Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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SWEARS EHE 1D Vi BER TESTIMON.Y IN T;.-E BAM BBRG POISONING CASE. The Bunch Woman Claims That Mr. G. B. Kit iell Fri hnened Her Into Yprjury. W. Clare D:ckinson, the man charged with the poisoning of B. F. Ried in Bamberg about the middle o the month j ast ended, was release Wednesday on bail b 1 Chief JustiC Pope of the su:reme court. The pro ceedings were brought by Dickinson', attorneys and were based on L ffidavit. from Alicia Bu- ch, who says tbat sb( swore falsely at the cor mers izquesi in placing the crime on the Qefen dant. Siie swore at that time thal Dickinson had given Red whiske and that she was led to believe tVa there was poison in it I the Efli a vit submitted Wednesday she swear. that she made this testimoany becausi after Reed's death, Mr. G. B. Kit troll, his brother in-law came to Le: and told that'if she did not implicati someone she might be banged. Mr Kittrell after Rseds death bad tt body exhumed and bad the stomaci examined to show evidences of arse nic poisoning. An albi is als: c'aimed on the affidavits us-d Wednesday. It is said that Dickinson and his friends will nut drop tUe case but wiI take it to the courts. B. F R ed died on January 14. Tae day before he claimed tha. he feh very unwell abcut 3 o,clock in the afternoon and died at 6 o'ch ek the next morning the cause being assigned as paralysi; of the train. H.s brother in law, Mr. G. B. Kittrell. vas not at all sltifided with tUis, on acccuat of the poms.r theory and the bccy, by direc:iun of Coroner J. H Z :igler, was disinterred. Two physicians, Drs. Hoover and Cjeckley, performed an autopsy, re moved the stomach and the brain anc stated that they fcund evidences o poison having been administered. TnE stomach was taken to 'Augutta anc examined by Dr. John Schreider, wht also dibcovered trecsi of arsenic. Two women. one whiLe named Alicia But. ci, and one colored iol1 Wesley, were arrested. An irq'isei was held and Alicia But ch tes,.li-d that on the murraing of JzLuary 13, Reed and D.ckinson bad been at Lu: house ard that the latter had giv-n the former a drink of whiskey, but he had not given any cne else any Lo bad he taken any himself. Sei-~g some people coming, he lumpe d out of the vdndow, but Reed remaind several he urs. Dickinson returned in the afternoon and said to her "I guess that will fix thc. ." S- t further testified that Dicsinson had tcld her ten days beftre tuat he would kill Reed it he did not keep away from her, and that sirce her ar rest he had visited her at the j.il and told her to say nothing about what h,, had said about R e d. The irqaest last Friday week and Dickinson, on whcm suspicious seems to have, as his relatave had already employed a lawy r H. M. Graham, was arrestied:. Hie was take: to jail but a dispateni to Taie Smate o: Monday predicted some crhanges in tue case. O.i Tu sday a Bamoerg cis patch said that the Buncn woman r.ad declared ter testimony at the coron er's inquest was false and that she had pu the crime ou Dackinson t the suggestion of some on~e, who told he: that her neck might be cracked. Thi: dispatch further stated that a comn plete alibi was establisn~ed for Dickia? son. The affiavits presented in the su promo c..urt by Mr. B T. LaFitte, at torney for Dickinson, are ins~oresting. The Bunch woman testities that Reen came to her house on the morning in question and had been drinking, that he took several drinks of wtniskey while there and remained for a time. After his death ste swears, G. B. Kit. troll came to her house arnd saic: "I you do puti the crime on some oz.e they wih break your neck. Wuen te told me that. I was so frightened 1 did not know what to do, so to savc myself I made up my mind to put it on W. 0. Dickinmon. I voluntarily called Mr. Ed Dickerson, brother of W. C. Dickerson, ana made ..he state ment that allithe testimony I gave before the coroner in reference to W. 0. Dickerson's connecdion with the death of Ben F. R:Odt was ab:,olutely false, that W. C. Dickers n was not ait my house when Reea was there." At the ir quest the woman had tes tified that tne men came to her homse abt ut 11 d'clck in the forenoon but Dickinson submits an affaavit that he did not leave his house that af ternoon until 4 o'olock, and ttnat in the morn ing he ws more tnan a mile distant from the Bu1nch woman's hcuse. The clerk in tne county dispensary makes salavit that Dickinson and 0. 0. Rowell came into the dispensary be tween 10 and 11 o'clock in the morn ing. Tais was a mile distant from the acuse. L. B. Fawler saw Dickin son, so he swears, all day between 9 a. m. and 2 p. m. except besween noon and 1 p. m. Josepnine A R xan der tesafies that Reed came to Mr. Sam Felder's house (-e'nere it seems that tne Buanen womnan wa4) about 11 o'clock and remained until 2 p. to. Dickinson came there abt ut 4 p. m. but, R::ed was not there then. C. C Rowell was with Dickinson frcm 10 - a. m. until 2 p. m. except ab..us 15 t01 20 mmnutes. The order for bail was signed by Cotief Justice Y. J. Pope and fixed In the sum of $1,000. A Bamberg telegram to The S'att says: "A telegram was rectivedi here~ this af ternoon announcing the f act that the supreme court had granted ball in the sum of $1,000 to IV. Glare D ckinson, coargea with the murvder of B. F. Eed. A& few moments after tne telegram was ree.!ived bail was signed and Mr. Dickmuson released from jail. He has been on thbe sttnets, receiving c.ngratulations of his friends In view of he f ict that affairs in the case have turned so completely ine hise favor-there bas been some td that the case might now be dropped, but Mr. Dickinson and his friends and rel. ativEs will not egree to th?is. They will insist that tue case go to trial." 