The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, March 28, 1907, Image 3
- s? ERRORS
IN EVIDENCE
Regarding "Shooting Up" of
. Brownsville by Negroes.
ARE CORRECTED BY TAFT
Secretary of War Taft Send? Revised
Report Regarding the R;ot
Affair to Senate Committee
of investigation.
Secretary Taft Friday transmitted
tc the senate committee on military
affairs in session at YYasnir.gion a report
of General Crozier, chief oi ord"
nance, with reference to the numbers
of guns assigned to the negro soldiers
of company B, C and D of the 25th
infantry on the night of Aug. 13 last,
when Erownsville, Texas, "was "shot
?p."
It appeared from the letter of General
Crozier that on the face of the
lists of guns, as forwarded by the
commanders of the companies, there
were certain errors, arising probably
from mistanes in transcribing from
i the property books of the companies
' The effect of this is to raise a doubt
whether two of the guns, held by expert
examination at the Springfield
arsenal of shells picked up in streets
of Brownsville to have been used, in
ihe affray, were in arm chests of
company B, under lock and key, and
not issued to soldiers, as was indicated
by the former report sent to.
the committee by the ordnance department
of the army. In his letter,
transmitting General Crozitrs supplementary
report, Secretary Taft says:
"Jt will be observed that this does
jaot affect in the slightest the conclusions
of Lieutenant Hawkins, the expert
who examined the shells and
made further tests at tiie Springfield
arsenal, as to the numbers of the guns
from which the cartridge shells on
the streets of Brownsville were discharged.
The lists of the gun num.
- i
bers as assigned to the men were not
.sent to Lieutenant Hawkins and were
never in his possession. This matter
only affects the question as to the custody
of those guns and the names
of the enlisted men of the company
to whom they were assigned, if to any
of them."
In order to remove the possibility of
error Secretary Taft has ordered the
property hooks of all three companies
sent to the war department and he
has notified the senate committee that
the .books will arrive in a day or two
He says it will probably be possible
from them to correct the errors apparent
on the lists as pointed out of
the supplementary report of General
Crozier.
Another report from the ordnance
fcureau of tho army was sent to the
"committee by Secretary Taft, which
shofc? that the ammuintion for the
new Springfield rifle cannot be used
in any other guns except the Mauser
.and Schmidt, either the caliber or
the fact that the Springfield ammunition
uses a flanged case, excluding
all other arms.
When the committee convened rri
<iay morning Senator Foraker called
to the stand Lieutenant Hawkins and
began an examination of the witness
concerning the reports of tests made
at the Springfield arsenal of the cartridge
shells found in the streets of
Brownsville.
During the sitting of the committee
a request was received from the secretary
of war for the return of the
three bullets taken from walls of
houses in Brownsville and submitted
to the committee as an exhibit of
the report cf the assistant attorney
general, Purdy.
The war department desired to
have these bullets analyzed in order
to determine if possible whether army
guns were used in discharging them,
and if so the numbers of such guns.
In view of this request, the committee
decided to postpone the examination
of the export witnesses and to
adjourn until Monday.
i
NEGRO BANKER ASSASSINATED.
Lest His Life for Aiding White People j
of Hattiesburg.
That the recent trouble over a as- |
gro clerk at the Hattiesburg, Miss.,
postofhce was directly responsible for
the shooting by aa imknowu person ,
1 nursday of the negro banker, Ed
- How-ell, is a fast growing suspicion in
the city. White residents of Hattieslurg
appealed to Howell to persuade
the negro clerk not to take the office.
When the negro did not get the
position Howell said his life had
been threatened oy other members of
his race.
CHURCH UNION EFFECTED.
Congregational United Brethren and
Methodist Protestant Now One.
An act of union, by which the
Congregational, United Brethren and
Methodist Protestant churches of fourteen
states are formed iuto one large
religious organization to be known
as the United churches, was consummate
at Chicago Thursday night. .
: _ ^
MAJ. PENROSE ACQUITTED
By Courtmartial of Misconduct in
Brownsville Affair, Preferred
Against Him by Roosevelt.
