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MS VOL. XVii. MIANJNG, S. C., WEIDNESDAY. ACs8 93 O 3 TILLMAS WORK In Settling the State's Ac.ount With the United States. STORY OF THE TRANSACTION. The State's Dehi or $ 19.7.4 in Wiped O(it :wnd a Ialanet' or ,"9,137.76 Dute to the Sta:e is Paid. Thtrough ie efforts .f Senator Till man more than anyone else. as we stated last week. the State treasury is now 9.1:;17.8; better off than it has been. This is the amount of tne ne, claim collected from the United States Government by Senator Till man. Senator Tillman on a recent visit to Columbia presented the war rant and receipt in person to Governor ilevward. The impression has heer that Stnator Tillman collected less than $100,O00. buz. as a matter of fact. he settled claims agairst the State aggregating 8:;37.8., as is f ally shown by his statement of the case. Senator Tillman. in hnding over the papers in the case t. v nor lIleward. suhmittAd a letcr. in! which he 'ul' explains th. entire transaction in as brief spe.o :ts i'an well be done. and wha I I has I- say is of great interest. It is as fid:ws: Washingtor. i>. C. Matrch t;. 1903.| Governor ). C. Heyward, Columbia. S. C.-Mv Dear Sir: It affords me great gratitication to hand you here-1I with warrants Nos. 5.746 and 5.747 on the United States Treasurer for :89. 137.86. together with receipts from the Southern Express Company for $125.000, coupon honds of the State of South Carolina, with coupons attach ed, aggregating. principal and inter est. Pl49.730, making a total it cash and bonds of 3:1s-88s-;. This warrant and these boinds have been obtained by my receipting the United States in full for the claim of the State of South Carolina, which grew out of the expend~itures by the State on behaif of the United States Government during the war of 1812 1815. I have been working on this matter for the past four years and a brief statement of the facts may be of in terest to you and to the people of the State. When the expenses- attending the enrollment of the volunteers for the Soanish war were being provided for b'y Congress in 1898 attention was di rected by the Secretary of the Treas urv to the fact that South Carolina was indebted to the United States on account of the Indian trust fund. the same being invested in the bonds above mentioned. and the feounest was made by the secretary th.at Congress give him the authority to collect said amount. Without my knowledge. or in fact. the knowledge of anyone. ki provision was sneaked into the confer ence report on an appropriation bill. authorizing the Secretary to begrin suit against the St:te of South Carolina for the collection of the debt. Demand wag made upon Governor Ellerbe for settlement and he referred the mat ter to me. and I at once set about trying to secure an adjustmient of the account of the State for the old claim of 1812-15. It required an immense amount of work and research to get track of the necessary papers. We had to investi gate the setitlement in the war depart mnent and rummage through volume after volume of treasury reports, de cisions of the courts. reports of com mittees, etc. My own time was too much occupied with other necessary business with which I have to deal to do more t han give general directions. The main work of that kind in the case was performed by Mr. James M. Baker, assistant librarian of the Sen ate, and a citizen of South Carolina, whose ho'me is at Lowndesville. Mr. Raker wvorked zealously arid indefati gably both while Congress was in ses sion and after its adjournment, so that at the next succeeding session I was prepared to demonstrate that in stead of South Carolina being in debt to the United States; the boot was on the other foot. and that we would be only too glad to have a settlement. In the meani time suit had been begun by the Attorney General for. the United States and a summons was directed to the Governor to answer the suit. 1 submitted all my evidence, based en tirely upon otlicial documents emana ting from the treasury department it self to the committee on claims, and secured from that committee a favor able report on a bill to authorize an adj ustment and accounting between the State and the United States, in which was included a claim for a bal ance due the State on account of mon evs expended during the Indian war of 1836. The bili passed the Senate without opposition, but was held up in the House. 1 tried to get it on the appropriation bill, but it was ruled out on a point of order, and the only thing. 1 could accomplish wa to have the law authorizing suit against the State repealed. Last year this claim, along with a similar 'one from Virginia. and includ ing the City of Baltimore. was placed on what is known as the omnibus claim bill, but the situation in regard to \'irginia's debt was diiierent from ours. and Senator 31artin, without my knowledge, i ncorpo'rated a provision which was very advantageous to \'ir ginia. but without his knowing it,. worked great wrong to our state. E n decr the terms of rhis ac~t the auditor for the war depart ment made up the accounts and r ractically balanced them. making the bondls of the re spective States o!lset the claim of each. The dlitlerenlce in the cases arose * .Jromi the fact that \Virginia's bonds were not due until 1hi4, and in order to have the accounts balance. as tie twvo interest-beari ng funds were di1fer ent. they would bave to go back prior to the maturity of the bonds severaa years. thus maiking \'irginia a doria ~tion of about 81 50.000. In our casl the wrong consisted in charging inter est on 'ur bonds after nmaturity. I at once appealed from the decision of thi auditor and had the matter rev:sent bi the comnptroller ofI the treasury. and he was able to make the case balance even nearer thzan tha auditor hat done. reducing the amount to cents, but he also statcd that th< bonds at the date of their maturit: amonted. principal and interest, t( 8245,750. while the State hal at that time in the treasury 95.995, and it has since ben recoganized by Congress, leaving a b:lance of $47.245. and thus 1 had the basis of getting more equit able settlement. I succ.eeded in ohtaining the consent of the appro-priation committee to in coirporate an amenda'ent in the deti ciency bill. pr'vidin' fOr the payment of this halance. with interest at 4 per cent. from the 1st of Januarv. 