1"atal Colision. A collision on the Great Northern railway Tuesday night rer~ulted In tt e death of an last f. ur p-rsons, at d probably mocre. The Great Northern limited, west bouni, crashed into an east baund pav e g r near Columbia Falls, Wash. The fireman on each train was I: stantly killed. A num ber of passengers on both trains were it jured. Many coaches were piled up on the wre ckage. A wreckirg outfit and pha.iciars have been sent from Great F Both ic motives were turned c mpletely over and piled up THLY CAME BACK. Scught Homes in Oklaboma- Bnt Ta- y A!1 Returned. The Augusta Berald says there is somethirg very signiicant in the an ncu,.c.men, that of the one hundred Se uth Carolinians who went cut tc Oalahoma witha view to remaining there parmanently there were only thies who did rot return to theli homes ia Soah C Lrulica. Tie south is certainly good enoug' for must people, and there are more ieasons for this than the mere fac; (hat we have -1 marked extremes of .ea and cold, and that the sky 1E gei.erally blue. 0 c.>urse climate is the scuth't gret--st and ranst gift. The free Um L f cutdLor life is pleasan.ly pos bib e the whule year r uad, whict s not o:tly a mast tgreeable state o! ff.crs in imelt, bat wica means a great deal to the agriculturist. Na urally, the p:act.cail Fspct of EnE case is that wh~ch appeals most irre .stibly to suc i home sezkers as thoe ,outherners who have rte.atly come bac home again after viitiog the west, and it is to the praczOeil as we* as to the sentimental and romanti standpoint that the south makes in moet bure appeal. To begin with, land Is cheaper herE .han in the wtsi. Tnis is, of course. a great consideration to thLse wh-. have cnly a limited amount of mene3 to be expended in acres, and to whOoa it me->ns much to have enough nore3 left over. after the purchare of the requi:site amount of land, to build a house and the out tu-ldings. Taose interested in toe settlement of the west have bad muca to say about the greater ricaness of the lanc there, but it is a well known faci diat when the land is riciter In the west than in this ection of the s-utt is ir wLere it has been mo:a ituAUi gably worked and iertil.z d tuan ir other places- It has been demonstra tee more t an once that oe farme can raise over two buncred bushe s A potators on a single c-e, whilf anoth r can barely rdise o-e nundred on the acre adj ining, even taeugr b tn piec-s of i.tod have equal viues. From which it is readily seen trat It is tne mana as well as the land that U questionably, the people of the ee more en:rgetic and industri tus than those of tuie sou. h, and this I ir rely due to the fact that tra westL La to-dlght Larder for w at it gets than does the at uth. All wht know this sectivn at all klo tLLt t:;ere hundreds of growtt s here wtic. Nature gises almost for the mere asking. Because uI this the soutetrD farm:r is aUle to support himself anc family entir ely < if of wuat he raise, bavii! in cle ar cash all that he re ceives for cottor, corn and ouher pro cuce carried to the n arkets. Not ever a huadred miles from Au guta there is a c.;rtain pr sperou, farmer who sella q:antitse; of c tton Ind coru anid wuo bu)s ats-;lutely none of his supplies except salt. HE raises his own beef ar:d purk and bas plt nty of corn to fea d bis stock. He owns rice fields ani raises nis tea. ihe frot avenue lea l.ag to his house b.1:g bordered by tea Dlants. Srga and syrup he mrakes from th=. iugar cane nie raises. Fruit and vegetables of all kinds Le bas in greatat abun da.a and he thas rece..tly begun to can on a tremendous scale for the market tomatoes, peeches, pears, ap ples and b' rries. E1isA a MaiL ABMIdBS. A Bili Introduced in Congress to Raise T acir Salaries. The rural mail carriers in South Carolina and throughout the country will receive $900 por annum hereatrer instE ad of thbe amount t bey are nojv receivin'g, should the bill which has oeen Introduced in the house fcr this purpose by Mr. Alken pass. A dis patch fr' m Washington to the Col umbia Record says Mr. Aiken is thoroughly ccnvincid that the mal carriers of the state are too poorly paid and that they shculd be better taken care of than they are at present. We agree with Mr. Ais~en. Wnen the character of the work performed nythe carriers is taken into consideration: and the expense they have in keeping horses and vehicles, nine hundred is not to much to pay them. It is said there Is danger that the State may lose many of its tree deliv ery routes at an early date, acbcording to what Representative EKlerbe and Johnson say concerning the matter. Mr. Johnson recently called attention to the fact that the postmaster gen eral would soon cut tif many of the rutes now in operation unless the people patrorizing them sent out arid received mo:e mail. "They must pa; ronize the routes :jetter," he sala, if the present facilities are to rsmain as they are. It will be a question for the people in the d:iferenc sections to determine for the mselvas; if they want rhem they must write more let ters and receive more; the postC fil deartmentIs in earnest about cut ung them tif and we cannot do any thng t> stop it unless the prople Low t:-e proper appreciationa tY what the govercment is doing for tem. "I wrote I he postmaster general a etter ab ut ihree weeks ago askir~g him to let the carriers on the rou~e4 weigh the m-al they handled to deter mine wheerir there ha~d been a fall irg off. I tave never received a re ply t.o my communication, and Isup p'ae a government agent wnl be sent -ut boon to weigh toe quity of matter handled. I hope the routes cans be saved to the ptop:e in the country." A movement has been started to appral. to the Americt.n public t ir contrbuticns of foodlst uff and man. to relieve the dis:ress in the f -minri stricken northern provinces of J.pan. Acrding to i: f :rmanion received a t yi Japanese embas.sy at Wasningtorn te northern prov'nces f Jhp~n are suffering from a severe famine which Iony the quicks sr r--lef %ill be able t. check. Ac~ording to the iL'f rmatio: -b:sned to rics crop his year has been oly about fifteen per cent. of the~ average crop and tnat the famine is causing paicular sui-:ring I0 the three northern n-ovinces of Foku shn3, Miyagi an I sate, which havt: togther a population cf about two' miliio, Seven hundnr d tra usand. Many of the ;eople are ergaged in the silk trade arnd the fatiure