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?? v * !> " r *c\K :f ' < >' ^ . fr , i * ' VOL. V. NO. 6. CAMDEN, S. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 12. 1908. S1.50Per Year 170 CHILDREN M[ 1NAHRE \ ' , >> t School Building Burns and Children Die By Scores in Utter Helplessness DEATH AT SCHOOL HOUSE ? - ? , Their Egress Oat Off bjr tin Fiery Flames The* Rage Below Tkea, - the Little Omes Are Jfednerated Almost Within Beech of Safety, Cleveland, 0.f Special. ? Penned in narrow hallways, jammed up against 4eort that only opened inward, be tween ICO and 170 children in the ?ttboab of North Collinwood Wednes day were killed by fire, by smoke and 1 beneath the grinding heels of their panic-stricken playmates. The awfnl tragedy occurred Wed nesday morning in the pu'olie school of North Collinwood, 10 miles east of this city. At 10 o'clock Wednesday night 165 corpses were in ths morgue at Collinswood, six children were still unaccounted fbr and all the hospitals and houses for two miles around con tained numbers of children, some fa tally and many less seriously injur ed. All of the victims were between the ages of G and 15 years. Tho school contained between 310 and 325 ' pupils, and of this entire number only J about ei.rhty are known to have left | the v building unhurt. It will be rcv- ? eral days before the exact number ' of killed is known as the ruins may stHl contain other bodies and the list j of fatalities may he increased bv a ? number of deaths among the children who are now lying in the hospitals hovering between life and death. Only Ono Fire Escape. The schoolhcuse was of brick, two etories and an attic in height. The number of pupils was more tha nor mally large, and tho smaller children had been placed in the upper part of the building. There was but one fire escape and that was in the rear of the building. There were two ' stairways, one leading to a door in front, and the other to a door in the rear. Both of these doors opened inward, and it is claimcd the reur door was locked as well. When the Unmes were discovered the trachers who throughout seem to have acted with courage and self possession and to have struggled he roically for the safety of their pu pils, marshaled the little ones into column "lire drill," which they had often practiced. Fortunately the line of march in this exercise hnd always led to the front door and the children liad not been trained to seek any other exit. The fire came from a furnace situ ated directly under this part of the building. When the children reached the foot of the stairs they found the ilamc.s close upon theni, and so swift a ttish was inr.de for t lie floor that in ait instant a tightly packed mass of Children was piled up against it. From that second none of those who wcro upon any portion of the first flight of stairs lir.d a chance for their lives, ^lie children at the front of I lie stair* attempted to light, their way back to the Moor above, while those who were coming down shoved tboin mercilessly back into tho flames below. In an in stant" there was a frightful panic with two hundred of the pupils fighting for their lives. Most of thoso who wcro killed died here. The greater part of those who escaped managed to tuin back and reached the fire es cape and tho windows in tho rear. Approximately 300 children attend ed the school, which had nine rooms. tleJ^,tiIi.^e?er e?U,d "member hi mL^jJST1 aed- ?*" tbe fi- ' rJ u , >weeP,n? in the base. Sdta W Vld?;'wh?n I looked up breath rKW,JP ?f 8m?ke curlin? from ,(7h tfa? front stairway. fL raMA? tlie fire alarm and pulled I ^ildTn* TIT1 "?Unded throughout tbe an d th?, T ?u finrt to the fro?t ! wd then to the rear doors. I can't 1 haFpened next? ex cept that I ?aw th? flames shooting ail ?bout and the children running down U7'f th?\ ?hw sTL hi J ^ entrance and others stum bled over them. I khw my littlo Helon Sll; 1 'opu'ihef tr,1 J?nt the flames drove me back. I bad to leave my little child to die.