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. THE FORT MILL TIMES, I ' ?r ~i : 1 7TII YEAR FORT MITT, S. C., THURSDAY, JUTY 28, 1908 NO 16 MYSTERIOUS DEATH. POLICE OFFICERS AT TROY, N. Y., ARK RAFFLED. ! Efforts to Find Slayer of Nineteen* Year-OKI Girl, WIionc Roily Was Found Sunday, Unrewarded. 5_ A dispatch from Troy, N. Y., says out of a maze of the theories which confront the authorities who arte trying to lift the cloud of mystery surrounding the death of 19 yearold Hazel I. Drew, whose body was found In an eld mill pond near Averett Park last Sunday, nothing tangible developed bo far that points to the murderer the motive for the crime. No arrests have been made, although the police have closely questioned several persons whom it was thought might throw some light on the case. That the girl was assaulted before o..c Miis inurciereu and thrown into tliH pond. Ik the generally accepted theory, but the body was in such n state of decomposition when found us to make it practically impossible for the physicians to determine that l'uct. Theories multiply as to the motive for the murder. The girl was not known to have an enemy or sweetheart, and the batlled authorities were even willing to take up the possibility of suicide. The physcian's statement. however, to the effect that there was no water in the lung wus given as proof that the girl was dead before her body wus thrown into the pond. At the church yard at Poestenklll, where Hazel's life began, her body was laid to rest. A bunch of roses adorned the casket, while the Rev. W. II. E. Richards, of the Methodist Church, offered prayer. Only a few friends and relatives were present. What the girl did from the time she left her aunt on Monday, July fc, until the hody was found, remains untold. Rliody Gunderinun and Frank Sinits tell of having seen Hazel on Tuesday night on the road leading from Averill Park to Tuberton. They met her, they say, at a point in the road railed "The Hollow." A little father along another road branches off to the left and leads to the home of Wm. Taylor, an un- i cle of the girl. She may have been on her way to visit some friends in Taberton or her destination inav have been he.* uncle's home. According to Gunderman'B story the girl I was carrying her hat in her hand One or the numerous theories that developed suggested that a young woman living at Taberton closely resembles the. murdered girl and that Gunderuian and Smith might have been mistaken in thinking that she was Hazel. The girl, however, when quoBtoned, said she whs not on the road on Tuesday night, although she had been that way on foot on other nights. The authorities sire endeavoring to lind the suit ease and handbag which (lie g|r| carried when she left Troy. The fact that she did not have them wh"ii she met Oundernian and Smith is taken to indicate that she may have left them where she has spent th * preceding night. The possibility that the Imp and suit case n.ay have been thrown into the mill pond led the authorities to open the g ite of the dam for the purpose of draining. After about two feet of v uti r had been let out a heavy thunder storm came up and further ope "alio as were postponed until Thursday. The girl's hat, gloves and eyeglasses were found on the bank, and there was no indication of a Httngflfcc. although a sufficient. time had elapsed since the girl met her death to have permitted the trampled press to revive. The theory that the girl died from rm i'infill itiivu iti in* h'miii im u rursn string lied about her nock. and which is said to have boon cut nt the time of (lie autopsy, is not given much credence by the authorities. The utrins apparently was one thai the girl wore about her neck and it bruk< when the body became swollen by being in the water eo long. The authorities do not place much credence in the story that the girl was taken to the lonely pond by a party in an automobile. PLE \st RE IjAI NCH LOST. Twenty-Five of it Seventy-Five Passengers arc Drowned. A pleasure launch. hound from Manila to jCorreligdor Island., carrying about seventy-five passengers, was caught in a typhoon Thursday and foundered. it is 1 relieved that twenty- live of the passengers. Including three ^ Americans, were drowned. The oth ITS, rilll lnrvins HIMllll IIII.Y. ncic picked up by the British steamer Snverlc, which was passing close to th-> Innnch when It foundered. The Fuverlc lowered its lioats immediately and those, together with the boits from other craft that came > to the rescue, picked up the fifty ' passengers with much difficulty. It Is