The herald and news. (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, June 01, 1909, Image 1
LVI NO 43 NEWBERRY, S. C.. TUESDAY. JUNE 1, 1909 TWICE A WEEK. $1.50 A YEAR
SORADO
WREGK , TEXAS TOV
THIRTY-TWO KiLLED AND SC
ES INJURED.
Cyclone Leaves Path of Death
Destruction Almost Unparalle]
ed-Fire. Adds to Damage.
Brownwood, Texas, May 30
tornado of great violence struck
little village of Zephyr in the eas
portion of Brown county at 1 o'<
Sunday morning and left a pat]
-death and destruction seldom p
leled. The death list has reached a
tal of 32, and the number of prob
fatally injured and seriously wour
will reaeh 50.
The storm formed half a
southwest of Zephyr and swept d
upon the village, cutting a
swath directly through the resid
and business district. Many ho
were entirely demolished. Light
struck a lumber yard and starte
-conflagration which destroyed
entire business block. No effort
made to fight the fire as the car
the dead and wounded victims
manded all attention.
The storm was 300 yards wide
swept the earth for only a short
tance, probably less than a mile.
fury is considered the most ter
of any tornado ever exeprienee
this section.
J. I. Clingman, C. E. Kirkpat
and nine surgeons, who formed
first party out of Brownwood, f
-a desolate scene awaiting them.
The hillsides at Zephyr were
.ered with debris of all kinds and
ies of dead animals and humatn
ings. The ruins were -dimly lig
by the burning buildings and
cries of the wounded rose above
sound of the elements, which thi
ened a second storm. A hog roam
through the debris-strewn street
killed while trying to devour the I
-of an infant. Bodies were 1f<
twisted about trees and in every
ieivable shape. People walked
streets almost naked, crying for t
loved ones. Residences whieh es
ed the storm were turned into h<
-tals, where were carried the bodie
the dead and wounded.
One stone house collapsed on a
ily of nine without serious injur
any.
Brownwood, with splendidly or
laed relief work, has the situs
well in hand.
SCOLLETON MEECHANT SLA
-A.sanninaiOnn is Supposed to I
Been For the Purpose of Rob
bery.
Branchville, May 29.--Word
just reached here from. Smoaks
sm.all town .about twelve miles I
here in Colleton county, that J.
Smoak, a young man about 24 y
of age, was foully assassinated
~robbed while closing his store a
9 o'clock tonight. It is supp
that a tramp committed. the e
for robbery. As he did not <
ome at' his regular time, his et
Jeff Smoask. went after him
found him lying in front of his s
shot in the breast.
Mr. Smoak has only been in 1
ness about two months, and was
cently maried. He was also ageni
the 'Hampton and Branchville
road. Everything possible is b
done to apprehend the guilty pi
Mr. Smoak lived about an hour a
being discovered.
UNDREDS OF MTTLRS
IN TRACKLESS V
Count Zeppelin Steers His Bal
152 Leagues Through Air.
Berlin. May 30.-Count Zepp
whose remarkable performances
his frrst airship brought unboul
honors to the inventor, today aec
pshed tihe most startling feat ir
career. He guided his Zepvhelii
from Frederiehshafenl to Bitter
a distance of more than 456 ii
without landing. The journey la
nearly 22 hours and so far as kr
tonight Count Zeppelin is still in
air, on the return journey to Frf
ichshafen. He has already beate>
..-ord fr dirigible balloonas.
BAILEY HAS FIGHT
WITH W. S. MANNING.
South Carolina Newspaper Man and
Senator in Personal Encounter.
toR
An altercation took place just out
side the senate chamber on Thursday
and afternoon between Senator Bailey of
Texas and W. Sinkler Manning, son
of Richard I. Manning of Sumter,
say the Washington correspondent of
--A the Columbia State. Nobody was
the hurt except in feelings.
tern Mr. Manning, besides being corre
lock spondent of the Columbia Record, is
i of a reporter for the New York Times,
tral- reporting the tariff consideration in
to- the senate for that paper. Last Sun
ably day the New York Times printed un
ided der a Washington date line a severe
criticism of Senator Bailey, charging,
mile among other things, that he was an
own ally of Senator Aldrich in the senate.
ide Bailey took this up Thursday in the
nee senate and denounced the man who
ses wrote it as an "infamous liar." Af
aing ter the senate adjourned Manning
d a went into the senate ehamber, accoa
one ed Bailey and introduced himself a's
was a reporter of The Times and said that
e of he did not write the article referred
de- to. The two men walked out of the
-chamber together into the corridoi
and and towards the elevator.
dis- Senator Bailey's statement of what
Its occurred is as follows:
rifie "He seemed a very gentlemanly
I in young fellow, apd when le told me
he had not written the article I sup
riek posed had come to disclaim all re
the sponsibility for it. I said to ihim,
>nd 'That's all right, but the man who
did write it is a -.' He replied, 'I
ov- had not the honor of wi*ing it.'
