Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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.ONE«SHOT IT MILLIONAIRE IN TRAIN BE WAS ROBBING VERY AFFAIR i [With Drawn IMstols Daring Bandit PaMted Through Coach After Coach Relieving Passengers of Valuable. Shot as He I .eaves the Train But Escapes. The bandly believed to be badly ; wounded who escaped from the Kan- f®as City Southern Gulf Coaat train after he had shot and seriously in jured Jesse M. Short, a millionaire mine owner of Joplin, Mo., and rob bed the passengers soon after the train had left the Grand Central sta tion at Kansas City, Mo., about mid night had not been captured Friday. Bleeding from wounds he had re ceived in a pistol battle with Short, the robber left a trail of blood as he fled. This enabled the officers to fol low his tracks until he arrived at the Blue River, almost a mile from the point where he jumped from the train. Here the trail stopped abrupt ly and his pursuers expressed the be lief that he continued his flight in a boat. The train was just pulling out of the depot when a tall men ran out of tlie*darknesH of the railroad yards I ^id climbed up the steps of the ob- rvation car. He wore a dark hand- edchief drawn over the lower part of bis face and carried two pistols. Oscar Allen, a nepro porter, who saw him hoard the train rushed out and ordered him away. The robher covered him w:th his pistol and said: "1 am going to put over a trick here. You sit down here and be quiet. I will need rou." After the train had proceeded about three miles the robber ordered •'Ben to go ahead or him through the train In the sitting room of the observation car were \Y. J. Scafe of J Neck ( ity and K F Seaman of Ku- reka Springs. Ark The robber's ; voi.e tremb.ed as he demanded their' vai'iabbs bit tiny off. red no resis'-l •■‘t' 1 •• m I >' \e him monev and Jew - j elr\ amour t rig 'o abmr J on HUMAN BEINGS FILL GAP HEROIC WORK ON M1R8IS8IPPI LEVEE WHEN BROKEN. * Water is Held Rack By Human Bod ies Until Laborers Could Fill the Breach With Sacks of Earth. Quick work by determined farmers and a small bunch of willing negroes who were thrown Into an Incipient crevesse In the absence of sand bags Thursday saved another disaster along the turbulent Mississippi river. The dozen negroes who lay in the ga/p of the Poldras levee, holding back the water until sand bags could be filled to take their places, risked their lives, but saved the day when It appeared hopeless to even try to hold the fact crumbling embankment. The Poidras levee, which Is only 1 3 miles south of New Orleans, began to cave rapidly shortly after 5 o’clock Thursday morning. When the cav ing was discovered the entire batture in front of the Poldras store, 100 feet wide and extending from the levee to the river bank 200 feet out, had caved and a small gap in the levee had gone. The alarm was given and within 20 minutes a score of negroes were brought up by a planter who lives a few hundred yards south oY the scene. The levee was caving rapidly when this small force arrived water about two inches deep was pouring over the embank ment. It seemed too late to prevent the crash. A desperate chance was tak en when two 1 L’-lnch boards were put along the top of the broken levee and a dozen negroes accepted the task of holding It in place. These human sand bags might be taken with the verdy next slice of the levee but they held on until a row of hags filled with dirt were put in place behind the boards. Other bags were hastily slipped Into the gap and soon a hun dred more negroes and white men were Working like ants filling sacks and carrying filed sacks to the gap Then without warning, the stretch of the levee crown where the human sand bags lay a few moments before fell aw ay to a depth of 2 S feet A sec ond row of bars held the water back and within an hour L’.eon n f the dirt filled kt ks were in place and the iviug w as t • in port r t! v checked an 1. f or the t*rne. the levee saveil e frigllVlied negro, | ’i'• fed the chair car] about a dozen pas ’ ban Is." was the w hich the rot) •»• r he passengers read. I’re. e,!e : ^ the rotihe: do W tiers ' he- e w senyt rs, ah no "Mold in i romm.ind w it greeted •hem By complied The bandit passed along collecting their money an 1 Jew el rv The robbery of the chair car waa accomplished within five minutes and the surprised passengers obeyed the final in unctlpn of the robber to sit down and remain quiet The f'ullmaft car was entered next i After robbing two passengers from whom he secured small amounts of monev H-e robher came to the berth occupied bv Short “(live me vour money," the robber deni ito!