The Barnwell people. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1884-1925, July 18, 1901, Image 1
The
VOL. XXIV.
BARNWELL, SOUTH CAROLINA. THURSDAY, JULY is, iqoi.
STORIES ABOUT AN OLI^ TRAGEDY.
* ... ■■ ■ —^• - -
• -Trial and Conviction of Wm. L. Yancey
. t ' > . ^
Conflicting ^tat*ment8 That Are Not Surprising
Newspaper correspondents are reviv
ing the most noted tragedy of Green>-
ville in its earlier days, and circum
stantial accounts are given in which
there are evident errors and conflicting
statements, but which a>e entirely ex
cusable owing to the fact that these
correspondents are writing from the
memory of others. The killing of Dr.
Xfobinson Earle sixty-three years ago
might have been forgotten oral least
very dimly remembered even in Green
ville were it not that he belonged to
an illustrious family, whose descend
ants' arc very numerous in the com
munity, and that his slayer was Wil
liam L. Yancey, who became a famous
leader in the secession movement of
IbttO, more than twenty years after the
unfortunate encounter which ended
Dr. Earle’s life and which doubtless
•mbiucred Mr. Yancey’s existence
loot; afterwards. Mr. Yancey'* promi
nence as a lawyer and |•olilictail in
Alabama (icvcf diminished the nolo-
net) <>f ilu* sad latgedy, ami in fact
only ad
A c*a
A'jt-Hm
GraeaVil
ixl to the jierpetuity 'of the for ful
ville many years ago, which appeared
in the Birmingham Age Herald recent
ly and which the Intelligencer copied
last week, does not tally with the ac
count contained in DuBose's -‘Life and
Times of William L. Yancey” in sev
eral’very important particulars. Du-
Bojie got his facts relating tualje hom
icide and the trial of Yancey from the
files of Tiik Greknville Mountain
eer. Benjamin F. Ferry was in
charge of the paper at the time, and
he doubtless wrote the accounts from
which DuBoee drew. The rec rd as
1t appears io “The Life and Times of
William L. Yancey,” a highly valuable
contribution to the history of the coun
try, by the way, may therefore be ac
cepted as authentic.
Yancey was scholarly, talented, one
of the finest orators our country has
produced, prolific as she has been ol
these, and 1 believe he was thoroughly
patriotic. He has been much misrep
resented aod consequently much mu-
underdood. It, ha* lietli bruited all
the \eara, Lite cuir< nisei in motion by
unfriendly longues, that Yancey ran
otT to Alabama immediately'J^ter the
tragedy, aa if to escape the frowns of
an ouirased poUte, but the facia are
that be had been a resident of Alabama*
two y<
■m
Birmi
II VI
arc pru r lb the uufor-
if Mr. DuBoaa says, and
•ked to compare it with
icb ap|nar>d la-1 w.ek
» w. ADmkm.n.
Juiy’K, I.KH. ,
deceased. The court could impute to
him no moral guilt. What happened
there seemed to be entirely accidental
and to be attributed to the angry and
excited deportment of Dr. Earle. The
Judge explained further that Mr. Yan
cey seemed to have worn his pistol in
Greenville because of habit acquired in
carrying it while passing through the
Indian country of the West. Tn con
sideration of this practice the court, had
made up its judgment^ The sentence
was $1,500 fine and twelve months
imprisonment in jail.
‘‘Governor Patrick Noble remitted
two-thirds of the finb and released the
prisoner. Mr. Yanuey then returned
with his family to Alabama.”
Maj. Ferry was not only the editor
of Tiik Mountaineer when Yancey
became involved ^n this trouble with
his wife’s uncle, Df. Earle, but he was
also one of the counsel for the defend
ant, with whom he was on rhtimate
terms, and he has left om record his
testimony as to the character and dis
position of his., client, and given a
statement of the circumst mces under
which the fatal difficulty took place.
In his “Iteminiscencesof Public Men,”
winch was published only a few years
l»efore hi* deslh, Gov. Ferry has an
interesting sketch of William L. Yan-
from which we make ths follow-
BILL ARP ON THE CONVICTS.
