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VOL. XVI. WORSE AND WORSE, [i i A Stream of Stene and Mud Half . i i a Mile Wide. L ' i 11 PARTICULARS FROM ST. HERRI!, i j i ( TIiouhhimIm of IV(?i?lo art* Killed | 1 on the Island* liy the luiva ; \ That 11ii11n Down Moulttnin stili>. t A dispatch from Fort do Franco 1 says the I'nited States government tug Potomac left there for the island s of St. Vincent where conditions are reported to he worse. La Soufriere. on x St. Vincent, was in full eruption May ' 10. A stream of stone and mud half a mile wide was then issuing from the t volcano. Stones two inches in diam- (. eter fell twelve miles awav. At , Kingston, iho capital of the island, *| the ashes were two inchs deep. Seven ) hundred dead were reported Sunday, j May 11. It Ib estimated that the to- | tal number of deaths on St. Vincent j j. reaches two thousand. Most of the | victims are said to he Carib Indians. | Seven estates on the island have been burned to ashes, and it is authenti- j caljy reported t hat two earthquakes occurred. It isbelieved the submarine | y cables at S". Vincent have been broken v ny me disturbances. The present !,, volcanic eruption on St. Vincent is ? tlie lirst, since 1812. ' ( I.OOT1NO TIIK I)ICA D. The dispatch further says the tug s Potomac cruised along the coast of !" Martinique. Slie encountered an inky j 1 black column of smoke which made it I necessary for her to go live miles out r of her course. Words fail to describe 11 the present situation at St. Pierre. A 1 small dctatchment of French troops is making elTorts to inter the dead, although the government seems to he strikingly unconcerned as to what is , done in this direction. The looting j of the dead has begun already. While f coming to Fort de Fiance the Potomac j picked up a boat containing live col- | ored and one white man whose pockets s were tilled with coin and jewelry, t he ^ latter evidently stripped from t he (in- r gers of the dead. Lieutenant H. II. (] McCormick, the commander of the ., Potomac, arrested these men and s turned them over to the commander (. of the French cruiser Suchpt for pun- j ishment. The Potomac also brought , a ton of supplies to Martinique. A s famine here is imminent. The north- (1 ern sect ion of t he island is depopulat- ( cd. IIUT FEW UODIHS FOUND. ( Strange to relate, in view of the 11 number of inhabitants of St.. Pierre I who were swept to death by the vol- N catdc waves from Mont l'eleo, on % Thlirsd.l V l:lKt.. vcrv ( nrnoc !? >? .? 1 *' ?J "?" I been found by those who are en?ra^e(l | 0 in the work of cremating the dead :l bodies. This is due to the fact that the most populous quarters of the town are burled under a thick layer of cindered lava which apparently entirely consumed the bodies of the vie- 1 thus. Public interest centres in the 5i stories of the survivors and in the ef- 1 forts being made to succor the rcfu- J gees. A woman named Laurent , who was ( employed as a servant at St. IMerrc * in the household of M. (Jabrel, and c who was among those taken to t he hos- 1 pital In this city, in describing her 0 experiences, said that on the day of ( the terrible disaster she heard a loud 1 report and thereupon fainted. When 1 she regained her senses, a few hours v later, she was horribly burned, and, ^ ^ glancing around, she saw two mem- 1 hers of the Gabriel family still alive 11 but they died before assistance could 1 Teach them. Mille. Laurent, although v she lived for some time after being 51 taken to the hospital and was con- 1 scions while under the care of physi- 1 elans, filed without being able to im- ) part any additional Jnformation con- 1 corning the catastrophe. ' STKANOK SIGHTS. The path of the volcanic torrent ( 'which swept over St. Pierre is marked , out in a strange manner. The vicinity (Of the shore where vessels anchored was swept by a whirlwind of volcanic gas, which ripped, tore and shattered .everyt hing In its passage, but left few traces of cinders behind. On the oth cr hand the fort, centre and adjourning parks of St. Pierre sire burled under :a thick bed of cinders which consumed everything beneath It. Thescenes ^within the dead city are strange and grueeomo, says the dispatch. In the section of the, city known as the Moul<egc, Sign of lire is visible, but j evorvtlli'ltf seems t o have rent and scattered as though by a tornado. , The iron Wlsteads in t he hospitals are i i twisted, but boar no mark of iieat. ; ':Tl)Qjl\pdclothc8 and