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.

WILL WORK THEM And Pay the Governnent a Big Cash Royv ally for the Privilege OPENS OFFICIAL EYES A Seattle Man Shows How the Government May Make Two Million l>ollars Per One Hundred Acres for Alaskan Coal Iliads Against ^ $10 lVr Aero Trus tWould dive. A new and somewhat sensational factor suddenly appeared Wednesday in Washington to add intensity to the already sufficiently excited situation over the Alaska coal lands, on the eve of the beginning of the Ballinger - PInchot investigation, which largely concerns that question. John E. Ballaine, of Seattle, said to be the largest individual property owner In Alaska, made a proposition in writing to the senate committee on territories, of which Senator Beveridge of Indiana Is chairman, offering to the government a royalty of fifty cents a ton of coal mined, for the lease of 5,000 acres of some of the choicest coal lands in Alaska, in the Katalla and Matansuka districts. Such a tonnageroyalty would net the government, Mr. Ballaine claims, amounts as high as $2,000,000 per hundred acres. This proposal contemplates a radical departure from past practices in the government's disposal of the Alaska coal lands, and it comes avowedly to do battle with another nrnnnsitlnn. rtpsiirnoft to nermit the sale or lease of such lands at a rate of $10 per acre. It is said that the general features of the plan have the approval of officials high in the administration and of influential members of both houses of congress, Including some of the prominent insurgent Republicans, and delegate Wickersham, of Alaska. Mr. Balline, in his letter to Senator Beveridge, offers to enter into a bond of $1,000,000 with the gov^ ernment for the performance of his part of the agreement, which he proposes, and he makes the charge that "other interests" have now at work in Washington a lobby, "headed by a former U. S. Senator" in support of the bill referred to above, under whose provisions, he declared, the government would extend an unconditional guarantee to a railroad or railroads which these interests purpose to build in Alaska, and would virtually donate to them at $10 per \ acre one or more tracts of 6,000 acres each to be selected by them. ^ Mr. Ballaine asks congress to authorize the head of a department to be designated to enter into a lease with a coal company to be organized by him, for 6,000 acres of Mantahuska coal land under all the provisions for regulation and against monopolistic coinroi 01 prices as stipulated in the bill recently introduced by Senator N|elson in conformity with recommendations of Secretary Ballinger's annual report. This coal company would pay the United States and Alaska a royaffy of 50 cents a ton for the coal as mined. Mr. Ballaine states In his proposal that veins averaging a total thickness of twenty feet would yield, according to standard measurements, a total in excess of 100 million tons from the 5,000 acres, making a royalty of $50,000,000 for this comparatively small area. HAIR BAIjIJ IN HER STOMACH. It Served There as a Sort of Pin and Needle Cushion. Surgeons operating on a woman patient at the St. Lawrence State Hospital for the Insane at Ogdensburg a few days ago took from her stomach a ball of hair weighing 3 1-4 pounds. It had to be cut into three pieces to he taken out. Many pins and needles were found imbedded in the mass. The doctors thought the woman had a tumor. It is supposed she was in the habit of pulling hair fron) . the mattress of her bed and swallowing it. Dealt Blow With Axe. A dispatch from Winston-Salem, N. C., says news reached there a few days ago of a probably fatal fight near Vade Mecum Springs, Stokes county, in which, it is alleged, Will Niten crushed Robert Cook's skull ?,ith an nvo Thft Htorv cnea thnt. both men struggled for possession of the weapon and finally Nlten got It and ended the battle. Dr. R H. Moorefleld, who attended Cook, says his recovery is doubtful. Nlten is said to have escaped. The men fought over an old grudge. Had a Great Time. The legislature took Wednesday off to make a trip to the Citadel, the special carrying over 40 members of the legislature, members of their families and friends, leaving r" over the Coast Line early Wednesday morning. Then on Friday they went to Clemson. SHOT BY CAR-BREAKER HIS OWN PISTOL THE WEAPON USED ON HIM. Desperate Struggle Against Heavy Odds?Special Otticer of Southern 1 tail way at Columbia. A dispatch from Columbia says Special Olticor S. H. Boyer, employed by the Southern railway there, was shot and seriously wounded a few nights ago at the Royster yards, some two miles below the city, while attempting to arrest two negroes who bad broken into a box car. At tho Columbia hospital it was said that ho could hardly recover. Mr. Boyer was on'duty at the Itoyston freight yards, when ho discovered two negroes taking a quantity of goods from a freight car on a siding. He advanced closely on the thieves before he made any attempt to protect himself in caso tho negroes attacked him, and did not havo time to draw his pistol when the negroes discovered him and overpowered him. In the struggle that ensued one of the negroes, wrenched