The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, April 19, 1906, Image 3
FOUR YEARS IN PEN
> Sentence Given Greene and
Gaynor by Judge Speer.
ATLANTA PRISON NAMED
*
Fines of $575,694.90 Are Also Assessed,
Which Defendants Can Easily
Escape Paying?Appeal Will
Be Taken?End Not Yet.
Benjamin Greene and John F. Gaynor
were sentenced by Judge Speer in
the federal court at Savannah Friday
morning to serve four years in the
federal prison at Atlanta, and to pay
each a fine of $575,794.90, the amount
they are charged with having embezzled.
Upon one indictment the sentence
was to two years and upon each" of the
other indictments four years, but the
court directed that the sentence might
all be served concurrently, which reduced
the term to four years. Thus,
with the allowance of three months
off each yeai during which the behavior
of the prisoners may be good, the
sentence reduces to three years.
The fine need not be paid if, on
completing the sentence, the prisoners
take the pauper's cath and make affidavit
that they are not possessed of
more than twenty dollars. In lieu of
paying the fine, they may serve thirty
days longer.
Counsel for the prisoners announce
that an appeal will be taken. An order
of court grants ten days for the filing
of a bill of exceptions.
Judge Speer, in sentencing the pris:
oners, said, in part:
"The most painful judicial duty Is
the imnosition of a sentence to penal
servitude. This is peculiarly true when
those convicted are men of fine intelligence,
men of affairs, men who have
had the opportunities of education, or
who have been trained by the teachif
Ings of experience. One of the prisoners
has been distinguished by his
state; has been an important official
of one of the great political parties;
J. * a man of large acquaintance; perhaps,
with multitudes of earnest friends.
\ The. ether is a graduate of distinction
S of our great military academy at West
\ ! Point, and he at one time was a captain
in that famous corps of engineers
whose roster bears such names as
Robert E. Lee and George Gordon
. Meade, a corps whose record was
! stainless before the occurrences which
have been developed in evidence here.
*T am told that it has been cynically
said that no man who has a million
dollars can be convicted of crime
in America. The verdict of this jury
of plain, clear-sighted, honest Americans,
has falsified such pessimism."
"(Notwithstanding the gravity of
your offense, it is not deemed necessaTy
to impose upon you the extreme
penalty of the law by cumulative sen%
tences. Such sentences might aggreJ
gate seventeen years' imprisonment
at hard labor and $595,749.90 fines.
"I recognize that you have been In
jail for more than a year, that both
of you are elderly men, both of you
are educatde men, accustomed to a life
of comparative luxury and to the comforts
of home.. -My sentence to you,
> therefore, is far more severe that a
much greater sentence, if imposed
upon those who commit offenses which
demonstrate by their savagery and
that they are brutes without discourse
of reason.
"In view of -ycur conviction for
embezzlement, I deem it my duty in
obedience to the statute relating to
that crime to impose on you a fine
equivalent to the amount embezzled.
"Your terms of imprisonment will
aggregate, as expressed technically Jn
the sentence, -Lur years in the United
Stages penitentiary at Atlanta.
"I may add. however great your mortification
now. ycur case is by no
means hopeless. The sanitary conditions
and fcod secured by the humane
management of that great prison both
will be far better than that to which
you are accustomed.
*T trust that you will emerge from
your imprisonment restored in neaitn
and in strength and that for the rest
of your lives you "will recall the words
and cherish its teaching of the psalmist
The little that the righteous man
hath is better than the riches of many
wicked.'"
* EDITORS HONOR JEFFERSON.
Missouri Press Association Pulls Off
a Biq Banquet
Five hundred Missouri democrats
attended a banquet at the Midland hotel
in Kansas City Friday night, given
bv the Missouri State Democratic
Press Association to commemorate
the birth of Thomas Jefferson.
p/mitucpncpc to APPOINTED
oW I I Itaitiv toi?v > W w ? - ..
As Delegates to Pan-American Conference
in Rio Janeiro.
President Roosevelt has decided to
appoint Charles B. Aycock, former
governor of North Carolina, and Van
Leer Polk, of Tennessee, members of
the delegation from the United States
to the pan-American conference,which
is to meet in July at Rio Janeiro.