all textiles in tlie ^ hospital simply vanished. About two \ hundred corpses have been found in ^ the streets of St. Pierre, most of them | lying face downward. The central quarter of the town and the fort are buried several yards under cinders. In the neighborhood of the creek, sev- j eral houses were found Intact, but . their inhabitants were all dead and , appeared to have been killed by light- | nlng. Here the bodies were lying, | sitting and reclining in curiously life- ( like attitudes. ( THE IHHA8TKU DUSCRIHKD. | Describing the destruction of t lie Is- I land city a correspondent says that I last Monday week Mount Pelee poured , j forth a stream of molten lava 20 feet J higty and half a mile wide. Its pro- 1 gross was appallng. Rushing down i the dry bed of Klvlcro Itlanchc It I reached the sea. The force of the 1m- f " ' ftyi i ? . r .~ pact was such that Lhosea recoiled for 100 feet for miles along the western oast. Loud detonations followed at hurt Irregular intervals, absolutely iw-lnsplrlng and so loud that they .von-heard .'100 miles awa.\. At night he volcano crater was a mass of lurid lames which shot high up over the maintain, while all the time the canlonading went on. It continued at ntervals on Tuesday and Wednesday. )n Thursday morning it was relativcy still. St. Pierre was as usual, early istir and business was partly going on ibout 7 o'clock, when a.sort of wltlrlvind of steam, boiling mud and tire aiddenly swept with incredible rapidly over the city and roadstead. At >nco the town was in a blaze. The ire seemed to run overall. The ships vere instantly canted over and began imultaneously to burn and sink In t he ea, which was then raging cauldron. The whole destruction had taken place vithin less titan 20 minutes of the rupt ion. m.'itnixo nonius, in the destroyed city of St. Pierre, lie work among the ruins is being ontinucd in an unsatisfactory inanier. savs a Port <!< l<Varliviv, t??l, in I'hc Herald. The dead arc Ik-Iu^ turned, the pyres lab tig fed with petroeum and tar. (Jreat lires are. kept iur. which at night light up t he entire si and, and which, being seen at St. Alicia, led to the belief that Kurt de 'ranee bad burned. Although thousands have tteeii turned, many still remain to be creuated. Searchers, while walking hrough t lie ashes, often step upon that appears to in; a charred pillar if stone, only to learn, as It. yields [tuesomely under foot, that it is the runk of another unfortunate. Some of the walls of t he houses that till stand, crumble and fall at touch, iomc idea of the terrible heat that# toured down from Mont l'elee may bo tad when it is known that the iron oilers of t In- Prinolle sugar mills were uultcd as though they had been put# hrough a furnace. T1IK ISLAND TKKMULKS. No persons have us yet been able to pproach within eight miles of the lew crater of the Sonfriers volcano, tut, judging from what can he seen nun a considerable distance the old like at tlie summit, of the mountain ins disappeared. The numerous tisures in t he mountain's sides continue o throw out vapcr and the subteranean murmuringsand tremblings inlieate continued unrest. During t.he fternoon of Monday ;i dense volume team and smoke rose from the volano and the whole island was covered ?y a peculiar mist. The inhalation ot loxious vapors here is increasing I bo pread of sickness. Starvation threatens the poorer classes of the alllicted list i let. Nearly every remainingnegro hut in Jarib county contains decayed liodies, Ltid the horrible stench isdriving penile away. Mutilated bodies are Lied vith ropes and dragged to the trenches vhere they tire buried. Sometimes indies are cremated. The local govrntnent is feeding and sheltering ibout :t,ooo refugees. DKSTUOYKl) IN TKN MINCTBS. The correspondent of The London rimes at Paris, M. Deiilawits, sup)led Ills paper tliis morning witli an iccount of the St. Pierre disaster, .elegraphed to him by a friend from <'ort dc France, Martinique, under Thursday's date, by way of the island >f Malta, it says: "For three weeks Mount i'elee had been vomiting clouds if smoke, but the smoke scorned so lormal that It was permissible for wen those were inclined to look on the lark side not to dread a catastrophe. \t, fort de France, where the agitaion of Mont Pclec, attracted, as it vent on much attention and anxiety vhich existed gradually eied down, May 5 a violentcruptlan of mud, hot ishes having been mingled with water n the crater, overwhelmed (luerin's vorks, killing