Concerned About
of Crime and Im-
M.
Mi
Mi
a i
Will
M
r ti
■
>r\
cey
ing extract :
Mr. Yancey read law in osy office^
two or tbr«-£ >ian, and we were for a
much longer period on terms of great
iwrmmcv.— t Iww n— wmfc
mi most affrcnonaiety
I rare and nobis qualities of tMKh bead
I and heart. * He was full of genius and
I talent, aud endowed abb high gifu of
oratory. In di»po»iti<« be was kind
and aff.etiouata, warm ^nt
laud drv<>(ed t<> hi* fiienn*.
| very handsome young iu
■rful face, eet
lid g«Nel lee.in
ordinary heig
. wtlh great i
if !it
I..
Ill
He is Deeply
the Increase
morality
A 'vita Constitution.
Next in importance tq the education
of the children of the State comes the
care of the convicts, the lunatics and
the deaf and the blind. These are
charges, fixed charges that rest every
where upon the citizen and taxpayer
and cannot be avoided.' A careful
perusal of the last reports of the officers
of these institutions give us deep con
cern, for their inmates are increasing
faster than population and this increase
indicates a growing degeneracy in
mental, physical or moral condition of
our people. These reports give much
interesting matter for there is hardly
a State in the Union where similar in
stitutions are so ably and faithfully
officered. *We are especially fortunate
in having such a capable and ex
perienced man. as Dr. Powell at the
head of our sanitarluffi. The appre
hension is that when he dies we can
not fill his place for we cannot find a
man who has both bis ability and his
long experience. The same can be
said of Professor Conqur, in charge
of the school for the deaf. These two
are veterans in the service and have
by their long and failhfu work allayed
all public auxttty about those iustilu-
lions.
But why should so many more
children be.born deal and dumb tban
formerly, and why should so man)
more people become insane? Only a
t f" r iA WJ Sn itgli* i‘ivlrHuP Conner re- (
He find many I l*orU>d Id'*, and now be - has jTfS'Tu ,
charge. Do folks keep on mam ing
ihnr cousins aud will the law keep no
allowing u? A* to the sanitarium,
there seem* to tie no limit, no dimmu- 1
U»ti uf the rapid increase aod as fast I
as more room is provided more still is
wanted.
Dr. Powell ports that on October
1. ItMJO, there were I.70U whites aud
742 colored on baud, and the new ap- i
plications now average about MX per I
day. Of course a.any die aod it is a 1
comfort to know that man* recover
genelou*.
He was a
i. aith a
in»t.
11
aud
ivtiy
not
ring
was
+ %ll i
and |
only |
*t read) faact-
thai
• l f<
as a is
of it.
ripe
eeu G
f«
V\
i ha
His (■
■ us
«•«
I..
an
Kai
IU
tauof high tpu
[•- II »• '■!’*
rotvrd him ta i
jf a very aenoi
rr, oo ouc uct
flag law with i
tea him ami
revent their ti
my had c> aicax
.0. whah Mid
e they drew
1 c
Min- 1
ilinr n
"AAOtl ■till Arc li in llArjrrtJ. T»o
ill V |
kit
buiHlr*
d AtMl till) DIM Whiim A Dll
i» L
bis, 1
rnm-tv
•«ur i—gruaa wire .Bechanced
r wi
EE
not
LAE t \ t?4
ir. One hundred aad AfU**ix
Hi ,
or
•te ,
Whiles
aud 1 -*» aagtaae tend. The
iii
•tr
ung
liwCluf
gives pleasant aod easy employ-
mm
If* r
ally 1
OM 111 l«
i all who cau aud are wtUi ig to
*ti
rut. 1
wuik.
He is a philosopher of my
m«l (
2A1
own ki
tod fur be says he has foaon
1 Ell
Ml
hie
that W«
>ik, tueouaJ labor, to esore coo
real
m
any
dncive
to restoration aod roo leaf ant
i-hai
roc
than any oilier me*itone- Ganleoing,
oi
nisi,
i •*
.washing, can mag frails, etc.,
tui
is douc
i oo a Urge scale. Much more
IHf
r.
