Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MADE A DEAL Letter Left by T. C. Piatt Exposes Alleged Political Plot. INVOLVES HARRISON ^ The Communication, Which Hm Only Come to Light Since the l>eath of the Kx-Senator, Charges llenJamin Harrison, late President, With Trickery and l>eccption. The controversy as to whether President Benjamin Harrison prom ised to appoint the late Senator ThoB. C. Piatt secretary of the treasury in return for the support of the New York delegation in the national Republican convention of 1888 coutlnueB. The story of Mr. Platt'B declaration that Buch a promise was made and broken is itself interesting. William E. CurtiB, a newspaper writer, of Washington, says that a short while after the publication of the John Sherman memolrB, in 1895, Mr. Piatt gave him a sealed letter not to bo opened until both he, Piatt, and President Harrison should be dead. Mr. Curtis says he opened this letter the morning after Mr. Piatt died, that is Monday morning. The letter he printed In one of the Washington papers. In substance it Bays that at the Republican convention of 1888, Stephen 13. Elkins, now Benator from West Virginia, went to Senator Piatt, at the head of the New York delegation and producing a letter from General Harrison, said that if the New York delegation would vote for Harrison, Mr. Piatt would be appointed secretary of the treasury. It further says that for the same consideration, as further payment for , his prospective job in the cabinet, Mr. Piatt gave his personal check for j $150,000 for the election of Harri- j son, which $150,000, Mr. Piatt says, | was what turned the election 1n New York for Harrison and elected | him. , It is all interesting, being very much like the case of Roosevelt and ] Harriman. Roosevelt promised liar- , rlmau that if he would raise a large fund to be used in the election in , New York he would invite him to ] Washington to assist in the prepara tlon of his message to congress. And as in the case of Harriman, Piatt de- | clared afterwards that the bargain ; had been violated. First of all come Mr. Elkins and denleB that be, in the name of Hen. Harrison, promised Mr. Piatt the \ place in the cabinet. He saya that he did promise that Mr. Piatt bho'i-d be consulted about patronage in New York. Now comes another a'iegnd posthumous letter, ^hls tune from 1 Gen. Harrison, saying that he never pmmised Mr. Piatt a csb.net ap) ointment, and that he n?*v?r lo.d any idea until after the electlt n that Vr. Piatt wantod such an ap^ >Jnljaent. But J. Sloat Fassett, now a representative from New York in congress, who was associated with Mr. Piatt and the New York machine at that time, declares that the alleged posthumous letter of Senator Piatt is substantially correct, that Mr. Piatt was promised the appointment, and that he himself, Mr. Fassett, went to x ruaiiitMiL nunimm uiiu ui^uu (i|)uu him the keeping of the promise. It la generally believed that there was some kind of a deal with Mr. Piatt for the New York delegation and that when he produced that $150,000 to elect Harrison he had some such thing iu view, doubtless believed he would surely get the appointment as secretary of the treasury; but it is thought to have been a misunderstanding. No such bargain would have been put in writln. Gen Harrison did write a letter during that convention of 1 888 to Tom Piatt, and sent It by Steve Elkins. Hut the cautious Elkins instead of delivering the letter outright merely read it to Piatt and kept it. Exactly what was In It Elkins does not say though he says he has it still. Perhaps he will produce it. And perhaps he will not. It depends upon what is In it. But this Is evidence to all of the methods of bargaining and sale used In these Republican conventions. It Is not the first time; and It Is doubtful If It will be the last. Doctors Deny Report. Greatly exaggerated and unjust to the University of South Carolina is the story that has been sent out from Columbia that 60 per cent of the students at the university are suffering from hookworm. The physicians to the university say that out of 60 suspects examined, only a dozen mild cases were found. Heavy Snow. Twelve Inches of snow covered the decks of the steamer Columbus arriving at New York from Savannah. The Columbus ran into a violent storm, off the Delaware capes, with a heavy fall of snow. Bums to Death. Mrs. U. W. Jackson, wife oT a -wealthy citizen of Electra. Fla., was tyurned to death while fighting for-1 eat fires near her home Wednesday. ill I a v*v-sfc 'fis JL-.v vy. fe