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VOL. xxx BENNETTSVILLE, S. C., FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1005. NO. m.%<) THE SAD END - -Ol Robert Keith Dargan, of Dar lington Who Deliberately COMMITTED SUICIDE, His Brother Said to Have Been Present When He Took thc Polsou. He Lett a Written Statement ot the Cause of thc Act. And a Letter. A dispatch from Darlington to Tho State says Mr. Robert Kolth Dargan, formerly president of tho Independent OH company and of the Darlington Trust company, commited suicide bo tweed 8 and 9 o'clock on Tuesday night of last week by taking oarbolio aoid. Mr. Dargan was on tha streets Tues day afternoon and appeared In thia usual manner. He had been reticent since the recent troublo of the large concoma of which he had been the head, and Tuesday afternoon he made appointments to meet several gentle _ men later In the cvoning, ono of these ~* ' Being Mr. W. F. Dargan, who states that Mr. R. Ki Dargan told him he would go to Mr. W. F. Dargan'a ottice within an hour from tho time they were talking. . A dispatch to The State Hays there wore no developments at Darlington Wednesday following the tragic death of Mr. Robert Keith Dargan by his own hand Friday night. Tho tragedy, and the circumstances leading up to lt, were the almost sole topic ol con versatlon on the streets, in stores and Qt?lces during the entire day. It has been raining all day long and business seems to be almost at a standstill. In almost every protocted place can be seen a group of men, all discussing In hushed voices the one subjcot that seems to be on all minds. Tho coroner's inquest, which was to haye been held Wednesday morning, was postponed until Thursday morning at 9 o'olook In order that Mr. Pt?gram Dargan, the most Important witness, would not be required to leave thc house of mourn ing until after the funeral. Tho circumstances of the suicide all indicate that lt waB most deliber ately planned. There has been no tes timony and no statement concerning what transpired In the law c lllco whore jJargan'f??kmHitre-iittSbeen given out, bub the facts, ns gathered frcm reliable men, are that Mr. Pegram Dargan went Into the drug store of L. B. Phillips some time between 4 and 0 o'clock Tuesday afternoon and bought tho four ounces of carbolic aoid. Ile was alone and did not go in the direction of the law olilce when ho left. The two brothers. Mr. Pegram Dargan and Mr. Robert Keith Dargan, went to the law olilce of their father opposite the Darlington Guardsarmory building before 8 o'clock and locked themselves in. One of them poured out most of the four ounces of acid in a glass and the rest he poured in a small bowl and mixed about a gill of rye whiskey with lt. This eonccctlon waa to be used to deaden tho pain from the raw acid but only a part of it, If any, was taken, as the bowl, which is in the possession of the coroner, still contains a small quantity. After a portion had been taken, Mr. Dargan remained In tho room with hhs brother until life was extinct and then notified their cousin, Mr. W. F, Dar gan, who In turn quickly called Dr. Edwards, but their arrival was too late for human aid. Thc suicide had left a brlof statement which stated that he had ended his own life and that his brother had procured the (here he made a dash) and that he may have mismanaged but he was not a coward Ile also left a letter which was not ad dressed but ls said to have been for his wife. Robert Keith Dargan was born In 1806, He was a son of Mr. 10. Keith Dargan, the dean of the Darlington bar, a successful lawyer ahd a man of the highest character, a Confederate Boldlor who served as an olll ier of ar tillery In the corps of Stonewall Jack son. The mother of Mr. U. K. Dar gan before her marriage was Miss . Elizabeth Woods, a sister of Associate Justice C. A. Woods of the supreme court. The sui J ?ot of this sketch graduated from WofTord college and was afterwards admitted to the bar and practiced for a short time with his father. After an interim of retire ment from active business on account of a nervous breakdown, he acceptor! a clerical position with the Darlington Phosphato company and exhibited such a remarkable capacity for busi ness that he was made general manag er of the company. A Mountain Horror, John and Davo Phipps, young white men, residing near Hutler, Tonn., are being hunted In tho mountains along tho border of iNorth Carolina and Ten nessee Monday night by a pusso of fif ty armed men, who have sworn to take them dean or alive. Tuc Phipps boys are charged with one of thc bloodiest murder;: ever committed In this mountain section, when, accord ing to reports reaching Bristol on Sun day afternoon, they used an axe to ohop thc body of William Rankins to pieces, and so wounded with thc same weapon Filmore Moreland that he will In all probability dlo. Thc trouble occurred at a place called Doovlllc and ls said toba largely thc result of mean ll<iuur Illicitly distilled In that immc dlate locality. All thc parties are whito and well known in the moun tains. Mo Liked lt. Abo ut a year ago a K ansas dootoi lost a wallet containing a largo sun: of money, lie offered a liberal rowan for Its relurn, but the party wilt found lt thought thc whole thin JJ was better than the reward. Thc other day the d ctor entered hh coal bc vue, and thc llrst thing ht Baw waa lils empty wallet, and pro trialing from an end wits