f The Fort Mill Times.
I ^ VOLUME 19-NO. 13. FORT MILL, S. C? THURSDAY, IUNE 30. 1910. ?, ?R VMJ.?
If* COnON BOLL PEST SPREADING
TO EASTERN SOUTHERN STATES
'
Louisiana Man Takes Hopeless View
of tbe Situation---Is His Pessimism
Warranted?
From all reports now being received
from the depths of the
r. cotton-producing belt of the
South, the boll weevil is this
season becoming more alarming
than ever in its inroads into the
heart of the belt. In regard to
the destruction which it is working
in certain portions of the
South, the New York Commercial
has this to say:
"The boll weevil has almost
; entirely destroyed the cotton
crop in the western part of Texas
and the eastern part of Louisiana,
according to statements in a
newspaper interview with Col.
, . James Willbanks, published in
Washington. He says that the
weevil is getting worse in those
sections every year and that it
moves steadily northward and
eastward. He is very pessimistic
over the situation, fearing
that no remedy for direct application
to the pest will ever be
found and that sooner or later it
* will be impossible to raise any
cotton* in the South at a profit.
But for all this, he has himself a
suggestion to offer for exterminating
the insect--as follows:
4 4 41 believe the only way to
kill the pest for good is to burn
all the cotton stalks after a crop
has been harvested and let the
land be sown for the next year
in some other crop. Of course
? . this would cause a cotton famine,
. # and prices would reach civil-war
levels, when cotton sold for $5 a
*,1. K..? 4-UJo. u V...
jmuiiw, uut Liiia u uuiu uu tuca)^i
in the long run if we could finally ,
get rid of the weevil.
"'Already many fine planta
tions in Louisiana and Texas.
' where the land is not suitable
for anything but cotton, have
been abandoned because the
^ weevil has made it no longer
profitable to work the land.'
"It must be admitted that as
yet nothing has been discovered
in the way of direct treatment
that promises an extermination i
of the boll weevil, but it has
been found possible to minimize
the extent of the damage caused
by it. and. in some instances, to
check the so read of the pest
these things, chiefly through improved
methods of cultivation
and treatment as directed by the
experts of the United States department
of agriculture. So
there is no occasion for such a
hopeless view of the situation as
this Louisiana man takes."
Death of Arthur Potts.
Arthur Potts, the 23-year-old
son of Mr. Walter Potts, of the
Steel Creek section of Mecklenburg
county, died suddenly at
the store of his father Monday
morning. Mr. Potts was in apparently
good health a few minutes
before his death and the
announcement that he was dead
was a great shock to his family
and friends. He was a member
of Steel Creek Presbyterian
church, where the funeral services
were conducted by his pastor.
the Rev. Mr. Cleveland.
The burial was in Steel Creek
churchyard Tuesday afternoon.
The dead young man has a
number of relatives in Fort Mill
and was a frequent visitor to
this place, lie was a nephew of
Mr. J. H. Potts, who attended
the funeral. He was said to be
the tallest man in Mecklenburgcounty,
his height being (> feet
-6 inches.
Cap!. Allison Again in the Service.
The friends of Capt. J. A.
Allison have been pleased to
note during the last ten days
that he is again in the passenger
service of the Southern railway,
as conductor of trains 35 and 28,
between Charlotte and Columbia.
For the l#st two years Capt.
Allison has been in ill health and
has been on his truck farm in
I Florida recuperating. In point
of service, he is one of the
oldest conductors on the South
ern. uapt. Allison succeeded
Capt. E. Bonie Chase, who has
returned to his old run on the
Columbia and Asheville division,
which he held for 3() years before
coming to the Columbia
division two years ago as the
successor of the late Capt.
W. H. Sprinkle.
Fort Mill Loses to Yorkville.
"Honest Injun, cross your heart i
and hope to die if you tell, Bo, and |
I'll take your word for bond that
you'll keep this thing quiet: The
Fort Mill boys went over to the j
ancient town of Yorkville last
Wednesday and lost three games
of ball. It was this way, Bo:
Fort Mill has a fairly good amateur
team. Well, they were in-'
vited to the capital of the county |
for a series of games and accepted
the invitation, thinking the |1
contests would be between amaf
m 11*0
tV/ui o. jl nut o >? ntit i/Jicj vv tic i
tagged for overrunning the base. 1
The Yorkville ball folks were so
anxious to win the games that!
they had gone to the expense of j
hiring a team, composed largely |
of professionals and semi-professionals.
But at that, the Fort
Mill boys do not complain. You
understand they are in the game
for the love of the sport, Bo, and
it is not a matter of life or death j
with them whether they win.
They neither sing songs of triumph
over victory nor despair in '
defeat.
"So they are .willing to accord
the Yorkville boys whatever >
gratification there is in dressing
up a team of hired help in Yorkville
uniforms and claiming that
they are the town's ball players.