twenty-three persons, md Llie river in the north of the sland, now swollen by a muddy t.or ent, noisily overflowed. On May H, vhlle there were still deliberations gong on at Fort de France and St. Pierre, where the night had passed in iriguish and ignorance, as to whether die eruption of mud was the precursor >f the end of tlie disaster, St. Pierre ,vas within ten minutes annihilated." ONLV ONIC LKKT. Margaret Stokes, the nine-year-old jhild, who is one of the survivors of lie Steamship Itoralma, which was lestroyed at St. lMerro, is the only reYininlnrr mnmUAn r\9 ? / P i'? Iiuilllll^ I I I V / 1 I I I M ~ I v/1 (1 l(lll)li> 1)1 II VI" ;,hat lived in Brooklyn np to a few months ago. The child's father was Element Stokes, at one time a well to jo merchant of Barbadoes, B. W. I., nit for the last few years l>ookkeepcr 'or a department store in Brooklyn, itokes died recently and the widow lecided to return to the home of a. wealthy sister in Barbadoes. The widow packed lier property and with i faithful colored nurse, Clara King, .vlio had been with the family in Bar>adoes, she started on the Journey that was to be the last undertaken by the family. IIiii'ihmI In n Hotel. < Five persons wer^ 'Ji|> Vran n the Aincrie "v b Kvangoline ^ mt, W. V'^'nas Carol, Arabian ;,uec s Wonder Book. | >urncd. 'juidanco is earnestly Katiawhy./100' vvi'' bo held at dlenwoor 01y ra'Jed School Build county, two 'unit lire started in the, S frame building ant. flack, MiU..brick an , ,, ? jt svero farmers summons 0 furors at the criminal } M -;S were sleeping on the so T , means of escape was cjVA?? ' lames. It Is notknov^ ('riin,tarte(1 ( grmindT '111" - - CONWAY, S. ( CAUGHT IN CANADA. . Qreon and Gaynor, Fugitives from Savannah Kidnapped AllD THEN ARRESTEE IN QUEEEC. Tin* OofcuiluiitH Weir SiiiiiukIo?1 Out or City liy OtllccrN and Woro Calient lloibrc They Know It. Colonel .1 olm F. (Jaynor, who for-j felted his hail of $ 10,000 in cause of his disappearance from Savannah, <Ja.. where ho. was indicted on a charge of conspiracy to defraud t he United States government and his partner, Captain W. I), (ireene were smu^lcd out of (Quebec Thursday t?v an American tie- } teet ive named Itennett and live as sistaut s. Bennett had been In Quebec since tlic arrival of Gavnor and (iivene and has kept a keen watch on their movements. Thursday morning in* was Joined hy live others who carried out a seemly well laid plan to capture the i accused. About 1 I o'clock Greene was 1 coming out of the poslolllec when ' three of the men approached him and one of them producing a document Showed it to Greene. The latter stood dumbfounded and asked permission to speak to some one, but was hurried into a eat) and rushed to lower town, where he was placed on t he Montreal J tug Spray. In the meantime, Bennett and the two ot her deleetives went to the ('hat j eau I rontcnae, where Gaynor ami Greene were staying. Bennett remained outside while his comrades went Into the lobby. At the time Colone Gaynor was talking to t lie clerk. Hot li men went up Immediately and invited him outside, where Bennett was awaiting them in a cab. The detectives and Gaynor started for Lower town and in a short time Gaynor was in company wit li Greene on the tug and with the detect vies on the way to Montreal, or someplace further up the river, where they can land. MltS. OAYNOK IX lTUSl'lT. These proceedings occupied about 20 minutes. The hotel people notified Colonel Gaynor's counsel of what had occurred. The attorney general's department and Judge Chanveau were notitied and they in turn asked the police to investigate Die matter. Halt'an hour after the departure of i,no >pray. another t ug was engaged hv Mrs. Gaynor. She \v?nt on board with Detective Walsh. The pursuit of the Spray was given up at Cape Rouge, eight miles from fheeity. The | Spray was then almost out of sight down the river. Upon tile return of Mrs. Gaynor to j t he city the lawyers In the case had a short consultation with her, and im- ] mediately two petitions for habeas corpus, ordering the return of Cay nor j and Greene to this city, were prepared, and two orders were signed to that elfect by Judge Andrews in tin.' superior court. In the meantime four members of the provincial police left by the 1:15 Canadian I'acilie railroad train for three Itivers with others to secure a tug there and try to intersept the Spray. The latter town is 1)0 miles from Quebec and just half way between here and Montreal. Tile