Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL. XXI. MANNING, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1907. NO. 44. DEEP LAID PLOT Of Blackmailers to Extort Money or Murder Victims. DEATH WAS RESULT Of Refusal to Pay Sum Demanded By the Blackmailers--One Rich Merchant Was Killed for Refusing to Pay-He Was One of the Ten Men to Be Killed If They Did Not Pay Up Promptly. Seeking a motive for the murder of H. S. Travshanjian, the A-nenian rug merchant, of New York, the dis trict attorney's office was led to an investigation of a report that Trav shanjian was one of ten wealthr Ar menians who had been marked for slaughter if they failed to giVeVC up $10,000 each to a blackmailing band of their countrymen. No color was given to this theory by Pedros Ham pertzoomian, who killed the rug man. when the prisoner wa3 arrained last week. In court he maintained a stolid indifference, waived examina tion, and was remanded to the coron er. Later he made a statement to a representative of the district attorney In this he declared that he had come from Chicago for the express purpose of killing Tavshanjian, but the crime was justified by no one and no other person or socitey was involved. From other sources carefully pro tected by the authorities, came infor mation 'of a startling character and said to be accurate. This is to the effect that a secret society of Armen ians, originally organized for what the members held to be patriotic. though revolutionary purposes, had degenerated into an instrument for blackmail. The organization had dis banded, while the better elements witadrew from all connection with the society. The killing of Tavshanjian and the others, it is stated, was planned more that a year ago. They received let ters which they interpreted as mean ing that they must pay or take the consequences. The threatened men discussed the matter at a meeting ar ranged to decide what they should do. Tavshanjian was present. A number of the merchants were in favor of acceding to the demand. "Better give them money and live," they said. "No," said Tavshanjian. As a mat ter of principle we should not pay. You can do as you will. They will get nothing from me." Mr. Cambere, Tavshanjian's secre tary, visited the attorney's office, and there declared that the death of his employer grew out of attempted blackmail. "There is no government here," cried Cambere excitedly. I cannot understand why you have such Taws. In Turkey they would have rounded them all up. This man who commit ted the murder is only the dupe in the hands of a band of blackmailers." Cambere gave Assistant District Attorney Smythe a list of wealthy Ar menians who he said had been forced to pay blackmail to this band. "This is the work of an Armenian in this city who is the worst man in the world," said a prominent Armen ian . "He has been responsible for many murders and lesser crimes~ and too cowardly to commit them him self.- He gets men of small intellect to do the work for him by making~ them believe that they are working for their country." Another well-toldo Armenian said: "A priest who tried to fight the band was murdered in Odessa. Father Kasper 'Vartarian, killed in New York was another victim." KILLED IN SELF DEFENCE. 1 Young White Man Forced to Kill a Colored Man. A special dispatch from Spring field to The State says Monroe Gantt, a young white man of this commun ity. shot to death John Jackson, col ored Wednesday afternoon at the saw mill of his brothers. Gantt surrender ed to Judge Corbett. According to reports Gnatt states that some days ago his brothers em ployed a negro by the name of Sterl ing Matthews. It seems that Mat thews was under contract to work for Jackson and left him. Wednesday evening Jackson took his repeating rife and went down to the mill and got into a difficulty with Matthews. during which he attempted to shoot himantt, it is claimed, interfered orI attempted to prevent Jackson from shooting when he turned the gun on Gantt, who grasped the barrel and barely escaped a shot fired by Jack son. Gantt then drew his pistol and shot Jackson as above stated. Gant' has a large family who. with his frienlds, regret the occurrence. KILLS HERSELF. Wife Of One of Pittsburg's Wealthy Men Tire of Life. After charming her nurse with the beauties of one of Chopin's nocturnes and then asking her to go out on the porch so as to enjoy the music more. Mrs. Margaret J. King, a prominent society woman. of Pittsburg, took ad vantage of her absence by commit tigsiide. When the nurse from te porch heard that the niusic had topd she feared trouble and has tone insde. She could not find Mrs. tnd msy er- until at last she dis covere ayhere ithe cellar with her erenearly hacked off wth a razor. Mrsne . -ing secretary of the J. .Eusen Ho l ay which was tC e Rgst Sof its pani the world, had rest returned from a hospi a wreny shethad been suffering from whervoush p-ostration. As she from gvnrvospells of despondency. a trained nursehabenngedt keep close watch over her. . GOT FIVE YEARS. Womanl Defrauded Members of W~ell Known Families At London rs JosephareLsi was found guilt on th che owne frauding members o ell nowsn tencede to fiv year epenal servitude. tnser o son to represent her sel was ahend ofst3. Pierpont