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I WORKERS LAID OFF ft j . Southern Turns Out Large i Force in Atlanta Shops. SUSPENSION INDEFINITE ( To Many the Order Came as a Complete Surprise?The A., B. & A. Also Lets Out Many Men ' at Fitzgerald. One hundred and fifty men, four\ fifths of whom are trained workers, men who have served a long apprenticeship and who are earning an excellent grade of pay every day, walked out of the Southern shops In South Atlanta Thursday afternoon, carrying ^ with them an order of suspension for ?how long none of them can even conjecture. Not one of the men had the slightest thought of a cessation of labor. * Since the season of vacations and i* rests had passed and the men trained * to their several trades were anticipating a long winter of money-making work. But, as the men entered the shops Thursday morning, there was a fresh sheet of paper on the bulletin board. Its brightness attracted the attention of every man with his dinner pail upon his arm. All stopped to read the board and to every one it was a surprise. It was brief, but it was plain and unmistakable. It simply announced that when the day ended there would be no work the next day , for some of those who read the bulletin. While short and plain, the order . * indicated those upon whom idleness came. It apprised twenty-three machinists, whose average pay is $23 to $25 a week; one coppersmith who makes $3 and more a day; three boilermakes whose scale is $3.10 a day; fifteen helpers at $1.30 a day; two blacksmiths, who without trouble * ond nnp hundred csru Gt uokj y mum carpenters and car builders, out of a force of 500 men and who earn $2 every day, that when the day's work Was over they might call at their foreman's office for their time, as their j services would not be needed the next ^ day?Friday. *No reason was given the men for the order, but it didn't take them long to figure out a reason. One of the " : . number?he has been with the Southern shops since Pittsburg, as the Atlanta shops are designated, was started?spoke for the crowd who are laid off: v "When I say that the order was a surprise to the men, I tell you the exact facts in the case. Still, among those who are in charge it has not been a surprise recently. We have ascertained that some of these i'oremien have been working for this orv der for more than a week. If they i knew any reason for it, however, they have not given it out. But among the men who are touched by the order, as well as among their companions, who still remain in, there is now an understanding. Recent legislation is the cause. And do you know there a man not hit by the order lO UVW M of today who feels that he has a certainty of a day's work. That order . which came today may come again y t. tomorrow?it may come at any time and when it does come we will then know, and not before who is next to be let out." , At the regular meeting of the ma-chinists of Atlanta Thursday night, it was announced, not in an official way, but in a manner wholly reliable that at Fitzgerald one hundred, men, $3.40 a day on the wage scale, had been let out by the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic railroad. No reasons ? were assigned for that let-out. GEORGIA MILLS TO EXHIBIT. State Industrial Association Co-Operates With Fair at Atlanta. One of the features of the Georgia state fair will be a comprehensive exhibit by the various Georgia mills, members of the Georgia Industrial Association. Letters have been sent out from the Atlanta offices of the association to the 153 mills in the state which comprise the membership, requesting the . owners of the mills to make their exhibits at the fair. BLUE VETERANS IN PARADE. Grand Army of Republic Holds Annual Encampment at Saratoga. Martial music, the old-time war - tunes to which the soldiers of the civil war had marched in many campaigns awakened Saratoga, X. Y., at an early h?ur \Vednesday, the day of the parade of the veterans who aie attending the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. h?<^" CLERK STEALS BIG MONEY J Gullible Tax Payers of Louisiana Again Robbed, This Time to the Tune of About $200,000. A defalcation in state tax collections in Louisiana, which the officials announced amounted to at least $107,000 and might reach $200,000, was discovered Wednesday in the books of Charles E. Letten, chief clerk to John Fitzpatrick, state tax collector of the first district of New Orleans. Mr. Fitzpatrick, who was formerly mayor of New Orleans, has announced that he will make good whatever the shortage may be. Letten, who is 55 years old, for 19 years had been one of the most trusted men in the department. Up to Wednesday night the police had not been able to get a trace of what was done with the missing money. Mr. Fitzpatrick, after examining the books, said the shortage appeared to have begun four years ago and to have been hidden by using delinquent taxes and the current year taxes to cover up the deficit of the previous year. A few days