Mr. Boyer's pistol from his hand and shot him, the ball entering his shoulder and coursing downward and lodging in his body. Bloodhounds were secured from tho penitentiary and placed on the trail of the thieves. An unverified report to polico headquarters later said that one of the negroes had been captured but had escaped again. Mr. Boyer is well known in Columbia, at one time being a member of tho police force. He resigned some ten years ago and has been in tho employ of t"ho railroad since. lie lives with his family at 2018 Gadsden street. DYNAMITE KILLS ONE. Explosion in North Carolina Court House Fatal. By the accidental discharge of a stick of dynamite in the county court house at Bryson City, N. C., Thursday night, Omar ConLey was instantly killed, Barrott Banks lost both eyes and was otherwise injured, and Lee Francis, registrar of deeds, of Swain county, was fatally injured. Conley and Banks were thawing dynamite on the radiator of tho registrar's ofllce in preparation for a fishing trip. One of the sticks of dynamite, it is said, fell to the floor and exploded with such force as to shatter the doors and windows of the office and seriously damaging tho entire west end of the court house. iMany valuable county records and legal papers were destroyed. Registrar Francis was working at his desk when the explosion occurred. Late advices state that he and Banks have little chance for recovory. WHITE LIGHTS GOT HIM. William Filgate, of Savannah, Begs New York Judge to Shoot Him. Police Magistrate Breen, of New York city, was considerably surprised a few days ago when a well dressed person on being arraigned, asked that he be either shot or thrown ' in the river. The prisoner said he was William Filgate, of Savannah, Ga., who went to New York four months ago with $1,100 in cash and was arrested before daylight that day for begging on the streets. "It's absinthe and whiskey," said the young man; "I came up here to make my fortune, but I tarried around the white lights too long and I went down pretty quick. 1 had $38 left yesterday morning; 1 had a good time and last night I was broke and had no place to sleep. I asked a man for a quarter, and when he called me a beggar I struck him. Judge, I don't want to go to jail. I'd rather have you shoot me or throw me into the river." Further examination of the young man was postponed until later so that his identity might he verified. The Call for Help. An appeal to America to aid tho sufferers from the French floods has been sent to New York by the municipality of Paris. The appeal Is as follows: "We. are doing all wo can for the homeless and destitute. The Jlremen and Red Cross are working like heroes, but we need help. Tho suffering in Paris is terrible. Wo wouiu usk mat America help us with money to build shelters for our homeless and to provide provisions and clothing. We also need bread and coal." Four Killed in Wreck. Four men were killed and three others were seriously injured Thursday when a freight train on the Chaptauqua branch of the Pennsylvania railroad jumped the track about a mile north of Titusville, Pa. The dead are: William P, Pastorious, signalman, Titusville; Fred Warrend, conductor, Oil City; V. H. Hughes, brakeman, Buffalo; MitchoH Wallace, fireman, Buffalo. j PROVES A SUCCESS EDISON'S NEW STOWAGE BATTERY RUNS A STREET CAR. Edison Estimates That the Cost of Driving tl?e Now Car Will be Om Cent a Mile. What seemed in every way a successful test of a street car equipped with the new Edison storage baitery was made on the Orange Valley & Pasaic electric railway at West Orange, N. J., recently. Thomas E. Edison himself c*uhl 1101 witness me test, out nts electrical expert assistant, Ralph H. Reach, was on board the car with street car men from all over the country. The test was under the auspices of the public service cor poration, and T. S. Adams, master mechanic of that organization, was motorman. The car, which was specially constructed for the new batteries, is 2 4 feet long and carries 3 0 passengers. One-half the weight of an ordianry car of the same size, it rides 011 a single track and is propelled by a straight drive. It ie equipped with 210 cells, arranged under the seats on both sides. Of these cells 200 are for propulsion and 10 for lighting, wtili a total farce of 5 0 horse-power. Edison estimates that the cost of driving the new car will be one con' a mile. If the test satisfies the ex perts, the problem of cables and over head wires will be solved for city traction companies, as the new car generates its own power. Mr. Edison believes that the storage battery will revolutionize auto mobile as well as street car traffic. Not electric maqhines only will prollt by it, for the apparatus should supplant gasoline motors as well. DISCUSSES IIHiII (X)ST OF LIVING President Wilson Says the Trouble is Too Many Leaving Farms. "Is costs more to get the common necessities of life in the United States today than in any other country in the world." This startling statement was made a few nights ago by James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, in an address delivered beforo the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia. Secretary