• ! In a whisper as he shook the sleeping man When awakened sufficiently to realize the import of the eoiuuian '. Short handed over $1.- Ono and a large diamond stud As robber turned to leave Short selz- revolver an ! fired through the a I n s The robber returned the fire and both men emptied the : r wea pons, each shooting blindly through the eur’ain which was perforate! bv a 1 mo‘-t I d )/en bullets One bul let stre' k Short's forehead, another went through an arm and a third lodged in lus knee. Short fell hack in his herth and the rubber fled toward the rear of the train. Passengers In the other '-cars, aroused by the shots, followed him. Thev saw him back out of the door of the observation car and drop from the train, which was Just being brought to a stop. He left blood stains In the aisles and on the car •platform and the passengers salds he appeared to be badly hurt. It was believed that two of the bullets fired by Short struck the bandit. C. G. Gizson, conductor In charge of the train, when he heard the ahooting, seized a pistol and, accom panied by a porter, a brakemap and express messenger, started for the Pullman car. Before they could clear the aisles of passengers so they could use their weapons, the robber had leaped from the train. An ambulance took Short to a hos pital. Physicians there said while his wounds were serious, they did not consider them fatal. Short is one of the wealthiest mine owners of Jasper county, operating zinc and lend mines in that district. Six years ago he was a miner work ing for wages. \ (.i:n\\ in<, in |j«<k of snhihty in \iiieri< an Fami ly Life In< rea-dug. Family life In the 1’nlted S’atea i« more unstable than in any country or nation in the civilized world, ac cording to a recent statement by Prof Charles Kllwood, of the depart ment ( ,f Sociology In the University of Vlswourl According to the latent figure* in the hands of sociologists, It is s'ated t'.vOoO divorces were granted In I'oU when the population of the United S’a tee was xfi, 00 0,000 In Canada. In the same year, only T’. divorces were granted In France the rate of divorces is one In every 3 0 marriages Ut-rtnany, one in A 4 Sw itzerland, one In 22. and Kngland. one in 4^o |n the paj»t 2 0 years it Is estimated divorces have ben Increasing three times as fast as the jsipulation of the United States If the rate kee;vs up the pro- port on of divorces wil be one in four In li'TiO, and one in two at the h.winning of the Twenty-tirst cen- turv, asserts Urof Kllwood. In •!:•• state of Washington the di- vorev rate is one in every five mar- n Oregon and Montana, one n five and a half. In Texas, Arkan sas and Kansas and Missouri, one in eight. In the Kastern states the pro portion is much higher, placing the average rate of the nation at one divorce in every twelve marriages. Many cities show high rates, and in general statistics indicate that rural communities show a smaller propor tion than cities and larger towns. ASKS TO BE HANGED To Annex Lower California, '‘jjisserting that $25,000,000 has been pledged for the purchase of Lower California from the Mexican government by a group of American capltaliata, W. J. iMcGlmpaey, a prop erty owner at Punta Banda, Cal., jaaid the deal would be consummated »n and annexation to the United itea would be agitated. He eald the plan was eoneidered facorably by the late President Madero, bat some ; dttDtnlty with the Huerta regime la Man Tells of Murder of Missouri Family Years Ago. Driven, as he said, by the pains of conscience, a man, who gave his name as George Taylor, walked into a police station at St. Louis, and asked to be locked up for murder. Years ago George Taylor escaped from the Carrilton jail on the evy of his exe cution and officers seal died for him the country over without avail. The officer in charge of the police station asked the visitor if be .vas ihe man. "Certainly I am.’’ was the reply, ‘‘and I am tired of being at large, for I am a murderer. My brother and I killed four of the Meeks family near Lineus, Linn county, in 1896. He was hanged and I got away. My mind has been bothering me since. You can take me out and hang me now If you like.” Later the man became confused in reciting his story, and will be held until his idnetly Is eetahlished. • NEGRO DESPERADO AITEMPT ASSAULT AND KILLS TWO OF HIS PURSERS. FOUR OF POSSE Meat High, Butchers Quitting. Meat prices have become so high at Milwaukee, Wis., and sales hare fallen off to such an extent that near ly half the butchers in the city are making ready to quK the bnstneM, according to Emil Prtehe. secretary of the Market Batchers of America. * Crowd Numbering Hundreds in Hot Pursuit, Determined to Avenge V) Death of Two and Wounding of Four Citizens.