ago Mr. Fitzpatrick called for the final statement of the 1906 taxes earlier than his chief clerk j had prepared to make it. This is the third defalcation in six months m tne -Louisiana suae uxa department, the two previous short: ages totaling nearly $100,000, and now, for the second time, there is no clew to the whereabouts of the missing official. REVISED COTTON GRADES. : New York Exchange Forced to Bring Contracts Nearer Parity. The regular September meeting of i the revision committee of the New ! York cotton exchange was held after the close of business Wednesday af! ternoon. Much interest has been ta{ ken in the probable action of the committee, owing to the big discount at which local contracts had been selling as compared with middling cotton in the open market, and the trade had anticipated that the action of the committee would bring the contract about fifty points nearer parity with the middling grade. The revision announced reduced premiums on th^ high grades about I 25 points, but gave increased penalties ! on the low grades of from about 20 I to 100 points, with tne penalties particularly severe on the tinged and stained cottOD JUDGE LAMBASTS JURY. Displeased at Verdict Acquitting Negro Woman of Vagrancy. Judge Thomas M Norwood, in the Savannah city court, roundly condemned a jury for not having found a negro woman guilty of vagrancy as charged. Among other things the judge said: "We have these vagrancy cases in large numbers in this court. I can prove that there are five thousand vagrants in this community. They are * - - m xt. ^ supported by the white peopie 01 mo city and are a burden to us. I am sorry that this jury could not arrive at a verdict. I am mortified that there are three men on this jury who voted to turn this woman loose. I am sorry that any man on this jury should have to receive his patronage from negroes, and for that reason will not vote for a conviction in an open case such as this is." ONE-THIRD OFF IN ALABAMA \ Is Cotton Crop, Says Commissioner of Agriculture Wilkinson. In a statement given out Wednesday Commissioner of Agriculture Wilkinson says the cotton crop has fallea off every day since August 25, and if the crop is not very active from now and should frost overtake it, it will not yield more than two-thirds of an average TAFT ON BRINY DEEP. Secretary and Party Sail from Seattle on Steamship Minnesota. William H. Taft sailed from Seattle at 1 o'clock Thursday on the steamship ZKinnesota. The secretary was in fine spirits and a great crowd waved adieus and good wishes. Accompanying Secretary Taft are his wife and son, Charlie, his private secretary, Fred W. Carpenter, and General Clarence Edwards, chief of the bureau of insular affairs. * PLAYER KILLED BY BASESALL. Victim Was Struck in Region of lieart ar.d Quickly Died. IT""? "DiTrt,. river- tTip .nci.il Jl I UUU ?? 0.0 uvn ~ ~? heart by a pitched ball in a baseball game at Montreal. Quebec, Sunday and died almost instantly. The ball passed through the hands of another player and struck Pilon in the breast. Pilon caught the ball, threw it to the short stop and dropped dead. r;. ,> j -r .. '. ... ... &?**&&& ?<& MAKES BOLD MOVE State of Georgia to Attack Fourteenth Amendment. PLAN OF GOVERNOR SMITH Constitutional Validity of Amendment Will Be Tested in Litigation With Railroads Anent Rate Law. The state of Georgia proposes to at tack the validity of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States in the pending rate litigation that has been instituted by the railroads in both the state and r ~ J 1 i._ J 1^11 ^ ieuera.1 uoui^s; lnuiueiiuujy, uie state will also make the point that the parties made defendants in the suits have nothing to do with the enforcement of the reduced passenger rates. The two issues will be raided through demurrers now being prepared by the state's counsel. This move on the part of the state to attack the -validity of the fourteenth amendment will at once invite national attention to the litigation; and its course through all of its various stages will be watched with keen interest everywhere. Not since the fourteenth amendment became a law has its validity ever been attacked. It has been questioned by many persons ? lawyers and laymen alike?but the point has never been passed upon in any court in the land. The points involved in this claim are complex in their nature. Some of the states at first ratified the amendments and afterwards receded from their previous action, while others declined at first to ratify them, but were later lashed into line by the reconstruction policy of the government. There is a serious question of fact as to whether they were legally adopted. The state does not propose to attack the fifteenth amendment; the recent negro disfranchisement bill passed by the legislature will get around this instrument and practically nullify it. The fourteenth amendment was aimed to protect the negro, but in recent years the corporations have sought and found shelter under its elastic wing. ' After