Morgan an declared that he guided her in estments. SAYS HE IS INSANE. Operator on Ship Asks Police To Meet Him at Pier. Looses Mind While on Voyage and Twice Attempts Suicide, Second Time Jumping Overboard. After sending a wireless message telling of his own insanity, John H. Quinn, De Forest wireless operator on the New York and Porto Rican 'liner Coamo, was met at the pier when the ship arrived at New York by the police and sent to his home at Bayonne, where he is recovering his mind. Quinn made two attempts to com mit suicide by jumping in the sea. one at Aguadilla, where man eating sharks abounded.. His condition was noticed as the ship was leaving San Juan, when he paced the deck and talked to himself, at the same time making the wildest motions with his arms. Suddenly he rushed to the rails and laped over. First Officer Bernard Olsen jumped in and, after a fight rescued the crazed man. Quinn made no effort to sink, but swam about still talking to himself. He was put in irons, and a passenger who knew a little about wireless tele graphy, sat at his post. Quinn recovered so fr seemingly. that at Aguadilly Capt. L. J. Dalton took the irons off and confined him in a room. It was only a little while till he crawled through a small hole and once more leaped overboard right among the hungry sharks. Seconc Oticer Coughlin went af ter him this time and dragged him back. He rzs 'again ironed. When the Coamo reached Quaran tine Quinn was wild-eyed. but ration al in a way. Capt. Dalton went to him with a singular request. "Quinn," he said, "we're your friends, but you can't take care of yourself. The man at your job can't send a mesage, and I want you to send it. It's about you, too, and you mustn't be angry. I want you to have a policeman meet you. That's , good boy." Quinn never moved a muscle. In a moment.; however, he got up and tarted for the telegraph tower. rhere, while half a dozen men guard d him, he flashed these words: "Quinn, wireless operator aboard oamo, off Quarantine, insane. Con ne in room; not responsible for ac ions. Need police help at Pier No. 5. Brooklyn. on arrival." The crazed operator then faced his uards and said: "I've done my duty, aven't I?" The operator at the De Forest sta ion at No. 42 Broadway. was startl d. He flashed back this message. "Who's sending this?" And Quinn, with a queer grin on is face, replied: "Quinn, himself." The man was then again locked in is room and guarded. When the )oat tied up at her pier, Quinn's )rother James, was there with police en from the Hamilton avenue sta The operator made no resistance Lnd seemed rational. James took him iome. He Is twentw-two years old, Lnd one of the best wireless men in he business. SERIES OF QUEER FIRES. seven Occurred in Two Hours in a Home of U'nion. According to the Union Progress 'emarkable series of seven unusual nysterious, even uncanny fires oc ,urred Wednesday night in the short ;pace of an hour and a half at the uome of Mr. John Wix of Buffalo. It seems that about 7:30 it was iscovered that there was a fire in .ne of the up-stairs rooms. The fire 'as in a bed and by the time all the nattresses and bed clothing were ;otten to and thrown out, they were ~ractically consumed. After everything had apparently Ieen extinguished much to the sur ,rise of everyone, in about fifteen 'ninutes the odor of something burn ng was again noticed. Investigation ~howed that a bed in the same room. )ut entirely apart from the one burn d, was ablaze. This was thrown ut and a through search of ev'ery thing was then made. No traces of autches or burning material seemed Hardly had everything .settled own easy when again attention was ittracted by smoke. and it was found hat the inside of a dresser in the ame room was ablaze, and almost ~onsumed. Following this mysterious fire in few minutes attention was drawn o another room. in a closet which ad been shut up for some time. and vhich was apparenltly closed, and in his the bedclothing and clothes were 'ound to be burning. While this was being puit out the ed down stairs was found to be blaze. Following this in a few min utes the fire was discovered in one -loset and after it was distinguished pparently altogether, another place ~as discovered in the closet to be Th is morning at 11 :30 when Mr. Wix was telephoned to to confirm the lcations, time and occurrence of this fire, it was found that he was having till another and his eighth fire in a down stairs room, and that he was at that moment at home attempting to put it out. For a while it was not known whether the fire was caused by in stantaneous comnbustion on account of the continued intense heat, but at noon Thursday Mr. Wix saye that he has just discovered a few stumps 0f matches. so it seems that these eight ires were caused by little rodents who seemed determined to burn his aome andl all its c'ontents. As it is. his loss amounts to over $100, par tially covered by insurance. VERY SAD CASE. 1ADemented Woman Hang Six Chil dr'en and Herself. Grief-stricken bythe receipt of a notification that her services would not be required after the end of the month, Mrs. Neilson, a hoousekeeper for a land-owner named Ullkjaer, of Jutland, Holland, Wednesday hanged three of her employers' children as well as three