Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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f SEVERE STORI Sweeps The Ceatt ef the Stele With Uek ketwe Efftd*. t CUTS COMMUNICATIONS ? . i ... .? / ?. All Wires Within Storm Swept Dis^ trict Blown Down by the Gale Sweeping Along at Sixty Miles an Hour.?Charleston, Beaufort, and Georgetown Isolated. Sv^eping in from the South Atlantic ocean a gale of semi-tropic origin Sunday roared up the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, isolating South Carolina seaports* and causing damage the extent of which can no be known until communication is restored. The gale, reported to bo blowing 60 miles an hour at Savannah, completely cut off Charleston and Beaufort and Isolated George* town, at least so far as communication with this section is concerned. The damage so far reported is of a minor character but the true extent of the injury caused by the storm (has not yet been determined. On Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms, suburbs of Charleston, the waves came up unusually high, causing a general exodus of summer visir tors. A dispatch from Savannah says suddenly appearing off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia Sunday morning, a storm that had reached a mile a minute velocity at Savannah venting its force on plate glass windows, signs, street lamps, and trees put all wires l>etween Savannah and Charleston ?ut of commission and at an early hour isolated that city and Beaufort, S. C. Very high tides are reported from Tybee Island and early before the wires were lost from Beaufort, S. C. Kfforts to get into communication by wireless with Charleston also failed and nothing is known of the extent of the damage there. There Is f '.ry large number of Savannahlans who formerly resided at Charleston M onH thArft wnq pr?n?ldf?rahl? nnmiflU r ** ? hobs apparent there Sunday night on account of th? failure to hear from that city. Blazing rockets were sent far into the murky sky above Savannah Sunday night warning inhabitants of exposed Islands along the Georgia coast. No communication was to bo had with Charleston yesterday. No train on the Southern road had been able 1 to leave the city up to last night. It was said that the union depot and some milee of trestle had been destroyed by the storm at Charleston. The last boat leaving Sullivan's Island Saturday night was crowded and left people on the Island . Since then no further news has been received. The trains that should run from Charleston come from Summeri ville instead. , ? GREENVILLE COMPLAINS. Says Railroad Discriminates Against Her Interests. Unjust discrimination against 4, Greenville in favor oif Atlanta and -ot her points in the South were alleged in complaints filed Saturday with the interstate commerce commission against the Southern railway and the Old Dominion Steamship company. Thp Lipscomb-Russell company of k Greenville says it is compelled to pay a rate of 60 cents per 100 pounds on roasted coffee shipped from New York while Atlanta enjoys a rate of 5 6 cents a hundred, although it is the more distant point. The Gilreath-Durham company of Greenville alleges that the same defendants exact a rate of $1.14 a hundred pounds on lamp goods from New York to Greenville, while the rate to Atlanta is only $1.05. Both petitioners ask that Greenville be ac corded the same rates that are accorded to Atlanta. The matter will be considered at an early date. f 1 > A Spanking Edict. | Four hoys between 12 and 15 ' years of age were spanked by order of the children's court at New York Tuepday night for rowdyism on a subway train. The court appointed its interpreter, Manuel Weinberg, to see that the spanking was done in a businesslike manner. He adminlsterj a? %. a il. . rt en lO VKVIl UIH3 VI lUO VUiyrilB J. 6 lashes with a breech strap shredded tc 12 ribbons of leather at the end. The whipping was sufficiently severe, according to an official of the children's society,to prevent any of the quartette frow sitting down for two hours. ? e e i Uncle Sam Not Consulted. Torpedo practice^ by the German cruiser Bremem in Buzzard's Bay, ^ without permission from this Government, is regarded by officers of the navy at Washington, as a breach of international etiquette and a fit subject for a protest to Germany. The matter, however, they declared is largely a "State department affair." i ? Bricks Float In Water. | The Inventor of a new form of lining brick* claims they are Imperious to moisture and light enough to float GREAT DROUGHTS THAT HAVE VISITED THE WORLD IN YEARS GONE BY. Some of the More Notable Ones Mentioned and the Harm Some of Them Did. ' Frederick J. Hasklns tells of the great droughts that have