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W ' AVANT TALKS Cearfetewa Mas Says Kdlisg Has Raised His Life. A PECULIAR SITUATION Mm IK>oe Not Know How His Appeal Stands?-l)r. lli^hnm Not Yet Heard From?Seems to He Doubt About Keport of the Doctor Being in Greenville. "Of coui*8? it worries nio. It lias ruined my life and 1 never expect to get over it," said W. li. Avant at the State penitentiary, where he is held, pending an appeal to tut supreme court. Avant was questioned closely as to the trugedy of Murroll's Inlet, when ho shot and killed Mrs. Ruth Crisp Righain, 011 a lonely beech, while he was in company with her husband, Dr. Q. C. Bigliam. Both Avant and Bigliam have been convicted for the crime and sentenced to servo a term of three and onehalf years each in the State prison. The prisoner who is now being held, until further advices are received from tho Georgetown sheriff is very young, hardly over 2 3, of unkempt appearance, shoulders slightly stooped, brownish hair, gray eyes and of a nervous nature. The where abouts of Dr. Bigliam, the husband of the woman who was killed, is unknown. Just what will be tho next move Jn the noted case is not known. Dr. "Bigham is at large, although recently reported to be in Greenville. \V. B. Avant is at tho State Prison, though not-as a convict, a message having been received by tho authorities from the sheriff of Georgetown just before he was to be mustered in hnhl li I*vt until fm.tlw.,. in I 11, IV I I V / I V | Ml Ml lllllll I III 1 II V I IIIstructions." Avant firmly believes that he will get another trial but can not understand why the papers have not been filed with the supreme court. It Is stated that the time is out for the filing of the papers and that both men will have to go to prison. Tho prisoner said that he was perfectly ignorant as to just what his attorney had done in the case and that he thought that immediately after Judge Watts refused a new trial that the case would be appealed to the supreme court. Avant was given to understand before the interview that it was not necessary for him to talk unless he wished to and that he might request any statement he might make not to be printed. In his conversation, the prisoner at times grew excited and nervous. , Questions of general nature ho would answer freely, but when asked directly about certain phases of the case he would exclaim in an excited voice, "that I refuse to answer." Although he was asked many questions concerning the mysterious case, he would give no answers that would make a connected story. He could not remember many of the details of the killing. When asked who shot Mrs. Bigham, the prisoner said, "Yes, I shot her." When asked why the answer ' came, "I decline to answer." On being asked just what his thoughts were when he discovered that he had shot a woman, he hesitated a moment and said, "I had no thoughts. I was scared and nervous and ran back to the house." "Why did you shoot and kill Mrs. Bigham?" was asked Avant and the usual reply to many questions came, "that I decline to tell you." "Before you pulled the trigger, what did you see on the beech was the next question asked the prisoner, "Something black, sitting on the ground," was the answer. When questioned further as to where Dr. Bigham was when the shot was fired, the prisoner said, "I don't know. I was scared, he might have been near me." "What did you think the something black or dark was on the beech?" he was asked, "I will not answer that," was the reply. Avant stated that he was married, and while not a warm personal friend of Dr. Bigham that he had known him for some time and that Mrs. Bigham had visited his home several times. The prisoner was a farmer. The killing of Mrs. Bigham was most sensational and mysterious in Its nature and many theories have been advanced, but nothing of a deft nite nature is known concerning the crime. Where is I)r. Bigham? is the question that many are asking. "From what can bo learned here Dr. Bighnm is still at large and the last report from him is to the effect that he is in Greenville. Evidently there is some misunderstanding in connection with the affii", Avant having been arested and s^nt to prison and Bigham being out on bond yet. It certainly appears to y illegal for Avant to bo in and ham out or vice versa, inasmuch y were both released at the same o and under identically the same ditions " ^ report from Greenville, where it \ claimed Dr. Bigham had gone visit some of his relatives says: Dr. G. C.