reported that an? army of surgeons Is among the lost. Details of the disaster have not yet reached Manila. Corregidor Island Is at the entrance of Manila Bay, thirty miles from * thQ city- , _ * KILLED 11Y ENGINE. Horrible Accident Occurred iu Columbia Tuesday Night. At Columbia Mr. James E. Mlkell met a horible and almost Instant death Tuesday night just a few minutes before the hour of midnight at the corner of Gervais and Lincoln streets. He was struck by a Soaboard passenger engine at the point where the tracks of the Seaboard cross, Gorvais street aud his body was dragged about 100 feet north before the engine pased over it. Mr. Mikell has been employed for several weeks by the Seaboard as a substitute watchman, and Tuesday night he was on duty at the Gervais street crossing, next to the Seaboard station. When the southbound passenger train arrived at 11.4 5 p. m., he was at his post and readily gave the proper signals. The. engine which brings this train to Columbia from Portsmouth is relieved here by another engine and crew. The engine which brought the train into the station had transferred to the siding and was backing, going north to the Sydney park yards, when it struck Mr. Mikell. The engineer, Mr. Jas Norton, evidently failed to observe that his engine hud struck any object, for he made no stop after striking the man and was not aware that he had run over und killed a man until some 20 minutes afterward when the agent called him over the telephone and so informed him. i BODY ON MARKKT FOB f&O. ???? i John Barrett, TO Years Old, Wnuts to Sell His Body. Deported by his fortune, which once smiled niton him. John Barrett, of Middleton, Conn., offers to soil his body for $50. The offer has been refused by the (Joorge Washington hospital, at Washington, D. C. C.. to which it was made, but the offer is still open. narrett Is about 70 years old. and although apparently hale and hearty and likely to live many years more, he feels that his days are numbered, and rather than live In want he would rnlse the $50 which will chase the wolf away for a while by glviug a lien on his body. He came to Washington in search of health, hoping to benefited by the climate. "I don't think there is anything so unusual in iuy ofTer," he said.. "1 have heard of Buch cases before, and I know that hospitals pay $50 for bodies for dissecting purposes. By getting this money 1 can live a little easier for a while, but I believe that my days are not very long, and I fear the time when I will not have a penny. I have been able in the past to pay my room rent promptly and purchase the food that I need, but my money is very low now." FIBK ANSWKBS FBAYKB 111 .,,, i*?? i ? 1 cd Might Im* Removed. Twelve hours after the Rev. Geo. Edward Lewis. in a public prayer, asked that the amusement resorts of ( Irving park, Chicago, where liquor . is sold, "might he burned to the | ground," Excelsior park was consuui- , ed by fire. The prayer wns offered , within three blocks of Excelsior park in a revival meeting in the Emmanuel Congregational church. , Proprietors of the park state their loss will reach $f?0,000 and that they ( had taken extra precautions against flro, owing to the preacher's prayer. , It is believed the blaze was caused by crossed wires. The police are looking for two men who were seen in the park Just before the fire. AFTER REEF TRI'ST AGAIN. New York Decides to Investigate High Price of Meat. The transactions of the Beef trust i 11 New York state is to be examined by Attorney General Jackson, of that commonwealth. Tired of the constant rise in the price of meats, the people of the state have revolted, nod Gov Hughes has heard the public clamor. "1 am glad this matter has been called to my attention," declares Attorney Jackson, "as I can not see why, at this time of the year, when it costs less to keep cattle than at any other season, the trust is charging the consumer three and three and a half cents a pound more than it did three months ago. If I can find any trust officers within this state who can be proceeded against. I intend to get after them." i Kill's His Wife. Robert Wright, aged 32. cut his wife's throat and then attempted to commit suicide at their home, four miles west of McXinney. Tex.. Tuesday. When discovered his wife was lying dead on the floor with her windpipe severed, and Wright, with several gashes In his throat, was wandering about the house, begging for some one to kill him. The couple are survived by a three-year-old child, who was found sitting on the bed near where its dead mother was lying. Fleet