of her own, and then kille hersef by hanging. LOST AT SEA. An Appalling Marine Disaster North of San Francisco. ONE HUNDRED LOST. A Large Passenger Steamer Rammed by a Large Lumber Vessel-Peo pie on Both Vessels Were Asleep When the Crash Came-Many Wo men Perish, But Many of the Men Escape. A dispatch from San Francisco says in one of the worst marine dis asters in the history of California be tween one hundred and fifty lives were lost as far as has been learned by a midnight collision between the steamer Columbia and the steam lumber schooner San Pedro in Shel ter Cove, twelve miles south of the Medocino-Humboldt County line, be tween 12 and 1 o'clock Monday. The few details known here brought by the steamer Roanoke and the steam schooner Daisy Mitchell, which ar rived in San Francisco Monday fore noon. The Columbia, a 300-foot steel ves sel of the San Francisco and Portland Steamship company, while bound from San Francisco for Portland, Ore., with 189 passengers and a crew of sixty, collided with and was ram med by the San Pedro, a 170-foot wooden steamer, south-bound,' for San Francisco. The sea was smooth, but the weather was foggy. The San Pedro looming out of a mist a few lengths away, bore down on the Columbia at high-speed, despite frantic efforts to clear. With a grind ing crash, the San Pedro sank her stem fully ten feet into the Colum bia's port bow. Nearly all of the Columbia's pas sengers and many of her crew were asleep in their cabins and bunks when the crash came. As the San Pedro backed away the sea poured in through the ragged hole in the Columbia's bow above and below the water line, and in five minutes the Columbia sank to the bottom, the deep waters of the shelter Cove cov ring over the tops of the Columbia's masts. The story of that five minu es is yet to be told and as it is told by some survivors the facts of the :ragedy can be but guessed at. According to J. S. Flynn, a pas enger on the Roanoke, Capt. Doran, f the Columbia, succeeded in launch ng four life boats and two rafts be tore the Columbia sank. Flynn is luoted as saying that eighty-eight 0t jassengers, all men, got away in that anner, and were saved; that Capt. )oran acted with great coolness in he face of death and went down with lis ship. Flynn is further quoted as aing that none of the hundred odd Vomen passengers were caved. Shortly after the collision the teamers Roanoke and George W. der and the steam schooner Daisy l1itchell, all south-bound, came on he scene and stood by. The Elder ook the San Pedro in tow and the atest reports announce their arrival .n Eureka. The stem of the San 1 'edro was smashed to splinters, one )f her masts was snapped off at the eek and she was settling and had theavy list when taken in tow. Capt. iansen remained on board. . The Daisy Mitchell offered assist tnce to the Elder, but this was de lined. She picked up a life boat pd a raft of the Columbia and rought them to San Francisco. Near the scene of the wreck the Roanoke picked up a life raft and ound underneath it the dead body f a passenger, supposed to be Ed ard Butler, of Portsmouth, N. H. The officers of the Mercantile Ex hange in San Francisco and of the arious newspapers have been be eiged since early morning by rela ives and friends of the Columbia's >ss.,ngers, but the insistent and earful requests for information of he victims and the rescued remain Linsatisfied. Beyond the reported acts that .Butler was drowned and hat Capt. Doran went down with his hip no details of casualities have been received.1 Assistant President Frye, of the teamship company, said that the Col tub ia lies in deep water and fifteen mles off shore, and that for the pre ent at least no attempt will be made to raise her. Capt Doran was regarded by the officers of the San Franciso and Port land Steamship company as one of h ablest seamen who ever operated aessel on the coast. His career had een free from accident, and this is hee first disaster that has befallen ny vessel over which he held com WOMAN FOUNI) DEAD). Ad Her Husbantd Found Uncon scious in Rear of Flat. At Chicago on Thursday Mrs. Eanuel Bloom was mysteriously stabbed and killed in her apartnments. er husband was found unsconscious on the ground in the rear of the flat, evidently having jumped from their flat on the third floor. Bloom called a dotor about 1 o'clock and told him his wife was ap~parently dying from a stab wound in the abdomen. The dotor found her dead and notified the police, who found Bloonm on the ground in the rear' of the fiat. A ;ENERAL SLAUGHTER. Danish People Expect to Kill Eight Million Rats. Because the rats which infest the fields and houses are doing .great daamge to crops and seriously injur in na- thing in other ways. te Danih governmenlt has offered aar:of two cents for every dead adrewar 'rought to the specially ap l~itd office. Already the populace point ki1ad at a rate of more than has ki aaand it is thought that beore ae da is out over 8,000.000 will have takenthsaejuny NINE MEN KILLED. Harbor Strikers and Police Have Fight in Buenos Ayres. Nine men have been killed and maay injured in a fight at Bahia Blnaca Buenos Ayres, between the ---o strikers and the police. DEADLY LIGHTNING Loss of Life Much Greater Than Commonly Supposed. Animals