Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, August 01, 1907, Image 1
THE FORT MILL TIMES.
16TH YEAR. FORT MILL. S. C.. THURSDAY, AUGUST 1. 1007. >tO. 18.
? | * *
DEEP LAID PLOT
-s Of
Blackmailers to Extort Money
or Murder Victims.
DEATH WAS RESULT
Of Rofuaal to Pay Sum Doinanded
By the Hla<-kmaildr<*?'One Kioti
Mert-liant Was Killed for ItofiiNintf
to Pay?Ho W'bk (hie of thu Ton
Mon to lie Killed If Tlioy Hid Not
Pay lT|i Prompt ly.
Seeking a motive for the murder of
-f. 8. Travshnnjlan. the A^-meniaii
"UK merchant, of New York, the disrict
attorney's office was led to an
nvestigatlon of a report that Travhanjian
was one of ten wealths Armenians
who had been marked for
laughter if they failed to give un
10,000 each to a blackmailing band
f their countrymen. No color was
iven to this theory by Pedros Hamertzoomian,
who killed the rug man,
'hen the prisoner wa? arrsined
ast week. In court ho maintained a
tolid Indifference, waived examinulon,
and was remanded to the coronr.
Later he made a statement to a
epresontativo of the district attorney
n this he declared that he had come
om Chicago for the express purpose
f killing Tavshanjian, but the crime
as justified by no one and no other
erson or socitey was involved.
From other sources carefully promoted
by the authorities, came inforlation
of a startling character and
tid to be accurate. This is to the
fleet that a secret society of Armenins
originally organized for what
te members held to be patriotic,
tough revolutionary purposes, had
egenerated into an instrument for
tackmail.' The organization had dlshnded.
while the better elements
tfmdrew from all connection with
te society.
The killing of Tavshanjian and the
ohers. It is stated, was planned more
tat a year ago. They received lettTs
which they Interpreted as meaniig
that they must pay or take the
onsequences. The threatened men
dscussed the matter at a meeting arranged
to decide what they should
d>. Tavshanjian was n resent. A
mm her of the merchants were in
fjvor of acceding to the demand.
"Better give them money and
li e," they said.
"No," Bald Tavshanjian. As a matte
of principle we should not pay.
Y?u can do as you will. They will
g?t nothing from me."
Mr. Cam here, Tavshanjian's secretary,
visited the attorney's office, and
there declared that the death of his
enployer grew out of attempted
blickmail.
"There is no government here,"
cr.ed Cambere excitedly. 1 cannot
understand why you have such laws.
In Turkey they would have rounded
them all up. This man who committed
the murder is only the dupe in
the hands of a hand of blackmailers."
Cambere gave Assistant District
Attorney Smythe a list of wealthy Armenians
who he said had been forced
to pay blackmail to this band.
"This Is the work of an Armenian
In thia city who is the worst man in
the world." said a.prominent Armenian
. "He has been responsible for
many murders and lesser crimes, and
tort cowardly to commit them himself.
He gets men of small intollect
to do the work Tor him by making
thorn believe that they are working
for their country."
Another well-to-do Armenian said:
"A priest who tried to fight the band
wa 3 murdered In Odessa. rather
Ka Bper Vartarlan, killed In New York
wa n another victim."
. KlIiLKO IN SKIjF l>KFKN< K.
Yoi Jiig White Man Forcwl to Kill a
Colored Man.
i t h|mm!;?1 dispatch from Springflel
ri to The State says Monroe (iantt
a y oun? white man of this common
Ity, shot to death John Jackson, col
ore d Wednesday afternoon at the sav
mil I of his brothers. Oantt surrender
ed to Judge Corbett.
i Vccordlng to reports Cinatt statesthalt
some days ago his brothers em
Jegro by the name of Sterl
ews. It seems that Mat?
under contract to work
n and left him. Wednesday
rick son took his repeating
vent down to the mill and
. difficulty with Matthews
ich he attempted to shool
t is claimed, interfered 01
to prevent Jackson from
rhen he turned the gun or
o grasped the barrel and
aped a shot fired by Jack
tt then drew his pistol and
son as above slated,
as a large family who. wlti
i, regret the occurrence.