- HeV A ^ I burned about the bead. | ed itlSf f Ti. Practically burn JhlS? ?Ut' lt? WO,k of rescuing I T gUn by firemen and railroad employes from the Lake Shore shops. The railroad company w2hTWJf- * iU bui,di?S? "ear. I a temporary morgue, j StU^!fCr charred and broken thw reTvod as faKt ** SZ ~ , e <!U* from "?e ruins. u P d, to roW8 in the Lake Shore shop. Identifications wrn K!?fc J* yJS? raen,,K of Nothing or trinkets. The fire had swept away nearly ajl re^mblanee to human fea tures. Distracted parents soon began n0/'the.r, a"d the work of identify ing the blackened and mangled corn ses began. * flJhi!i erLewso1mo '"?k ?f takin? ??t the blackened torsos and bits of human remains was one of horror. A line of re^urcrs was formed backed oy half s Uozcn ambulances. As the bodies were untangled from the de bris the* wotQ passed along to the V , aud 'hence loaded in tuo ambulance. Mercifully covered with r.lniikety ,t?c pitiful sights were vel ja frcm the crowd of curious. As its': as a load was obtained it was dnven away to the improvise.! morgue, to be succeeded by another within a short time. Teachcr Telle Story. | "It was awful. I can see the wee I nngs ,n my room holding ??t their I them 5 I CTym" l? me h(,,f Th"r voices are ringing in rav j??? yet, and I shall never ? ^ I them. W hen the alarm gong rang I [Htor ed I the pupils to marching from ? he building. When we started down ' (I Jnll1 f fl*'S We Wrre met b-v a s?l 1 smnlc I r "? nn<1 C,OI,ds of dcn?p f-moke. \\? retreated, and when we tumrd the ? children beeanie panic wif'h fl" andi,'""1'1 no1 a?yll,i?, tl i J , - bwun" ?" the narrow stairway ami I knew that the only thing for me to do was to pet around to the rear door if pos : sible, and help those who were near I the entrance. When 1 got there, of 'thl CjHi>,npr ?nt ?f a vvin,loW I found i children so crowded in the nar row passageway that I could not pull even one of then. out. Those behind i pushed forward and as I stood there j the little ones pile,! upon one anoth-l er. Those who could, stretched out ! heir arms to me, and cried for me I ?. I tried with all mv might to pull them out and staved lawa?'" the fUmw drove me | At midnight there were Ifift bodies ; in the morgue of which JOS had been identified ami 57 were still unknown. It is possible that other bodies may j b* ?und in the ruins, ns at least K! , children are still missing and have not been heard from si nee the fire. Bcorefe of Freight Conductors Laid j Off by Southern. Asheville, Special. ? On account of doorcase in business oil tho Asbwillu division of tlio Southern it is learned here t lint within a week 50 freight conductors liavo been laid uff. It is paid that not for years has busiues* on (lie division been as slack as al present. Serious Labor Troubles Threatened in England. London. By Onblc. ? Serious labor trouble* still are threatened in tho Lancashire cotton trado and among! the engineers on the northeast coast. j Notiecs were posed threatening a ' lockout of 20,000 cotton operatives it* j the Coine and Nelson districts, while! the engineers who have been involved ' in the recent ship building striko | along the Tync rejected by a large majority the compromise ntTeetcd with j the employers by 1'nvid Uoyu-Uoorgo ?pro (Hid of the buord of trade. Locomotivo Explodes. Kobcrta. (Ja., Special. ? Engine No. 128 on train No. 01, Southern railway exploded at Champion, two miles be low here at H o'clock Wednesday morning. Engineer (.'harlcs O'Neill, of Fort Valley, was scalded and in fernally injured ami will die. Two negro brakemen were scalded, one fa tally. Tho engine and four freights art a complete wreck. Tho truck is Urn qp for ft hvidsed ytfds. Ncwg of tho Day. Mmo. Schmhann-Koink, (ho opt'rn pinker, took out her naturalisation papom ami boon me an American eiti zon. Bishop \?\ W. Duncan, of tho Methodist Episcopal cliurch died at Spartanburg. S. ('. Secretary Root's report on the ease of Judge Wilfloy is ready for trans mtecdon to tho President. Hartje and His Cohorts Acquiitc.1 of Porjury. Pittsburg, Pa., Special. Au gustus Hart.jo. a millionaire; John 1,. Wclshons, a hardj.a-e merchant. and friend of Ilartje and Clifford llooc. the negro eoaohman, who have hoen on trial in rriminal eonrt charpcil with conspiracy to b'oeken the e!mi aeter of Mis. Mary Seott Ilarljt, were all acquitted, binding in^t Mic tions having boon give,-, the jury to find such a verdiot and place the costs of the rase upon the county. News in Brief. Tn the Ho?s?? t?ie inoreaso in pay of enlisted men was restored to the Army bill. The Senate paused the Indian Ap propriation bill. A Patent Office examiner, a Phila delphia lawyer and York (Pa.) in ventor have been indicted charged with patont frauds involving clcctnc patents valued at $5,000,000. \ I ?