1881. to date. A very strong light was made 1 the House committee on ap propriaiions gainst alkiwinlg this item and. while the Senate confercee and all the Senators fatiiliar with the facts supportel the justice of the claiim and insisted on its ret ntioin. it was t!;lv after six hours of a rtuiment in the commliIt.te that at ( o'cock the night (t Marth : aln agr'-oement was reached. 1 will say t hat I had made up my mind that as there were seven other claims of an identical character. involving s-voralI millions of dollars it the I:Il. th:t I felt s J outraged at tne seeming iinjiustice and sectional a!imositv. that I served no tice that I would talk the last twelve hours of th2 session or do whatever other iflibusterin: wa- necessary to secure justice for my Stat-e. I felt hiat If the item went out that it would never he possibie dnringi Mr. Camnon's ienmienwy a, Speaker to obtain redress or get. wh.Li was dUe. so I dcided I would take the .resposib i li ty of of forcing an extra 1ii b'fore I would tamely subitnit tosuch wrong. In couciusi n. i desire to ugest it will be an act of graceful recogni tion and of simple justice to Mr. iaker that the Legislature should recog'. e his invaluaible service by ap propriating a small amount of money. say 1,000, Out Of that whitch 11S been obtained. 1lis work was not done with this idea. however, but he is poor ani has a growing family. and 'he St:tC can well a'ford tpay im handsoiely. Yours truly. 1". R. Tillinmin. P. S.--To save express expentas for the transmission of the bids. worth as they are in the market tifty cents on the dollar of their face valie be cause of their being refundable. I re quested that all of the bonds and cou pons should be cancelled. I also deem it nothing less than an element of safety that these obligations of the State that have been thus redeemed should be treated as all similar bonds are. They come to you in this shape simply as evidence and as a part of the State's debt which has been paid. It is worth while to note that the United States Government has lost money by not refunding these bonds at fifty cents on the dollar in 1881, the same as any other of our creditors. There would have been issued in lieu thereof practically the same amount of bonds and the interest on these for twelve years at ; per cent and ten years at 4 per cent would amount to 145.001. The State h:-s saved this interest and has only had to pay about -.124.000 to redeem the bonds at their face value. As a matter (f interest to the Legislature I enclose you a copy of my speech in the Senate yes terday, giving the history of the transaction, with the official records. It was made in answer to Mr. Can non's speech and in justification of the Senate's action and my own part in the transaction. 1 should be ob lied if you would transmit it to the Legislature when it convenes again. B. R.T. Even up to the very last, as will be seen by the following letter, certain of the otficials in Washingiton tried to hold down the claim by allowing only two days' interest, but Senator Till man would not consent to any such business. The letter follows: Treasury D)epart.nent, Olice of Comptroller of the Tr'easury, Washington. MIarch. 5, 1903. The Ihonorable the Secretary of the Treasury-Sir: A t your request and under your direction. I have re-exam ined the account of the State of Soiuth Carolina against the United States. as settled by the auditor for the war departmer by certilicate No. 21,804, wherein h allowed the State the sum of 847.245.7 7 together with two days' interest. This audit was made under the terms of the following provision of the Deiciency Act, which was approved and became a lawv on the :;d inst, viz: "To pay the State of South Caro lina for balance found due f'rom the United States to said State. acc;;rding to the comptutation made by the comp troller of the treasury up to .lanuary 1 1881. as stated in his letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, dated February 21, 1903, $47.245.77 and in teest upon the same at 4 per cent annum until paid." The force of this language is a direc tion by Congress to pay the State of South Carolina the sum of .