L'HKRH ASHAULTKB
lers Because Price of Mca
Was Kaised.
wish quarter in Philadel
the scene of wild dlsorde
en of the quarter made de
ins against all of the Kosh
*8 as a protest against th<
a the price of beef,
gke invaded by angry wo
customers drivel
and
SAYS HE IS INSANE.
V
Operator on Ship*Asks Police To
Meet Him at Pier.
I/ooses Mind While on Voyage and
Twice Attempts Suicide, Second
Time Jumping Overboard.
After sending a wireless message
telling of his own insanity, John II.
Quinn, De Forest wireless operator
on the New York and Porto Rican
liner Coanio, was met at the pier
when the ship arrived at New York
by the police and sent to his home at
Ravnnno \%? * ? ?-? * * *
. j ?w, ..i.vic iic 10 iwtoveruig ills
mind.
Quinn made two attempts to commit
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 hi.,
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 waB put in irons, and a passenger
who knew a little aliout wireless telegraphy.
sat at his post.
Quinn recovered so far. seemingly,
that at Aguadilly Capt. T. 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.
Second Officer Coughlin went after
him this time and dragged him
back. He was again ironed.
When the Coamo reached Quarantine
Quinn was wild-eyed, but rational
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
a good boy."
Quinn never moved a muscle. In a
moment, however, he got up and
started for the telegraph tower.
There, while half a dozen men guarded
him, he flashed these words:
"Quinn, wireless operator aboard
Coamo, off Quarantine, Insane. Conflno
In mnm * nnt rounnnclKlo #*** a*\_
tlons. Need police help at Pier No.
35, Brooklyn, on arrival.**
The crazed opeiator then faced his
guards and said: "I've done my duty,
haven't I?"
The operator at the De Forest station
at No. 4 2 Broadway, was startled.
He flashed back this message.
"Who's sending this?"
And Quinn, with a queer grin on
his face, replied: "Quinn, himself."
The man was then again locked in
his room and guarded. When the
boat tied up at her pier, Quinn's
brother James, was there with policemen
from the Hamilton avenue station.
The operator made no resistance
and seemed rational. James took him
home. He is twentw-two years old,
and one of the best wireless men in
the business.
HERIES OF Ql'EKR FIRKH.
Seven Occurred in Two Honrs in a
Home of Union.
According to the Union Progress
i cuiai nanir nri iro ul nr?rn uniiMlrtl
mysterious, oven uncanny fires occurred
Wednesday night in the sbor
space of an hour and a half at the
home of Mr. John Wlx of Buffalo.
It seems that al>out 7:30 it was
discovered that there was a fire in
one of the up-stairs rooms. The fire
was in a bed and by the time ail the
mattresses and lied clothing were
gotten to and thrown out, they were
practically consumed.
After everything had apparently
been extinguished much to the emprise
of everyone, in al?out fifteen
minutes the odor of something burn
ing was again noticed. Investigation
showed that a bed in the same room,
but entirely apart from the one burn
ed, was ablaze. This was thrown
out and a through search of everything
was then made. No traces ol
matches or burning material seemed
left.
Hardly had everything settled
down easy when again attention was
attracted by smoke, and it was found
that, the inside of a dresser in the
same room was ablaze, and almost
i consumed.
i Following this mysterious fire in
I a few minutes attention was drawn
to annlhnr rnnm ill a which
I had been shut up for some time, and
which was apparently closed, and In
L this the hedclothing and clothes were
found to be burning.