r.... t. CHARGED WITH MURDER THE MAN WHO DESERTED HIS WIFE AND CHILD. Sow Under Simpleton of Killing the Young Woman With Whom He Eloped. Dr. J. H. Weeks, of Wageaer, who a few years ago deserted his wife and children and went off with a young milliner, who had been work Ing at Wagener, is now under suspicion of having put the young woman he eloped with out of the way hy poisoning her. It iB also thought that he killed a little baby the erring woman bore for him. Weeks is now in the Spartanburg jail charged with bigamy, ho having married the young woman he is now thought to have murdered in that county. The poople where Weeks lived in Georgia under an assumed name are taking steps to ascertain if Weeks did not poison his wife and baby. If they find that he did, he will be taken over there and tried for murder. It seems that after Dr. Hamilton, the name under which WeekB passed after deserting his wife and childien and going ofT with the other woman, drifted back to Georgia and located at Morgan with his second wife, where he began the practice of medicine and built up a good business. This is where Weeks was arrested when brought back to the State. After the birth of a child at Morgan, Mrs. Hamilton died under suspicious circumstances, and also the child, but the people of that place suspected nothing, as his record was unknown to them at that time. Hut now it seems that there is considerable suspicion about the matter, and the indications are that he poisoned both the mother and child. It is reported that the body is to be exhumed and examined to see If there is any foundation for this suspicion. Under the law Weeks w'U not receive punishment for deserting his family, but if It 1b can be proved that he poisoned his second wife and baby to got rid of them, he will -get what he deserves if it :an be proved. i mere was $300 reward offered for tiis arrest, raised in the following manner: The relatives of the first Mrs. Weeks offered $100, the Governor of the State $100, and the Knights of Pythias of Wagener $100| fills money will be divided between Mr. J. B. Tyler, the gentleman who recognized him in Morgan, and the Sheriff of that county. JUSTICE OVERTAKES OFFICER. Police Inspector Tri?*d to Convict an Innocent Man. A dispatch from Kharkoo. Russia, 3ays Inspector Lagovsky, of the I-.iiben police department, has been sentenced to four years in the penitentiray for manufacturing evidence on which three innocent students narrowly escaped courtmartlal and death for terrolsts attempts. Lagovsky. hoping to secure promotion, concocted terroist proclamations and cipher correspondence which he concealed in the houses of the students, showing their connection with the rimes, buried a number of bombs and revolvers in their gardens and as a climax shot himself in the arm to stimulate an attempt on his life, swearing that he had Identified one of the students as a perpetrator. * HAVE PRIVATE PHOXE. One Arranged for the President and His Brother. A private telephone wire from the home of Charles P. Taft. In Cincinnati! to the White House in Washington is heing arranged with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, it was learned Friday. The 725 miles of wire will be at the service of Charles P. Taft from 6 p. m. to 6 a.m. No outside heads will manipulate the switchboard plugs and no outside ear will hear the personal conversation of the brothers. The wire. It is said, will cost Mr. Taft $24,000 a year. liHSt la-gal Hanging. The last legal hanging in North Carolina took place at Klizahethton Friday when Henry E. Spivey, colored, was executed for the murder of his father-in-law, John Shaw, last November, over domestic differences. The last legislature made electrocution the legal method and Spivey was the last condemned man sentenced under the old law. llrrause He Was Scolded. A scolding l?y his school teacher was more than Guy Moses, of Maplehill. Kansas., fourteen ???? could endure and he killed himself. Mis parents found his body when they went to call him for breakfast. "I don't care to live because teacher sodded me," said a note left by the boy. Strike Settled. The strike of the employes of the Trenton Street Railway company, ol Trenton, N. J., which has been going on for the last two days, was settled late Friday afternoon. The settlement resulted In the men getting n?everything that the asV ed for. . ^ 4 r . r ' '.4, I A LIVELY CLASH Between the Chairman nf the Investigating Committee and PINCIIOT'S COUNSEL The Attorney Resents "Reflection" ( Upon Him I localise of His Efforts ' < to Moke