visited the world and the harm they did. He says the causes of droughts, like various other phenomena of nature hava never been explained. They have happened from time to time since the beginning of the world, and in former years have ^brought a far greater suffering to mankind than they are ever likely to cause again. When the crops of a nation fail a famine ensues, unless some proviej Ion has been made to prevent it. The first great drought on record in the United States took place in New England dn 174 9. Histories record especially the suffering of the cat/tie which could not find food in the dried up pastures. In some places the ground dried up and cracked open in deep fissures. The fish died in the dried up streams and ponds. This drought also extended as far south as Pennsylvania, for colonists [ in that state imported hay from Eng' land to feed their cattle at a cost of three shillings per hundred-weight. Owing to the difliculty of obtaining food many farmers that year slaughtered their cattle and subsist ed duVing the winter upon the meat thua secured, often having to eat it without bread of any kind, since the grain crap was almost a total failure. A second drought in New England took place in 17G2 which caused even greater suffering than the first. It is claimed that at this time there was absolutely no rainfall from May 7 to July 3 0. Public fasts were proclaimed and in most of the churches in Boston. At Falmouth and other towns almost continuous services were held for a week in the different churches to pray for rain. It is said that in this drought thousands of cattle perished and that the loss to the colonists felt even up to the time of the Revolutionary war. Previous to the drought of this year, the full extent of which cannot yet l>e estimated the greatest drought in he United States in the century culminated In the Mississippi and Missouri valleys in 1894 and in the Great Lake regions and along the Atlantic coast in 1895. Th?s drought of 1894 was a culmination of diffident rainfalls for 1893. The average difficiency of the ra/infall during the drought throughout the country amounted to 5 inches of the annual precipitation. Notwithstanding this dry weather, there was a normal yield In the wheat crop throughout the country, and almost normal in corn in 1894, although both crops fell a little short in 1895. The average yield for corn in the latter year stood at 19.4 bushels per acre instead of 23.5 which wai normal and the shortage in wheat that year amounted to about 10 per cent. In 1881 there was a great drought In the Missouni valley from July to September which extended to various other parts of tne country. In Indianapolis, that year, the rainfall from June 22 to August 30, a period of 70 days, was less than 1 1-2 inches while from Miay 15 to June 4, preceeding, a period of 21 days, it was less than 1-2 inch. During this drought vegetables and the staple crops suffered severely. There was also a great loss of life among cattle, which were often turned loose to find food and water. Springs and wells, which had always run freely ran dry that year and in many parts of the country the water famine took a very serious aspect. Services to pray for rain were held in different churches in a large number o>f cities. In many towns the water supply was only available for a few hours each day and its use was greatly restricted. Aside from its effects upon the crops a great drought throughout a country with as large manufacturing (interests as the United States has a very appreciable effect upon many branchs of trade. During the droughts of 1895, 1894^ and 1891, many factories were shut down for months because of the failure of the water supply. In some of the Southern States the manufacturing interests are being materially affected by the drought. At Charlotte, N. C., scores of factories were shut down for several days until a means of supplementing the water supp)p could be devrtsed. ? Postal Bank at Greenville, Postmaster General HitcncocK Saturday at Washington designated 50 more postofllce of the first class as postal savings depositories among them being: Montgoiery, Ala., Athens, Ga., Greensboro, N. C. Greenville S. C. Killed And Injured by Explosion. Two Italians were killed and six probably fatally wounded at Middles boro, Ky., Wednesday in an explosion of dynamite at Bonham, Harlan county, at the works of the Wisconsin Steel Company. DEATH ON TRAINj Tlirtjr-Sma Killed aid Sixty Injured at Inctnler, N. Y. COACHES LEAVE TRACK While Speeding Over Trestle Six Cars of Train Carrying G. A. R. Veterans From Rochester Encampment Fall From Trestle to River Forty Feet Below. At least 37 persons are believed to have been killed and more