Wilson discussed "The Present Food Crisis," in a way that was original and forceful. "Some poeple," he said, "tell us that if we repeal the present tariff law to let in foreign products free of duty, the present difficulty will cease. I do not believe it. Eggs are 3 5 cents a dozen in Canadian cities and GO cents a dozen in some American cities. The duty is 3 cents a dozen. What difference would it make whether you took off that 3 cents or not?" The secretary further stated that he believed the Aemrican people arc suffering at present not so mucli from the cost of living, his state ment being: "It has been said that the Ameri can is the best fed, best clothed, besl educated and best housed man upor earth. We shall have to add now that he is the most evpensively fed.' Secretary Wilson pointed out thai the fundamental difficulty was thai the people are leaving the farms t( such an extent that there are no enough remainin* to produce th< food of the increasing population The boys and girls of the farm, h< asserted, are being lured away te the cities, to the factories and t( the mines, and to too great an ex tent the agricultural resources o the country are being neglected He said he was convinced that th< combination of retailers, whole salers and the like were responsibh in great measure for the keeping uj of prices and that the same influence would be sufflcient to control the prices of products brought from oth er countries, even though the tarif were removed. Secretary Wilson, after declaring that the record made hy the manu facturers of the United States is i good one, said "the education of the farmer, however, has been over looked. The young farmer has beer educated away from the farm anc from the production of food for the people." Confesses to Murder. James Hall, an enlisted man In the navy, has confessed to the murdei of Anna Schumacher at Rochester N. Y., In 1909, and is now undei arrest at the Portsmouth navy yard mi *_it* - * - - i ne gin wag kimcu in a cemeierj last August. Fiend Assaults Child. Frank Larrance, a fourteen-yearold negro boy, has been committee to jail at Hendersonvllle, N. 0. charged with committing an assauli on a little white girl ten years otd The fiend has confessed his crime Fiend Makes Escape. A negro entered the hem 3 of i farmer near- Osborne, N. C., whilt he was away and assaulted his wife The negro was caught by the farm er but later made his escape. Clos< search is being made for the flcad COPPER TRUST FORMED ? AMAIAJAMATKI) COMPANY ABSOHHS 6MALLKH ONES. New Corporation to Control Cop- per Output of Country and lutluenco Market of the World. A dispatch from Now York says preliminary steps were taken a few t days ago to effect the long-looked- * for merger of the principal copper producers of the country into one 1 gigantic corporation. In Wall street 1 another biHion-dollar company was 1 frequently mentioned, but the more 1 conservative believed final capitili- 1 zation would be closer to $500,000,- < 000. ' The Anaconda Copper Mining Company officially announced that at a ( meeting of the board of directors I a few days ago it had been decided ' to Gall a special meeting of the ' stockholders in Anaconda, Mont., on I March 23, to pass on a proposal to ( increase the capital stock from $30,(000,000 to $150,000,000, "for the 1 ' purpose of acquiring the property of 1 other companies located in the Butte 1 district." The Amalgamated Copper Company owns 55 per cent of the ! Anaconda stock. 1 Following the merger of the Butte properities, which include the Amalgamated Copper Company and its varivus holdings, namely Anacon' da Copper Company, Boston At Mon tana, Butte At Boston, Washington, Trenton and other subsidaries, and ' the North Butte and Butte coalition, it is expected that tho new Anaconda with is increased capital of $150,000,000 will merge with the QuKaren heim, Haggin and other copper in- 1 terosta, tluiB effecting a corporation which will not only control the copper output of the United States but will lnlluence the copper market of the world. Concerning the plan to merge the ' various copper properties in the i Butte district, the Amalgamated Cop- 1 per Company, in a statement issued, ' says: "The reasons for proposed Increase 1 in stock involve consideration of dif- s tlcult and complicated legal questions as well as those relating to the < economical and efficient management ( of business operations of the dicer- J ent companies. ? "Some of tho operating features ( which have been considered in favor 1 of the proposed transaction are eco- ' nomies which will result from work- ) ing all the mines in accordance with ( a general system of development, thus relieving owners from necessity ' of maintaining numerous expensive 1 surface and underground plants ' necessary under present conditions ' of separato ownership. "The Anaconda Company, because I 1 of its size and its location, is re- 1 1 garded as the logical company to be- 1 come tho purchaser of properties of the other companies, and tho step taken to call a special meeting was 1 tho first toward submitting the mat! ter to stockholders of different com1 panics for their consideration." . MANY WIVES DESE11TEI). ^ Sllill tO lilt ItllO til tlllt Iiwiiutnonil vv xiu ivanvu I f Cost of Ijiving. t At Pittsburg, Pa., deserted wives t in great numbers have appeared at } the central police station within the 1 past few days, asking aid in the 3 location of their mates. On Tuesday eight weeping women 3 told their stories and one man re3 versed the tale by asking the police 3 to find his wife. A few days ago ~ five more women appealed to the defectives and Capt. William El* more is authority for the statement 3 that a wave of wife desertion is sweeping over the city. About half of the disrupted coup' les are childless and the other half 3 have largo families. The childless 3 couples, after an investigation, were ~ shown to bo the better off, but couples with large families found the struggle of life was hard. Capt. Elmore believes that the increased cost of living has some1 thing to do with tho desertions. * Seen Just In Time, Moths saved a small fortune from } destruction by fire at South Norwalk, Conn., Thursday night. A Klin/11 A A P tifA??r? ?,U1aU " *1 IIUIIIIIU 1/1 rr ul 11 ^(11 Jiiuiun W IIIC11 IliKl belonged to Mary Spitzer, an aged recluse, who died recently, were ^ about to be thrown on a bonfire r when through a moth-holl the gleam ' of a yellow back was seen. An investigation brought to light $3,000 ' in bills, which had been sewed into ' the linings. m Advocate High License. A Columbia dispatch to The News and Courier says a candidate for 1 governor on a high license platform was the announcement definitely t made by on? who is in close touch with the political alignment of South Carolina. Next summer a gentleman will certainly come out in the race for governor who will advocate l a system of license for the handling 5 of liquor traffic in this State. + ? ? A girl likes an extravagant young i man?If she isn't going to marry , him. ABOUT THE NEW COMET WHICH MADK ITS A l'I'E All A N CK HKVKKAli DAYS AGO And Which Ih Visible Now in We?? Urn Horizon Just Alxmt the Sunset Hour. The now comet discovered last Sunday in South Africa, close to the >un, in the morning sky, and now visible from the northern hcmlsihere and emerging from the solar ays in the evening sky, is one of hose strange interlopers from space whose coming astonishes the astronnners as much as anybody else, says .larrett P. Serviss in the New York American. Moreover, it is evidently a comet >t the first magintude, and of appalling brightness, since it has been teen at the Lick observatory in full laylight, something that has happened but very rarely in tl^is history comets. The great comet of 1882, which itole into the solar system in a similar manner, being llrst seen in the Southern hemisphere, was like wise visible for several days in full sunlight, and it proved to be one of the most marvelous comets on record. Hut when it got into the Northern hemisphere it was visible only in the morning sky before sunrise. This one, on the contrary, is coming out into the evening sky, and if the observations of its present course are correct, it is likely to become a brilliant object. Already its spectrum has been protographed, and it shows that the comet is shining both by reflected Biia'ight and by the blaze of its own intense heat. The indications are that we shall 'iavo a very unusual spectacle which, 'I' present indicate lib are fulfilled, may be as memorable as anything In conictiiry records. It is all the more remarkable thai Ibis great stranger should have made Its dramatic appearance at the time when llalley's comet is nearing the mn and preparing for its perihelion jwing. But the two comets are pursuing mtirely different paths, and the new me is likely to be a far grander object than its well known rival. Not enough is yet known of its orbit to ?nable us to say just what its fu?ure course will be, but its promise is so brilliant that tlio most surprising things may confidently be ixpected of it. It remains to be seen whether it is, like Its perdecessor of 1882, a member of a group of comets all traveling in the same path, or an entirely independent body. It is evident, however, that its perihelion must lie very close to the sun, and it has probably swept through the coronal region, almost brushing the solar surface, whence the astonishing brilliance that it exhibits. If it keeps in sight as it withdraws from the neighborhood of the sun it should exhibit a magnificent tail. The story of this comet will form a startling chapter in the history o? astronomy. With the spectroscopic apparatus now in the possession of astronomers a great revelation of the nature of these mysterious bodies is apparently put without our rendu Its sudden appearance is another proof of the adventurous nature o! the vast voyage that the polar ays tern is making through apace. On go the planets fiylng northward with the sun, and into the midst of them, like torpedo boats invading a fleet, come plunging grea; comets. Some time ono of them l.