The Horry herald. (Conway, S.C.) 1886-1923, November 23, 1905, Image 3
CUT TO PIECES.
'Will This Gruesome Tragedy
Stop Crazy College Hazing.
REACHED THE LIMIT
When They blindfolded Little Prieson
K and Tied him to the Railroad Track,
Where a Special Train Cut
W him iuto Mince Meat.
"I swear by all my hopes on earth
to keep this pledge with the brethren
of our order. May my life be accursed;
my death be loathsome; my heart
be cut out and cast Into the dust;
V my flesh rot from my bones; my bones
crumble awav?if I ever reveal anv
? ? ? *? - - - ??J
of the secrets of our beloved order or
betray my brethren."
This is the grim vow under the aw- (
ful Influences of wblch the young unl i
verslty student, fresh from the gentle
Inilueu^e of his home, with his
youthiul Ideals of honor aui loyallty i
as yet unsullied by contact with the
world, has braved the terrors of ha/,
in*, ai d facid death a hundred times.
It was the vow that led Stuart i
Lathrop Plerson, the freshman of the i
little college of Kenyon, Ohio, to submit,
as part 01 his Initiation into the
fraternity of the Delta Kappa Ep
stlon, and without sign or word or i
murmur, to the awful ordeal of being
tied to the railroad tracks of the i
Cleveland. Akron & Ohio Railroad,
there to be left unoll a train came
along and ground to pieces.
For In Its effect upon the mind of i
an imprersionable boy this vow Is in- |
vested with more of awful portent
and more of solemnity than the osths
of the Molly Magulres, the Whittcaps <
or of the (jjulolde Club, piotured by
Uobt. Louis Stevenson In the "New
Arabian Nights."
Given tive thousand members of
the alumni of a college fraternity In
possession of the stcrets of this order,
and not one, throughout a long life,
shall ever betray them. Stuart Pierson,
lying bound to the track on the
railroad river bridge at Gambler,
hearing the distant rumple of the approaching
train and realizing In that
supreme moment of horror the awful
mistake of his fellow students that
doomed him, on the very threshold
of his young life, to death under the
wheels was true in spirit to his fel- 1
lows. Could he, In that moment
have escaped by some miracle, his
m| lips must have been forever sealed.
Bring him back from the grave now \
and he shall not utter a word of de- ,
I nunclation:
Strong In the heart of his father? 1
himself an alumnus of the college and
| member of the fraternity of the I)KE
?la the spirit of the oath and of ollud,
unreasonable loyality. For in ficj of
cumulative proof, autlicleut to convince
every other noau in the country
that the son was, with a ould-blooded
cruelty worthy of the iiends, tied to
the railroad tracks and left there,
Mr. Pierson, hurrying the mutilated
remains of his son out of sight of the
coroner and the police, fiercely oppos
ps every stage of investigation, blindly
inslbtlng that "his boy" was not
tied to the tracks, but that he fell
asleep at his post and was thus run
down by the train. And of him Coroner
Scarborough and the oitizens of
Gambler, loyally seeking the whole
truth of this barborous slaughter,
have said that the hooor of his college
is dearer to him than the life of his
child. I In pro< f of their assertions
they have produced evidence that, in
the very moment that his son lay on
the tracks, watching the lights of
the train bearing down upon him,and
enduring in those few moments the
agonies of a hundred deaths, he a
business man of mature years, was
engaged with another party of students
in the work of "initiating another
victim."
But the accident of the advent of a
special train where, according to the
schedule of the initiating committee,
no train should have been, has led to
a giganuo revulsion 01 every college ?
in the country, lush aw will put an 1
end forever to barbarism in the prac- 1
tice of initiating or hazing.
For^th? whole State of Ohio, allame
with anger over his wanton slaughter,
demands that the students who bound
and gagged Pierson, and lea him to
the tracks, shall be discovered and
heavily punished. And, standing
alone against the power and might of
of the State, is Dr. Pierce, the president
of the college, declaring in the
face of all the evidence, that his pupils
are guiltless of wrong. The sentiment
of the Ohio people, however,
has spread over the country, for in
thi8 case the apex of boyish cruelty,
has been reached.