a card bearing the inscription: "Doctor, please 111 this prescription again." LOCATED AT LAST. Murphy, tho Murderer of Treasurer Copes, in tho Army. Penitentiary Authorities to Make Inquirios. Brief lleiiumo of tho Crlmo anfl lOsoaiio. The murder of Treasurer Copes, of Orangobur?, ia the year 1800, has passed from the memory of the publio now, although it created an immense sensation in the state at the time. It ls recalled at this time by the report, which ls more or less well authenti cated, that Murphy, white, who was convicted of the crime is now In the Philippines, a private In the army, though what regiment or company bc is a member of is not known. A former penitentiary guard told a Columbia Record reporter that a rela tive of Murphy told bim that, now that the whole thing was over, be would say that Murphy was In the Philippines, though his exact where abouts in the islands he did nob know. Superintendent Grlfllth said ho had never heard the report until informed of lt by a newspaper man, but said he would make some inquiries, though it ls hardly probable that anything will oomo of thom, as Murphy most likely ls living under an assumed name, and possibly has so changed lu personal appearance that it would be difficult to identify him. Treasurer Copes was killed about 189?, having been on a tax collecting tour through the country. Ile was shot with a shotgun at a lonely place on the public road some miles from Orangeburg, and for sometime there was no oluo whatevor to tho criminal. Finally, Murphy, a somewhat worth less white man, was arrested and ac cused of the crlmo. A great deal of tho evidence against bim waa circum stantial, but ho' was convicted. His case went to tho supreme court, was sent back, as the olroumstances are recalled, and a second conviction was had. Murphy was sentenced to be banged. His aged father, however, succeeded lu enlisting the services of Mr. M. P. Carroll, a prominent lawyer lu Augusta, who secured a great deal of clieumfitautlal evidence going to prove an alibi. Much of this evidence was considered worthless by those who knew the souroo of it, bub per 8onal appeals added to the alleged evidence induced Governor Kllerbe to commute the sentence to Ufe Impris onment. Murphy was during appeal taken to the penitentiary for safe keeping pre vlous to Ona! aotion. The governor visited bim In his cell once or twlca. Newspaper men were frequent callers and penitentiary authorities were con stantly on tho alert amV made iro quent endeavors to get Murphy to talk about the crime. Further than deny his guilt he would say nothing, and either tried to appear imbecilic or was actually a personage on that order, though lt was evident that be was a man of such mental capaolty as to be accountable for any crime lie may have committed. After the commutation ho was put to work about the penitentiary and bis life was no different from that of other convicts in the yard. He was placed In a oell in the old building with a white convict named Cullom, ?ont down from Oconee for highway robbery. Their cell was on the sec ond Moor, facing a long portico run ning around the building. By some means they managed to secret tiles and other tools about their persons or in their cell, and after what must have been long and tedious and con stantly Interrupted work they were enabled to open the cell door. One dark night about four or live years ago, watching when the guard was elsewhore they opened the cell door, crawled, likely, to the end of the portico, sliding down ono of the supporting columns to the ground. Plie penitentiary yard is brilliantly lighted by electricity and a very high, smooth brick wall surrounds the building. Notwithstanding this the two men succeeded In escaping the eye of the guards and scaling the walls and securing their liberty. Before leaving one of them, at least, showed that he possessed the sense of humor to some degree. With charcoal writ ten on the walls wore sentences like the following: "Sorry to leave you." "God be with you till we meet again." 'Good bye, wo aro bound fer South America " There were some others on a similar order mingled with ob scenity. Mvory effort was made to recapture tho men, hut they successfully eluded detection and never were heard of un til a few weeks ago, when the report that Murphy was In the Philippines reached Columbia. Penitentiary au thorities had forgotten the circum stance along with o very bod y else. No Information has over been received as to Cullom. He may be In the Pic tlc Islands too, but as his crime was not so serious as that of his cell partner, perhaps be did not think lt necessary to got so far away from home. Homo (iloiKt tn Thom. The State Hays all Pennsly vanlans are not ii.curable boodlers, however strongly tho Philadelphia Record may uphold the theory. The other day Capt. J. R Bricker of Warwick, Pa., received an umbrella that was "bor rowed," July 4, 1870. Attached to the batidlo was a note asking niat needed repairs bo made as the gentle men In whose possession it bad been for 20 years might need lt again. A State where men return umbrellas, ever after the lapse of nearly the third of accntury, cannot be wholly ' bad. _ A CnnfmlorAtn Monument. The survivors of the Jackson Grays, a noted company of Confeder ate Infantry, recruited In tho Pleas ant Grove district of Norfolk oounty at the breaking out of tho civil war, Tuesday uuvollcd a handsome