Rush Under Trees and Are Caught-Men Also Forget It Is Unsafe Under Field Shelter. Lighning has done a great deal of damage in different parts of the State this summer. Many people have been killed by It and many animals have been killed. People ought to use the ordinary precaution to protect them selves from the deadly bolit. It is very foolish to expose yourself to lightning, when it is so easy to go in a house and out of danger. Some eople think it cowardly to try and protect yourself from lightning. but it is not. It is just as sensible to avoid the lightning bolt as it is to get out of the way of an oncoming train or anything else that might hurt you. In America there is no raeans for ascertaining precisely what is the amount of damage done by lightning. This much also is certain, that scarcely a day passes but the news papers contain accounts of strokes of ightning which have prove: fatal to man or beast. In France, Germany and England complete statictics are kept of all fatalities with the view to reducing the number if possible. To accomplish this end it has been recommended to attach iron rods to the trunk of trees with one end near the top and the other running into the ground. Lightning rods are also recommended for all buildings. The object is to have the electricity from the clouds conducted to the earth without the terrific force of the bolt jumping from the sky to the earth brough the air without a conductor. Cattle and sheep are killed in the reatest numbers by lightning. The reason assigned for this is that they un for trees as soon as they see a storm coming. Trees are conductors f electricity, but are not so good as ,be body of an animal or a man. The result is that when the current com ng down the tree and finds a better onductpr it leaves the trunk and jumps into the body of the living reatures under the tree. Men as %ell as animals have failed to learn ,hat it is dangerous to be under a :ree in electrical storms, as it is videnced by the number of fatali ies reported. According to the lightning rod con erence held a few years ago in Lon- i Ion, the solid rod is the best sort of I >onductor. Such a rod should be in )ne piece and run from the top of he tree to the ground. - The same hould be used on houses: The re ult would be that whea animals un under a tree in a thunderstorm hey would not be rushing into great danger. The rod would. also be a rotection to men who forget and go inder trees in similar storms. The ron rod should 'e pointed. The t ightning rod is :ntended to carry I .ectricity from the earth to the C ouds or from the clouds to the arth, as the case may be. without E ny disturbances in the surroundings [f the rod. SCRDTO DEATH. ighitnig Flash Revealed Big Ele phant Before Her. Mrs. Fanny Mercier died early h'ursday morning from aa attack of t Leart disease brought onl by sudden right when the huge head of an ele hant loomed up during a fiash of1 ightning under a covered bridge at t ethel, Maine.. C A circus was in town, and just be ore the show ended a thunderstorm t ipped some of the canvas and knock-1 d a few of the tent poles down. A reat many of thle spectators soughtC efuge from the downpourr under the overed bridge, and among them wasC rs. Mercier, who was in an auto-a nobile with some friends. The circus men started thme ele ants and camels for tihe train as oon as the spectators left the ground Lnd the line of animals filed into the ridge unseen by many of the people ho sought refuge there. The big lephat of the lot found the automo ile in front of him and putting his ead against it, pushed it to one side > o make a p)assage for himself. 1 The occupants of the machine did ot know what was happening until a ;lare of lightning dispelled the gloom nd when Mrs. Mercier saw the head ff the elephant she gave a scream nd fainted. Two physicians attend dd her during the night, but she did ot recover consciousnkess ELECTRIC STORM. les Considerable Damage in City of Augusta, Ga. A terrific wind, rain and lightning torm passed over Augusta at 7:30 'lock Thursday night doing such aamge to electric wires that the itty was in darkness and all electric urrent turned off. Trees through ututthe western section of the city overed the streets with debris. Damage to the electric company is roughly estimated by an offcial at $13,000. Five hundred telephones were burned out. Roofs of several biding were rep)orted torn off. ightning set fire to the residence of . ODowd and it was impossible oourn in an alarm. the wires being down. From the companies which re sponded four firemen were injured by falling walls. TRIED) TO WRECK TRAIN. wo Young Negro Boys Charged With Serious Crime. Two little negro hoys, aged ten and eleven, were placed in the ceumty jail at Fayetteville. N. C.. Thursda~y charged with attempting to wreck a passenger train. Sunday afa'rnoonl on the Atlantic Coast Line, fourteen. miles south of that city. Crosties placed on the track were discovered by the engineer in time to prevent a FATAL FALL. Two Men Killed and Several Wound edl in Ohio. To men were kille e se: ioly injured by the ... scaf folding upon some wor ;. tts burg and Conneaut d. .. sday. The dead are: A. Matson and B. Hu.ax, of Cleve and, srtural iron workers. COWARDLY