And while one-half the ountry
watches In anger and anxiety the development
of the story of the death
of Stuart L. Plesson, comes evidenc3
that woman has quickly adopted the
lessons.
The "fraternity" girls of the Evanston
High School have branded the
arms of their sisters with the sigh of
the Pfci Delta Sigma, and here the
story is told of how another Pierson?
w Muriel?who, however, is not In the a
remotest degree related to the vtotim 1
^ of the Gumbier outrage?was led t
t blindfolded into a room, and there a
jV crying for meroy and half fainting t
Wt field down while the insignia of the i
M aooiaty In Greek was burnt into her i
w
{
arms with nltrlo told. Then two of
her comrades, Majorie Cox and Alloc
Barns, suffered the same ordeal.
Yet no murmer of complaint escaped
the 11 ps of the brave damsels until
a scream, evoked by accidental ooi
Uslon of the inflamed arm with hard
substance, led to Irqulry, examination,
and a storm which has set all
Evanston racing with an agitlon for
the prohibition of these practices.
In crder to apureclate the extent
to which the practice has Increased
In violence during the last live years
one must look at the olroumstances
of the case of Plerson.
One week before his death he had
been made to crawl through the town
of Gambler on his hands and knees
while his companions beat him with
stones and clubs. Deep absesses had
formed on his legs so that he was unable
to walk
Ills assailants waited until he was
just able to crawl out of his bed before?with
the consent of his father?
proceeding to the act of taking him
to the railroad bridge, tying him to
the track, and there leaving htm.
And, eveu thr ugh In the first over
whelming dlsoovery of the mutilated
body, as they weut to the bridge to
release him before the regular train
came along, they succeedtd, with the
aid of Ills father, In smuggling the
body to Clnclnattl, the rope marks
on the wrists and legs and the discov
ery of the coll of rope on
the bridge near the spot whese he had
lain, told the Coroner and the police
all that they needed to know.
Paul Barber, a Zsta Alpha freshman,
telling iu ,an acc.'ss of anger
how he, two hours before Plerson's
death, had been tied to the rails in a
similar way and then released, c<?m- |
pietea the moral proof on which every
memoeroftbe Delta Kappa Epsilon
Fraternity will be brought before the
Grand Jury.
Contract this with the "initiation"
or hazing customs of years ago. In
those times the acme of punishment
was reached when a freshmen was
made to staud on a bridge in full
evening dress and a silk hat, in a
heavy January snowstorm, and button
hole every passer by with a long
quotation from Aeschylus; or parade
Sown the High Street in tiie charac
ter cf a chimney sweep on Mayday.
Daly in the last few years did the
spirit of rulllanism insidiously craep
In under the cloak of the "esplrlt de
corps."
Stuart Plerson will not have died
In vain If the enquiry which may
oring several of his college mates to
the criminal bir to answer a charge
jf homicide, leads to a return of the
restraints which in other days governed
the association of gentlemen.
CAUGHT IN OEORGIA.
Murphy Who AanaHHinated Tromur
or Unpen Now In Jail.
The police department of Augusta
relieves It has spotted Murphy, who
while serving a life sentence for the
murder of Treasurer Copes, escaped
hom prison. Accordiug to the letter
received just by the Governor from
t,he chief of police of Augusta, he
thinks D. C. Murphy, a life prlsioner,
who escaped from the penitentiary
iome years ago, is in jail at Swains
jurg, Ga., on the charge of horseitealing,
and the Augusta officer
wants to know if this State desired to
put a claim for him at once.
Murphy killed Treasurer Copes, in
Orangeburg County In 1897 and was
lentenoed to harg. Governor E lerje
commuted this to life imprisonxient,
and shortly afterwards the man
^soaped.
A short time ago an interview with
i. former Penitentiary guard was
printed in which It was said that
Murphy had gone to the Philippines.
If the letter of the Augusta c.iief of
police is correct, however, Murphy is
n a Georgia jail, and there is little
ioubt but that he will make a strong
\ fl*A* f f rv Itaavx All*- / ?#
.UUIV lu HCC|( UUU ui UliC UlUUUIiCa U1
jhe South Carolina authorities.