I of ibis
M done than formerly aod iho
If iX
u «
-ack
: report
shows an immense business.
«l s
Just it
link uf Iasi year’s work -1,000
i CO
Uli
li lit'
epr. uis
, 2,000 budltcks, 32)00 chemises.
ir i
ig
tels,
1 1 MOO
calico drei.ee, 700 bomeepau
and forty-four of them are serving a
second term. Thirty are serving a
third term and a few a fourth and
fifth term. They seem to like it. One
thousand and twenty of these convict*
are from three counties—Fulton, Chat
ham, and Bibb. Aa Thomas Jeffer
son said, “ The influence of cities is
pestilential to good morals.” It is
esi<ecially so with negroes. The large
majority of the negro convicts are
from the ciiies and large towns.
Twenty years ago there were 1,100
negro convicta and 00 per cent of them
were wholly illiterate, could neither
read nor write. Now we have 4,300
negro convicts and 54 per cent can
read and write. How is that? Doe*
education lessen cripae or increase it?
Mr. Stetson, the Stale statistician of
Massachusetts, says it ” increases
crime not a little, but immensely,”
and be proves it. It certainly does
amdhg the negro face in (reorgia.
It Is curious to note that we have
two counties <n the State-—White and
Gilmer—-that have ro repieseutaiive
among the convicta. There are four
counties—Towns, Pickens, Banks and
Dawsou—that have but one each.
There are three counties—Union, Mur
ray and Kabun—that have but two
each. How is that for good monds in
out mo t Northern mountain counties,
where the school master ha* not been
abroad iu the land to auy alarming ex-
t n:?
No, the truth is that education of
itseif neither I. ssens nor inert-area
crime. It depends ■ u the moral train
ing that the b y gets ^either from bis
teacher or his parents or his em ly as-
bui if h& environments are
makes him a more
dangerous ciuseo, for it enables him
to cover Op alftl conceal bis crime or to
escape from punishment In some way.
It is like throwing pea-U before swifle
to give the vile «nd vicious an uduca-
Uno, Km we can't pick them before
hand ami so all muse have a chance.
But if 1 was a lawmaker I w< miM
pul some |<enalUee upon bud cU>aoos,
upon the idle aud vicious, whether
white or blech. Wedo not allow them
to have their namee in the jury box.
They cannot try a mao for crime no*
set in judgment upoa hie civil rights
Why sbonid such men he trusted with
the ballot? Why nut let the same
commisetoo that makes up the jury
box also snake ep the ballot hot? If
some negroes got in end some
bad white men were left out it would
sociates,
bad bis education
scale.
people
putting a
ctltseos, whether peupie «
k. Good conduct laral in
a>t, U
:h ft
•ut f i
tht rs.
. hi
it E
'r
Bt
hh*« becj
pn
lh«
pftely, t
father |
ly in pri
> Earle a
1 haw) it
coaid (
l s ci md
?bt pi
Ml..
iu kind!
‘1 did not
hug whi
so* I \ s
, sdvi-u
had be.
intend
b
Yi
. t as
stand
led bv
na»."
l sue
Ttirr
c tern
'I
Tui I'm imi<tiw‘ !l ,r lWlthS
men se|>srate.j un m at
That occurred in the tuoruing.
V At noon Earle went (ionic to his4
midday dinner, according to cut>tom |
that prevails still in Greenville, and to
his astonishment lie found Mrs. Earle
in a high state of excitement. Tbe |
boy had gone home and told the mother
about Yancey bsViih; stiuck him, and
*he was pas*;onatety angry. It seetui
that at first Earle sought to soothe his |
wife, but she played upon his feelings
and s..pn got him wrought up iu anger
JW.