granite monument erected near Pleasant 1 Grove Baptist Church on thc spol ' whero thecompany was first Unod U| ' fourty four years ago. I Hulls lor Philippinen. i The steamer Manohurla, havlnt s aboard Seoretary of War Taft, Mis Allco Roosevelt and a large party o r United States senators and congress I men, -.ailed from San Ifranolaoo Frldai for tho Philippine Islands. TWELVE KILLED. Wholesale Murder by a Negro on Schooner Olympia. ONE WOMAN ESCAPED Alis;; Elsie Morgan, After Behn? Shot and Beaten, Jumps Overboard and Swims to the Shore. The Murderer Captured and Ile May Be Lynched by Crowd. One of the most shocking stories of murder with r. bbery as a motive in thc annals of crime was brought to Now Orleans Wednesday by Capt. Hans Holm of the Norwegian fruiter Bratten, which piles betweon New Orleans and Honduranean ports. It was subsequently continued by the ofllcers of tho fruit stoamer Rosina, which came in later In the evening with additional details. Tho little island or Utllla, lying off the Honduranean coast, whoso popu lation ls an indiscriminate mixture of white, CaymanltC8 and Carlbs, was the scene of the tragedy In whioh 12 lives were sacrl ticed. Tho captain of the little trading schooner Olympia was about to make a trip to Ruatan, Truxlllo and Bell?. She had about $1,400 to buy cattle at Truxlllo to sell at Belize. She carried a crew of four and quite a number of passen? gers, making the total Hst of people aboard number 13. Among these were two women and two children. The vessel left tba bar bor of Utllla at ll o'clock Friday night, June 30, and after she had been under way less than an hour everybody was aroused by a shot and rushing on deck found a negro armed with a Winchester rllle shooting down thc men, one after an other. This negro was Robert Mc Gill ard, as lt afterwards developed, he had stowed himself away aboard with tho intention of robbing the j captain and thou swimming ashore. After ho had killed all but one of them he ordered tho last survivor to go below and scuttle tho ship. When the unfortunate reappeared on deck and reported, tho negro shot him to death. Ho then put the two women, Miss Elsio Morgan and her sister, Mrs Walter Roso, in tho dory with the .Mrs. Rose's ?tlx- we?'.kold ;l?f??t' a??t? left the boat, steering for the main land. He changed lils mind about allowing the women to live and killed Mrs. Rose and her infant. Then he began shooting at Miss Morgan and wounded her In the arm. She jump ed overboard and started to Bwlm back to the island, ne tired at her ineffectually, but his ammunition evi dently gave out, for he promised her immunity from harm If she would come back to tho dory. She started back and when within oar's length he struck her on thc head with an oar stunning her. Believing she was dead he rowed away towards the main land. Miss Morgan swam back to tho is land, whore she was thrown on t he beach by the waves in an exhausted condition. She feared that the negro would follow her, so she hid In the bushes and for two days she suffered from the heat and exposure, until found by a woman from her neighbor hood and rescued from starvation. In the meantime the dory had been washed ashore and there was excite ment on the Island, as lt was believed the Olympia had gone down with all hands. When Miss Morgan told hor story an immediate search was lnstl tuted for McGill and thc authorities on the mainland were notilled. Tiley caught him at 101 l\.rtvlnir, a little town on the road to Geiba, and there was quite a demonstration, but lie was protected. His life was saved through the presence on tho coast of President Boullia, who was on an In spection tour. The Honduranean warship Ta Tumba, which has figured in so many revolutions, was brought Into service and tho murderer placed aboard and sent back to the island. Up to last Sunday bc was still alive, though lt is llrmly believed that he will bo tortured to death. The laws of Honduras prohibit capital punish ment, but the people will take thc case Into their own hands. Miss Flslc Morgan, the only survivor of tho ter rible experience vlsi tod New Orleanf three years ago and Isa well educated, relined young woman of 26 years. Dudor liook nml Key. A dispatch from Washington sayt tho new system of preparing tin monthly crop report, devised sinco tin cotton Investigation began, was pul In force Tuesday. That report wai made public late Tuesday afternooi and the socretary believes that UK steps taken aro perfeot. Karly In tin day Assitant Secretary Hayes, Ghle: Statistician Hyde and several oxpcrti of thc department were placed in a room under lock and key and the] were not to be permitted to come ou until four o'clock In the afternoon The telrpones In thc room wore dis connected, and a careful scrutiny wa kept of the windows to avoid tho pos sibllity of a loak through private sig nals. Poor Old Call. Former Senator Wilkinson Gall, o Florida, ha? declared himself as Roosevelt man and Organized a Roosc velt club at Ortegas, a suburb o .(acksonville. Mr. Gall was a Dome , eratic Senator from Florida for thre terms, covering a period of clghtce ! years. He bas little, If any, politl?n . influence left, and lt, docs not matte t very muob Whether he ls for or agalns j Mr. Roosevelt._ Coally Blft'?oin Cotton, Fire at an early hour Friday mon lng destroyed the building of tb ? Gulf Compress company at Mci ldlai J Miss. Over 11,000 bales of cotlo were In storage and about ? 