-Bigham seems not to be Greenville at present, as ho has MAKE HEROES OF THEM TI1K SUPREME COURT TAKKH UNl'HKCKDKNTKD ACTION. Imprison an Kx-Shorllf and Others for Allowing a Prisoner in Their Custody to be Lynched. For tho first tlmo In American history, six men aro in prison for contempt of the Supreme Court of the United Stntes. For the first time, too, the Federal Government has placed men behind tiie burs as an outcome of the lynching of a negro. At the United States jail in Washington, Capt. Joseph F. Shipp, former sheriff at Chattanooga, Tenn.; Jeremiah Gibson, his jailer, and Luther Williams, Nick Nolan, Henry Padgett and Will. Mhvph. nf thn siinio ciI v have begun serving terms of imprisonment imposed a few hours before by the Supreme Court of the United States. Shipp and Gibson had been found guilty of failing to protect from a mob Ed Johnson, whose legal execution for rape had been stayed by the Supremo Court until it could review tho case. The others had been found guilty of participation in the lynching of a Federal prisoner. Shipp, Williams and Nolan were given sentences of ninety days' imprisonment each, while Padgett, Gibson and Mayes each received sixty days. As the big barred doors of tho j jail swung open to receive the prisoners, immediately after sentence had been imposed, Warden McKee stood before them, "As least we are in the hands of a soldier!" exclaimed ('apt. Shipp, who had been in many a light for the Confederacy, as he espied a G. A. K. button on the lapel of Warden McKee's cost. Then turning to his live fellow prisoners, he said: "Iloys, it will be all right." Warden McKco has inaugurated methods of punishment at the jail as huinantarian as the various classes of prisoners will allow, and lie was prepared lor the reception of tho six men from Tennessee. About a year ago, during the imprisonment of an unusually large 11 ll 111 her of women the unrdon hurt fitted uj) a store room on the fourth floor of the jail as quarters for female prisoners. It was in this large room, perhaps twenty by thirty-five feet, that he locked the six prisoners. In the room were beds for each of the prisoners, while at one end was a table upon which "trusties" will set their meals three times a day. A bath room, adjoining the room, will be used by tho prisoners exclusively. Four large circular widows open to the south and west, giving excellent views of the front of the buildings. In fact, so pleasant did the prisoners find tho quarters that Capt. Shipp sent his attorney, Major Clift, to the office of the Supreme Court to withdraw a request he had made when sentence was imposed, to be sent to the Federal prison at Atlanta, (la., instead of the jail in Washington. During the afternoon, the six men received calls from Tennesseeans and others. Sitting 011 his straw bed, half reclining 011 his pillow of straw, Capt. Shipp made this statement: "Wo are Very well pleased with tho treatment given us by Warden McKee, and are delighted with the quarters assigned us." A few hours in jail made Gibson reminiscent. He told his companions that this was not the first time he had been in prison in Washington. "But the other time I was brought here as a Confederate prisoner," he said. Wanted to liang Sooner. At Russellville, Ala., Tom RobertHon, who two weeks ago killed his wife nnd his mother-in-law and dangerously wounded his wife's father, was found guilty of murder in the circuit court and sentenced to be hanged December 1 r?. "That's too long for mo to live," exclaimed Robertson, when the date of his execution was announced. It. takes more than one thief to organize a steal trust. not been seen within the last few days. It is supposed by some, however, that he is somewhere In the county with his relatives. "The sheriff of this county has recently received a telegram from the sheriff at Georgetown county telling him not to arrest Higham, and from this it seems that he is not considered a fugitivo from justice." Dr. Higham is under a bond of $1 ,r>00 and if the papers for a new l.r. /It .. I ...111. it./. ii uii nuvt; not uuimi iiit'll wilh iiiu bupromo court, it seems as If ho Ih destined to boivc out his sentence should he appear. ttigham is thus described: "A low, heavy-set man, possibly live feet nine inches in height, dark red hair, parted in the middle, medium low forehead, ruddy complexion; eyes of light brown, reddened as if by dissipation and granulated eye