Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, April 21, 1910, Image 2
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PARDON COOPER
lie Man Who Assassinated Ex-Senator
Carina ck b Set Free by
PARTIZAN GOVERNOR
Who Signs Pardon Before the Opin
Ion of the Supreme Court Sustain
tag the Verdict of Guilty in the
liower Court as Read to the End
by the Judges.
A diBpatch from Nashville, Toon.,
says a sensation equalling that which
inflamed in November, 1908, when
former United States Senator Edward
Ward Carmack was shot and
killed on a prominent street in Nashville,
was created by the pardoning
by Governor M. R. Patterson, Wednesday
of Col. Duncan B. Cooper,
who, with bis Bon, Robin J. Cooper,
was convicted of the murder of Carmack.
The issuance of the pardon on the
Governor's own initiative without a
formal petition before him, followed
quickly the reading of the opinion
of the TenneBBee Supreme Court affirming
the verdict of guilty in the
case of Col. Cooper, under sentence
of twenty years in the penitentiary,
and reversing the lower Court in
the case of Robin Cooper, who was
sentence to a like period for the
Carmack murder.
Governor Patterson wrote the full
pardon for Col. Cooper and filed it
with the Secretary of State, while
Chief Justice Beard was yet reading
a dissenting opinion in the case
of Col. Cooper. In a statement given
to the prees almost immediately,
the Governor said: "In my opinion
neither of the defendants is guilty,
and they have not had a fair and
imnartial trial, but were convicted
contrary to the law and the evidence."
The news of the Court's action
and that of the Governor in pardoning
Col. Cooper spread quickly over
the city, causing intense excitement
and heated discussion by numerous
groups of partisans. The conviction
and sentence of Col. Cooper was affirmed
by a divided Court. In an
entirely different line- up of the jusl
tices, the Court split as to the guilt
of Robin Cooper, by a vote of 3 to 2,
the lower Court being reversed and
the case remanded for a new trial.
*The reversal in the case of Robin
Cooper is based on assignments of
error in the trial Judge's failure to
charge seperately as to Robin Cooper's
theory of self-defence, linking
the defence of the two defendants
together; excluding testimony" of
Governor Patterson as to talks with
Robin Cooper, and advice given him
as to Col. Cooper before the tragedy;
and the admission on cross examination
of Robin Cooper as to the intent
of certain State's witnesses in
testifying as to certain Incidents.
Col. Cooper was still at the Capital
when the pardon was entered in
the Secretary of State's office. He
was as calm, and even cheerful,
through it all, as if he had received
an acquittal. The reversal in his
son's case seemed to interest and
ploase him to the exclusion of his
own fate.
"I wanted Kot>in s vinaicmwn
more than I wanted a pardon," was
his smiling remark, when told of
the Governor's acton In behalf of
himself. Leaving the crowds gathered
about him, he entered a carriage
with his daughter, Mrs. Lucius
E. Burch, and his Bister-in-law, Mtb.
Jcmes C. Bradford, and accompanied
by Marshall Robert Marshall, was
driven to the county jail, where formalities
in the conectlon with the
pardon wore gone through with and
he was released. He reached the
jail at 2:20 P. !\l., leaving there
about 2.30 for the residence of his
daughter, Mrs. Burch. Robin Cooper
is under a $25,000 bond, H1s
friends freely predict that he will
not again be arralned for trial.
Should he be, it would be a most
difficult undertaking to secure a Jury
in Davidson County under the law's
requirements.
The opinions were read before a
Court room packed to sufTocation,
the corridors being crowed with those
unable to gain entrance. Every word
wag listened to with breathless interest,
and the scene was a momorntiio
one It marked an eooch in
not only the legal annals of the
State, but the political as well. The
Democratic party of Tennessee has
been rent Into bitter factions over
the prohibition question, and bb a
wheel within a wheel, "the Cooper
case" has played a conspicuous part.
Cooper is the close friend and alleged
political adviser of Patterson,
w.ho is the leader of the antl-prohlbltion
forces In Tennessee. Onrmack
was the chief of the prohibition
was the cheif of the prohibition movement.
