Rab" to his close friends and to his contemporaries; this fa miliar title of affection was his from!. tho ladies of the town and this was the term affectionately used by the lit.tle children, none of these hesitat i:r- thus to call their friend, who 1 wa; never too busy to show his af fection for his little friends. And of all his strikinrxly marked charae teri-ties noie was more all-pervad ing, none reigned with more complete sway over this big-hearted, strong man than did the rare gift of ma3eu line gentleness. Brave, strI)ng. gentle and -rue, it is hard to beli"ve tha a wthing could have forced s-ach a man deliberately to end his own life. Those who know him can never reconcile themselves to believe this and should this seem at last to be true still will they keep his memory in honorel love and trust., saddened doubly because of the thought that any 'nevitable trial should have brought him fact to face with such stern necessity. J. E. Norment. BRICK FOR ALE. Apply to L. W. Floyd. 1-21-2te-w3t SUIT TPILED IN GREENWOOD. Brought by Mr. F. H. Cothran Against Promoters of New Rail road to Saluda. Ihe State. Greenwood,. Jan. 1S.-Papers were eerved yesterday in what will result n an interestinz law suit whan the iseue is brouaiht to trial. The suit s instituted by Mr. E. H. Cothran, :he well known civil ensineer, against R. W. C'n.rtis. W. F. T. Warren and he Southern 0onitruetion romany. ihe e beine the parties who have un lertaken to build the Greenwood-Sa a"la '-ailroad, this road being offi ial1v know as the Middle Carolina tnd Eastern railroad. Mr. Cothran alleces in his com laint that on June 8, 1907. he se 'ured an. option on the entire pro erties of the above road. which he ~onveyed to the above named par :ies. As a compensation for his work n securing and turning over to these arti.es the option, he was promised S1e nmn of .$5.000 in cash or its voivalenlt in ground floor stock in :he riilroad. H> waited a reason le thuee for tihe defendants to corn-1 sl with their screament and upon -he'r faihure to d,o so. mpale a demand Bor his compensation. Still failing to1 seure what he rega.rded as his d?ue ad .iust definitelv promised him, he1 illeges. 'he has begun sit to recover. Ee is renresen.ted in this aetion by fr. T. C. Till'man of the local bar. The defendanits in the case were mt. of the cityv yestei-day and their in entons could not he learned. They a;v 20 da.vs in whicih to file an an wer to the complaint. .SALARIES REDUCED. President Finley tand Staff of the Southern. Ci,t D)own Ten Per Cent. un Fiier '-f' t-hr ~R,vnthern Raiilway 5 'on1en~l~ t a:ted tMis afternoon that, ro ri"- of t,he fal1Tni off in business, ai the hlre'eo in reven'ies.tt ,-- of the Soutbe,~ Rail ny Comnany han determined, as a sep in its program of rerheine cx enses. to ont in to effet, as of Feib- i nary 1. 190O8. a reduction -of ten ner 1 >ent in the pay of the president. vice I ~idente and the other general of- I iers?r. and tiheir office forces. Mt'onfh th'a mnsvuito anecializes m veler f'ever andi imlaria and is iiversallyv reeornzed as Pn enemy o he fr'ht. outni'iht. seientists hav~ >r'o to "e~1rd t!'o comrmon house fly s the mn.re dane-rons. The -nosqiuito i, spread only one or two di.sea:ses. I )t. the house fly spreads many. Ty- r >hoid agerms. tuiberenlosis e:erme and ( hundred otiher germs are all th,e DISPENSARY ARREST BY THE COMMISSION [IQUOR MBN, EX-COMMISION ER AND EX-DIRECTORS. Dispensary Commission Issues War rant Eiarging Conspiracy to Defraud State. AM. A. Goodman, liquor agent; John Baack, ex-director; W. 0. Ta ;um, ex-commissioner; John Bell To-, ill, ex-director, and Jodie Rawlin ;on, ex-director, have been arrested inder a blanket warrant sworn out >y the dispensary commission, charg k:z "conspiracy to defraud tha tate," and have been released or. )ond. each in the sum. of $10,000, yxcept Goodman, whose bond was ylaced at $25,000. The meatings of the commission mnd the developments leading to the wrrests are contained in the follow .ng from the daily newspapers of the tate: vews and Courier. Columibia, January 18.-There was i. conference lasting several hours in the attorney general's office today )etween Aittorney General Lyon, senator Christensen and Attorneys elder, Anderson, Hill and others as oeiated with Mr. Lyon in the prose- I ution of the dispensary cases, but >o far nothing has been given out 'rom the meeting. Ex-A'tltorney General Bellinger, ,vho represent( Ex-Dlirector L. W. 3oykin, named in the warrant, said oday that Mr. Boykin would come n this afternoon or tomorrow morn ng and give himself up. Arrange rrents have alraady been completed or Mr. Boykin to give bond. He s said to be off on a hunting trip. Former Direcitor H. H. Evans was n the city today. Mr. Evans is not me of the parties named in the ilanket warrant. 