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WITNESSES ROW Want Wads Pass b Hearing Oi Postal Rale Increase CHARGE OF GRAFT MADE > L 8epraMBUUv? of Agriculture ^ Press League Testifies Before the I House Committee in Wasliiiyton. Things Wax Warm n*.vl * - - - ... U ,.m\ 8plrite<l imhcusoiuu n<u >?... "The American Republic can't stand forever with this sent of thing being run in the people's ears ?these anarchistic statements," angrily declared Representative Smith of California Friday, adiress ing Herbert Myrick, representative of the Agricultural Press League, a witness before the house committee in Washington on postoffice* and post roads at its hearing on the subject of increasing the postal rate on second-class mall matter. He was referring to an editorial which Mr Myrick acknowledged came from one of the publications which he represented. "I protest that the farmers ot this country are not anarchists and I protest that I am not a traitor," ' hotly retorted Mr. Myrick, who shortly before had been further alluded to as being responsible fop traitorous utterances. Asked by Chairman Weeks if he had been canvassing the country with circulars and editorials in an en deavor to defeat the proposed raise for rates on second-class matter, Mr. Myrick gave an affirmative response. Mr. Weeks then produced several of the circulars and editorials and Mr. Myri^'r acknowledged authorship of them. They were entitled "A Fresh Attack Upon Liberty," "Still Another Tax," and "New n,"vM oriri VpprIi Robbery." "Are these your conclusions? Do you think there is any robbery?" asked Representative Smith of California. "I saw that the postmaster general had reported that it cost 9 cents a pound to carry second-class mat ter while the government receives but 1 cent a pound. If the govern ment intended to raise it to nine cents, It would bonistitute robbery, In my opinion," replied Mr. Myrlck "Your editorial refers to fresh robbery. Do you mean that there have been other robberies?" asked Mr. Smith. "Some people," answered the wit. ness, "consider the tariff a robbery, and if this raise in rates occurred, ft would be a fresh robbery." Mr. Smith replied by saying that there was no Intention of raising the postal rate to 9 cents, but merely enough to make up the $17,000,000 {x>Btal deficit. One of the editorials referred to "scheming" and "graft" going ou in congress in connection with the proposed increase and Messrs. Weeks Smith and Fassett, members of the committee waxed angry over these characterizations. Mr. Myrlck stated that ho referred to the relations of the railroads to the government In the carrying of mail, and did not intend to refleel upon the members of the committee. "Don't you use the word "Robbery" to mean something wicked?" Interjected Mr. Smith. "Didn't you mean a slur upon congress?" "No." said Mr. Myrlck. "That is the impression you convey," said Mr. Smith. "I don't think so," answered the witness. "Then you think the word 'Robbery' is a polite form for criticism I suppose," continued the California member. "I merely had reference to the pro posed heavy increase in the posta1 rate," replied Mr. Myrlck. Mr. Smith said that he was gettlnr a large number of letters speaking ol anarchy and giving the impressior of hatred against the Institutions ol the country. He declared such ideal were fostered by the editorials ir question and others like them and that they constituted treason. Mr. Myrlck hotly denied that tb: farmers of the country were anar chists or that he himself was guilt) of treason. Representative Murdoch of Kan sas, another member of the commit tee. called attention to the fact thai the government was paying $50,00( a year for carrying the mails acros en old bridge at St. Louis, Mo., wher It might he carried for a much small er sum across a new bridge whicl was now receiving only a part of th business. "I think that is what you mea' by your charge of graft, isn't it?' said he, addressing Mr. Myrick. "That's It, exactly," said Mr. My rick. Chairman Weeks then stated tha a sub-committee engaged In draf' lng the postofflce appropriation bi1 bad discovered this evil and woul correct it. It was the only one c the kind they found, he said. They are talking of Mr. Rooseve for speaker of the house. Can li