CAPTAIN. Commander Hansen Is Charged With Gross Inhumanity. Many More Lives Could Have Been Saved if He Had Taken on More of Rescued. A dispatch from San Francisco says after the tales of heroism sur rounding the Columbia wreck-the glorious death of Captain Doran, and the self-abnegation of the girl May belle Watson- comes the other side of the disaster. A charge of gross inhumanity and the sacrifice of many lives has for mally been made against' Captain Hansen of the San Pedro. by the third officer, Robert Hawes of the Columbia. It has been made to LocAl nspector Bolles. It is part of the record of the Uni ted States. If that charge be true, the women of San Francisco would be justified in meting out to Captain Hansen the fate of Captain Ireson, of Marblehead, celebrated in song: Old Flud Ireson, for his hard beart, Tarred and feathered, and carried in a cart, By the women of Marblehead. Ireson sailed away from a sinking ship. Now comes the accusation in so many words that Captain Hansen was the cause of many men and wo men, struggling in the water by re fusing to take any more of-the res cued on the San Pedro--a steamer that could not sink because she car ried a cargo of lumber. The fearful charge is calmly made under oath by Third Mate Hawse. Ie solemnly says to Captain Bolles that he brought a boat load of rescu d passengers up to the San Pedro nd requested that they be taken are of. He declares that he was net wth a refusal- to receive any ore of the Columbia's passengers. "I repeatedly asked them to take :he women-one of whom was half taked and delirious," says Hawsc in tis sworn statement. Such an appeal would ordinarily nelt the heart of bronze, but Hawse eclares that the man in command Af the San Pedro refused to shelter .ny more passengers of the sinking ,olumbia. Then comes the fearful .ccusation: "If the San Pedro had taken these )assengers, I could have saved many nore 1-ives." Hawse says his boat was so full he eared to take any more in It, lest it ,e swamped. He saw many more nen and women struggling in the ater and all he needed was his mpty boat to go to their assistance. That is a dreadful accusation for aptain Hansen to face, particularly hen his steamer is safe in the harbor f Eureka and the photographs show hat she could have taken away many nore men and women aboard with ut endangering the lives of any. But Third Officer Hawse does not top with his charge against Captain ansen. He has a sea dog's con empt for the men whom he rescue.d . is boat and did not show any evi Lnce of chivalry in the hour of hero sn. One of the four women he had icked up was out of her head. All he women were scantily attired but bree of them were heroines, and awse in his sworn statement, says: "I desire to speak in the highest erms of praise in regard to the three Loble women and in lowest terms of ontemat for the men passengers who ould ~not inconvenience themselves make the lot of the women more omfortable. And then come a tribute all around o the man who was on his bridge hen through a fog and not in bed, s5 was Captain Hansen. This tribute omes from all sides to Captain Peter )oran who did everything that a man ould do to save the people, and then vent down with his ship to his death ather than crowd some of his pas engers from a life boat or a raft. FATAL ACCIDENT. )ne Man Killed and Two Others Hurt in Auto. Dr. J. T. Killebbrew, one of the uiost prominent of the younger phy ;icians of Mobile Ala., was ground to )ieces under the wheels of a moving reight train, Perrin Bestora, a prom nent young attorney was seriously, d W. P. Horn, a well known. bus ness man, was slightly Injured in an mtolobile accident Thursday after They w' a driving in an automo le and when crossing a railroad rack the approaching train was een. Although the automobile rossed the track, Dr. Killebrew jumped and was caught beneath the heels of the train. Dr. Killebrew was president of the bob~ile County Medical society, a lec urer on the diseases of women in the Jniversity of Alabama and an assist tt in the Ingo--Bondurant infirmary t Mobile. He was born and reared tt Nashville, Tenn. ENGINE DITCHED 'o Prevent Coliission With a Pas senger Train. Engine No. 74 con the Richmond. rredericksb urg and Potomac railroad was erailed at Fredericksburg, Va., Thursday, pinning Engineer Reuben O~rien beneath it. The locomotive was purposely ditched in order to prevent it from crashing into a pas enger train on th~e bridge crossing the Rappahannock river at that place. Had a collission occurred, the pas senger train on a portion of it, prob ly would have gone into the river and the death and injiury of many of the passengers would have resulted. OBrien was seriously but not fatally POWDER EXPLODED Cusing the Death of Three Men by Burning. Three men were burned to death Fiday by an explosion in a powder house at Two Lick coal mine near Clarksbrg. W. Va. The dead: D~eshla Barnets, age 23, single,.f If Bethlehem, Pa. Nicolina Plenorites, 21, single, of Benwood, W. Va. Frank Goff, 21, single. Clarksburg. The powder ignited from a pipe one of the men were smoking. The buidin was demolished. WRECK HORRORS As Described by Two People Who Were on the Columbia. DROWNED LIKE RATS. Mrs. Leidell Who Was On IIl Fated Columbia