000 bah were destroyed. The total loss ls o ' tlmat?d at $175,000, partially Insu ed. ( / CHEATHAM CHARGES Hyde With Being Just as Quilty as| Holmes Was. flo Haye Soorctary Wilson Brought In i'l l o (3 to Turn Aiton tlon Away From Hyde. 7 he Atlanta Journal tmyt* according to Secretary lt! oh ard Chea th am, of the Southern Cotton Association, who made the ohargo of fraud against the United {States department of :ig ri cul ture, rolating to advance Information being glvon out, Statistician Hydo and his private seorotary aro just ai guilty of tho offense of giving away depart ment scorots as Holmes, the man who was discharged. Mr. Cheatham says further that Secretary Wilson brought the name of Theodoro Price Into the affair to turn the attention from Hyde. Every effort was made, according to Mr. Cheatham, to bring Theodore Price into the affair, buttheso efforts failed, and now his belief is that tho depart ment of agriculture has rung Price into it to shield other favored em ployes. Seoretary Cheatham returned to Atlanta Monday afternoon. Since ho first got ovidonco of tho leakage In the department he has been hard at work securing evldenoo to present to tho department of agriculture. Now he baa fully convinced the department officials as well as tho whole world that the department had been tamper ed with, that tho secrets of tho do partment were sold to Wall street spectators, who played the tickers on tho ad vaneo Information received, and and made thousands of dollars. Mr. Cheatham was in ohargo of a number of the government secret ser vice men, and they went right out af ter all the necessary evidence. When they got it and turned lt over bo Sec retary Wilson Holmes was promptly fired out, and, In thc opinion of Seoro tary Cheatham, Hyde and his private secretary should go too, for they were Just as much in on the deal as Huimos was. And Mr. Cheatham discovered further that this leakage had boen going on for some timo. When President Jordan, of the Southern Cotton Association, returns to tho ol ty Mr. Cheatham will present the evidence which he has against Hyde and his seoretary, and will re quest President Harvle Jordan to lay tho whole matter In tho hands of President Roosevelt. In that event, Mr. Cheatham believes that the in vestlgatlon will result not only In tho further dismissal of Hyde aud his ?oretary, but of Secretary Wilson s</. ' lu u ding oi' tho Status ur tho oase Mr. Cheatham said: "We found a terrible state of af fairs. You known that Holmes has been dismissed for his dupllolty lu the matter, but, in my opinion, Hyde and his seoretary should also go. The evi dence against them ls strong, and if Mr. Jordan will take the matter to President Roosevelt, I believe that even Secretary Wilson will be dropped This thing has been going on for a number of years. After we showed our hand and told what we know there was considerable excitement In thc department. And when thc re port of tho secret service agents were made you never saw such excitement as there was In Washington. "Secretary Wilson has brought Theodore Trice into this thing for the purpose of shielding Hyde and his sec rotary. We did our best to find some evidence against Price, as we wanted to show, if possible, that he had been getting rich out of speculating on ad vance information furnished by offici als of tho department of agriculture, but we couldn't get enough evidence to connect him with the affair. Willie we have no love for Price, and while we would have liked thc best in the world to have gotten him mixed in this affair, yet we clo not think Sec ! rotary Wilson has done tho fair thing, ; nd believe that ho is using it as a blind altogether." A Close Call. During a severe thunder storm at Klngstree Saturday evening lightning struck the olllce of thc Peach Rlyor Cypress Mills, of which Mr. P. B, Tnorne ls the proprietor. At the time a heavy rain was falling and the ( nice was crowded with hands from the mill waiting to bo paid off. The fluid struck the brick Que, touring it completely away, toro off tho weather boards on ono side, knocked /our holes through the lloor and tumbled tho negroes over right and loft, burning two them bad ly, but miraculously all escaping with tholr llvos. Mr. Thorne, sitting at his desk ten feet away, experienced no shock whatever. A pile of silver on the desk was scattered, the lamp put out and the Inkstand upset. The setter dog lying on the lloor was Stunned and blinded In one eye. Hy Sunday morning none was thc worse for the experience, except the dog, which is still blind. Fixed t ho ?) ury. A dispatch from Raleigh, N. C., says J. Rowan R igors and L P. Sor rell, who are now In Jail serving a sentence of .'JO days for contempt of court in Influencing jurors in favor of President Kllgoof Trinity colledge and il N Duke of the. American To bacco company, during their trial on thc charge of malicious libel against T. J. GattlS a Motbodlst minister Thursday pleaded guilty In open court to embracery. The ontlre jury In the caso against Duke and KU go ha* boon summoned beforo the grand jury to seo If other partlos art involved. Ahirly-Nino Ktllod. A Ure has broken out In the Horus!? coal mine, Prussia, caused hythe caro less handling of a lamp by boys. Thc lamp explodod, Igniting tho timber of tho shaft which burnod rapidly Two hunbred and fifty miners escapee through an air shaft, hut .'111 wore cu off ami thier death ls regarded as cer tain, Fooling With a lMetol, Georgo and Wosley Price, colorci children aged nevon and eight, wer playlmg with a pistol at Johnston 01 Monday when tho thing wont off thc ball entering tho abdomen of tb older. Ho died next day. HE A?4 VICTIMS Two Infants Perish in Their Mo therV Arms in Street. TWE?