These appointments are to be made
in accordance with tne wisnes 01
southern members of consress.
,
\
"BAHNESNOGENTLEMAN"
Tillman Fights president's Appointee
for Postmaster at Washington.
Cites Mrs. Morris Episode.
A Washington dispatch says: Senator
Tillman, Friday, filed formal charges
with the sub-committee considering
me nomination 01 Benjamin r.
Barnes, assistant secretary to the
president, to be postmaster at Washington,
and protested against his con- !
firmation. These charges relatd" to
the expulsion of Mrs. Minor Morris
from the executive offices and assert
Inhuman and brutal treatment of the
woman and also allege that Barnes
made a false statement about the
case. ,
The charges ar? four in number,
and are:
That Mr. Barnes is lacking in gentlemanly
and manly consideration for
ladies, which caused him to abuse his
authority so far as to order the expulsion
from the executive offices of
Mrs. Minor Morris on January 4, 1906,
without any justification or good reason
therefor.
That having issued the order, he
stood by and saw it executed in a
most brutal and outrageous manner
without interference, compelling th8
policemen to drag and finally, with the
aid of a negro employed at the white
house, to carry her, with the negro
holding her by the ankles and with
her limbs exposed, the entire distance
from the executive offices at the western
end of the white house to the
eastern exit, where she was thrust into
a cab and sent to the house of detention,
where her life was endangered
and health seriously impaired from
shock and injuries received.
That after this tyrannical and outrageous
abuse of his authority he
lodged charges of insanity against
Mrs. Morris and compelled her to remain
in prison for more than four
hours, thus adding insult to injury
and producing in the public mind impressions
derogatory to her reputation
and her mental condition.
That he made a statement to the
press which was full of falsehoods
and which proves him to.be lacking
in integrity and high character which
a high government official should
have.
Senator Tillman asks that seven
witnesses, including all the newspaper
men at the white house at the
time, be summoned before the committee.
TEMPEST IN THE HOUSE.
Effort to Expunge Unparliamentary
Language Leads to Row.
At Friday's session of the house,
more unparliamentary language was
indulged in during an effort to expunge
certain alleged unparliamentary
language from the house record
than has been heard in congress in
many years.
It all started over the consideration
of a resolution introduced by Mr.
Gardner of Massachusetts to expunge
from the record certain remarks of
Mr. Hopkins of Kentucky, which he
declared to be an unjust and unwarranted
reflection upon Mr. Bennett of
New York. 'Hopkins charged that
Bennett had deceived the house in
inducing it to adopt a resolution for
the admission to this country of a
German girl named Fannie Diner,
who, it developed, was an idiot.
This fact, it was asserted, had been
carefully concealed from the house,
and Mr. Hopkins intimated that these
who brought it forth were working in
the Interests of the steamship company
always anxious to land undesirable
immigrants who were outside the
requirements of the law.
PARKS ENDORSED BY G. A. R. MEN
Approve Plan to Have Government
IViarK Aiiania oame urounus.
A national military park on the battlefields
around Atlanta is an assured
certainty if the congress of the United
States will support the wishes and
the desires of the Grand Army Veterans,
now residents of Georgia and
South Carolina.
An emphatic endorsement of the
plan was given by the department of
Georgia in its eighteenth annual encampment
Friday afternoon.
D. A. R. IN CONVENTION.
Fifteenth Continental Congress in Annual
Session at Washington.
The fifteenth continental congress
of the National Society of the Daughters
of the American Revolution assembled
in Washington, D. C.f Monday.
For the second time the proceedings
were conducted in Conti
nental hall, a building erected by tne
Daughters.
An unusually large representation
of delegates was in attendance when
the president general, Mrs. Donald
MacLean of New York called the congress
to order.
MOTORISTS FORM ASSOCIATION.
Interesting Meeting Held at Atlantic
Beach?To Work for Good Roads.
Those interested in the building of
good roads throughout the south, especially
a main trunk line from Richmond,
Va., to Jacksonville, Fla., met
in an enthusiastic session at Atlantic
Beach, Fla., Thursday, and perfected
the organization of the -Southern Motorists'
Federation.