of the si'k ourut has augmented the general :Lfarrg. The postmaster getelal has kir d ly grantcd permnission for rural car irs to deliver in nutomchiles- Now f he vdill go a step further and pro vide the automobless the carriers will be supreme happy. A HARD FIGHT. Crew Battles Four Hours With Big Snakes on Deck. A nerve tingling story of a four hour battle with two pythons twenty dve feet long was brought into port of New York recently by the steam ship Indrasamba, together with a tale, in lighter vein, of how an es caped orangoutang nearly drove him. .,elf crazy by pulling the cord 'of the ,teamer's whistle and failing to con rect bis acTions with the maddening shrieks of the signal. The vessel took two months for the trip from the Orient. Five pythons, eight orang outangs, one hundred monkeys, one leopard, two Indian deer and the regular cargo of Oriental goods were carried. Seven orangoutangs died on the voyage. The fight with the pythons took place in the Indian O-ean. They were taken to the deck in cages to be %ashed. After the bath they lay in the warm Sun aDd went to sleep. The warmth proba ly made them feel at home and they uncoiled. It was about the time they usually Were 'Led. Two of the huge snakes writhf d from between the bars of the eage& and crept along the deck. Chief Otiieer Thirkell was napping when Ene startling sight of t e two reptiles winding slowly toward him almost unbalanced his mind. He broke re cords getting to the stern, and yelled to the crew. Ciptain Craven ordered every man to arm him.elf heavily. For an hour the men manceuvered to pinion the heads and tails of the scakcs. E iery time a man got near one ef the escaped prisoners its tall swung around like a carriage whip, and a blow from it would have laid. any man low. The Chinese and Ja panese members of the crew were driven frantic. Taey took to the rigging Tie captain, however, instilled courage in o them by darting sadden ly at the head of one snake and grip* ping its neck. A starlwart .lacar imoued with tne sam's spirit, shot in i ke a pauther and grippe-d tme tail With nets and blankets tne monster qas enoesoed ana returied to tife cage. TW s was after three hours o fuotwork tr:at would have kept a Lrainea bjxerguessing. Tae other snake crawled to the top of toe enDzne auuse and held its p-st for aD uour, its nead swingizg fr.m side to side, pendulum-like, alway: r'ady to s;r ke. The venti ator, how ev.'r, proved the snake's unadoing. The python fell throrg the venti lator into an alley way Irom whic I it could not escape Haif a dozen nets, a d zen blankets, and ropes were ler down and tee snake unable to ex ri ;;t: itseif was capt ued. A fe W days later an orangoutang escaped an-i swung himself to the top of tne engine house by the whistle rope. A blast frightened it, and c oatteri: g in terror. it pulled the rope more vigo:cu ly. T.e terrife shrieks of the whistle attracted tse crew. Tae big mnkey fld to the rigging and re-mained there all night, but exnaustion made its c.ipture easy the next cay, MAY B4MaDE PUBLIC. .A Strong Statem -r e n Re cent Cen mus Bureau Report. President Harvie Jordan, of the Southern Cotton Association, last week gave out a statement in which he takas severly to task the census bureau at Washington for alleged shor'comings- He says in part: "The action of Director Njrth, o' the census bureau, in failing to make pu',lic all the Imformation ne secured nom the ginners January 16 and his persistent refusal to do so, in face of repea ed demands, Is ex.citing consid erable indignation throughout the South. Mr. North asked. January 16 all ginners for the following informa - tion: "'How many bales ginned for the season of 1905?. "'Wniat is the averoge weight of bales ginned to date? "'Wnat is your estimate of the per centage of eotton remaining to be gin net'?' "Tne public received the result of the answer to the first qustion on Jhnuary 23 In the statement that 9,9 98,111 bales had been ginned. The re suit of the other two Jr quirles have been withheld so far. I wired Mr. North Tuesday as follows. " For what purpose was the average weight of bales and estimated amount of cotton to be ginned aftuer January 15 ebtained in your r c-nr ginners re-1 or? As this Is public offn ual ltofor mnation, kIndly wire me toziy the re suit of the estimates as shown. "In reply to the abova, Mr. North senct the following: "Average bale weights will be made publuc as soon as cain be compil ed. Estimated amounts bo be ginrec were ootsined, and only oproxImate ly to eaabie ctnst.s ot~ee to dete rmninr what countie~s must again be canvazs ed for final report and not for public use. Willbe puodshed if Congress drectsit. R-;ssoudon to that efftc. intr: duced hou0sF a iy. (%:~ned) ''NoRTH Director." Preside~nt J. twan sayis tuat 70,000 bales of the cropewe:s klnr:ed Prior i-o September 1, and were cr-uu2 en in th I cummercial crop of 19..4-05, but havec 'een made a 1art t U e cersus bun- i s-an report of 9 998,111. Daducting . the 470,000 b'.!es nrom t.o pubehe:dJ, total of 9,998,111 leaves 9 528 1.11 toa be counted it the eop ofr19,;5 06 A'nd to tais 150 000 nales and there still re :nains a crop under ten mildion bales. He says wide investigation shows that spct hr d.s a-e rnot selirg their cot a .and rust practic-.lly tuere is no c ,on for sal-e in the face of the pres nt depre. stsn. At Lowell. Mass., at least six prr sors lust their lives in a tire whici; partly demsoyed the R!ehardson Ho r el, early F iday moratag. Toe fire s arted a fewv mmnutes ber 2 o'clock C ardte flames rpidiy communlcsted to various p-.rts of the structuire. A irge number vt 'xuosts .were in the; hotel, and t ose wh2 were in the up. per pars c~f the~building had little canc& to esearsd by the stairways. Tne firemen at ( 30 o'c. ccz found the oead bodies of six w.