As I said, Bo, or meant to say, j
there is no dark brown taste in (
the mouths of the Fort Mill boys:
they are used to defeat. They (|
did. however, feel that in each ,
of the three games a little more ,
might have been given them by
the umpire. The score? Well, (
let's forget it. Fort Mill got ,
beat; that's all. The Yorkville ,
team is over here for a series of
games, beginning today (Wednesday)
and our boy#s hope to do
better on the diamond, but do (
not hope to excel the kind and
hospitable treatment they received
off the diamond over (
there. Now, I enjoin you to ,
keep all this quiet except the,!
visit of the Yorkville team. Let
everybody know they are here." .
Will Not Speak in Fort Mill.
Lieutenant Governor T. G.
McLeod will not come to Fort
Mill Friday evening to make a
speech to the voters ot' this com- ,
munitv in behalf of his candidacy
for governor. Some days ago '
local friends of Mr. McLeod conceived
the idea of having him ;
come to Fort Mill from the county '
meeting in Yorkville Friday, hut
an agreement has been reached
by the various candidates for '
State office making the countyto-county
campaign that no
political speeches are to be made
by any candidate during the
campaign at other than scheduled
meeting places. This agreement
kills the proposed Fort Mill
speech of Mr. McLeod as well as
the meeting which it was hoped
to have in Hock Hill Friday
night.
Mr. Witherspoon's Fine Reduced.
About a hundred Yorkville
citizens felt enough interest in
the second hearing of the case of
the town of Yorkville against
,J. Harvey Witherspoon to attend
the trial at the court house
Thursday morning. Mr. Witherspoon
was charged with fighting.
He is the superintendent of the
graded school in Yorkville. On
June 15th a ball game which he
was managing was played by
the school team and the Hickory
Grove boys. Mr. Witherspoon
endeavored to collect an admis
/? f l\i? /> '> ?v\ r? 1 O \/t
ivz11 iu cuv; >;<iiiic ik'iii iv. 1*1.
Whitesides, a 50-year-old citizen
of Yorkville. Mr. Whitesides
refused to pay and would not
leave the grounds when ordered
to do so by Mr. Witherspoon.
Mr. Witherspoon then caught
: hold of Mr. Whitesides and
threw him to the ground, choking
him a little.
Mr. Witherspoon was tried
for fighting before the acting
mayor, J. M. Starr, and given a
fine of $20. He considered the
mayor's fine exorbitant and appealed
to the town council for a
rehearing of the case. The re|
hearing was held Thursday
morning and the council reduced
' the fine to $10, after listening to
i the testimony of several witnesses
and the speeches of the
I lawyers?W. W. Lewis for the
! prosecution and Thos. F. McDow
I for the defendant.
SPECULATION ON MAIN STREET
OVER THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR
Friends ot the Candidates Talking ol
Their Favorites---McLeod Leads in
Straw Ballot.
Up to the last ten days there
had been no marked interest in
Fort Mill over the selection ol
the Democratic nominees for the
various State offices, but since
the biennial county-to-county
canvass of the candidates was
begun at Sumter last Wednesday
and as the tour of the State
brings the candidates closer tc
Ynrt pnnnfu flto infnvnof
?. V. >. WV.IIVJ vuv. li ltv.1 tot W IllLI,
was certain to crop out sooner 01
later is manifest in many places.
Naturally the interest of the
majority of voters centres in the
race for govornor, the most important
office to be bestowed this
year upon a favorite son, thougf
an occasional reference is made
to the candidacy of B. B. Evans
against Fraser Lyon forattornej
general. No one has been hearc
to venture the opinion thai
Evans will defeat Lyon, bul
Lyon is not popular in Fort Mill,
as was clearly shown in the
primary two years ago when he
ran for the office without opposition
and a large number o1
voters here scratched his name
off their tickets.
This year everyone seems te
be at a loss to guess with anj
degree of certainty who will be
the nominee for governor.. Heretofore,
for the last 20 years, the
drift of public sentiment towarc
this or that candidate has beer
so strontr that one did tint liov<
to go far afield to gather suf
ficient information upon which
to base a more or less accurate
estimate of the one. two. three
leaders in the voting.
Now there are three candi
dates for the governorship whe
are out-and-out advocates o]
State-wide prohibition, Messrs
Featherstone, Richards ant
Hyatt. Formerly there has beer
but one prohibition candidate
and he has polled the entire vott
of that wing of the party. Ir
the present campaign, however,
the prohibition vote doubtless
will be considerably split betweer
the three candidates with tin
chances seemingly in favor ol
Mr. Featherstone, though Mr.
Richards seems to have made
some headway since the campaign
opened.
There are two local optionists
asking for the governorship.