-ONB DEATHS. J? . The PasBC^g'era .on o Crowded Elevated Train Se j a Victim Fall In the Car and ihV. Over Fifty Prostra V; linns In Oae Day. According to tho Now York Amerl eau Monday of last weok lu that city was a dayfyjt torrlble, overpowlng heat whloh rolled up an appalling Hst of dead aud yjjfbstrated, was checked and tempered ronly for a time in the after noon by aj violent storm, which Hood ed collarsj^sowors and Subway, aud loft a trail of disaster aud ruin lu Its wake. Aj nltfht lt was again Intoler ably hot. Nineteen persons, moat of them chjldren, were killed by the sun's merciless rays aud stilling hu midity. ' flcorea of others were over come, and at midnight new eases wore still belnfif roportcd. First lt was tho extremely high temperature which assailed tho city almost ab break of day. At 0 a. m. 70 degree}}, and from that time on the mercury kept ollmbing steadily. The climax crime at 2 p. m., when 8i) was readied, jliut it was the extraordinary degree o? humidity which caused must of the djjJtress. At 8 a. m. the densi ty of tl? air registered thc very high mark o$39. Relief came in the after noon wltfm the heavy rainstorm sent the moiwury tumbling 16 degrees in less thou an hone. The rainfall in that time was 1.20 Inches. Lightning also came along with tho rain and struck thc City Hall Hag staff in Brooklyn, outtlng a spiral ribbon from lt. Tho bolt tore tho Hag to jilecos, Hung dowu the eaglo aurmou&tlug lt Bhookcd Hf ty persons in tho building, besides cutting out tho cloQWlo switch board and extln gulshtt|f all of tho lights. Tuevj&ln came so suddenly and ii such banding volumes that the streets were sbeedlly converted into running streak*. For the Hrst time in a good fl,ys lower Manhatten received eshlng drenohiug. nd Oentro streets the heaVy onrush of waters' swept back from tl o ?logeod sewers and tilled thc adjoining cellars. The back waters swept down tho streets and over tin aide walks, and within Ufteen minutes there was two feet of water in tho basement of tho Griminal Courts Hu lld l iv- For a thee lt? seemed as If the engine room would be swamped aud the elevators shut down. At thc South Ferry terminal of tho Subway the water poured over the curbing and down the entrances In NUgara like volumcH. The sudden cessation of the rain alone saved seri ous trouble. As it was, lt took the pumps ovor an hour to clear the tube. Hut the worst phase of the storm de v?loped at Elm and Duane streets where Hf teen men were entombed in the collapse of an excavation under mined by the heavy rainfall. In Now Jersey and various other sections of outlying and adjoining suburbs lightning struck in several places, but no one was killed. At 10111s Island two bolts struck thc ad ministration building and the last one toro out ton feet of the roof, besides demolishing the skylights. Yet, despite this disastrous effect, the storm was welcomed as few storms have been welcomed this summer. The excursionists who had lefc New York on Saturday and Sunday aod had congratulated themselves on tho manner in which they had escaped the heat, came hack only to Und con ditions worse than those from which they lied. Thc Buffering, of course, was the keenest on the crowded Fast Side, lt always ls. Yesterday the sidewalks were packed with suffering, panting men, women and children, in all states jf dress and undress, trying to lind relief, that was not to be found, lt was to tlust) sections that the ambu lances worn kept going most frequent ly, and it was from the ranks of the suffering Fist Shiers that death and thc hospitals gained their largest list of recruits. The deadly rapidity with which bibles succumbed was heart rending. Two Infants died In tho arms of their mothers before the seriousness of their condition was realized. Another baby died In the carriage hi front of the door, where it had boen tempera rily left standing. In almost every instance the end came so swiftly that parents had little or no warning. Whereas the children predominated In thc Hst of fatal cases, tho grown ups praotically comprise the entire roll of prostrations. Brooklyn suffer ed equally with Manhattan, and In both boroughs ambulances were kept busy taking the stricken ones to the hospitals. The majority of those ovoroomo In Manhatten went to the Hudson Street Hospital. Tnere almost every cot was Ulled before night, and several physicians them selves narrowly escaped falling ex hausted from their exertions. Heat victims fell unconscious on tho stroels in tho Subway and on the elevated trains. John Falvy, formerly a foreman of Fire Department Truck No. 14, lo cated on 10ist One Hundred and Twenty Fifth street died in a Third avenue elevated train. Mr. Falvy, who weighed over two hundred pounds had given his scat to au agod woman and a few moments later ho fell to the door. At Thirty- fourth street he was carried to the station, where an ambulance was callod, but ho was dead whou tho surgoon arrlvod. Ile had beon In the Uro departmont foi 27 years. Probably tho most dramatic Ind ii.M ?i i in ni:.iii ii by tile i : 11 mil-, heat wave was