Major C. W. Penrose, of the Twentvty-Sfth
infantry, on trial before courtmartial
at San Antonio, Texas, was ac- i
quilled Saturday of the charge of neglect
of duty preferred against him at
the instance of President Roosevelt
for alleged misconduct in connection
with the shooting up of Brownsville,
Texas, by the soldiers of the Twentyfifth
infantry last August.
The decision of the courtmartial
r* VAQAIIA/1 offAt* fonr* HcliUfirJl.
TV CIO ICai^UW ttitCi 1VU1 UVUiO UV*1W>??
tion, and was immediately transmitted
to Brigadier General William McCaskey,
commanding the department
of Texas, who authorized its publication.
The Penrose courtmartial has established
a record in American military
history for duration and quantity of
evidence introduced. -The argumeits
heard Saturday closed seven weeks*
proceedings, and nealfy twenty-five
hundred pages of typewritten matter
comprise the record.
Major Penrose will now go to Washington,
where he has been summoned
at a witness before the senate investigating
committee.
BODY RIDDLED WITH BULLETS.
Negro Who Attempted Assault is
Lynched by Alabama Mob.
Cleveland Harding, a negro, who attempted
to assault Mrs. Ben F. Rice,
near Florence, Ala., Friday, and wno
was driven on: Dy airs. nice s &ueiiherd
dog, was summarily executed
Sunday by his intended victim's husband
and some 200 or 3C-0 sympathizers.
Tied to a trcve with his arms
up, the negro was riddled with bullets,
the first shot being fired bv Rice,
following which .it is said every man
in the crowd emptied his revolver ut
the prisoner. It is said that over 1,000
shots were fired. The negro was captured
Sunday morning half a mile below
town, and was taken before Mrs.
Rice, who fainted at sight of him.
Upon recovering she fully identified
her assailant.
Beyond confessing nis guilt, Harding
had nothing to say, and was stolidly
indifferent, it seemed, to his fate.
The body was left tied to the tree by
the mob, members of which, made no
attempt to shield their identity. The
sheriff overtook the crowd before the
lynching, but his appeals were unavailing.
TREMENDOUS FOREST FIRE
Sweeps Patrick County, Virginia, Doing
immense Damage.
A tremendous forest fire is sweeping
the county of Patrick, Va., and
heavy damage to property has has already
resulted and the lives of many
are endangered.
Patrick county is a mountainous
county, located about 60 miles southwest
of Danville, and is famous for its
timber lands and as a fine fruit growing
section.
WHITES AND NEGROES SCRAP.
Four People Wounded in Girard, Ala.,
as Result of Race Clash.
Five persons were wounded, two
perhaps fatally, as the result of trouble
between whites and negroes, in
Girard, Ala., Saturday night. Tne
trouble started when a negro butcher
cut two young 'white men. A negro
was cut at the same time.
Later on the trouble was resumed
and two negroes were shot down in
the street.
FINAL COTTON REPORT MADE.
Census Bureau Places Number of
Bales Ginned at 13-290,677.
The final census report on tuuuu iui
the year shows that 13,290,677 bales
of cotton, counting round bales as
half bales, including linters, have been
ginned. The number of active ginneries
is 28,702.
The 1906 crop is compared with
10,725,602 for 1906 and 13,697,310 for
1904.
3IC LUMBER PLANT BURNED.
Fire in Bluff City, Arkansas, Entails
Loss of $750,000.
Fire at Pine flluff, Ark., Friday
swept over the entire plant ot tho
,;31uff City Lumber company and destroyed
several small dwellings owned
ly the company. The loss is variously
estimated at from $500,000 to $750,O'JO.
The Bluff City I.t:\aber company is
one of the largest concerns in Pine
illuff and large quantities were stacked
in the yards. This was destroyed
or badly damaged.
A PRE-TASTE OF PROHIBITION
To Be Given by Liquor Dcriers of
Ba:nbridge, Ga.
4
The saloon keepers and whisky
men of Bainbridge, Ga., hold a meeting
recently and it v/as decided to
close all saloons until after the prohibition
election on March 2fili, so
as to give the city an idsa of what j
actual prohibition will mean.
I
-?V-T- '- :'r': ; v "'
GRAZE GLOGS MAILS
Chain-Prayer Fanatics Worry
the Postal Detriment.
