Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

CROOKED WORK ? Partizan Political Elections Bring About Municipal Corruption V MUCH MONEY STOLEN > Kansas City Clerks Stole $13,000 During 1008 Investigation of Councilmanie Deals in Pittsburg. ifigii FrlctMl Klectiou lu Wisconsin. What Is the Remedy? Tho American people are yearly paying the price for making elections political, rather than business propositions. Scarcely a month passes but some councilman, some count official or other individual prominent in the affairs of a community falls to remember that a "public office is a public trust" and allows his position to become a means for criminal procedure. City councllmen, who direct the affairs of municipal corporations, invest their funds, handle their bonds, grant or refuse their franchises, and do hundreds and one other things which make their favor worth having, are made the targets of all sorts of proposiy^pj, blandish ments, favors and bmjes. If they have been placed in ollice as a politcal reward, they naturally take advantage of the prestige the job offers and make the most of it. Again politicians do not buy elections for fun nor to serve the people from a pure sense of duty. They spend thousands in the hope of gaining millions. Grit has comiled a few of the more important cases of crookedness that have come to light since 1909. Indictments have been found against Councilmen Klein, Wasson, and Brand, of Pittsburg, and Bank ers Ramey and Vilsack for bribery in connection with the German National bank of Pittsburg. It is declared that further investigation may reveal additional crookedness on the part of Pittsburg council. Thieving clerks are accused of looting the treasury of Kansas City, Mo., of $13,000 in the past year. No definite action has been taken as it Is only a short time since the audi tor's office made report for 1908. W7. W. Wallace, former county clerk, in Wallace county, Tenn., is under arrest on charge of embezzlement and breach of trust. Ho admits a shortage but will not plead guilty to the charges. Councilman #, George Aunger, of Astabula, O., is g under indictment on charge of al Tegod solicitation of a bribe of $1,200 in connection with a gas company's franchise. Even school teachers in Oklahoma liave allowed their names to become associated with criminal proceedings. I). H. Hallock, of Goodward county, is now serving six months in prison and will have to pay a fine of $1,000 on conviction of {subornation and perjury, in having school teachers make fraudulent land entries. Poor Farm Commissioner II. II. Baumgartner, of Franklin county, Pa., and Steward Ilenry Sutton, and their wives, are under indictment on oharge of assault, larceny and re ceiving stolen goods. They forced their charges to steal and beat them when they failed to appear with plunder, and other charges of an almost unbelievable nature are lodged against them. A. N. Armstrong, of Jackson, Mich., a warden in a Btate penitneiary, is under arrest on ^charge of bribery in connection with a chair factory in the institution in which convicts are comnelied to .vork. He is likely to go bacK ti> the chair factory and work as a convict. ,|> The legislature in ^'Wisconsin has just closed the series of incidents leading up to the election of a United States senator, by defeating Senator Stevenson for re-election by one vote. The contest was bitter and included resolutions to Investigate the primary (election, charges of bribery and fraud made against Stevenson by John T. Bahnc and a vote by the eenate for an investigation of the same. The senator-elect reported an expenditure of over $100,000 in securing his election and his expense account is now iyjM 10 hands of the committee on elections in Congress. Not the least of criminal proceedings brought in recent date is the accusation made against Gov. Charles N. Haskell, of Oklahoma, and sevon other prominent person of the State, for alleged fraudulent entries. Tho populace of Muskogee back Haskell to a man and feel he is being prosecuted by Roosevelt and Hearst. * Took His Life. Mobile, Ala., Feb. 16.?News of the sensational suicide of William Rowling a prominent resident of Le Roy, Ala., has just, reached here. Howling blew his brains out yesterday afternoon with a shot gun. SUBS J SHIP CAUGHT FIRE AND OVER TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE ARE LOST. Th? Terribl? Disaster Was Caused by a Panic Seizing the Passengers and Crow. Buenos Ayres, Feb. 20.?The Argentine steamer President? Roca, from Southern ports, according to reports received hero, has been wrecked between Puerto de Sanatonio and Puerto Madriu, on the east coast. The steamer caught tire, and it is believed that the crew and two hundred passengers have perished. It is reported