VERDICT OF GUILTY |
Against Greene and Gaynor
Quickly Rendered by Jury.
LONG TRIAL AT AN END
Famous Fugitive Defendants Wore
Charged With Conspiracy to Dofraud
Government and Con
victed on All Counts
Benjamin D. Greene and John F.
Gaynor were found guilty of conspiracy
against the government, presenting
false claims and embezzlement
in the federal court, at Savannah
Thursday afternoon.
The defendants were found guilty
with no recommendation, upon each
of the indictments. The verdict was
returned a few minutes before two
o'clock, after the jury had been out
three hours and a h a If.
For fourteen weeks the case had
Wen in progress, and there was the
stillness of the tomb in the courtroom
as Judge Speer asked the Jury
if they had agreed upon a verdict. !
Foreman Hope Thomas answered in
the affirmative, and the three indictments
were taken and the findings
read by the clerk. The jury at the
request of the counsel for the defense
was then polled, and each mem- 1
ber stated that the verdicts rendered !
upon the indictments were his.
The maximum sentence that the
court may impose under the law is
an aggregate term of seventeen years
in the penitentiary and a fine of $575,000,
the amount of the alleged embezzlement
It is not believed, however,
that the sentence will be of extreme
severity. Before adjournment to Friday
morning, Judge Speer said:
"I have no disposition toward these
unfortunate men except to be just as
merciful as my duty under the law
will permit."
The minimum sentence permissible
" A * ?
under the law is two years m
penitentiary and a fine of $1,000.
The defense's counsel will not discuss
the next steps to be taken in
the case nor will District Attorney
Marion Erwin say what will be done
regarding the indictments against
Oberlin M. Carter, Michael A. Connally,
William T. and Edward F.
Gaynor, who were jointly indicted-with
the defendants who now stand convicted.
Mr. Erwin received a telegram
from Attorney General Moody expressing
the congratulations of the president
and the attorney general upon
the outcome of the case, upon which
Mr. Erwin has been engaged for seven
years.
The trial of Messrs. Greene and
Gaynor consumed about fourteen
weeks. The defendants were charged
with conspiracy to defraud the government,
and embezzlement, in connection
with. the big government engineering
works at Savannah. They
were indicted in 1902, and, after fighting
extradition proceedings in New
York, fled to Canada. After lengthy
proceedings there, they were finally
extradited and were brought to Savannah
for trial.
Captain Oberlin M. Carter, of the
engineer corps, who had charge of the
Improvement works under Greene and
Gaynor contract, was courtmartlaled
for his complicity *5n the alleged
frauds, and was sentenced to be dishonorably
discharged from the army
and to serve a term of imprisonment
cf five years. ASHES
DOING DEADLY WORK.
Their Weight Causes Collapse of Many
Buildings Near Volcano.
From all quarters reports are received
in 'Naples that the situation
has ameliorated, but ashes from Mt.
Vesuvius are falling everywhere, the
houses are collapsing and burying the
occupants and roads near the volcano
are no sooner opened than they are
closed again by falling cinders.
TORNADO HITS TEXAS TOWN.
Village of Briggs Almost DestroyeJ.
Three Victims; Thirty Injured.
The little town of Briggs, Texa:',
was swept by a tornado about five
o'clock Thursday afternoon, and almost
completely destroyed. Three persons
are reported killed and thirty
injured.
The school building was completely
demolished, and every business
house in town was either badly damaged
or destroyed. Th9 town contained
about 250 inhabitants.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION EXTENDED
Mississippi Governor Gives Solons
More Time on State Code.
A Jackson, Miss., dispatch says :
Governor Vardaman Saturday transmitted
to the legislature a proclamation
extending the session until next
Saturday in order to complete the
work on the new state code. The session
was to have ended on the 14th.
!lET THE PEOPLE SELECT*
|
| House Committee Recommends That
Ur.ued States Senators Be Eiected
by Popular Eallot of People.
A Washington special says: A resolution
providing ior the election or
senators by direct vote 'of the people
I has been favorably acted on by the
house committee on election of senators
and representatives in congress.
