Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL. XVII. MANNING, S. C., WE)NESDAY, AUGUS0 A TUNNEL HORROR. The Collision and Burning of Twc Underground Trains. PANIC OF THE PASSENGERS Who, Stifled by the Snoke and Bewildered by the Darkness Strive in Vain to Find the Exits. An awful catastrophe occurred it Paris, France, on Monday evening 01 last week, on the'Metropolitan Elec tric Railway, which runs mostly un derground, in which many persons lost their lives. One of the trains broke at Menilmontant Station, which is in a poor and populous section 0 the city. This train was promptly emptied and the train which followed was ordered to push to the repairing sheds. On the way these two trains caught fire, but the employees suc ceeded in escaping. Meanwhile, a crowded train reached Les Curiennes the preceding station, and the ofticials, seeing smoke pouring out of the tunnel, gave the alarm. A panic en sued, the passengers struggling to es cape from the station. Amid the in creasing smoke many attempted to return along the line towards Belle ville, but they were suffocated. The firemen started in to flood the burning cars, and shortly afterward they were able to enter the tunnel. They brought up the corpses of five men and two women all belonging the working class. EIGHTY-FOUR BODIES have been recovered, and the death list probably will exceed one hundred. The accident, which occurred on the Metropolitan Electric Railway as sumed the proportions of an awful ca tastrophe during the early hours to day, when more than four-score bod les of the burned and suffocated vic tims were removed from the subter ranean passage. The work continues, and indications are that the death list will perhaps exceed five score. Long lines of ambulances were brought into requisicion and the bod ies were carried to the morgue and the nearby military barracks. After day light THE CROWDS AT THE ENTRANCEs to the -tunnel increased to enormous proportions, obliging the police to form a solid cordon, through which were admitted only those seeking to identify their relatives among the victims. The failure of many men, women and children to return home during the night gave many the fist news of the catastrophe. Fathers and mothers came hurrying to the mouths of the tunnels to try and find the absent ones. The firemen found a great number of bodies massed near the ticket of fiee of the station, where many had evidently been overcome while seek ing tickets. They had been surprised by the columns of smoke, and had sought to run back up the stone stair way leading to the street. A strug gle ensued, and some escaped, but the others had been trampled on. One woman had fled within the ticket of fice, where her body was found. The ticket seller, herself, succeeded in es caping. At the station of Les Curonnes, the same scenes of death and despair had been enacted. The accident oc curred- midway between the stations of Menilmontant and Les Couronnes, so that the work of salvage proceeded from both ends of the tunnel. In addition to the blinding smoke the tunnel belched forth a terrific heat, as one of the trains was slowly burning within. The firemen succeeded in throwing several streams of water in the direction of the wreck, while some firemen and military engineers, at great hazard, pushed on inside the tunnel. Further on, the firemen stumbled upon a TERRIBLE MASs OF BODIEs. These were the passengers of the burned train. They had fled from the coaches when the fire broke out, and, groping through the suffocation clouds of smoke, sought the exit at Les Couronnes Station. But the tunneJ makes a sharp turn near the scene 01 the disaster and at the angle the en tire mass of humanity apparently be came tightly wedged. The panic which took place at this point, with in this dark subterranean passage must have been terrible. M. Lepine, prefect of police, sum moned a large force of doctors and municipal oitcials, who superintendec the removal of the bodies. The num ber of corpses brought up from the angle where the mass was wedged was so large that four and eight bodies were placed in each ambulance. Man3 of the victims had handkerchiefs stuffed in their mouths, they havini evidently tried to keep out th< asphyxiating smoke. The faces o! the dead were red and congested Some women held their children tight ly in their arms. Several versions of the disaster ar( given, but THE MAIN FACTE which have been established, art the following: Train No 43, which caused the acci dent, trance to the Bois de Boulogne in the western part of Paris, and pass ing under the Place de L'Etoile, circi ed the northerly quarter of the city In this northern quorter-a manufact uring section-the train picked ul numbers of workmen, who, af te their day's work were returning t their homes in the populous easter1 arrondissements of the city. 01 reaching the neighborhood of th CemeteryV of Pere Lo Chaise, the elect rical motor failed to act properly, au the train waited at the station of Le couronnes until the arrival of a seconi train, which pushed the crippled trai: forward, making a total of sixteel coaches. After proceeding about two hundre, yards towards Menilmontant Statioc the damaged dynamo set tire to th noine of the first train. Tfie engin burned fiercely, raising quantities of smoke. Simultaneously the electric lights on the trains went out, leaving the passengers in total darkness, ex cept for