petitions were sworn toby Mrs. Gaynor, who alleges that her husband and Greene were taken away against their consent and without giving them time to sec counsel or take legal measures to prevent their arrest. Willie the petitions were being prepared a special train was over the Canadian Pacific railroad and at .1:50 the chase began. On train arc Messrs. Cannon | and Chauvcau, attorneys In the case, who arc bearers of the petition; high Constable Gale and eight detectives. WHKM Til ICY K8CAPKI). B. I). Greene and John F. Gaynor escaped from the Savannali federal court several weeks ago while their case was pending before Judge Kmory Speer, of the (Jnltcd States court. Both defendants had been renlesed on bond and were quests of the DeSoto hotel,awaiting, supposedly, the hearing of the court. Saturday preceding Monday, the day set for their hearing, they left the city, either in disguise or by a circuitous route. Their attorney expressed even as great surprise as did the government when neither one of the defendants was present in court on Monday. It was declared by counsel reprinting Greene and (Jaynor that they had either been in error as to the day set for trial or were unavoidably detained in New York. The court ordered their arrest at any cost, but the oh'- ^ v^l not t he slightest clew tOg^^^^^^Aintll the court was in' reisvfts J4 -li yj n New f vint* bin; re- i TD??8HA. r/nor lm(' ! 'K,r^cr^,Ktas jwitjS'M1ms been made since ASAW|*h their arrest by decoying ^ fia ji4tfross the Canadian line and them when upon American Their every movement has been ii?!tcliod l?y some of the best federal and L'liikcrton detectives in the Mx>uut ry. ^yjnet their escape the oilicers of the JJn>\nah court have been very active preparation of the case tho ncnt Uav brought. *V. .. \ m umi? HIM? f iVVtl 1 A, THURSDAY, VOLCANOES CAUSED BY STEAM.1 j Immense l-'oree Stored llenoulh lOitrtli Hursts I'ortli. l>r. (I. llurtwitf, in Lis hook, "Vol canoes and Earthquakes," ^ivos the following as his views of the origin of volcanic eruptions: , The phenomena at tending an eruption can leave no doubt that below every active volcano a laitfe subterranean cjivlty must exist iu which melted lava accumulates. The partisans of t he t heory w hich supposes the cart li1 to consist of a cent ral lluid mass, with a solid shell resting upon it. aM^butej the formation of volcanoes to rents or j lissures in this crust, through vjhich the lava is cast forth: but the local development of heat i ?y chemical ac-, Hon <>r son 10 other unknown cause, is unite sutllclent to account for I lie existence of liery lakes imbedded in a solid mass, and which, though inslgniticanl when compared with l.lie surface of the globe, may still he la rue enough to produce volcanic phenomena on the grandest scale. The cause of the reaction of sue i a reservoir against the surface of the earth must, in all probability., he sought for in the expansive force of steam: for when wafer, penetrating throng i crevices or porous strata,! cornea in contact with the heated subterranean mass it is evident that the steam t bus generated must pr si upon the lava, and, when formed in sutlicient <|UanHfy, ultimately foy-ce it up the duct of the volcano. In-other eases we may suppose a eontiuunus column id' lava mixed with liquid water raised to a red-hoi or wiiife-hot temperature under the lulhionce of pressure. A disturhanceofequirt<iriuni may lirst bring on an eruption near t he surface by Htc expulsion and eon- | version into gas of the entangled j wateY. so as to lessen pressure*. More and more- steam would then be liberated, bringing up with it jets of liquid rock, and ultimately ejecting a continuous stream of lava, lis force ! being spout, a period of rest succeeds until the conditions for anew outhurst (accumulation of steam and melted rock) are old allied, and anOt her cycle of similar changes Is,renewed. TIIE ROUND BALE TRUST. ________ , Competition in tfie South l,i?ic|3 to Destroy Cotton tiins. A four cornered light between the i roll lid cotton bale, the cotton gin, 1 lie oil mills and tin* compresses has broken out in Texas which threatens to revolutionize the cotton ginning business for next season and destroy the ' ginneries unless the Texas farmers' congress, welch meets i^t ('ollogo station duly, can take soijre&t'TS or sag- i VW* I gest some legislation w> protect the I owners of gins. The trouble is due to the Round Rale trust, which has made itself felt in Texas, particularly