Tne case is one of the most Interesting
ones of the orlminal history of
ihe State, and Murphy has no doubt
ed an eventful life since his escape
!rom the Penitentiary here. At the
time of his eseape every effort was 1
made to recapture Murphy, but it
.vas said he had gone to South Amerca.
Tue Augusta polioe who write
ippear to be famllar wi?h the cbs?,
ind think that the Swalnsburg horse
ihlef is the real Murphy. Several
nen who have proven to be the wrong
nen have been arrested as Murphy. 1
Fleml'Foiled.
In Atlanta an unknown negro went ;
,0 the home of W. A. Hook, a well j
cnown white barber,about G;30 o'clock \
Wednesday night and made an attack
>n his wife. Hook's home is located
it Lake wood Heights, some distance j
'ron the city and where the houses i
ire not as close together as they are
n town. Mrs. Hook managed to get
uslde the door and slammeu it in the
aegro's face when he put his shoulder <
igainst it and was about to break it <
Jown. The ories of Mrs. Hook and 1
ler daughter had by this time attrac
jed attention, and the negto made 1
lis escape. The neighborhood was
nucb aroused over the matter that a
?osse made up of oltizins of that sec 1
don secured bl >odnounds and sooured i
.he woods all night for the criminal, i
rhe search is still going on, but up
)o |the present time no arrest has I
ieea made.
Many Idle.
A dispatch from Toklo, Japan, 1
lays the number cf unemployed, fol
owing the returu of the troops from
?he Held, Is estimated at 700,OOu i
ind Is causing uneasiness In view of <
.he Industrial depression now pre
railing, and the unllkehood of a r?
rival of business in the near future, i
1
A BAD FIKK.
Ninet en JFinely Trained Hor^|
and Other Property Burned.
The Wild West Show Kutned. Fire
Was Set and Several Suspects
Will be Arrested.
The Augusta Chronicle says what
was probably the moat disastrous itire
of rtcdnt years occured Wednesday
morning when two stables, two barns,
one hundred and tifty tons of hay aud
many valuable farming implements,
the whole being the property of Mr.
W. II. Buford and nineteen tine
trained Texas horses, the property of
Capt. C. W. Biggs, were destroyed,
totaling a loss of about $28,000. Tne
tire occured on the Ellorado Farm,
and is supposed to have been of iboendlary
or.gin.
The tire was discovered Wednesday
morning about 3 o'clock by negroes
residing on the Eldorado Farui.
When the alarm was given the two
big barns were a mass of Mimes.
Within a few mom nts the two ad
Joining stables, lu which twenty horses
were occupying stall ignited, aud
before the horses could be recued the
stables alhO were in (lames.
By that time Mr. Buford, the owner
of the Eldorado Farm, Capt.
Uiggs, the proprietor of the wild west
snow which is wintering on the farm
together with all their employes had
gathered on the scene and made several
attempts to oheck the progress of
the tire. Their elTorts on this lines,
however, proved ineffectual. Fortunately
a wind kept the llames from
reaching the residence buildings and
the tents of Capt. Biggs, which were
but a few yards distant.
i'uose wno witnessed the fire say
that their experience was a horrible
on*-., jy jui Dig buildings were blaz
lug tieicely. lu one was on tilled
tweuty horses who wt re being slowly
burned to death. Taeir snorts ami
hqueuls of terror and pain brought
tears to the e>es of the spectators,
who were powerless to aid tnem, Oae
horse escaped from the building, out
so badly burned tnat it will not live.
(Japt. Ltiggs' loss will amount to
absuc *8,000 Tae horses were of
unusually time breed, and besides,
were trained for circus purposes.
Many of thecn?the more intelligent
ones?held a high place in his affections,
and he fee's their loss in other
than a pecuniary way. He himself
declares that he is heartbroken.