lids, lie is rather boyish in appearance, clean shaven, and when his face is in repose ho appears rather a mild mannered man. In appearance he is rather younger than his ace. 28 years " THEY ARE DEAD The Resent Work Halted by a Fresh Oatbreak of fire ia Miae. ALL HOPE IS GIVEN IIP General Opinion Arouml the Mine Ht Cherry, Illinois, in Which Over Three Hundred Men Were Htirie<l Alive Saturday, is That All Are llryoml the Itcnrh of Aid. Sunday there was a hope that the four hundred miners who were entombed in the St. Paul coal mine near Cherry, 111., were still living, but that hope was given up on Monday, and it is now believed that all of them are dead. Some of the bodies lie buried beneath thousands of tons of earth which caved in upon them, and it is doubtful whether many of the bodies can ever be recovered. Fans employed in an effort to carry fresh air and life down to the imprisoned men served only to enliven some embers which sprang into flames. Soon the heat and smoke became so dense that it was necessary again to seal the mouth of the hoisting shaft and the men down there, whatever their condition, are locked in as effectively as in a dungeon. Hope swung frequently in the balance the past day or so. Uefore the fire broke out again, rescuers descended four times into the shaft. Then the rumor circnhiteii I M ? "*'?* 1 J throughout the crowds that the men below had been reached and that the reason they were not brought up immediately was that they were J exhausted by lack of food, and the j smoke. Hut the truth was far different. The rescuers did, on one occasion, go down throe hundred feet to the bottom of the hoisting shaft. Then groping their way with electric , lamps, and kiept alive by oxygen | carried with them, they penetrated 150 feet into the bottom gallery. Hut none of the miners, either dead ( or alive was found. "Hey, are you there?" cried the rescuers, but nothing was heard in , response. It was conjectured the miners had ( crawled for safety into the recesses, remotest from the fire, but to j these parts the rescuers were unable to go without reascending. Before they could redescond, the fire had J browen out. Gradually the crowd about the mouth of the shaft began to thin as hope seemed to wane. The explorers reported they had J walked in a vein of the mine for 150 feet from the base of the shaft and they had found no living nor ' dead body. The atmosphere in this | vein was considerably better than had been expected. With the aid of the electric lanters the searchers had been able to see plainly. In other veins leading from the shaft much smoke was encountered and nothing could be scon. After j consultation it was determined to ( start the ventilating fan at the opposite side of the mine to clear the galleries of the smoke. Some believed that, the draft might arouse a simmering lire. Others felt assured the lire had been smother- ' ed and that ventilation would clear the galleries and make thetn possible for the searchers. In half an hour the fans were suddenly ordered stopped. Smoke began to pour from the main shaft. 1 It was soon learned that tire had 1 broken out afresh. Attempts to drown it proved futile ' so that it became necessary to seal 1 the shaft. ! ? 1 C. N. CIUTTKNTON D10AI). ( He Was Pounder of Florence Orit teuton llescue Homes. 1 A dispatch from San Francisco. Cal., says Chas. N. Crlttonton, of New York, widely known as the millionaire founder of the Florence Crlttention Hcscue Homes for gils, died Tuesday night of pneumonia. He was 111 less than a week. He was 7G years old. Mr. Crittenton founded seventythree rescue homos in this country and several In Japan and China, which ho named in memory of his daughter, Florence, at whose dying request he entered the mission work. Tho Woman in lllack. The mysterious "woman in blnck" who committed suicide Wednesday in the Vest room of an Atlanta department storo was identified as Miss Willano Cotton, daughter of Mrs. Rebecca I). Cotton. The young woman, who died from an over-dose of strychnine, was said to havo been in bad health for several months and despondent. + Man Fatally Hurt. At TJina, O., William Fr'cit, a nephew of H. Clay Frick, the steel magnate, is dying at o local hospital as the result of falling from an upper story of a saloon during a struggle with a woman over a glass of beer. * | SUGAR FRAUD EXPOSED FOItMKIl GOVKRNMFNT SAMPLER IS DISCHARGED From the Service Ikcaiwe he Tried, Seven Years Ago, to Secure an