the light of the burning en igne far ahead. This impeded the progress of the trains toward Menil montant. The terror-stricken passen gers got out and tried ta grope their way back to Les Couronnes. The powerful electric current, which cou tinued in the rails, is believed to have stunned or killed many. A number of the passengers tried to reach Les Couronnes Station, but the maih body of the passeagers who overcome by the heat and smoke. A TERRIBLE PANIC occured among those behind, and the horror of the situation was increased by a third train crashing into the tiery mass, and adding another crowd of panid-sticken passengers to those seeking an outlet. The cars continued to burn unti twenty were consumed. The burning debris gave forth a fierce heat, which puffed out of the mouths of the sta tions of Les Couronnes and Menilmont ant. Most of the trainmen escaped, but the conductor of the train caus ing the accident was seriously injured. The escape of the trainmen is at tributed not to their lack of attention to the passengers, but to their supe rior knowledge of the subterranean passage, which enabled them to hasten forward in spite of the obscurity. A number of heroic incidents occurred. One of the employees of the road nearly lost his life in seeking to make his way through the smoke to aid the victims, and is now in the hospital. Several soldiers and firemen risked their leves in attempting to succor the passengers. Perfect Lepine himself took his lifein his hands by entering the tunnel and proceeding a conseder able distance until the smoke drove him back. ACCOUNT OF AN EYE-WITNESS. The chief station master at Les Couronnes, M. Didier, has given a graphic description of the events pre ceding the accident. He says he saw the flames running along the gear of the cars when the first train passed t through the station and called out to the engineer to stop, saying there was not time to reach the next station, but th" engineer declared he had 1 ample time and proceeded. A few minutes later a long blue flame flashed through the tunnel, followed by a vio lent detonation. Looking into the s month (if the tunnel M. Didier could 1 see -flashed from the burning cars. t Great masses of smoke began to pour out, preventing the ofticials from en tering the tunnel. Men struggled r ont through the smoke. Screams could be heard in the distance amid a the crackling of the fire. 1 VICTIMS MOSTLY THE POOR. e The names and occupations of the t victims give pathetic evidence of their humble condition. The names are chararteristic of the French working 1 classes, and their occupations are r given tas given as painter, mason, r plumber, tailor, seamstress, lock- S smith, etc. Outside the workmen, r about every third name is that of a woman. Pitiful scenes were enacted at t the morgue throughout the day asa the relatives gathered seeking to iden tify the bodies, which were arranged 1 in long lines on white marble Slabs. t The clothing of many of the victims is torn, showing the fierceness of ther struggle. 1 SCENES IN THE TUNNEL. 1 A survivor named Jules Bouat, des cribes the st'ruggle during the panic in the tunnel as terrible. Women were screaming,"Save me!" An old man fell exhausted until they fell asphyxi ated M. Gauthier, the magistrate for the district,, says one of the main causes ot the loss of life was that those escap ing took the wrong exit, one passage letting out to the street, while the oher was barred, as it was usually for admitting bassengers. Many of the victims sought the barred exite, and were found massed against the wall, where they had been slowly suf focoted. M. Bienvenue, the chief engineer of the Metropolitan Railroad, says from the technical point of view every pre caution to avoid danger had been taken. The chief misfortune was that the employees did not organize I assistance with sutlicient rapidity to permit the passengers being quickly drawn out. Railroad Casualtis In the first three months of the cur rent year says the Hartford Courant, 827 Americianns were killed and 11. A81 wounded in accidents reported by the interstate railroad companies to the interstate commerce commission. In the "train accidents" 300 were killed and 2,834 were wounded. Of the killed 94, and of the wounded 1, 609 were passengers, the rest were railroad servants of one class and another. The number of trainmen killed was 534; the number wounded was 6,630. Collisions killed 465 and wounded 753 of the passengers; they killed 131 and wounded 8634 of the trainmen. Sixty-four of the train men met death and 656 incurred their wounds while coupling or uncoupling cars. "M1urder W~ill Out." Sol Benje and wife Katherine Baughuss of Wilkes county, N. C.,1 have been arrested and committed to jail at Winston-Salem. N. C., on the charge murdering Benj e's daughter Sarah, about Feb. 28th, 1902. On March 24, 1902, the body of the dead girl was found in a mill pond. At the coroner's inquest it developed that were many bruises on the girl, indica tive that she had been killed before being thrown into the pond. Recently evidence has developed pointing to. ward Bienje, his wif and Katherine B aughuss as the perpetrators of the -~crime. I Found in the River. The body of an unidentiled man was found Thursday in North river at Sthe foot of One Hiundred and Sixty Third street, New York City. The, police say the man was murdered. A handkerchief was knotted tightly around his