Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A TRAGIC DEATH Yoaag Williias ( Cilnbia BraiaDjr lirM fcj Ncfraw m MOVING CIRCUS TRAIN BoArding Show Train at Columbia, With Intention of Returning From Augusta on Regular Passenger, - -- ? I Young lUUjroMl Kmpioyoe rvuuu i - Near TrAck. 1 Paul A. Williams, 19 years of age, of the Southern railway In Columbia, was murdered and robbed about 2.30 o'clock Sunday morning while riding with his friend J. C. Weekly, alao of Columbia, on the first section of the train which carried the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus to Augusta from Columbia.- The body was discovered lying beside the track, between Gilbert and Summit, 26 miles from Columbia, by Conductor Thrift in ? charge of Southern freight train No. 176 Sunday morning about 10.30 o'clock. There was a bullet wound In the right eye. Th? Dockets of young Williams x ere found turned wrong side out. In them wan a blood-stained one dollar bill which his murderers failed to And. His watch and about $5, which Weekly says Williams had when he left Columbia, were missing. One of his shoes had been tuk?n off. The body of the murdered man was brought to Columbia Sunday night at 7.80 o'clock on Southern train No. 180 from Augusta. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. P. J. Williams, who formally lived in Columbia, where Mr. Williams had a jewelry Jitore, but moved to Athens, Ga., a few months ago, are expected to arrive this morning at 10.30 o'clock. The State says when J. C. Weekly, who hi employed by E. A. I3eall & Co, of that city arrived in Columbia Sunday night from Gilbert, where he was present at the inquest which was held over the body of his dead friend, he told the story of the murder. "East Saturday night after the circus was over Paul Williams and myself went up to the Blanding street station to watch the show load, said Weekly. "While we were up 1 JW/i nl r. there, we fell in wun uu? ?i tUV vaa cua men, a youug fellow with a clean shaven face. Ho seemed to be a nice man and after talking to us a while, invited us to ride over to Augusta with him. on the. first section of the circus train. "Paul said, *I*et's go, Just for the fun of the thing:.' 1 told him that it would be a rough trip, but that if he wanted to go. then go we would. We went up to our room in the Sylvan building and put on some old clothes. Paul got a pass to Augusta and return. I had about $10 and he had about half that amount. "Then we went back to the Blanding street yard and got aboard a flat car, loaded with wagons and the circus tent near the middle of the train. We did not see anything of the young man who iuvited us to go *n Augusta. "Everything was quiet on the train until we got near. Lexington. Then we heard shooting and cursing toward the rear end of the train. "A few minutes after the disturbance began, a man passed the wagon xinder which we were siting. He halted and said, "There's the . Then he shot once out toward che bushes along the side of the track 1 and went back toward the rear of \ the train. , "I said Paul, we had better get out of this. We climbed up over the side of the wagon under which out of this.' W eclimbed up over the side of the wagon under yhich we had- been sitting and lay down. In a minute or two, I saw the heads of three men coming over the side of the wagon in which we wei?\ 1 said. 'Run for it, Paul, and made a break for the other end of the wagon. "As I sprang up, one f the men / all of whom I think were white, yedL. cd, 'now we'll get the !" and fired once. 1 thought Paul was rig/.t behind me when I went over the side of the wagon head first. There was a pile of canvis unde a wagon xf the other end of the car. I crawled under it, but held it up wain ing f >i Paul. He didn't come. I was avraia te stir, for a man was ?leepi,ig c.n the pile right above me. "I heard some men, curgini; and nhoutingr, coming toward where I was lying. 1 let the canvas fjS) over me and crawled further under it. The crowd walked right over me, and fell to kicking the man above me. When they had mauled him considerably he seemed to wake tip as he started to swear. They told him that they wanted his money. He replied that he did not have anything except some candy. They then SUBSI searched him and found that this was true, for one of them said, "Here take your old candy, we don't wan* it." "I am pretty sure that tin men were white. They spoke fairly good English and did not talk like negroes." "After the firing of the shot as I was getting out of the wagon things got strangely quiet. I heard no more Bhooting or cursing, but 1 was still afraid to more for fear that 1 would waken the man who was Bleeping on the canvas above me. "Finally, when day begau to break, I crept out from beneath the canvas and went back to the wagon to look " 1 * * Kit, X%J a loh fnh I or rttui. A 1UUUU aio tthvvu .vv, made of four coins strung together. Also several letters addressed to him, one from his father and one from a girl