Relates of Drownings and Perils of the Night on Raft Graphic Description of the Sinking Told by Chief Engineer Jackson Screams of Doomed Were Awful. The Pacific Coast Steamship com pany's passenger steamer Pomona ar rived in San Francisco from Eureka at 10:30 Thursday, bringing from the latter place one of the surviving pas sengers of the wrecked steamer Col umbia and the thirty two members of the Columbia's crew, who were saved out of her total complement of 59 The passenger is Mrs. 0. Leidell, of San Francisco. The crowd was made to stand back and keep a lane open while the Pom on'a passengers came ashore. Each was stopped at the foot of the gang plank and asked excitedly "were you a passenger upon the Columbia?" With one exception the answer was "No." The exception was Mrs. Leidell. Clothed from head to foot in a dark brown ulster and her features hidden by a brown veil tied over her hat and under her chin, she came falteringly down the gang plank and made her way uncertain through the crowd. She held her hankerchief to her face as she walked and when asked by newspaper men for a recital of her experience, she broke into tears and turned, shaking her head. "I don't want to say anything, I on't want to talk," she murmured. Later Mrs. Leidell consented to talk and in describing her experience said: "When the crash came I got out >f my stateroom. Every one was ex cited--every one except the captain. He stood on the bridge, his arms ex tended, begging the passengers to be ool. The crew stood at the boat.. cutting away at the lines that held them. There was no chance to lower them. All who could piled into the boats. Lots of people jumped over he side, trying to climb onto bits of wood which were floating in the wa er. I did not have time to think, ran to the side. There under the ide was a raft. There was nobody n it. I jumped and struck on the 'aft. Other women got on it also. )ne crawled from the water, others jumped from the boat. "Then the Columbia went down, bow first. The raft drifted around tnd water washed over us. Two wo nenaand a little child were washed )ff and I never saw them again. One woman was left. Her hold was weak. 3he begged me to help her. I tried o hold her on, but I was too weak. 5he died before my eyes. Oh! I can't orget that. I'll never forget that. he drowned and I~ could not help er. Who she was I don't know. >ow and then I got a glimpse of an )ther raft or boat. We got some ieces of wood after awhile and used :hem for oars, and finally-it must save been hours afterward-we limbed on the San Pedro. It was a ;errible climb up her side. "Men helped, but I felt so odd and weak I never thought I would get 3ver it. T'he waves kept striking 'w r us. Wu were dripping wet, and it was so cold. On the San Pedro we were sitting on two little narrow ieces of lumber. Suddenly a wave :arried away the lumber we were sit :ing on.. "We managed to stay on the ship. iowever, but there were some who ;ot that far, who got no further, for without any warning, the rear mast )f the San Pedro gave away and swept several into the sea. One or two were brought back alive, but of :he others we saw nothing. And the larkness hanging over everythin~g nade it terrible. We did not know if the San Pedro would hold together. although the officers and crew did heir best to cheer us up. The day broke. The fog still hung low, and the light only appeared gradually, ut then we could see who was saved, and who was not. That sight I an't tell you about it. Everything about it was so desolate and dismal. nd then the Elder came up. They ot us aboad, cared for us. and at Sureka I secured the only remaining berth on the Pomona to come back iere." Chief Engineer J. V. Jackson gave the following account of the wrecked steamer Columbia in an interview to the Evening Post. "I was in my stateroom when the crash occurred, and I scrambled into some clothes and came up on deck. ll was confusion and turmoil. The roar of the water as it pour'ed into the hole in the Columbia's side was deaf ening. Then desperately swimming away I caught a rope thrown from the San Pedro. From there I looked back at the Columbia just in time to see her plunge beneath the waves. As she sunk I could dimly see many men dash across the deck toward the San Pedro; the next moment the fog had hidden the dreadful secnes. "I am sure that many steerage passengers did not leave their state rooms as the interval was so short between the ti-ne she was struck and the time she sank that the men had not time to get to the deck, and those that did jumped overboard and were, sucked down by the vortex created by the sinking vessel. "When I rushed across the deck it seemed to be deserted, but I knew that many were about me, for the screams and cries were awful. I thank God that I am safe, but I would have willingly have given my life as Captain Doran did, to save those that perished. I did not real ize that the end would comie so soon as it did, and I believe ,Capt. Doran was of the same opinion." SIX DEATHS Following the Stings of Black Flies in Canada. A startling tale of fatalities has reached Aurora, N. Y., through John Grijn, who has just returned from the Algonquin Park locality of Cau ada. Griffin expected to be gone for several weeks on a