when Albert Kacsick tried to drown himsolf in the North River, ills attempt was mario only a few blocks above tho spot where another man who had been drlvon insane by the heat tried to kill himself in a similar mannor on Sunday night. Kaeslck had been wandering along tho wharfs for some hours when he suddenly Jumped over the bulkhead between Piers 39 and 40. Then fol lowed a dramatic struggle to bring him to Bhore by a longshoreman who had seen him make tho leap and had dived after him. Finally, when lt seemed that the heat crazed man i must carry his would be rescuer down with him, Patrolman Hagan, of the MoDougal street station, reached the i almost exhausted longshoreman with a ropo. Both men were brought to shore, and Kaeslck was Hont to Belle vue Hospital. Not among the least of these who 8uiTered intensely from the ovorcharg ed atmosphere were the cats and dogs. In some sections ?theso animals were almost entirely exterminated and pollcomen were frequently called to shoot those which lt was feared had gone mad. One of thc districts said to have been almost depopulated In this regard Monday was the vicinity covered by the West Forty-seventh street police station. BRIBING DISPENSERS To Push Cortnln Ili-muls ol Wlilekoy In This St ?tc. A dispatch from Columbia savs a special system opening up largo pos sibilities of graft has been discovered by Commissioner Tatum at the whole sale dispensary in Columbia and he has written a letter to tho state di rectors calling their attention to the facts and requesting that they buy no more whiskey from the houses that have been guilty, lt seems that some time there has been a disposition by certain retail dispensers to push cer tain urands of goods. Orders were constantly coming in from oertain dispensers for these goods while at other dispensaries there was no sale at all for the same goods. About the same time letters began to come In from some of thc dispen sers stating that theso brands of goods contained too many bottles to the case. As a result Commissioner Ta tum had nearly every ouse of goods at the wholesale dispensary opened and found nearly $3,000 worth of certain brands over and above what had been ordered. These extra bottles had been placed In thc cases and should the dispenser push this brand the ex tra bottles belonged to himself and ht was that much lu on Its salo. Some of the dispensers were not slow to see the scheme and took ad vantage of lt. Others eltl er did not see. it or would not, as a result Com missioner Tat?en fouud them out. He has written the board and here after all cases will bo examined before they are shipped out. All tags oi cards or extra bottles that might see rr. to be an Inducement to push U?? sal? of any certain brand will be removed The state ls In, however, abouf^ $3,000 as a result of the discovery. LOST ON A YACHT. Hunk in tho II mirum ltlvor hy Nov wolffian Trump Stoamov. Three lives were lost by the sinking of the steam yacht Normandie, which was run down Wednesday night In the Hudson river of Dobbs Ferry by the Norwegian tramp steamer Volund Those who perished were Miss Gladys Dodge of Now York, a guest aboard thc yacht, the captain William Story of Hyde Park, N. Y., and the engi neer Stewart tirade of Brooklyn. Their bodies were not recovered. .John II. Rudd, who chartered thf boat, his guest John R. Greene and .Joseph Hannigan, tho deck hand ol the yacht, managed to keep alloat by clinging to wreckage until they wore picked up by a boat from the Volund. Mr. Rudd made a statement today In which he said that as the Normandie was running down stream In tho mid dle of the river, a tramp steamer was seen coming up, head on, about OOO yards away. Tuc pilot of tho yacht gave one whistle but tho steamer continued to come until within 150 feet of the yacht when she whistled twice and then swerved to p'jrt striking tho Norman die amidships. An explosion followed immediately and the yatch went down within live seconds. Coroner Frank Russell of Westches ter county visited tho wreck of thc yacht Wednesday and found long strands of hair streaming from one of the port holes. Coroner Russell Wed nesday night oaused tire arrest of .lost ph Hannigan, tho deck hand, and Issued an order for the arrest of Mr. Rudd. lilot 111 i I AVAIIU, Two deaths have resulted from the ountllots at Havana between Cuban artillerymen and civilians. The first conlliot occurred botweenartillerymen and policemen and tho toughs who lu fCSt tho locality. Thou the company of soldiers who wero sent to reston, ordor mutinied and ll red on the Po lice. General Freye A nd rade, secre tary of thc lntorior, is rigidly inquir ing into the, Identity of the Ofliolal who ordered tho company or artillery men to t'a at district and is also en deavoring to lind out who ls respon albie for tho lack of discipline. Down ?rn Tolmooo. "Tho vory fumes of burning tolmo co are au Incentive to i m m >ral and pernicious conduct," said Mr. lt >bert li. R.iainy, of Baltimore, In an ad ri ress to tho Rp worth Leaguers the other day. "A smoke laden room" he continued "ls moro harmful by far than tho smokers Imagino, and lt In spires a spirit in those who inhale the .smoke which is tho doorstop to sin." , uivo Thom A Kt Ht. Give all horses or tho placo at least a thrco weeks' . .icatlon In the i Holds. Thc grass will be good for ! their foot and asa feed will help to ??et all the old grain out Of tholr sys tem, bosldes