friend in Charleston. There was blood everywhere. Th? sides and bottom of the wagon were smeared with it. I went back three cars and found it splattered all along the canvas. When the train reached Warrenville I got off and wired the chief of police in Augusta and told Special ' Agent Ehney of the Southern, who was back in the last car on the train. "I took Southern passenger train No. 8 back from Augusta, riding on the step on the lookout for Paul's body, for I felt sure that he had beeu murdered and his body thrown off the train. I did not look any more after we passed Leesville. I thought that the shooting had taken place after we passed there. This accounts for my failure to find the body. "When the train reached Columbia I went up to my room in the Sylvan building. One of the Southern's ?>Q l?i <> little Ilieil t'UIIltl lip unci inv> u, ...... while. 1 went back to the Union station with him and took a railroad motor car with T. McGhee Phifer, chief clerk of the Southern, and Headmaster Faulkes back to Gilbert, where they told me that the body had been found. I testified at the inquest and came back to Columbia with the body. "Last night was the most terrible I have ever spent. It was one long wide-awake nightmare. I would like to make one thing especially plain, Paul and myself started to Augusta simply for the fun of the thing and because the young, smooth-shaven fellow invited us to go. We meant to spend the day and come back Sunday afternoon, as we both had to go to work Monday morning. I had money and Paul had a pass. We were not beating our way, but were simply out for a lark." Ml KDRRKK AltKKSTKD. Circus Negro Confesses and Tells All About the Murder. A dispatch from Augusta says as a result of employes of the liagenbeckWallace circus trying to rob other employes of the company, 011 the first section of the train coming into Augusta from Columbia Saturday nignt, Paul A. Williams Is known to be dead, and a missing negro is believed to be dead, though no trace can be found of him. 'William Gresham, a negro canvasman, employed by the circus, one of a number of the help arrested on Sunday by the Augusta police, has made a confession in which he says the report that the train was held up is entirely untrue, and that the. trouble started and ended on the train while it was in motion. lAt the conclusion of the performance in Columbia Saturday night, the work force was paid off and the larger number of the help indulged freely in liquor. After the train had left Columbia, according to Gre.sham's confession, he, John Wilson and Elijah Clark were in the canvas wagon, when two white men and a strange negro joined them. Clark and Wilson were negroes employed by the circus and seem to be intimate friends. Just before the train reached Gilbert, 25 miles from Columbia, Gresham declares, Wilson, Clark and the two white men began quarreling. Wilson shot, one of the white men and threw his body off the train. Clark, who also had a pistol, forced the unknown negro to get on top of the canvas wagon and jump off while the train was running. Whether he was killed or not Gresham does not know. According to Gresham's statement, Wilson and Clark then decided to go through the train and rob the help, who had been paid off before the train left Columbia, with the intention of themselves leaving the train before it entered the city of Augusta. What became of the second white man on the train and who was in the canvas wagon, Oresham does not know. The three negroes, Wlson, Clark and Gresham, have been sent to the Richmond County jail in Augusta. Besides these, two white and a negro, employes of the circus, are being held as witnesses, but their names are not obtainable, the police declining to give out any of the details. lEarlier daring Sunday numerous BRIBE N DEADLY SPORTS Aaud the Dead aid Dyiag the Great Racial Aata Cars Tear Oa. FOUR PERSONS KILLED And Many Wounded in the Vunder* built Cup Race on Blooo Stained Course?The Accidents Causing the Dentil of Two of the Vi -tims % Sensational in the Kxtreme. / At Lonn Island Parkway, N. Y., Saturday four killed and 20 seriously Injured, three of them probably fatally, was the price in human life paid for the sixth running of the Vanderbuilt cup race, won in electrifying fashion by .Harry Grant, driving a 120 horsepower Alco. Grant, who distinguished himself last year by finishing first in the fifth Vanderbuilt,, won today's event from Joe Dawson, driving a Marmouth, by the narrow margin of 2T> seconds. John Aitken, in the National, was only a minute and six seconds behind Dawson. The race was the most hotly contested of any of the Vanderbuilt c*i.) races, and with the two small car events run as a unit with it, the Wheatley Hill sweepstakes and the Massapequa trophy brought out a record of number of starters. The time of the three first race cars finishing in the main event surpassed the best time ever made in an American road race. (Irani, oy covering 2 7 8.08 miles of the course) In 4 hours, 