* 0 . . ... - BURI AL OF FIRE VICTIMS IbtUrinp Iphi^ tfc* Janitor i Oonld Be Heard on Emy Bide, The Orief-Oraaed Parenta Fariettini That the Janitor Himfeelf Walked Behind a Hears* Containing Three of Hia Laved One*. Cleveland, O., Special. ? Collins wood Friday came to a full fsalixa Sion of her woe. Slowly and wolemu ly the pro?e?eioua of death began to w?nd their way toward the ceme teries, bearing the battered and charred remains of *ome of the hun dred and sixty-seven children *rhose livee were snuffed out in Wednesday morning's catastrophe in the Lake view school. Froin 9 o'clock in the morning ' until dusk there was no cessation in the funeral cortegos. Those who had no dead to mourn as a personal loss stood in the streets with bared beads as the grim proces sions passed. There was scaroely a dry eye in Collinwood. One of the sad funerals was that of tho three chi-ldren of Janitor Hirter, held joint ly with the services for three other little ones. Talk Against Janitor. Mutterings against the janitor could be heard about the village as grief-crazed parents sought an ob ject upon which to wreak vengeano*, forgetting as they diil that Hirter himself was walking with bowed head end broken-hearted behind the biers of throe of his loved ones. A detail of police was placed about the Hir ter home when the hour of the fun eral came. Fully five hundred per sons had gathered, but when the eofr flns were carried to the doorway the erowd sptcad and opened tl?e \va> fof them without protest or expres sion of hostility. Altogether there were 50 burials Friday and Saturday the grewsome task was repeated. Sunday will wit ness the last of the individual burials and on Monday the remains of all those who are vat unidentitled will be laid to rest with one funeral. There are '23 of these bundles of lleah that await claimants. Stories of Herioism. Testimony describing the mad rush to death of the school children was given Friday at the continued session of the coroner's inquest. Stories of heroism on the part of the women teachers were recited. F. P. Whit ney, superintendent of the Collinwood schools, stated his belief to be that no lire department could have done nnv effective work after the fire bad started. Two of the teachers told of their unavailing attempts to open one of the double doors at the rear which they said was locked. The in quest also developed the fact that, af ter the first crush at the door, it was beyond human possibility to aid or save those whom the tongues of lire were devouring in the eharnel house. The inquest will be resumed Monday. * In a statement C.nef Wallace, of the Cleveland lire department, after an examination of the ruins, of the Collinwood school, said it was his op inion that the loss of life would not I have been so great had there been no partitions at the sides of the storm doors at the rear entrance. Two feet eight inches had been taken off either side of the hall for the partitions, llis examination developed that the doors openod outward. Chief Wallace doubtless will be a witness before the coroner. Cleveland Loaxns Lesson. Drastic steps were taken by the Cleveland school board to a' the Cleveland educational buildings in a condition that will preclude any loss of life from iires. Basements will be fireproof, wooden stairways replaced by iron and spiral fires e* dft pos enclosed in towers installed. Inner doors in vestibules also will be removed. Another Pricet Threatened. Providence, |{. I., Special. ? The fate that orerlook Father Leo Ilein richs, of Denver, threatens Rev. J. II. Beland, pastor of Notre Dame French Catholic church of Central Falls. Letters hnve come to him eon taining a notification that he will hp hilled nt the altar. His friends ap | pealed to the authorities when they learned of his danger. Bis Horse Show in Tcxca. Fort Worth, Tox., Special ? Kn tries have closcd for the horre show ex hibits at the National Feeders' and Breeders' Show, which will open next Wednesday in the great coliseum erected at a cost of $250,000. There are fifty- four different classes in the horse show lis!:: and $11,000 will be awarded in premium.'