during the last , year. The trust got such a large share of the cotton that, the compress coin- j panics and cottonseed oil men began to feel It. Formerly, the cotton went to the gin, which sepcrated the seed and the lint. The seed was sold to the oil mills and the lint, which was haled, was subsequently taken to the compress to have the bales pressed so that they would occupy less room and could be carried on vessels or railroads. When the trust took more cotton the gins got less, and so did the compresses and the cottonseed oil mills. They appealed to the owners of Kins to make a light with the trust and hid for the cotton, but the gin men icfuscd to do this. Finally, seeing that they could not depend upon any assistance, the mill men and the compress men determined to go into the ginning business. The cotton seed oil mills In Texas are now erecting ginneries at which they will gin the cotton free, retaining only the seed for their mills. i in: >? mi ij/i ?->,->? :r? <i i u now l Illy 1llg SCCU cotton ;ilift doing the ginning as well as the haling. In fact, all four interests, tlio oil mills, compresses, dinners and round hale men arc prepared to, gin and will hid on the seed cotton this fall. It is tbought that I he local gins will he the worst sulTcrcrs from this too active competition. Col. A. I*. Itutlor Dead. Col. Andrew Pickens I in tier of Aiken County died Wednesday at the fhitler home. Colonel I tutlcr wos trickcn withparalysls of t he heart Saturday night. He never regained consciousness. lie was 70 years old. He leaves two daughters, who arc married, a son and several grandchildren. The funeral was held tlds morning at 11 o'clock from Sweut/NfiteT Church, near Albert. everything illgli<>r. There is nothing in the way of household supplies which has not lieen niiiur nearer oy i lie pruiwiion Oliorucd monopolies and legislation in favor of , classes. The times a re supposed to oe I good, hut the man who keeps a family on $1,000 a year linds that it will go; no farther than $800 would a year ago, and its purchasing capacity is steadily decreasing. The trusts and the tariIT are responsible for this. I*urdoiio<l. George Washington an old fashioned "white folks" negro convietcd of rape In 1870 has been pardoned by the governor who discovered a case of blackmail on the part of the negro | woman who secured Washington's ar Ucviili iV '22, li)<)2. A SALUDA MYSTERY.I An Illiterate Mulatto Preaches Ad- , mirably While He lo Sleep. A TEST IN THE SCHOOL HOUSE Ily I.ending ('Itl/.ciirt i>l* (lie ('utility iiiiiI i In* I 'finit' In < 'oneI iisi v?* That It Is No I 'tike. A Dispatch from Saluda t<> The News and < Courier says the "Sleeping Preacher" was here Thursday nltfht. a lar^o crowd went out to hear this s! r;io^c mail. "Major Perry," for that Is the preacher's name, was in the ' charge Messrs of II. P. Poukni^hL and .1. P. liodie, two of t his county's mOst reli Pile eiti/ens. Perry has been living with Mr. Iloiiknltfht. a lew miles below this place, for twelve or fourteen years and, with the exception of ;i few nights, he has never failed to pleach a sermon on k'oing to sleep duriiivr t Ids lone period. Perry is ."> i years of a^c, of medium size, copper colored and wears a llowintr heard, lie was raised in lAiIriLdii County, t?ut not b\ a llnptist preacher, as has been said in explanation of this st range phenomenon. Mr. Houknight hashcen In tho community where Perry was horn and raised and lived until in years ago, and emphatleally states t hat Perry did not belong to a preacher. The. place of Ids birth was near tin4 present town of Itldgeway. One of the peculiar things about Perry's sermonizing lies in the fact j t hat his preaching dates from tin1 time of ids being paralyzed on tin1 left side in 1888. lie was never known to preach before t hen and lie has never failed to preach a sermon every night j since then save occasionally on Friday night. A test, made by your correspondent revealed that Perry is very illiterate, being scarcely able to spell out the simplest words, even with book in I hand, lie Is extremely reticent oq the subject of Ids nightly preaching, and if pressed will resent too close questioning. A not tier peculiarit y not iceable is that Perry can go to sleep surrounded bv a curious crowd as quickly as a babe in its mother's arms. Thursday evening Perry's wife arranged a bed In the school building here and at 0. 