Mr. Hufords loses aggregate $18,000
at the lowest estimate. The barns
and stables were the largest and possibly
the best equipped in or near the
city. Besides he lost many threshing
mic alnes of great value, hundreds of
farui Implement , and about one hundred
and fifty tons of hay. The property
was not Insured. Those who are
iu a position to know deciare that
the tire was of incendiary origin. It
was even stated ttiat certain persons
were suspected of having committed
the malicious act, and that tneir ararest
would shortly follow.
The Chronlcie says a touching incident,
and one that was a rare example
of the devotion that some animals
hear for their masters and mistresses,
was witnessed Wednesday
morning by a few who had driven out
to the Eldorado Farm to view the
scene of the terrlbie lire, when little
Miss Riggs, the daughter of Capt. C.
W. Riggs, who was the owner of the
horses, suoceeded in getting ''Ruby,"
the oniy horse of twenty tuat escaped
from the llames, to rize from the
ground, after many had striven In
vain to Induce the burned and suffering
beast to stir from the position In
which It had fallen.
The horse's hide, where it had not
been burned off completely, resembled
leather; Its eyes were burned out, and
its head and face terribly blistered.
After escaping from the burning stable
the horse uad been led to watering
trough beside which it bad fallen.
Several men had been endeavoring
for a number of hours to Induce the
beast to stand on Its legs. Rut their
coaxing and threats had been in vain.
Miss Riggs approached within a
few feet of the horse which had onct
been her pet.
"Ruby," she softly called; /'Ruby,
please get up."
For a moment tbe horse lay btlli;
then It made one supreme effort sua
staggered to Its feet. Guinea by uei
voice "Ruby" waiked forwaid a few
steps on weak, shaking legs. Just
as Miss Rlggs patten its forenead the
legs collapsed and tbe horse fell to
the ground.
And despite the further efforts of
Whip poor-will, Capt. Rings' Cherokee
Indian associate, it refused to
budge.
Peculiar Accident.
A dispatch from Union to the State
says an unusual and possibly fatal ao
sident happened to a well known
farmer living near Jouesville recently.
Mr. Thomas Wright was chasing a
runaway horse across a Held and a
hrUUv nnnklahnr 11 >.w un lntr? hit.
mouth an J w&8 Instantly drawn down
his windpipe. All efforts by loo&l physician*
to dislodge it proved fuoile,
and the man, suffering horrible tor
ture has been taken to & hospital In
Spartanburg to be operated upon.
A Mocker's Jew.
At Nandovl, Wis., Otto Hambrusber
will never say "Amen" again. He
made an attempt to Imitate a local
clergyman's pronunciation of the good
old Methodist word In a saloon and
dislocated his Jaw In the attempt.
Five men managed to help him olose ,
the Jaw after two hours' work and
buffering Intense pain.
plrv
AFfij ^ 'j * . v\
A Work that has been Accomplished
in the Western States and Urges
the Passage of a (iood High
School Law in South Carolina.
State Superintendent of Education
Martin Is very much interested in the
subject of high schools. He has taken
tbe matter up In his forthcoming annual
report to the General Assembly
and he has these interesting suggestions
to make on that topic.
The absence of high schools makes
a weak place In the educational system
of South Carolina. The time has
come when this want should be supplied.
One of the most phenomenal
growths In any educational line is
the great growth of Stato universities
Ip the middle and far West. Tuis
growth is largely accaunted for by the
provision on the part of the Llgisla
tures of those States for high schools.
As a rule, these State universities enroll
more than three thousand students.
This occurs in States whose
population does not exceed that of
this State. Such university growth
is Impossible without good preparatory
and high school facilities. It is
nnnr nHn^aHovuil nnHntT t? C? ko 4-/\
pv#Vi ^uuvuviwuai I\jy kKJl A kJUCfcUU IAJ
spend approximately a quarter of a
million dollars on four college**, and
then make absolutely uo provision for
high schools to be feeders for these
colleges. The statistics from the
Suites above referred to show that
the high school not only seives as a
feeder for the university, but that
thousands of boys and girls are prepared
for life's duties In these high
sohools. In faot, It is customary to
i tTer two courses, one for students who
expect to go to college or to the university,
and one for those who do not.