Near Honolulu. The American fleet of battleships arrived at Honolulu about 1 o'clock Thursday afternoon, according to a -late wireless dispatch. VICTORY FOR BRYAN. REPrilLICAN LEADERS ADMIT DEMOCRATS HAVK CHANCE. Hand a Throttle of Party Machinery is (land of More Seasoned Engineer?Attention to New York. In the view of practical politicians in Washington the Democrats have started well at Denver. It is candidly admitted by prominent Republicans there that the beginning of the campaign is under more auspicious circumstances for tlio Democrats than at any period of the party's history since 1892. No one attempts to account for the fact that harmony seems to have prevailed at Denver to an unusual extent, and that the whole party machinery seems to have been better oiled than at any time for sixteen years. The only explanation offered is that the hand of the J man at the throttle was that of a more seasoned engineer than In past years. Mr. Bryan, according to shrewd observers, has learned some things. Years have brought with him the knowledge of placating opposing elements, instead of putting them at each others' throats. Mm< %? ?. ..... ...m wv-n- it-ii iHi.vs ago declared that Bryan hail no earthly chance i?f election in November now admit that the beginning made at Denver Is such as to ensure a rattling campaign and possibly, Democratic victory. It all depends, they believe, upon whether the Democratic campaign is smoothness as the preliniithe same smoothness rs the preliminary stages. If it is November may liring tidings of a change in government control. There is little question, in the minds of politicians that the tight :o be made by Mr. Bryan will ho n the West and Middle West. That, t is pointed out, is plainly shown in ne platform. Mr. Bryan went out if his way to put up a platform hat would catch the Western people, ind as plainly as if he had said it llmself the declaration or principles >f the Democracy appeals to West(in sentiment and thought. Mr. Bryin will depend for his election upon he South, with Nebraska. Kansas, rVisconsin. Minnesota, Illinois. Indluiu and the Dakotas. and he expects o give Mr. Taft a great fight in Ohio, vliere the Republican party is still orn with dissension. It. Is doubtful, iccordiug to political reasoning, if he Democrats will give the slightest it tent ion to a single Eastern State, inless it is New York. And whether hey will do that will depend upon he developments in the entire State. Mr. Bryan plainly says to the counry that he has studied sentiment In lie West, and thai he believes it will >e with him in November. Hl'ItT IX I T HE. Woman Jumps From Second Story Witli Fatal Result. in a lire at Memphis, Tenn., Tues1av which destroyed the fashionable Jefferson tlats, Mrs. F. 11. James, formerly of Chicago, jumped from a second story window and is now in a critical condition nt the Presbyterian tinanllnl Vl ra l i c'"1" was carried from the building by firemen. Mrs. Elizabeth McDouald, living on the fourth floor, did not awake until she was hemmed in on all sides by flames. Her cries attracted firemen who carried her through a window and down an extension ladder. A few minutes later the roof fell in over her room. A number of other ocupants of the building were rescued by firemen, nest of them clad in their night garments. Diamonds valued at $10,000 were recovered from Mrs. James' room durng the progress of the tiro by Policemen Crosby and Smith. Loss, $2r?,000, covered by insurance. SHOT THKOl'GH WINDOW. Shi of Superintendent of Methodist Orphanage in Georgia Ihully Hint. At Atlanta, Ga.. Ilirman Jamieson. the eight-year-old son of Superintendent Jamieson. of lie Decatur Methodist Orphans' Home, and Mrs. Jamieson wore pcrhn is fatally wounded late Tuesday while on a suburban car returning to their home after an outing given to the orphans of Fulton County. As the ear was speeding along a shot was fired from a passing freight train on the Georgia Railroad, which parallels the trolley line, the bullet passing through the head of the boy and entering his mother's neck. Who fired the shot is not known, huh Inter the entire crew of the freight train was placed under arrest. At tending pnysinans say mn noy cannot recover and that Mrs. Jamieson's condition is critical. Prick Mason Kills Himself. Paul Kichelberger. a brick mason. committed suicide at Orlando, Kla.. Tuesday by taking jtolson. His Imdy was found in an alley. Klchelborger was recently sentenced to the penitentiary for cruel treatment to his wife, and the humilation is evidently what caused him to