the war, the people at the north?Thad Stevens and his gang? feared that the south would emancipate their slaves, but pass such laws as to forever keep the negro in practical servitude?laws that would deprive him of equal rights under the law and that would take his property without due process of law. In the pending passenger rate litigation, the railrbads seek protection of the federal government under the fourteenth amendment They allege that the order of the railroad commission is confiscatory because it denies them equal rights under the law and because it is taking their property without due process. Counsel for the state propose to de ornvinr? that mur tU Llit^ tbui yjj-L J54 v/ u*iv4 vm??? the fourteenth amendment to the constitution is not valid and is therefore not binding upon any of the states. They will force the judge of the lower court for a ruling, and will be in a position to take the question to the supreme court of the United States. SOUTHERNERS GOT SHORT END. Received Bad Treatment at Lumber Convention in Philadelphia. Savannah lumbermen who attended the convention held in Philadelphia say that the southern lumbermen got the short end of every question that came up. The southerners, according to the Savannahians, were particularly aggrieved because of the attitude of New York and Baltimore representatives of the trade. FLAMES THREATENED WARSHIP. Daring Courage of Officers and Crew Saved Battleship Indiana. The navy department Wednesday made puoiic tne iaci uia.L imuugu ? fire in her coal bunkers on the morning of September 5th, the battleship Indiana, now undergoing repairs at the League Island navy yard, narrowly escaped destruction, the ammunii Hnr> in the adjacent magazines being safely removed only through the exhibition of the greatest courage on the part of the officers and crew. WILL BE NO COMPROMISE. Telegraph Companies Deny Negotiations for Strike Settlement. Reports that a compromise would soon be reached between the telegraph companies and their striking operators were denied in Xew York Thursday by officials of the companies, who declare that no negotiations looking to a strike settlement are^ pending and that there will be no compromise. * PENNANT TO CRACKERS. Atlanta Bassball Team, Under Guidance of Bill Smith, Captures Honor of the Southern League. The Crackers, Atlanta's chesty basebal lteam, won the pennant of the Southern League Friday afternoon, when it had come to pass that the Crackers took the second from Little Rock?9 to 3?Montgomery harpooned Memphis?2 to 1?thus shoving the Crackers 26 points, to the good and assuring them of the bunting, no matter what betided. For the first time since 1S86 has Atlanta copped a rag. It was a goodly proportioned bunch that saw the Crackers punch their way to victory at ronce ue ijeuii yaiK and it was a joyful crew that left the grounds after Atlanta had won out. Everyone knew that Bill Smith had controlled a good team when the Crackers reported in the spring, and while it looked like a pennant winner, there are so many slips between cup and lip that the fans just waited until they copped it. No one was sure of the dope, but it came true. Atlanta has never been lower than second place, and it does not matter now how long they remahied in that position, as they finish at the head of the procession. This is the fourth piece of bunting Bill Smith has raked in. His first was with the Lynchburg team in 1897, two with Macon in 1903 and 1904 and now with Atlanta in 1907. Bill has been managing teams since 1895 and during that time he has won four pennants and never finished lower than fourth place. The team will be given - x AO ?AA Kir +K a A tore & present ui ^,quu uj uuvuw.w winning the pennant and it's a reward they richly deserve. MRS. BECKHAM WAS TARGET. Enraged Farmer Fires at Auto Containing Wife of Kentucky Governor. Dan Ruxter, a farmer, has been indicted at Owensboro, Ky., on the charge of having discharged a pistol at an automobile containing Mrs. J. C. Beckham, wife of the governor of the state, and a party of friends. Mrs. Beckham, who was an Owensboro girl, was visiting friends. The farmers in the vicinity have been complaining of the speed of the machines on the highways, and when the motor containing Mrs. Beckham reached a bridge on a much coveted thoroughfare, a man on horseback demanded that the chauffeur stop. The horseman flourished a pistol over the horse, "for the driver of the automobile to wait several minutes," while he denounced automobilists in bitter terms. When the machine started he fired several shots and Mrs. Beckham and the other women dropped to the bottom of the car in a- paroxysm of fright WOMAN DEFENDS HER HONOR. Shot Down Man Whom She Claims Attempted an Assault. News reached Woodville, Miss., Friday of the fatal shootiDg of Nicholas Messenger by' Mrs. Amanda Humphreys in' the country about four miles northeast of the town. Mrs. Humphreys used a revolver, Messenger dying almost immediately. MVe ^Tnmnhrpvs aDDeared before