In this connection I wish to quote
from the reports of a few State superintendents,
where there is provision
for the public high school.
The Hon. J. W. Olsen, of Minnesota,
says: "I do not hesitate to state
that in my Judgment the State is
amply repaid In lesults for the encouragement
thus given to this claws
of educational institutions. These
schools, coming under the supervision
of the State high tcuool board, must
comply with the rules of the board,
and we employ Inspectors to see that
these rules are compiled with. This
results lu better buildings, well light
ed, heated and ventilated, in good
working libraries, as well as physical
and chemical laboratories, etc. The
aim is to induce communities getting
this aid to do more for themselves.
This aid from the S-.ate enables the
county and many a small town to
maintain a high school that otherwise
oould not afford to do so, which, lu
turn, draws in a vast number of its
best young people for high tchool instruction,
who would not and could
not receive it if it were not placed
within their immediate vloinage."
Superintendent T. J. Kirk, of California:
"'Rapid strides have been
taken in the interest of secondary education
within the past two years. The
Constitution has been amended by
popular vote so as to incorporate high
schools in the State school system, and
in pursuance of such amendment the
Legislature of 1903 enacted a law
creating a fund for the benetit and
support of high schools. An ad valorem
rate of one and one-half cents on
one hundred dollars of all assessed
property in the State is annually levied
for the purpose * * * 1 think
it is safe to say that no school law of
recent years has been more highly appreciated
than this. It has helped
struggling country high schools where
some of the very best secondary schools
work is done. * * * Tne terms of
this Act in reference to revenue are
similar to the Act. creating a fund for
tne benetit and support of the Unlveralt*
u A f f hj 11 f/\#nln ' '
Jl UJ V/i. VJOUIU' Ullti
The high school idea has passed the
experimental stage, and has been
worked out very fully in Wisconsin
Superintendent C. P. Cary, of Wis*
cousin, says: "Toe sum appropriated
to State aid for high schools in nine
ty thousand dollars. Tals is appor
ttoned among the high schools
of the State in proportion to the
amount paid out for instructions
In the high schools. Each school re
celves half the amc.uut paid for in
struction in the high school providing
the $90,000 will hold out to pay them
all that much, if not It Is apportion.
UU UI1 LlltVb U&N1HSuperlnteudent
W. L, Stockwell, of
North Dakota: "The law providing
for a State high school board and for
inspection and classification of blgb
schools 1b now nearly ten years old. 1
wish to say that in my Judgment nothing
has had a more decided Influence
upon the whole scneme of education
in this State than has this classification
inspection and aiding highsohools.
It has had the tendenoy to build up
good, strong, efficient high schools In
every part of our State, and I think
the lnfluenoe of a good high school
is felt throughout the entire community
in whlca that high school is looated,
beoauje of the fact that many of
the rural school teachers are drawn
w
from among the graduate* of our high
school*.
The North Dakoto high school law
la a very simple one. I quote the
fading features: "The high sohool
board shall receive applications from
suoh schools for aid as hereinafter
provided, which applications shall be
reoelved and acted upon In the order
of their reoelpt. The said board shall
apportion to each of said schools
which shall have fully complied with
the provisions of this Act, and whose
applications shall have been approved
by the t>oard, the following sums to
wit: Four hundred dollars each year
to each school mantaiulng four years
high school course and doing four
years high school work: the Sum of
three hundred dollars, each sohool
having a three years high school
course and doing three years high
scho >1 work; the sum of two hundred
dollars each year to each sohool
having a two years high school course
and d< i lg two years high school work
Provided that money so appoprlatcd
to any high school shall be used to
Increase the efficiency of the high
school: Provided further, that the
total amount of the apportionment
and expenses under this Act shall not
exceed ten thousand ddlais in each
year."
Some of the States provide only one
hlfirh sohoil to t.hf> mimt-.t* I
? , kJUlUU ^1 W
vide for as many as seven In one county,
and some provide for the organization
of a high school in any territory
larger than a township. Of
course I should not favor State aid to
any high school uuless the community,
township or county should ho billing
to admit boys and girls free of
tuition from the county in which the
school is located. Iti order to encourage
local elTort and initiative, I think
the law should provide State aid to
any territory as great or greater than
the township which would make a
special levy for high school purposes.