The resolution, which was introduced
by Mr. Norris of Nebraska makes the
term of members of the house four
years instead of two. Both propositions
are to be accomplished by
amendments to the constitution.
.Reasons why the terms of members
should be four years are stated to be
because no party can inaugurate 1I3
policy in two years.
"The people are tired," the report
says, "of this continuous drama, and
as a result are inclined to give no
attention to the primaries and the
conventions?the very foundation of
our political system?the forum wherein
the country's interests can best oe
guarded and protected.
"With an election every two years
the political grafter who thrives on
partisan strife and on the nervous uncertainty
controlling candidates for
office is able to live from one election
to another by the boodle secured at
his unholy business. The adoption of
the proposed amendment would render
it less possible for this creature
to ply his trade."
Regarding the election of senators
by direct vote, the report says:
"The proposition to provide for the
election of senators by the direct
vote of the people has been before the
house of representatives and has re*
ceived favorable consideration upon
several different occasions, a proposition
to amend the constitution having
this object in view, has passed
the house of representatives at four
different times, and each time by a
practically unanimous vote."
CRIMINAL LIBEL CHARGED
Against Editor as Outcome of Red
Hot Political Squabble.
At Marietta, Ga., after three days deliberation
into the charges of fraud
alleged to have been committed at the
Cobb county primary of April 4, John
Awtrey and D. F. McClatchey, against
whom charges were preferred by Hon.
N. A. Morris, have been freed of
blame by the grand jury, and no true
bills returned, while Mr. Morris and
his paper, the Marietta Courier, have
been indicted on two counts, each for
criminal libel.
The reversal of the tables In this
case will perpetuate for some time
irnncor: in a mn?t fit"
CUC UUCCIU^OO am
citing campaign. The case will conn
up at the July term of court.
The charges of fraud and irregularity
in the management of the polls
grew out of the primary of April 4
for the naming of a senator, representative
and county officers.
In the next issue of the Marietta
Courier, of which Hon. N. A. Morris,
ex-speaker of the Georgia house of
representatives, is president and
managing editor, violent attacks were
made editorially charging fraud and
corruption and specifically charging
fraud against Awtrey and McClatchey,
it being alleged that in some instances
the ballots were actually changed after
being handed them to put in the
box.
PREACHER ROUTS ROBBERS.
Reverend Was Asked to "Hand's Up"
and Made Surprising Move.
"Not on your life" was the response
made by Dr. J. L. Brooks of Washington,
D. C., when invited late at
night by a highwayman in Dallas,
Texas, to hold up his hands. Suiting
the action to the words, Dr. Brcoks
' * -- ? J
I KDOCKCa Uie UJau uuvvu, ana iiicu
turned to the man's companion, when
both quickly decamped.
Dr. Brocks chased them four 6r
five blocks, and then notified the police.
Dr. Brooks is a Methodist minister,
and was attending the Methodist
Educational convention of Texae
in session at Dallas.
HE DENIES PEACE OVERTURES.
Dowie Says He is Determined to Fight
It Out With Zionists.
A Chicago dispatch says: Dowie
has upset the plans for a peaceable
adjustment of his troubles with Zlon
church, as previously announced. Early
Thursday he directed his attendants
to announce to all inquirers that the
report that he was about to compromise
with Overseer Voliva and his followers
was nntruc. He said that he
would conduct a legal contest in the
courts and get his property back.
MEIAS IUlll/?DATIAM Bll f
nuft nil ivi ivinn i ivii ?ibk
Reported in Senate Will Be Qreat
Thing for the South.
Of special interest to the southern
states is the new immigration bill re#
ported to the senate of Dillingham of
Vermont. As it will be amended by
the terms of this bill, the immigration
law will open a way for the southern
*9 fnfAfl onnnrn n f o t r nrnnnrHftn r\f
ouilvo VVS C^V/Ul C U ICUi vyw* Vivu
the desirable immigration from Europe?at
least it is so designed.
BY MISSOURI MOB1'
i
; Most Horrible Lynching Occurs
in Springfield,
!