$47,245.77 and interesis thereon from the 1st day of January, 1881. up to the date of the approval of this Act. The Act. while it only sets oiut said sum, yet it clearly appropriates the interest thereon as if it had been set out in specilie ligures. it is the same as if a Court should render a judge met for a specilic sum and the inter est thereon frim a date certain. The amount of the judgment is simply a matter of calculation. so the amount of this appr-opriationl is simplv a mat ter of calculation. The auditor will1 ther'efo re restate this account and allow the State of South Carolina the further sum of 84.81.01, being the interest on said sum of 547.217.77. at 4 pe'r cent, from saidI 1st (lay if .1 anuary, I s I. up to the approval of said Act. A credlit certileate if diiierenlce will issue for said amnLmi. l tespectfully. Rt. .1 . Tr-acewell. C.omptroller'. Thle igoverntor has received an in iation1 from .1. Ri M1eliride, super visor or F-lorence counmfty. to be pres none ot a metin~g called f'or the pur pos o i frming go id i-oadis' asstocia tions on Mlarch 1;. lIe wvas compelled t decline. Au in vitation was abc received friom the chairman (if the board of i1sit irs of the' citadel tit de ier the antinat;l adr's at' tie en :afpent at llock 11111 tin .1nne 1;. The annual meeting( of the society' "i harities anrd co fnectio ns n\ lil be he*ld in Atlanta this year, Mlay i;-12. and. the governor has been invited to at end and to apoint delegates. A BIG FAKE I Deal in Pennies as a Result of a Smart Advertisement OF A WA SHINGTON MERCHANT Who Of'ered "18 Cents for 1902 Pcnies. and by Which Many Speculators Were caught. Recently a clothing store in Wash ington advertised that it would pay at noln Saturday, the 7th inst., *18 cents for 1902" pennies, and because or this advertisement practically all the pennies in the piedemont section of North Carolina and in a good many I towns in upper South Carolina have coie into the possession (of a few specuators. The fact that the ad vertisement was not a bonatide pro position. but a play on words, did not become known until Wednesday, when it was discovered that, thousand of 1902 coppers had changed hands after a big premium had been paid. The fmioloving is the story as told I v the Cin rlotte Observer: For a week or ten days it has been currently rumored in this city that a Washington agency wanted the pen nies in question, and it was said that the agency was acting for the govern ment, which wished the pennies re called because it had been found that in coining them a large quantity of gold had been accidentally spilled into the molten copper. The absurdity of the rumor seemed to impress no speculator. and for the last four or five (lays penny-buying has been going on here at a great rate. Early last week Mr. Edwin B. ?rresham. of the tirm of Gresham & Company, the well known railroad eating house concern, collected all the 1902 pennies he could in banks and other business places in Charlotte. le got the pennies at their real value and before the report of the prmium-giv ing had become widespread. A day or so after his purchase Mr. Gresham sold to Baggage Agent Sonner of the Southern railway, 330 pennies for $33. and Sonner stated that the next day he sold the pennies to a bank in Alexandria, Va., at 15 cents apiece. Mr. Gresham worked assiduously and collected many hundred other pennies, but he was able to sell none of those at a profit. Ile still has on hand enough copper to make life-sized statues of both the mayor and the re corder. Mr. Greshamn was not the only man who hought pennies in large quanti ties. Tom liowland, the popular conductor on the Statesville road, de oted a large part of his time to cop per-grabbing and did not desist in his speculative operation until Wednes day. Half a dozen other Charlotte men. men in near-by South Carolina towns, and residents of Sallisbury and other places in this State, made wide search for last year's coppers. The movements of the speculators had its natural effect, and for a week 1902 pennies have been selling high; jumping from two and a half and three cents each to tive, seven and ten cents apiece. The knowledge that the advertise ment was inserted with intent to de ceive did not reach here until Wednes day. It was said that bags holding over 6,000 pennies belonging to specu lators in this section, reached Wash ington Saturday morning, and, keep ing company with copper that came from many other sources, were about to be taken to the clothing store to be redeemed at the 18 cents valuation, when it was discovered that a visit to the store would provoke ridicule and allow no profit. It wa declared that the first man who entered the store presented 1,650 pennies and demand ed 18 cents for each copper." "Ydu have misunderstood the ad vertisement," was the reply. "But you said you would give 18 cents for 1902 pennies." " Certainly; we are prepared now to give 18 cents for one thousand nine teen hundred and two pennies." Then the would be vendor under stood the game that had been played shouldered his coppers and walked away. Other men who came carrying copper as a prize were met with a similar reception. And the copper that went to Washington from the piedmont section was shipped back home Mr. Gresham said last night that he had been told that the enter prising business men wvho worked the advertisement had been arrested. It was reported in Charlotte Wed nesday night that the mad scramble for the 1902 pennies was still maintained. Pennies of that date sold for 9 cents each in Mooresville yesterday, it was declared, and were still bringing a fancy price in Salisbury and other neighboring towns. The agitation over copper has stru :k the rural districts Iof upper South Carolina and unless runners convey the intelligence of the fake game into the various hamlets the fierce rush for one cent pieces ma~y last for a good many days. Mu-.c Not inik. I r. llamme~tt, Chief State Con 1stable. wg is a temperate man hin self, has issued thre foliowinsz arcer. To Division Chiefs: On and after Ithis date the urse oJf intoxicating liqju ors by members of the State consta hurarv force will not be tolerated Ayv constable against whom the charge of inta'xication shall be made, will upon conviction, be suspended 3t. days tire first oileense, and upon con vito