10 the strange man undressed and "turned In" apparently tor the night. In lifteen minutes, amidst the gaze and hububof the crowd, lawns sound asleep. Four minutes later he commenced to sing in low and i measured tones an old hymn, beginning "(Jome, ye that love the Lord." j After "lining out" and singing two j VPl'siog hn cli ivol o liiniri/l ???* !< !%? t , I.v >> </.. ij UUillUM 'III I 11.1 I I^IIU side and reverently repeated the Lord's Prayer, making but one change I" " , i viz, inserting the word "all" before the words "our trespasses." lie followed t,heX<ord's Prayer with an extemporaneous petition, the logic and language of if being as good as tliaf of the average white preaehcr. At the conclusion Perry turned on Ids back and, after a moment's pause, stated that liis text would lie found in the 12th chapter of Matthew and 28th verse. Tills he quoted and a comparison of the quotation with the original shows that he repeated the words verbatim. 1 lis discourse lasted forty-live minutes and the reading of a stenographic report made by Mr. Tadlbck shows a closely reasoned (with some exceptions) ffospcl sermon, instead of being a senseless negro harangue. few grammatical errors were made and many of his citations from the Hiblc were substantially correct. At times lie was really eloquent. For Hie most part in; spoke in a smooth, conversational tone, but occasionally lie became impassioned and made the welkin ring. Twice during the sermon he had something like convulsions, and when ever soiy.cn oyoneor inese, no immediately 1(5II off speaking, his heart and pulse ceased to heat and, except for the strange movement of Ids muscles, one would suppose life extinct. These convulsions lasted but a minute and as soon as over he would commence his sermon just where he left olT and in the same tone. An examination of the eyes while preaching showed the pupils motionless and a bright light pi aped close to his face while the lids were pushed hack did not cause him to move or Hindi. During his preaching period It has always been found impossible to wake, him. Pins have been stuck into his llcsh, burning acids have t>ccn put about his eyes, but all to no effect, save that he suffered from there experiments on awaking. Perry Is particularly severe in his criticisms of the present-day nreach ers. 11(5 stated that ''we are. told there were twelve disciples or teachers, and one of these was a devil. Hut today I think about eleven and a half out of twelve are devils." In elaboration of this statement Ik; referred to the "man-sent preacher" and "the self-sent preacher11 and "t he money-making preacher." Horry mnde no gestures at all, but when under the impression that he was reading from some book In t he Itible would run the tinkers of his right hand across the bed covering as if folfowing the lines. He closed his sermon wit h an earnest exhortation and when the end was reached lay perfectly still and slept quietly until awakened by a physician, who closely watched him throughout. I On being awakened he appeared SfaiBic? ???m ?ii ? ? ? . m fiiylitened for t he moment. Although lie hail ^really exerted himself several times during his sermon, he stated that ho did not feol tiled or at all exhausted; yet Ids pulse heat rapidly and his Wreath came quickly. Whatever else may he said of the strange "sleeping precher," the performance Is no fake. Time after time various cltl/.etis in this county have Kono to Perry's home after ni^ht and secreted themselves to detect the fake as they supposed, hut invariably after watching him through the cracks in Ids house ^o to hed, and nlvln^ him time to tfo to sleep, he would sin^r a hymn, otter a prayer, announce Ids text and preach a sermon, lie never uses the same text and the body of his discourse is always dllTerent. lie rarely ever fails, however, to irive the preachers "Hail Columbia." ThcelTcot of this strange phenomenon on a spectator cannot he Imagined. Perry's father is said to he a white man and he has Indian blood to him also. This lie shows unmistakably, as does his wife, who of late years always accompanies him to prevent the cruel experiments which were at lirsl practiced by some In trying to awaken her husband while in the midst <>f a sermon. Men of ascicntilic turn of mind have an Interesting subject in "sleeping preacher,'" and Saluda < 'utility in his person possesses one of the mysteries of tlie new century. FRIGHTFUL TRAGEDY. An \eromiiit I 'ell r'it'teen I Vol anil \\ hn llnslioil to I'loeeH, As already wired, from I'aris, Severn, the. aeronaut, and