. A prize lii! j'lr-rrrgating .vJO.'iO i* off. -red on the live sto<k which will !??? on exhibit Governor Campbell will preside at ti.? opening of the show on Wednesday morning aii.l wiil d? liter an add res* T!:o Gait O/rr Virginia's Debt. Washington, Special.? I'.ie bijj suit between the States of Virginia and West Virginia over the claim of t he former that tho latter Should sharf tho latter 's $.'13,000,000 debt advanc ed one stage when attorneys foi West Virginia presented to the Su preme Court arguments for limitation <?f the powers of the master whom the court proposes to appoint to tnk< testimony in tho suit. Virginia want/ > the master given a wide ftetd. TWO LYNCHED IN GEORGIA Amp tha Murder of Mr. and Mrs. Wmkb Hart ? Lynching Party, Wearing liah, Takes Pria oun From Oosnt| Jail and After Hangiig Then to a Tm, Bums Their Bodies. ] . Hawkinsville, Oa., Special. ? Two fcegrees, Curry Robertson and John Seftry, were lynched Thursday near here and their bodies burned. They me charged with the murder of Mr. isd Mrs. Warren Hart. One of the negroes confessed to the urims and said the motive was rob bery. Robertson and Henry were ar rested Wednesday following the dia sovery of the body ef Warm* Hart. Bis wife wse lying nearby in a dy tag condition. The murders took )laee near Frst-ier. the home of the 3 arts. Mr. Hart bad been killed as the re mit of a blow on the hea4, appar ently made by an axe. Mrs. Hart was tevioosky beaten and was found un Kmecions. She died Wednesday night rithout having recovered conscious tees. Thursday the negroes were quietly afcen from the county jail and car ried some distance from the town, where they were hanged to a tree. The lynching party consisted of a utrabar of men who eoncealen their dentiiy with masks. After the hang i*g the bodies were ent down and in lineraAed. After this the )>ossc quict y dispersed. There is no announee ncnt in the district as a result of die lynching. The crime of which the negroes were accused was committed just at iaylight Wednesday, when some one ittasked Hart as be weut from his ioi>se to feed his stock. His head was orushed. The murderers then vent to the kitchen of the Hart home where Mrs. Hart vu preparing breakfast and attacked her with un ixe, leaving her for dead. Mrs. Hart was found on tho floor with a fork in her hand and the breakfast which she had cooked burn si to a crisp. She died late that oight. The purpose of the ssault is be lieved to have been robbery, as the FT. rts were known to have about $1, )()(> in the house. The murderers did .iot get the money. News of the mur ler spread quickly through the sce :ion, and in the vicinity of Empire, a tillage near the serene of the murder, there was the most intense excite neivt. Over a thousand persons gathered, unong them the friends of the aged ?ouple, who imediately formed a rnjsse. secured dogs and began a tearch. Within a *hort time two ue rroes were arrested and brought here for safe keeping. During the night men gathered nenr the county jail, icmanded Robertson and Henry and then took them to an isolated place near the scene of the_doublc murder ind lynched them. Ml". Hart and his wife were 65 years old. Bank President Indicted. New Orleans, La., Special. ? Wil liam Adler, former president of t lie State National Bank of New Or leans, was indioted by the United States grand jury hore charged tvith misapplying national hank funds and with other illegal transactions. There were 74 connts in the indict ment. ('barges that dealings about which they should have heen inform al were ooncealed from the board of directors and that false entries and misapplication and distinction of funds occurred reaching betwten >200.000 and $300,000 were made tgainst Adler in the indictment. Lonici&na Banker Threatened. Alexandria, I,n., Special ? Paul Lis ?o, president of the First National bank here announced the receipt of n letter demanding $5,000 froru him at nn appointed place and signed "The United Black lland of Lonisana. " The letter threatens tho life of I'res ident Lisso'* daughter if he refuses payinont. The police have begun an investigation. Attompt to Sell War Sccrets. New York, Special. ? The Federal authorities of Brooklyn reluctantly admitted thai the arrest of Heinr'-cli Ksser, on charges of attempting in sell United States war necrets to Oer many, is directly due to the German authorities. The latter notified the Carman cons?