>men in the top flor of the htel.e Mistskn ror Bu rglar. At Hattiesburg, Miss., Jamesw Hunter a well known man, was s:;ot ri and instantly killi d durin-g the early Ic morning .hours by Ban Cooper, who le aleges that the man was tryirg to break'into his house. Cooper says he c: pened toe door and fired three shots, ~ each of which took fefict. Cooper im,1 meatel ga hmelu.t lb' h SOLD AS SLA MANY MISSION GIRLS ARE THUS TRE.ATED BY THEIR PARENT3 An African Teacher Says the Old Custom Condemns Many Wo men to Bondage. Marriage customs in Africa have little consideration for the native girls, who are in efflct as muc'i the objzcts of barter and sale as ever they were in the days when the slave trad ers were prevalent on the West Coast. A letter just received from the Pres byterian mission station at Lolodorf shows how the marviage "palaver" interferes with the education of the girls in the schools est -blisbed for them by the Prtsbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Miss Jane K Mackerzle writes the letter and, after telling of-the forma tion of the girls toarding sc'iooi and some details of the day's work of the scholars whom she describers as intel ilgent, clean little girls willing and eager to learn, she writes: "Veryhappy were the little girls and free for several weeks. Then we fell ur d -r the curse of the marriage palaver. O-e girl, a house servant, was sold to a man owning several w>vts. When it came to delivery of :.te goods the goods beca'me animated in dissent-not indeed. that consent oad been asked of the goods. The station backed the girl. News of nis d -fixe of god Nguxba custom penetrat- d to the ends of the earth and woke a thousand anxieties. The social fabric was Imperilled. Two of the little girls were led away weep it g b. canny male relatives: this was sad to see. My own little servant, Makako, was ordered to her town by her uncte. her father being dif in Bul, where he is hunting goods with which to buy a new wife upon whose pur. etase he means to give Makako as part payment. There you see the exit of three li tle lrjuns.' The school is depleted and illrepute. "Puttzna up over night in Ipose vhere one of the children Olives. I hasrd fr m her that the townspeople say cf the school, N> little girl may marry who enters there. You are remiaded, doubtless, of the legent ov er the gate to Dante's hell. My sin .gle state is a matter of common mar vel-it does nt.help us in our pre sent difficuty ard mty be taken as srider ce of a cult fr'm which young N.umbl maidenhecd must be - protect ed. "Mfun, the little girl In question had her slate as a token of her hav iog drunk at the wells of learning. It hurg in her but as a diploma hangs in a doctors c ffiae-witnessing to her poor little acievements. She slept in my hut and did me some service. I paid my debt with a needle and some thread. When next I go I shall take her some papc :es. Patches are dear to little Afr can girls. Poor Amana, when she was taken away went down the path wiping her eyes o-a her bits of patchwork, "We were sad when these children were taken away. Any work for girls in a olygamous country is sad. Other girh will coJme. Some whose parents are Christian or other vise enlighten ed we shall be able to keep: and some will go. Yet not without benefit. Something they will have learned of reading and writing, of sewing and washing, of truth and the love of God. "The night before Miun left when I asked the children f..r what they wish me to pray, she said: Tell Bim I am a'raid of getbing married. Iti is a comfort to know that our high priest was touched by the feeling cf that pitecus little infirmity. EX TRA TSRXS OF 00UaT. [ateresting Discussion on the Subject In the Senate. The bill to repeal the statutory pro vision for the holding of extra terms of c urt by spec'al judges was opposed by Senator Raysor. Notwithstanding Iwo extra circuits, yet members of aunties are still calling for aucht eourts. Generally they are unsatis factory and costly, but it is manda ory in the constitution to provide for reem, he said. S anator McGowan read the consti butonal provzmion making it plain hat such courts cannot be abolished Besides there Is nec:-ssity for them. ynching Is sametimes justified be :ause of the lnfrequer c' of courts and aith more of them mt b v.olence could >e m're exoediently haadled. Senator B:ease of Newberry favor ad tme bill. Taere is too much expense :~oreced witi extra c.;urts and if -gular judges cannot no the work itrs ought to have their places. iuch of tne fault lies in judges not, orciog cases to trial. As to extra urts for lynching, he said he didn't ~hlok the necesity would ever arise o Nwoerry. In suc' erses the great uy of the people w. uld act. They 'guld be right to act, and "I would ep them." S..nator Blake saw no necessity for xtra c~urBs, and scorad the lawyers redy for negeci~ing to prepare their ,jes and brrg them to trial. S :rator Endson opposed the bill. n the c':urse of his, remarks he de .sred that judges were entirely too eer.t witu lawyers, too aTooommo atii.g and too irten' seeking the good il of the bor rather than looking ter the real business of courts. The ilatory reethods ra w a custom are a tame to the state and the profession. o long as jur'.cs indulge lawyers in og-winded speeches and dilatory actica so long will business be delay. d. Reformation is sadly needed, but nis bill wiJi not accomplish the pur Snator Hudson said lawyers need d discipine and tie~ c.>urts needed udges who wo.uld take hold of the deis. Hie has the greatest..respect r the beocca and bar, tnt there~is a ryir g need for reformation -~ By a vote of 20 to 12 the senate fi einitely postponed tue bill. A dispatch from Fiorola, Ala., says1 -rady Miller,. the 16 year-old son of1 'r. R L. Minei- was Wednesday night 10. an-i killed by the negro porter 6f 1 Lake View hotel. There were no le witntsses to the shooting, but e pstol shots were heard. A search as made and nearby .was found the I gro in a dying condlitn. He lived t og enough to say that he and Mil- ~ r had eogaged in a pistol duel. C nre is no *ay to arcartain tbe 1 iuse of the tragedy. Toung Miller d s at home for a few days from t cfford college, S. 0., -where he* had t A PIENDISH ATTACK. A Lady Attacked In Her Home By a a Brute. The Atlanta Journal says Mrs. Mannie May Dupree, nineteen years old, was knocked down and rendered uncnscious and her throat slightly cut Tussday afternoon of last week by a negro in the kitchen of H. T. Grogan, on the Jonesboro road, near Cornell. Tae negro esciped and a posse of blood hounds belonging t( the federal prison, and the city and county police are on his trail. Dr. 0. 