Messrs. McLeod and Blease.
Neither believes that it would
be fair or in line with tin
principles of the party to force
prohibition upon the five counties
in the State which voted for the
county dispensary last year. Twe
years ago Mr. Blease made ;
creditable race against Governoi
Ansel. Both claimed to be loca
optionists. This year Lieutenant
Governor McLeod and Mr. Blease
are in accord on the liquor question.
but are men of very different
personality and different con
cepuons 01 the otlice to whicl
they aspire.
Monday morning in an effor
to ascertain the favorites amonf
the gubernatorial candidates tin
The Times took a straw ballot of i
small number of business men or
Main street, the following beinj
the poll of the 80 voters wh<
were asked to indicate thei
choice:
Blease
Duncan
Feathers tone
Hyatt
McLeod l
Richards
Non-committal
Total 3
Charlotte Citizen Kills Himself.
James VV. Wadsworth, one o
the wealthiest citizens of Char
lotte, who was known in a busi
ness way to hundreds of peopl
in York county, committed sui
cide at his home at 3:80 o'clocl
Monday afternoon. Mr. Wads
worth shot himself in the heat
with a niotnl
.. >v> i* ^;iatv/i. L/caiu luuowet
an hour after the shooting. Th
excessive use of stimulants ani
worry over business matter
were Riven in a statement b;
*the family as the cause of th
act. A brother of Mr. Wads
worth, Charles Wadsworth, too!
his life in a Greensboro (N. C.
hotel last year.
4
Reasons for Small Wheat Crop.
[ " A number of Fort Mill farmers
do not agree with the statement
made in The Times two weeks
F ago by Mr. W. J. Stewart that
the lands of this section are not
adapted to wheat-growing. One
farmer told of the unusual
? yield he had received from a few
i acres which he put to wheat
r some years ago, but admitted
; that he had abandoned wheat>
growing on his plantation to be
r able to devote practically all his
. land to cotton and corn. Another
! farmer who mentioned the mat-1
ter stated as his opinion that the
lands of this section are not un}
suited to growing wheat, but
1 that the seasons are so uncertain
* that it does not pay to risk a
failure with wheat since there
; are more certain crops which can
? be grown. Still another farmer
. thinks that thl reason why
. there is so little wheat grown
hereabouts is because of the poor !
1 1 * - r r%
quality 01 nour wnicn is turned
3 out by the mills. The average
? man is not now satisfied with
7 flour, however wholesome and
1 nutritious it may be, if it is
t "off color;" it must be as white
t as the product of the great roller
, mills of the West and Northwest
i ?much of which is adulterated
i and unfit for human consump
tion even though it be of better
I quality but unbleached. Whats
ever the cause, all agree that
there is not one-tenth the acreage
) in wheat that there was 20 years
r ago.
Local Boys Give Catawbas a Game.
j The novelty of seeing an Indian
baseball team at play was wit\
nessed on the local diamond
3 Saturday afternoon when the
Catawbas came to Fort Mill for
* a game with a local team. The
31 Fort Mill boys were generous
3 and presented the game to the
i Indians after it was seen that
they could have beaten the red!
skins with ease. The score was
11 to 10 in favor of the Catawbas.
j J More interest was manifest in
; the personnel of the Indian team
M than in the result of the game.
3 Their oldest player, John George,
was about 40 years of age, and
1 their youngest player, thesecond;
baseman, a little brave not more
than 13. A Chippewa. Will
1 i Saunders, from Minnesota,
' played the short field for the
Catawbas. The batteries were:
Catawbas, John George and
Floyd Owl; Fort Mill, A1 Ferguson
and Holt Ardrey.
Fort Mill Man Charlotte's Chief.
A list light on the streets of
I Charlotte Saturday afternoon be
tween Recorder I). B. Smith and
? Chief of Police T. M. Christen5
bury, both of that city, resulted
; in the elevation of a former Fort
> Mill man, Sergeant .James M.
i Youngblood, to the office of the
* latter, which he is tilling until
1 the executive board of city count
cil acts upon the case of assault
> which has been made out against
- Mr. Christenbury. Sergeant
t Youngblood is filling the position
- of chief of police satisfactorily
1 and it is said to be not unlikely
that he will be elected to fill the
t offiee permanently should Mr.
r Christenbury be indefinitely sus?
I pended or dismissed from the
i service. Some years ago Serl
: geant Youngblood was a citizen
X | of Fort Mill, being an employe
) | of the Charlotte Brick company,
r The difficulty between Recorder
Smith and Chief of Police
1 | Christenbury grew out of a report
that the latter was taking
i part in the election for solicitor
r> i in Mecklenburg county. Re
corder Smith was a candidate
'* | and the report became noised
o abroad that the head of the police
I department was working against
him. The two men met Saturday
afternoon and a personal
f difficulty ensued between them.
