Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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N01ED CROOK ^Convicted and Sent Up For 15 Years In the Pen. SASSED THE JUDGE Who Added Klvo Ywrs More to the Ten Yearn Already Given Hint for Talking Rack at Hit* Honor?-The lMaoncr Seems to He a Hardened Criminal. Samuel K. Williams, alias Jaroe? P 'Kelly, alias Oakland Sammy, alias Sam Raymond, yeggman and burglar, after making a well planned attornpt to escape from the Charleston jail on Tuesday night In the midst of his trial ?? ,u vimiu-oiun ior carrying burglar's tools, faced Judge Prince Wednesday morning In the court of general session, after the Jury had brought in a verdict of guilty, and was given sentence of 10 years and oae month nt hard labor in the State penitentiary. Sullen und persisting to the last that his guilt had not been proved, Williams asked Judge Prince way his honor did not give hlui the limit while he was about it. "Ilring Williams back to the stand," ordered tho judge, as the prisoner had stepped down. "I am going to reform your sentence, Williams," announced his honor. "I sentence you to lb years at hard labor In the State penitentiary." Under a heavy guard of deputies Williams slouched back to the prisoners' room, apparently eased in mind about his sentence. At half-past 5 o'clock Wednesday morning when Captain Geadick, the jailer, went to pay Williams a morning call he found the cago door and the corridor door open. The bir 1 had llown. Captain Gradick had taken every precaution that he could think of, warned and taught by experience. Here the yeggman had got away, undr his very eyes, as mysterious as nightfall, t How could tho man have escaped with apparently not a tool to help him ? Before doing anything else Captain Gradick ran down from tho west wing of the third floor, where WtllianiH cell was located, to the ju 1 yard, to look for traces of an escape over the high jail wall. He found no evidence that the man had scaled tho wall, and bo made a thorougn search of the lower floor of the jaii. No Williams could be sighted. Then the captain returned to the empty cell of the yeggman to look for clothes. Williams had been locked up in n steel cell within a locked steel cage which opens into a corridor on the third floor having heavily barred windows and shut off from the staircase by a sheet iron door always kept locked. Williams had been placed in a cell directly on tho corridor that he might be better watched from without. To reach tho staircase, where trace of him was los', ho had to pick a heavy Yale lock. This allowed him to raise tho lever that unlocked the cells in his cage. Then he stepped out Into the ce1! corridor within the steel cage. A neavy xaie iock Becurea me cugu door. Williama sawed the threeeight Inch ring of thin lock, getting at It by thrusting his arm through the bars. After he had opened the cage door, he passed into the corridor and was confronted by the heavy iron door that shut off the v, cells from the staircases. This door (boors a heavy mortised lock that i3 opened with a huge brass key. How bo got through this was a mystery, as well as was his location. Comforting himself with the deduction that Williams, although a jailbird, could not fly, Captain Gradick then proceeded to search in the only place where tho prisoner could possibly be, namely: the jail loft. Over the stairway corridor is a trap door which gives entrance into the jail loft above. It is come 1G feet above the floor. There was no ladder or rope in sight, hut Captain Gradick had it figured out that Willv lame must be hiding up in this dark _ and huge loft. Calling to him, a ta'l negro trusty named "Minn," uapiain Oradick secured a stepladder and ordered Mink to mount It and climb Into 4be loft where, by striking a match he mignt see if Williams were hidden. Calling out that he would tfhoot Williams on sight If he made resistance, Captain Oradick drew hi; revolver and sent Mink up the lad< dor and into the loft to take the laet chance of nosing Oakland Samm) out if he were about the jail. It was a tense moment for th< jailer when Mink disappeared int< the loft, and the match was struck A light flared up, and then Mink, bit eyed and shaking, stuck his hea through the trap door and said: ) "He is dar, cap'in." Seeing the jag was up, William Seeing the jig was up, William came from the recesses of the lofl and said he was caught. He ma ! no resistance and slowly backe down ont of the opening. He had ! hang by his hands to touch tti stepladder with his feet. William * 4 looked glum and