hunting tr'ip, but the fact that six deaths resultcdi from blood poisoning, following the stings of black flies, near his camp. d'V him hone. DIES TRYING TO FLY. Christian Scientist Plunges Four Stories to Street Wife Clings to His Ankle As He Hangs From the Window Until She Faints. Eugene Hawe, of New York, was a planter and polisher of hardwood parquet floors, and did well at his trade up to last May. At this time Howe and his wife, Bertha, moved their belongings into the top floor of the four-story and basement brown stone residence of Dr. Gregory Costi gan, at 63 West Sixty-eight street. At the Central Park, west of the block on which the Costigan house is situated is the Second church of Christ Scientist. Howe dropped in there to see and hear. The husky floor planer became deeply interested in the teaching of Christian Science. He tried to interest his wife in the tracks and books he obtained at the library of the church. Mrs. Howe would have none of the teachings. She says that since her husband began to read Mary G. Ed dy's "Science and Health," he has had little time to attend to his trade. He gave up smoking, changed most of his habits of life, and not long ago decided that eating breakfast was all a mistake. At 10 o'clock Sat urday night Howe came home and chatted for ashort time with Dr. Cos tigan. The physician says the floor polisher was perfectly rational. After talking with Dr. Costigan but a short time. Howe went up to his apartments on the top floor. He un dresse~d and got into bed, taking with him a book he had bought. It was "Science and Health." Along after'midnight Howe, so his wife says, began to act in a manner queer even for him. He finally made for a front window, climbed out on the sill and announced that he was going to fly out on the night air. Mrs. Howe ran to the window and managed to grasp him by the ankle just as he leaped. She held his weight with all the strength that was in her arms. Her arms were badly cui and bruised by coming in contact with the sharp edge of the stone witdow sill. Finalty-the woman's-sZrength gave way, and, with-a shriek that arroused the neighborhood, she fell back into thle room in a faint. Howe's skull was fractured and his body and legs were torn and crushed. He died in the hospital. without regaining consciousness. When he leaped from the window Howe had carried with him Mrs Ed dy's book. Dr. Costigan is of the opinion that Howe was suddenly seized with an insane notion that he could leap from the window, land on the sidewalk be low without injury, and then enter the house and display himself to the physician as a converting argument in favor of Christian Science. Mrs. Howe says that shortly before her husband made for the window he had told her that Dr. Costigan had been practically converted to Chris ,ian Science and cotemplated giv ng up his practice. CALHOUN COUNTY. two Proposed Counties Want to Use thie Name. A dispatch from Columbia to the ugusta Chronicle says the commis sion which is seeking to form a new ounty with St. Matthews as the ounty seat with Calhoun as the name of the new county met here ednesday and organized by electing I D. Keller and J. S. Salley perma nent-chairman and secretary, respec ively. The commission secured. the maps, plats and petition from the governor's office and will at once get to work on the business of the commission. There is another scheme looking to the formation of a new county to e called Calhoun. This hopes to make Dillon, in Marion county, a ounty seat. The commission which finishes its work first in such a way as to war Lant an order from the governor for an election will win out on the name if the election carries. SEAL WAR IS ON. Between the Russians and Japs in North Pacific. News was brought by the steamer Empress of China to Victoria. B. C.. last week, of a fatal attempt by the Japanese sealers to rail eopper island where the Russian seal rookeries are located, beyond the end of the Aleu tion chain in the North Pacific. A Tapanese Sealing cshooner fro Tok io reached Copper islad on the night of June 27 and dropping anchor a short distance from the seal rocker es. sent a number of .boats ashore with their crews armed with rifles. The landing was made and while part of the sealing company was engaged in skinning seals on the rockeries the ussian guards opened fire on them and drove thenm off after killing one. A JAPANESE SPY. Arrested Taking Photographs5 of Bat teries in Action. A Japanese was taken into custody iiday at the Texas state military en amment at Austin. It is charged ie was taking photographs of bat teries in action and other features of the camp. He is being held pending n investigation on the part of the state and f'ederal authorities. LAUNCH CAPSIZED. Only Two of the Ten on IBoard Arec Saved. A gasoline launch (.l)ie i storm at Sunny Side.e hono were tario. and ofrthe tel nown t'o ere. in her only two are been wshedsfe Three bodies hv enwse ashore. DEATH IN A MINE. Over Four' Hundred Japs Meet Death by Explosion. There was a fatal explosion Sat urday in the colliery at Toyooka, in ungo province, Japan. It is report ed that nearly all of the four hun dred and seventy miners in d.e pit at heime were killed. A PAUPER'S SON. Gov. Johnson, of Minnesota, Came