ofI the second offense lie wvil be dismissed from the service., You. will communicate this order a~s quick ly as possible to the variousconstables under your dircetion. . U. B. Hlammett. * Chief Constable. Mlurdleredl Seven People The second trial of A. E. Batson charged with the murder or sever members of the Earl family nea: Welsh. La.. was concluded ther< Thursday evening, the jury lindini ihe accused guilty as charged. B3astor took the verdlict quietly. For a secon<( EXCHANGE OF RIFLES. Soon the State Militiamen Will Have Their New Krags. Adjutant-General Frost receptly visited Washington to see if he could not arrange with the war department for an immediate exchange of old for new rifles and uniforms for the mili ia, saving the freight bills for two ship ments. He called to see the secretary of war in company with Senator Latimer, and was received by Assistant Secretary of War Sanger in the absence of Secre tary Root. Gen. Frost says he was warmly received and after going over the provisions of the new act of con gress it was determined that South Carolina could at once proceed to ex change the Springtield rifes and car tridges for the new Krag-Jorgensen magazine rifles. The requisition will go forward shortly. The secretary of war has been so busy since the adjournment of congress that he has been unable as yeL to place contracts fur the furnishing of the new regulation olive drab uni forms. consequently they will not be issued for some time. The depart ment, however, has allowed Gen. Frost to make requisition for khaki uni forms and campaign hats for the State militia for the summer. This requi sition will be sent on at once. T1 e present blue uniforms will be con tinued in the service until the olive drab suits are available. Gen. Frost asked for authority to loan to certain schools in the State, not having commandants of cadets, some of the old Springtield rifles. He was informed that this could not be done: that the law only allows the war department to loan rifles to military academies having regular army officers stationed at them as commandants, and then onlW upon the filing of an ap plication and a bond from the trustees of such institutions; that the State cannot loan rifles at all. This will mean that the Citadel's supply of Krag-Jorgensen rifles will have to be called in by the adjutant general soon, and another supply secured in the regular way. Under the Dick act also the ex change of equipments provided for applies only to rilies and cartridges and not to tents or camp equipage. Gen. Frost also made inquiries about the stationing of an army oticer in the office of the adjutant general. Upon Secretary Root's return the de partment will determine whether to detail active army otibcers to these positions or retired oticers. Gen. Frost talked. interestingly of the new uniform regulations of the army. There will henceforth be three styles of uniforms fur otlicers. The tirst will be the full dress, with frock coat and gold braid in abundance, a heavily gold braided cap and a chap peau. The latter will never be worn while the officer is in the saddle. The dress uniform will be exactly like the present blue fatigue uniform, with the exception that the caps will have bell crowns. The infantry offi cers will no longer wear white stripes on their trousers, but a lighter shade of blue instead. The new olive drab uniform will be the same for officers as for privates save that a small strap will b.e worn by oiticers on each shoulder, and the leggins will be leather instead of can vas. No trouser stripes will be worn by officers with this uniform. It is the latter uniform that will be used exclusively in the service in this State. The members of the gov ernor's staff alone will wear the dress uniform. All other officers will wear the olive drab regulation.-The State. Takes His Own Life. J. W. Logan, a white farmer living at Phoenix in Greenwood county com mitted suicide Wednesday by shoot himself in his right temple with a snall pocket derringer. It was stated by those in a position to know in that community that bad health and finan cial troubles no doubt led to his deci sion to end his life. Mr. Logan was about 50 years old. He leaves a wife and five children. He has a son, Frank, about grown. It is a note worthy coincidence that this place was the scene of the suicide of one of the earliest settlers of that communi ty, namely, Dr. Chapman, who com mitted suicide in what is now a tene ment house in the yard of this place, about 50 years ago. Also that this is the fourth suicide within a radius of a mile and a half within the last ten years. All the suicides were white farmers and all over 50 years of age. A Tiliman Dinner. The Charleston correspondent of The State says: "A letter Las been received from Senator Till man, accept ing the invitation of a number of business men to attend a dinner, to be given to him, in recognition of his services to that city in many matters effecting its welfare. The plans for the function are yet tobe put in shape. During his stay in Charleston, Sena tor Tillman will be the guest of )Mr. Henry P. Williams, cashier of the Charlest~on Savings bank, at his ele gant home oin East Battery." The Crum Case. The senate committee on commerce Thursday decided to postpone action on the nomination of Dr. W. D). Crum, to be collector of tihe port at Charleston, S. C., until next Thurs day. The suggestion for postpone menit was made by Senator Clay. There are a number of vacancies on the commrittee and he urged that the comnmi-.tee should not act until these were tilled. It is now helieved by the opponents of