baffled, but- w* game, and stated to the captain thi 4. he had failed to escape because he did not have time. After Captulu Gradlck got Willlams agaiu in custody, the prisoner was placed in another cell, untampered with and closely guarded, until it was time to take him over to the court room. He is now under a heavy guard, and will not be uuwatched while the Charleston authorities have him In charge. The story of Williams' plan of the escape is interesting. It is thought that he had assistance from the outside, or within the jail. Sua plcion points to a white man recently sentenced to the gang for vagrancy. a stranger here who has been sick for the past two days and stayed in tho jail. Williams used a picklock not yet found to open tho lock which held down the cell lever to let hlrn into tho cage. To get out of tho ceil cage he sawed through the lock ring < on the cage door outside with a st*el i saw made from a corset rib. And i to unlock the corridor door that ad- < mltted him into the main hallway ] to tho trap door he used an Inge niously contrived woodeu key that worked to perfection. Taking tils canvas cell hammock, he cut and tore i It Into strlpB and knotttd a stout ] rope. Wrenching off a piece of lro-? i from his washstand, ho bent it Into tho shape of tho letter S and had % ( hook attached to the rope, by which i ho could grip tho edge of the trap , door above him in ine main hall and pull himself Into the loft. A , tiny three-sided file was found on U f 1 f 1% Tl* 1* 1 /? K ?* .1 .? ? ? - - - - III1U n ivu n IIIV.U UU UUUU' U1U B'.I W i teeth. Ho must have worked for hours on his boh, but (kiptaiu Grndick, leaving him at midnight and coming back at 5:30, did not give the yegg- < mau time o perfect -is escape, a* ? p'an was to make his w ay to * he roof and find or saw out an opening and then let himself down Into the ? jivil yard and scale the wall with his rope and hook. He carried along two extra hammocks to lengthen his ( rope with. The hook and hammocks were found in the jail loft by Assistant Jailer Kiec. I The steel snw used by Williams is only about Ave Inches long, with some three Inches of teeth cut into , one edge on the corset stay or rib. The key used to unlock the corridor door Is of hickory, with one end rounded for the stem and pin. Tim ward Is made of two pieces of woou closely fitted into a slit cut into the stem and tied with cord. The ward and stem were waxed. It ts thought thnt Williams or a confederate obtained a wrx Impression of the door key, which is carried sometimes by a trusty. The corset rib and file were probably haiulod to Williams y a confederate. T11KY MAKKIKI) AGAIN. After Being Divoi-ced Sixteen Years Old Couple Reunited. After sixteen yearn of divorced separation, during which each had remarried and had each been bereft through death, an aged German couple, who were married iu their futnerland forty yeurs ago, procured iu New York a marriago license in order to at once re-enter, for their declining years, the ties they had legally set aside so long ago. Conrad Knubert's second wife died noi long ago. Having heard that his former wife's husband had also died in Germany, he wrote the partner of his young years, asking her to coine to New York and marry him again. She cabled her reply?that hue nun ujiiiin^ uiiu kh mu uvai steamer. Bho reached Now York on Tuesday. ARRESTED ON SERIOUS CHARGE. Merchant Accused of Trying to Kuril His Store. A dispatch to The News and Courier says the store room in Rennettsville occupied by Z. P. Wright was found to bo on flro Monday night shortly after ten o'clock. After the flames were extinguished and an examination made it is said that a lot of plunder, boxes and bags, were found in the loft thoroughly saturated with oil. These are now in the sheriff's office. The policemen arrested Mr. Wright on a charge of disorderly conduct, and the mayor took out a warrant for his arrest Tuesday morning before Magistrate Mclnnis charging Mr. Wright with having set fire to and burning the 1 store. The accused is in jail and ' it is said that he has not demand1 ed an Investigation. Mr. Wright L 1 of a largo and influential family. 1 IIUKNR1) IN HIS HOUBK. ) r Goes Into Burning Building to Got His Valuables. 