bod- While that seemed a very queer re
be- mark, I supposed he meant no offense,
Ated and I paid no attention to it. I told
the him I did not see how any, man with
the any self-respect could 1have written
eat- such a thing as appeared in the'New
ing York Times of Sunday. Again he re
was plied that he had not the 'honor' to
*dy have written it. Again I paid no at
aund tention to it. He said then that I
con- had referred to the suggestion that
the Republican senators inspired the ar
heir ticle, but that he wanted to tell me
eap- that it was not inspired by any Re
spi- publican senators, but by just such
s of behavior as mine this afternoon on
the income tax. Then I saw that he
am- had deliberately come to insult me
i to and I slapped his face. Very natural
ly and properly he struck back or
pan- raised his umbrella to strike. I took
tion the umbrella away from him and I
suppose struck him over the diead sev
eral tim.es. Several gentlemen, in
[N. e luding some of the police, ran up
and separted us. I think I got his
[ave head under my arm, and was pound
.ing him or about to pound him w.hen
they got us apart. The capitol po
liceman asked me if I wished the
has young man detained. I replied, 'Of
a course not.' That is about all."
'r Mr. Manning's account does not
gen differ materially from this except as
asto the details, of athe struggle.
and Mr. Manning says:
but "I told ibim I had not the honor to
write the article. but I added, 'I
re know this, that it was not inspired by
ome any Republican senators as you in
usin timated, but it was inspired by such
and, 'behavior as yours this afternoon in
~ore, splitting the vote on the income tax.
At that. he. griabbed at me aind caught
.me in the collar. I, of course, tried
re to defend myself. He snatched my
for umbrella and struck at me. I really
rail. do niot know wherether he hit me or
eing nuot, they separated us. so quickly.
Lt. Then~ I -'picked up my umbrella, re
fter marking. 'In this assault upon an un
armed man you have broken my very
good umbrella.' With that he came
at me again. We clinched and this
oID time several blows passed between uI
b2fore we were separated. We went
loon together twice. Both times he was
the azgressor.
ISenator Bailey' is a st.out museu
el lar man, weighing about 200. Mr.
in' Mannin, while rather tall is slim and
ided rather frail. weighing about 140.
his' BIED CAGE BLOWN TWO mTTES
1II Edgefield, May 28.-Miraculous
~ed, things always attend a cyclone. In
iles, jthe one that recently visited this
sted place, a cage containing a canary bird
own belonging to Miss Patterson was
the iblown two .miles, lodged in the piazza
der- of a friend and was returned the fol
i all lowing day, neither bird nor eage re
ceivng ijury
FIREMEN'S SfRIKE
IS DECLARED OFF,
TRAFFIC OVER THE GEORGIA
RAILROAD RESUMED.
Terms of Settlement Satisfactory
Men Return to Work Until Final
Adjustment is Had.
Atlanta, May 29.-The strike of the
firemen on the Georgia railroad was
officially declared off ac 2 p. m. to
day. An .hour and a half later the
first train after the resumption of
service was sent out of Augusta wilth
a negro fireman in the cab.
The terms of the settlement were
not officially given out, but it was
learned that they are, substantially,
as follows:
The men are -to return to work un
der conditons existing at the time
the strike began until final adjust
ment is made.
All negro firemen* at the terminal
stations will be dispensed with.
All discharged Brotherhood fire
men will be reinstated.
Tihre;e other ponts are yet to be de
cided, as follows:
First, whether negro firemen shall
-be 6liminated from the road.
Second, if not eliminated, what
percentage of negroes there shall be.
Seniority of neg#o firemen -ovei
white firemen.
These otheI- questions are to be dis
cussed tonight and if they are not
adjusted they will be settled by arbi
tration under the Erdman act.
The exact terms of the settlement
have not been disclosed, but the state
ment is made that the conditions are
eminently satisfactory to both sides.
The settlement of the strike was an
nounced in a statement signed by
Martin A. Knapp, chairman of the
Inter-State commerce commission,
and Charles P. Neill, United States
labor commissioner.
Federal Interference Tmminent.
Had there not been a settlement of
the strike this afternoon 'it can be
stated that Federal interference was
riminerpt. It is reported that both
sides were nofified that some adjust
ment must be reached by 6 o'clock to
day or the Federal courts would take
cognizance of the situation. This
probably would have meant injunc
tions, which in .The present temper of
the residents of the strike district, al
most certainly meant resistance and
possible.violations of -the injunction,
and speedily Vhereafter- the arrival of
United States troops.