neck in such a manner as to cause strangulation. There were deep gashes over both eyes. lie was Sapparcutly forty years old and was fet x inces in height. REMOV.E THE CAUSE Says John Temple Graves and You Will Stop Lynehings. - HE TALKS OUT VERY PLAINLY. And Says Boldly That the Usual Crime Will be Followed in the South by a Lynching. Unique among all summer gather ogs is the "Mob Conference" now in rogress at Chatauqua, N. Y. The ncrease of mob spirit shown by feuds, ynchings, riots, assassinations and ther lawless happenings gives great mportance to this conference. Among Xednesday's speakers was John Tem >1e Graves of Atlanta, Ga. Mr. Graves spoke on "The mob pirit of the south." le defended ynch law as-a remedy for the crime )f rape, holding that though lynching s a crime it is justified by the crime which provokes it and will never be iscontinued until that crime is liminated. The remedy for lynch ng must be the elimination of the rime of rape and thus, he maintaine, uld be done only by the separation f the two races in the United States. "The problem of the hour is not ow to prevent lynching in the south )ut the larger question: 'How shall ve destroy the crime which always ias and always will provoke lynch ng."1 "The answer which the mob re ,urns to this vital question is already mown. The mob answers it with he rope, the bullet and sometimes. rod save us, with the torch. And he mob is practical. Its theory is iective to a large degree; the mob Is he sternest, the strongest and most ifective restraint that the age holds or the control of rape. "The lyncher does not exterminate ,he rapist," Mr. Graves contended, 'but he holds him mightily in beck." As a sheer, cold, patent fact, he aid, the mob stands Wednesday as he most potential bulwark between he women of the south and such a arnival of crime as would and precip tate the annihilation of the negro ace. The masses of the negro,, he teld are not afraid of death coming , regular way. The love display and he spectacular element of a trial and xecution appeal to their imagina ions. Expediting the processes of the law ould not be adequate to eliminate ynching. The repeal of the amend nents and the establishment.of the Legro's inferiority in law and society, aid Mr. Graves, though desirable, are tot sufficient. "For the negro," he added, "is a hing of the senses and with his race .nd with all similar races the desire f the senses must be restrained by the error of the senses, if possible, under he law. "No influence of suppression so nighty and effective could be brought o bear is a law making amputation he penalty for the crime rape. But his, like curfew edicts, separate laws or white and black, or the treatment f the crime of rape as separate and utside of all other codes but expedi ints, he maintained, "there is no real 'emedy but one. No statute will per nanently solve this problem. Religion oes not solve it. Education compli ates it. Politcs complicates it. "The truth which lies beyond and above ll those temporizing expedi nt," nie concluded, "is that separa ion is the logical, the inevitable, the nly solution of the great problem of he races." Discussing the subject of "Mental Lnd moral contagion." Dr. J. M. luckley of New York, after speaking Lt some length of the various transient Lnd permanent changes that take >lace under different physicial and nental inluences in human personal ty, took up the question of crime and Lrgued that all crime implied the ex stence of social and its attritions, bat sin and vice could be committed )y a person alone in the world but not o crime. Hie showed the operation of his and how far through their natur ii causes epidemics might spread. In conclusion, he declared that as aws of association bring on such gen ral and feverish criminal tendencies, ;o the lasw of association must be em loved to antagonize. In the afternoon mob conference, [ohn Temple Graves answered ques ,ions. The north and south were qually represented. Mr. Graves' >lan for the solution of the race ~roubles is a state set aside for ne rroes and disenfranchisement outside if that territory. H e said the south w'ould not object to the loss of the aegro and for it learning the superi )rity of white labor. "Isnob execution," he was asked, a matter of economy to the south" "No," he replied, "the south never A'eighs money in the matter of wo nan's honor." Another question was, "Are not :he southern mobs largely wvhite trash md men of murderous intentions'?" [le answered: By no means. The mob have in~ luded the highest in the land, of icials and professional men." He declared that a white man would be lynched as quickly as a negro for in oifense against a white woman's honol. ie Instanced in proof the only lynching in New Orleans in re cent years. Where Is He? A dispatch from Atlanta to the Augusta Chronicle says: "With a good-bye to his wife, and babies and a promise to shortly return with pro visions, Reese Hogan, a mill hand, who lives at 15 Bluff street, left his bome last Saturday night and has not since been seen. Mrs. Hogan and tier four little children are now im :lestitute circumstances. The police was asked to look for Hogan last Mon 'Jay. Hogan could not be found and it is now believed that he has desert DISASTROUS HURRICANE Causes Many Deaths and the Loss of Ten Million Dollars. The West Indian hurricane struck the island of Kingston, Jamaica with its full force