12 minutes and 58 seconds, equivalent to an average of 6.5 1-5 miles and hour, established a I new American record. But as brilliant as was the performance of the three winners and as thrilling as the race itself, the horror caused by the wholesale maiming and killing which attended it cast such a deep shadow over spectators, participants and the management that the crowd dispersed under a pall of sorrow. The accidents that caused two of the there deaths recorded were sensational in the extreme. The first occurred when the Columbia car, driven by Harold Stone, suddenly burst a tire at the approach of the cement bridge crossing the West bury road and, becoming unmanageable, plunged over the parapet. The great machine went over twice in midair and landed on its side, crushing out the life of Matthew Bacon, Stone's mechanician, who was caught under it. Stone himself sustained fractures to both legs and internal injuries, from which it is doubtful if he will recover. The killing of Louis Chevrolet's mechanician, Charles Miller, came as tn? climax or a maa auempi 01 i^uevrolet to gain a lead lost through frequent tire troubles. The daring French driver, who, earlier in the race had reeled of round oft.er round at 73 1-2 miles an hour, hurdled a bad run in the back stretched with full power on,, and, landing on three wheels only, found his car zig-zagging from side to side, unrespousUe to its steering gear. As a shriek of horror sounded from the hundred assembled at the spot, the car plunged into a fence and swept it away like so \nuch paper, then plowed deep into a passenger laden touring car moored on the side of the road. The impact was terrific and the occupants of the touring car were tossed high in the air. All escaped death, however, but Miller was caught in the wreckage and instantI lv killed. Chevrolet owes his life to the staunchness of his steering wheel, upon which he kept a firm hold to the end. He was pulled out of the debris with nothing more serious than a broken arm. The third death of the day did not occur on the course, but in an accident en route to the race. Ferdinand D'Zubia an automobile man, was the victim. His wife had both legs broken in the smashup. The fourth death was that of Kdward Lynch, who died at a hospital as a result of injuries received when he was run down after the race. Two Killed uiul Three Hurt. At Piqua, Ohio, several persous were killed and three others injured when the automobile in which they were riding, was struck by a Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton | railroad train Friday night. arrests were made on the circus help by the local authorities, and where close questioning developed tilat there was no possible connection with the crime, the men arrested were relenaeri Ten men have been committed to jail for complicity In the murder. The other men arrested have been rereleased. DW TO FIRE AND DEATH follows Bltwiif Up Lts Angeles Tiaes BnMiif ^Saturday THIRTY WERE KILLED Within Few Minutes of the JKiplosion the Entire Building Ww ? Fiery Furnace.?The Managing Editor Says Plant Destroyed by Enemies of Industrial Freedom* The building occupied by rne Times Publishing company at Los Angeles, Cal., was destroyed by tire Saturday morning and there was a heavy loss of life, estimated as high as 20. The fire was proceeded by an explosinon and immediately the building was enveloped in flames. The explosion occurred on the second floor of an addition to the old building. The old part is of three floors. Within a few seconds from the time of the explosion the entire building was a iiery furnace. Crowds that gathered say they saw many men fan back from the windows into the flames. Others leaped and were injured. The poperty loss is esumaieu ai $500,000. The editorial rooms were on the third floor, but it is believed the greater part of the men 011 this tloor escaped death. Thomas P. Smith, an "ad" compositor, working on the second floor when the explosion occurred, gives the following version: "There were at least 50 men at work on my floor. I believe that half : of this number may not have escaped. I with the others rushed for the street and we then saw the whole building in flams. "The entire building was in ruiis at 1.4"), and but two walls we'e standng. "In addition to the complete plant of The Times the building contained the large jobbing and commercial plant of the American Engraving Co." Within a few minutes after the exolosion the police arrested two men iu the Rroadway tunnel, two blocks north of the Times' building and they are being held for indentifica tion. The Times' employs non-union printers and has had more or less friction with labor. The police had their fire lines put up around the scene and reserves were soon patroling the district armed with riot clubs but the half clad crowd which silently watched the flames from behind the fire lines were orderly and not an arrest was made from amongst the crowd. The following list of missing furnished by the