I }OI
! tin
’ |3I
| of
sei
aft
t yua, E
lia-, but
only to chastise
r iespude
oce ; I
sruald rather irivi
^ j. | g
• | m tja VS
rriie saddle hum )
ii tj» bAte
O 1”M>“
oal diUUuity »ith
3 nr. n
TOrTt'fi
"l.'TIfUi.’Tithvf
K.lsi", AU<
i uucle
iff Mr*. \aaei.
tsrdl lUyt
after th
a ikcui reme, ar^il
im.d hsvt ex
in the street ! Iu
Eane, the uncle of
h'* pistol and shot
died in a few hours,
md convicird . f mst
In ihi* affair, how
few men of spint tun
under tbe circuui-l
previous he had ha
Dr. Etrie’s son, who was quite
t aocr) sough! the doclar aud
winmmr
»vho seemtsl to b*-
d mi sell
g.d shots
»rrel with Dr.
wif«, be drew
The doctor
ore) was trie.I
urcMcs,
low csso
1 ,(MlU u
•cote c
a toUl u
4.7UU purr draw
|,&,UUU purr pu t
itdersbir
rax
f oi
cl
qui.tf
er 50.li
i..
V 4.'dJU pil-
3^u0 ( »hins,
■quuts by the
1 suppuee making
JOart«ciee made by
rv»r,
-hi n
he did what
K^jkave done
ices Tbe day
a oifficulty with
lad.
■d gracious, what
family the
In this way be has
the coat of maiu-
tutd assured Yan
y ami u liix
son had acted with spirit in the affair
he was conteul, pttacked Yaucey on
the porch of a store at (jreenviUe with
a section of ibediandle of a grain cra
dle .is a wca|M>n. Yancey, at tbe oul-
set. iKgan to retreat, step by step, siill
facing his antagonist and warning him
repeatedly, as if reluctant to dell-nd
himself by the uscof the weapon he
armaa -
ertuy wumcD.
Ali UHilUinoat
d.ctor has g.d.
greatly reduced
lenaoce and brought down the per
capita to $117. But on the other hand,
he has to be continually repairing or
xp.aia- f^placi ig something, fog he says ** in-
perfccili satisfied. • tendency of a large number »7 [lalieWF
was inquiring for!'• 10 furniture, crockery, b«d-
be rewarding merit aod
[lenalty upon bud diiaaua.
aod Yirgioia have ibis questiou before
their eooveotiooe aod we hope they
will cjossder it wieely aod give eo-
cou rage meat to good
(hey be wlute or block
should be the lest. It io more iaipuv-
lam than ad’tcaUoe or pioperty. Let
us purge the ballot box just oe we do
ibe jury box. Purge it once n year
Put such colored men ea Gaaaett aod
Joe Brown and| Fri hie in aod leave ell
such while men no Pat Banks out.
Don’t shut the door forever oo good
negroes.
By the way, 1 wish some Ik*' y would
hunt op our cook aod send her home.
within a few years we will produce all
the sugar a-e jequire and we will then
be in p6ailiotv to ignore the foreign
product. Oor experiments have shown
that the sugar produced from our
quality of beet is much richer than
that manufactured in foreign conn-
tries. Our preducts, therefore, will be
much more desirable.
“ When this result shall be attained
'the sugar trust will, in my opinion,
vanish, for the reason that the trust
refines imported brown sogar, while
all the American factories will finish
the product and place it in entire
readiness for sale on the markets.
‘‘We are now succeeding admirably
in the production of tea in the United
States,” .continued Mr> Wilson. “It
is only a question of a short time when
we will be able to raise all the tea de
manded for usy in this country. The
two tons of tea grown at Summerville,
S. C., last year so welt satisfied the
New Yurk investor* interested-in the
industry that they immediately formed
a syndicate and bought tt.uOO acres of
laud in the State upon which tea will
be grown. This department last year
sent tea plants to every Golf State in
tbe Union from the Caitfiinas to Cali
fornia fox experimental raising. We
have jus# heard from South Carolina
that imported machinery in use there
is able to mute green tea from tbe
black product In one hoar. We do not
yet manufacture such machinery In
this country, but we will get to that
later. Then there ia no question con
cerning the availability of labor when
get to growing our tew oa a large
There ia any number of young
who will seek employment as
of the leaves,aa wagon will he
come pretty pear starving any other
nation. Therefore, an effective com
bination against us will be an im
possibility.”
BACHELOR’S
No old maid over 40 can show a
strange plomber over the boose with-
oat giving him her opinion on tare,
religion end the Filipmoe.