Dr. Crum that another meeting of the committee will not be held d uring the present session. Kettle Bridges. Perhaps the most remarkable bridges in the world are the kettle bridges in Russia and Siberia, of which Cossack sold.iers are expert builders. They are built up of the soldiers' lan ces and cooking kettles. Seven or eight lances are placed under the handle of a number of kettles and fastened by means of ropes to form a raft. Each of these rafts will hear the weight of half a ton. Pleases Them. The southern press is unanimous in commending Gov. Heyward's treat ment of the Wiscons'n race problem convention plan. The northern papers maintain an eloquent silence. A MN KILLED By His Automobile Running Ove Edge of High Embankment. DASHED TO PIECES ON ROCKS. His Wife, Who Was With Him When the Terrible Accident Happened, is Seriously Injured. lufTalo. N. Y.. has another sensa tion. Recently one of her prominent citizens by the name of E. T. Burdick, was found murdered in his residence, and2 up to this time the police has been unable to locate the mur~erer. Tuesday afternoon Arthur II. Pennell, one of the chief tigures in the investi gation of the !3urdick murder, was hurled headlong into eternity. Mr. Pennell was iiding in his electric automobile with Mrs. Pennell. They were on Kensington avenue near Fill more avenue, ski mming along the edge of the Gehrs stone quarry, a huge rock-ribbcd hole in the ground, Mr. Pen- ell's bat blew oil. The automo bile swerved and in some inexplicable manner it leaped over the curb into the abyss below. Pennell was killed instantly, his head b'eing crushed to an unrecognizable mass. Mrs. Pennell was injured so severely that the sur geons at the Sisters hospital, to which she was taken, say her chances of re covery are very slight. Two boys saw the tragedy. They were too far away to know positively .ist how it happene'd. Mrs. Pennell when found'was unable to speak. She was only semi-conscious when taken to the hospital and could speak no co herent words. After the operations performed immediately by Dr. Eugene Smith in the hope of saving her life, she lapsed into unconsciousness and hence there can le no true version of precisely how the affair occurred. - Mr. Pennell left his office in the Austin building at 4.05 o'clock. le went to his home at 208 Cleveland avenue. A friend who called up Mr. Pennell on the telephone about 5 oclock was informed that Mr. Penell was in but that he was going for a drive. Mr. Pennell himself answered the telephone and said~that be would be back between 6.30 and 7 o'clock, making an appointment with his friend for that hour. "Would G o'clock do?" he was asked. "Oh, Well, you might come at 6 oclock, but you better making it later," said Mr. Pennell. Those were the last words Pennell was. known to speak to any one except Mrs. Pennell. save that he went back to the stairs and called out to Lizzie Romance, the maid: "Lizzie, we will be back between 6 and 7 o'clock." Then he and Mrs. Pennell rode away in the automobile. It was learned that the matter mentioned in the telephone talk was omething he considered most serious ind which weighed heavily upon him. [t was in connection with the Burdick murder. Recently Mr. Pennell made the fol owing statement: "About this case af Burdick, I have told the authori ties I .went away to New York before the murder and that I met, Mrs. Burdick while I was away. In fact I aw Mrs. Burdick near New York two or three days before the murder. 1 have told it frankly and the meeting was a proper one. But they seem to be determined to drag all the business out in the papers. I would do any thing to stop it." ?ennell and his wife left their home at 4.50 o'ckeck or one or two minutes before that time. It was a gloomy afternoon and rain was falling. It seemed a strange day for a man to take his wife automobiling, in the lonely northeast segtion of the city at such an hour. Pennell was not a veteran at auto mobiling. Yet he was an expert at handling the machine and was ex perienced as to its management. What was unusual about the proceedings, according to the maid, was that Mrs. Pennell had always be fore told her when they would return. Today, however, said the girl, ''-when they went out it was Mr. Pennell who told me." Mrs. Pennell has been loial to her husband throughout his trying experi ences during the last ten days. She frequently said that her faith in him was unshaken and that she would stick to him to the end. Pennell's body was received at morgue shortly after 8.:30 o'clock. The features of the dead man were distorted and out of all semblance to their natural character. In the pockets were found some money and newspaper clippings and identification cards from two in surance companies. MRS. PENNELL DIEs. Mrs. Arthur Pennell died at the Sisters of Charity hospital Wednes nesday night, at 8 o'clock. For hours the surgeons worked over the un-on scious form of tae injured womar.. A faint twitching or the eyelids or a murmer of pain were the only signs of returning consciousness perceptible during the :24 hours the injured wo man was in the hospital ward. Ex cept for a few incoherent wor-ds utter ed when she was first taken to the hospital Mrs. Peinell's lips did not move. H e WVill Hanug. The decision oft the Voited States Court in refusing to reverse the decis ion of the Supr-eme Court of South: Carolina in the case oif the State vs. John Browntield. who murdered Mr. Scurry, at Geor-getown in 1899, tixes his doom. The murder was the direct cause of the Georgetown riot. Brown field has been in jail ever since the tragedy, and if it had nut been for the