also that the steamer sank. Press dispatches received here this afternoon state that the flames spread with great rapidity, and that the steamer was headed into shore as rapidly as possible. A panic prevailed and many lives were lost, soma of the estimates reaching as high as two hundred. The Presidente Roca was on her way north from Puerto Madrin to San Antonio. Later otllcial messages, however, report that the vessel sank, but that only twenty lives were lost. Three hundred and fifty passengers and members of the crew were saved, according to these advices. | The Presidente Roca belonged to the Hamber-South American Line. She was the largest steamer trading regularly between Ruenos Ay res and the Southern ports of the Republic. It is hoped that the latest reports as to the number who nerished is true. * LACKED A LEADEK. Mob of One Thousand Cat her About Ottuinwu Jail. Otumwa, Iowa, Feb. 21.?I^ack of a leader was all that saved Ottumwatonight from adding another bloody chapter to the history of the race riots in the United States. A mob of i men and boys which has increased from 100 to more than 1,000 gathered around the city Jail, thirsty for vengeance on the negro who committed a criminal assault on Mrs. Charles M. Johnson early this morning. John Junkin, a negro, suspected of the murder of Clara Rosen, who was slain two weeks ago, was taken out of town secretly by the police following the early manifestations of mob spirit. A recently organized vifciiuuew comuun.ee is aiding mo police, who declare they have the situation in control. Company G, 5th regiment of the national guard is held in the barracks for any call to action. While this work was going on the crowd around the city jail continued to grow. Threats being made against the negro Junkiu, the police toward night took him to Shillicothe, ten miles west, where he was put on board a Burlington train and taken to Alba. Trouble started again when seacliets began to bring in suspects captured in the surrounding country. The mob contented Itself with yelling its hate as the tirst, second and third suspects were taken into the city pail. * ( It 10AT BIOAST KILLED. Huge Lion Attacks His Trainer and Was Slain. Americus, Ga., Feb. 21.?T.ate last night "Wallace," one of the largest African man-eating lions In captivity, was killed after having made a 1 savage attack upon his trainer, Capt. Cardo. The trainer was only slightly wounded. He saved himself by the rapid firing of his pistol in the infuriated beast's eyes. "Wallace" attacked Cardo about a week ago during a performance in Albany, at which time the trainer was severely wounded. lie was saved on that occasion by the prompt assistance of a bystander. "Wallace" was the property of a carnival company which is filling an engagement here and Capt. Cardo is an attache of the organization. * WANTED SEVEN THOUSAND. Entered a Man's Ollico With lMstol and Boml). Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 19.?Arm cd with ? revolver in ono hand and a dynamite bomb in the other, n man apparently about 40 years old, a few days af?o entered the home of Lawrenco M. Jones, president of the Jones Brothers Dry Goods Company, of this city, and demanded $7,000. | By a ruse, Mr. Jones overpowered I the man, who was arrested. SCRIBE N COOPER TRIAL The First Witness Took the Stand Tuesday Morning. TELLS OF SHOOTING Mrs. Kastman, the Woman Kye-Witnoss of the Shooting, lk'soribcs It Vividly, and the l'roHecution Then Showed How Coopers Threatened. mute tins a Strong Case. Nashville, Feb. 19.?After a month of haggling over a jury, tho trial of Col. Duncan B. Cooper, his son, Robin, and John i>. Sharp, for tho murder of ex-Senator Edward W. Carmaok, on Nov. 9, last, has i finally been started. The jury was J completed last Saturday, after 3,000 talesmen had ben examined, and all but the 12 chosen ones had been rejected. The court took a rest on Sunday and Monday, but on Tuesday the trial proper began. It will probably be completed in about three weeks, unless the lawyers for the detalesmen had been examined, and all the witness box with "brainstorm" experts. The opening address of the State's lawyers were very brief, and by 10 o'clock Tuesday morning tho first witness, Mrs. Carmack, the widow of the slain man, was on tho stand. She answered but a few questions and was succeeded by her ten-yearold son. The child, fiercely gripping his mother's hand, was on tho stand for about ten minutes, and. while his testimony was unimportant, the dramatic effect was great, the little boy, between answers, glowering at the defendants with hate written on every lino of his features. The rest of the day moved swiftly, each minute bearing a sensation, each jour standing forth witli a surprise in the form of evidence