Investigation. Some ricsh and racy evidence is being brought out in the investigation of the frauds perpetrated on the government by the members of the Sugar Trust, now going oil in New York. On Wednesday Henry C. Corsa, who once was employed as a Govern men t sampler at the American Sugar Refining Company's docks in Jersey City, has added further interesting material to the complicated controversy surrounding the frauds charged to the company and various customs officials and employees. Corsa was discharged from the Government service seven years ago by reason, as he believes, of his efforts to obtain an investigation. In a lengthy interview he reviews the obstacles he met, and recites experiences similar in many respects to those of Richard Parr and Edwin Anderson, who are defending their respective claims to being the original oxposers of corruption in the customs house. Wilber F. Wakoman, a former appraiser, brought Corsa's name into the case some time ago, when he attested to the fact of his discharging after he had brought to the government's attention convincing evidence of graft, which Corsa says was successfully pigeonholed after ho was ousted. His efforts to obtain reinstatement Corsti adds, were aided j from time to time by Leslie M. Shaw. * former Secretary of the Treasure.! iiid other prominent men, bijt none ! ;>f them, lie declares, was able to | overcome the grip the Sugar Company had on the New York customs > service, or to get for him the endorsement of George Whitehead, who I succeeded Wakeman as appraiser. In his interview of a few days ago Corsa set forth that he went to Washington to present his case to Secretary Shaw, and the latter, he says, after a long conference, said: "I'll see that you are put back. 1 could demand it right new. Hut j things are working so smoothly between Mr. Whitehead and myself ! that 1 don't want to break in abruptly on him with this demand." A short time afterward, according to Corsa, he received a letter from Mr. Shaw stating that Shaw found his hands to tied thut he could do nothing. Corsa says his evidence ugainst the Sugar Company was to the effect that agents of the company had offered him bribes in return for his assistance in substituting uigar of a low grade In samples taken by the government for tests upon which cargoes were appraised. \s a part of this evidence, he turned >ver to his superiors the money givjn him as a bribe. Richard Parr, who is still tvdeputy uirveyor of the port, said that recent investigations have shown that, me man in every five among the miployees in the weighers' division if the New York customs house has ?eeu found implicated in the frauds >r is "under suspicion of the most lositive character." ! AS ll.\l> AS Til 10 SOI Til. I +? IVItnt an Illinois Republican Paper! i Says About bynrlUng. Tho Springfield, III., Republican jays if the South ever yieled up a more- horrible story of human savigery than comes from Cairo, 111., we do not recall it. Indeed, it is impossible that any Southern community could have done so; for how surpass in deviltry and bloodthirstiiess tho hanging and shooting and burning of the victim, the soaking of pieces of rope in his blood, the beheading and parade of the head, and the cutting out of the heart and stripping it into pieces for souvenirs? The only redeeming feature, as the New York Evening Post observes, is that the mob did not stick to the color line. it butchered a white murderer, too, or one charged with murder. It is altogether as revolting tin exhibition of human degradation as the country ever saw, or as Illinois ever saw, and Illinois has of later been giving several exhibitions of the kind. The case with which the nublic authority broke down is a particularly discreditable feature of th? case. That spectacle of the sheriff fleeing with the prisoner through woods and over hills, with tho mob in full pursuit?how hollow is shown to be the pretension of Cairo to a civilization worthy of tho name! We are now to see whether tho State of Illinois can pretend to anything much better? whether tho ringleaders of this blood-hunting mob of men and women are to escape all punishment fitting to their capital crime, as in the case of other Illinois mobs of this character. ? ? ? Many Were Hurt. Ninety persons were injured but none fatally, when Southbound passenger train No. 11, on the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad was wrecked at Rogers, Mo., Wednesday. Spreading rails caused the accident. THEY NEED HELP Starvation Stalks in the Stricken Town of Cherry. 