While this was being put out the
bed down stairs was found to be
ablaze. Following this In a few mint
utes the Are was discovered In one
closet and after it was distinguished
apparently altogether, another place
was discovered In the closet to be
" on flre.
r This morning at 11:30 when Mr
" Wlx was telephoned to to confirm the
" locations, time and occurrence of thit
B flre. It was found that he was having
stilt another and his eighth fire in s
' down stairs room, and that he wat
5 at that moment at home attempting
to put it out.
fc ^ For a while it was not known
the flre wag caused by in
combustion on account
^SgSeflKmUnued Uttenso heat, but aj
pffifflMMnrsdfty Mr. Wit raye that h?
HmHB discovered a few stumps ol
BHHgS^^LHO it .ctaera* that these eight
HB?H^^K^hUsod by tittle rodents
BB|^H|^^ittit>termined to burn hit
contents. As it is
ll^r
LOST AT SEA.
An Appalling Marine Disaster
North of San Francisco.
ONE HUNDRED LOST.
A Urn<" r?.HM?ngcr Strainer Hammed
by a lairge Lumber Vessel?-People
on Iloth Vessels Were Asleep
When the Crash Camo?Many Women
Perish, Hut Many of the Men
I ?f*
A dispatch from San Francisco
Bays in one of the worst marine disasters
in the history of California between
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 Shelter
Cove, twelve miles south of the
Medocino-Humboldt County line, between
12 and 1 o'clock Monday. The
few details known here brought by
the steamer Roanoke and the steam
schooner Daisy Mitchell, which arrived
in San Francisco Monday forenoon.
The Columbia, a 300-foot steel vessel
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 rammed
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 grinding
crash, the San Pedro sank her
stem fully ten feet into the Columbia's
port bow.
Nearly all of the Columbia's passengers
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 covering
over the topB of the Columbia's
masts. The story or mat nve minutes
is yet to be told and as it is told
by some survivors the facts of the
tragedy can be but guessed ut.
According to J. S. Flynn, a passenger
on the Roanoke, Capt. Doran,
of the Columbia, succeeded in launching
four life boats and two rafts before
the Columbia sank. Flynn is
quoted as saying that eighty-eight
passengers, all men. got away in that
manner, and were saved; that Capt.
Doran acted with great coolness in
the face of death and went down with
his ship. P'lynn is further quoted as
saying that none of the hundred odd
women passengers were caved.
Shortly after the collision the
steamers Roanoke and George W.
Elder and the steam schooner Daisy
Mitchell, all south-bound, came on
the scene and stood by. The Elder
took the San Pedro in tow and the
latest reports announce their arrival
in Eureka. The stem of the San
Pedro was smashed to splinters, one
of her masts was snapped off at the
deck and she was settling and had
a heavy list when taken in tow. Capt.
Hansen remained on board.
The Daisy Mitchell offered assistance
to the Elder, but this was declined.
She picked up a life boat
*.nd a raft of the Columbia and
brought them to San Francisco.
Near the scene of the wreck the
Roanoke picked up a life raft and
found underneath it the dead body
of a passenger, supposed to be Edward
Butler, of Portsmouth, N. H.
... ,u. Pt.
I I1G OmcerH UI IIIU mci^auvuv
change in Sun Francisco and of the
various newspapers have been beseiged
since early morning by relatives
and friends of the Columbia's
passengers, but the insistent and
tearful requests for information of
the victims and the rescued remain
unsatisfied. Beyond the reported
facts that Butler was drowned and
that Capt. I)oran went down with his
ship 110 details of casualities have
been received.
Assistant President Frye, of the
steamship company, said that the Columbia
lies in deep water and fifteen
miles ofT shore, and that for the present
at least no attempt will be made
to raise her.
Capt Doran was regarded by the
olhcers of the San Franciso and Portland
Steamship company as one of
the ablest seamen who ever operated
a vessel on the coast. His career had
been free from accident, and this is
the first disaster that has befallen
any vessel over which he held command.
1)1 El> OF BROKEN HEART.
Wife Insisted on leaving Farm for
the City.
Arthur Gladden. 58, a prosperous
farmer of Dimondale, Mich., is dead
of a broken heart. Owing to the am1
bltion of his wife to move to the city,
1 Gladden had sold his farm for $8,000
and purchased a bouse in Lansing.