which the State had concealed from every eye except its own. There was a stenographer undreamed of as a witness, who told of seeing Col. Cooper and Robin Cooper start forth from the law ofllce of J. C. Brawford, husband of a sister of the colonel, on the afternoon of November 9, to go to the corner where blood was to run half an hour later. There was a newsboy who swore to the fact that he heard Col. Cooper say to Robin half a block away from Bradford's otllce, "We'll get him," or "We'll catch him." There was an optician, who testified that ho saw the two Coopers with John Sharp between them going in a direction which would have taken them to the scene of the tragedy, an^l by this testimony Sharp was connected for the first time publicly with the action of his co-defendants fellow-conspirators. There was a brother of former Gov. Joseph Folk, of Missouri, who told the story or mooting Col. Cooper within a fVw steps of where Carmaek was killed a few minutes afterward, and of seeing Robin Cooper and John Share talking together at Seventh ftvenuo and Union street. And it was Folk who swore that ho heard Robin Cooper say to his father, "Are you going up this way?" and tho colonel answerod, "No, I'll wait awhilo yet." There was Edward B. Craig, a former State treasurer of Tennessee, who told how Col. Cooper, on November 7, declared to him in tho Tulane hotel in this city that if Senator Carmaek did not refrain from using the name of Duncan 11. Coper in his writings in the Tennessean, that either he, Cooper or Carmaek would have to die. llehind all this evidence loomed the background furnished by the testimony of Mrs. Charles II. Eastj man, to which Senator Carmaek, with hat lifted, was about to open a conversation when tho Coopers came upon them. She swore that she did not believe thai Senator Carmaek fired the shot. She said she saw his pistol eateh as he sought to draw it from his hip pocket; that the voice of an old 1 man?a voice she believed was Col. Cooper's?was an asault in itself, when it approached her from behind and said substantially, "Well, hero you are now," or "I have tho drop on you." Then sho told how Col. Cooper fired one shot and Robin two, and of tho accusation she made against them as the slain man lay in the gutter in his own blood. Hharp Criticism. Washington, Feb. 18.?The immigration commission was the subi Joct of sharp criticism in a speech by ; Senator Gray of South Carolina. I basaed upon tho resolution Intro ducod by himself directing the coinI mission to report to the senate a summary of its acts and its present ; work. OW TO HOW YEGGS START THEY GRADUATE FROM THE HOBO CLASS. The Estimated Army of Fire Hundred Thousand Trampu Supplies the Ranks of l>osperate Criminals. According to the reports of various delegates to the last annual session of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, held at Washington, D. C., the year 1908 has been a great one for "yeggraen." This was explained by the fact that It was a dull business year. Work was very scarce, and as the mem It tho army of "hoboes," or tramps, was swollen to a remarkable degree, and it is from this class of men in the country that 95 per ceut of the yeggmon graduate. It is estimated by competent authorities that there are 600,000 hoboes in the United States at the present lime, and during last summer this number was even greater. And in the ranks of this army are some of the greatest criminals in the country. Yeggmen are especially feared by the heads of police departments, because they are more daring than most robbers and are more desperate when cornered. They never hesitate to sacrifice human life should there be the slightest chanco of capture. Then the use of explosives is dangerous, and invariably results in destruction of property, lint the principal danger lies in the fact that persons, awakened by the noise of the explosion, investigate and are oftimes shot down for their trouble. "The solution of the tramp question means the end of a great deal of crime," declared Chief of Police Goodrich, of Binghamton, N. Y., a nu hilt railroad detective. "It is from the tramp class that over 5 0 per cent of all male criminals In the country graduate. Thus the hobo can well be termed a national pest. I say national, because ho is peculiarly American, especially in a number of objectionable features. There must be a reason for this vast army of lawless bums, and either the police departments or the laws of the country are at fault. I believe the biggest fault lies with the people themselves. The American people, as a rule, are too sympathetic and easily 'worked.' " Capt. Pinkerton, head of the famous detective bureau, presented a report showing the work of the dangerous class of criminals for four years. The