The strike commenced May 17 and
lasted thirteen days. It was caused
by the attempt of the company 'tc
put negro firemen on the best runs ir
the place of wihite firemen, who were
given inferior runs or made suibsti
tutes. The men presented *a new~
agreemenst to General Manager Scott,
demanding -that 'he recognize the sen
iority of wh.ite firemen over blacks,
and thus practically do away with
the negro in the cabs. Scott refused,
claiming .that he had no authority to
sign such a.n agreement. The men
looked in vain for some official who
ihad authority, and failing to find. one,
struck. 'Gene-ral Manager Scott re
taliated by practically annulling all
trains and thus tieing up traffie. Af
ter a few days the situation became
grave, in some communi,ties. Food
supplies ran low, and no new stocks
could be secured. The few n;ecessar
ies of life were hauled in wagons and
automobiles. No mails we're sent or
received, and even funerals were pre
vented.
Communities Behind Str "ers.
The sentiment of the comni '-nities
was with the strikers. becauKd the
people felt the raet question was in
volved. In some places mass meet
ings were held. and it was resolved
-to do without mails -and to haul food
in wagons ra'ther than 'have the black
men in the cabs of the trains. They
threatened to do violence to any ne
gro fireman found in a cab. The rail
~road officials finally sent out mail
trains with negroes at the fire-box.
These were permitted to more unmo
lested, but when the aittempt was
made to move freights there were as
saults and throwing of stones. Sev
1eral firemen we're injured. Two or
three negrm firemen were hinnprd ana
two engineers hurt.
While the terms of settlement were
being agreed upon, a negro fireman,
Joe Bryant, was assulted in Augusta,
while firing a yard engine. On the
I few trains sent out before the strike
was called off, some of the firemen
were negroes and others were white,
but all were non-union men. Just as
the order calling the strike off was be
ing sent out, Governor Smith was pre
paring a proclamation ordering all
peace officers to see that the trains
had ample protection. It was never
sent out, because the agreement was
reached before the governor had com
pleted his task.
Violence During Strike.
Atlanta Ga., May 28.-The first
violence to railroad property in the
Georgia firemen's strike occurred to
night to a moving freight at Lithonia,
Ga., and the race question in conse
quence loomed more sharply than ev
er in the situation notwithstanding a
day of much apparent progress to
ward settlement.
A negro fireman was apparently
the cause of the trouble, and he was
rushed to Atlanta in an engine .to
save him from what his engineer, at
least, believed was a threatening sit
uation. Thetroubte started in the
'throwing of one or two stones and
the boarding of the freight by men
who set the brakes and broke it into
three sections. The freigbt now
blocks the main line of the road, and
the progress of United States mails,
which go out ;early tomorrow morn
ing. To such a pitch was public ex
eitement stirred by the affair that of
ficial sources gave the most conflict
ing versions of it. The railroad offi
cers declared that it was the work of
strike sympathizers, wdile a county
official wilred the governor's office
.that it was merely an accident.
The engine left here late this af
ternoon for Lithonia under an ar
rangement between Siheriff Morris,
of DeEalb county, and the railroad
officials, to bring a train load of per
ishable provisions from the station at
Lith-onia into Atlanta. Assurances
have been given the railroad for sev
eral days that in the interest of local
shippers, whose valuable cars were
tied up and suffering loss by the
strike, no demonstration would be
made against hauling these cars to
Atlanta.
Carried Negro Fireman.
When, howpver, the engine from
Atlanta pulled into Lithonia about
dusk tonight it was seen to carry a
negro fireman, as did the mail trains,
which passed Lithonia earlier in the
day, exeiting very unfavorable com
ments. About two hundred people
gathered at the station tonigiht. The
engine was coupled to the uars, then
the railroad officials say, just as the
trnain was getting under way, a stone
flew into the cab window and hit
Engineer Downing. lNext, say the of
ficials, several men boarded the cars,
setting brakes, cutting off the air,
causing the last car to break loose
from the train and finally uncoupling
the engine, leaving its load stalled.
According to the railroad's statement
their men saw no attempt by local au
thorities to interfere with the attack
on the train.
The report telephoned to State o.f
fleials here said merely that there was
no violence; that the -train had run a
short distance out of Lithonia 'when
it stalled and the engine continued on
its run to Atlanta. After the train
had stopped, said this report, a small
sizdd crowd of men swarmed upon the
freight cars.
It is believed that the railroad au
thorities will attempt to clear the
track at Lithonia for the mail trains'
early -tomorrow morning, and that!
sworn deputies will be used to pro-,
teet the train crews in clearing the
'tracks.
General Manager's Statement,
Just before the engine left Atlanta
this afternoon General ManagerI
Scott gave out the following state
ment:
"By arrangement with Sheriff
Morris, of DeKalb county, we have
arranged to send to Lith.onia for a
number of ears of freight, including
much of perishable nature, to bring
them back to Atlanta and forward
from here to destinations in different
parts of this State and other States
by other lines. Sheriff Morris guar
(Cnnuenda on re-e threei.L
A DANCE WITH DEATH
ik.