Patterson was a most Important
witness for the defence at the
trial of the Coopers for the killing ot
Carmack, was the outcome of political
machlnlnatlon. Now on the verge
of an election of Judiciary, the Supreme
Court was called on to pass
finally upon the case over which.
It seems, the party factions have actually
aligned themselves on one
side or the other. For sixty-nine
< <
KICK ON RING RULE
SOME REPUBLICANS INDULGE IN
PLAIN TALK.
About the Corruption Abroad in the
hand and the Great Need of a
Change.
rr.hje annual dinner of the Republican
Club of Nelda county, N. Y.,
was held Wednesday evening and attended
by 700 men, for the most part
' 0
anti-organization men. The speak1
ers included Charles J. Bonaparte,
former attorney-general of the United
States; William H. HotchklsB,
state superintendent of insurance,
and Congressman George W. Norrls,
of Nebraska.
Former Assemblyman Merwin K.
Hart, president of the league, In his
Introductory remarks, said the people
are as hard to fool as In Lincoln's
time, and "were not deceived
by the Payne-Aldrlch bill, and are
tired of continued disclosures about
politicians for revenue only."
Mr. Bonaparte's address was an
analysis of the methods of bosses
and rings, a protest against the
methods of both and a plea for returning
political power to the people.
"The mass of our citizens habitually
oome to the polls, not to
choose their rulers, but to record a
preferance between nominees of two
usurping monopolies," he said.
Mr. Bonaparte declared leaders
"have made their trade so dangerous,
odious and noisome that against it
every force that makes for righteousness
nuist be directed tomorrow as
it shouH be today.".
Superintendent Hotchklss follow
en an" -uter rererrlng to the message
s? nt to the legislature by Governor
Hughes for an investigation
of legislative practices and proceedure
and also to a recent speech by
the governor voicing the public demand
"for the uncovering of the
secret places of political power and
legislative favor," said:
"Thus within a week have two
blows been struck at a system?
rather a system with a system?of
which New Yorkers have become
weary. Executives of great states
do not speak thus without e<.rem?
provocation.
"Through what a period have we
been passing? Until recent years
considerations on tho sIJi seem to
have been smiled at by the cynical;
the boasts of some of the3i in bi^t
room tailis led toward several of
the disclocures the in ,uiry now
closing. What an atmospn' re was
was that of tho capital city?said
one witness "this is not a Sunday
school, this is Albany'?where graft
has been a subject for joking and the
distributors of it honored in song.
"And what shall be said of people
whose action at the polls or in
ctonv^ention has made such things
possible? Each decade of late oaa
seen the executive grow stronger, the
legislature weaker; each decade the
people have become more satisfied to
trust a man, not merely to execute,
but even at times to make the law3.
The current just now is stronger
than ever before. Imnressed bv the
oorrupt practices of the few, the
plain people are beginning to doubt
the reliability of the legislative
branch. Stories from Mississippi's
contest in lurid vigor with those
from Pittsburg: New Jersey's of late,
cast in shadow even the daily tales
about New York. Carried to the ultimate,
the present distress of poplar
representation in city council, in
state legislature, yes, even in the 1
Federal congressmen's, sooner or
later, a practical despotism, a chief- 1
tainship which, while still elective,
has yet all of the dangers against
which the father taught. God forbid
that the government should thus
be weakened.
"And so I take it our governor
was looking far into the future when
he asked a 'thorough and unsparing
investigation into legislative processes
and procedure.* What the people
want Is, however, not so much
a current resolution as a concurrent
revolution, an overturn in methods,
perhaps, rather than in men.
)>r> H "
days the Court had the case and the
State has been on the tip-toe of
expectancy as opinion days came and
went witout its being referred to.
The announcement at last showed
an interesting status to those familiar
with the intricacies of the politial
situation. Chief Justice Heard and
Justices MoAlister and Hell reversed
the case as to Robin Cooper; Justices
Neill and Shields dissenting.
Justices Shields, McAllister and Neil
confirm as to Col. Cooper: Chief
Justice Heard and Justice Hell dissenting.
Tho Supreme Court was more
widely divided than it ever was before.
Two of the most elaborate
opinions ever rendered were handed
down, and neither one of them,
strange to say, nctually accomplished
result intended by the opinion
itself or the Justice who wrote it.