When a woman thioke that a man le
going to kiss her against her will she
generally dresses herself with two
papers of pins less than osoal.
On a real hot day cupid seems to
lock himself in a refrigator.
There’s oo woman who won’t be
lieve some part of flattery; a man be
lieve* it all. v -
Children keep cooler than grown-np
people, besause they keep thlnkibg
about something else, i
If the best child could only look as
innocent es the worn noman, nobody
would ever know who ought to get the
whipping.
Tbe only difference between the man
who thinks women can’t fool him aod
the mau who knows they can, to that
be gets fooled a little ofteoer.
W hen a woman to very positive she
is never certain.
The longer a man lives the more he
has to live for and the more he hm to
live withynu
When a man g*ta married there to at
least one woman i*>et ha lose* all his
Influence with.
The average mao would rather have
hie wife eel like the devil and look Hke
an angel than to act Ilka an aagel iud
V redact than
Is seat aa
She » not a “ settled
just gallivanting around till her
is off. I have to get up Iwfore 1
like it and Are up the elove and
call the girls and they get a g wd
breakfast in half an boar. Biecait
and coffee an.I hominy aod fried egg*
gaafft* We are
from China, Ceylon and Japan, aod we
imrpoa* raising the highest grade of
plod uct in this country.
“ rhrec yean ego tbe department
bagmn cooeuieiailuQ of the subject of
no* caltiveiMMi io the United Mnlne.
At that U«* we produced about 26
pat cent Of what we consumed, and
when w* examiaad lb* Mlaatioa we
found that there was n demand for a
much better grade of the
was being grown
expart to Japan to Inuk over the field
and this man loand just what we were
looking foe. Tbe ms nit ia that next
year we wtU grow an excnUswt grade
<4 rice e cleea, la fact, nhich will
equal that oi any other i-ti—n prt*lur
ing the grata.
- The department to jwat now also
basily engaged ia ronetdstallna of k
dtvsreuy of iu is reels which are Io bo
promoto*1 la uarpMW poseaaatooe. We
have found upon investigation that the
if the new lands Bead egrical-
ustreet!on and euc* eragameat
This wa propone la give them to Mm
beet of oar ability. Pur instance, wa
miiet be able to produce large qaaati-
Use of hay ia the l*h dip pines u> (and
the 13.UUU hureee and mrnee which the
Untied Stave* to now ms i Dial a tag
there. Tbe demand for fodder ip far
la excess of the home supply, so that
It has been found nerrainy to import
the product. This ought not to bo.
There to ample opportunity for
hay aad other food products for
in the Puilippiaes, aa
will he, taken to relievo the
“ Coffee to another prod not which
i are looking after. Oar edontiate
are invsaugatmg^the coffee outlook in
our insular possessions, aad we expect
Lov« yon neighbor aag
them that toil your wife
husbands have told them el
Whan Eve bit into the
Taere to aeevtai
I ap when a man to eami
her which she calls M Just
It makes a girt nvfa^f I
reelf yawning aad real
has raaght it from a man
carried. His bar
been knocked
against Yancey. Finally his wife de- off, his shin bosom torn open and he
manded that he should go down town
and have ..it out with Yancey. He
armed himself and went. Nobody
ever yet doubted the courage of au
Earle, ,
o>tEarle found Yancey at a famous
tavern within a few paces of the court
house, on the site now occupied by
the 'Greenville Daily News building,
and a violent quarrel arose at once.
Almost instantly Yancey drew a pistol
aud shot Earle dead.
“It was one of the greatest sensa
tions iii the history of a $>tate famous
for sensational tragediep. Yancey was
indicted, tried and coimcted of man
slaughter, and sentenced to a teim of
imprisonment. After getting out of
his trouble he removed to Alabama,
settling in the neighborhood of Mont
gomery, and almost at once began that
extraordinary career of political activ-
had been forced to the extreme edge
of tbe porch, some two or three feet
above the-ground. He then fired and
mortally wounded his am agonist in the
left side. Dr. Earle was six feet high
and weighed two hundred pounds, and
declared on the spot, ‘Had Yancey not
fired 1 would have easily whipped
him.’