be more of a speaker than he wi while president? J MANY DIE IN WRECK OF RAILWAY TRAIN NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND, SUNDAY. ) Two TWrd Class Can and Pullman of Speeding Train Crash Into Station at Stoat's Nest. One of the most serioas railway accidents in England since the disaster to the steamer train at Salisbury, in July, 1908, when many Americans lost their lives, occurred at Stoals Nest near London on the London and Brighton railway Sunday afternoon. Eight dead and about thirty injured were taken from the wreck. Two third class cars and Pullman of a train from Brighton, traveling at a speed of about 40 miles an hour, crashed into the station. The third class cars were completely wrecked and a part of the building was demolished. The Pullman was thrown violently into the air but was comparatively little damaged. Its nas sengers escaped with minor injuries. One account says that the wreck was due to the derailment of a portion of the train and another that it was due to the breaking of the coupling between the first and Becond cars. The two third class cars reared almost on their ends and toppled over on the platform, bringing down a mass of iron girders and timbers from the station, with a tremendous crash. Doctors, ambulance detatchments and boy scouts with stretchers soon appeared. The critically injured were taken to a local hospital while the others were carried to Londan. Several of the injured will die, as they are very seriously hurt. A rigid investigation will be made into the cause of the wreck. Such accidents occur very seldom in England. STRIKES IlliOW FOR OLEO. Atlanta Health Oominittee Urges Congress to ltcpcal Tax. Declaring the tax of ten cents per pound on oleomagarlne to bo largely responsible for the Increased cost of living, thj Atlanta Chamber of Commerce lyalth committee a few days ago adopted a resolution memorializing congress to repeal the tax. The resolution Bets forth that the tax is "class legislation, which .lanrluao V? ~ ? * vivi'UfCO Uiu I'CUCIftl ^U> CI unit.'lit UI $2,000,000 revenue, while it shuts out of the market a wholesome product, made of milk, cotton oil and beef fat, which otherwise would be in reach of the masses." The effect of this tux, it is concluded has greatly Increased the price of butter. It is announced that in a letter to the Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Harvoy W. Wiley, chief chemist of the Federal government, states that the repeal of the tax on oleomargarine would in no way lnterefre with the enforcement of the pure food laws, adding that he considered oleomargarine a wholesome product. * ANSEL SUSPENDS MAGISTRATE. I>. Lester Gault Confesses to Bet ting on Game of Chance. Governor Ansel Friday suspendel Magistrate D. Lester Gault of Helton, Union county, "for betting a fe*> times on a game of chance" last Fourth of July, In spite of splendi?l affidavits from leading people ol Union county that Mr. Gault is 1 - sober and industrious man and z conscientious and efficient magistrate ' and that they had never heaid of hn gambling. Gault's own affidavit the Governor sadly discovers, co j fesses that "he did bet a few times,* t ind this being a violation of the law the Governor decapitated him. The affidavits in Mr. Gault's favo ! are from the mayor of his horn* town, J. W. Smith; H. C. Little, elgh : years a member of the legislatur. > from Union county; J. H. Bartles i county treasurer; J. G. I^ong, sherlfT ' W. W. Johnson. Judge of probate. ' 1 Little Hopes for Recovery. 1 A dispatch from Hryson City, N C., hold little hopes for the recov ery of Barrett Banks, whose eye: were blown out in a dynamite ex plosion at the court house then a few days ago. Banks arouse* enough to say he did not knov t whether he or Conley were to blame j Register of Deeds Francis' skull 1 fractured and his hearing perma nently Injured, but h? has a flghtin: ' chance. The damage to the cour house is estimated at $5,000. I _ Wrestler Killed. , A dispatch from Bluefleld, W. Va ? says Walter Lewis shot and fatal) wounded Oeorge Hall, in Wise cour .. tv, a few days ago. Lewis is 1 jail. The men wrestled to settl t a dispute. Lewis 'lost and late .. shot Hall in the arm and abdomen. II * * j Five Men Killed. ?f A special from Port