INTOLERABLE NUISANCE
Millions of Letters and Cards, Containing
Siliy Vaporings in the
Guise cf a Prayer, Are Choking
Mails Daily.
According to a Washington dis
patch the chain letter" epidemic has
again broken out. This time it appears
that all the religious cranks
in the country have been set to writing
prayrs.
The more prayer letters, the more
imprecations from postal plerks and
carriers. The thing seems to have
taken a tenacious hold upon the superstitious
in widely separated communities,
and their name is legion. The
innocent cause of the trouble has
sought to stem the tide and entirely
disclaims .responsibility ior the scheme
which has loaded the malls with these
prayer letters. Ministers have denounced
the fake and urged tneir congregations
to burn the missives and
pay no attention to the threats they
contain, but still the letters multiply
and are seriously overloading the
mails. It seems that nothing but common
sense will serve to break up the
chain. The letter is as follows:
Dear Friend and Christian: Below
is a prayer chain just as it was sent
to me, so 1 send it out to others, ror
1 a.-v nnr want ir hrnlren ill mv hands.
May God bless you and others to keep
it going:
" 'Oh, Lord Jesus, we implore thee,
O Eternal God, to have mercy on all
mankind; keep us from all sin, and
take us to live with thee eternally.
Amen.'
"This prayer was dictated by Bishop
Lawrence. He commands it to be
written and sent to nine other persons.
lie who will noc do it will be
afflicted by some misfortune, and persons
who pay no attention to it wiii
meet with a terrible accident. He who
will write this prayer for nine days
and send it to nine others, commencing
the day you receive this (only one
each day), will after nine days experience
some great joy. At Jerusalem,
at the feast, it was said he who
would write this prayer would be delivered
from every calamity. Please
do not let this drop in your hands. I
have written this just as I received it.
Now, please send it to others. Sincerely,
CHRISTIAN.
Through fear of being overtaken by
some dire calamity, as predicted in the
letter, the superstitious recipients have
invariably get down and complied with
the instructions to write a letter each,
day for nine days. As a consequence,
millions of prayers have been written
and sent through the mails in
the form of letters and postal cards.
Postal cards are thrown out by the
clerks and carriers under instructions
from headquarters, but of course the
sealed letters are usually sent through
to their destination, since there is no
way of telling from the outside what
| they contain.
i In speaking of the matter an official
of the postal department said:
"The Bishop Lawrence referred to
in the letter indignantly denies that he
ever commanded or authorized anyone
to use his name in such a matter. He
thinks the originator is either a practical
joker or some religious enthusiast,
possibly possessing more piety
than common sense, vhe bishop
asserts that the originator of the
"chain", was not a good Christian or
he could not have incorporated the
falsehood in his original letter, setting
forth the bishop's supposed connection."
A newspaper correspondent called
at the assistant attorney general's of
nee in me posioutoe uqwiuucut. u.jua
was shown the card reproduced above.
The assistant attorney was asked under
what law this matter could be excluded
from the mails. Ho referred
to the act of September 2(itn, 1S6S,
which refers to "scurrilous matter."
THREE ISLANDS IN DISPUTE.
Part of Canal Zone Property Claimed
by Pacific Mail Co.
Richard Rogers, general counsel
for the Isthmian canal commission,
who started for Panama with secretary
Taft and liis party, will investigate
the titles to the tniee Rock Is
lands in Panama harbor and recommend
what steps shall oe taken for
their acquisition.
The Pacific Mail's Company are
using one of the islands ana claims
title to the property.
VENGEANCE OF NIGHT RIDERS.
Tobacco Beds of Independent Planters
Destroyed in Kentucky.
During Saturday and Sunday nights
the tobacco beds of a number of independent
planters in the country south
of Princeton, Ky., were practically
mined. These planters nave been frequently
warned that unless they joined
the association of tobacco growers
they would be visited by night riders.
: ; r *
GREAT GRAFT IN 'FRISCO
Grand Jury indicts "Boss" Rucf 64
Tirres and He is Reqjired to Give
Bond in Sum of $640,000.
The grand jury at San Francisco
Wednesday night returned seventy-five
indictments chargirg bribeiy, sixtyfive
against Abe Ituef and ten
t.gaiust T. V. Malsey, former general
agent of the Pacific Suites Telephone
tompany. Halsey is now in Manila,
Philippine Islands, installing a telephone
service.