efforts of a colored lawyer he would have met his fate on thy gal lows a short time after the occurrence. The case was carried to the Supreme Court on the plea that the ne .ro had not received justice as there were ni negroes on the grand jury. whilt three-fourths of the population o1 Georgetowvn County are negroes Judge Holmes said there was no proo of the allegation and sustained the decision of the State Court. As this is the last resort Brownfield will havy to go to the gallows. SENSATIONAL UDER CASE. A Young Woman Tried for Killing A Young Man. Marion had quite a sensational tri-n last week, in which Miss Josephin Burns was tried for nurder. Mis Burns is a young white woman oi Nichols and is on trial for killing 1)ustin 11. Sarvis, a young telegraph operator at Nichols in last November Since the tragi occurrence she ha: been in North Carolina, but duly ap peared for trial. It will be remembered that' at the time of the killing it was stated b3 the accused that she had been secret ly married to Sarvis several imonth. prior to that time and that she had gone to see him at the depot in Nich ols to insist upon his announcing their marriage: that he refused to do so., becamue angry. sLot her in ihe head with a pistol and-then shot him self, dying instantly. The verdict o1 the coroner's jury was in accordance with this statement. The theory or the prosecution is to the effect that she shot the deceased and then attempted to commit sui cide, the testimony of the State's wit ncsses being that he saw her shoot herself. ~ She was wounded in the fore head, the ball narrowly missing the brain. There was some delay in form ing a jury so many jurors stating they had expressed an opinion on the case. Naturally much interest was mani fested but no new sensational features have been developed. The court room was filled with a crowd of spec tators, The young lady was acquitted by thejury. The Wheel Explodd. A dispatch from Sumter to The State says Mr. John F. Laughery was seriously injured in an accident, re sulting in his death Friday nigbt, which happened at the plant of the Lukens Lumber company Friday af ternoon about 4.30 o'clock. Mr. Laughery had gone to the saw mill and was standing up by the engine when it ran away, the governors re fusing to check the speed of the fly wheel. which was 10 feet in diameter. Mr. Laughery sprang towards the valve to turn off the steam when the explosion came, the fly wheel burst to pieces and Mr. Laughery was struck on the right side ef the face and head by a flat piece of iron, his face and skull being crushed in. When picked up- he was in an unconscious condition. Engineer Joiner was also in the engine room when the wheel burst, but escapted without injury. One piece of the wheel flew upward and tore a large hole in the roof. an other section struck a wheel about 15 feet distant, and although thqother wheel was running'and 26 inclies in diameter, tore it ro pieces. Some parts of the wheel landed on the ground as far as 75 feet away from the scene of the accident. - Fooled With Brer Rabbit. Last week an old negro captured a rattlesnake and sold it to Dr. McLeod, of Macon, Ga., who wished to experi menL with it. On Saturday he placed a live rabbit in the cage to see what the snake would do with it. The snake would not notice the rabbit till he was molested, and then he at tempted to bit the rabbit, but only succeeded in getting his mouth full-of fur. Sunday night they both seemed to be well, but not so Monday morn ing. The rabbit was well, but the snake was far from wvell. lHe was minus his head and part of his neck. The tlesh being gnawed entirely off of the bone for severtal inches next to his head. His rattles were heaten to pieces, supposedly in his tight with the rabbit, and the floor of the cage was covered with blood, showing that the rabbit had killed him, and not that he had eaten the snake after it had *died a natural death. as there would then have been no blood. The rabbit seems to be none the worse for the. fray.__________ The Old Negro. Senator Tillman has on his planta tion in South Carolina a negro namec Joe Gibson. who has lived ,with hirm for thirty years. Joe has charge o1 the premises. carries the keys, and takes care of everything in Mr. Till mans absence. And speaking oft tis~ man the other day the Senator said: " I do not know whether- I belong tt Joe or Joe belongs to me. Anyhow, we have been together for thirty years. and we have agreed to live to gether till one or hoth of us dies, and when I go away, if I go first, I kno'w he will shed as sincere a tear as any body. I would die to protect hirr fromn injustice and wrong." This hi one of the old time negro gentlemer of whom we have often sp~oken. Thej are an honor to the race and to th( "Old Miss" who trained them. Whit< men arei proud and fortunate to have such negro friends. The pity is thal the dear old gentlemen are fast dying out. A Pitched Battle. A desperate battle between the hands or two turpentine farms took place near orange Springs, Fl-a., las1 week. A contention arose about matter of little importance Letweer some of the negro lab~orers. (of Megs camp and those~ of Law's camp. Tii aroused the fury of the entire c-rowc and precipitated a tight which endec in a general baittle. The repor-t i: that eight men were killed atnd a largE number of others wounded. A Grecedy Snake. Noticing a large cobra with a sm-al portion of a snake's tail hanging oul of its mouth, a resident of Ceylon kill. ed the reptile. D~uring its deatl struggles the Cobra disgorged three fourths of a r-at sn-ake. Tne resident hauled out the rest, and, on taking