Davis Refute Statements I of SocrpUry Malinger.?Mr. Davis , Flatly Contradicts .Ballinger. Chief Engineer Arthur P. Davis i of the reclamation service, who Fri- ' day flatly denied the truth of many statements made by Secretary Ballifr ( ger to President Taft and others, < continued Saturday as the witness i before the Ballinger Pinchot inves- < tigating committee. : Attorney Pepper read a letter re- t cently addressed to the house com- < mittee on ways and means by Sec- ( retary Ballinger in support of the i 130,000,000 land issue and speaking ] of the hardships which had result- 1 ed to settlers on some of the projects where cooperation agreements i had been entered iuto by former Secretary Garfleld. Mr. Balling'-r claimed inducements had been held out to settlers to come on the land i and that at Toluca, Mont., there had i been erected a large signboard in- i vititig settlers to come there. This Bign included the statement: "Settlers can work out their payments." i Mr. Ballinger said he ordered this i part of the sign painted out. I Mr. Davis contradicted practically every statement in the Ballinger letter. He said he was with Mr. Ballioger when he saw the sizn: . thai no , orders had been given to palr.t out the words and up to a few days ago they had not been painted out. Mr. lovis said there had teen no cooperative agreement or certificates < at Toluca; that no such signs had j been erected anywhere else, an 1 that ] undue inducement had never men ? made to settlers to go into the co- ' operative work. At Toluca the reclamation wdrk hid been completed t and there was inor: water available i man IUIIU unuer CII 11VilI?OH l llp ; lands were public and it was decided ] that they should he taken lp. ; Chief Engineer Davis was question- j ed further as to the interviews with < Secretary Ballinger. Hi- declareed i that the head of the into'ior ut- s partment had continued constantly to t criticise the reclamation service < ami that within the last week told i the witness ho thought the si.aries were too high and that he p-?posed I a new salary scale. Mr. Davis de- i clared that the rumors had persist- 1 ed that Director Newall was slated to | go. < The witness referred further to the 1 enmity against the service in some I communities in the West. Senator ? Sutherland sought to show that much < of the dissatisfaction was due to -| the fact that op some projects the original estimate of the cost of water had been increased from {20 to a final charge of {30 per acre. Mr. Davis admitted that this "might" , be the cause of some discontent. Mr. Davis testified that Director Newell was repriminded by Mr. Ltallincer for requesting the resignation of E. T. Perkins, who, it was charged, received an allowance from the Harriman lines while lecturing to advertise the reclamation service. A sharp clash between Senator Nelson, chairman of the Ballinger| Pinchot committee, and Aiinmov Pepper, counsel for Clifford Pinchot, was precipitated near the close of the sessions of the inquiry. * when Mr. Nelson accused the lawyer with "trifling" with the committee. White with anger. Mr. Pepper demanded to know if that was the judgment of the committee, . and when several members exclaimed, "let it pass," he said a reflection, which he resented, had been cast ' tipon him and he questioned the senator's right to make such an ascusnt ion. i Mr. Pepper was referring to several letters in the record in an endeavor to have Chief Engineer Davis, of the reclamation service, who was on the stand, refute several statements attributed to Secretary Ttallineer to the effect that restoration of certain lands in the west to public entry after they had been with i drawn under Secretary Garfield, had | been made on recommendation of ; the reclamation service, Chairman t Nelson thought it was a waste of time to go over ground already covered and objected to the reading of the letters. In each instance in which the question was 'put, the witness replied that Mr. Ballinger had made a misstatement. "Now. I have come to the point I was after," said Attorney Pepper. "At the conclusion of your direct examination this morning you said, 'I want it understood that I don't wish to insinuate In anything that Actor Kills Himself. At Chicago Thos. Thome, an actor, killed hlmaelf In his room Friday while despondent. He used the thick cord of his bathrobe, tying one end around his neck and the other to ; a door hinge. Thome's home was in New York, where he was a mem1 ber of the Lambs club. V \ CREW HEARD FROM SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN LOST BUT WERE SAVED. Schooner Sailed from Charleston and Wea U'? ? - ? ..nivwvu ?uu i/ig( in ureal Storm. The News and Courier Bays that Capt. R. P. Quillin, of the schooner Edgar R. Robs has been safely landed In Buenos Ay res. South America, is the substance of a telegram redelved In Charleston Wednesday by Messrs. Cohen and Wells. The mesjagp was sent from Baltimore by Capt. W. J. Quillin, father of the wrecked sea captain, and master of .he schooner Herbert D. Maxwell. ? The schooner Ross sailed from r Charleston on the 22d of last December, with a cargo of 375,000 feet >f lumber for New York. Nothing c was heard of the vessel until Jan. 1 9, when the schooner Minnie Crosby ' ipoke to her in longitude 60, lati- c tude 39, which Is about 800 miles 1 saBt of Cape May, New Jersey. The 1 daptain of the Minnie Crosby wrote < to the agents of the Ross, saying that ' he had spoken to her and supplied i her with provisions for twelve days. 1 At that time the Ross had loBt part of her sails and deokload. ( Nothing further was heard from ' the vessel until January the 23d, 1 when she was reported waterlogged 1 and abandoned in longitude 4 9, lati- 1 tude 39.41, which is about 900 miles I east of Cape May. It was bellevd 1 that all on board had been lost, ' therefore the news In Charleston on ' Wednesday announcing the safety of the popular captain will be learn- ( 9d with great pleasure by his many 1 friends along the water front. < _ , _ ( Sl ICIDK BY SHOOOTING. \ 1 Taft's Brother-in-Law Shot Himself With Pistol. 1 ( Suicide by shooting caused the 1 ieath of Thomas McK. Laughlin, the issistant treasurer of the Jones & 1 Laughlin Steel company, and a broth- ^ ?r-in-law of President Taft and Mrs. ' Taft, at Pittsburg Friday. The confirmation of many rumors ' o this effect was made by Coroner ' Samuel C. Jamison after a visit to a Mr. Laughlin's home in Woodland c fload Saturday afternoon. While Mr. Laughlin is reported to have died * it ten o'clock Fridav mnrninir tn,. n . o> ?? :orouer did not receive news of it 1 intil l p. in. Saturday when the phy* c lician's certificate of death was re- * urned. This stated the cause of th< 11 lea til as cerebral appoplexy and was * signed by l)r. T. M. McKenna. Persistent calls jfl<?r information 1 from the coroner caused him to in- 1 .estimate the case, and after a visit E 0 the Laughlin home he said that ' the physician's return was technically correct, although the cerebral ' hemorrhage had been caused by a bullet. Effort had been made to con- 1 "eal the fact that Mr. Gaughlin had 1 ended his own life because of the f prominence of the family. ] 1 m 9 , ( Tous of Had Eggs. -At Boston, Mass., four tons o' ' eggs intended for use in baker's cakes and pies, have been taken from a cold storage ware house on complaint of Dr. George H. Adams, goveminent food inspector. 1 have said that Secretary Ballinger | has Intentlally or consciously done ' a wrong act, I don't believe he had.' ( Will you explain your statement more fully?" mr. ubvis said He merely meant to disclaim any intimation that Mr. Ballinger had done wrong. He referred only to his acts, he continued, and not statements, for many of them were wrong. He did not indicate whether he thought Mr. Itallinger had "intentionally or consciously" made a misstatement. Mr. Davis concluded his testimony before the committee Saturday and was excused at the end of the afternoon session. He flatly contra dieted Secretary Ballinger in several statements and said the two did not agree on many reclamation matters, although both had been and he hoped, still were good friends. The so-called "black tent" affair figured conspicuously in Mr. Davis' testimony. He said that E. T. Perkins, purchasing agent for the rereclamation service at Chicago, went through the w>st lecturing In a black tent to advertise reclamation work under orders of Secretary Ballinger. The officials of the service were substantially informed, he said, that Perkins was getting an allowance of $.">00 per month from the I landman Railway Lines, in addi non to his $3,500 salary. Mr. Davis said Perkins proved his fidelity to the Harrlman lines by shipping fifty-nine per cent of material from <1 Chicago to Meza. Arizona, where the reclamation service has been engaged in a project, by way of their lines, which made the longest and most expensive route. J I Folding lU-d's Victim. The body of Jos. J Justin, traveling salesman for a St. Louis, Mo., coffee firm, was found in a closed folding bed in a local hotel at Walnut Ridge, Ark, Jfrlday. The