1,000 ORPHANS LEFT Acts of Heroism Performed by i Entombed Men in Trying to Save ] the IjJvos of Others?Mayor of ( the Town Appeals for .Aid from ^ Outside Sources. i According to dispatches there are , 1,000 orphans in Cherry, 111., as a result of the terrible mine explosion, and unless food in large quantities 1 is rushed into the town many will be hungry. "We will need aid and * plenty of it," said Mayor Connelly, 1 "and it must be forthcoming prompt- c 1 y, or there will be great suffer- 1 ing among the destitute families of ( the miners. While wo do not like * to ask for outside assistance, this town is too small to handle the situ- ? at Ion alone. Most or our citizens are miners, and the majority of them are down in the mine, in all probability dead. We are doing everytiling possible to handle the propo- a sition, tint it is too big for us." I)r. Howe, in charge of the relief n work, said that the need of food, a clothing and money is great, and (' that the citizens hope tho people of v Chicago and other places will assist in relieving the situation. Before 11 anything else, we will need food and v lots of it. Those poor women and children will begin to face hunger u very soon and then the situation will a be terrible. Kven now there is but little food in town. The only hotel has run short and the stores have been sold out. Then the question } of clothes for women and the ehil- s dreii may turn out to be a big one. ' When you realize that there are I,- v ot)0 orphans in the town, then the 0 magnitude of the situation can be n seen. They will need clothes and need them badly." * From the miners, who were rescued on Saturday, it was learned that ' a not nor act of heroism was perform- 11 od by one ot' the men in the shaft below?a man who is in all proba- ' bility dead at the present time. He was Walter Waite, an assistant fore- ? men in the second vein. h "When we not in the elevator, the 0 first time," said Isaac Kemulti, one h of the men who was fortunate enough to reach the surface in the first cage-load. "Waite was standing Cl near. He refused to come up in d that load, but said he would stay K down and give the other follows a c chance. 1 know Mr. Flood tried to e pull him into tin* cage, but he re- P fused to come. ^ " 'Let me stay where I am,' said n he, 'there are a lot of other fellows ^ who ought to got out of here. Hurry tip that cage and get them. I'll try and do what 1 can down hero. Maybe it ain't as bad as it. seems." "When I asked about him after the second load had come up nobody knew anything about him. It looks like he was overcome by smoke r and died down in the shaft. He did ii not have to, because he could have ol climbed In the? cage the first time if la he hud wanted to." Ix tl LANTKltN C'AUSKS FIHK. {, ? lc Negro Attacked Night Watchman n at Amcriciis, (In. A loss of fifty thousand dollars * resulted from a fire at Americus, Ga., Thursday night, caused by an , unknown negro attacking Night Watchman Leo McMichael. of the A morions Construction Company, and knocking the latter's lantern over \vith a club. Shavings were ignited by the fire from the lantern and the extensive lumber yards and variety ? 11 works of the company were destroyed. ,, For a time fire threatened do- ^ struotion of a considerable portion of the city. Before being chocked 1 S( the flames had covered an area of ( six acres. Among the other build- . 11 ings burned were nil unused cold j storage plant owned l?y S. It. Sims and valued at $11,000 and six small dwellings with contents. ai ii T1IIUTKKN ITALIANS ARRESTED. c< Band of Alleged Counterfeiters Are K o Caught in New York. ii W By the arrest, of thirteen Italians t| Monday, United States secret service j, men and the Italian squad of the j, New York police, think thoy have (1( rounded up the leaders of a band which has trafficked for at least a venr in n Inrwn amnunt r\( w ... -- .... n v/ iMnvuilv VI W 14 4* tU k " feit money made in Palermo, Italy, and circulated in America. The prisoners, who were takon in n raids upon several Italian shops and 11 homes in Harlem, include Gulsseppe ? Morello, in whose lodging were found seven alleged "black hand" lottors written by him to merchants in New Orleans and returned, tho police believe, by merchants who met tho demands for money. p Pasquale Vasi, another of the men, v had in his possession 1,200 counter- o feit two-dollar bills. e i L,, / WILL ENTER THE MINE CNABLK LONGER TO KNDVKK C1UKS OF THK BERKAVKD M*te Inspector* Will Go Down the Shaft and Find Out About the > M?n Down There. "Wo aro going down into that mine today. We will conquer it or It will conquer us. Unless we succeed, we will never como out alive." The cry of the widows and orphans at the mouth of the fatal mine it Cherry, 111., Thursday morning, 'Open the shaft, open the shaft." irousod State Mine Inspector Taylor. 