Times have not been accounted for: J. C. Golliher, linotype operator, married, live children. W. G. Tunstali, linotype operator, married. John Howard, printer, married, one child. L-rnnt Moore, macninisi, marrie 1, three children. Edward VVasson, printer, married. - Elmer Frink, linotype operator, married. Eugene Cares, linotype operator, married, one child. Don E. Johnson ifioiypc oi>crator. married. Ernest Jordan, linotype operator marrieJ, one child. Frank Underwood, printer, married, one child. J 'Wesley Reaver, stenographer. It. L. Sawyer, telegrapher, maided, two children. Harry L. Crane, assistant telegraph editor, married, one child. Chales Gulliver, compositor, married. Carl Salada, linotype operator. Among the injured taken to the receiving hospital were the rollowing: Harvey P. Elder, as* ti.r.t city e lltor, jumped from third story; right leg broken, internal injuries and severe burns; will die. Charles K. coveiace, coast editor, Jumped from third floor, hip broker, Internally injured and burner S. W. Orabill, foreman com nosing room, severe bruises, Randolph Rossi, linotype opera to Jumped trom second floor, so\erely Injured. Many others Injured were taken to the other hospitals. J The flames followed the explosion i so quickly that those In 'he o Hiding had little chance to escape , Many leaped from the windows nn1 ; were severely injured. I The building burned rapidly an 1 . before many of the inmates oo.ilq reach the street it was a masc ot flames The force of the explosion wis 1 concentrated on the mechanical department of the paper and most of the dead and injurede were members of tup m I Ilk II1 these departments. Managng Editor Harry Andrews, at two o'clock Saturday morniug, aid: "The Times building was destroyed by dynamite this morning by enemies of industrial freedom. The Times itself cannot be destroyed. It wiU soon be re-issued from its auxilary plant and will flgbt its battles to *he last. "The horror of the loss of life and maiming of men precludes a further statement at this hour." General Harrison Gray Otis, owner of The Times, will arrive home from Mexico, he stated, Monday morning. "Men employed in most of the departments had,. I think," said Mr. Andrews, "some chance to get out through the front exits. I do not believe there were 100 persons in the building. I was not there. Mr. Von Bier, our city editor, got out, also Mr. Whitnes, our telegraph editor. I feel sure most of our men escaped." Friday night being unusually heavy at The Times, something over 3 0 men were at work on the linotypes and about 50 in the "ad" section. Because of the fact that so many extra men were at work it will be probably several days before all are accounted for. The building occupied by The Times Mirror publishing plant is of brick, three stories in height and back of this was a brick annex of two stories and a basement. The editorial rienartmont of The Times was on the third Hoor of the main building and the business office on the ground floor. This annex contained tlie presses, linotypes, big job printing plant and The Times school for training lineoptye operators. BOM HS I NPKH HOMES. + Efforts .Made to Blow t'p Two City Residences. For 20 years following a quarrel with the Typographical union and the changing of The Times to a nonunion paper, Gen. Otis has fought unionism with every resource at his command. He has been seconded in this fight by the Merchants' and Manufacturers ' association, whose secretary was the object of the attempt at dynamiting. Feeling ran high throughout the city during the day over the Times disaster and was augmented by the discovery that a dynamite bomb had been found under the residence of Secretary Zeehandlelaar. The public reached a state of alarm and consternation as the attempt to blow up Gen. Otis home became known. The Otis home, known as "the Bivouac," stands on Whiltshire avenue in the most fashionable part of the city. After the finding of the infpmal machine at the Zeehandelaor residence, Detective Rice was sent to "The Bivouac" to search the premises. Aided by Charles Focun, the gardener, he found a suit case hidden in a bunch of vines under a bay window on the east side of the house fronting Westlake park. Detective Rice telephoned Chief of police Calloway, who went immediately to Gon. Otis house. The officers examined the suit case. Chief of Police Galloway wanted to take it to the police station without opening. 'Rice insisted on opening it the?