take his life. KAILS CAUSE WKKCK. One Woman Killed and Several Other Passengers Hurt. One wuman was killed, two were perhaps mortally injured and nearly a dozen persons were seriously hurt when the White Mountain express, of the New York, New Haven and Hartford was wrecked 100 feet west of Greenwich. Conn., Thursday. Spreading rails caused the ten-car train to leave the tracks while it was rroBsing a bridge over a steamboat road, and five of the passengers cars, including four Pullmans, were hurled into a ditch, where they collapsed like paper bboxes. That less than fifteen of 180 passengers were killed or injured seems little short of miraculous, as the train was going fifty miles an hour. The most tragic incident of the wreck was the death of Miss Margaret Armstrong, of Wayne. Pa., who was seated beside her mother in one of the Pullman coaches when the train left the tracks. Miss Armstrong sprang from her seat and leaped out of a window just us the car toppled over and she was ground to death as her mother looked on. Mrs. Armstrong fainted from the shock, and when she recovered consciousness in the hospital she was out of her mind. The doctors administered opiates to quiet her. They say her condition is serious, and that she may die, nunough she was not injured in the wreck. The other woman who may die 1M mrn. ;\.\1 . l?mKe or 17 lSUSt 8th street, New York city, who was crushed In one of the cars. An Immediate Investigation as to the cause of the wreck is to be made. The coroner has had the engineer and both conductors of the train placed under arrest, and he is having the work of moving the wreckage watched. This action was taken because of a report that readied the corner that a rotten tie on the bridge caused the accident. There is evidence alleged that' the tie was in such a worm-eaten condition that the spikes i holding the rails were pulled out. * 1M M)SK V ELT'S FRIEND KIX) PES. Oklahoma Marshal Stole lli-idc He i Had Determined to Marry. John R. Abernnthy, former Hough Rider, and United States marshal for 1 Oklahoma under appointment from ! President Roosevelt was married in ' Oklahoma City, after an elopement ' In which an angry father was evaded. The bride is Almira Pervlance. 19 years of age.of near Guthrie Ab- 1 ernathy is a widower of a year. ;?2 1 years of age and lias six children. His 1 first marriage was an elopnient from ' Galveston. Tex. Mr. Pervlance oh- ' jected to the miriage on accunt of 1 the disparity of age. Ahe.rnathy entertained the President nt his ranch, then in Comnn- 1 die county In 1905, and took him on some famous weflf chases. In the following year he was appointed marshal, despite charges that, ho was unfit and which were reported to the President as untrue, the investigator being Gov. Prantz, another Rough Rider. GONZALES VISITS BRYAN. t KtlUni* siovij # Will Make a Few Spmlics. W. TO. Gonzales, editor of the State, of Columbia, S. C.. and one of Mr. Bryan's lieutenants, after a visit with Mr. Bryan and Mr. Kern at Kalrview, Lincoln, Neb., Tuesday said: "The statement that Mr. Bryan will not make a canvass is incorrect. It is his present purpose, however, to deliver no platform speeches, but to make ten or a dozen political addresses. dealing with the more vital issues as presented In the platform. Mr. Kern will make a more coninuotis campaign, and 1 was assured in Denver that Mr. Towne will he no less active than if he had been the Vice Presidential nominee." Mr. Gonzales said that campaign contributions will he invited by newspapers In his State, and he believed every Democratic paper in the South would do likewise. * (JOKS FROM ASYLIM TO J\1L. Alleged Kmhc/./.lcr in Florida Arrested mid Will Im* Tried. G. C. Scudamore, former cashier of the Pensacola Bank and Trust Co.. and charged with embezzling large sums of money from that institution, was hi ought to Pensacola Tuesday and placed in the county jail, being arrested by a deputy as he walked from the grounds of the Florida Insane Asylum at Chatahoochee. N He will be arrainged for trial at an early date. Scudamore. when I arrested a month ago on the charge I of embezzling and set free on the plea of insanity, and after many commissions had passed on him ln? was declared to be insane and committed to the asylum. The asylum authorities recently decided, that he was sane and his discharge followed. Difliculty Alnuit a Con. At Lancaaster on Wednesday a difficulty occurred between two negroes, Bart Frazier and Harvey Massey, on the Witherspoon plantation. on Catuwha river, in which Krar.ior was shot in the abdomen