-.il in New York, who it; turn communicated with the police. Together with the tip came an assur ance from (lermany that under no cir cumstances would that government take advantage of Mich offers. r.-Uokto to Csxoiini&as. Washington, Special. ? K. W. Bish op, patent ntomcy, reports the issnf of the following patents on the 3i6 instant to residents of North ant) Sor *h Carolina: Log turner ?J. II Me,-ee, Hosernan; drive gear f<>r ei> gines ? M. O. Carter ami \V. T. ! )avis Travelers' Rest, S. C. ; sandpaper ina chine? -J. T. Brantley, Salisbury brush handle ? J. II. Greene, Higt Poiut. THE WORKOf CONGRESS Doings of Our National Law-Makers Day by Day. Railroads Bobbing Unci* Sam. The charge that the government had been robbed of over $70,000,000 since 18S0 by railroads carrying: tbe mails was made on the floor of the bonse of Representatives by Mar. Lloyd, of Missouri. He referred to the aew system of weighing the ruails recently introduced by tbe Postmast er General and declared that it w as an admission that the Postoffice De partment had allowed the people of the country to be mulct?d out of the sum stated. He demanded to know why suits had not been instituted against the railroads to recover this money. No suits, he charged, had been fiicd and none suggested. ' I < all upon the chairman of tbe committee to audit and control the expenses of the Postoffice Department," he ex claimed, "to investigate that depart ment and ascertain whether there i? anything wrong in it." Mr. Wanger, of Pennsylvania, the chairman, pledged oareful investiga tion into the subject. Mr. Lloyd, teferring to the retirement of Mr. Madden, the Third Assistant Post mazier General, and the proposition to drop 22 pofctoffice inspectors, de clared that they were from the be innning all "marked" men because n<f their connection in one way or an rtiior with the suppression of certain publications. "We have too much beaucracy," be exclaimed. "We need more law and less departmental rule." A Day in the Senate. Speeches on the ponding currency kill were made in tho Senate by Sen- I ?tors McCumber, of North Dakota, and New lands, of Nevada. Each of these 8enators contended for modifications of the emergency eurrency bill and each declared in favor of legislation adding confidence on the part of the depositors in tha banks as a prominent foature of any plan Tor preventing panics. lhc Senate also passed n resolution j offered by Senator Tillman, of South I Carolina, ealUng on tho Attorney fieneral for all information concern ing court proceedings in the Indian ?Territory affecting the Choctaw an<\ Chickasaw tribes. A 7'unfner of bills of minor impor tance weie passed. Tillman Wants to Know. Senator Tillman wants *o havo tha? Comptroller of Currency scud to the Senate a detailed statement of all loans made by national banks in New York City, upon collateral security from June 1st to December 1st, 19D7, with the full names of borrowers, amounts of loans and lists of stocks and bonds deposited with each loon as collateral security with a state ment whether they arc time or caU loans and whether call loans are made by excutive officers of the banks by ?