1 When the time came to give pos|
session of the beautiful cottage and
> broad acres which had been his home
1 ;x> long, Gladden wandered from Held
' to field, from stable to stable, taking
f last looks at all of which he thought
so much. Climbing into/he haymow,
1 he covered himself in the fragrant
clover, the strings of his heart snfep
ped and he died without a word or a
1 cry. V. "
: When found his cheeks were still
; wet with the leant f hick bad rq umd
| ateadilv down hft cheek^to^in^^
COWARDLY CAPTAIN.
Commander Hansen Is Charged
With Gross Inhumanity.
Many More LItcs Could Have Ileen
Saved if He Mad Taken on More
of Rescued.
A dispatch from San Francisco
says after the tales of heroism surrounding
the Columbia wreck?the
glorious death of Captain Doran, and
the self-abnegation of the girl Maybelle
Watson? comes the other side
of the disaster.
A charge of gross inhumanity and
the sacrifice of many lives has formally
been made against Captain
Hansen of the San Pedro, by the
uiiiu uuiter, nooert hiiwea or the
Columbia. It has been made to Local
Inspector Bolles.
It is part of the record of the United
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 siuking
ship.
Now comes the accusation in so
many words that Captain Hansen
was the cause of many men and women,
struggling in the water by refusing
to take any more of the rescued
on the San Pedro?a steamer
that could not sink because she carried
a cargo of lumber.
The fearful charge is calmly made
under oath by Third Mate Hawse.
He solemnly says to Captain Bolles
that he brought a boat load of rescued
passengers up to the San Pedro
and requested that they be taken
care of. He declares that ho was
met wth a refusal to receive anymore
of the Coitimbla's passengers.
"I repeatedly asked them to take
the women?one of whom was half
naked and delirious," says Hawse Id
his sworn statement.
Such an appeal would ordinarily
melt the heart of bronze, but Hawse
declares that the man In command
of the San Pedro refused to shelter
any more passengers of the sinking
Columbia. Then comes the fearful
accusation:
"If the San Pedro had taken these
passengers, I could have snved many
more lives."
Hawse says his boat was so full he
feared to take any more In it, lest it
be swamped. He saw many more
men and women struggling in the
water and all he needed was his
empty boat to go to their assistance.
That is a dreadful accusation for
Captain Hansen to face, particularly
when his steamer is safe in the harbor
of Eureka and the photographs show
fVinf oho nr*u 1H Kuvo tol/on un'uv manv I
more men and women aboard without
endangering the lives of any.
But Third Officer Hawse does not
stop with his charge against Captain
Hansen. He has a sea dog's contempt
for the men whom he rescued
In his t>oat and did not show any evidence
of chivalry In the hour of heroism.
One of the four women he had
picked up was out of her head. All
the women were scantily attired but
three of them were heroines, and
Hawse In his sworn statement, says:
"I desire to speak in the highest
terms of praise in regard to the three
noble women and in lowest terms of
contempt for the men passengers who
would not inconvenience themselves
to make the lot of the women more
comfortable.
And then come a tribute all around
to the man who was on his bridge
when through a fog and not in bed,
as was Captain Hansen. This tribute
comes from all sides to Captain Peter
Doran who did everything that a man
could do to save the people, and then
went down with his ship to his death
rather than crowd some of his passengers
from a life l?oat or a raft.
FATAL ACCIDKNT.
One Man Killed and Two Others
nun in ;iuiu.
Dr. J. T. Killebbrew, one of the
most prominent of the younger physicians
of Mobile Ala., was ground to
pieces under the wheels of a moving
freight train. Perrin Bestora, a prominent
young attorney was seriously,
and W. P. Horn, a well known business
man, was slightly injured in an
automobile accident Thursday afternoon.
They were driving in an automobile
and when crossing a railroad
track the approaching train was
seen. Although the automobile
crossed the track. Dr. Killebrew
jumped and was caught beneath the
wheels of the train.