> mathematically certain to hit the sun?and then what? Nobody can say. I) ,, i ...U - ? ? - nut winj s airaici f After all, In spite of their formidable look, com ets are insignificant bodies compared with our solid globe, mostly gas and dust; so let them come. Their arrival increases the joy of life, and prevents our minds from stagnating with too muoh costly politics and cheap poetry. NegiV> Itreaks Up Court. A dispatch from Washington. Oa., says noticing tho unusual ap-1 pearance of the face of Cy Dullard, a negro arraigned before him on a misdemeanor charge Judge William Wynne of this county asked the county physician to examine him. "Smallpox," said the physician immediately. Hardly had tho words been spoken when judge, court officers, spectators, all made for doors and windows, leaving tho negro in complete possession of the court room. An immune officer later took him to jail where he is tho ?r>i? prisoner. ? Accused Himself Falsely. At Denver, Col., John Pressly Barrett, who claimed he was wanted in Memphis, Tenn., on a murder charge, was arrested charged with passing a forged check for $15. Thursday night word was received from Memphis that Barnett had, been tried and acquitted in Memphis on the charge of killing Frank Smith. When confronted with ihio information Barrett admitted he told the story, hoping thereby to escape prosecution on the charge of passing fraudulent obecki. BIG SWINDLE nsurance Policies Secured on Men Virtually io Grave THEIR WORK EXPOSED Men of AtJilotlc llnUNl Were Kx? iiinined in Lieu of Ileal An. plications?Insurance I'ooplc Have Trouble on Their Hands TImt in l'uz/ling. "I believe this investigation now under way will unearth the biggest swindle in the insurance life ever exposed west of New York," said State Insurance Commissioner Hell, of Kentucky, a few days ago as h? took up the case of Walter S. Rider, a teamster, at Louisville, Ky., who died January 4, and whose body was exhumed by the coroner on the request of certain Insurance companies. The death certificate indicated that Rider died of intestinal trouble, but is is reported that th? autopsy showed a large portion of the lung eaten away, supposedly by tuberculosis. Commissioner Hell has taken up the case upon the request of certain life insurance companies in Indiana and Tennessee, who are said to bo large losers by reason of the "grave yard" swindle. These companies, which it Is alleged have already paid $10,000 on policies issued in the Rider case, are excluded from business in Kentucky, yet it is said havo carried 011 a large business in Kentucky through an agency at New Albany, Intl., across the river from Louisville. The scheme worked on the companies is to a certain extent an old one, the company issuing the policy to men virtually in the shadow of the grave, after having examined a man of athletic build who was represented as the applicant. Local insurance men refuse to say anything regarding the matter, for the reason that they wish to recover policies now outstanding with the "dummies" involved in the swindle. Rider, it is alleged, carried insurance aggregating $16,000, but none of his relatives is named as beneficiary. Mrs. Mary Quill, sister, and James R. Rider, brother, made affidavits several days ago to the effect that they believed their brother came to his death by poisoning and that he was a victim of foul play. The family communicated with the Independent Life Insurance Company of Nashville, Tenn., and the matter was taken up in Louisville later by a representative of that company and three Indiana companies. Upon these representations Acting Coroner Dacher ordeied the body exhumed and the autopsy held in the presence of several physicians. After discovering the lesion in the lung, the stomach was turned over to the chemists for analysis. Rider was a teamster and received $10 per week. FOl'NI) CL.ASPKl) IN DKATII Young Couple Whose Parents Objected to Marriage. Recause of parental opposition to marriage on account of their youth, Vernon Barr, aged 16, and Lin a Ammer, aged It, killed themselves Thursday. They were found near Monroe, Iowa, clasped in each other's arms, sitting upright in Barr's buggy, in which they were riding home from a dance. On the girl's lap rested a cup partly filled wtih strychnine. They both had drank of this. Their horse proceeded on his way and stopped at the gate of the girl's home. e ? BOOZE DOWNED HIM. Another of Bag Time Music Goes to the Poor House. Hugh Cannon, who wrote "Goo Goo Eyes," "Ain't That a Shame, ' "Bill Bailey" and other classics of ragtime, was sent to the Eloise poor house at Detroit Tuesday at the ago of thirty-six. He told the pathetic story of his life in short, expressive sentences. "I quit coke easy," ho said. "I hit the pipe in New York for a year and stopped that. I went ?Kaiusi inurpuine nard and quit, but booze, red, oily booze, that's got I me for keeps. Except for seven months on the water wagon, I've been pickled most of the time." ? How to Lower Prices, Representative Sabath, a Demoway to lower prices on foodstucs way to ower prices on foodstuffs Is to place them on the free list for Importation from foreign countries. He has Introduced a bill to accomplish this. Many Unsolved Murders. Thirty-seven unsolved murders In twelve months was the record of. New York for 1909. Seven mors have been added In the first three weeks of the new year, according to a report just issued by the pollco department j