-! Chief Christenbury is said to
havf> hp*?n thn airTrnL-unv Unn'1"
_ - V..K VUOUI . HV-t'VV
e the action of the executive board.
k Much Farm Work Done.
i- The farmers of York county
d have been blessed with several
d days' ideal weather for cultie
vating their crops during the
d last week. Thursday and Friday
s of last week and Monday,
y Tuesday and Wednesday of this
e week have witnessed the dei
struction of thousands of acres
k of the grass which ten days ago
) appeared to have the upperhand
i in many cotton and corn fields.
BLOCK SYSTEM INSTALLED
ON THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY
Over 2,000 Miles of the Company's
Lines are Now Protected by the
Appliance.
A bulletin just issued by the
Interstate Commerce commission
gives the mileage of railways in
the United States operated by
the block system on January 1,
1910. It shows that 2,080.1
miles of trnnL- r??i ?
V. UV? un l UC OUUlllCI II
railway, constituting 30 per cent,
of the entire mileage of the
system, is now equipped with
this safety appliance.
The working of the block
system may be best explained
by taking two block stations,
Gainesville, Ga., and Oakwood,
Ga., for example. A train approaches
Gainesville bound for
Atlanta. The telegraph operator
at Gainesville asks the operator
at Oakwood if he can have the
block for the approaching train.
If there are no trains between
Gainesville and Oakwood the
operator gives the required permission
and both operators make
a record of the time, train
number, etc. The operator .at
Gainesville then clears the signal
| by pulling it down to an angle of
about 60 degrees below horizontal
after the train comes in sight.
That is called "clearing" the
i signal and is done after the
I train comes into sight to assure
1 the engineer that the signal is
cleared for him and he will not
proceed into the block unless he
sees it go "clear." This
, assures him that he is not taking
: a signal given a preceding train.
I As soon as the train passes the
signal the operator returns the
signal to a horizontal position.
This indicates "danger, stop,"
and it remains in this position
as long as the train is in the
block. It will be noted that two
men, one at each end of the
block, must co-operate to allow a
train to enter. This provides a
check which effectually prevents
mistakes, it heinir nnlikolv tl-mt
two men would make the same
There are I
! Shoes, but'
Shoes ar
iwww?ii IWI rjn'AMi aw'Hiauirr
Wo liavo jlist op
down six hundred
Shoes in all the
shapes and leatlie
Star Brand, we k
t he best shoe mat
Star Brand, \\c I
made a regular sin
tomers advertise t
sell you your ne:
? ?
have two tiiousam
I Mills & ^
PHONES: Dry Goods, 37.
JL Jm JL JLJ1\ A
Mecklenburg's Vote for Clerk.
In the Democratic primary
election in Mecklenburg county
Saturday, Clerk of Court J. A.
Russell, who is well known in
this section, failed of a majority
vote and will therefore have to
go into a second election, which
is being held today, with his
highest opponent. C. C. Moore.
In North Carolina, as in this
State, a majority vote is necessary
in the Democratic primaries
to secure the party nomination.
This Mr. Russell failed to get. Indeed
he ran 739 votes behind Mr.
Moore. There were 3.832 votes
cast in the race for clerk of court.
Of this number Mr. Russell received
1,045 and Mr. Moore
1,784. It will be seen, therefore,
that to secure the nomination,
if the total vote is the same
in second primary, Mr. Russell
will have to gain 972 votes. Upon
the same basis Mr. Moore would
have to gain only 183 votes. Mr.
Russell's friends fear that he
will not be able to overcome the
handicap.
1 i i 2 h
Mr. Russell Withdraw*.
A telephone message was received
in Fort Mill Tuesday from
Mr. J. A. Russell in which he
stated that he would not enter a
second primary for the nomination
for clerk of court. Mr.
Russell gave as his reason for
withdrawing from the race his
unwillingness to enter a scramble
for the nomination in which it
would he necessary to resort to
the tactics of ward politicians.
Mr. C. C. Moore has been declared
the Democratic nominee
for the office.
mistake at the same time.
To install this system has
necessitated the employing of a
I large number of additional
telegraph operators and the
expenditure of a large amount
of money for line wire, signals,
etc.. but the ollicials of the
| Southern railway believe that the
expenditure is warranted because
of the safety it affords
their patrons from accidents due
to collision.
.ots of Good
"Star Rranrl
yivii ui MIIU |
e Better"
?wrii>mitfii?wii? wi?<m?i??www
rne<l up and marked
pairs of Star Brand
most fashionable
rs. hi buying the
now that we liavo
le. In soiling' the
mow t lint we have
>o friend. Our enshem
for us. Let us
tt pair shoes. We
I pair to select from.
(oung Co.
Furniture, 144. Grocery, 12.