Wednesday, inflicting great damage. Port Antonio, on the north coast, was completely over whelmed. Only six- houses were left standing there. The United Fruit company's wharves, offices, hotel and plantations were utterly demolished. Five of the company's steamers, in cluding the Simon Dumois, Alfred Dumois and Brighton were driven ashore but are lying in easy positions. Port Maria, another town on the north coast, also suffered Similarly. The coast is strewn with wreckage of local sailing boats. The southeastern portion of the is land has been completely denuded of its crops, the rivers are flooded and many men were carried out to see and drowned. Considering the damage to property during the hurricane, the loss of life is comparatively small al though the present estimate is that the death list will reach 50. Ilun dreds of persons were injured and there were numerous hairbreadth es capes. The property loss is estimated at 810,000,000. The entire eastern end of the island has been devastated. Villages have been wiped out and public buildings and churches demolished. Thousands of the peasantry, rendered homeless and destitute, are wandering about seeking food and shelter. The destruc tion of the banana plantations has been complete and the fruit trade is paralyzed for the next twelve months. Hundreds of prosperous fruit growers have been brought to bankruptcy and I ruin. The western en.1 of the island, which it was at first supported had escaped, also suffered considerably al- I though not to the extent which the 1 eastern end did. The new banana I plantations planted there were partly destroyed and the orange and the 1 coffee crops were also injured. The Norwegian steamer Salvatore did Giorgio was driven ashore at Ann6fta < bay and lies in a dangerous position. Several sailing .vessels were wrecked on the north side. Thousands of huuses in Kingston 1 were damaged, the wharves were bat tered several coasting vessels were i sunk In the harbor. Trade is prac tically at a standstill. ACT OF A MADMAN. Fires a Shotgun Into a Crowd ofFive Thousand People. Gilbert Trigg, aged 30 years, sup posed to be insane, appeared on the principal street of Winfield, Kansas, Thursday with a double-barreled shot gun and fired both charges deliberate ly into a crowd of 5,000 people who were listening to a band concert. Hie killed three persons, fatally injuring three, and shot 20 others, of whom six may die. Trigg was himself killed by a policeman. Tbe dead: Sterling Rice, a carpen ter; Dawson Tillotson, a barber, brains blown out; D. Bowman, a carpenter of Oxford, Kans.; Gilbert Trigg. The Injured: Mrs. John Barnard, shot in the neck: James Clarkson, shot in the back and arm; R. .E. Oliver, shot in the shoulder and back; Clyde -Reed, shot in the hip; J. B. Sterry, shot in the chest and knee; Wilkins, Charles Thomas. Thirteen others were less seriously injured. The band had just finished playing a waltz when Trigg stepped out from an ally a half block distant and de liberately taking aim at the band stand, fired two shots. R. E. Oliver, a bandman, fell at the first shot. but the crowd, not realizing what had happened, rushed toward Trigg, be lieving that there had been an acci dental shooting of some kind. As the crowd closed in the crazed man dis charged two more shots at them caus ing a scattering in every direction. With the crowd fleeing, the man stood firing at random in every direction. Policeman George Nichols confronted Trigg and fired a bullet into his head. Before life was extinct the demented man drew a revolver from his pocket and fired a shot into his own body. Gilbert Trigg was a miller by trade. He was commonly referred to as "Crazy Trigg," but no one thought him dangerous. Saved from a Mob. Eight negroes were arrested for an attempted icriminal assult on Mrs. Hart. a white woman, at Whitestone, Tex., on Wednesday. Seven were re leased and the eighth man was held - >r identificantion. A mob appeared at the jail and took the negro and h:..ged him to a tree nearby. Before he bcamne unconscious officers appear ed and rescued the negro and are hurrying him to Shermon for safekeep ing. The mob is gathering to pursue the prisoner and it is said other com munities will join the mob. After the negro Brown had been forcibly taken from the mob, its mem bers turned their attention to the col ored residents of the town. Guns were tired promiscuously in the negro section and the terror-stricken negroes when they came from their houses were ordered to leave town at once. No violence further than this intimni dation has been otferei so far. As a result outgoing trains on all roads are crowded with negroes. A Strange Case. A dispatch from Roanoke, Va., to The State says Dr. John L. Doggett, 30 years old, a prominent dentist of that city, met with a peculiar acci dent Wednesdays night, While in a it of nightmare. Dr. Doggett's wife graspedd him by the hands in an en deavor to quiet him. lie gave a lurch of superh u man strength, th rowing his hands over his head and back again, snapping the large bones in both arms ne-ar shoulder. Physicians pronounce the case an extraordinary A PRISON HORROR. A White Woman Tells How She Was Brutally Whipped. SHE SAYS SHE WAS PUNISHED Because She Spurned Improper Proposals from the Warden of the Prison Where She Was Confined. The whipping of Miss Marie De Crises in one of the Georgia State prisons is creating a great deal of talk