“The case was put ou trial at the
term of the circuit court at Greenville.
The ju'-y brought in a verdict of man
slaughter. During the seventeen con
secutive’ hours in which the trial .pro
grossed the prisoner retained perfect re
pose, neither elated when the evidence
was in his favor nor cast down when it
appeared to go against him. The uni
versal testimony was that Yancey had
never before been in auy personal diffi
culty in Greenville ; that he was uni
formly polite and quiet ; that he had a
The An day he „
Yancey with a bludgeon iu his bands. |®®ff* clothing, lights, saak and some
Yancey went up to hianu perfect good t*®** tearing their rooms to ptooaapK
humor aud anticipated no difficulty. ^ ow j u,t imagine what an armv of
He gave Yancey tbe he and drew his lunatics we have. Carteraville is quite
stick. Immediately Yancey drew his * httle country^ town of 3,500
pistol, and presenting it, told tbe doc- People, bill three-fourths of them are
tor to “take it back or lake a shot.” | t * 11 l^ ren under age
our cook aod hire her over again at
leave out the spell privilege.'.
Bill Ar»\
CROPS WE ARE GROWING
We have only
Dr. Eatle rushed towards him and ! xboul 8U0 grown-np people who are fit :
Yancey’s pistol fired! But Yancey U° be lunatics, but here at the sanita-1
assured me, confidentially, that it was
not his purpose to fire the pistol, and
lhar he did fire it involuntarily under
the excitement. He afterwards made
affidavit to Ibis fact, and 1 have never
for a moment doubted the truth of the
assertion- lie Was defended by Judge
Wardlaw, Mr. Burt.and myself. His
sentence was fine aud imprisonment,
which Governor Noble pardoned in a
few weeks.
ity which more than any other indivi- ver y hi S h 8eD8e uf personal honor ;
. * « » i • .. lltlil tint tAtVlirnlro/l tlm
vE
dual force caused the disastrous war
between the Slates, the result of which
he w;ts not to live to see 1
“ The old courthouse in Greenville
is a small two-story structure of red
brick, and with its walls four feet in
thickness it is as substantial now as
it was when built more than a century
ago.”
The publication of the foregoing
statement, which has bceii copied in a
large number of newspapers, has
brought out the following interesting
article from Prof. W. A. Dickson, of
. Anderson County, who makes an ex
tract from DuBose’s history of Win.
L. Yancey's life, which may be re-
regarded as (airly authentic in giving
the .details of the original diilkuiiy.
Prof. Dickson write* r~
Editort InUlUyenarr : The story ol
tbe Yancej-Eails Uagady ia Grfiea
that he had not provoked the trouble
with Dr. Earle ; that the knife and
bludgeon that Earle carried when the
attack was made were in the hands of
the deceased threateningly presented
when the shot was fired from Yancey’s
pistol.
“October 20, following, the prisoner
was brought before the court, Josiah
J. Eyaus presiding, for sentence. The
Judge said the crowded state of the
house indicated an unusual interest in
the duty before him, and he would de
part from his ordinary rule of brevity
in such cases lo'explain his mind. Tbe
prisoner’s deportment; he said, since
the affray on the muster ground up to
the moment of the difficulty with Dr.
Earle, wa* such ai was to be expected
from one in bis tteiion of life. No on*
C'Aild believe that he had gone to that
piazza with any bottle feehog toward
Dr- Exile, or that jie carried there the
pistol that was in his boeom for the
of shooting the unfortunate
The crop of winter wheat, now being
harvested, promises to be a record
breaker. It will be not only of unpre
cedented quantity, but it will be ad
mirable in quality. The Cincinnati
Price Current gives some interesting
figures on the crop, and compares
them with the record for previous
years. It estimates that the crop,
with the marketable surplus now on
hand,, ‘will amount to 775,i>00,000
bushels. The visible supply iu the
United Slates on June 29 was 30,793,-
000, but the available stocks at the
leading interior and seaboard markets
cast of the llockies, on transit from
the west to the east'’and on the sea
destined for Great Britain and the con
tinent on July 2 aggregated 71,081,000
bushels, against 73,959,000 a year ago,
and 77,610,000 ou July 3, 1899. This
means, of course, that the Price Cur
rent’s estimate for the 1901 crop is in
excess of 700,000,000 bushels.