giving them a good rest. Horsos that aro worked rv ?ry day > must bo given a diet of ?rain. On I Sundays and days when not lu usc turn work horses into the Holds. HOW IT WAS DONE. Van Biper Exposes the Cotton Manip ulators* Basoality. Makes Hnmntionai Dlsoloauree, ?nd Shown How llolmoB WAS Un Iminnorcd in Hie Work. A dispatch from New York says L C. Yan Ul pur, whose name was men? j tloned in Seoretary Wilson's report as having received advance Information on the condition of tho cotton crop, made a public statement after the publication of Secretary Wilson's re port Saturday in which he deolared that, he had nothing whatover to do with plans to manipulate the govern ment ojtton report. Ho amplllied Secretary Wilson's report and called upon the secretary to make publio Mr. Van ttl por's entire statoment to him. Mr. Van Wiper's statement ls as follows: "It came to my knowledge early In tho year, without solicitation on my part, that plans were being laid to In?uecoa or manipulate the figures of .die government reports on cotton dur ing thc summer ''month* beginning with June, lt was planned by cer tain interests, including parties tn re sponsible positions in tho bureau of statistics, to usc luilucncoto have Mr. Hyde sent to Kuropo so that Mr. Homlcs would be acting hoad of the j bureau of statistics, and In this posi tion would have a free hand to furn ish such reports as wanted. "I wa1" alr>o cognizant of tho faot that said Holmes had previously furn Ished advance Information to certain brokers from time to time, but when their plans for changing or manipul?t lng the cotton report figures were ex posed to me, 1 Immediately consult?d my attorney regarding the matter, aud upon his advice, listened to their stories and kept track of their plans, In soma cases having witnesses un known to them, until the Juno re port ou acreage and condition on cot ton came out. "It was planned, as early as March, to use oyory elfort they could to se cure figures that would be as bearish is possible, so as to break the price of cotton to a low point where certain Interests could make large profits on tho short sido, and then load up and make an enormous scoop on the long sido, lt was understood that, lu some cases, government agents reports would be iniluenccd lu that direction, or even Uctlclous reports used. "OJ June 1, I was informed that ll was impossible to get the condition higher than 75 per cent, and the acreage reduotton to show a decrease of loss thau 13 per cent., in spite of all they had tried to do, but that at tho fi quest of a certain large market operator, tho go between was going back to Washington that night to try ind have the figures stretched a little further, and to my knowledge said go-between took tho 12.15 train on th?-Baltimore and Ohio railroad for Washington on thc night of June 1, ir rather the morning of June 2. "On the morning of June 31, said go between reported that he had suc ceeded in arranging to have the con dition ligures given 77 or higher and the acreage reduction about Hi per cent., which would be construed as oearlsh and enable them to break the market. 1 received this advice before 9 o'clock on June 3d and the public knows what the ligure were when an nounced at noon. "The notoriety attached to this matter is far from agreeable to me, and I was personally assured by Sec retary Wilson that In bringing this natter to his attention I had done thc lepartmcnt a great service and that ny name would not be mentioned in any way. Now that ho Ins men fit to publish or to give out for publica tion certain letters and documents that were entrusted to him confiden tially, 1 think it only fair to ask him to give for publication my entire statement made to him, of which the above ls. a part, but which has been omitted In newspaper accounts that have, been called to my attention. "From what 1 know of their vari ous conversations and the plans that .vere laid months in advance, I be lieve that a thorough investigation of ? tho bureau of statistics would show that the real acreage reduction was from 18 to 25 per cent and not Iii as announced on June 3d. I would sug gest, or ask, that a further statoment be made or asked tor from thc agricul tural department as to what they found by investigating the records ol said bureau. As long as part of the matter has been made public, why not the whole? "My attorney and others will back mo up in the. statement that I had not hing to do with the plans made by these paities to manipulate thc gov animent ligures, but merely on lega' ad v oe and in thc hope of doing a greal public service, followed tho plan af outlinod and advised by my attorney and at the proper time took BUOI measures as 1 deemed right and Jus! to the Cotton trade and tothcagrlcul tural department. " Shot Him Demi. Major General Count Shouvaloff prefect of police Af Moscow, Russia and formerly attached to thc ministry of the interior, was assassinated Wed nesday whllo receiving petitions One of the petitioners drew a revolve and tired throe times at tho prefcot who foll fload. The assassin was ar rcs:ed. Thc assassin, who was dress ed as a poasant, has not been identitl od. Ile was recently arrested as i political suspect, put escaped from tin police station before hi" examination Thc assassin awaited In thc ante room of the. prefecture till tho otho petitioners had been received am then entered the audience room, II