—Lynching Sure to Follow. Information from Allendale at 2 o’closck Friday was that Henry Aus tin, the negro murderer who is still at large had presumably crossed the Savannah River from a swamp near Sennell Hill and gone to the Georgia side; that Rural Policeman Spiven- der was leaving Allendale for Sen nell Hill at the call of the sheriff of that place with whom he is to pur sue the fugitive into the Georgia swamps; that the trail taken up by the penitentiary bloodhounds Thurs- lay afternoon believed to be that of Austin’s was not the trail of the wanted negro at all. These according to this informa tion are the latest developments in tiie affair which has cost the lives of two well thought of South Caro lina citizens, the wounding of four others and created intense excite ment throughout Hampton and Barn well counties. A dispatch from Hampton says af ter outwitting and eluiing bands of armed men and bloodhounds all day Thursday, firing on one party which attempted to stop him in a public road about two o'clock that morning and escaping, being once driven be yond the St^ite border Into (leorgia and later being forced to cross back Into South Carolina. Richard Henry Austin, the negro who killed two men ami wounded four in Hampton Coun ty the night before, was pushed back by bis pursuers into Coosawhatchie •Awamp, not a great distance from Barton, late that afternoon The logs had taken the trail and the ne gro was believed to have been locat ed Kully one tbqusan | rn< n from Harnwell and Hampton counties ’heir faces showing the grim di-ter- 'iitnation to have vengeam ■ , sean-h- •d everv nook and corner of the com munity In which the tragedies oe tirred for the nevro The patience of those men who have searched so lillgently is almost exhausted The period of excitement Is over but in Its place is the settled and steadfast desire to do something for revenge This is the expressed state ment of a number of men who com pose tlu* searching party The blood hounds from the State Penitentiary are on the grounds and early Thursday morning atrurk the trail of the negro, but the trail ran 'nto a public highway and waa loat. the evidences being that a convey ance was used Whether confeder ates or accessories furnished the con veyance Is a question asked by many of those on the scene. It is known that in the neighbor hood where the negro was last seen Wednesday night a negro hot sup per was in progress and attempts were made by some of the searchers to procure assistance from those In attendance upon the supper but they steadfastly refused This adds fuel 'o the fire and what may occur is not knpw n. Whenever and however Austin is taken, in the event he should he cap- *ured, there is no question now what the disposition will be. Nothing could prevent a lynching, and from the temperament of the’crowd, it is not to be unexpected that fire will play its part. One small posse of eight men trail ed the negro toward the Savannah River swamp, five miles from the Bavannah River, they left their auto mobile on account of a puncture and were walking aJong the roadway, when their attention waa attracted by some one running through the un dergrowth In the woods. They stepped to one aide of the road and aa Austin came out ordered him to atop. Instead, he paused but a moment, opened Are on the posse and turned back into the woods. The fire was returned, and while blood on the ground indicated that Austin had been hit, he was not seriously wound ed. Details of the Tragedies. The details of the shooting are that after the negro Austin had pre pared himself with several boxes of buck shot, shells and a gun and a large calibre pistol with sufficient ammunition, he attempted to assault the wife of a prominent farmer in the Luray section of the county Wed nesday. The lady by trickery suc ceeded in getting a shot gun and ran the negro out of the house at the same time giving the alarm. < Mr. J. G. Folk, a near neighbor, hearing the alarm ran to the assist ance of the woman and shot at Aus tin, who barricaded himself behind a large box and Mr. Folk was unable to shoot him. The negro then com manded other negroea to harness his male to a wagon, which they did, and he made hla escape. The news spread like wild fire and a crowd of men from Luray overtook the negro, who waa In the read near the home of Mr. W. C. Bryant. In this county, talking with Mr. Bryant as If nothing had happened. The negro ran Into a pond, or bay, nearby and Mr. George Henna entered the bay Just In the rear of the negro. Mr. Hanna was shot through the should