0. S-nith, who was called in to attend the young woman found hez unconsci us and bleeding from a slight wound In the tbroat, Mrs. Da pree is not seriously hurt and will re cover. - To Dr. Smith Mrs. Dupree said she did not remember the appearance o1 the negro. She did not state to the doctor whether she was criminally as saulted or whether an attempt of thal kind had been made. It9hbelkved however, that this was the"ttemp1 of the negro. Mrs. Dupree's husband Is not the city just now, and she had been hving at the home of H. T Grogan. Accounts of the time %hen the at tack occurred diffar, but it bl though1 that it happened about 3.30 o'clocl Tuesday af ternoon. Mrs. Dupree had started to the kitchen on an errand. Turning the to go back into the house she wa confronted Euddenly by a negro whC dealt her a blow in the forehad. She was knocked fiat on the flor and there lay unconscious until other wo men in. the house who had doubties heard her scream when she fell ran tc her assistance, They found Mrs. D ipree in a state of stupor and bleeding from a wound in her throat, evidently inflicted from a knife, or some sharp instrument. Mrs. Dupree was picked up and borne into a room, later Dr, Smith was summoned. He tried to calm the ycung wt man who had bLc.mO hyster ical and examined the wound on hei thrcat found that it was not serious. ABOU' TEE WEATHE This Year to Be One of hains and kreshets. Speakiag of the weather, says the Newberry Observer, this is not -going to be a good year for low ground orn, for there are going to be heavy rainE and freshets and overfiws of the bot tom lands. This is not Tae Ooserv er's original prognostication, but Mr. D. E. Sease cf Newberry county sayl so. He bases his opinion on the weather of the 25th of January. He says he has observed for the lauI forty years that if January 25th Is a bright clear day the bottoms do no overfliw and of course there are good crops cf bottom corn; but if the 25th is cloudy or raining look out for over fiws. The 25th this year was decid edly cloudy and rainy. Another citi zen's observation for the past three years confirms Mr. Sease's forty yearn observation. So if anybody goes ahead now, in the face of prophecy, and plants his bottoms in corn and loseE his nrop he will have himself to blame. Speaking further of the weather it is well enough to remember that ground hog day is near at hand, and we shall therefore know soon whethe: we are to have an early or late spring. Ground hog day is February 2nd, and it is a well established fact, though some skeptical people questi n it, that if the ground hag cmes out of his hole that day and sees his sha.dan he will hasten bsack toi continue his hibernation fer many weeks to come; but if he does not see his shadow he will remain out, and spring may be expected early. Of course this all depends upon whether the second day of February is a clear day or cloudy. Everybody except the highly skeptical will watch with interest for ground hog day to see whether it Is to be clear or cloudy and whether, there fore, we aie to have a late or early spring. Victim of Assassan. A dispatch from Tifi1i says the murder of General Griarzueff, chief of the staff of the Viceroy of the Cauca sus, was most dramatic and audacious. The assassin evidently had studied the habits of his victim and lay in wait behind a wall of the Alexander Garden opposite the entrance to the palace, where a carriage was drawn up to take the general for his daily drive. The asasin impersonated a painter, carrying the bomb with which he committed the crime concealed in a paint can. He was thus able to reach his place of ambus without suspicion, General Griarsooff, clad In a crimson uniform, made a shining target. As tne general steppgd into thei carralge, the man spranig on tihe wall, swung the can by a cord and the'bcmb, as if shrown from a sling pith marvalous precision, sped straigfrt to the' mark and struck the general on the neck.i A flash of fire and a terrific explosion [ollowed, and Griaznoff was literally blown out of the carriage, with his oachman and Cassack orderly, and toe laster's horse was instantly kill. d. A lady who was passing at ahe ime of the explosion was mortally wounded. The assasin was caught, eten into insensibility by the'In furiated soldiers and carried off to the acient for tress above the city, where, s Tiflis is unaer martial law, he will prbably be executed at dawn. His dentity is unknown. One Jionest Man. The Newberry Observer says: "A are and very old incident has hap. ened to a certain lawyer in that owir. In place of this attorney foro ng another to pay a debt, he himself was almost forced to receive a certain mount of money, the facts being bout these: A man; whose namii4t a not necessaryto mention, :carbe tio ye attorney and demaiddihat .he ~ake this-sma~ll amountvcfmontey and cdeavor to deliver it fe ttfe..dielrs of certain bla.ckinn folpetter Who ad years agosdone sogme.1iorgor the nnamed payer-this amannt iclud d the interest. This Is a payment y a white man of limited means of a ebt long out of date, and with Inter erest on-an open account, to or for. a lack man who may have been deed onig since. So there Is certainty one onest man in Newberry county" .COn's.Wear Them. China has recently Issued and edict rohibiting, except in the treaty ports, e sale of metal-rlmmcd spectacles. 