advanced towards Count Shouvalol and ll red throe shots at close range Thc bullets passed through tho bod j ... Uilv |/ivlvOW. Twenty Killed. At Warsaw, Poland, throo blood encounters hetweon troops and strlk lng shoemakers, In which about twcii ' ty persons were killed or wounded, ex curred Tusday. Tho strlkors wer marching through tho city from nous to house demanding the lowering c rent by 20 por cent. Many proprie i tors emt of feat compiled with the d< manda of tho sttikors. One Hundred and Thirty Men Die in Welsh Disaster. VERY FEW ESCAPE. Explosion Caused by Fire Damp. PIU ful Scenes at the Mines. Heroic Efforts to Reach the Unfortu nate Men Were General ly Unsuccessful. A dispatch from Cardiff Wales, says an explosion of tire damp in No. 2 pit of the United National Colliery com pany at Wattstown in tho Rhondda valley, the oentre of tho great Welsh ooal ?olds, Wednesday morning, ts be lieved to have resulted in the loss of at least 130 lives. The explosion was followed immedi ately by the belobing of olouds of smoke and dust from the pit shaft, in which 150 men were working, The force of the explosion wrecked the maohinery at the mouth of the pit. AU communication with the doomed men In this direction is completely cut off. No. 1 shaft, adjoining, ha* ordinarily afforded communication with No. 2. The 800 men in No. 1 and the few who escaped from No. 2 were drawn up. A rosene party descended, but its work was seriously impeded by the foul air and the falling masses of oarth dislodged by the explosion. Al together 59 bodies have been recov ered. Heroic efforts have been made for hours to reaoh tho entombed mon, but the absence of all sound from the in terior :>f the mine told the tale of the worst disaster that ba * taken place In South Wales since 1894. The news of the explosion spread rapidly and hundreds of women and obi ld i on and thousands of men throng ed the head of the pit seeking infor mation. The mountain roadways were orowded all tho afternoon, and tiicrc were streams of people in tho neighborhood of the mine all contrib uting to the pitiful scenes. Efforts at rescue were still in prog ress at midnight and ourrents of fresh air were being dr iv JV through the shaft, but the rescuers are now work ing without hope of reducing the list of fatalities. THE CATAWBA WRECK. Arrest of Cjoorgo Owen? Charged With Wrecking tho Train. The arrest of George Owens near Osceola, S. C., Monday by Sheriff B. A. Horn of Union county and Mr. W. lt. Newman of Chester, S. G., is ex pected to result in tho clearing up of the mystery that has sui rounded the catastrophe whioh occurred near Ca tawba Junction early on the morning of September 9 h ot last year, when" passenger train No. 41 of the Seaboard Air Line was precipitated from a sinking bridge 30 feet to the ground below, falling with a fearful oraah. Only a few minutes later, to add to the torriblo confusion that already prevailed, an extra freight oame thundering along and was hurled headlong upon the debris of the pas senger train. As a result of the acci dent five lives were 1 s i and more than 35 were Injured. I This donb'.e wreck was said to be due to a tampered track. Evor sinoe the accident occurred the officers have been working on the oase. A week or more ago the wife of George Owens, ina tit of jealousy, disclosed the seoret which had been so long sought for. Owens was at once arrested and ls now behind the bars of Union county Jail. The warrant on which ho was taken was not that of train wrecking, but for the robbery of Mr. B. A. Deaton's store at Stouts. All the facts have not yet been secured to connect Owens with the wrecking of No. 41, but the detectives have the case in hand and tho developments aro expected very shortly. In the meantime Owens re fuses to speak and ls resting safe and secure behind the bira. Death Valloy Tragedlos. Nine men dead and tholr bones bleaching on thc Nevada desert, two unknown men found wandering naked raving mad from thirst and heat while trying to walk from.Lus Angeles to Indio, pioked up by a passenger train which he stopped by standing on the traok; two prospectors, them selves nearly dead from thirst, finding the skeleton of one who died on the desert a year ago. These are some of the horrors reported from the desert during the last three weeks. Will Oo Unison. ' After having remained burled in tho sand beneath ten feot of water for iive years an effort ls now to be made to rasoue tho cargo of the schooner Minnie il. hergott, whioh was wrecked near Chlcomooomloo, N. C. Thc cargo CG?BISW? ?? 200 tons of steel rails, a locomotive and other maohinery. Capt. John Whcalton, of Washington, N. C., will budda wharf out to tho wreck, and by tho use of a sand pump remove the scud and save the cargo. Tho Uer ni an Way. The other day a Berlin miiler, his tongue loosened In convivial oompany, remarked : "All is not Solomonto wis? dom that drops from tho Kmperor1 llps." And now for three long months In the seclusion of prison the miller will have opportunity to exalt the blessing of Amorloan freo speech. For, aa tho Statosays, evan under the reign of the Great and Good Theodora it is p.risible to whisper a doubt of his divine inspiration without landing lp. tho look-up. Hundreds Drowned* News has been rece I ved from India of thc drowning of Ove? uve hundred Chinese by the collapse of an over crowded mat shed on the banks of the West river, near Canton.