er. but was not seriously wounded. During the epeuing combat, Mr. Han na held his ground and continued shooting. Dr. Moore entered, going to the assistance of Mr. Hanna, but the ne gro shot him, literally mangling his right arm and inflicting serious In juries with bncksbot In his face. Not withstanding this, Dr. Moore recov ered hia weapon, which had dropped to the ground at the shot, and com menced firing with his left hand at the negro. Mr. J. Frank Bowers, rushing In at this time, was met with two full loads of buckshot from the gun of the man, which completely blew off the top of the head and upper face of Mr. Bowers. It being almost suicidal for Dr. Moore and Mr. Hauna to stay where they were, the negro being se curely barricaded, they withdrew, leaving Mr. Bower’s body in the pond in the pool of his life blood. Dr. Moore was at once carried to Luray, thence to Columbia, where he now lingers. This shooting occurred at about 3 o’clock. Pickets were then placed around the pond and it was while on picket duty that Mr. McTeer Bowers was shot by the hidden negro. Reinforcements from Hampton anl Allendale having arrived, Magis trate Edenfleld called for volunteers, and Policeman Harter, Dr. Tison, John Dunbar, Mr. Hiers, all of Allen- lale, and Mr. Dunning and two trav elling men from Fairfax answered •he call, and under the leadership of Kdenfield entered the bay. When within twenty feet of the hidden ne gro JuJdg<> Edenfleld was shot thru the breast and stomach with buck shot. and falling to the ground, call ed out, "Get him boys, for he's got me ” Mr. Harter dropped to his knees, and wHh his sixteen-shot Winchester •i Idled the logs and bushes, forming •h<- barricade of the negro, with bul- '••ts. The negro evidently fearing to rise did not shoot at the searchers more, and fearing death, the men withdrew out of range of Austin's gun Austin wisely, from his viewpoint. ')fu<k bis overcoat up on a nearby tree and this overcoat, which was af terwards recovered for the use of the bloodhounds in getting the scent, was i No seen to be filled with bullet holes No further ntta<k was made on •he negro at that time and the au thorities In Columbia were communi- eated with for dogs and men Night came Fires were built by two negro men all around this bond except on one side Austin, knowing that some negroes were engsged In buildnig these fires, walked boldly out to where several white searchers were standing, and upon being halted ex plained that he was one of the men who had been building fires around •he pond and that he was going up to his house and that he hoped they would get the negro who had killed two of the best white men In this country. He was allowed to pass, but not stopping at the house indl- •ated and stooping and dodging for the woods, the men on guard knew then that he had escai>ed and imme diately gave chase Austin entered a branch, and until several hours later w as not heard from. A party of eight men who had been sent in an automobile to Cohen's Bluff to intercept tfie negro should he attempt to cross the Savannah River at that point, when their ma chine broke down, were returning on the public highway when the rattle >f shells in a bag approaching them caused them to command "Halt". The response w ere, shota from r the man's gun. The party returned the fire with probably fifty shots, but no negro was found, he having escaped in the dark. About this time the train from Co lumbia bearing the hounds arrived and being placed on the trail at the last place the negro was §een, failed to giet the trail. They were then, carried back to the pond where the first «»hooting had occurred and imme diately picked up the trail and ran it for several miles, but It ran into a public road and was loat. Reports received at Hampton at about 3 o’clock Thursday afternoon were to the effect that the dogs have recovered the trail and were running m Coosawhatchie Swamp with about one thousand men following. Judge Edenfleld was shot in Barn well County and Mr. Bowers was shot in Hampton County, the county line running about midway through the pond or bay. Each of the men was shot in the county in which he re sided. THE MARKET BASKET DEMOCRATS INSIST UPON REDUC TIONS IN* TARIFF BREACH IN PARTY LINES Ropemaker Slept 77 Days. Leon Jean,* a ropemaker of Cher bourg, FrAiee woke up to find him self Jn a hospital instead of at h hom£. He was further amazed when told he had slept continuously for 7 7 days. Jean could not be awaken ed on Feb. 6, and he was sent to a hospital byt.members of his family His present health is good. • Panther Kills Negro Boy. A panther, driven from Ua lair in the swamp* of the St. Franels basin, near Forreet Clt#, Ark., by tke flood, (killed ^ negro boy. The body of the youth was torn and mangled. When Representative* From Ixraia- iana and New Jersey Attack the Rates on Sugar and Live Stock.