Dr. Killebrew was president of the
Mobile County Medical society, a lecturer
on the diseases of women in the
University of Alabama and an assistant
in the Ingo-Bonduraut infirmary
at Mobile. He was born and reared
at Nashville, Tenn.
WOMAN HAS LEPR08Y.
The Sixth (W Discovered in Boston
and Vicinity.
The State board of health of Massachusetts
has confirmed the report
that the young woman who was recently
removed to the Massachusetts
General hospital after being employed
as a domestic for several months
In gome of the wealthiest families in
Boston is a victim of leprosy.
She will be removed to the leprosy
colony at Fenlkese Island off the
coast near New Bedford. The pahose
name is concealed, had
iWBI^MMfc^jga^ent during the past
WRECK HORRORS
As Described by Two People Who
Were on the Columbia.
DROWNED LIKE RATS.
Mrs. Ijcidcll Who Whs On HI 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.
i ne racinc coast Steamship company's
passenger steamer Pomona arrived
in San Francisco from Eureka
at 10:30 Thursday, bringing from the
latter place one of the surviving passengers
or the wrecked steamer Columbia
and the thirty two members of
the Columbia's crew, who were saved
out of her total complement of 59
The passenger is Mrs. O. Leidell, of
San Francisco.
The crowd was made to stand back
and keep a lane open while the Pomon'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
uuder her chin, she came falteringly
dowu 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 dou't want to say anything, I
don'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
of my stateroom. Every one was excited?every
one except the captain.
He stood on the bridge, his arms extended,
begging the passengers to be
cool. The crew stood at the boats,
cutting away at the lines that held
them. There was no chance to lower
them. All who could piled into the
boats. Ixits of people jumped over
the side, trying to climb onto bits of
wood which were floating in the water.
1 did not have time to think.
I ran to the side. There under the
side was a raft. There was nobody
on it. I jumped and struck on the
raft. Other women got on it also.
One crawled from the water, others
jumped from the boat.
"Then the Columbia went down,
bow first. The raft drifted around
and water washed over us. Two wo
men una a lime cnna were wasnea
off and I never saw them again. One
woman was left. Her hold was weak.
She begged me to help her. I tried
to hold her on, but I was too weak.
She died before my eyes. Oh! I can't
forget that. I'll never forget that.
She drowned and i could not help
her. Who she was I don't know.
Now and then I got a glimpse of another
raft or boat. We got some
pieces of wood after awhile and used
them for oars, and finally?it must
have been hours afterward?we
climbed on the San Pedro. It was u
terrible climb up her side.
"Mc-n helped, but I felt so odd and
weak I never thought I would get
over it. The waves kept striking ever
us. We were dripping wet, and it
was so cold. On the San Pedro we
were sitting on two little narrow
pieces of lumber. Suddenly a wave
carried away the lumber we were sitting
on.
"We managed to stay on the ship,
however, but there were some who
got that far, who got no further, for
without any warning, the rear mast
of the San Pedro gave away and
swept several into the sea. One or
I nr/\ itrni?A nr 4 Ito/ilr olitrn ft u t A f
the others we saw nothing. And the
darkness hanging over everything
made It terrible. We did not know if
the San Pedro would hold together,
although the officers and crew did
their best to choer iib up. The day
broke. The fog still hung low, and
the light only appeared gradually,
hut then we could see who was saved,
and who was not. That sight f
can't tell you about it. Everything
about it was so desolate and dismal.
And then the Elder came up. They
got us ahoad, cared for us, and at
Eureka I secured the only remaining
berth on the Pomona to come hack
here."
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.
All was confusion and turmoil. The
roar of the water as It poured into the
hole in the Columbia's side was deafening.
Then desperately swimming
away I caught a rope thrown from
the San Pedro. Prom there I looked
lioolr at tho Cnliimltln IlIRt In time
to sec her plunge beneath the waves.