largest number of robberies, the work of yeggs, committed during one eyar was 110, and j the greatest amount of plunder taken at a single haul was $180,977.46. This money all finds its way into disreptliable hands, for yeggmen are invariably inveterate gamblers. * (JlllMKS OF XHGKOICS Have Aroused tlio People of Ottuimvu to Vengeance. Ottumwa, Feb. 21.?The crimes of negroes in this section of Iowa has stirred tho people no little. There have been a number of assaults on white women by negroes within the last two years that contributed to arouse Ottumwans. The lirst was an assault on Mrs. George McHrido. Sherman Phillips, colored, was acquitted of the crime. Mary Mahoney, tho next victim died in a hospital. Oscar Ilogan, colored, is serving a life term for tins crime. Agnes Yates, a telephone operator, was followed home from work and Illtnclfnd U'ilUnin - .. i.ituiii inciuua, <1 lltrgro, was acquitted of this assault. Mrs. John Irwin was asaultod by LeRoy Edwards, a negro, who was sentenced for life. John Junkin, colored, is the only suspect now held for the murder of Clara Rosen. A negro forced himself in tho room of Mrs. C. M. Johnson this rooming and bea*t her nearly (to death with a curtain pole. * WIRELESS FROM HAWAII. Aerograms Travel 2,200 Miles and Reach liOs Angeles. Los Angeles, Feb. 20.?Los Angeles was in wireless communication with the Hawaiian Islands last night for the first time. Operator Blakeney reported today that his station was in touch with tho station at Hahua for a brief time. Tho distance between tho two points is about 2,200 miles. Negro Electrocuted. Richmond, Va., Feb. 18.?Charles Gillespie, the negro who a month ago tuit'iiipiiHi an assault upon a yoiinej lady of this city, was put to death In the electric chair In the penitentiary here today. THE IK MOBS WREAK HAVOC IX THE FOHKICJN QUAltTEHS OF OMAHA, NK1I. Shooting of Patrolman by (jm'k Prisoner, Together With Speeches, Produces Friction?Two Injured. Omaha, Neb. Fob. 21.?Bent on avenging tho murder of Patrolman Edward Lowry, who was shot Friday night by a Greek prisoner, some 2,000 men and boys today partly wrecked 30 buildings in the Greek quarter of South Omaha and created a riot, during which two boys were wounded with bird shot, and a dozen other persons were injured with missies of various sorts used in smashing buildings occupied by Greeks. Tho riots followed a mass meeting at which two State legislators and an attorney harraiurued the i-rowii The police were helpless for about three hours to disperse tho rioters aiul* Greek resldetns fled in panic from the quarter attacked, while the mob wrecked property. lCven after the police gained control they could not disperse the crowd. The onslaught of the mob was made in three divisions. The main attack centered at Twenty-sixth and Q streets, the principal Greek quarter. The maddened crowd began its destruction by throwing stones and bricks through the windows of stores occupied by Greeks. In a short time havoc was made of these places. Two blocks east another crowd smashed the front of a saloon and several men attempted to pillage the interior. A squad of police prevented the mob from getting the liquor. At this place the two bovs wore nhnt and tho other persons injured. A third crowd rushed to Twentyfourth and L streets and demolished a confectionary store kept by Demos Bros. Mrs. Mary Demose and her aged father narrowly escaped death at the hands of the mob. The three attacks were made almost simultaneously and the destruction was complete before Chief Briggs could get his scattered forces together. Meantime Sheriff Brailey rushed his deputies to South Omaha to aid the police. * MONEY Hl'lUICl) BY Y EC CIS. Until They Could Bob a Big Atlanta Bank. Atlanta, Feb. 21.?Several yeggmen arretted here confess that they have buried the sum of $5,000 near this city. There are some six or eight, under arrest and being held by the local police. The money was obtained by means of safe blowing in Atlanta, Memphis and other places. To avoid suspicion and to keep tho cash whoro it could he easily obtained, the yeggmen hit ui)on the plan of burying it. They were to keep it hid until after the grand climax of their series of depredations?the robbery of the safety vault of tho Fourth National Bank?had been pulled off. It is stated by those of the burglars who will talk, that they were planning to rot) the vault on Thursday or Friday night. One of their number had managed to got into tho basement, of tho hank to assist in doing somo masonr> work in the vicinity of the vault and had become familiar with al the surroundings. They were to employ dynamite in gaining entrance Had the plan to rob the bank succeeded they would have reaped a rich harvest, as hundreds of thousands of dollars