— After Four Days Debate No Dent Was Made In Democratic Plana. All efforts of the opposition in the House of Representatives at Wash ington to disturb the ‘‘market bas ket”, reductions in the Democratic tariff bill failed In the House Thurs day, despite the fact that Republican orators sounded warnings of ruined Industries, enforced idleness and empty cupboards to follow the enact ment of the Underwood bill. Still championing the bill as the greatest that ever has been written for the benefit of the people of the country, the Democrats were deaf to the pleas of representatives of the beet and cane sugar constituencies against free sugar in three years; unmoved by the charge that they legislated in to the hands of the beef trust by plac ing duties on live stock while free- llstlng their products; determined to rush the passage of the bill the ear- liset possible moment. The first break from the solid front of the majority came, however, when Louisiana Democrats, led by Representative Broussard, appealed to Mr. Mann, Republican leader, for a share of time in which to speak against the sugar schedule, and when Representative Kinkead, a New Jer sey Democrat, uttered a prediction that the senate would strike out the ways and means committee’s 10 per cent, rates on live stock When Representative Sloan of Ne braska Introduced an amendment to Increase the rate on cattle from 10 to 15 per cent., after a 25 per cent amendment by Mr. Fordney of Michi gan had been reject •<!, Mr. Kinkead declared that he believed that the wavs and means committee had kept the platform pledge to the people when they had reduced live stock rates to 10 per cent but he felt that •he committee should have placed live stock on the free list along with meats "I believe and hope.” said Mr. Kln- kt»ad. "that when It comes back to us from the senate the duty will be cut off and that every I>emocrat on this floor w ill support It ” This aroused prolonged applsus* from the Republicans, who earlier were stirred to enthuat&stlc cheers when Mr. Broussard declared that the sugar rates proposed by hts party would redound only to the benefit of the sugar trust The test vote on su- rar came on an amendment offered by Mr Mann to strike out the pro- vialon placing sugar on the free list In three years. It was lost. 88 to 1^6 Representative Hardwick of Georgia defended the rates for the majority, describing America's sugar industry as of the "hothouse” varie ty. unable to atand on its own feet and exacting excessive taxes from the people to support it. Representative Mann opposed the rates, and Repre sentative Underwood closed the de bate. "No man Is so Ignorant that he does not know," said Mr. Mann, "that the price of suzar In this country would bp 1 no to 200 per cent, higher than It is wtere It not for the beet su gar supply produced In this country, and yet you Intend to strike down this Industry tn the United States. "Make the most of your opportu- Ity, the country is ready to say your tariff legislation is a failure, and the first opportunity the people have will be the last opportunity you will have.” Representative Underwood analyz ed the sugar rates in the proposed bill, described the Louisiana cane in dustry as one that could not survive and asserted that the rates in the bill would not affect the beet sugar Industry. ‘‘Beet sugar in this coun try can be produced on an equality with European rivals with no pos sibility of competition within a rea sonable zone,” he said. “What the Western beet sugar people seek Is to tax the American people In order to bring their beet sugar to the Atlan tic seaboard and drive out all compe tition. It is simply a question of freight rates.” The Japanese question was touch ed upon during the debate on the wood schedule, several members pre dicting that reductions on shingles and other wood products would turn the lumber camps of the West Into Oriental labor camps. Representa tive Falconer (Progressive) of Wash ington, alluded to the Democrats as ■‘‘Hlndu-Chlnese-Japanese lovers" and told them "yonr Democratic secre tary of state Is coming bfcck from Cal ifornia to tell your Democratic presi dent some facts about Oriental labor that he does not know.” The agricultural schedule precipi tated prolonged discusssion though Mr. Underwood held It down with frequent motions to cut off debate on successive paragraphs. Amendments were offered to increase tbs rates on