iUid* ? , _ a magistrate and was released an bail. It is understood sbe will plead the unwritten law, claiming that Messenger attempted to asault her. FIFTY-FIVE YEARS IN PEN Given Notorious Robber and Criminal Assailant of Young Girl. Henry Lehna, who confessed to robbery and three assaults on 14-year-old Anna Whitehead, at Turnersville, Pa., has been sentenced to serve 55 years in solitary confinement in the western penitentiary. This is the maximum penalty for the crime, being 15 years for each assault and ten years- for robbery. MEMORIAL TO HER SON. Woman Makes $150,000 Gift to Yale for Specific Purpose. Professor Russell M. Crittenden, director of the Sheffield Scientific school of Yale university, announces a gift of $150,000 from Mrs. James B. Oliver of Pittsburg, Pa. This gift is for the erection of a new recitation j or lecture hall as a memorial to her son, Daniel Leet Oliver, formerly a student in the Sheffield Scientific school, class of 190S, who died last June. MORE TELEGRAPHERS QUIT KEYS Twenty Small Towns in Ohio Tied Up by Strike. It was announced at the headquarters of telegraphers in New York Saturday that operators in twenty towns in Ohio who did not go out when the strike was called six weeks ago, had left their keys. The names of the towns were not given. TWENTY-FOUR DEAD Arid Score Injured in Frightful Crash of Trains. ^ \/IPTIR*0 C VPIIDOinMICTC VIUJMVIO LAUUnOIUlHIOlO Horror Occurred on Boston and Mains Railroad, and Was Caused by Misunderstanding of Orders. Many of Injured May Die A fearful head-on collision between , the southbound Quebec express and a northbound freight train on the Concord division of the Boston and Maine railroad occurred four miles north of k Canaan station, Vermont, early Sun- ( day, due to a mistake in train dis- : patchers' orders, and from a demolished passenger coach there were taken twenty-four dead and dying and twenty-seven other passengers, most of them seriously wounded. Nearly all of those who were in the death car ; were returning from a fair at Sherbrook, Quebec, 160 miles north. The conductor of the freight was ! given to understand that He had plenty of time to reach a siding by the night operator at Canaan station, receiving, according to the superintendent of the division ,a copy of the telegram order from the train dispatcher at Concord, which confused the train number 30 and 34. The wreck occurred just after the express had rounded into a straight stretch of track, but, owing to the early morning mist neither engineer saw the other's headlight until it was too late. The southbound train was made up at Sherbrook, where it picked up two sleepers from Quebec and two more on the way down. It consisted of the baggage car, passenger coach and smoking car in that order, with the sleepers in the rear. The train left White River Junction, Vt, at 3:50 Sunday morning, forty minutes late, and followed twenty minutes later by the 'Montreal Express over the Central Vermont. The Quebec express train is known as No. 30 and the Montreal train as No. 34. Meantime a northbound freight train I v.^ Oct KoH orrivarl at KnOWll <13 ->\J. idu uuu Canaan, 18 miles down the road, at 4:10 a. m.f on time. According to W. R. Ray, Jr., division superintendent, J. R. Crowley, the night train dispatcher at Concord, sent a dispatch to John Greeley, the night operator at Canaan, that-No. 34 was one hour and ten minutes late. The order which Conductor Lawrence of the freight/ train showed after the accident distinctly states that No. 30 instead of No. 34 was an hour and ten minutes late. ^Conductor Lawrence, believing that he had sufficient time in the hour and ten minutes to reach the sidetrack at West Canaan, four miles beyond, before No. 30 reached . it, ordered his train ahead. The superintendent declared that the accident was^ due to the mistake in placing a cipher after the three in the number of the train instead of a four. One of those who escaped said that as the train was rounding a curve some one in front of the car began to sing so that nearly every one was j awake when the crash came. Those j who were in the other cars recovereu their dazed senses, jumped oat to the side of the track and hurried to the demolished passenger coach, where groans, cries and shrieks were rending the air. Fortunately, with the engines off to one side, the wreckage did not take fire and add horror to the already dreadful scene. The train hands, ably seconded by the passengers from the sleeping cars, groped their way among the ruins and began the work oi rescue. HEAVY BAIL FOR NEGRESS. Letten's Siren Held for Trial in the Sum of Fifty Thousand. Bail was fixed at $50,000 in New Orleans, Saturday, for Virginia Reed, the negro woman to whom the defaulting tax clerk, Charles E. Letten, says he gave nearly all the $118,000 he stole. The woman is charged with receiving stolen property. A charge of perjury has also been made against her. I Letten, who has confessed, will be used as the principal witness against her. AN OVERPRODUCTION OF COPPER j Amalgamated Company Will Shut I Down Big Mines at Butte, Mont. The Amalgamated Copper company I t is about t-: shut down its mines in and about Butte, Mont., for an indefinite period. From an interest closely identified with the company, it was learned that the suspension of operations is due to overproduction and lack of demand for copper. RIOTS LAID TO LABOR! Vancouver Situation Grave?Mob Pr#? u' vents Landing of Orientals?Lon- > don Blames Americans. Kv im With a subscription list started In Vancouver, B. C., headed by Mayor * Bethune with a purse of $100, and which up to Wednesday night had -#||S grown to $1,500, Vancouver citizens .