measurements, found the cobra to b< 4 feet 8 inches long, and the rat snak it had tried to swallow 5 feet 2 inches Big Famnilies Wanted. R tepresentative Blumle. the Phila delphia Record reports, has introduce< in the Pennsylvania Legislature .3 bill which provides that the Stat< shall give a gold medal worth fron 10 to $20 and an equal sum of mone2 to every mother of six or nine clii den. the idea being to encourage th( bringing of large families into thi AN OIL FIRE In New York Claims Twcnty or More Victims. Twenty or more livcs were lost and fully twice that number of people burned or bruised by an explosion of oil late Tuesday night, following the wreck on the Erie railroad, north of Olean,N. Y. Owing to the fact that some of the bodies were incinerated in the fierce flames or blown into the creek by the explosion, the exact num ber of dead will probably not be known for several days. The number of injured, too, is un certain, as a large number of them were able to reach their home and-re. ceived treatment there. Nine of the recovered bodies have been identified as residents of O:ean, four of the number being boys under seventeen years (if age. The injured are all young boys of Olean and the neighbor ing towns. Dozens of others, who were not carried to the hospitals were burned more or less severely. It was nine o'clock in the evening when the train was wrecked. An Erie freight train, loaded with oil cars, broke in two on the bill two miles north of the-. city. At H rst the for ward part of the train, released of all weight of the cars behind, sprang for ward with increased speed. Brakes were applied and the front portion of the train was brought almost to a standstill at the iron bridge across Olean creek. The rear cars, gather ing mornentur as they came down the hill, crashed into the forward part of the train. The tank cars caught fire soon after the collision and burst into flames with a terrific explosion. A portion of the iron domes of the cars was hurled a distance of several hundred feet. The flames shot bigh in the air. Hundreds of people in front (if Olean and the surrounding country side gathered to watch the brillant scene. As the heat became less intense the crowd began to edge a little closer to the wreckage. Suddenly there was a terrific explo sion. A great mass of white flames shot hundreds of feet into the air and literally rolled down the banked sides of the track into the gully where the spectators were standing. Men and boys fell before the wave of light to rise no more. Huge pieces of iron were hurled through the air, moving down human beings by the score. Men and boys with their clothing a mass of Ilanes ran shrinking down the track, some of them falling to the ground unconscious, while others grovelled in the ditch or jumped into the creek in an endeavor to put out the lire that was consuming them. Distillery Captured. A dispatch to The State from Green ville says Thursday afternoon at .5 o'clock Constables Altman, Cooley and Bell, with Deputies Phillips and Pat nam, left the city with the intention of tinding a blockade distillery, and went 22 miles to the Middle Saluda river, where they discovered what they were expecting, and took possession of a large outfit which was being put in readiness for operation, including a steam boiler, three fermnenters and 500 gallons of beer. The officers knew in advance that this was a portable affair and that the still had two localities, a half mile 'apart. They went to the other place and found a number of fer menters. The still was near the resi dence of Beattie Grice, and there was a path from one to the other. The of ficers raided the still at midnight and spent only aun hour or so in the vicini ty, but it required seven or eight hours to reach the city again as the roads do not allow fast traveling. . Killed on the Skyscraper. The first fatality in connection with the erection of the skyscraper in .Co lumbia occurred early Thursday morn ing, when William Dixon, a colored laborer, was instantly killed by an el evator. Trhere are three elevators used in the building. andi they run from the first to the twelfth floor and back at ligtning speed. Ac cording to the testimony of wit nesses, Dixon had just leaned over the elevator shaft to speak to some one in the cellar when the elevator came nown on him, killing him in stantly. As soon as the accident was seen the engineer raised the elevator and the body was taken out. The hea.t and face were horribly mutilat ed, but there were no other injuries, and death must have been instantane ous. A Daring Scheme. Fierce struggles with stowaways armed with knives were reported by the captain of the American steamer Mare-herite which arrived at New York recently from Mediterranean ports. "Three days out from Messi na," said the captain, "four fellows came crawling out of the forehatch with knives. They threatened the sailors but were quickly knocked down and disar-med. I locked them up in the hospital and gave them bread and water. In the afternoon of the same day thirteen men, covered with coal dust. came up out -of the bunkers. They had knives too, but my crew wvere ready to fight them and we took~ the knives away from them. That night we got to Algiers and police men came aboard and took oil the stowaways." Want's His Medal. The governor recently received a letter from Mr. Edwin B. Moore of New York asking for information in regard to medal given the members of "the glorious old Palmetto regiment" which fought so gallantly in Mexico in 1847. These medals evidently were voted before the Civil war. for Mr. Moore declares that he never got his "because. 