nd indignation in that State. The matter was recently investigated at illedgevillee where the prison is lo mated. Miss DeCris' statement sub stantially, was that she was treated kindly at first. "Warden Alagood made improper advances to me in his t room when I did clerical work. He Attempted to caress me. I jerked way. He went in the other room md sat on a bed. He told me to 3ome in there. I refused. He told me not to tell or he would make it ot for me, and he has surelv kept his r ord. I saw him kiss a white con vict in the hospital. "I talked with Mrs. Alagood the t lay before the whipping. I used no t isrespectful language. I did not top talking when ordered. I told a tnother white prisoner about Mr. t -lagood's advances. She said if I was a lewd woman to submit, if not to t protest; that I would have an easy r ime if I would submit as that was he only way to get along with him." The other woman denies being t cissed. She denied the conversation y t first, but afterward she admitted t t in substance. The evidence of im- a roper proposals was not held up by a be other witnesses who say that Ala ood never approached them. At the s whipping on the bed, it was ordered t o draw the clothes tight and this t was done. a Miss DeCris continued: "A physi- c ian was present. I was severely and >rutally beaten and I cried. I was t ut in the field, under guard, with c iegro women next day. I was kept u here off and on for four weeks. I t was terribly blistered. They allowed v ne no rest. I nearly fainted and fell n the tield once. I never wrote im- a roper notes to any one. I "I was so terribly bruised by the t whipping that I could not -sit down. t here were welts as big as my finger a Lnd the bruises were dark and blueand 0 leep for two weeks." b This was substantiated by one other b itness, but was denied by a woman v ho slept in the same room, but not a n the same bed. She said she had to pnt a greasy a ,1oth )n her wounds. Other witnesses who heard the licks Ad cries, say the whipping was severe. (hey heard her "hollering." t Miss DeCris says she overheard Mrs. d kagood telling the house woman this c norning that the committee was comn ng, and "you all must stick to me md the captain." Witness and Mrs. r klagood all deny this. The DeCris woman says she was ~antalized by negro women as lazy, no rood, a diamond queenr* no better i ,ban they, etc. She says that Mr. Foster saw her in he field and protested against the lame; he had to order Alagood to send er to the house two different times, E Lnd at last he did so, but put her to work in the potato patch back of the iouse afterwards. She says her re-. *usal to see a reporter was dictated by ~ Alagood and through fear. - Alagood -C ;ays she refused of her own accord to ;ee correspondents. .r Dr. Adams' evidence was only in C 2is otficial capacity as physician. He ~ id not consider the whipping unusu Ily severe. Warden Moore left for a There is a rumor that the legisla-1 5ive committee is coming tonight. Mrs. Alagood says she asked her ausbaud to whip Miss De~ris for in subordination and for impudence.C The leather strap was exhibited. [t is an awful instrument of punish- ~ ent-about 3 inches wide, and 30 ~ nces long, weight, say 3 pounds, ~ solid leather, no holes. Warden Moore instructed every ~ witness to talk freely and without 3 rear as he would protect them. The general impression is that Ala good will be discharged as the imn mediate circumstances did not at all ~ ~ustify whipping and the punishment was entirely too severe in any event; ~ the woman should not have been worked in? the field continuously in the bot sun. The affair is at fever heat and is 2 the entire topic of the teown. The elegraph offices is crowded with messages on the subject from every where. Father and Son Convicted. t Jobel Register and his father, H. B. Register, Wilmington, N. C., were convicted in Whiteville, .Columbus ounty, Wednesday of the murder of I Jesse Sales and Jim Stally last March 1 and burning tiheir house down upon their bodies after robbing the premises of something over $ 1,000. The young er Register was sentenced to be hang ed on October 9, and the father was sentenced to the penitentiary for life. Cross Edmondsonl, whose confession< implicated the Registers and secured: their conviction, was sentenced to six years. Register's counsel gave notice 1 of appeal to the supreme court. More Mills Close. The Whaley Mills in Columbia have decided to run three day's of each week 1 until the new crop of cotton comes in, which will be the first week in Sep- I tember. The mills shut down Thurs-1 day night and resumed operation Mon-1 day, running until Wednesday again for about four weeks. The statement was made in a Charlotte paper recenit ly that the mills of Columbia would lie idle for several months, but offi-1 cers of mills state that this is nothing but a sensation story. The mills have just about enough cotton on hand to run in this manner and as soon as the newv crop comes in full time wHI be re THEY RODE TO DEATH. Inother Fatal Railroad Accident iLown the Saluda Mountain. A dispatch from Spartanburg to Ihe State says a disastrous freight wrecked occurred on the Melrose grade >f the Southern railway Thursday 3 Lfternoon at 2.15 o'clock by which En ineer J. H. Averill, Jr., and Fireman e iair were killed outriglt, 11 cars e oaded with coal smashed into smith- t reens, the locomotive ruined and W. 