5 > W. 8. Langher was cremated it his home near St. Edith's Acad 5 emy, five miles west of Manassas 1 Va., Tuesday morning, when hii house, with its entire contents, wa: destroyed by Are originating prob s ably from a defective flew, s All the other occupants of th< t, building escaped. j Langher had re-entered the burn d ing structure to save some mone o and valuable papers in an uppe e room against the pleading of his wlf is and children. Langher's Mills, th is home of the Langhers, was one c it the oldest landmarks of the oount] RICH AND RACY Hearst Reads Some More Greasy Letters From Archboid < ????? i TO SOME OF HIS PALS ' i They Wore Written to Our Sometime j Senator McLuurin, Congressman 1 Sibley and It. H. Edmunds, Kditor | of the Manufacturers' Record, and J From Mclaturin to Archboid. 1 i Speaking In California tho other i lay W. It. Hearst road more Arch!>o)d-Mc.L,aurln-Sibley letters. lie also read ono to K. H. Edmunds, editor of the Manufacturers' KecorJ. * Here are the letters: "26 Broadway, Feb. 6, 1901. "My Dear Senutor: I have your ' moRt kind favor of yesterday and up- 1 predate it greatly. I have also a telegram from Mr. Grasty today which 1 have answered, and which < answer I hope he will make known I to you. Believe me that I appro- < elate the expresions of your letter < more highly than I can well state, and I hope when the time conies, i If it ever does, for an opportunity 1 to reciprocate, you won't bo found < wanting. Again thanking you and < with very kind regards, 1 am "Very sincerely yours, < 'John I). Archboid. 'Hon. J. L?. McLaurin, Senate Cham- i ber, Washington, D. C. < "26 Broadway, Feb. 13, 1901. "Mr. K. H. Edmunds, Baltimore, Md. "Dear Mr. Edmunds: I have your several very interesting favors, I re- i turn Senator McLaurin's letter witn the clippings. The whole affair at i Washington has been most Interesting. Have been sorry indeed to hear of the senator's illness. Mr. Grlsconib undertook to hnve a talk with him Monday through a mutual friend Your own work in all this mutter has been most admirable. "Very truly yours, "Jno. I). Archboid." "26 Broadway, Feb. 15, 1901. "Dear Mr. Sibley: I beg to Inclose you herewith certificate of deposit to your favor for $5,000, sent you at the request of Mr. Griscom, tho purpose of which you no doubt understand. Permit me to express my high appreciation in response to our request regarding the consideration subsidy matter with Mr. Griscom. "Very truly yours, "John I). Archboid. non. j. <j. KiDicy, wasnington. "26 Broadway, Feb. 18, 1001. "My Dear Senator: PleaHe accept thanks for your note of the 16th. I am, of course, much Interested in the statement. Have no doubt Mr. Sibley saw you on Saturday, as I requested him to do. "Very truly yours, "John D. Archbold." "Hon. J. L. McLaurin, Washington. D. C." "Bennettsvllle, 8. C.. Sept. 3, 1904. 1 (Confidential). "Dear Mr. Archbold: In tho same mail by which your letter came was one that I wish to quote a sentence from apropose of your remarks about Mr. H. The writer of that lottor was employed in a confidential way by Senator Hanna in matters of importance. He is a shrewd, but a very intelligent man, whose public experience and acquaintance is wide. I knew him well in Washington and when he saw my article in The Sun ? _ i . _ t i.ii i 1..1 i no wrote me a jour letter, itiuuikiur in some unexpected criticiBm of the president, to which I replied, com bating his position. "He said in part, viz.: "Reading oa Sunday I^awson's 'Frenzied Finance' recalled to mind a remark that I heard him (Roosevelt) make that he hoped some day to be able to take a fall out of that Standard Oil gang, and if ho succeeds himself, mark my word, he will try to make good his statement, as he believes it will appeal to the masses and keep him in the centre of the stage.' "I thought it would be a friendly act to copy this and give it to you in strict confidence. From my position,'I CAn not say whether it is . worth the ink or not. It will show, i anyway, that I am not unmindful of your various kind actions toward me. "With kindest regards. " Yours sincerely, "John Lowndes MCLiRunn. t "To Mr. John D. Archbold." "Here we havo a statement ol > Senator McLaurln from the Standard - Oil Company that they will not b . found wanting, the words founr a wanting peculiarly emphasized b] a quotation marks. Here we have * - statement that Mr. Orlsco munder statement that Mr. Grlscom under b McLaurln on Monday through a mu tual friend. "Here we have next the Inevltabl y certificate of deposit sent to Mr. Sib r ley, the mutual friend, 'at the requee e of Mr. Qriscom,' and, Anally, w ?i have the conAdence expressed by th if Standard Oil Company to Senato r. McLanrin that no doubt Mr. Slble saw the senator on Saturday, as Mi Arch bold lequesied hiai to do so Mr. Archbold assuredly wh? no found w.tilling Hut the quest to is, Who was found guilty? Assu r edly Mr. SiUiey saw Senator Mol^aurin, but tuo question