Justice John K. Shields rend an opinion
covering 72 typewritten pages,
affirming the judgments of the Court
below in all things. In this Justice
M. M. Nell concurred.
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KILLED BY CONVICT
LATER CONVICT WAS SHOT TO
DEATH BY OFFICERS.
A Maddened Mob of Two Thousand
Seized the Outlaw's Dead Body
and Strung It Up.
At Merldan, Miss, former Sheriff
J. R. Temple was shot and killed
Wednesday by Tom O'Neil, a negro
prisoner. Deputy Jailer Boutwell
was serving breakfast, when he waB
assaulted by O'Neil, the latter in the
scuffle securing Boutwell's nistol.
Temple, who was the jailer, went
to the assistance of his deputy and
was shot and instantly killed with
Boutwell's pistol. O'Neill and another
negro prisoner escaped to the
basement of the jail, carrying the
weapon with them and defied arrest.
Later O'Neil was shot and killed
by the officers after he had fired
four shots at them without effect.
O'Neil'B companion, George Williams,
a negro, was Bhot in the leg.
A maddened crowd of nearly 2,000
people took the body of O'Neill,
who was expiring, from the officers,
carried it to a telephone pole about
a block distant, where it was strung
up. After cut, the negro's clothing
saturated with kerosene and set on
fire, but was rescued from the mob
after the clothing had been burned
from the body.
George Williams was placed in a
cell after O'Neil had been killed.
The men insisted on securing "nlm.
but no assault has been made on
the jail.
Judge Buckley, who Is holding
court, in an address counselled moderation,
and it is not believed that
further efforts will be made to lynch
Williams, although great excitement
prevails. Mr. Temple was one
of the most prominent citizens in
the county.
TRIED TO KILL MOTHER.
Young White Man Ixxlged in the
Columbia Jail.
Because he threatened to kjll his
own widowed mother, young Sadler
Gillesie is in the Columbia jail upon
charges preferred by his uncle. The
case has excited considerable interest
for the family is well connected
and prominent in social circles.
Youne GlllesDie. a few weeks ago.
flourished a carving knife in his
hand and police ofllcers were called
In to prevent his harming members
of his family. He was not arrested
then on the plea of his mother, but
a ropltition of his threats caused his
uncle, Mr. B. M. Tngllsh, to take the
matter up with the result that the
young man was arrested late Thursday.
Gillespie, who is well known
around town, is only about 18 years
of f ge.
WITHOUT ANY WEAPON*.
Single-Handed Whipped Fifteen Unwashed
Hoboes.
"Seeing a gang of tramps burning
crossties at their camp near Willows,
Cal., Monday afternoon, H. W. Sheridan,
a Southern Pacific superintentent,
stopped his special train to investigate.
One of the tramps, who
appeared to be the leader, objected
to the Intrusion, whereupon Sheridan
knocked him down. That precipltaed
a free-for-all ilght and Sheridan
found himself battling singlehanded
with 15 brawny knights of
the road. Before the train crew
could reach the scene, Sheridan with
kioku nnrt blows hart rontort the on
tire crowd. The leader was knocked
down four times. Sheridan used
to be a brakeman in Utah and Nevada,
where he was a terror to hobos.
RILBO HAS CLOSE CALL.
His Expulsion from Senate Prevented
by One Vote,
By a margin of one vote short of
the required two-thirds majority, 28
to 15, the Mississippi Senate, now In
session at Jackson, early Thursday
rejected a resolution to expel State
Senator Theodore Hilbo, who claims
that he accepted a b-ibe of $645 in
exchange for his promise to change
his vote from former Governor Jas.
K. Vardaman to United States Senator
Leroy Percy during the recent
Senatorial contest. The acceptance
of the money. Bilbo explained, was to
secure evidences of irregularitv in
connection with tho contest for the
United States Senatorship.
Pa Li I Blow.
At Dnrlington Pat Hudson and
viuruucK uuuaw, two young wnite
men, beanie Involved In a difficulty
Wednesday night, during which Hudeon
struck Outlaw on the back of
his head, inflicting what is probably
a fatal wound.