As she sunk 1 could dimly see many
men dash across the deck toward the
San Pedro; the next moment the fog
had hidden the dreadful scenes.
"I am sure that many steerage
passengers did not leave their staterooms
as the interval was so short
between the time she was struck and
the time she sank that the men had
not time to get to the deck, and those
thatidl|^umped overboard and were
sucktQBtan^bythe vortex created
by
the
it knee
th?
screams
DIES TRYING TO FLY.J
Christian Scientist Plunges Four
Stories to Street
Wife Clings to Ilk* Ankle An He
llanos From the Window Until Site
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 brownstone
residence of Dr. Gregory Costigan,
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 begun to read Mary G. Eddy'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 Saturday
night Howe came home and
chatted for ashort time with Dr. Costigan.
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 undressed
and got into bed. taking with
him a book be 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 ou 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 cut and
bruised by coming in contact with the
sharp edge of the stone window sill.
Finally the woman's strength gave
way, and. with a shriek that arroused
the neighborhood, she fell back into
the 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 windowHowe
had carried with him Mrs Eddy'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 below
without injury, and then enter
the house and display himself to the
physician as a convert ing argument
in favor of Christian Science.
Mrs. Howe says that, shortly before
her husband made for the window he
hat'1 told her that I)r. Costigan had
been practically, converted to Christian
Science and comtemplated giving
up his practice.
CALHOl'N COI'XTY.
Two l'ro|N>s?'d Counties Want to I'sr
the Name.
A dispatch from Columbia to the
Augusta Chronicle says the commission
which is seeking to form a new
county with St. Matthews as the
county seat with Calhoun as the
name of the new county met here
Wednesday and organized by electing
M. D. Keller and J. S. Sal ley permanent
chairman and secretary, respectively.
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
be called Calhoun. This hopes t<
make Dillon, in Marion county, s
county seat-.
The commission which finishes its
work first in such a way as to war
rant an order from the governor for
an election will win out on the nanu
if the election carries.
811KKIFF COMMITS Silt 'II HO.
Driven to Act By Memory of Man ll?
Recently Handed.
Because the hanging of a negro it
the line of his official duty preyed or
his nerves, Sheriff Joseph B. Bennett
of Starke, county, Fla., blew out hii
brains. The deed was committed a
his home In the presence of his wife
About two weeks ago the sherif
adjusted the noose and sprung th<
IM'HI II II H|i IUI II iii'Ki ii mm umi ucn
convicted of murder. Although i
brave man , Sheriff Bennett coul<
never bear the sight, of suffering am
he could not rid himself of the mem
ory of the man dangling at the rope'
end. lie became unable to go to sleei
and told friends he would never agaii
have peace of mind.
After a sleepless night, he arose
secured his pistol, and shot himsel
through the head while his wife wa
still in bed. Mrs. Bennett awok
Just as her husband's body fell acros
the bed.
WOMAN FOUND UFAI).
And Her Husband Found Uncor
scions in Itear of Flat.
I At Chicag^> on Thursday Mri
Kmanuel Bloom *ras mysteriousi
: stabbed and killed in her apartment!
r Her husband was fouj^unsconsciou
i on the groiUi^A^M^^krofUic fla'
I evident 1 >HHot thel
I da! oi^|B !
I SAME OLD STORY
Thirty People Killed in a Rail Road
1 _ ! J A
Accironi.
THE FEARFUL WRECK
i Was on l'liw Marquette Excursion
Train, Which Crashed Into a
Freight Train?At IaniM Thirty
Art' Known to 1h' Dead, ami Seventy
Others Are More or Less Seriously
Hurt.
Thirty people arc dead and more
thau 70 injured, many of them seriously,
as the result of u head-end
collision Saturday morning near Plymouth,
Mich., when a Pero Marquette
excursion train hound from Ionia to
Detriot crashed into a westbound
freight in a cut located at a sharp
curve about a mile east of Salem.