A statement by Assistant District
Attorney Francis J. Heaey says in
substance:
Of the sixty-five indictments charging
Abraham Rue? with bribery, eighteen
are for the alleged oribing of
the board of supervisors in connec
tion with the grunting oi ngni permits
to the so-culled fight trust. Ruef
is charged with having paid each one
of the eighteen supervisors $500, and
one indictment was returntd for each
supervisor alleged to have been
bribed.
Eighteen indictments against Ruef
are for bribing rue eighteen supervisors
to veto for Sc-cent gas, instead of
a 75-cent rate, it being charged that
each one of the supervisors was paid
$750 l-y Uuef. Thirteen indictments
against him are for the alleged bribing
of thirteen supervisors m connection
with the granting of a franchise i
to the Home Telephone company The
telephone company hid and paid to
the city $25,000 for ihe franchise, in
eonnection with the same melter, tcurtetn
indictments were returned
against T. V. Halscy, formerly general
agent of the Pacific States Telephone
and Telegraph company for the
al.'eged bribing of i'our supervisors
to vote against the granting of a franchise
to the rival company.
According to Heney, Halsey is
charged with having paid thirteen supervisors
$5,000 each an I ic one Jas.
L. Gallagher $10t00t/. Hahey, it is
said, agreed to pay each supervisor
Y ? ,0"U ilUUlUUUill JL LUC liaiiv.usg
Dot granted to the home company.
Of the fourteen supervisors, who, it
is charged, were bribel by Halsey,
nine Mr. Honey said, turned around
and took money from the othei company
to vote for the franchise.
Judge Coffey fixed the bail at $i.O,000
on each indictment, or a total of
<(140.000 lor Ruef and $.100,000 for
Halsey.
In ihe overhead trolley deal, Ruef,
according to Burns, was gi\en $485,0(0
by the TJnited ra'lroads, cf \snich
the politician boss is alleged to have
divided $01,000.
Assistant Attorney Heney stated
that tne indictments ''were (lie beginning
of the end of Ruef," and also
the beginnlug of the work of exposing
the municipal corruption iu San
Francisco, and the prosecution of those
' high up, who are responsible for such
conditions in this city."
District Attorney Lang ion said immediately
after the indictments had
been filed:
"The remarkable organization of
this gratfing and corruption :a San
Francisco, its anaiing ramifications,
involving millionaires and the belter
clas sof citizens, will appal not only
to the city, but the entire country
when it is fully laid bare
"Ruef acted as broker and agent
between the corporations and the
board of supervisors in all matters
pertaining to the obtaining of privileges
from the city fathers."
FOLK CALLS EXTftA ASSEMBLY
Missouri Governor Wants Further
Legislation Enacted.
Governor Folk of Missouri issued
an official proclamation Wednesday
night convening the legislature in
session April 9, 1907, at noon.
Among the subjects named in the
cull are:
To enact such legislation as may
be necessary to provide for the regulation
of tiis rates of public corpolatior.s;
to control dram sheps; to
provide for the removal of derelict
officials; to provide for the suppression
of race track gnraolinr;
"ONLY SPURT OF DLL! K1U iYl." j
Ex-President Cleveland Deprecates Attacks
on Railroads.
"There is much oi' the nature ot: delirium,"
said former President Grover
Cleveland in an interview at Princeton,
X. J., Sunday, "in the popular
outcry against railroad corporations.
We shall all be ashamed of it by and
by. There is much that is not only
groundless, but wrong in the off-hand
attacks made, on me railroads by
t>ir>iKorht1p?< nr-rmle What! is Well
founded in them will be cared, but
the craze of denunciation will soon
pass."
A NEW STEAMSHIP LINE
Between Savannah and Norfcik and
3u!timore and Norfolk Planned.
Announcement was made in Savannah
Friday by the Merchants and Miners'
Transportation company that beginning
April 23, a line of steamers
will be on between Savannah and
Norfolk, an.d Baltimore and Norfolk.
This willbe on account of the Jamestown
exposition.
-
' ' 3 - -*v- ROADS
TAKE ACTION
Lines in Alabama to Use Injunction
Against State.