>rder of the board of directors. This direction to the Comptroller of the Cuirency Mas embodied in a resolu tion submitted to the Senate by Mr. Tillman. A preamble of the rcsolncion re cites that banks in cities where stock exchanges are located loan money of depositors which are trust funds upon worthless stockn and bonds, on terms that make such loans dangerous and make them a menace to the public. Mr. Aldrioh a$ked that the consid eration of the resolution be postponed Mr. Tillman wanted immediate ac tion. "Stock gambling," lie said, "is recognized bv a great many people as one of the most pernicious and devil ish things of all the pernicious and devilish things that are being done in New York." Senator Aldrioh snggostcd thai there were other places besides New York where stock gambling is prac ticed. Mr. Tillman said he would be glad to have the same information from all places where there are stock ex changes. "I am willing to let it go over," he added, "to see what special interests are jeopardized." Consideration of the resolution was postponed. Post#ffico Appropriations. Washington, Special. ? Considera tion of the postoffice appropriation reseutatives. As adopted the bill bill was begun in the House of Hep carries a total appropriation of $220,765,392, which is $9,075,024 less than the estimates. Mr. OverstrV>et, on Indiana, explained the provisions of the measures, the main features of which already have been published. An understanding was reached whereby general debate is to continue indefinitely. Millionaires in Congress. Washington, Special. ? According to a Washington statistiean, the Unit ed Slates Senate now has :J2 mil lionaires, ?epresent>ng a capital of $21 0,500,000, and the Hons? 14 men in .the millionaire class, with fortunes aggregating $3X000,000. Simoi Gug genheim heads the list of millionaire Senator?, with $60,000,000. Senator Isaac Stephenson of Wisconsin pos sesses a fortune estimated at half that sum, and Senator ' Stephen B. El kliis, of West Virgiuia, is a close third, with $2.">.000,000. Representa tive John A. Andrus, of New York, is the rich man of the house, his "pile" being given as $35,000,000. Big Fire at Columbia. N. C. Norfolk. Va., Special. ? A special to The Virginian Pilot says Columbia N. C., was visited by a disastrous tin Thursday, destroying the heart of t lie business section. The lire originatec in the large store of Davis Bros., gen eral merchadise, the Hotel Scupper nong catching lire and spreading ti other business houses. Xo estimati of the damage or as to the numbci of losers, could be seen red, all com wunicatiou being cut oil. Senator Depew Praises Hughes. Washington, Special. ? In a speecb on currency legislation Friday after noon Senator Depew endeavored tc show that Wall Street was not tin den of iniquity that it has been paint ed of Inie. lie charged that ' ' hastj and ill-considered legislation in man) States had much to do with the recent panic." Incidentally he wnrmlj praised Governor Hughes for his vet* of the two-cent fare bill, and favorec the Aldrich bill. Liberal Government Overthrown Fredericton, N. It., Special? The lib? eral government of New Bruns wick, which lias been continued in office under one form or another for 25 years was overthrown in the gen eral election held throughout the province. The op|M>sition ticket swept St. John City a-'.id the majority of the other constituencies. It is expected that the next premier will he J. Doug las Ilozen, the leader of the opposi tion forces. Crumpackor Would Rcducc Mileage. Washington, SpeciaJ. ? Reprepjyityv* tive Crumpaeker, of {ndiana, intro duced a bill providing that members of Congress shatl receive mileage at 8 centB per mile, to be estimated by the nearest route usually traveled to and from cach session of Congress. The resident commissioned** from Porto Rico and the Philippines are not included in the bill. . The present rate is 10 o<nats a mile. "Big Offer To All Our Subscribers The Great AMERICAN FARMER Indianapolis, Ind. . The Leading Agricultural Journal of the Nation, Edited by an Able Corps of Writers. The American Farmer is the only Literary Farm Journal pub lished. It flits a position of ita own and h^s taken the leading place in the hemes of rural people in every section of the United states. It gives the farmer and his family something to think about aside ffom the humdrum of routine duties. Every Issue Contains an Original Poem by Solon L. Coode. Within the Next Sixty Days We Offer Two for the Price of One. "THE PEOPLE" The Leading County Paper and the AMERICAN FARMER. BOTH ONE YEAR FOR S1.50 This unparalleled ofTer is made for all new subscribers, and all old ones who pay all arroars and renew within sixty days. Sample copies freo. Addross W. A. SHROCK, Publisher. THE PEOPLE, Camden, S. C.