cattle, sheep, hogs, wheat, oats and other grains aad nearly every other VAST MAJORITY PURE MOST MEN AND WOMEN IJaan WHOLESOME LIVES Every Person Should Be Trained For Some Definite Work in Life To Es cape Want The vast majority of men and wo men, no mater how humble their means and how hard their privations, are wholesome and pare in life and deserve to be named among those who do the nation honor, In the opin ion of Secretary Redfleld, head of the Department of Commerce. " He de clares that records of his department which Is at the head of every nation al Investigation of the white slave traffic, indicate that an Insucienlfit wage is not of Itself a temptation to wrong-doing, but is only one of the conditions which give bad causes a chance to do evil work. Secretary Redfleld aserts that the United States must now bend every effort to creating new conditions which will tend to strengthen the en vironments which let the forces that lift up have play, and destroy the conditions under which the forces which drag down work. Commenting on his own experi ences, Secretary Redfleld asserts that a young woman recently called at hia office and asked for work. In answer to a question as to what she could do she replied “nothing.” “There was a place where the downward drag had a good chance,” comments Secretary Redfleld. “Neither her brain nor her hand had been trained to do practical work." The Department of Commerce Is now urging every mother who knows the path of danger she herself trod to make the paths of boys and girl* of the present age safer by giving them training in some vocational work so that they may not get out In to life and find it a blind alley and flnaly be led to a position where they must face a condition of moral over strain to win a livelihood. Secretary Redfleld Insists that lack of virtue is not a mathematical equa tion. and that It is not a coee of eo f«-w dollars and so much vice, or eo much money and so little vice. He declare* that an Insufficient wage is not In itself a cause of misdoing, bat one of the causes which give a chance for bad causee to do evil work. Low ^ages are* cited aa keeping girls constantly dtetreeed and lacking the normal things that a girl ought to want and cannot get. It la this condlion which frequently leads to a fall, ami It Is nsmed by the secretary as one of the conditions thst must be ersdlcsted by modern society if progress is to be made In the fight again* immorality. * MAN AIJIOHT KILLED. HU Powefol Antagonist Ceee Wrench on HU Head. Henry Counts, aged about XI. waa severely beaten over the head late Monday afternoon with a “mon key" wrrench wielded by "Doc” Dixon, a powerful white man of Greenwood. Counts was knocked unconscious, and is in a precarious condition, though not necessarily fatally Injur ed Dixon la In jail charged with assault and battery with Intent to kill. From the stories of the witnessea to the affair, it seems thet Monday afternoon Counts was driving Dix on's automobile, accompanied by the driver. In some way the machine was run into an obstacle and damag ed. In the dispute which ensued as to who should pay the damage, "Doc” Dixon, who is a much more powerful man than young Counts, become en raged. seized a "monkey” wrench it. rendering him unconscious. Medi cal attention was given the injured man, and he gained consciousness Tuesday morning. Dixon waa locked In the jail. Henry Counts comes from a prom inent family of Laurens, and has been working in an automobile shop in Greenwood for some time. He is well liked. “Doc” Dixon, a man of about 5 5years, formerly ran a hatch er shop In Greenwood, but lately has been unconnected with any busihew.* Greens Fatal to Woman. Poison dock in a dleh of greens caused the death of Mrs. Martha Campbell, at Council Grove, Kan. The woman picked the greens, and not knowing the dock was poisonous, cooked it. • item in the bill, but all were rejected. On this schedule the session again went far into the night, though the opposition gave evidence of having largely spent its force. Thursday there were indications that Republican leaders would not undertake to delay the passage of the bill much longer. Representative Moore of Pennsylvania, who has been active in offering minority amend ments, voiced this view. He said the Republicans would not atempt to fil ibuster, and that they had been “hammering away at the Underwood bill for four days without making a alngle dent In IL” The fact that many who claim that their bnstnses la af fected are asking the RepaMleaaa to hasten matters In order that they may "readjust their affataT* Is paid to be partly reeponalbla far the tty attitude. *