\ ictims of Poison.
Mystery surrounds the death of
two sons of Philip ltadali, a wealthy
Italian of Wilkinsburg. Pa., found
dead in bed Thursday, the victims of
poison.
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SOME TIMEY NEWS
HAPPENINGS IN WASHINGTON
THAT WILL BE READ
With Interest by the General Reader
Who Wants to Keep Up With the
Current Events.
Congress has been a tame affaii
since the complete routing of Speaker
Cannon and his privileged Rules
Committee, and it is generally predicted
that much work will oe done
in the next six or eight weeks, and
Him nu j<> 11 in mem win do taKon aouut
the first of June. The President has
outlined much legislation he would
like to see enacted, but owing to
conditions at the Capitol, he does not
expect it.
The Government printing orfice,
located in this city, is the largest office
of the kind in the world. Practically
all government publications,
including the Congressional Record,
are printed there, and at prescit require
a force of nearly 4,500 employees.
This great shop is never
without its details of employers at
work. There are three shifts, of 8
hours each, from 8 a. m. to 1 p m.,
from 4 to 12 night, and from 12 to
8, making the work continuous, in
fact much of the machinery never
stops, except for repairs. The force
is composed of men skilled in every
detail of the priters trade, aud they
come from all parts of the Un'on.
Besides these employees of the Highest
skill. the machinery is the best i
known to the craft. Of all departments
of the Government this immense
workshop is more up to date
than any other.
The annual fi^ht is on in Coig.es*
respecting the distribution of free
seeds. Every year a large appr priation
is made for the purchase
and distribution of seeds, aad as
there is much fraud practiced on the
Government in the purchase of
worthless seeds, there are many who
deem it the best policy to discontiue
the work, and if the rural committees
do not stand together
against the city, and the east generally,
this will be done. The Agricultural
Department is now r.iising
some of its seeds, and tests those it
purchases and yet when the seeds
are ready for distribution it is found
that the bulk does not correspond
with the samples.
Under a recent decision of the
Court of Claims, a large fund is
now being distributed araon; the
Cherokee Indians and their descendants.
This fund was created by an
act of Congress to pay these people
for their land and other proper?v
taken from thera by the Qove/nment
when it compelled them to give
up their lands and move to another
location. There are a large number
of these claimants, scattered ai.
over the country, but the greater
number is in Tennessee, the Carolina8.
Missouri and Arkansas. The
distribution is made upon sufficient
proof that the claimant is a descendant
of the Cherokees in a certain
degree.
The Nation*' aHU of Fame, as it is
called, is the old House of Representatives
in the Capitol, and is a
spacious semi-circular room, with
marble columns supporting galliories,
and inlaid floors and highly decorated
ceilings. The use of this hall
for t.his purpose was declared by an
Act of CongrosB. and provided that
each State should be entitled to
place statues of two of its citizens
therein, and many of the states have
taken advantage of this law, and
marble or bronze statutes are fast
filling the vacant spaces. Rut one
woman is honored hv ncoiinvinc n
prominent space, and that is Francis
E. Willard, the Temperance advocate.
ELEVEN MEN RUIUED
By Premature Explosion Under Tons
of Rock.
By a premature explosion in the
stone quarries of the Nazareth Portland
Cement Company at Eastern,
Pa., Thursday eleven men were buried
under five thousand tons of rock
and killed. The victims are Hungarians
and Italians. The quarry
force was preparing to set off a
blast in four holes and had filled
the holes with hundreds of pounds
of dynamite. When the charges exploded
men were scattered in all
directions. The entire side of Hie
mountain of rock was torn loose.
Arrested for Murder.
Mary Washington, of Savannah. I
On., a negress. who was struck by
the automobile of Alfred Marshall,
a well known Savannah man, died
Monday. Her husband, who was
struck at the same time, died last
| week. Marshall Tuesday was arrested
the second time charged with
murder. He was released on bond.
Knocked Judge Down.
Tlot words used by Chief J. T.
Jensen of the Atlanta city sanitary
department in objecting to a decision
rendered by Judge Nash Proyles In
police court precipitated a fist tight
| between the two officials. In melee
both exchanged blows and Broyleg
i fell to the floor. On resuming the
i bench he ordered the sanitary chief
escorted from the room by policemen.