- Jm will charter a train and ' place on board at least 800 Hindus who arrived . '^1 on the steamer Mont Eagle, and yill -M ship the East indians, bag and bag- - gage, to Ottawa, the seat of the fed-?. ,M eral government This is the plan' ;~? evolved and which is to be carriedN ^ into effect providing the necessary/ . amount of money can be raised. / On boayi the Mont Eagle were hun-': dreds of Chinese, Japanese and Hiadus. The Hindus formed the greatest. . part of the human cargo, and the plan to ship them back to Ottawa, /f with the compliments of Vancouver, is < ^ an outcome of the recent oriental dis- , ;|| turbances. , >. v)S?Mj The steamship company, fearing trouble, landed nearly all of the Jap- /j anese at Victoria. At Vancouver the dock was roped off for two blocks,./^ and heavily guarded by company em- ^?j| ployees and police., Wednesday night ^ an attempt was made to land the Hindus. An immense crowd had gath- ;JB ered and the officials were afraid to ,-V^H let the Hindus face the crowd alone. .^$3 Advices received in Ottawa,- JjS state that the mayor of Vancouver. '. 'M warned the captain of the steamer jSH Mont Eagle, which had on board the' Japs, Chinese and Hindus, that he , ^ would be unable to guarantee a safe landing, because the unionists .express- Jj3B ed their determination to resist the immigration of any more Asiatic la* r M The steamship authorities feared to assume the risk, and the vessel waa^lU turned back to Victoria. - Vancouver is reported as being com- |$8B paratively quiet, but an outrage by two Chinamen has again inflamed the 5 people. The Mongolians, while passing along one of the main streets, saw a white baby sitting on a doorstep. They snatched it up and threw ||S it into the middle of the street, which was busy with traffic. It fell, among ^ the horses' feet and narrowly ?es- * ; caped death. Beyond being bruised, it. was not much the worse. An angry crowd started in ,pur- ^ % suit. The Chinese had a good start, .%j?B and escaped. The fact that no- arrests have been made has not tended to allay the temper of the people. The city council passed a by-law prohibiting a wrestling match- which was to have taken place between a ... white man and a Japanese. The en? tire Japanese colony had bought tickets for the encounter, and trouble was threatened. An anonymous letter received in, I Bellingham, Wash., warns all Japanese and Chinese in that city to leave ; at once. Japanese working at* the canneries are armed, ana say mey wm ^ resist any attempt to force them oht '/*1| ol town. The Chinese, however, will , not make a strong stand., .,^8 E. B. Deming, general ^manager of } the Pacific American fisheries, says if - ; the orientals leave, the salmon can- ^ ning industry is doomed, as the Japanese are being persuaded to affiliate v .If with the labor unions. The Times (London) in an editorial says it is convinced that there is now full confirmation of the belief that .v^ the anti-oriental riots at Vancouver were actually organized by American labor agitators, "the men whose trigues were brought from San Francisco under the dpminion ofMSchmitz and Ruef." A, V? J Continuing the paper says it be- . J|3 lieves "this same riot upon British soil was got up by officials of Amerpk can labor organizations for the pur- *;*j| pose of conveying to .M. Isholi, the ' |j| member of the commercial depart- ' ment of the Japanese foreign cjglces, M who is now at Vancouver, the. feelings of the labor element of the Pa- . cific coast" REGRET CAME TOO LATE. Soldier Drank Strychnine and Then *3 Begged Doctors to Save Hin% Edward E. Degratterv, a private the fifteenth coast artillery, stationed at Fort Barrancas, Pensacola, Fla., ' committed suicide Thursday tfy swallowing a large dose of strychnine. Af- ' ter he had taken the poison he realized what he had done and begged the physicians who were summoned ? to save his life. Their efforts, how- . ever, were fruitless. MOORS SURPRISED IN CAMPl Franco-Spanish Army Deals Frightful Slaughter Among Fanatics. The allied Franco-Spanish army on ' Thursday made a sudden and success- $ ful move on Taddert, Morocco, where ! the Moors were massed in force. The ' ' -3 camp of the latter was destroyed and the enemy was put to flight, leaving many dear on the field. The French . ? * lost one man killed and six men, wounded, ) ...... / j