bed in some manner had closed upon I Justin after he had retired the night 1 heflbre and he was smothered to' death. V x W X| , <. Jt . - . - - WAGES OF SIN sensational Case of Three Persons Charged With Murder. SCANDAL IN HIGH LIFE The Murder Was the Kesu!t of the Intimacy of a Doctor and the Wife of a Prominent Citizen, Who Was Slain by the Doctor and His Accomplices. The Sayler case, which is now on rial at Watseka, 111., is one of the nost sensational murder cases ever ried in that State. The intensity >f the interest taken by the community in the oase is due not only :o the sensational .details of the :rime and of the conditions which ed to It, but also to the fact that .he murdered man and those ac:used of being his slayers and their espective relatves are known to everybody throughout Iroquo^h county ind even beyond its limits. Immediately after the crime was lomihltted, on July 11, 1909, popular feeling in the county was so strong, that it would have been practically impossible to obtain a jury of twelve unbiased men to try the three persons charged with the murder. But since then tho excitement has :ooled down considerably and it is believed that the selection of the |ury will not be exceedingly difllnilt. The accused, having wealthy 'amily connection, will be represent?d by the ablest counsel that money ould procue and no effort will be ipared to save them from convietion, vhich would mean hanging or lifeong imprisonment. The persons to be tried for the nurder of John Tlyron Sayler, the Present City banker and live stock troker, are Dr. William F. Miller, drs. Lucy Sayler, the widow of the nurdered man nnd her father, John Irunder. Ira Grunder, a brother of .Irs. Sayler, is also under indictment tut uierly as an accessory after the act. Etate's attorney John C. PaliBsarg will conduct the prosecution ind he professes to feel sure of the onvictioa of the accused. John llryon Sayler was ki'led in lis own house by William It. Miller ibout ten o'cloc.K on the nirrht of ruly 11, 1900 The defeuc-f will laim that the deed was an act of elf defense and that Dr. Miller dl 1 l/\f fle/v 4,1 .W n>v iiu? iaiui huuih uniii aiter iaylor had attacked with a hathet. The prosecution, however, will ry to prove that the act was preneditated murder and was the remit of a conspiracy between Dr. rtiUer, Mrs. Sayler and her father. It appears that for many years, ")r. Miller and Mrs. Sayler ent. riain>d Intimate relations which w*-e the alk of the town and caused the comnunity socially to ostracise both the loctor and his affinity. It is known hat Sayler, the victim of the mur ler. had knowledge of the relations xisting between his wife and Dr. Vliller for many years, but that for .he sake of his daughter he refr.rn?d from taking legal steps to obain a divorce. Dr. Miller's wife, a lovable and tiignly respected woman, also knew >f the scandalous relations of her tuisband, but would not seek sepe:ition, fearing that the scandal connected with a divorce suit would blight the life of her boy. It is said that Dr. Miller and his ifflnity made several attempts to rid themselves of their respective legal partners and even tried to inveigle Sayler into the appearance of an ?ntaglement with Mrs. Miller, but Tailed In pvppv inotniipo 1 - ~ lieved and will be charged by the prosecution that becoming desperate the doctor and his afllnity resorted :o the extreme remedy of killing the man who stood in their way. What happened at the Savior residence on the night of the murder inly the persons charged with the murder know. They claim that Sayer came Into the room in which tfrB. Sayler. her father and Dr. Miler were about to play a game of ?ards, that they urged him to join ;he game, but that he refused and, vithout further provocation attacked Dr. Miller with a hatchet. They insist that Dr. Miller merely ?cted in self defense when he shot Sayler. Witnesses who entered the "oom of the murder shortly after the shooting, assert that there was no latchet in the room at that time nnd f one was found there, it must have !)ppn nlnnP/1 Uiam !" ? -?d lain 111 HD BUCmpt :o manufacture evidence. .Murderer Captured. Members of her own race captured Sallie Washington, a no?ro woman who stahhed Louisa King, another negro woman, to death in a terrible fight at McViUe, Ga. The negroes brought the woman to Augusta and surrendered her. She asserts that she fought and used a knife in self-defense. * Wofford Summer School. The meeting of the county school superintendents at Columbia Wednesday endorsed the Wofford ColleRt