'Mr. M. A. Goodman, the represen ative of Ulilman & Co., and the first ne.' ar=ed, was on the streets !in todlag after the commission iad adjourned until January 30. H-e s vr.der bNnd in the sum orf $25,000, ~t t'e eommision ha; wanted him :o !V iv ome5 more testimony. For9-en ' Ja'-.Th Wylie. also iamed in the warrant..is expected in :omorrow or next day. Th'e ernstable who w nt to Charles en to~ arres t Mr. James Farnum re ored on hi; return here that Mrs. anm said. Mr. Fanrnum was out of he Sta'te. but would promptly re ~ort himself to the authorities at Co umbia on his return, which would a shortly. Joumbia State, January 17. Morton A. Goodman, once a liquor alesman draiwing nominally $5,000 year with an unlimited expense ac ont, was placed in arrast yester ay at the instigation of Attorn4y leneral Lyon apmd the special attor eys representing the comrrission for he winding up~of' the affairs of tie tate dispensary. The charge -is eon piraey to dafraud the. state. Hs mbsequently offered a cash bond of 25000. It is understood that others will be 'l ~rrested on the same charge. The1 ommisson is keeping its own coun A, and it is not known where the axr v'ill fail next. The session of the commission yes erday was long drawn out. There were several matters which required ime-the state.ments of Messrs. Ste -rson and Mordecai especially. Not nueh time was wasted on Get. 'B. ester, wh undertook to manage af-' 'airs to suit his own notions. He eft the office with more or less show f pttishness. Then the commission 1 :ot. down to work and began its in- 1 estigations. Only one witness was I mt up. 'He came voluntarily to es- 1 ablish his claim against the state. He eft a prisoner.1 Goodman's Testimony. After being sworn, Goodman saidV te had been a representetive of Ull nan & Co. Hek deelored that his ae ount against tihe dis'pensary is just 'I nd is still due and no amount of it ! ad e pai. Goodman was then 9 1xaminedl y. Mr. Felder and interest ing statements were brought out by his replies. Witness said that he had eovere3 Ohio and a numiber of other states for Ullman, including South Car iu: . Had been with Ullman since 1904. Wa. formerly with the Com monwealth Distilling company as mnanager and president. Elected pres ident in 1902. He did not remember the names of any of the directors or stockholders! The Commonwealth company was incorporated in West Virginia. Its head office was in Lauisville. Owned by the ''trust." [ts office was on Second street, Louis ville. He saw the office several times. It had desks, typewriters, files, etc. Did not know the name of stenog raphers. The capital stock was $250, )O0 or $300,000. Of course, it was possible he had met directors and :toekholders and did not know it. In NTew York he met Mr. A. Meyers, who was general manager of what is eommon:7' called "whiske. trust," wvho told him the trust owned the Commonwealitih company. This, by the way, was Goodman's company. Mr. Felder insisted that Goodman thould say where he made sales for the Commonwealth company outside f South Carolina. Witness said he -ould not remember. except the Sav nnah Grocery company, and did not remember why he sold that company. Did not sell it Henrietta rye. Could ot say if he sold any one else Hen ietta. Did not remember if he sold Elenrietta outside of South Carolina. E was asked if he knew Mr. B. Ehr ich, and he replied that Ehrlich did usiness in Atlanta. In August, 1904, Goodman changed iis base of operations from the Com nonwealth company of Louisville to bha UlIman company of Cincinnati. Re admitted that he had been given iis new position through the ageney >f Ben. Ehrlidh, with whom he es ablished a partnership. It was )rought out that the Commonwealth ompany existed largely upon letter 1ead3 and that it; :s wer maide rom a wareht,u e in :.ca'sv_l', al hough it claimed to be in the distill ng business in Lexington. Held Up the Purchases. In the interim there was great rotble brought to the heart of Good man. He wrote to his friend and partner. Goodman explaining that the Commonwealth people wou!.d not release him from his contract with them and the awarding of purchases it the South Cahrolina dispensary was to take place before he could get on ais job with the Ullman house. H-e wrote U'llman a letter urging that the dispensary board be prevail > upon throurh John Black, not then a. member of the board, to postpone the matter of pardhases until Sep tember as the Ullman bid's were 'very poor.'' The board for some reason or other did this very same bhing. No purchases were made in Auerust. In the meantime, the Ull inab company proposed a new bid in which the prices on certain goods awere raised. Fregn tihe time that lod~man went with the Ullman comn any until the dispensary