Massey using a shotgun. The attending physician says the wounded man will die. The trouble was about a cow. DISGRACE IN OLD AGE VENERABLE OREGON POSTM ASTER EMBEZZLE I) FOR FAMILY. Stole First to I'ay Mt?rtxap> Thru He Stole That lie Might Live Beyond His Ineonte. Witnesses, sspertutors, lawyers anil others drawn to Bend Ore., by the recent land fraud cases were called upon to witness an unusual spectacle when Federal Judge Wolverton sentenced Alfred H. Grant, the venerable postmaster of that place, to ocitr mrve years and six month in the Federal prison on McNeill's island and to pay a fine of $3,261.76. Grant had pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement of Government funds through the conversion of money orders to his private use. For more ti an 2.r> years he had been a highly respected citizen of Cook comity. and had for years been post master at Hay Creek. Five years ago he was promoted to the more important office at Bend and despite the increase in business which enabled him to embezzle over $3,000. Grant was so trusted that his bond had not. been raised above $1,000. It does not appear that he used a cent of the stolen money on himself or spent It extravagantly. He stole first to pay a mortgage on his home, then to furnish his house and make his wife and only child comfortable. Living beyond his income opened the downward path to ruined character and to prison Iii shame and disgrace. It was about 10 a. m. when Mr. Grant was brought before Judge Wolverton. As his name was called a pathetic figure, crouching as much as It could in the shadow of a huge deputy marshal, arose and walked hestitatingly toward the center of the chamber. His face was bronzed, and his whitening beard emphasized the darker lines of his seamy face. The man had always borne a good reputation and showed no trace of anything that would arouse a suspicion to the contrary. Grant bowed his head when facing the bench that he might hide his eyes that were red with weeping. The district attorney explained the extenuating circumstances. It was with some difficulty .hat Judge Wolverton passed sentence an the man who is a few years his iunior. "It is the judgment of this court." continued Judge Wolverton in low Aiid measured toues. "that you pay ? fine of $3,118.54 and be confined in the penitentiary on McNeills Island pac ? ...i**.!?j ?- a 4 .w. it i>vi tun 01 iwo yenrs and six months on the first count; that you pay a fine of $14.'5.22 and be confined for a period of one year upon the second count." This made the total fine *2 261.76, the amount of the enibezz'ement, and the imprisonment 42 months The Imprisonment may he reduced three mouths, upon good b<-ha\ ioi And then after this time has expired about 1 5 months, or to two years and Grant can, after further confinement of 30 days, take the pauper's oath and be released. The sentence was a comparatively light one as tho limit on each count is ten years. POWEDKlt MAGAZINE EXPLODES. Nine Lives Snulfed Out Suddenly in i a Washington Town. At Cleelum, Wash., an explosion Thursday in the powder magazine of the Northwestern Improvement Co., killed nine persons and seriously injured a number of others. The dead: George Mead, manage jf Northwestern Improvement Go's, store: Gilford McDonnells, clerk: Andy Grill, clerk Mrs. Perry Moffntt, wife of brlekniaker; Infant child of Mrs. Moffatt, Joe Rossle, miner; Joseph Pogrlaphi, miner; two miners. Shortly before 5 o'clock Manager Mead and the two clerks from the store went to the powder house to assist in unloading a carload of powder. How the accident happened is nui Known. A STH.WCiK AMMAI,. People of Cot tagc vilic Stirred I'p Ovei Nature Freak. \ dispatch from Walterboro says foi Home days past the people of Cottageviile have heen very much exercised over the appearance in that neighbored of a strange animal. it is described by those who have seen it as being entirely different from anything they have ever seen before in the animal kingdom. It is about the sise of a yearling calf, has a head shaped like a dog. screams like a peacock and leaps like a kanagroo. Some persons who have seen it say that it is affrighted; others that it is vicious and showssigns of attacking them. On the whole it is a most peculiar animal. * White- Haired "Tiger" Convicted. D. Parker, an old white-haired, gray-bearded man. pleaded guilty in the Court of Sessions at. Spartan burr, Tuesday morning on the charge of selling liquor. He looked like Alexander Dowle. Judge Hydrlck endeavored to get the defendant to promise that he would not sell any more