Jacob S. Rogers, who died suddenly
from the effecu of heat iosNew York,
was worth many millions of dollars.
He made ' most of his money building
locomotives at Psteraoo, N. J. He
was over 75 years of age, a bachelor,
with uo kin neater thau nephews and
nieces. To his relatives he bequeathed
$250,000. To Paterson, where his
wioney was chiefly made, ha left nut
one cent, and even eloced his ;mmense
works, while Milt prospermia, much to
the dtinmeat of the town.
rium are three limes as tnacy, and the
number increasing every year.
But the report of the prison commis
sion gives us most anxiety, for that
concerns crime and involves the sa’ety '
of our people from the lawless who
fear not God nor regard nun. The
maintenance of the sanitarium costs
the State #275,000 'Annually, but tht-re
is oue good thing, .and only one about
the convicts. They cost the Slate
nothing after the trial, hut ou tbe con
trary they bring in a considerable rev
enue, and under the new system this
revenue U rapidly increasing. General
Evans, Mr Eason and Mr. Turner in
augurated this system only two years j
ago and it has already .proved a sigqal
success. Tbe State now has the abso
lute control of all its convicts and has
purchased a large farm near Miiledge-
ville, where the old men and the boys
and all the women are kept. Under
the skilful management- of Mr. Foster '
the farm paid well the first year, and
the convicts are nearly as happy as
they were iu old slavery times. Most
of the able bodied convicts are leased
to farmers at^-good prices, but the
State provides guards and medical at
tention.
Here is another army of 2,300 to
look' after, but these are not all.
There are 2,350 more at work in the
couuty chaingangs, making a total of
4,650, of whom 358 are white, ten are
white women aud 215 are negro wo
men.
Of tbe State convict* for felony 907
are guilty of rourdey or manslaught :r,
915 for burglary or robbery or larceny,
237 for the usual crime. The rest are
for most utty other crime in the cata
logue. Moit of ihem were laborers,
but I ih'te ihat twenty-seven did noth
ing aud eighteen were preachers.
Nintly per cent or the negroes are be-
iwaeu the s^c* of fifteen aifff forty,
and knew oo.hing of slavery. Only
oo* par ixnl are the old slaves who
are over sixty years old. Two hundred
The United Staten Produce* Nearly
Every Needful Crop that it
Uaea
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson
predicts the most glowing era in his
lory for the agricultural interests of
ibe country during the new fiscal year
which ha* ju t *>egun.
Incidentally Mr. Wils >n asserts that
if tht; United Slates is given a few
inwtuhs m ro time any or all the for
eign nations of tbe world may form a
c -mmi rctal combination against the
coumry with impunity. lie says that
bef<-re July 1 u xi this country, with
its new pn^sesstons, will be raising
and producing everythin*! that it uses
and tha if we s-i elect we can furnish
almost any i^ber nation on the-globe
I “We are now pushing investigations
and experiments alone a great many
’* said Mr. Wilson in an inter-
% Our agricultural export*
lines,
view.
maintained their position in^the tWal
year just closed and compared v th
some years past increased appreciablyopeiAiion
One of the principal objects which
the industry.
“ Several year* ago this
began to collect specimens of rubber.
Al present ibe United biale* buys
Dually $30,900,000 wortn cf ru her,
bat the outlook is that w* will now be
able to raise in our new pm^mesions
every bit of the frtoduci needed. It
will be produced in I'orio Uic.q Hawaii
and the Philippine*, and liu. result
will be that people using the com
modity will be able to save man)
ibousauds of dollars in iu purchase.