Llmon. C. II reports the death of five men and tt Injury of two others at the Plani It Cebedilla mine near Port Limon c ie January 12. The premature expl is "Inn of dynamite was responsible f< the tragedy. TM t > . ; ' WOMAN ROASTED ] Tied Hard aid Fast aad Gagged aid Pit m a Ligkted Gas Stare ? \ REALLY BURNED ALIVE The Cruel Fate That Overtook Mrs. Alice Van Zandt at Clncinnatti on Saturday Morning.?Her Husband and Six Associates Are Arrested Charged With the Awful Crime. Bound and gagged the body of Mrs. Alice Van Zandt. burned to a crisp, was found Satlirdnv mnm I T? tr Irlnor nn top of the gas stove in her kitchen at , Cinclnnattl. The woman had met her death while her three young children ' were playing, .unconscious of the tragedy, in an adjoining room. Jesse A. Van Zandt, the murdered woman's husband, is being held as a witness by the police. The man admits that he quarrelled with his wife all Friday night and up until he left the house Saturday morning, an hourH he claims before the discovery of the murder. According to the coroner, Mrs. Van Zandt was first chocked into unconsciousness, then bou.i-* and gagged with strips torn from a lace curtain and placed across the stove with her head in the flames of the burner. The horror of the crime is increased by the coroner's statement that the wohan must have recovered consciousness before her death. When found all the clothes had been burned ofT the body and the flesh charred to cinders. The police discovered late Saturday evening that Van Zandt had been paying marked attentions to a young girl for some time. The father of this girl had protested strongly against the daughter's conduct and had Anally brought her before a police magistrate who ordered he committed to the house of refuge. On her father's recommendations, however, she was sent instead to a convent. Charles Berry, Edward Rattman, Patrick Langen, Ada Friendship, Mrs Mary Ford, and the latter's fourteenyear-old daughter, Lillle Ford, were also arrested. The police assert they have information that Jesse Van Zandt, husband of the murdered woman, who is being held on suspicion, spent considerable time recently in the house of the persons arrested, in company with Agnes Berry, sister of one of the men arrested, and t h at It Is believed their testimony will develop something on which a formal charge against Van Zandt can be based. Van Zandt spent the day in a cell and continued to assert his Innocence. DETECTIVE BO YE It PASSES. Succumbs to Wound Indicted by Negro Car Thief in Columbia. Southern Railway Detective S. H. Boyer, who was shot through the lung by one of three negro car ( thieves whom he surprised at work . in the Royster yards near Columbia, , died Friday morning at the Colum. bia hospital. I The sheriff and his deputies apf parently have little hope of ever capt turing the negroes, and the police l are completely in the dark. From , the best information obtainable the , negroes are probably making their way through "North Carolina on their . way to the North or West. The officers are looking for Eugene Davis, Ben Little and Dave Richardson. Negroes fitting their descrip tions were taken aboard the Coast * Line train going out of Columbia * the morning of the shooting . They 3 got off at Easter, in Richland county. Thursday the same negroes. Sheriff Hood of Fairfield, is confident, ap, peared at the home of L. R. Free, in the Ruckhead section of Fairfield county. Sheriff Hood at once notified all his county officers and also * those of Chester to De on the lookout for the negroes. * 3 _ B Two Killed in Wreck. 1 Two pasengers were killed in s , rear end collision of two westbound ,, Lake Shore trains at Ashtabula. Ohio, 3 early Sunday. Extra train. No. 19. New York to Chicago, was struck by ? train No. 21, and only the fact that t the fast train was proceeding under ? reduced speed prevented a serious accident. Couldn't Stand f^ect ure. y Because his wife chided him. Bank i- Burrow, a mechanic, fired a bullet in n to his brain on the porch of hl3 ho^'e l? at Memphis, Tenn., late Saturday. >? The suicide followed a struggle w?*l, his wife and two small children for possesion of the weapon. ><t Suspended for Betting. ?o Magistrate D. L. ater Gault, of Belts ton. Union county, was suspended foi >n "betting a few times on a game o! o- chance." hy the Governor on las' !