'I JC\ t 1 It?f*n Iwv 1 Al ^ , a. ^vv men uc stti'rnici'u 10 reclaim Tom the mine the entombed dead iL" locessary," he said. Under the supervision of mine Inspector, hazardous efforts will be nade to satisfy the frenzied cries >f the bereaved widows and orphans. They will be bravlug the langers of deadly poisons, noxious ;ases, explosives and the probability of a collapse of the fire-charred galleries. Preliminary explorations >y experts showed encouruging conlitions and they determined to take ulvantage of the low temperature it the bottom of the emergency haft. *' It was decided to reinforce the ir shaft by the erection of scaffolds, .ttaching a hoisting apparatus an 1 xplore as far as human endurance k'ould permit. It is projiosed to lower wo men, armored with oxygen hellets, and penetrate the galleries toward the main shaft. Investigation revealed less smoke nd gas at the bottom of the shaft ml a decrease in temperature. Mintig inspectors from many States on lie scene give the opinion that the re is still raging, their conviction eing that the mine must be kept ealed. The Illinois inspectors, reaIzing the fury that such action ,'ould arouse among the afflicted itizens. insisted that n lnat k?. lade to roach th^ dead. The temerature at the main shaft is now 09. "There is no halting now," said nspector Taylor, preparing for the nal ordeal of the great disaster. We are going to fight that mine, f successful, we will be able to re- . over the bodies; if not," here the Id man who has served his lifetime eneath the earth, waved his hand, mphasizing the fate that might face im and his colleagues. J All is in readiness for the descent ito the air shaft. The improvised age is completed. The doctors have eclared that the rescuers are in ood physical condition. A large rowd is assembled about the mine, xpectant and almost frantic women redominating. The temperature 'as taken in both shafts and showed 0 material changes from the ourr morning readings. ^ - STAXI) BY (XITTOX CROP. resident of Southern Says World Will ('ull for 20,000,000 Bales. President Finley of the Southern ailway, addressing a largo gathcrig of folk from the countryside f Salisburg, X. Wednesday, ind iter speaking at a banquet of me oard of trade, expressed the cojnvleon that in no area of equal extent 1 the world is the agricultural out* ?ok brighter than in the southern tates, and urged hi farmers not to eglect the cultivation of cotton. / $ "We may well look forward to n mo in the not far distant future," .jgaSj lid Mr. Finley, "when the world ill call on the American cotton ^ lanters for 20,000,000 bales every 3ar." Mr. Finley said he did not view ith any alarm the tendency of jung people to leave the farm, but lid lie believed the increased at aetlons of farm life would soon irn the tide in the other direction. ? "In viewing the figures," said Mr. inley, "It is not to be wondered wit those responsible for the manfoment of the railways of the South, ' ieing the agricultural advance golg hand in hand with the indus ial development, should have faith i their territory and should be strivlg to the utmost to Increase the i irrying capacity of their lines so s to be able to properly handle the \crease in trafiic which is sure to )mo." Mr. Finley did not counsel the rowing of cotton to nnori?n? , ^ VMN/ MV'plCVl Ul ^ ther crops, biU-v#Ingested that an lcrease in prt^luction to keep pace 'ith the demand of the world and Hat it be accomplished* by more itense cultivation and by the growig of a varied of other crops with otton, to the profit of the farmer. ? ? Hanged for Murder. At Canton, Oa., Friday J. B. Ket">g, a negro, was hanged for the lurder of J. C. Lander son, a whito lan, last September. In a speech nthe scaffold Kellog warned mem- A. ~ e 1 ' - cia ui inn race against gambling nd drinking. * Found lx*?d. At Champagne, 111., Thursday T?f. Willfred Wheeler of tho Uniorsitiwof Illinois was- found dond n the Campus grounds with an mpty noleon bottle nearby. * ^ . - *