The passenger train of It cars,
carrying the Here Marquette shop
employes of Ionia and their families
to the Michigan metropolis for their
annual excursion, was running at
high speed, probably 50 miles an
hour, down a steep grade. It struck
e lighter locomotive of the freight
train with such terrifllc force as to
turn the freight engine completely
around.
The wrecked locomotives lay side
by side, both headed eastward. Only
a few of the freight cars were damaged
and it was only a few hours'
work to remove all traces of them
from the scene. Hut behind the two
wrecked locomotives six cars of the
passenger train lay piled in a hopeless
wreck.
Four of the passenger coaches remained
on the track undamaged and
were used to convey the dead and injured
to Ionia; one coach was en
tirely undamaged with only its forward
trucks off the rails. These
were the rear live cars. The two
coaches next ahead of those were telescoped.
The next car forward stood
almost on end after the wreck, its
forward end resting on the roadbed
and the rear end high in the air upon
the two telescoped coaches that had
been following it.
Two coaches were thrown crosswise
of the track and lay suspended
from hank to bank of the cut live or
six feet above the railroad. Of the
baggage coach nothing was left to
show where it had been tossed. Portions
of the lmggage car and of the
locomotive tender and freight cars
were plied in au indescribable mass
of debris.
The 28 dead bodies first t aken
from the wreck were shipped to
Ionia, and the injured were placed on
two trains, one of which headed for
Detrlot and the other for Ionia. There
were about 3.r> injured people on each
train.
hater in the day the body of Ed
Corwan, the head brakeman of the
passenger train, was taken out of
the wreck.
Fireman Knowles died on the relief
train enroute to Detrlot, bringing
the list of dead to 30. with a possibility
that more bodies might, be
found in the wreckage and that, several
of the injured may die.
Responsibility is plaaced squarely
up to the crew of the freight train by
officers of the road. Officials who arrived
at the scene of the wreck soon
after the accident, secured from the
freight the orders under which it was
running and which clearly showed
the position of the passenger excursion
train, and that the freight had
encroached upon the other train's
running time. The special train was
due at Salem at !?: 1 0 a. in., and at
Plymouth at 3:3ft a. in. It passed
Salem on time.
1 The time card of the special was
telegraphed to the freight crew In the
form of a trnin o^der and this order
1 with the signatures of the fretgiit
1 train crew, attached, was recovered
' hy the officials of the road. The
1 freight crew left the scene early, but
railroad officials said that they ex'
plained simply that they had forgotten.
The collision occurred at 9:13
o'clock and the freight train should
have reached Salem ait 9:10 to be
within their orders.
i11/rs Moriii.ic; \vi;i>s tiiHii
* Nebraska Man Jimv In Jail on Coin*
plaint of Kliler Woman.
i because lie eloped to Columbus
i with 15-year-old Mirdie Buchanan
. and made her his bride there on the
a day set for his marriage to the girl's
I mother, Mrs. Ida* Buchanan, Herbert
C. Stapleman. a wellknown business
f man of Central City, has been arrest
f*<l and lodged in jail at Central City,
1 Meh. Mrs. Buchanan swore out a
* warrant on which Stapleton was arI
rested, alleging that in order to wed
her daughter he represented that she
" was 18 years of age, whereas she is
s only 15.
P Mrs. Buchanan, a handsome midI
die aged widow of high social standing
and dignified family connections.
' says she harame engaged to marry
f Stapleman. who is about her own
H age several months ago. Stapleman
e paid assiduous court to her and the
8 wedding was set for Thursady. Several
weeks ago, however, Stapleman
became enamored of his flnancee's
pretty, attractive young daughter and
began to pay more attention to her
i- than he did to the mother, finally declaring
his love for htr, and, on the.
day he was to have wedded Mrs. .
Buchanan, persuaded her to elope
y with him.
? DEATH IN A MINE.
,8
' < )o r l our Hnndmd Jmm Meet Death
II
K rm li 'll ItfllMktei
H olliety at. JlJM