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FEED AND SEED
INSPECTION LAW GOES INTO EFFECT
MAY FIRST.
Os That Day Important Measures
Passed at I*uxt Session of Ijef(iNlature
Will Become Effective.
A special dispatch from Columbia
to The News and Courier says one
million eight hundred thousand
stamps have been ordered by the department
of agriculture, commerce
and industries for the enforcement
of the Feed Inspection Act, which
goes into effect on May 1. |
Th.. -a "*
i inr siuiiipH win snow tne number
of pounds and the amount of mon y
represented by them. For the various
weightB of feed stuffs the Btamp
will rus aB follows:
100 pounds. 1 1-4 cents; 75 pounds
9 3-8 mills; 50 pounds, 6 1-4 mills;
25 pounds, 3 1-8 mills; 10 pounds,
1 1-4 mills; 5 pounds, 5-8 mill. The
stamp will bear the fac simile signature
of the commlss'oners.
The feed inspection blanks will
soon be ready to be sent out to concerns
interested. The rules and regulations
and standards aB required
by the act will be arrained by Commissioner
Watson.
John F. Courcier, of Toledo, Ohio,
secretary of the National Grain Dealers'
Association, was in Columbia in
conference with Commissioner Watsos.
Mr. Courcier will also visit the
grain dealers in Charleston, Columbia
and other parts of the State, asking
them to become members of the
Association. The object of the Association
is to aid in the honest enforcement
of the laws for honest
houses.
Mr. Courcier was discussing with
Col. Watson the matter of making
the standards in this State uniform,
as fixed by the National Grain Dealers'
Association. This standard has
been accepted by the United States
and by the several States now having
feed inspection laws.
In Georgia, Tennessee and other
States the standards fixed a year ago
are in force now, but there have
been some amendments since that
time. The new regulations will be
adopted by the State of South Carolina,
as these new standards have
been adopted by the United States
Government.
All the forms, blanks, etc., for the
Seed Inspection Act are now in the
hands of the publishers, and will
soon be issued. The charge for analysis
of samples under this Act is 25
cents. Prof. Paur, of Clemson, is
already arranging at the experiment
station to prepare for the examisatlon
of samples of seeds.
By special request some examinatlos
have already been made. This
act will go Into effect May 1. Violations
will be punished and inspections
will be made in the open market.
In eonection with the pure food
and drug law the State health department.
is to cooperate in giving
directions to inspertov-s of seeds.
These instructions will be carried out
by the agents.
This is a good law. and will save
farmers from being imposed on by
dishonest dealers in seed, who are
willing to palm off faulty seeds. *
SKKKS WHITE FIEND.
From Alabuma Wlio Is Wanted for
Assaulting a Girl.
Constable W. J. McAdams. of Millport,
Ala., and a posse of citizens of
that town, were in Columbus searching
for Alfred Harnett, wanted for an
alleged assault on the little 7-yearold
daughter of E. G. Dotson, a
prosperous planter living near Millport.
The assault took place in a
ham on the Dotson plantation while
Dotson was absent from home. Barnett,
who is about 33 years old, has
a wife and two children. He formerly
lived in Columbus and is believed
to have gone there.
Tripped a Burglar.
At Fort Wayne, Ind., her two little
girls and a masked burglar, tumbling
down the stairway together,
bowled over Mrs. O. H. Tlaird, who
was standing at the foot of the stairs
holding a lamp late Monday night.
The burglar dashed frantically back
upstairs, leaped through a rear window
and fled, empty handed. The
children, going up to bed, had come
into collision with burglar and tripped
him in their wild effort to retreat.
One Dead, Five Hurt.
Jj. (7. Travis, an automobile demonstrator,
was killed and his wife
and four of his children were sevetely
Injured when the automobile in
which they were riding Monday night
was struck by a Southern Pacific
train at a street crossing at Santa
Ana, Cal.
Should 1m? liii|* n(died.