From Low Rank. FATHER A DRUNKARD. He Is Now a Prominent Democrat and May Be His Party's Nominee for the Presidency Next Year-He Is Very Popular With All Classes And Was Elected Governor of His State Twice. Gov. John A. Johnson, of Minne sota, is the son of a pauper father. He is now serving his second term as chief executive of the state and Is one of the most popular officers that innesota has known. He is a Dem ocrat in a state that is overwhelming ly Republican. In his election-Roose elt carried the state as a candidate for the presidency by a majority of 161,464. Johnson ran 92,453 ahead of his ticket and was elected by a majority of 7,826. In the election last fall his opponent svas not "in the running," though all other Republi cans on the state ticket were elected. Gov. Johnson is 44 years of age. He started life handicapped by.odds that would have proved insurmount able obstacles for a man or boy with less stamina and direct ambition. His father was a blacksmith, a descend ant of the peasantry of Sweden. In 1853 he emigrated to this country in an effort to get away from his old" habits. .For several' years he'l ived without' touching whiskey and r ied,. but -it was not long befofe he began to drink worse than ,e'r and his family became a bu en on the ommunity. FinallJ nson was de clared a pauper "and taken to the poorhouse, wbfre he died from al oholism. fnen the mother began to struggle for the life of the family. It is a matter of record that in Gov. Johmijon's first campaign for the gov ernorship his opponents carried signs which read. "His Father was a Pau per," and "His Mother took in Washing." While a boy Johnson aided his mother before and after school hours, until he reached the High school, at 13 years of age. Then he declared he would learn a trade and prepared to become a~druggist. From that time he was the chief support of the family. in all-those years the un dertaker was the only creditor of the amily.. Three deaths served to take all the spare money from the family and ruined Johnson's opportunity of taking a course in pharmacy. Later he sought employment in a depart ment store, a position which yielded better pay, but less opportunity for study. At one time he sought em ployment outside of his home town, the village of St. Peter, but he de clared he would live down the repu ation of his father and remained at home with his mother. The day ame whqn he was enabled to pay off the mortgage on his father's old cot tage and pay for the education of his brother and sister. After several years a friend inter ested Johnson in the St. Peter Her ald, a Democi'atic newspaper in a epublican community. Johnson took p with the proposition and became editor of a country. .newspaper. He became an officer in the State Press association. Here began his political aspirations. Twice he was defeated s candidate for state senatorship. n his third trial he was elected. His record as a minority member brought him into prominence, and later Into the chair of the ceief executive. He is the idol of the people of the state he is serving, simply, because as he juts it-"I just tried to make good." JILTS MOTHER; WEDS GIRL Nebraska Man Now In Jail on Comne plaint of Elder Woman. Because he eloped to Columbus with 15-year-old Birdie Buchanan and made her his bride there on the ay set for his marriage to the girl's mother, Mrs. Ida Buchanan, Herbert C. Stapleman, a wellknowni business man of Central City, has been arrest ed and lodged in jail at Central City, eb. Mrs. Buchanan swore. out a warrant on which Stapleton was ar rested, alleging that in order to wed e'r daughter he represented that she was 18 years of age, whereas she is nnly 15. Mrs. Buchanan, a handsome mid dle aged widow of high social stand ing and dignified family connections, says she bacame engaged to marry Stapleman, who is about her own age several months ago. Stapleman paid assiduous court to her and the wedding was set for Thursady. Sev eral weeks ago, however, Stapleman became enamored of his financee's ~retty, attractive young daughter and began to pay more attention to her than he did to the mother, finally de claring his love for her, and, on the day he was to have wedded Mrs. Buchanan, persuaded her to elope with him. WOMAN HAS LEPROSY. 'he Sixth Case Discovered in Boston and Vicinity. The State board of health of Mas sachusetts has confirmed the report that the young woma whassase enerl heospital after being employ enerasl domestic for several months n aso aof the wealthiest families in oso is a victim of leprosy. She will be removed to the leprosy olony at Fenikese Island off the oast near New Bedford. The pa tient, whose name is concealed, had been under treatment during the past ear for skin disease before the real nature of the affliction was discover ed. This is the sixth case of-leprosy discovered in Boston and vicinity during the past twelve months. BUYS A TOWN To Knock to Pieces With Big Guns and Shot. In order to experiment with vari ous new guns and projectiles, the Austrian governmenthapucse outright the Bohemian village of Miada. All the inhabitants have left, and soon all the latest acquisitions in th ieo uswill be trained on the densel hofmus, and the effect of seiu td ythe Austrian ofcers.