Summer school, and adopted resolutions urging the district trustee* throughout the State to aid then teachers to attend. ! - \ PATTEN MOBBED \ * ' \ IN THE MANCHHSTKU COTTON EXCHANGE. While Unhurt Mr. Fatten Was Greatly Chagrined by Display of Hostility to Him in Manchester. A hostile demonstration on ths floor of the cotton exchange at Manchester. England, and 'one directly contrasting it for friendliness on the corn exchange at Liverpool were met with Friday by James A. Patten, the Chicago wheat and cotton operator. In the first Mr. Patten was mobbed and probably escaped Injury only by being rescued by the police; In the latter he was greeted with chee's and other manisfestations of friendliness. Mr. Patten sailed from I.Ivomnni ?ot_ urday for New York on board the Cunard line steamer Mauretanla. The brief visit to England of the Chicago operator has been spent mostly about the Liverpool markets and Friday he made up his mind to run over to Manchester to s?o the city and visit the cotton exchange. It was known to Mr. Patten that there had been threats of an unpleasant roception should he visit "Cottonopolis." but he refused to believe they would be carried into effect. These threats, it is said, emanated from persons on the exchange who had lost large sums as a result of Mr Patten's operations in Chicago, and from others, who held him responsible for Thursday's rise in the price of cotton and v-ho believl that his visit to England had for Its purpose the manipulation of the market. Hardly had Mr. Patten touched the floor of the Manchester exchange before the outburst came. He wag hooted and jeered by the throng and then surrounded and hustled lioo the street. The crowd followed even here and did not desist its manisfestation of dislike until the American had been placed in a cab by the police and started for the railway station. where he took the first train back to Liverpool. While unhurt he was greatly surprised and irritated at the dislike the people of Mai Chester had shown for him. Arriving in Liverpool, Mr. Pattern just had time to visit the corn exchange before it closed for the day. The floor was crowded with members, who evinced their sympathy for him for the treatment that had been shown him in Manchester by taking off their hats and cheering him when he referred to the incident. FAMILY OF NINE BVRNEI). North Carolina Negro's Humble Cabin Destroyed. John Wagstaff and his wife and eight children, colored, were burned to death at their home seven miles northwest of ltoxhoro, N. C., on Friday night in a fire which destroyed their home. Particulars of the holocaust are meagre for the reason that the humble Wagstaff home was remote, and no one saw the fire and nothing was known of it until next morning when a farm hand on his way to work found the house in ashes and the charred bones of the occupants in the ruins. How the victims were trapped is a mystery as the house was a one story affair. The theory is that the fire caught in the kitchen and suffocated the occupants before they could escape. The house is on the farm of W. E. Farley, a prominent farmer of Person county, and Wagstaff was one of his moRt trusted tenants. MILLION OF GRHMS. Found on the Examination of One lonesome Dollar Dill. A dispatch from Washington says ninety-twe millions of germs, of all varieties were found on a one dollar bill, microscontenllv ov-,u...i , j vxi.llUOU <?l II1W request of Representative Wiley of New Jersey, according to the latter's statement to the house committee on hanking and currency Saturday. This was his argument In support of his bill to provide clean currency for the people. Among the diseases circulating with this money were smallpox, typhoid and scarlet fever with tuberculosis. Shoots Daughter and Self. At Manketa, Minn., Robert Pleffer, enraged because his daughter Maude accepted attentions from a young man to whom the father objected, shot the girl Friday night and fired two bullets into his own breast. The father nrohnlilv n-ui .n? '* " ..... uici vviuie lue i girl may recover. Kills Self. Mr. J. J. Rushing, a well-known man of South Marshville township, i X. C., committed suicide about fou>* I o'clock Monday afternoon at his | home, the weapon used being a pisI tol, the hall going entirely through his head. Wants Iter to Go on Stnge. Mrs. "Jack" Cudahy, whose husband tied and cut banker Jere P. Lit> lis Sunday morning at Kansas City, 4#-. Mo., when the latter was found Is i the Cudahy home, says she has rs" celved a score of offers to go on ths ? stage but had declined them all.