This levy need not be large. In some
counties which would gladly take ad
vantage of a law of this |kind a half
mill would be amply sutllolent; and 1
do not believe that any county would ;
need more than one mill for this purpose,
The vigorous and successful
efforts of several enterprising communities
in this State to raise funds 1
to get the Presbyterian (Jjllege, now i
located at Clinton, dearly shows that i
ouuu cities mm uiwns are ready and i
ripe for the building of iirtt class
high schools with local aud boarding i
patronage.
As intimated already, the high 1
school has received very great enoour- i
agement in the middle and far West. 1
The next few years will witness great
development in this line in tho South.
I should like very much to see the
South Carolina Legislature take the
lead In developing a tirst class system
of high schools. Georgia will soon
make a move in this direction. The
Georgia University has already accepted
the offer of the general education
board to pay half of the salary of
the officer who will devote half of his
time to the inspection and classifies
tion of such high school work as is already
being done in that State. Prof.
Joseph S. Stewart has already visited
every section of Georgia as an inspector
of this work. He has prepared
an excellent pamphlet which clearly
shows the conditions and plainly reveals
the need of the development of
a high school system. I iiave no
doubt the Oeorgia Legislature will
rise to the emergency. As is shown
by the North Dakota law, this work
can be started on a comparatively
small appropriation. A majority of
the high schools would have a three
years course of study. Under the law
they get three hundred dollars aid.
South Carolina gives nearly twice as
muoh to feed, clothe and eduo&te six.
ty-eight boys with scholarships in a
State Callege, as North Dakota does
to encourage a system of high schools
which prepares several thousand boys
and girls for college. It seems to me
to be rank folly for the State to give
one thousand dollars to feed and
clothe one ooy and give him a college
education, when that thousand
dollars might be used to encourage
the establishment of a high school
which would prepare a hundred boys
for college in the same length of time.
If you will give a boy such preparatory
abvantages as will get him ready
for college, in nine cases out of ten he
will work to feed and elotha himself
while in college; nor should we forget
the vast amount of work along scientific,
commercial and industrial lines,
which can bo done in these high
schools to prepare boys who do not ,
get to go to college for life. I know j j
or no possmie legislation that would I
be mbre far-reaching with Its good
Influences upon our educational sys*
tem that the enactment of a good ,
high hChool low. ^
Terrlbio Accident. I
A dispatch from Lancaster to The *
State says, while Mrs. Illnson, wife
of Mr. John Illnson, of Flat R ick
Township, was standing by the lire In j
her room, a few mornings ago, holding
her baby In her arms, she suddenly
fainted and fell on the burning fa- ,
gots, the ohild falling into the dames .
with her. The cries of the Infant .
attracted the attention of Mr. Illn- ,
son and his drother-in-law, Mr. Rloh- f
ard Saarnes, who were In another |j
narf. r?f t.ho hnnea Thno I
r~mm. v v v?av mwm?VI A i?v/ i UOUVU IV/
the reHOue of the unfortunate woman ,
and her child as Quickly as possible, ,
but not In time to save them from ,
serious, If not fatal Injury, liotfa ,
were most horribly burned, and It is
extremely doubtful that either will recover.
IiOMt His Lille. f
At a boarding house lire at Decatur,
Ala., Friday morning Edward Crawford,
of Fiyettville, Tenn., was burned
to death in bis room. Several peo
p!e J umped from the windows and were
severely burned.
TWO HORRORS.
Twelve Persons Blown to Pieces
and Five Burned to Death.
KNEELED IN PRAYER,
While Thev Roasted. Five Persons
Perish in New York Tenement Fire.
A Fearful Tragedy In the Brasnell
Coal Companys New
Shaft at Monogohela,
Pennsylvania.
A dispatch from Monongohela, Pa.,
says undoubtedly killed and probably
blown to pieces, seven men are lying
In the depths of the now shaft of the
Brasnell Coal Company, on the outskirts
of Bentleysvllle, while another
outside the mine Is dead, as the result
of the gas explosion Wednesday.