graft was nade public UJllman 's business was a treat success. The Commonwealth company, sihieh had been doing an enormous usiness under Goodman's nominal resideny, dropped to nothing. In :he meantime Ullman sold t%e state lispensary over $150,000 worth of 'ood'' thle first nine months that ood~man was there, against about 10.00 for several years preceding. Very Poor Memory. Goodman yesterday exhibited a terv faulty memory. The commission ras moved to great sorrow (because man of such apparent intelligence I 'mild remember nothing. He denied that he had ever told lack, Rawlinson and Wylie, the hree ejected dispensary directors, hat llhnan & Co. and the Anedhor )istilling company were the same. ind vet it was shofwn by Col. T. B. delder that the very stationery of he two concerns showed the same ad Two rake Houses. Suseqently it- was brought out I hat there was a third concern, trauss & Co., making bids to the] t.te disen4 and that this Strauss was a memtber of the Uliman com pany. all three concerns, two being "fakes," submitting "competitive" bids to .the state dispensary. Witness denied -having any written contract witlh reference to his change of business in August, 1904. (Subse quently the contract was produced). Gin Phosphate. Ullman & Co. had a copyright for mula on "gin phosphate." It was proved that there was much graft in this brand of goods. Goodman, under oath, had, sworn to Messrs. Lyou and Christensen that these goods had been sold in South Carolina at a low er price than anywhere -4lse. Col. Felder yesterday put in evidence Goodman's testimony to the effect that higher pries were dharged in South Carolina "in order to pay for special advertising." In August, 1904, before Goodman got his new job, gin phosphate was listed at $9.50 per case. In September the price was $10. Five hundred cases were bought. from Goodman at the advanced pri ces. Retail d ealers elsewhere were gcttin- it for $7.80 a case. To prove tlhe weakness of Good man's testimony Col. Felder put in evidence a number of invoices, dis proving the claim of Goodman that small dealers might have received a consideration on cash payments. The Contract. Col. Felder put in evidence the contract between Goodman, Ehrlich, Mannheim and Himmelbaum. Wit ness denied that he had had any spe cial pull to get him sales with Boykin and Towill. "How much did you pay Mr. Boykin?'" witness was rasked. "Nothing,' he replied. "How much Lo Mr. Towill?" "Nothing." Did He Have a Pull? H? admitted that he bad lied if lie had ever written anything to tl.e effect that he had a pull with these direetors named. And Col. Felder lat er exhibited a very singular letter. Distillery, Lexington, Ky. . A. Goodman, President and Mana nr th Cor.mor-" -ith Distillery Comy-. ~2.:r- . e Distillers,. Office 2S EeUc:d Screet. Louisville, Ky., Aug. 17, 1904. My Dear Barney: I do not know that I was ever in such an uncomfor table and mean position, as tiere is a meeting of the heard in Columbia: Monday, August 22. 1 would like to be there, but so far the company have refused to let me off. I wired to My ers to have them release me on the 15th, but he positively refused. Now, I wa'nt you to go to Colum hia. be there Monday morning early; telegraph Maj. John Black, 1007 As sembly street, to meet you at the Co lumbia hotel and do everything you. can to have th'em to postpone the buying until next month. I enclose you copy of Ullman & Co. 's 'bid and it is such a poor one that there is very little for them to lny of us, but if they are going to buy get th.em to buy of us the goodis I checked off. I want you to tell Boykin parti ularly my position and ask Black if you should explain things to Towill; now. tell Boykin on account of my Leaving here on 'Sepit. 1 I .would be unable to pay any commissions for purchases they make from the Corn monwealth,- consequently under no ircustances buy anything from Lhem. You might ask Boykin's and Naj. Black's opinion if you should say anything regarding this to To I am also writing Blaek to meat you and tell you what you should do. YTou had best also show him this etter in case I overlook writing him ully about anything, I would, above everything else, ike to see them not buy and wait un :il their next month 's meeting. Tall Boykin to please, under no circum anes, though, to purchase any Hen det~ta, apricot brandy, or bott'led in ond, and to save if possible, that o us until we pnt in a new bid next nonth. I wired him if he could pos ibly come here 'before the meeting to lo 'so, but not recei'vina- any reply resume he was absent from home. ?lease tell him I shall come out to 1s home some day before the Sep eme purchase and will let him mow just when. Now, if there is anything yon and faj. Black don't understand, wire or ll me unn I es if von want to