whiskey, but the old man would not promise. He was sentenced to serve three month or pay a fine of $100. SKY EX MIX KKS KILLED. Terrific Explosion of Gas in Pennsylvania Coal Mine. At Pottsville. Pa.. on Thursday seven mine workers were killed nud ten others injured by a terrific explosion of gas in the \Viliianistown colliery of the Summit Branch Mining Company, in the lower part of the anthracite coal fields. The mtne was wrecked and set on fire. The dead are: John Riley. Arthur Hawk. Charles Ricourt. John Whttlp. Anthony Prelas. James Bowman. Michael Staknm. The explosion occurred in No. 1 shaft of the colliery and is believed to have been caused by one of the men lifting the gaze of his safety lamp just after an explosion of a shot which brought down a large body of coal. The explosion shook th? ?>i? 11 colliery. The work of rescue was luimediutcly begun and when volunteers were called for almost every man at the workings offered his services, which meant a hazardous trip into the burning mine. Near the foot of the shaft the injured were found, they having rushed toward the entrauee only to fall over unconscious. All of the dead were found a short distance from the shaft battered and burned into an almost unrecognizable mass. Physicians from Willinrustown and nearby villages treated the Injured while a number of women volunteered their services as nurses. Several of the Injured were removed to their homes, after receiving temporary treatment, but others were in too serious a condition to he moved until night, and cots were provided for them. The doctors say three of the injured may die. One of the injured was taken to the morgue, and it was not until .111 identification of the bodies was made that it was found that he was living. He was badly burned and battered, but probably will recover. The fire In the mine probably will he extinguished before more damage is done. The Willlamstown colliery is operated by the companies controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. <il\ F.S .lOV TO BRYAN*. Defeat of Taft .Man in Western Town Causes Satisfaction. ! The defeat Monday of a Taft man ( for Mayor of Walla Walla. Wash., a | Republican stronghold, was the cause , jf much jubilation at Fairview. ( Neb. With unfeigned delight. Rrv- ( an announced the receipt of this , telegram from W. 11. Murphy. Do- ( moeratic leader of that city. "The , Democrats of Walla Walla, Wash., ( send greetings. As the first favorable augury of victory at Monday'* "lection, the home of United States Senator Ankeny, heretofore a Re- ( publican stronghold, elected Kugene Tnnctio I Vf *? "r P. Mc.Keun. Republican, by a majority of nine hundred and fortytwo. Mr. McKeuu is |>resblout of ll e local Tnft Club." llryan declared that the election was significant. In that it showed to the country that the Democrats have been justified in their forecasts of the trend of political sentiment throughout the country. * FELL INTO DEEP WELL. (ialfney laul lias Thrilling experience While at I'lay. .For remarkable occurrences Gaffney is still in the lead. A lad fiveyear-old son of Mr. Ho yd Sarratt who lives near Limestone College was playing over an old well with his little brother Monday afternoon, when the covering, which was rotten broke through, with the result that the boy went to the I Kit torn, a distance of seventy-five feet, into seven feet of water. The younger child at once gave the alarm, but it was some three hundred yards to the house. The father immediately started for the well, expecting to find his son at the bottom, but before he reached flic scene of the accident he met the boy coming to tli house. The little fellow, who was barefooted, had climed out without assistance none the worse for his thrilling experience except a slight abrasion on the back of his head. DHOVK NEtiltO FROM FOI VTV. Vorkxilie lllaek Given Itttt Lashes mid TdMI to l/i'ino. About ten days or two weeks ago a report pained currency in a neighborhood about seven mites northeast of Yorkvllte. near ('lover, that v horrible assault had been made or the person of a little white girl. Ar 'miredate investigation proved it It oe utterly false and without foundation. Citizens of the neighborhood made careful inquiry as to the aufho of the report, and finally fastened guilt on Bob Howard, a negro. On Monday night, a number of men visited his home, took him out. ap-1 plied 100 lashes to his back and advised to leave the State, never tr return, by noon. He went. It it claimed that he started similar reports in several other neighborhoods in which he had