Rev. J. Inman Townsley, pastor of
the Second Methodist Episcopal
church, South, in New Orleans, declared,
during the course of a sermon
there Sunday night, that Oovernor
Patterson, of Tennessee, should
he Impeached for pardoning Col. I).
It. Cooper, convicted of manslaughter
in the killing of former United
State Senator Carmack.
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DIED INTRAP'
Six Firemen Barned lo Death Fighting
Fire in the Connty Jail.
| OTHERS BADLY BURNED
Explosion of a (I'nsoline Tank Onuses ^
a Hark Draft and Slams Itehind
Uio Rrave Fire Fighters a Ilig Iron
Door Iieaving Them ut the Mercy
of the Flames.
Trapped by metal doors and barred
windows, six firemen were caught
by a back draft and burned to death
during the partial destruction of the
New Haven, Conn., county jail Thursday.
Three of their comradeB were
saved through the heroism of other
firemen. The bodies of the six men
were found late Friday after the
debris cooled. Many other firemen
were fearfully burned but remained
at work.
| Six men from truck No. 1 were
I fighting their way through the cell
room of the jail into the workshop,
when an explosion of a gasoline tank
caused a back draft and slamed behind
them the iron doors seperatlng
the two buildings.
Three of the men were hemmed
in a corner and burned to death while
the other three made their wav to a
barred window to which they clung
with streams of water playing on
them from the outside. Soon after
reaching the window the roof fell
it and ladders were put up from the
outside and down the inside and the
men taken out. The other dead
firemen were caught in the same
hack draft as they were working at
the other end of the building nnd
were carried down by the roof when
it fell.
The fire was discovered by a prisoner
and the 175 men in the workshop
were sent to their cells. When
It was seen that there was danger
of the fire spreading to the main
building the 246 male and 42 female
inmates were taken to the police
stations and the foot guard armory.
The next night the prisoners
were returned to the jail.
The buildings destroyed were the
two workshops and several adjoining
sheds and two dwelling houses.
The fire is thought to have been
caused by crossed electric wires. The
loss of the New England Chair company
for whom the prisoners do contract
work, is estimated at $135,000,
fully Insured and the loss on
the buildings of the jail is $35,000
with full insurance.
Ai ruiMn <JU>IK TO UltlfiF.
Machine Turns Turtle Near Gaffney
and Injures Four.
While F. H. Knox, of Spartanburg,
superintendent of the street railway
company; president Smith, of the
Merchants and Planters Hank; I)r.
C. A. Jefferles and W. F. Smith, of
Gaffney, were on their way tj Gaston
Shoals, in Mr. W. F. Smith's
car, the machine went into a ditch,
a mile from Gaffney, and turned turtle,
which resulted in painful, though
not serious, Injuries to all the occupants.
Mr. Knox received the most
painful injury of any of the party,
his shoulder and wrist being badly
sprained.
IIIT COMING AND GOING.
Tossed by Engine Against Another
Going Different Way.
A peculiar accident Wednesday,
during which Frank Collins, .12 years
old. was converted literally into a
human shuttlecock, probably will
cost him his life. Collins was walking
along the Louisville & Nashville
tracks in Louisville, Ky., when ho
was struck bv a southbound freight
train and tossed against the pilot
of a northbound engine, which hurled
him 20 feet from the roadway. '
He was picked up unconscious and
taken to a hospital, where Friday
morning it was said he could not
live.
SAYKD WOMAN KltOM SI ICIDK.
Kngineer on Train Sees Her With
Stone About Wais?.
C. L. Carey, an engineer on a
switch engine of the Kansas City
Southern railway, saved Mrs. Daisy
Mason, of Kansas City, Kansas, from
suicide parly Thursday. As Carey's
engine was passing a barge at the
foot of Delaware street he looked
out of the cab window and saw a
woman standing on the barge with
a srona uoo aoont tier waist. Carry
stopped his engine, sprang from the
cab and ran to the woman, seizing
her jnst as she was about to leap
into the Missouri river. ^
Race Horses Killed.
Durlsg the severe storm at Louisville,
Ky., Saturday lightning struck
two barns at Churchhill Downs race
course Instantly killing George J.
Long's two y ar old Denies and four
year old, Solitle, Frank Repass and
Nerbit, two years old.
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