one of ids assistants were killed hy the explosion of Severn's airship in making a trial t rip Tuesday mourning, Severn had Invited a numberof friends to witness the ascension and his wife and relatives were following the course of the balloon in motor cars. Suddenly the spectators were horrllled hy a bright llasli of light, followed liy a loud explosion. The balloon, which at this time was I,f?tu) feet jiIhivc the ground, fell rapidly, landing on the roof of a house. The aeronaut fell in the street and was dashed to pieces. The bones of Ids legs were forced through the soles of his boots. The engineer who accompanied Idm was burned to death. The accident Is said to have lieeii caused by a leakage of gas. Severn started with t ho intention of sailing to the military parade ground at Issy. With an engineer named Sachet, Severn sailed out of Ids balloon bouse near the 1 ton leva rd do Vaugirard, In excellent snlrits. and full of in iotlrlnnn<? Tin' acronui put his airship through a series of evolutions In-fore starting In the direct ion of Jssy. There seemed to he some hitch with the steering gear and the rear propelling screw turned with difficulty. Nevertheless, after several stoppages the.airship sailed otT, moving steadily enough through a light breeze. Suddenly a pulT of wind caught tlx- ship and whirled if over the A venue 1 nimaine. The ship t urned completely around and veered about In a fashion showing that control ot her had been lost. Then, from the center of the outer envelope, a tongue of flume darted out. This was followed by a loud report resembling a cannon shot and the; shl| sank like stone, falling on the roof ol a house, thence into some trees, and dually reaching the Avenue Dumalnc, almost on top of Its occupants, win had previously lieen precipitated t< the stone pavement. The fearfui mangled corpses of Severo and Sachet were conveyed to a neighboring police station. The bodies presented a horrible spectacle, especially that of Sachet. The Maine which caused tire explosion burned the engineer in a most shocking manner. Practically not ?i ironc of either victim was left unfractured and both skulls were terribly crushed. FOR RAILROAD COMMISSIONER A.C. JcpHOii, A Popular Citizen ol I'loreiiee, in the lluce. j lie Florence Times, May 12, say^ A, C. Jepson, one of the best known veterans of the Atlantic Coast Line, announces positively that ho will he in (lie race for railroad commissioner, lie has talked with his friends in Florence and elsewhere, and has received the greatest encouragement. Mr. Jepson lias been forty years a practical railroad man, and .as years creep up on him he wants to retire from the throttle and give the younger men a chance to run the t rains while he runs the railroads a little. The life of an engineer is a hard and exacting one, and takes him away from home too much of the time. Mr. .lepson came to Florence In 1881 and has been with the Coast LIne continuously ever since, and is one of the best men on t he line. He has served many roads in his time,- the Louisville and Nashville, Central of Georgia, and Mobile and Girard anions them, lie says that In his forty years of service lie has novcrbeen dismissed, suspended or reprimanded. lie was live years In the employ of the construction department and tin rest of the time In the engineering, lie is a skilled workman, and among other employments In his life he made percussion caps for the use of the Confederate government, lie claims L have made nearly half of the nutnbei used by the army. Since Mr. Jepson has been a citl/.ei of Florence he has made a host o! f pl.liwlu 1 1 ' * ' *' % Iiiuiiun, aim aiuilUK HlgH Willi I1IS 101 low craftsmen and employers. Frorc ids long, practical experience In rail road work, he is regarded as a mai who is particularly well litted for th< position and as one who would lie ai aaiuisltiofi to the board. w \ NO. 45 >. N A PTHA EXPLODES. A Terrible Disaster in the Railroad Yard at Pittsburg. TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE HURT. The Vnlutlla fluid Hums Over 11 Wide Area, C'aumIiik Injury and Itulu, and Klllliiu .Many I'ceplo. The Sheraden yard of tho Panhandle railroad at Pittsburg, Pa., was the scene Wednesday afternoon of one of the most disastrous explosions and Hrr?a I.. (?...? ...... (I.... f... IIV..1 It lit tn.iu .