The llrasnell Coal Company has been
sinking the new shaft since last summer.
Two weeks ago it was learned
that a pocket of gas had been formed
In the bottom of the mine, which Is
185 feet deep. Orders were given for
all the men to work with safety
lamps and this had been done. Three
shifts of men weie employed by Contractor
and General Superintendent
Bu'/.zo.
Late Wednesday Boss Farragut and
his six men, without thought of danger,
stepped luto the ca^e and deoended
Into the mine. T/ibb worn
building a concrete water ring, or
dltob, tifty feet down the shaft, In
order to catch dripping water- About
tive minutes after the men decended
a terrtti; explosion occured which
blew huge pieces of timber out of the
mine, like sky rockets, as high as 150
feet in the air. The tipple and all
the mine rigging were torn down
and debris scattered In heaps all
around. A shovel which lay at the
top of the shaft was hurled with such
violence that it sank four Inches Into
a plank.
It is believed the men were instantly
killed and fell to the bottom of the
ihaft. John McCatey, on the outside
was killed by the falling tipple and
others were seriously though not fataly
hurt. Mine Inspector Loute gave
It as his opinion that the explosion
was caused by tire damp. Hut as It
would have been practically lmpossl
jle for safety lamps in working order
jO ignite the gas, there must have
oeeu some kind of open light used.
An ordinary miner's torch badly bat
:ered, which was found near the
mouth of the shaft, tends to Indicate
ihat some one disobeyed orders and
sarrled a lighted torch Into the shaft.
FIVE BURNKI) TO DEATH.
At Now York at least live persons
were burned to death In an Italian
Denemeiit house at 221 east Seventyihlrd
street early Wednesday. The
louse was six Moors high and the
beeping tenants on the live upper
loors were ma le prlsloners by fUme
with the ground u0or a roaring furlace
beneath them. Three of those
who lost their lives were kneeling In
prayer when the lire reached them.
The police believe that the tire was
itarted by an looendlary. It began
n a heap of rubbish at the bottom of
in air shaft, and spread through the
nterlor of a grocery store on the
{round floor. A policeman was the
tirst person to see the tire, just as It
nad begun to creep up the air shaft.
He ranUinto the building, pounding
)n the hall doors all the way up to
the sixth floor to waken the tenants.
tire followed him so swiftly that
when he reached the top floor he was
obliged to send the tenants there out
Do the tire escape to saye them from
luffooation.
When the fire department arrived
with Its ladders nearly every one on
Dhe tire escapes was kneelirg In prayjr.
Adding to the pathos of the soena
was the action of the men who stood
with their arms full of personal possesions
while their wives fought unilded
to protect the children from beng
trampled by the crowd or sulTjiated
by smoke. Kvery one on the
Ire escapes was saved by the fireman.
The lessee of the house told the poice
today that the "Hlack Hand" so5lety
had recently sent him letters
Jemandlng $2,000. Although the demands
dlci not state what the penalty
would be for refusing to pay the m mjy
the pollcj have begun an investigation
on tne belief that the tire was
itarted by the writers of the letters.
liig Cotton fr'iro.
At Oolumbus, Ga., more than 2,000
oa'.es of cotton were destroyed, about
1,000 bales scorched and several hun J
rnH rlamQi/nrl h? Hrn uahlnh
4IOV4 UmUU^VVI ? / J UIW TTUIWU OU?l IPU
id grounds used jointly by the Central
of Georgia railway and the Atantic
Compress company Wednesday,
rhe tire started from a spark from a
iwltch engine about 12 30 that afternoon
and was still burniag although
under control at 7 o'clock that evening
The total loss Is placed at not
less than $150,000, fully Insured.
The cotton was In the open space near
the round house of the Central of
Georgia railway and the fire, which
started from some dried grass set by
a locomotive spark, quickly spread
to the ootton. A stiff gale of wind
made the work of the tire department
especially difficult, but the department
succeeded In preventing the
spread of the Are to between 16,000
and 17,000 bales whci were on the
ground near by.