is. Did In :uerely see him or did he raise him.' "If the phraseology of thin particular game is too technical for the adios In the audience let us put the location in this form: Button, buton, who got the $6,000? "Now, my friends, I have read you hose letters, not merely to intereot ind entertain you, but to arouse you o the seriousness of the danger that hreatons our republic. Be patriotic, jo non-partizan, be vlgtlent, with the eternal vigilance which is the price jf liberty, and do not allow those forces of corruption to destroy our republic which destroyed the republic of Rome. KKKK DKNIKH REPORT. Claims lie Was Not Offered Job aa Reported. At Detroit when Keefe was shown the above address on Tuesday night lie said: "I was not closeted with President Roosevelt at all. I did see him on October 3, but it wns only a four or live-minutes' audience, at which several others were present. The included 1*. II. Morrlssey, head of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and I think one of the others was Gen. Fowell Clayton. There were others that I did not know. I am of the opinion that every word that was said to me ut that time was ovorheard. "The President did not offer me the position of commissioner general of Immigration directly or indirect lv then or nt any other time. "The executive council of the American Federation of Labor did not to my know led go send out any circular, hh 1h referred to in the dispatch from New York, consequently I could not have endorsed it. "On August 15, more than six weeks before I saw the President, 1 made practically the same statement which I made today in regard to William 11. Taft's candidacy. My statements appeared in the Detroit Free Press of August 16. 1 was asked then by a representative of the Free Press if I had signed or seen a letter sent out by President Goiupers, of the American Federation of Labor, denouncing the Republican platform and urging lnbor to support Bryan and the Democratic ticket. I replied: " 'I do not believe Mr. Gotnpers has issued any such letter, and if In; has it does not meet my endorsement. If such a letter has been issued I have not seen it. I will neither support nor vote for Mr. Bryan I am going to vote for Mr. Taft, who is an honorary member of one of our branches, the Association of Steam Shovel and Drodge Men.' " LABOR'S STAND IN CAMPAIGN (loni|K'rH Says That the Unions Are Partisans to Principle. "In performing the solemn duty at this time In the support of n political party, labor does not become partisan to the political party, bui partiaau to principle." declared President Gompers of the American Federation of Labor, in a circulai issued regarding labor's attitude in the campaign. Ho charged that th< Republican party and the candidal stand for further extending into the country the despotic govern mem vested in the judiciary and the Dem ocratic party and its candidates stanc for government by law vested in th< people. The circular is addressed to "Mei of Labor, Lovers of Human Liberty, and says in part: "The judiciary Induced by corporations and trusty and protected by the Republicai pafty, Is step by jstep destroyinf governmest by law and substitutlnj therefor government by judges wh< determine what in their opinion wrong, what is evidence, who is gull ty, and what the punishment shal be. This revolution is deprivinj workers of their rights as citizen* niiH will lnnvitahlv bo made amili'. able to the business men later. "Virus In person has In several in stances entered upon the legislativ field by making laws which may b enforced by the equity process. Th despotic power under the ermine I as dangerous as the despotic powe under the crown." COLONKL TL'CKKK AKHK8TKD. Army Officer Charged With Havin IHwerted His Wife. Col. William M. Tucker, of th United States army, was arreste f at Decatur, 111., on Tuesday charge I with deserting his wife, a daugl i tor of the late Oen. John A. Uogan. 1 The arrest was made by 8erg r O'Brien, of the Chicago police depar ? ment. Col. Tucker, who was ill ar - could not be taken off the trai - agreed to return without requisite - papers. Ho went on to St. Ix>uis be taken back to Chicago later in tl day. - Col. Tucker was accompanied by t woman for whom he is alleged e have deserted his wife. A worn o nurse, who was taking care of h! r and two men servants, completed t y party. ! UUR SC | PAPER | IIY I'ROK. Wllil m *m The Courw of Study?There is a small but turbulent class of overwlso writers who periodically belabor the pul 11c Rchooln. In their nightmares they see thousands of tender children murdered or maimed In the public schools, and give voclferoua utte I *nce to po much wild nonsense that 1 they have but one effect?making 1 [ people refuse to heed them even when they point out some real d .