KICK ON NEW STATUTES
Claim is Made That New Lav/s Just
Enacted by the Legislature Will
Decrease Earnings More Than
One-Sixth.
Petition for temporary injunctions
were tiled in the United Slates circuit
court at Montgomery Monday to pre
vent the railroad commission, and attorney
general from putting into force
several of the recent laws passed by
the legislature.
It Is the first gun of the one of the
hottest legal battles the state has
ever known, and the railroads have
announced their determination of
fighting the matter to the bitter end,
carrying it as high as it is possible.
All the railroads acted uniformly
in filing the petitions for injunctions
and they averred the new laws are
confiscatory, and that the railroads
cannot operate under them. The maximum
rate law, the two and one-half
cent passenger rate law and the "110
articles" law as it is known, are
those attacked. Certain of the other
laws seeking to regulate the railroad3
will be attacked later.
The railroads acting are the LouisI
ville and Nashville, which includes
the South and North, the Southern
i Railway, the Frisco System, the Central
of Georgia Railway, the Seaboard
or the Atlanta and Birmingham air
line, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Alabama
Great Southern, the Mobile and
Ohio, and the other roads operating in
the state, probably including the Mobile,
Jackson and Kansas City.
Each of the railroads make a separate
petition for an injunction to
keep each of the separate bills from
becoming effective.
The railroads aver that under the
new law they would not be able to
operate and pay their expenses. They
will present a mass of figures care
fully and accurately compiled to snow
that with the greatly increased cost
of operating and cost of material and
the reduction of their revenues, which
would result from these laws, they
could not make enough money to pay
their actual expenses.
They aver that the reduction of the
passenger fare from 3 cents per mile
-> i-9 will r> ereaso their nas
senger earnings by actually- by onesixth
and more than one railroad
will allege that it actually loses money
in Alabama by operating passenger
trains at 3 cents per mile. The Seaboard
will aver that it has never
made expenses sipce it operated in
Alabama, and other roads will aver
that their passenger service nets them
nothing.
The maximum rate lav/ they aliege
would cripple them badly. Many of
the rates, it is alleged, which were
made the maximum that could ne
charged according to the new law weie
commodity rates and were established
for a limited length of time, or
for some industrial purpose and that
the railroads would lose money by
handling freight at those prices all the
time.
They aver that these commodity
or special rates are frequently established
for the purpose of aiding infant
industries or nourishing other in
dustries mat couiu uui uuiwmac va.
ist, and for other reasons, such as
protecting the iron manufacturer of
the district and enabling him to compete
with the manufacturer of another
district. It will be shown that these
rates are out of all proportion* with
what is right and that establishing
them as a maximum rate would injure
the railroads infinitely.
1
TWENTY-FOUR PEOPLE INJURED
In Wreck of Two-Story Building and
Panic That Followed.
| Twenty-four persons were injured.
! some seriously, and a two-story buildj
ing. occupied by a 5-cent theater with
I ii'nvirur matures. was wrecked at
Greenfield, Iud., Monday night by an
explosion of natural gas, used to heat
the building, in the panic that followed,
men, women and children rushed
for rhe doors and trampled over one
j another.. That ao one was killed outright
is considered nothing short of
1 a miracle.
| COSTLY NAVY YARD BLAZE.
Building No. 1 at Pensacola Entirely
Consumed and Loss is $175,000.
Building Xo 1, at the Pensacola,
i Fla., navy yard, was completely destroyed
by fire Thursday, entailing a
loss estimated at about $175,00*0. It:
' the building were the foundry, blacksmiih
shops, boiler factory, copper
shop, engineering department ana the
power house and electric lighting plant
of tho denaitinent of yards and docks.
CANAL WORK CRITICIZED
! By Contractor Oliver at Conference in
New Orleans?Resolutions Adopt
ed at the Meeting.
At Monday night's session of the
southern states and gulf coast Panama .
canal conference in Sew Orleans W. J.