>r Saturday. The betting was done ot the last Fourth of July. ? WORK OF BOLD THUGS HIGHWAYMEN SANDBAGED AND ROBBED THREE CITIZENS. Victims Held Up Separately sad la Different Sections, But Acts Are Work of One Band. The boldest robber/ in the history >f Goldsboro, N. C., occurred Saturlay night when three men were Bandlagged by several masked men. who rnlipvpH thorn of tKol? , _ v? vuvii naiwuco, 111Uli* jy and everything else of value. Each of the victims was held up jeperately In different parts of the :Ity. Mr. Phil Howell, a prosperous farmer of the county, was the heaviest loser, his lo&s being $500 and he was badly bruised about the head and otherwise severely used by the handitB. Mr. Howell states that he was on his way home and was passing through the southern portion of the city, when several masked men suddenly approached In his path and demanded that he throw up his hands, and that before he could comply with the request, one of te highwaymen struck him a blow behind his head which rendered him unconscious and when he revived he fov nd that he had been robbed of everytvng of value. The second hold-up was reported from the northern part of the city, when a negro man was found in an unconscious condition by a party who happened to see him lying in the gully and when he regained consciousness he told about the same story as Mr. Howell?that he had been sandbagged by a crowd of masked men and robbed of his valuables. The third holdup .was reported from near the Union Station, but at this time particulars are meagre. It is thought by the police that the robberies were committed by the same band, who were beyond a doubt professionals and the boldest bunch of crooks that ever operated in that city. The robberies have caused a good deal of excitement and the entire police force Is now on the trail of the robbers. "WIDOW'* FOOLEI) A WIDOWER. She Told Him She Was in "Love" miu fnrurea Detectives in the employ of A. E. King, a retired business man in Lincoln, Neb., are seeking to make an arrest among the social set of Kansas City, Kan., as the result of a peculiar love affair. It appears the woman in tue case represented herself as a widow, when in fact she is married and has a husband living. Mr. King alleges she told him that she was about to receive a large amount of cash from New York and secured money to the amount of $20,000 on this pretense. Later she declared the money was only a loan and that the cash had been spent. She is charged with obtaining money under false pretense and may be prosecuted. At present she has two motor cars and lives in a fine home with expensive furnishings. MAIL CARRIER ROKREI). Held 1'p by Highway men and Relieved of Valuables. The star route mall carrier from Dobson to Mouut Airy, N. C., was held up recently by three unknown negroes and robbed of all his personal effects, consisting of a watch and $17. The hold-up occurred just outsite the city limits of Mount Airy in a dense wood and nearly frightened the mail carrier to death. When at the forks of the road the three negroes explained to the carrier that he would have to change his usual route on account of a bridge being unsafe, and this necessitated his iaking the road that leads through the woods. The negroes held a gun in his face, dragging him from his buggy and relieving him of his watch and money. The Smallest Mao. A message from Putnam, Conn., says Reuben Steere, whom Darnum, the circus magnate, called the smallest man in the world, is dying of pneumonia at his home near there. He is now seventy-two vears old. Steere weights fifty-five pounds, and Is forty-seven Inches tall. Ho married Miss Annie \lyer, another Lilliputian, In 1887. Premier Mobbed. Following the election of Premier Asquith, the premier waB mobbed in London by militant suffragettes. The women in a body charged time after time in their attempts to reach the minister and there were several lively skirmishes with the police. Mr Asquith was conveyed to a place ol afety. Kngine Hursts, Two Killed. Two men were killed and two, per haps fatally scalded when the en gine pulling the westbound Denve f and Rio Grande freight *raln, e* t ploded on Sunday a mile and a hal i east of Laveta, the