( feet. Some of these writers have warned us against one great evil which wh? have gone on Ignoring? that of an overcrowded course of < | sttidy. To be brief, some yearH agI our educators realized the poverty 1 of our common school course of 1 study; confined almost exclusively to 1 the three R's. A Just demand was I made for an enriched course, giving a wider range of subjects to tie* pupils. A number of subjects has been added. Now, In order to encourage individual initiative, I take it, the State Hoard of Education has never prescribed a maximum or a minimum nuniln'r of subjects for any course. Instead it has adopted textbooks covering a rather wide range of subjects, and grouped these into yearly grades, leaving each school to make up a course or courses from this list. | The building of a well-balanced course of study is the work of an expert. Comparatively few teacher? lay claim to that stage of fitness.-,. Yet each teacher, or at least each j principal, experienced or inexperienced, sets about to make his own course. 1 neones, prejudices, and tastes begin to clash for the mastery. One teacher is an arithmatic crank, and his course lias but little else in It; another's favorite subject is grammar, and he makes his pupils analyze and parse everything in < sight; another has no taste for geography, and he practically omits it; another "dotes on" poetry, and the whole school is put to memorizing and reciting gems; while a lot of thorough-going teachers who take everything literally, put the whole adopted list into one course, and give it to every pupil in the school. A great deal of ignorant and unjust criticism is mad-e against the frequent and useless change of textbooks. It would bo neitner wise nor defensible to have a child use tlio same reader through two or three grades, or to use the same geography through the 4th, 5th and 6th grade, for instance: If the hook is suited to his advancement when h begins it, It is reasonable to say that it is not suitable two or three years later in his life. And if ft teacher were to keep the child of one of these watchful guardians of the ur-Vifwilu lii n fmirth for In stance, for throe yearn, thin britio guardian would make the columnH of the local newspaper smell of sulphur In declaiming against the outrage (then fail to sign his name.) , On the other hand, many of our schoolH do needlessly tax the pat, rons for books, and burden tho cliil' dren with bookH. Let ub give con| crete cases: I have juot examined { the published course of study in a , ten-grade school in one of our towns. ' In that course are prescribed flftyfive separate texts, exclusive of copy books, drawing books, scratch pads, etc. In the school are ten teachers. ^ In another ten-grade school, with four teachers, there are sixty-four ' texts prescribed. In the first mentioned school there are ten separate texts required in the seventh grade; in the second mentioned , school eleven texts are given in th 3 eighth grade. Every child ought to have the best ' obtainable book in every subject he pursues, and he ought to have all T the books he needs?books suited to his age and advancement, but I protest that the above mentioned courses are out of reason. To under H JAPAN ANI) CHINA Have a (liwh of Arms on tin' Corean I- Border. fc Grave complications, which threat^ "n the peace of China and J??pan, art B feared ftB the result of a clash between Chinese and Japanese troop* on the Corean border .near Kantao, According? to reports a body of Chinese soldiers fired on the Japanes* without provocation and in the fi^htlng which ensued many were killer! 8 on both sides, the Chinese bein* finally forced to retreat. The Jap? followed them to the border and th. Japanese commander demanded th< <1 surrender of the Chinese, which wa d refused. The Japanese foreign offlc< J- wnn quickly informed of the affair The fear here la that China's refusa t. to surrender the men responsible fo t- the attack on tho Japanese ma id cause Japan to cross tho boruei n, which would undoubtedly preclpitat >n an ugly situation. to tie TtAfn of Volcanic Ashea. A rain of ashes from volcano* a on Martinique or Rt. Vincent Islar to is falling over Guadelopue Islan an Mount Soufriere, the largest vole im no on St. Vincent, is calm and tl he ashes must come from some oth crater. \ iHumimmm mm m m WOOLS. I NO. 7. I .1 AM II. & mr-m+m-mm-m rnemmmmotomt