'an shoes -are also tab20ed, and -any. e dealing in -them renders himself able to decapitation. The latteri rastic regulation is due to the fact I at yellow is there the imperial color, be worn by none save members ofa A WEIRD XPEEIENC. Teils How He Was Hanged as a Spy Once. B.v. J. T. Mann, of Jackson. Miss. an ex-Confederate ejays the distinc tion of being the only soldier of the Southern army who was hanged for a spy and still lives to tell tte story. Mr. Mann was a member of Compa ny 0, Third Louisiana Battalion, and his thrilling story of how he was hang ed as a 0,nfederate spy f irms one of I the most interesting incidents of the Civil War. In April, 1864, Mr. Mann who was then with his company at Barrancas, Fla., volunteered to set fire to a powder magaz ne of the Fed eral troops in order that the Confed erate beseiging forces could make a surprise attack during the confusion The perilous task was undertaken after midnight. Under cover of darkness, Mr. Mann crept close enough to throw a bale of burning twine, steeped in turpentine Dto the building where the explo fives were kept, and the burning ball el short of the mark and missed its deadly mission. Mann was chased by the Federal sentinels and captured. When car ried to camp the intarniated troops, who had b 3en aware of their narrow escape from being blown to atoms made haste to hang him. A noose was placed ab- ut his neck, one end of the rope throp n over the pr j 3cting joist of a b ilding aod the prisoner loisted into the air. When lifa was apparently -xtinct, a Vermont offeer ordered his body cut down. A controversy then arose among the troops, some claiming tbat the wrong man had been hanged, and an effort was made to resuscitate Mann. After working diligently for two hours, the pr'aoner was brought back to life and kept in custody uatil the close of the war. Mann still bears sears on his neck showing where the flesh was torn by ,he rope, and in describing the av-f il ordeal he says that his first sensa tion felt when Ierked from the ground was that akin to standing near a steam boiler explosion. Afterward, the sedsation of frigbtfal pain passed away and beford lasping into uncoun sciousness he began to hear so..d i of the most entrancing muic. He was tried by court-martial as a spy, after the capture, but the tribu nal could not establish his idenity. A WAR TIXE REMIKDZR. . The Blockade Runner Habe at Last Waahed Ashore. A dispatch from Washington, N C., says the east shore of Wrightsville beach presented an interesting sight Tuesday afternoon in the vicinity of Lumina. This 1portion of the beach was strewn with wreckage of the old hunk that has been ashore ( if Lumina since the civil war. Tnis buik repre sents all that remains that piled be tween Wilmingten and the West in dies. The storm of Thursday night bore into the wreck and toosed a great amount of debris upon the shore. So powerful was the raging sea that the old Iron safe aboard the ship was washed up on the beach and formed the most interesting obj ct fjr the sightseers Wednesday. A quantity of old Iron pipe and part of the ves sel's shaft were also washed ashore, as well as odd bits of hardware, in cluding home-made nails. One of the most interesting curious picked up was an old and very rusty cirving knife. The safe is a vecry heavy one and has corroded very baaly. It is a com bination safe, though In was supposed that tne Safa abiard was of the old. fashioned lock and key type. The safe was broken into but cont-ained noth ing save a very small portion cf a gold chain. The safe had eviiently been opened by the offcers when It was seen that the ship could not be saved. Only a part of the old hulk was torn apart and washed ashore as the great est portion still remains and looms up plainly in sight of those who peer sea ward from the vicinity of Lumina. It is supposed tha~t the hulk is that of the blackade runner Hebe, which was driven ashore under fire of the Federal blockaders during the war. The Hebe and the blockade runner Dee are known to have gone down about off Lumina, but the wreck in question is ithough to be that of the 'former. The General Beauregard went aground farther down towards Caro lina beach. Another ship lost in block ade running was the Emma. The Hebe and the Dae are said to ,have been exceedingly handsome boats and daring dlookade runners. Tney made their last stand gailantly, but the- Federal boats forced them aground and then poured shot and shell into them for some time after wards. Many of the crew escaped by making the beach safely, while others were captured and some are supposed to have been killed. Brain Laaks. Length of years is not life. lA right start is half the task. MWorries wear out more men than *ork. ~his not necsssary to be~grouchy In raer to be grave. Whin a man asks you.for advice you are-dlways -safe in Inquiring what kind hepwnts and then giving It to him. The..man who searches his own heart Is not apt-to find flaws in the hearts of .others. People lio bprrow trouble are al ways in debt. People wife listen have no right to complain of gosalps. There is ai vast difference between iberlity Ead prodigality, Aw'iell wora-suit paid for Is better than a fine suit worried about. Many pfayertthat are -started up ward find lodge-in the basemeilt. A balance in the bank taay is bet er than a good time one day last ear. It is a good thing for a lot of hus ands that their wives do not go on srike for wages. A great many men have achieved eputations for wisdom by making wo or three good guesses. The emptier a mans head the loud r he boast of how much liquor his e tomach will hold. One of the sweetest things in life is e aing so lived it you can look back on t ost of it with pleasure. Only thenman who has no boys of ds own Is capable of giving expert ad- e ice on how ta raise sons. W. L. Wicker, a prominent livery an of Montezaima, Ga., committed h icide on Saturday by shooting him elf with a pistol. He leaves a wife i ad two daughters. It is thought that f RAPID GROWTH OF THE NAVY. American the Most Rapidly Augment ed Naval Center. The American navy has became. so great numerically that the old Ameri can way of listing warships, that is, ac cording to their size, has had to be abandoned. The officers of the navy have been compelled to spe the British in style of listing, which disregards size, and write down the names in alphabetical order. The outlook is that the fiscal year 1905-6 will see more ships of great fighting power added to the American list than any like period in the history