first, station wes * of Walsenburg, Col. * 1 DIED IN AMINE One Hundred Lives Snuffed Out By a Terrific Eiplesiea AT PRIMER, COLORADO The Awful Disaster la Said to be the Worst that Has Ever Happened in the History of Weetera Coal Mining and Has Cast Gloom Over the Surrounding Section. A dispatch from Primero, Col., says more than a hundred men arc believed to have been killed by a terrific explosion In the Primero mine of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company at 4:30 Monday afternoon. Eight bodies have been recovered u..u .covuc i>ai ui-s ai e iiiaKing nesperate efforts to reach the Interior workings cut off from the outside by the caving of the main shaft. Three men were killed at the mouth of the mine slope by the force of the explosion. Tloth fans with which the mine is equipped were shattered and it was impossible to enter the mine until they were repaired. As soon as the fans were repaired General Superintendent J. F. Thompson and a rescue party entered by the main air shaft, but they wore unable to reach the main shaft, which is completely blocked. The party returned to the surface after securing five bodies, which were badly burned. A party equipped with oxygen helmets replaced this party, the workings were reached through an air shaft and they are now searching for more bodies/ Miners were rushed to Prlmero from Trinidad, Segundo, Starkville, Sopris and Coperville, and are laboring frantically to clear away the main shaft, relieving each other every few minutes. It is impossible to determine how far the main shaft has caved, and it may be days before the shaft is cleared and the total death list known. There is little hope that any of the men in the mine are alive. The company clerk reports that 79 safety lamps are missing, and it is sure that that number of men are entombed. Many of the miners, however, say that 150 men are missing. Most of the men are Slavs and Hungarians. Pit lloss Wilheim is known to be among the missing.. The camp is a scene of indescribable horror. While every ablehodied man is taking his turn with pick and shovel to clear the shaft, the women and children, kept back by ropes, have gathered about the shaft, weeping and calling wildly upon their loved ones, who have not been found. At ton nVlnrlr gxm w muuua/ IIIteen bodies had been recovered from one of the main slopes. The bodies were literally blown to pieces and were unrecognizable. Officials of the company state that the disaster Is the worst in the htstory of the coal mining in the WeBt. A similar explosion, In which 20 were killed, occurred In the same property January 23, 1907. Superintendent of the Wooten Mines, and J. E. Mlnley, mine inspector, will head another rescue party, as soon as batteries for electric lights arrive by special train. Members of the special rescue party say that the effect of the explosion underground is Indescrilmble. The bodies recovered were horribly burned and unrecognizable. One body wus impaled on broken timbers. BLACK HANI) GANG SENTENCE I). Leader Gets Sixteen Years and Others from Two to Ten Years. A dispatch from Toledo, Ohio, says all fourteen of the Sicilians, charged with a "Black Hand" conspiracy, were found guilty by a jury Saturday. Salvotore Lima, the leader, was sentenced to sixteen years imprisonment. Agostlc Marflsi, Vincenzo Argi and Salvotore Rizr.o were granted new trials and the others were sentenced from two to ten years. Dentil Had to Steal Him. Death in a violent form was! fought off four times by Joseph Roevalle, of Connersville, Ind., during his 61 years of life, only to find him napping, this week, when he was found dead in bed. When a young man he fell on a pitchfork, each prong entering his liody. His skull was fractured In a fight and in his last accident be was run down by a train. * Must Have R*vn Crazy. i At Macon, Ga., after an attempt to i kill his brido with a pistol, Attus I Jackson, aged 21, stabbed himself . with a pocket knife and Inflicted Int juries, which will probably prove fatnl. Mrs. Jackson was shot through the hand as she struck the weapon from her husband's handr. Black Hands at Work. r A bomb Sunday blew out the fronl - of Francisco Dalafarno's grocery !r f Queens, N. Y. No one was Injured t The police say Delafarnos refused