take to teach all these books to any one child in the allotted time would make old Socrates catch hia breath. In the first case it would seem that the course given was measured by the physical endurance of the teach era? ten teachers pitted against ten nets of children. In the oeeond cas-> the physical endurance of the teachers was no limit?four teachers pitted against ten pets of children. I am far from advocating only th-j three It's in the common schools, but nir schools are undertaking too much in the quantity of work and the kind of work. School work must be circumscribed by time, space, and the ability of the pupil. Take the 8th grade course already mentioned. Of the eleven texts prescribed, nine ar; to be pursued at the same time. If, is no figure of speech to say that if a child's time is the divldvnd of a long division, the quotient, or result, must be small. For instance, in the first two years of a child school life tlu? schools very properly devote much time and energy to ornl reading. 11ut by the time ho reaches tho fifth grade, so many things ancrowded upon him that ho does hue. little oral reading while under instruction? a few minutes each day. perhaps. Henoe when he reaches the high school Ids oral reading i? scarcely intelligible, and he is often unable to get through from the printed page. Indeed, many a eollegu student and not a few teachers in our Common schools can not read us they should read on entering th i high school. These crow (ted courses of study have another fatal weakness. In th?? same school and in tho same Classen is a wide range of ability, taste, and opportunity, among the pupils. Th t bright, and precocious mind, the sluggish but retentive mind, and tbo duli mind arc found side by side. Th pupil of robust body and vigorous health, the one of feeble body and delicate health, and the one wlfo ample time for every task and tbo one with scant time for any task, all go to the same school. The unpardonable sin of the schools Is .? hunch them together, give them th'? same work, and require all to measure up to a common standard. (Jo I made them in different molds, an?l it is useless for the schools to tr j to ignore the differences. It Is unnatural and it. is wrong. To march abreast twenty-five children in one grade tip to a given dead-line !s neither possible nor desirable. OWdren with diverse abilities, tastes. I and opportunities should not be required to progress with even step t hronirh snrh illvorHO nnld??/Uo n? mathematics. language, history, and drawing. Tf a boy can do the language work of the 6th grade, but Ih prepared for only the 4th in mathematics, put him just where he In fitted to gar "Oh, he would not fit into my program." sayR Bomfl one. Then make the program fit the boy. The possibility of doing this is one of the great advantages that the small country school has over the closely graded school. There is another thing which nee<l9 to be dinned into the ears of oprlca ?both teachers and patron*?that it is folly for a school with nine grades and two teachers to undertake to do what a school with nine grades and six benchers accomplishes. The two-teacher school may he the better school within its limitations, but it must keep wihin these limitations. A one-horse farmer who would claim to bo ablo to grow as many crops and as large cr>p? as a four-horse farmer would grow, would be laughed at. Little David could not fight in big Saul's heavy and cumlKjrsome armor, hut with a sling and a pebble he did effective work. WlUlilAM II. HAIN1J. UniverBity of South Carolina. WOIIK OF A FIEND. i Young Ij?dy Outraged by a Negro Near Ooncord, N. O. Miss Pearl Tucker, sixteen years old, was criminally aesau^ted by a t negro in the woods near Conoord, twenty miles north of Charlotte, N. C., Tuesday afternoon. The girl : was picking cotton in a field and the t negro led her to the bushes at the , point of a pistol. After aceomplish* ing his purpose he threatened to > kill her if she told on him, and tell, ing her his name was Henry Fag s gart, ffed into tho woods. A posse , of 600 citizens quickly formed -t and captured a suspect an hour after I the crime was committed. Police r Chief Soger succeeded in getting the v negro in an uutomobile, and follow , ed hy a frenzied mob, which has o grown to two thousand, is endeavoring to get his prisoner to a place of safety. >3 Six Hoys Killed, id 8ix hoys were reported hilled at d. Sugar llldge, when a freight trala a- on the Toledo and Ohio Central Rail* road crashed into a heavily -lade* er excursion train returning from a fair at Bowling Green.