*e and finally stuck a knife through the side of the case. . A buzz of mechanism was heard inside and smoke oozed out. Convinced that the suit case contained a bomb, Chief of Police ordered the infernal machine rushed over to the park where its explosion could do little damage. # iRice picked it up and dashed across the street. Putting it down, they sped away, and put about 100 feet between them and the bomb when it went off with a crash that threw the entire neighborhood into a panic. The explosion tore out a portion of the curbing of the street paralleling the park. Branches of a tree directly overhead were torn off together with a portion of the park fence. A plate glass wind shield fronting a porch in the Otis home also was shattered. Rice said the infernal machine weignea aooui ;?u pounas. In the Otis home at the time of the explosion were Mrs. Harry Chandler. daughter of the general, and a relative, Mrs. Booth, and the lattor's two children. Itice hurried back to the scene immediately after the explosion to look for any possible clues. He found fragments of the suit cases and shattered portions of clockwork, which formed the exploding mechanism of the infernal machine. The infernal machine found at Mr. Zeehandelaar's residence was composed of 15 sticks of giant powder attached to a fuse and set by clockwork to explode at 1 o'clock In the 'morning, the same hour at which the explosion occurred in The Times ofI nee. ! The bomb was first discovered at the Zeehandelaar home by a servant, who called an officer. Had not some part of the mechanism failed to ac - ? v? ' ORRY HI WILL NOT RUN eaator Tillmaa Not to Staad for RoEledioa HIS WIFE OBJECTS This Practicalljr Assured, Attention Turns Now to Who Will Be Successor.?Though Not Sick, Hit Physical Condition Will Not Per* mit. That B. R. Tillman will not seek tr> thp I!n!tpH ate is practically assured. Close friends of the United States senator say that his health will not permit his return to politics. It is also stated that Senator Tillman may never again enter the Senate Chamber of the United States, for, it is said on the best kind of authority, that his physical condition would not permit. Those who have visited Senator Tillman recently give the opinion that he is preparing to spend the rest of his days quietly on his Trenton farm. It is also said that Mrs. Tillman, knowing well the physical condition of Senator Tillman, would not permit. There have been many names sugabout tbe retirement of Senator Tillman from the senatorship since his illness in Washington last spring. Senator Tillman has given no public utterance as to whether he intends to leave the senate. It can almost be positively stated that he is through with politics In this state. Naturally the question follows: "Who will go to the United States Senate to succeed B. H. Tillman?" There have bee many names suggested for the place, and many changes in South Carolina politics are liable to take place in the space of two years. Among those who have been mentioned as likely to declare themselves for the position are Gov. M. F. Ansel, A. F. Lever, congressman from the Seventh district, and Lewis Parker, of Greenville. Neither of these have ever intimated that they would contest for senatorial honors, yet there are always men talked of for every position in politics, and these are men that have been talked of in South Carolina as likely opponents for the place of Senator Tillman.Gov. Ansel has stated that he intends to go hack to Greenville when he leaves the omce or governor ana resume the practice of law. He was for many years solicitor In the Piedmont and has a broad acquaintance. He was elected to the Governorship of South Carolina. Gov. Ansel is not a man to talk politics and has never intimated that he would follow tb% game after leaving the oftlce of tbe^ chief executive of the State, Ye1t ha is one of those mentioned. Lewis W. Parker is the best known and one of the most capable" mill ofticers in the South. He has been a remarkable success in everything that ho has undertaken. His name hap been mentioned many times for the senatorship. A. F. Lever, congressman from this district is also mentioned as a possible candidate for the position. He has nover made n statement- He defeated his opponent for congress recently by a large majority and hue made an excellent congressman. There are others who might he mentioned. R. Goodwin Rhett, mayor of Charleston, being among them. The contest is two yearn away and others may rise up and claim the right for the position. Men Caught in Belt. At Maxleys, Ga., Vincent Witcher, a well-known young white man, Was instantly killed Friday morning by being caught in the lath machinery of his brother's manufacturing plant. While looking over the machinery he ventured too near one of the largo bolts. ? ? Know Not Teddy. Tn the lOaston, Pa., naturalization court Thursday, Tori bio Cortazzo of Hush kill Centre, who has been in this country fourteen years, told Judge Seott he had never heard o# Theodore Roosevelt. He knew Taft was president, so he got his papers. work, the house would probably have been demolished and the inmates killed. Assistant General Manager Chandler of The Times says that an att | tempt was made to blow up the Times auxiliary plant at College and San Francisco, a few minutes after i the explosion destroyed the main building. iThe succession of tragic events and the rumors of other attempted outrages set the populace of Lot Angeles in a state of mind border* ing a panic. 1 -? iRALD