1 presume. as to the uncer tainly as to my whereabouts, or because of the occurrence of our Civil wa~ r -Mr. Moore was fife major, or pr incipail musician, of the regiment anmd his name is enrolled with Corn pany' II. There are living not more - than two score~ of the these gallant men who made up the regiment which attracted s6 much attention to South Carolina on account of its fearless charges up mountain steeps. A VERY MEAN MAN..4 He Fought a Coffin for His Wife Before Her Death BUT SHE MADE HIM OCCUPY T Jefr Hackett, Formerly of 96a Caroiina, But for Many Years a Virinian, Suffered for His Sins. Sometime ago, says a special dis patch to The State from Roanoke, Va., a farmer's wife in Floyd county Va., who bad been ill for many grew suddenly worse. The fam was small, consisting of two lie children; and the farm house i occupied a lonesome, oit-of-the-WA spot, in a rugged mountain couns a good many miles distant from, h nearest country village.' For weed the roads had been in an aim passable condition from the the coltinued heavy.fall of snOK rain, and the only visitor to thie. woman was the country doctor 2 vyent his weary rounds. The husba4 i Jeff Hackett, a native of onbf upper counties of South CArolina,6 drifted to Virginia 35 years ever since locating in Flo had been a man known Athbou the section for his meanness and gardly habits, and although by uch_-. methods he had amassed aeotifr able sum of money, few ever asre color of it,' and the numerous v the doctor to his sick wife were viee with increased alarm, as indlcaM of a good-sized medical bill grew apparent. Just as the serious tn the woman's condition came the miserly husband hit on tba, idea, as it' seemedto him, of. kM* two birdb- with one ston6. He , come to Roanoke the.lowid to attend to some business, an&t.ge a fresh supply of "them expe%,%1 drugs." Just before his departure the faithful doctor arrived to pay visit to the sick wife. H the physician to one side aid tioned him closely-as to the of his wife's earlydeath. Heespd~n that bad as the roads were, y-the liable to become much worse, that if he could bring backa next day, much inconvenieneed probable delay in the funerea , could be saved, should his wife The medical man assured himlt . his opinion that his wife co last twelve hours; and that sh in all probability be dead when turned from the city. The nt d y . bright and early. the farmer bade sick woman good bye, and starte& r hislong drive to-Roanoke. On ing there he purchased the necessazy drugs, and then sought an und ing establishment, where be bought& moderate-priced coffin. 00 ing himself on his foresight,. he plod ded homeward and no sooner was 1eI in sight of his home, when the chil dren awaiting his return, espied te<~ significant looking casket. Running into the house, the little ones notified'4 their sick mother, who was apparenit- e ly in a very weak state, of what their father had -brought back from' the city. The wife guessed the trutheaV once and summoning her now mie -< able husband to her bedside, she ri~ herself by main force and despiteher condition, showered upon him the ~ vials of her pent-up wrath. A nw - resolution. flashed in her eyes.- hu vowed her husband would~be thewot' disappointed man in the country and-~ should have the coffn for his own use. So rapidly did she regain her strnt that inside or teni days, she was boss ing the house as of old, and mak-N - her parsimonious helpmeet's life a burden.- So much did the experience weigh on the latter's mind that he fell ill and five ~days afterwards was taken to thu little countrychryad '' in the identical receptacle purchased by himself for his better and stronger half. A Terrible Legacy. Garrett Heddon, a notorious out law and moonshiner, has been stabbed to death by his brother, Riley 'Hed don, in Polk County, Tenn. A year ago in an altercation with another brother, Garrett killed him and this murder led to his own death.Gaz ... and Riley had visited the town of Re liance and had started' home. when they became involved in a- quarrel about Garrett having killed his broth er,the result being that Riley plunged a knife through his body. Garrett was taken home, where after his finm ily had assembled he gave to his elde est son, aged 10, his pistol, making him swear that he would kill his un cle when he was large enough. Gets Big Pay. King Malean, commander-in-chief of the Moorish armyg forms11y an: English lieutenant, getting $650 a years draws the comfortable saary of K $85,000 a year. As the Sultan's right hand man, he has conducted many campaigns in the Sahara, and is'the only Christian that has openly cross ed the Giania pass and visited the sacred tomb of Mulal Ali Shereef, in the Tatilet district. The regular army under his command numbers about 20,000 with an irregular militIa of 80,000. May Be tne Robbers. Three men were arrested at Talbot-. tan, Ga.. on Wednesday last who blew open the safe of Mr. W. P. Cook at Iva, Anderson County, about sie weeks ago. A watch was found xn one of the men which is thought tobo the watch taken from Mr. Cook, it be ing the same number as the one taken.. Sheriff Green is investigating the mat ter and if he gets sutficient evidence he will go and bring them back to stand their trial. The Hampton Monument. The law relating to the Hampton monument requires a commission to have charge of the appropriation when the public raises s10,000. The law became of effect Thursday and the governor has made the following appointments: Senators McCall and Marshall and Representatives Moses of Sumter, Morgan of Greenville'an' Sabhrrk of Charlestonn.