->U' tlWII Mil Ill.lli y years. At least twenty-one lives were lost and about iiOO persons were so badly burned I bat, according to the judgment of physicians in attendanee, 7f> percent of them will die from the effects of their injuries. The cause of the catastrophe was the explosion of a train of naphtha ears which was being switched at the yard, and in the switching the rear ear telescoped thenar forward. The leaking naphtha ignited from a switch light, causing an explosion, which threw the llamcs lifty feet high. Much of the escaping1 naphtha ran through Corks Itun to Rsplenlmrough, , a distance of one and one-half miles, causing an explosion, blowing to atoms the Sheraden Motel and the Collins Mouse, and badly wrecking a frame building nearby, in which were congregated 200 or more snorts from Pittsburg and vicinity, letting on the races, base ball, etc. Few of the occupants of t bis building escaped injury, many being badly luirt. Mrs. Seymour and her daughter, of -the Sheraden hotel, were seriously and, it is feared, fatally Injured. The. tirst car of naphtha exploded almut 1.10 o'clock and the spectacle soon attracted a large crowd on streets lining the hills on lx>th sides of and parallel to t he railroad. The section ear exploded about o'clock, but it was at 0. lf> o'clock, when three more cars of the deadly stutT went up with a roar tUatA eould be heard for miles, that the work of destruction really began. A torrent of tlame belched forth on each side of the track, sweeping hack tlu? terrified spectators like a charge of artillery, and sent a shower of llamcs over their heads, resembling Mont Pelee on a small scale. The scene that followed beggars do Ncripuoii. nic successive explosions had heated the air to such an extent that before the third explosion many were rendered unconscious by the extreme heat and the gaseous fumes, and were lielng carried away when the . torrent of llarne swept over the excited crowd. There was an awful hush for a mo meet, then followed a scene of frenzy. Men and women, their clothing ablaze, . their faces scorched and blistered and their hair burned olT their heads, ran wildly shrieking hither and thriller, , only intent on escape from that awful P furnace of lire. Some gave vent to I frenzied appeals to kill thejn and put thorn out of their misery, and little ( children, with their curly locks and , light summer clothing, small pillars i of lire, cried piteously as they were swept along by the tide of burning j humanity. The town people did all in their power for the stricken victims and all the Pitsburg ambulances were Immediately dispatched to the scene with a corps of physicians. Many of those not seriously burned were removed to their homes in Sheraden, while others were sent to the various Pittsburg hospitals, and the dead removed to undertaking estab? - llshmcnts in Shoradcn and vicinity and to the Pittsburg morgue. r The Panhandle Railroad Company has thirty-six tracks through Shera, den and has succeeded in keeping communication open. The property lass will amount to at least $1500,000. The | list of known dead numbers twenty, all residents of Sheradon or vicinity. Several died last night In hospitals. I Among them is Carl Ratings of Tipton, Tenn., who was badly burned about the bead. A complete list of t h<i u/rtimrln/l o/tulrl lw* oa/??* ? *?/! !???-? UII\ tn/uin?Vy\l VWIIMI SIUU fHA;UICU l(KI V night. A partial list contains twenty , names. i The accident happened in the railroad yards at Sheraden, where the 1'anhandlo railroad makes a turn, near , Corks run. Banked by two high hills hundreds of people were caught. At tills point, which is aiwait one-fourth of a mile from the city line, there are thirty-three tracks. Upon these tracks were several hundred ears. Near the middle of these tracks about i.4f>o'clock a heavy freight train was l>elng made up for the west. In tills ; train were ten tank ears, containing refined petroleum and naphtha. In > the shifting necessary to prepare the 1 train for her Journey a switch was . made with too much force. Five tank cars, two of them filled with refined >1 petroleum and two with naphtha, , wore switched with too much force . and one of the cars of naphtha was , broken. Instantly the luilammablc - by-product poured out in a stream. The trainmen, seeing that one of tne i cars was damaged, started to pull r them all out of the way. Already the men In charge of the i switch light had made his rounds and - the lights were burning. As the tank 1 car passed over one of the lights the 2 dropping naphtha caught on the little i tlame and almost Instantly an explosion followed.