By Col. D. A. Dickert.
Written for The Herald & News. All rights reserved.
(Concluded.)
Gen. Cheatham, who was leading the rear division of Hood's ar
my, remembered us, spoke encouragingly to us of our pluck, grit
and good luck, and gave us passports to carry us throught the Con
federate, lines. These we safely eoneealed and began our long
journey towards Raleigh, N. C., leaving Rockingham to our left.
We were well entertained by the Tareel people along the route,
and we felt much better in our old faded, dilapidated Confederate
uniforms than we ever did in the new Yankee garb obtained some
weeks before. The Confederate uniforms, as I have before stated,
we obtained from some wagoners in excbange for the new Federal
clothes we were wearing.
After traveling for some days in North Carolina, we stopped
one night at the house of an old citizen by the name of Howard.
Just before retiring for the night a "hello" was 1heard at the gate.
The old gentleman, on going out, found a negro, mounted and
dressed in a Yankee uniform, who desired accommodation for him
self and horse for the night. Mr. Howard hesitated for'awhile, and
then came in and asked us about it. We told him by all means to
let the negro stay, as we wished to seid some messages to Rocking
ham, whither the negro said he was making his way. The negro
had no idea who were in the house, else he would have journeyed
further. He told a cock and bull story about being carried off by
the Yankees, and about a great fight that Kilpatrick had on that
day with 'Hampton, saying that Kilpatrick was badly worsted, and
that in the wind-up of the battle he (he negro), had caught -a
horse and was making his way to his home beyond Roekingham. A s
-the enemy had come now-here near that place, we took it for grant
ed he had run away from his master.
He was out early next morning, before we had breakfacted. He
had a new outfit, in the way of uniform and overcoat, and a fine
looking old rip of a horse, on which he sat mounted for his journey.
He was told, to wait until our letters were ready, and in the mean
time we ate our breakfast. Putting on our accoutrements, we went
out to him-as impudent, villainous-looking scoundrel as ever don
ned a Federal uniform. We made him dismount, and I relieved
him of his overcoat, while Dixon exchanged his "two-numbers-too
large" boots for a pair that fit him like a glove. We then started
the negro down the road towards Roekingham, accelerating his gait
by a few shots over :his head. If 'he continued the move that we
gave him, that city of refuge, fifty miles away, soon hove in
sight.
We now had a good horse, saddle and bridle, new overcoat, and
new boots, a.nd were ready for further adventure. In riding the
horse we took turns in the saddle, and we traveled thus for several
days without incident, except that the horse ihad a disagreeable hab
it of going lame at times. At such times we would dismount and
lead. . *. wir -.m a
We came one day to a deep, sluggish stream, the water being as
black as ink, called, as I remember, "Drowing Creek,'' one of the
tributaries of the Great Pee Dee. The cavalry had torn up the
bridge, to proteet, I suppose, a picket post. The long plank were
on our side of the stream. The rock abutments on either bank
weer about three feet high, with a wooden crosspiece in the middle.
There was no way to cross the creek for miles either way except
this bridge. We got two planks side by side, reaching from one
bank to the middle, and then from the middle to the other bank,
making a pretty fair foot .bridge for about twonety-five feet, but a
doubtful one for the .horse,..being only two feet wide. . After a long
struggle we got the animal up on the abutment, and then, placing
a blanket over his lhead, I piloted him by the bridle, while Dixon
seized his tail as a rudder, and in this way we steered the faithful
beast across the stream.
We traveled for days through immense pine forests, and it was
with great difficulty that we could get any information about the
roads leading towa rus Raleigh. We must have inclined too far to
the right, for ini a f'ow days we came upon the track of foraging
parties of the enemy, iun ting up horses and baef cattle.
One nighit we stopped at the house of a widow lady-a grass
widow, we heard afturwards-with a piazza above and belonw run
ning around three s~des of the house. There as a crossing of the
great tboroughfares here, one leading north 'and south-the one on
udnwe were traveling-and the other running from west towards
2coast. T' e house stood in the north-westerni angle of the road,
:i::d just bevy'd it stood a barn with a two-story shed running
m,d it. E upper story being filled with straw, and the lower
- a old n:ons, plows, etc. On one side were cow stables. The
bas i N :e same road as the dwelling-the one running north
and sou,-and was about seventy or eighty yards away. I am thus
ce,Peit - ', er th' t the reader may more fully understand the in
Cii:.:as ".5 i .n. place here.
The lady of the hou.se was "a gay widow.'' Her half-grown son
and two smaller c.hildren constituted the houshold. The enemy
had taken several of her horses the day before; still, she was in a
goud jom.al hu.mor. She gave us a 4rialk of good old arnl.-ji.ek