Oliver, the contractor, made the following
criticism of the canal work:
"It is greatly to be regretted that -j
the administration has decided to
place the construction of the r&uarna J|
canal in the hands of army engineers
instead ot coimuuiius its i?<.c iu tw ^
tractors. :no matter how capable the
army engineers may be, their training %
has not been along the lines of con- .
struction and direction on a large '?J|
scale. They are totally without or- 'M
ganization to draw from and will al- 1
ways be wound up iu costly red tape. &
A**my methods will not avail, for a * . 3
civilian always has one more right
than a soldier?he can quit?and the
high-spirited American cinzen will certainly
exercise that right when he ^
comes to face the arbitrary, dictatorial
methods of army regulations."
The conference at the morning sea- |j?
sion adopted the following resold- '
tions:
1. The natural economical route for
a large part of the United States for.
passengers and materials intended Xojr ^9
Panama is via the ports of the Gult
oi Mexico.
' 2. The isthmian canal commission " Ji
has been operating what is practically
a government-owned steamship service
from New York to Havana, and H
this exclusive service via New York
places the industries of the 3outh, '-'Va
the gulf states, the Mississippi, Ohio, . 'ji
Missouri, Alabama and Georgia val- .'Js
leys and contiguous territory at a pro- ^
hibitive disadvantage.
3. The southern states and gulf
coast Panama conference represents .J1
to President Roosevelt that at least
two of the government's steamships 'Jl
should be operated cut of a gulf pon.^9
because of its closer proximity, by ;i|a
some tidO miles, lu Comn than New n
4. We strongly protest against the
discriminations of the purchasing departinent
of the Panama Railroad SJ
Steamship line, whereby the large ma- />s|
jority of orders are confined to the^fS
eastern scates. We see in this virtual |||
monopoly of the present canal trade jajj
tne gravest danger to the future prosperity
of sections of the United;^
States, particularly the southern and -^1
gulf coast states, as the persistent di-Hj
j version of trade to eastern ports will Jj|
| liave the certain tendency to establish 1
ana maintain a channel of commerce
in that direction from and ihrottgh||l
the Panama canal when it shall have "I
been completed, thereby' catting
the natural ports ironi successful com
petition.
The resolutions concluded by peti-^j^
tioning President Roosevelt tor the.Ji?a
government controlled -Taps and also ^
to investigate the reason why the
preponderance of purchases for ac--y|s|
count of the Panama steamship Iirie||g|
are made in the eastern states."- ||H
NEGRO TROOPS GUILTY %
Was Verdict of Courtmartial That Ex- :|i
onerated Major Penrose.
The senate committee on military fga
" ' " TC* L "? l\fAr?^or? yo/Wil?K-? 'AnHB
anairs el w (tbmu^iuu jiuuua; *.-vjm
ed a copy of a telegram from Brlgad- ^
ier General McCaskey, commanding ,/|9
the department of Texas, concerning#-^
the Major Penrose courtmartial. The J
telegram says that Penrose was exon-, -l|
crated, but that the court found that--j?
the shooting up of Brownsville was .Ji
done by members of the Twenty-tifth.
infantry. The following is the text of M
the telegram:
"Major General Atnsworth?Major
Penrose was exonerated Dy the court- ;.?J|
martial, but the court found that theV^S
shooting in Brownsville was done by.
the men of the Twenty-fifth Infantry.
Finding approved by me.
"M CASKEY, . , M
"Cominaiider." ^
I __.
NEGRO 3ANKER UNDER ARREST. M
is Charged With Murder of Cashier
of the Institution.
Joseph Pettus, colored, president of Vrll
the People's bank, a negro institution
of Hattiesburg, Miss., has been ar- *?
rested and charged with the murder of ^
Edward Howell, the cashier of the '.Jg
bank, who ***as waylaid and shot to Is
death on the night of March 19. At- ./Jj
ter the murder, the bank vault waa :$
opened ana several notes Pettus owed ^
the bank and $-,700 in cash were miss- ||j
ing. This led to the arrest of Pet- |||
BONILLA IS IN FLIGHT.
President of Honduras Forced to Skf? v;
doo for Safety.
Santos Ramirez, director general of ;-:J;
telegraphs in Nicaragua makes the
following statement: ^
"The Nicaraguan forces have cap- ;
tured Chotuteca, Honduras, which whs
held by the Hondurau and Salvadoran :*J
troops, and President Boniila has fled
by boat. Steamers will pursue the H
fugitive president. 1 believe the war g
is ended." - ... ,Jj||