3. Sherrill, brakeman, whose home is a t Baltimore, lost his legs, these mem ers being severed by the car wheels. The tragic -happening occurred a 7E hort distance below Melrose station, f Imost midway between Saluda and v v C'ryon. The distance that the road ed of the Southern rises on this leavy, treacherous grade of five miles, rom a little above Saluda to Tryon, vill open the eyes of the average raveler, provided he has had the time o inspect casually, even, the route. This afternoon freight No. 62, eaded for Spartanburg, with Con- r uctor Howie in charge, was running r rom Asheville. This train was com osed of one of the Southern's orand t ew mammoth locomotives and 13 e ars laden with coal. Engineer 4 verill was in charge of the locomo- r ive, and the trip was uneventful un- t il his train was passing along a short istance atove Saluda. As he had to' heck up for that station, he applied t he brakes; the train was running at brisk rate of speed, which momen- a arily increased. The brakes would a ot work and in a minute the train ras beyond human control. As the freight passed Melrose sta ion at a fearful rate of speed Agent n etherly say, Fireman Hair, seated in is cab-threw up his hands, indicating perfect comprehension of the danger d nd peril awaiting the ill-starred d re* Faster and faster grew the peed of the uncontrollable train and nally the locomotive diverged from e iron rails and plunged down into P cut. The result of this abrupt n beck was fatal in consequence. The I uthful engineer and his fireman, true A ) their posts until the end, were rushed todeath. Their bodies are nder the debris and ruins. Conduc >r Howie and the flagman escaped a ithout harm. a Eleven of the cars were demolished 0 nd the engine is a complete wreck. P 'he coal is heaped about the spot in y ge, ill proportioned mounds. About he scene there are signs of sorrow nd grief, as the friends and relatives e f the dead weep and wring their h ands for those who will never come g ack to their homes. Engineer Averill V ras a bright young man 23 years of ge, a son of Col. J. H. Averill f h harlston. His father, mother, wife ' nd two little children, brother and b isers are spending. the summer at aluda, three miles from where he met . is untimely death. He stayed on is engine with the faithful fireman, oing all he could to check the speed f the train until the engine buried im. As the runaway train passed felrose, the operator, J. W. Hetherly, F n out and Fireman Hair threw up is hands and smiled. The operator tinted. Conductor Howie and his agmen, Bishop and Ward, were un urt. Big Railroad Dleal. The Atlanta Journal says the c urchase in the open market of a con- i rolling interest in the Seaboard Aird 1ine by parties representing the Rock d sland and 'Frisco systemsof railroad, perbaps the most important finan-r jal development of the year.a The Seaboard Air Line owns out ight or controls by lease 2,604 miles b f road. It has outstanding common ock to the amount of $29,000,000 . ar value, and preferred stock to the mount of $19,000,000 par value; alsoV 55,057,000 in bonds. Its net earn ags are something over $1,100 per Ale per annum. The Rock Island system operates r ,057 miles of track. This system is ~ ontrolled by the newly ranized c Rock Island company," wLuch was or~ned a few months ago with ans uthorized capital of $150,000,000 to c bsorb the Chicago, Rock Island and ~ acific and other companies. The ombined balance sheet issued last ~ ear showed the cost of the various a oads and equipment to be $190,000,- ~ '00, and the book assets, including r 21,130,173 in cash and current ac ounts, to be approximately $267,189. '00. The outstanding bonds of the1 ystem aggregate $127,559,500. The St. Louis and San Francisco ailway company, operating what is :nown as the 'Frisco system, controls bout 3,310 miles of track. Its out tanding capital stock amounts to bout -$49,000,000, exclusive of i;marly1 40,000,000 in stock of leased lines .d over S110.000.000 of bonds. The combined length of all thea racks in the three systems is nearly 4,000 miles. The combined capital, ncluding bonds, foots up to nearly 580,000,000. In other words, the nerger of these roads will form the rost colossal railway system in the 'v vorld. y $1,300 in Rewards- a A special from the State Wednes- c Lay says the governor offered a reward r f $200 for the arrest and conviction I f James Evans, the mulatto who i.s v .lleged to have killed the aged farmer, t 4r. Phillips, as he sat at his supper t able in his home in Norway. If one nan could collect all of the rewards r utstanding for recent acts of lowless- t iess in that section of the State he 11 vould receive over $1,500. In addi- rl ,ion to the $200 for the conviction of f ames Evans, there is a reward of f 1150 offered for the conviction of the nan Green, who in such a dastardly V nanner killed a Jew peddler, Zurasky, s vhile the latter was begging for life. C L'here is also a reward of $500 for the ( onviction of the parties who lynched I harlie Evans and $500 for the con vic- I .ion of the parties who lynched the s iegro at Chinquapin, in Aiken coun- t ,y-the negro who was indirectly I picated in the killing of young C NYille Hall. For the arrest of the: 1 nurderer of Willie Hall there is a re-|t ROMANCE ENDS IN TRAGEDY. I Runaway Wedding, a Row and a Chase that Proved Fatal. The Fort Mill correspondent of The 'tate says on Sunday