of the world. The tonnage of armored ships of the first rate has risen from 59,619 to 154, 544. During that period such well known vessels 'as the battleship Texas, the cruisers Minneapolis and Columbia, once the fastest warships in the world; the Olympia and Chicago, the latter a member of the first white squadron. have dropped down among the second an third raters. The monitor Puritan has also been dropped down among the nondescripts. The only branch of the navy that has not shown a great increase in a period of four years is that of tugs. There were forty tugs, then, and the list still shows that number, although two of the old ones have. disappeared. but new ones have taken their places. Instead of 19 torpedo vessels there are 58 second-rate ships. There are 1'i 48. as against 73, and under con struction 39, as against 60. The ships now under construction comprise 13 first-rate battleships and 6 first-rate armored cruisers, as against 10 battle ships then and only 4 armored cruisers. The big total of 60 was made up largely of tcrpedo boats v-hich have been completei and are now in service. Eight of the 10 battleships then under construction have been finished. Of the 13 battleships under construction now, 11 have been authorized since she In coming of President Roosevelt. Japanese in the Wool Market. Japanese enterprise in various man ufacturing industries is being felt in the Japanese markets by British and German traders. Ernest L. Harris, com inertial agent at Eibenstock, Germany, writes on this subject: "The products of Japan's industries are gradually forcing themselves into various markets of the world where their competition is being keenly felt by English and German traders. Japa nese ingenuity and industry are begin ning to exert an Influence to such an extent that their exports are increas ing, while at the same time the mar kets in Japan are passing more and more into the hands of home manufac turers. This is causing a reduction of imports. It has long -been thought that the Japanese were masters of the art of imitation, but it is now generally ad mitted the world over that they also possess powers of great initiative. 4, recent report of the British consul at Kobe records the fact that tne im port of cotton yarns shows a big de crease, due to the increased growth of the Japanese industry, which is gradu ally but surely ousting Lancashire coarse cottons from the Japanese mar ket. Among woolen manufacturers the outlook ior imported goods is not very bright. The manufacture of flannels in Osaka has inproved to such an extent that imports of this article have fallen off considerably. Japanese manufac turers today are producing the cheap est kind of cotton underwear, socks, to"et soaps and lamps. The indigo and tobacco trades are also rapidly passing into Japanese hands." Get Out of Prison by rdarryi-g. In some prtts of Siam girls who reach a certain age without marrying are plhced in a privileged elass under the special care of the king; who binds himself to find a husband for them alL. His method is simplicity itself. A pris oner in any one of the Siamese jails may gain his pardon and release by marrying one of the ineligible class. Whether-he is already married or not is of no great consequence, for in Siam a man is not restricted to one wife; but still many prisoners prefer jail. We Usually Find Our Level. Do not hypnotize yourself with the idea that you are being kept down. Do not talk such nonsense. Nobody of any sense would believe it. People will only laugh at you. Only one thing is keeping you down, and that is your self. There is probably some trouble somewhere with you. Of course, there are employers who are unjust to their help; there are instance in whiich em ployes are kept back when they should be advanced; but, as a rule, this i only temporary, and they usually find their level somewhere.-Success Magazine. Sultan's Costly Dinners. Five thousand dollars Is about the average cost of dinner in the Turkish sultan's palace. The meal comprises ifty or more dishes daily, and the sul an generally partakes from five to six. very dish, before It reaches the royal able, Is tasted In the kitchen by the rand vizier to guard against poison. t is then scaled and taken to the aul an. -Tlif vast cost of these repasts omes from the fact that guests and re ainers who dine at the sultan's daily xpense number several thousands. Photographing ilghtning. Lightning can only be photographed at night. It is also Impossible to use ny cap or shutter for this work, Inas uch as the eyes do not observe a iash of lightning till at least a tenth f a second after it has passed. So hat, having focused your camera be frehand, draw the shutter and hold the amera in the direction you think the lash will take; and you must trust to he c'ourtesy of the lightning to be here to time.-London Magazine. ' IBlow Open Safe. At ForsythjGa., the safe of thea 1'ro Manufacturing company a lown open at 1.30 o'clock Wednesday ornihg. The toivn's night watchman ws Qterpowered, gagged and tied by ry Thrsa monianginw prar b au condition. The burg'ars got about d 00 In money, but it Is impossible to imate at this time the value of pa ers taken and destroyed.I TEE following figures show the onparative vralues of farm prcducts ~the United States: Corn, 84,216,- 9 0,000; milk and butter, 6665,000,000; g ton, 8575,000,000; wheat, 8525,- di 0,000; eggs, $520,0CO.000; oats, 82000,000; hay, $605,000,000, po atoes, 8138,000,000; tobacco, $ 52,- S 00,000. It will be noticed that cot- h n, our great staple crop, is worth oly a few more mIllion dollars thanH e egg crop. O InE legislative assembly of Cuba s voted to make Miss Alice Boose- ca lt a present 825,000 on the cccasion Sh her marriage the 17th of February to Congressman Nicholas Longworth gra WORLD'S OLU ST INDUSTRY. Manufacture of Gun Flints-Still Used in Africa and Asia. Probably the oldest established busi ness in the world is at Brandon, in Suf folk, where the manufacture of gun flints has been carried on as the suc cessor to the prehistoric manufacture of arrow heads from the