Then there i$ the subject of macaroni
wheats lo be considered. Ihe macaroni
which we have been manufacturing
here iu the past i* not quue equal to
ihe lulisu product, but we are ou
the rignt track, and it will not be long
before we will- be able to pioduce a
giade that will be superior to tbai im
ported trom Europe. Tbe eemi-and
regions of our country are adapted to
the growth of macaroni wheat, and all
oi tne 15,0U<>,090 pounds of thjj pro
duct which we now consume and
which c<’tne* mainly from Italy will be
shortly grown upon home ground.
“ As for spices, our new possessions
will furnish us wiih au abuudaut
quaiility a*-'ion as we can get the
.ii.-fninen o. their production in full
no stockings
•how. Their
the winds that blow,
the Homan both* ! No <
known was so lavishly i
opportunitiw for bathing,
most p •puloos of the i
of the Eternal City in the liosw of Aa-
gnstue and ot th* later Caesars
wa* all the water on tep at all
which man, woman or child cool
tire. And no Roman h**d of a I
hold, however small hto
be, was compelled to •odor*
fort for lack of baths.”
this department has in view is to en
able the people of the United Hiatcs to
produce the agricultural products we
are now purchasing from foreign coun
tries During the year 1900, for in
stance, we bought half ns much agri
cultural good- hs we sold; that is to
say, we sol-i ah.ml $844,000,090 wonh
and bought about #420,000,000 worth.
The principal product we purchase
‘ Anoiher important matter being
consult ted by the department is Ihe
c os* b ceding of cottons, which oper-
at ion, when c* mpleted, will result in
ihe es ublishtm it of the fine grade of
ibe product tvaich we are now bound
L>.inputi Iroiu Egypt. About $5,000,-
OOt) w*iiih of this refined commodity
find* us way here from that region
cw/y year,.but after we have finished
__ our «xpenmental work in this direc-
from‘tuber* nations is sugar. This t.on hope to be able to arrive at a
com .iudtiou which will produce a class
bi coil on guotis as acceptable as that
iroiu the region of the Nile.
“ There is u * doubt that this coun
try, within a low months, will be iu
IKt-uioo to ignore every other nation
on me gbroe iu the matter of food pro
ducts. We will produce within oor
owu domain t verything that goes upon
conjino-lity comprises nearly one-lourth
of the total of products imported. The
department in tb i past has been mak
ing cxperinients to ascertain in just
what srclinD* of the country sugar can
be raised to such advantage aa to
obviate tbe necessity ot going t»
foreign market* to complete our rup-
ply. We want to raise beets, as there
in lies the principal source of tbe *u- out table and upon our backs. We
gar product. Within the United St ite* will then b*. commercially aod in- _
there will be over forty beet suga> Lc- dusinally, alnmet independent of tha, Ohio, ami nearly a* gnaft a* th* I
too'-* m operation by next fall. Tm.-y other nations of th* world. Heuce of Pennaylvaaia.
wi i be Situated in atonoM-evwry Stete any u*d* combination which may bo
along the North*** bnodar, from New efecird against oe wlOtk*ffAlmi
York to Califorja. I beltove tnst ug. Whenever w* gM
Prof. W. H. Lynch, of ^oodtatai
Grove Academy, at Mountain Grom,
Mo , ia credited with landing more
paid-for newspapers than any other
man in the United State*. He aob-
sciibea for 58 newspapers, six of them
(f.ilies. The Professor says: “I ose
ihe newspaper* in my clasnea. Thor
are the best iostrnmant in the world
for teaching current history nod geog
raphy. - The real drama of life in its
varied forms of commercial, political,
and social relations most be seen and
1 arned through * the mirror of the
world,’ the newspaper. Every Friday
morning in the academy is devoted to
the reading of newspapers.”
Fifteen thousand aero* of wheat
were destroyed by fire on the 8th insL
at Great Bead, Kansas. The fire wa*
started by an unknown man throwing
a lighted cigar into a field of wheat
stubble. Everything wee as dry as
tinder and soon, a destructive fir* wee
in progress. AU residents in the
neighborhood left their work and ex
hausted every known method for fight
ing fires bat to no areU, and it was
late in the evening before the fin was
under control. Boogltly estimated,
the lose in wheat will aggregate 300,-
000 bushels, nearly ail of which was ia
•tack.
Arkansas
25,000,000
to,