evening, 9th nstant, having just perforied the eremony making a couple from the fort Mill Manufacturing company can and wife, 'Squire McElbaney was alled upon to marry Miss Ella Ram ey and Mr. J. R. Norman, both of be same village. There was serious arental objection to this marriage, *nd thereby bangs the tragic tale. After the marriage Norman and his ride returned to the home of her arents, who had bitterly opposed the iarriage. Inmediately there was a rst-class row, in the progress of Phich Norman severely abused and ursed the girl's parents, his manner eing extremely violent and threaten ag. The girl's father reported the iatter tothe town authorities and on [onday morning Officer R. G. Johnson rent in search of the young husband. le learned that Norman had just left, oing in the direction of Rock Hill, ight miles.distant, with the Catawba ver between them. Then it was that itlicer Johnson brought out his blood ound and gave chase. Striking the rail of the fleeing man, there was an rciting chase between man and brute. .s soon as the Catawba river was ached the animal went straight to be shore and, hesitating not a mo ent, plunged in and swam to the est bank. There he again endeavored ) strike the trail but failed. Johnson ad reached the river by this time, ad failing to find the young man long the banks, he was convinced 2at he was hiding behind a rock cliff didway of the stream. After exam ing this cliff and failing to find his Lan, Johnson abandoned the search, king his dog and returned home. n Tuesday parties along the river iscovered the body of a man floating )wn stream. They examined it and >nnd that it was the body of the ridegroom of less than a day. It was alled ashore and taken to a point ar the home of Mr. Hanks Jones, ho is reputed to be a relative of braham Lincoln, where at last ac )unts it was resting awaiting the ar val of the coroner of York county. Mr. Norman was about 30 years of e.. He had been in the mill vilage Fort Mill only a few weeks, having )me from Belmont, N. C., for the arpose of taking a position in the ill. He has a brother living in the llage. Mr. Norman had scarcely ar ved at Fort Mill before he became iamored of the girl, who, forsaking er objecting parents, was willing, to )with him, without their knowledge, > the magistrate, who was formerly ie intendant of the town, and plight er troth. The dramatic and tragic quel leaves her a widow and simply ,ings to the attention of the world ie sad ending of a beautiful romance, ie result of a case of "love at first ght. SOME GOOD ADVICE. 'rm the New York Tribune to the .Colored Man. A negro preacher of Chicago at ~mpts to explain the attack on Booker ashngton in Boston saying that the resident of Tuskegee institute goes unter to his race when he advocates dustrial education, labor and aban anment of politics. These theories, ie Chicago negro says, would if car ed out lead to the fall of the race to condition little better than serfdom. 1 advocating a "surrender of rights" oker Washington does not represent is people, says the western critic. 'he staunch newspaper, the New ork Tribune, gives the negroes ad ce and displays a very clear concep on of the situation, north and south. nly through Booker Washington's olicy, it says, can the negro "hope to se from a condition of serfdom to full olitical and cival recognition." The aimas he is charged with neglecting, tys The Tribune, have alrerdy been arrendered. "If the political and ivil rights thrust upon the negro in e process of Federal Reconstruction ave not been rescinded, they are in a reat measure, at least already in beyenco. Negro leaders now face tepro'olem not of surrendering those ights but of regaining them. Never erhaps since congress gave him his ew status has the negro's capacity to ve up to the status been so fiercely isputed; i.nd it seems the part of wis om for negro leaders not so much to in their faith blindly to enactments rhich have lost their virtue as to turn beir energies to lift Lg their race to ew levels of character and eligibil ~y." It doesn't require very keen reception to see the trend of The ~ribune's reasonings. The Fourteenth nd Fifteenth amendments have lost eir sacredness in its sight.--The tate. A Lad Adrift. The Morgan line steamer Elrado rhich arrived at New York Thusrday rom Galveston had on board a 12 ear-old boy who was found adrift in n open boat about 100 miles off the east of Georgia on Aug. 10. He. was aked and almost dead from exposure fter the lad had been revived some rhat he told Capt. Prescott that with wo other boys he was fishing outside Lie harbor of Habana when the boat roke adrift and they were unable to >w ashore. Two of the lads, seeing he land rapidly receding, plunged to the water and swam for shore. 