same mate rial. It is estimated that for more than ten thousand years flint working has been carried on at that spot; the only change made since those early days be ing in the Introduction of metal tools for working the flints in place of the stone and horn of the average. Gun flints are still in use in various parts of Asia and Africa, where the possession of percussicn cartridges is forbidden to the natives. The average weekly production is still 150,000, though In the days when the flint lock was the universal arm millions were turned out weekly, since Brandon is noted as producing the best flints made. Gun flints are not the only product, however, for in Latin Europe the "strike-a-light" Is still given the pref erence over matches, and of these about twenty thousand a week are manufac tured for the Italian and Spanish trade. During the Boer war 14,000 flints were issued to the British troops and were found valuable in emergencies where the ordinary match would not have served. The strata of flint are in five layers on Liugheath Common, a mile south east of the village. Each miner works by himself, employing the same meth ods as were followed by the earlier workmen, the ground being uncovered in layers or "steps," that the dirt may be carried away without the use of windlass and buckets. The product is sold to the chippers, who work at their homes in the village. In spite of the fact that each blow of the hammer is from a different angle and is struck with various force, the workman instinctively guides the chisel and the flakes fall Into the baskets in an almost continuous stream. They - are shaped with a chisel-like hammer on a block of iron and are then packed Into barrels containing from 5,000 to 20,000 each. Child Marriages in India. More than 250,000 girls in India, 5 years of age or less, were already mar ried when the last census was taken, and of these necessarily many have become widows. Between 5 and 10 years the number of znarried girls was well over 2,000,000, between 10 and 15 years It had risen to nearly 7,000,000. Of course, to the girls in the first two categories marriage meant nothing more than a contract entered into for them by others, !ong before they them selves were capable of understanding It; many of them had been bound by engagements when they were still chil dren in arms; some had even been be trothed before they were born. Most of the widows of such tender years become so before they know what widowhood means. It is only as they grow out of infancy that they learn the sad life to which they are condemned, a life of misery which is inconceivable to people of western countries, yet Is enforced by Hindoo customs. 'It,is a life of hardship, of unmerited shame, of Irksome penances and of wearisome at tendance at religious functions. Though the English law in India would recognize the legality of a re marriage of these youthful widows, in exorable custom forbids it and its oc currence is rare. There were in India In 1901 nearly 426,000 widows under 15 years of age, of which nearly 20,000 were less than 5 years old. Measuring Eye Jumps. We know that an eye, at ordinary reading distance, takes in about one Inch of a line at a time, and that In reading a line of an ordinary book the eye makes five .or six (more or 1ess, according to the length of the line) dis tinct jumps. But how many know what direction the eye takes in making these jumps? And, as the movements are so very minute and rapid, how have they beer. studied? A very Ingenious means has been employed, as follows: A beam of light is thrown upon the cornea of the eye under examination, and this beam Is reflected by the cor nea on to a photographic plate. As the eye moves In reading the reflected beam. also moves, and upon developing the plate, which Is also kept moving, a zig zag line Is found. A study of such photographic tracings shows that the eyes In turning back to pick up the next line have some diffculty In so do ing. The longer the line of print the great er the effort, and for this reason we may conclude that a narrow line Is bet ter for an eye than a long one, and If the line be much wider than the ordi nary newspaper column there Is great er effort Involved.-Je.welers' Circular Weekly. Whale Meat Ir'stead of Beef. Newfoundland Is developing a new ndustry, in the form of selling whale meat in place of beef. One of the deal ers says that the new meat tastes more [Ike venison than beef, and plans are already oeing made to ship some to England, where It Is expected that It will sell for at least 12 cents a pound. Longest Submarine TunneT.. The longest submin.fe tunnel In the world runs beneath the River Severn. rhe total length of It Is four miles six ~undred and twenty-four yards, and of his two and a quarter miles lie from orty-flv~e feet to one hunred feet below he estuary of the river already named. A Shark's Human Prey. On cutting open a shark, 16 feet long, ~aught In the Bay of Naples, some fish rmen the other day found inside the nonster's stomach the body or a boy >f 8 years who had been missing from is home for some days.-London hronicle. PitSIDENr Snyder has just receivcd letter announcing that the general ucaton board of New York had pproprated $25,000 to the endow Lent of W iford College. The only md'ton attaching to the gift is that e friends of Wc-fford should complete i Jnne 15, J9071, the $100,000 whIch ir. Child Is now raisIng. Tiiis con ltion is of the nature of an appeal to .1 frends of We if rd to make abso tely cartain Dr. Child's succss. THE grand lur) of Greenville coun last week reccmmended that all ~rsons who appeared, by the investi ,ton lately had, to have engaged In ~fraudng the county be indicted by ie solicitor and prosecuted. Among - e number are two sons of the late pervsor, 3. B. Speegle, now dead, agstrate F. B -Mc1ee and his con ble, Jail Physician B-amlett, Poor mse Keeper R sv. Talley, and many Every ye ung girl should, If practi- 4 ble.. have an a!lowan~e. At first it - luld be very small, just gifllert ~ cover her little expenses- RAs she. >ws older It should be ammually in.