lived in the county. ASK CONTRIBUTIONS BUY AN AND KERN ISSUE APPEAL TO FARMERS. Iowa Farmer, Formerly a Rcpublieau. Gives $100 for Campaign Film!, Which In First Contribution. The first appeal for campaign contributions by the Democratic candidates for the presidency and the vice-presidency was 'issued Friday, directed to the farmers of the country. It is ns follows: "To the Farmers of the United State: "The first contribution made to the Democratic campaign fund this year, so far as we know, was made ivy an Iowa farmer. Just before the Denver convention net it.his man. who modestly prefers not to have his name mentioned, journeyed more than 100 miles to Lincoln with his i ntribution of $100. which he left with Mr. Bryan to be given to the committee when organized for the campaign. "This farmer was born in Sweden ...wl r,?. C.til,,., .iftor 1,1, u/nc tint. unitized was a member of the Kepuhlican party. Hut he was a student of public questions and in the course of time became a Democrat. To manifest his deep interest in the success of the party and the triumph of Democratic prinoipies he made this free will offering o the campaign fund. "It is very appropriate that this llrst contribution should come from that great body of our population known as agriculturists. The farmer has nothing to gain by privilege and favoritism; hishopn is in the application of the doctrine of "equal rights to all and special privileges to none.' He has been the ictim of til special legislation and has suffered front control of politics by the great predatory corporations. Now that the Democratic party has anno timed its determination not to aciept contributions from corporations and not to accept excessive contributions even from individuals and to publish all pontrihutions wheu aver a reasonable minimum. It ought Lo he able to secure a sufficient sniu from the citizens who ask from the government nothing but protection >f their rights and consideration for the general welfare. There are hundred of thousands of farmers ivho are abundantly able to contribute the campaingn fund There are housands who could give $100 apiece without feeling it; there are tens of thousands who could give $.">0 apiece without sacrifice and still more who :*oit Id give $25 or $10 or $5. "As the national committee has not yet been organized we will ask riie Commoner to call for subscriptions lo this farmers' fund. Those giving may indicate whether they ire willing to have their names mentioned and if the rontrbution is not more than $ I up their wishes will lie complied with. All contributions above $100 must be made known no matter from whom they come. "The farmers fund will be turned over to the national committee as :onn as its permanent officers have been selected. Who will ho the first to respond? The Denver convention was a people's convention; it adopted a strong, clear, honest platform and its nominations were made with practical unaminity. Our fight is a fight for the whole people. Our i.. i .,,wl n?oril liictlen tn nil; Hllll lr> V-rtMVV J our purpose is to restore the govomnent to the hands of freely chosen representatives of the voters. How nany fi inters will join in furnish:ng the fund necessary to present the issues? (Signed ) "William ,J. Ilryan. ' "John W. Kern." * PICKMIHKNT PLANS. Uoosevelt Letting Iteudy for His Hunting Trip Next Year. There is 'very little Government business being transacted these warm days at Oyster Hay. On the broad veranda of his home at Sagamore Gill. President Koosevellt sits with books to the right of him and books to the left of him, hooks in front of him and a book in his hand. He is tot stu iyr.ig eampagn literature nor oconoinie methods of government ither, but examining charts of the wilds of Africa and reading treatises on how to shooting big game. Indeed, these seem to he the President's happiest days, sitting in a big chair, examining a big allium containing ?h: tographs of scenes in iiritiHh \frica or the Congo, and forming plans for his greai hi nting trip f.o he dark continent next year. During the week the President has had a number of callers who. fiom xperience, wore able to give him ineresting details of the manner of hunting in Arica. Among these visitors were Mr. and Mrs. A. Saunde?-son, who recently returned front hunting iu Africa. Among these two lion cubs which they gave to he New York Zoological slciety. * Etna Again in Active Eruption. Mount Etna is in active eruption Mid lava is tlowiiig down its sides. Earthquake shocks are frequent, in the vicinity of Milo and Santeramo. Italy. *