'be other boy was unable to swim so tr and remained in the boat without xoi or water until picked up by the ~ldorado. He says be was adrift for ve days. A dispatch from Havana ~ys the mother of Joseph Vega, the ban lad picked up off the coast of ~eorgia by the Morgan line steamer 1l Dorado, was overjoyed when in armed by the Associated Press repre entative of the boy's rescue. He had een given up for dead. The mother las been confined to the hospital most f the time since Aug. 1, the day the oys started out fishing in disobedience o the warnings of their relatives. oenh is 14 years old. GIVES HIS REASON For Par-.oning Fletcher Lott but Governor Heyward Deelines TO ANSWER ANY CRITICISM. He Was loved to Act as He Did on Account of the Advice or Prominent People. In The State Wednesday Mr. L. T. Boatwright of Ridge Spring criticised the governor for his action in pardon ing Fletcher Lott who was convicted of murder in Saluda county in 1902. Mr. Boatwright charges that "Gov. Heyward's action in this case is round ly condemned by tbe best citizens of our town and county." Mr. Boat wright goes on to say that Lott walk ed a mile after having had a difficulty with the man he afterwards killed, got his-shot -gun, walked back to .the house and deliberately fired upon the murdered man. "The people of this community," he writes, "cannot see how the governor could pardon this negro without mak ing inquiry of the community where the murder took place. Your corres pondent capnot find a man who knew anything about a petition being cir- - culated in LOtt's behalf." THE GOVERNOR'S REASON. The State says Gov. . Heyward de clined to talk of the matter Wednes day, but at the. suggestion of his friends the following reasons were made pubic-the reasons which, ac cording to the constitution, must be inscribed on the records 'o be submit ted to the general asseruoly next year: Fletcher Lott-Murder, with re commendation to mercy; Saluda county, May term of court of general sessions, 1900-,before Judge W. C. Benet. The petitfIomfr the pardon was signed by C. B. La te, former Intendent; A. R. Willia W. T. Durham, former wardens; F. chol son, former clerk of town. counc Ridge Spring, where the crime was committed. The petition -sets forth that Fletcher Lott was charged at the May term, Saluda county, 1900, for killing Till Artimus. * The petition sets forth further that at the time of said killing they were officials in the town of Ridge Spring, and were famil iar with the facts and circumstances of said killing; that the defendant, Fletcher Lott, was horribly cut across the face and neck before the fatal shot was fired, and under all the circumn- " stances believe that he has been suffi ciently punished and earnestly recom mend the exercise of the pardoning power, and recommend that the par don be granted at once. In addition to the petition of these town officials, Hon. B. L. Caughmin railroad commissioner, in endorsing the petition says: "I have known the petition, Fletcher Lott, for a long time and known him to be peaceable, quiet and hard working; am familiar with the above case and join in the above petition." B. W. Crouch; Esq.,, makes the fob lowing .stateinent: 'I was clerk of court for Saluda county when Fletcher Lott was tried at the May term of court, 1900, for the killing of Till Arti mus and made the testimony in that case. Fletcher Lott was convicted of murder with -a recommendation to mercy and sentenced to life imprison ment in the State penitentiary. In my opionion he has been punished suffi ciently and I earnestly recommend that yonr excellency exercise your par doning power in his behalf. He was dangerously cut in the face and neck before, according to the testimony of - some of the witnesses, the' fatal shot - was fired,- and more cases have gone free." Hon. J. W. Thurmond, -crrpuit solicitor, made two recommendations as follows: "I recommend the pardon in this case, the only homicide case in which I have ever favored a pardon. See reasons on petition signed by the intendant and wardens of Ridge Spring." He further recommends: "I am sat isfied that the law has been vindicated in this case. Have considered the peti tion and the facts of the case very carefully, and feel that it is my duty that the prayer of the petitioners be granted. Fletcher Lott was badly cut in the combat that resulted in the death of Till Artimus, and had a good reputation for peace and order." JIon. W. C. Benet, presiding judge, makes the following endorsement: "I concur with the solicitor.". Pardon granted Aug. 10, 1903. Wholesale Poisoning. A remarkable -case of ptomaine poisoning is reported from Ashburn, Va., some 20 miles outside of Wash ington last Wednesday. A large num ber of persons had gathered to attend the sale of the dairy farm owned by Senator Stewart of Nevada. The sena tor served the prospective buyers a light luncheon consisting of coffee, ham and beef sandwiches. Shortly afterward at least 50 persons were taken violently ill, sufferin. from ptomaine poisoning. One after anoth er they fell to the ground, writhing in agony. Horsemen were dispatched in all directions for doctors, and a numa ber responded and took prompt meas ures to relieve the sufferers, In a statement Issued at 11 o'clock Wed nesday night, the doctors report their patients out of danger, although many are quite ill. An investigation devel oped the fact that the beef, which had been purchased in Washington and kept In cold storage on the farm for several days was the cause of the trouble. __________ Rode to His Death. Henry F. Spalding, aged about 45 years, an expert automobilist from West Orange, N. J., rode to his death four miles east of Whites Plains N. Y., Wednesday afternoon. He was on the tow pathi of the Erie canal. Owing to the muddy condition of the path and while turning out for a liniman's rig, his automobile swerved more than he intended, and man aind machine plunged into the water. T wo linemen rushed to aid Spalding but in their excitement let go entirely of the ropes, the end of which they had thrown to the drawing man.