I r
VICTIMS WERE CREMATED '
I
]
Two Negroes, Suspected of Crime of '
Rape, and Another Under Charge <
of Murder, Swung from Statue *
of Goddess of Liberty.
I
1
At Springfield, Mo., a mob of 3,000 1
men took two negroes, Horace Dun- i
can and Jim Copeland, from the ooun- "
ty jail, hanged thein to the Goddess ]
of Liberty on the court house and built
a fire under them and roasted 1
them to death. The men were charg- 1
ed with assaulting Miss Mabel Edwards.
Mis? Edwards had come to Springfield
recently from Monett, Mo., and
obtained employment as a domestic.
Saturday night while Miss Edwards
and a young man were riding in a
buggy they were stopped by two negroes,
who beat the young man, named
Cooper, into unconsciousness and
dragged Miss Edwards into the woods
Ly the roadside. Duncan and Cope
!and v/ere arrested on suspicion, but
there was little evidence against them.
An immense mob soon gathered
at the county jail, where the prisoner
were confined. Instead of attacking
the jail at first, the mob stormed
the residence of the county sheriff
breaking down doors, smashing windows,
destroying practically all the
furniture in the lower part of the
house and rendering the sheriff's wife
unconscious from fright. Overcoming
the resistance of the sheriff and a
posse of deputies, the mob secured the
key to the jail and gained entrance.
When the committee who entered
the jail came out with the two negroes,
the mob bdgan to clamor for
summary execution, shouting "hang
them!" "burn them!"
The men were taken to the public
square and hanged to a statue of the
Goddess of Liberty, A fire was then
kindled under them, in which they
were roasted to death, a crowd of
3,000 watching their agonies. After
the negroes were dead the bodies were
left burning.
A Second Lynching.
At 2:15 o'clock Sunday morning,
William Allen, a negro, was taken
from the jail and lynched in the public
square by the same mob that two
hours earlier had hanged Horace Duncan
and James Copeland. The body
of Allen later was burned to ashes,
as had been those of the other negroes,
beneath the spot where they
had been lynched.
The militia was finally called out,
and soon cleared the public square.
Squads of militia paraded the negro
districts. The authorities assert that
Copeland and Duncan, two of the vie-*
tims, were innocent. This is the general
belief.
Following the lynching of Duncan
and Copeland, some one suggested
that Allen and Bus Cain, two other
negroes known to be in the jail,
should also be lynched.
The mob, now bloodthirsty and
wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement.
readily took up the cry and
soon the charre l bones of a third victim
Jay beneath the statue of the Goddess
of Liberty. Cain escaped. Allen
and Cain were being held upon
suspicion of having murdered O. P.
Ruark.
When the mob left the jail at midnight
with Copeland and Duncan, fourteen
prisoners escaped in the excitement.
Among them was Cain.
When the rope had been thrown
about Allen's neck he was lifted and
thrown over the railing. Allen turned
a somersault in the air, and as
the rope became taut his neck cracked
like a pistol shot. The rope broke
and he fell in the bed of coals on
top of the other two negroes.
There he kicked and floundered
around until another rope was
brought, thrice looped around the
neck, and he was again suspended in
mid-air.
More boxes were brought, another
big fire was kindled and soen the
swaying figure, now dead, fell into it,
sending up a spray of live sparks. After
that most of the men went home,
but some men and boys stayed by the
tov^er ail night and fed the fires. When
daylight broke upon the scene there
remained only the blackened trunks
and charred remains ef the three negroes.
Five thousand persons saw the trio
hanged and burned. Among the crowd
of spectators were hundreds of women
and children, girls and boys.
EXCITEMENT KILLED FAN.
Wealthy St. Louis Man Succumbs After
Witnessing Ball Game.
Henry G. Paschall, a wealthy bachelor
at St. Louis, died from heart
disease Friday night as the result of
excitement after watching the thirteen
inning ball game between the
National League teams of St. Louis
and Pittsburg.
%
.. - .V- ... - J* . i--.; : -2
WOB VICTIMS INNOCENT
; '
A'oman Declares Negroes Hanged and
Burned Were Not Her Assailants.
Mob Members Being Arrested.