tc * pay blackmail to Black Handera. w PARTNER WITH NATURE SOUTH CAROLINA BOY WIN A GOVERNMENT PRIZE. * A High Tribute Paid to Young Bascom Usher for the Grand Production of Corn on One Acre. We get the following rrom the New York Evening Mall: There probably is nothing more prosaie to the superficial observer than n one-acre cornfield, unless It Is another just like It, or possibly a little more so. It is merely a patch of growing crop, where the combined forces of man and the favoring sunshine are coaxing nature more or less effectively to smile with a harvest. From the hour of planting, down through successive hoeings to the final processes of cutting and uuamug, me neia la nothing more to the unthinking man a commonplace scene of human activity, In which the work is hard and tho returns uncertain. But Bascom Usher's one-acre cornfield was distinctly different. It was the theatre not only of an exploit which charms one's imagination, but of an agricultural triumph that should make every American boy proud. Bascoiu Usher is 17 year old, and lives in South Carolina. Now, every year the Government organizes a national corn contest for boys, in which $10,000 in prizes is awarded for various achievements, Including one for the largest yield from a single acre. Bascom Usher entered last year's contest. He ploughed his acre, planted it. cultivated it as ha believed it should be, and watched and tended it as if it were some delicate flower bed. The work was hard ?everybody that ever hoed corn, knows that?but Bascom Usher forgot his fatigue in the sheer Joy of watching that corn grow. 1*1 due Ecason it was cut and shuckel, and a little later it was huksed. Then the ofllclal committee came a-ound, looked over the results.and decided that Bascom Usher's aero had won the first prize. Please consider what this victo.y meant to Bascom Usher in a practical way, and quite apart from the exaltation of pride, which it must have brought to him. His oneacre field sold as prize seed at $2 a bushel, making $1105, and the fodder for $30, or a total of $335 Allowing $135 for labor, the oneacre cornfield returned a net profit of $200?a yield rich enough to mako the average grown-up corn grower gasp. But the sense of conquest was worth more than the money. Bascome Usher has learned how. He is a master of the soil. He has discovered a new charm in land an-i become a joint partner with nature in a combination capable of transformlnor bin ?l- l ? ? .w.ui.ub maun luniii ana sunsnine Into gold. o MUST WORK OX FARM. I/P\in(jt?n, Ky., Woman Makes a Novel Will. A novel solution of the problem of keeping not only boys, but the girls on the farm, is disclosed in the will of Mrs. Arthursa Epperson, of Lexington, Ky., which was filed In the probate court there a few days ago. The last codicil of the Instrument provides for the division of a large estate equally among her children, with the reservation "that if any of my children marry or qu't working on the farm, or on my real estate before five years shall havo expired after my death, he or sho shall forfeit ol) interest in my estate when final disposition is made excep* I the amount of $1." Child Painfully Itumed. A few days ago after Mr. and Mrs. M. I. ShoWs little J-ycur-old child, of Hessemer City, N. while playing around the stove javght fire and was painfully, though it is thought, not dangerously bii'ved. before the fire could be extinguished. Mrs. Sholer, Miss May Woolen and Rev. Mr. Wooten, sister and father respectfully, of Mrs. Sho'or. were downtown when the accident, occur red. The little one war 'csting very well at last report. Tackled the Wrong Woman. Rosa Miller, colored, who resides between Ten Mile and Charleston, heard some one In her house lata one night recently and she secured a shot gun and went to investigate rne tnirglar ran into the yard an 1 began "sasslng" Hosa, who shot him In the calf of the leg. The thief proved to be Henry Lawrence, a notorious negro charactor. He wai captured. The wound is not serious. Unknown Man Killed. An unknown negro was run over and killed by a train near Meggetts one night last week. Tha coroner's jury rendered a verdict i that the negro came to his death through his own carelessness an-I > no blame was attached to the train ; crew. , 1