in money and valuables are stored in the. bank vnuita * killed his playmate. Two Hoys Playing With Pistol One Is Dead. Laurnos, Feb. 10.?An unfortu nato tragedy occurred at tho Lau n~??? . - - - 11no v^uuuii iviiiis ai k o'clock this morning, when Foster Turned, th< live-year-old son of Mr. C. C. Turner was accidentally shot and killed bj his playmate and cousin, llursel Giles, the eight-year-old son of Mr J. S. Giles. The two children wen playing with a pistol, when it was discharged in the hands of youii? Giles, tlto hall entering the forehead of his cousin, causing death in thirt.v minutqs. The pistol was a 3 2-cali bre Iver-Johnson, belonging to Mr Cleveland Giles, an elder brofthoi of Hursell. < Under Snow Drifts. Seven persons in the hotel kep by Mr. and Mrs. B. Waters at th< crest of the Continental divide a the Alpine tunnef, near Beuna Vista Cal., are on the point of starvation [owing to deep snows. IRRY HI | A BLACK FIEND Tried and Sentenced Within a Day After Awful Crime OF RAPE AND MURDER The Fiend Confessed the Double Crime After Fosse Captured Hitn. The Ouri>so of the Little Girl Hears Kvldeuce of the Awful Crime ami u l)o?|>crato Resistance. Richmond, Feb. 18.?Late yesterday a young negro, named Aurellous Christian, criminally assaulted Mary Dobbs, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a well known farmer living near Glen Wilton, Dotetcourt county, after which he cut her throat and stabbed her in the side, causing death. A posse was quickly formed and tlie whole countryside was scoured. The negro being promptly captured. At one time lynching was feared, as there was intense excitement, but tins was averted by the ofhcers. The negro is now in tite hands of the authorities, ard 1ms made a full confession. Where the girl was found therti were evidences of a desp orate struggle. Christian is only eighteen years of age. He was today removed from Glen Wilton to the Dotetcourt county Jail at Fincast le, Virginia, to await trial. The double crime occurred at dusk yesterday while the child was returning from a store to her home half a mile away. Her throat was slashed and the body showing evidence of criminal asasult, was not found un til sevkiral hours afterward. Christian is said to have been in similar trouble beforo. n The fiend was tried and sentenced today to die in the ell?ctric chair in the State penitentiary on March 22. He was taken from Clifton Forgo today to Flncastle and tried, at a special sitting of tho court by Circuit Judge Anderson, who accompanied the negro and oflhurs to Fincastle. The fiend was indicted by tho grand Jury, and Judge Anderson appointed three lawyers to defend him. At a conference between the lawyers and the prisoner, Christian mado a confession, and Judge Anderson imposed tho death sentence. The scoundrel said he was hiding in the woods whim Miss Dobbs passed by on her way to a store. Ho seized her, and aftor assaulting* her, cut her throe* and stubbed her threo times "to ke\ > her from tolling." The sentence came within twontv. four hours after the crime was comi mitted, and the fiend was sent to i the Fincastle Jail. The Jail is being guarded tonight to prevent an attack that might be made by a mob. A mob gathered last night near Clifton Forge, but agreed not to attempt to lynch the scoundrel while ho "was at that place." ! SFYEIUO SHOCKS 1 > Terrify the People in Many Parts i ( of Spain. Alicante, Spain, Ifeb. 21.?Severe earth shocks were experienced ' throughout the whole district of Ellohe this morning. Tho shocks began early, the first occurring at about 1 a. m. Tho most serious disturbance. which came while the people were assembled at mass in the village church, caused a panic among the congregation, Furniture in hous1 es was overturned and crockery and 1 ' window panes broken. At Crevill? ento there were two severe shocks between 8 and 8:30 a. m. Houses rocked and swayed at an alarming angle. The people are now camping In the open fields. * KILLING IN ANDKKSON. Drunken Men Shoot Deputy United States Marshal. i 3 Anderson, Feb. 21.?United States , Deputy Marshal J. IJ. McAdams, also ' employed as policeman at the Orr 1 mills, outside the city limits, was . shot down and killed by Webb Sim3 molls, a white employee of the mills, \ at noon today. Simmous had been j drinking sonslderable during the I morning and had fired several shots r in the mill Tillage which had groatly - frightened the Inhabitants. Sim. mons drew his pistol on another em* ployee of the mill, and McAdams ? Interfered and was shot down. Cold Kleetion Day. t With the thermometer registering 3 01 doirreoa hol?-?w . ? ?w.rji?,, n;?iuenis or t the Yukon district in the Klondike , turned out and elected J. T. Conf?, don, representative to the Canadian parliament. ERALD