Four
men were put under arrest
it Springfield, Mo., Monday, charge!
with being leaders in the mob that
;roke into the county jail Saturday *
sight and lynched three negroes. Two
)f the alleged mob leaders are in jail
and two have been released on bond.
3ne of the men arrested told Sheriff
Horner that a collection would be
:aken to pay for the damage done by
.lie muu lu iue suenu s yi uyt-i . iuc
offer was refused.
Judge Lincoln of the criminal court
has ordered a special grand jury convened
to make a thorough investigation
of the lynching and the other
acts of the mob and to indict all the
leaders that may be apprehended. The , * M
better clas3 of citizens are now strong
in their demand that the rioters 'be
punished to the full extent of the law
and every effort will be made to secure
convictions. Jg
After the meeting of the criminal
court, Roscoe Patterson, prosecuting
attorney, said:
"I shall file information and issue
warrants for the arrest of every man
I can learn was concerned in ' the J:(MI
lynchings or the assault upon the jail
These arrests will be made as quick- ,
ly as possible, without waiting for the
grand jury to act."
Warrants for twenty-five persons
charging them with being leaders ia
the mob were issued. ' :M
Mabel Edmcndson, the white girl.
WHO was assaulted, ueciartru iviuuuttjr
that Duncan and Copeland, two of
the negroes lynched, were' not her
assailants.
Notwithstanding the presence of
armed troops the fact that a grand
jury has been called to indict the
leaders of Saturday night's mob; that
the county prosecutor has promised ~'M
to issue warrants immediately, and
the best citizens have decried the ' '
triple lynching, the streets were full
of people who approve the mob's work
and who curse all negroes and
advise that they be run out of town.
Danger of mob violence is not past.
Hundreds of men openly cui;e and
jeer the soldiers. Hundreds of men
boldly utter the threat that if arrests
are made the people will arise and
rescue the men, drive the militia as
well as the negroes from the city. '
Everywhere the threat is heard :
"This town is too small for negroes
and whites to live. One or the other
must go."
An incident showing the trend of
tne leenng iook piace neai uic
courthouse where hundreds of people
were gathered, walking aimlessly
about. A negro, leaning against the
court house, with the troops nearby,
made the remark in a swagger manner:
"Give the colored men the guns
and we'll show you."
White men threatened to close in
on the negro, but officers hustled him
away to jail. In another minute apparently
he would have been trampled ~ .||
to death. Conservative citizens,
knowing how deep seated is the feeling
toward the negroes, fear that
some trivial incident may at any time
start a bloody riot. /
GEORGIA LAW IS UPHELD.
Statute Anent Running Freight Trains
on Sunday Passes Muster.
By dismissing for want of jurisdiction.
the case of J. N. Seale against
the state of Georgia, the United
States supreme court leaves in force
the decision of the ueorgia supreme
court upholding the validity of the
state law which prohibits the running
of freight trains on Sunday.
In 1903, the superintendent of the x
Southern iailway was indicted, tried
and convicted in Habersham county
upon the charge of violating the law
in question. He appealed the case to . ;j|
the state supreme court, which sustained
the lower court, whereupon
Seale sued out a writ of error to the
United States supreme court on the
ground that the law is repugnant *to
the federal constitution.
GREENE-GAYNOR IN MACON.
Prisoners Transferred from Savannah
to Central City Prison.
At Savannah, Saturday, Judge
Speer passed an order in the United
States court directing that Greene
and Gayonr be taken to Maccn for safe
keeping, pending their transfer to the
penitentiary at Atlanta. They left on
Saturday night, accompanied by United
States Marshal White and deputies.
The United States court was adjourned,
Judge Speer and officers of
the court al30 having left for Maccn.
GIGANTIC TIMBER LAND DEAL.
Property Aggregating $600,000 Changes
Hands in Mississippi.
A deal for th6 purchase of $600,000
worth of timber lands and which j
means the construction of a railway
ap the Pearl river valley was closed
at Jackson, Miss., Thursday, the purchase
money being paid and the deeds
formally transferred. <
The transfer embraces over 50,000
acres of yellow pine and hardwood
timber lands.
::fi