than 60 injured as a result of the wrecking Friday of Lehigh Valley passenger train No. 4. Speeding eastward behind time the train ran into a spread rail on a trestle near Manchester, N. Y. and two day coaches from the rear section plunged crashing downward striking the east embankment 4 0 feet below like a pair of projectiles. The wreck was one of the most disastrous ever recorded on the system. Crowded with pasengers, many of whom were war veterans and excursionists from the G. A. R. encampment at Rochester, the train, made up of fourteen coaches, drawn by two mogul engines, was 4 0 minutes late when it reached Rochester Junction and from there sped eastward to make up time before reaching Geneva. Following is the list of the dead at the Shortsvdlle morgue: T. C. Madden, Trenton, N. J.; E. Pangbun, veteran, Brooklyn; A. M. Hunsuoker, Vineland, Ont.; Charles Hicks, Newark^ N. J.; R. S. Uncle, Southfield, N. J.; 'Mrs. A. E. SudSouthfield, N. J.; Mrs. A. E. E. Sudleck, Buffalo, N. Y. Helen Pownell, addess unknown; C. P. Johnson or I>r. Johnson, Philadelphia or Cleveland; Mrs. C. P. Johnson; Joseph Hickey, address unknown. The remainder of the dead were unidentified. The dead at Rochester: D. M. Belt veteran, Los Angeles, Cal.; Henry Becker, brakeman. The other dead at the Manchester morgue are seven women two girls, four men and a boy. On some are trinklets with initials, but in many cases there is little to work upon. The engine and two day coaches had just passed the centre of a 400foot trestle over Canadalgua outlet, 150 yards east of the station at Manchester, at 12:35 o'clock when the Pullman car Austin, the third of a I long train, left the rails. It dragged | the dining car with it and the two day coaches and two Pullmans, in this order, followed. All bumped over the ties a short distance before the coupling btween day coach No. 237 and the rear end of the diner broke. The forward end of the train dragged the derailed Pullman Austin and the diner over safely, after which both plunge down the embankment and rolled over. The free end of an ill-fated Lehigh Valley day coach, in which most of the victims were riding, with a grand Trunk day coach, stripped the rear guard of the south side of the trestle and plunged to the shallow river bed more than forty feet below. The end of the first day coach that went over struck the east embankment rtf tinlM maannrv nnH with t;h other sixty-foot car behind it, both shot against tt? wall with icitu force. Both cars were filled with passengers. In a few moments the cars lay a mass of battered wood, metal and glass under which a hundred men women, and chilren, many of whom were killed instantly, were buried. The greatest destruction occurrrd in day coach No. 2 3 7. A dozen persons lafer were taken dead from the second day coach, which after following the first car over snapped its rear coupling and thus saved the rest of the train from being dragged along. This second day coach struck on the bottom and stood end up, the rear end projecting a few feet above the top of the trestle. All of the passengers In this oar were piled in a tangled mass of broken seats at the bottom of the car. i Indescribable pandemonium followed. The Pullman car Emelyn, which remadned on the bridge with one end projecting over the gulch, and several cars behind it derailed and In serious danger of going over the mas8 of wreckage below, were soon emptied of their passengers, who aided by gangs of railroad employes #i?rvTO tli a Klo> fralcrlit vorrlo of iVIntl. i * V111 A/UU Mlg II Vlg'iiv J \?m MV cheater, rushed to help the injured. It. was several minutes, however, before anybody reached the cars at the bottom to help the victims. The cars did not catch fire. Axes were secured and body after body was reached and carried by rescuers knee deep in the river bed to the bank on the west side of the trestle. There the dead and injured were laid out ontheground and a field hospital was established. It was more than an hour before many of the Injured could be removed and special trains from both Geneva and Rochester brought physicians, nurses and medical supplies. Hundreds awaited treatment and the railroad station at Manchester, a cider milt and an Ice house were used to five temporary shelter and treat* . * * S / CONFESSES MURDER KILLED FATHER, MOTHER AND HIS BROTHER. At First He Stoutly Denied Any Knowledge of the Orime^ but Iner He Confesses. After having been pressed by continuous questioning for almost 30 hours in the Jail at Booneville, Ind., William Lee late Friday made a written statement in which he said he had killed his father, Richard Lee in self-deefnse, after the lather had murdered his wife aod younger son, Clarence. The bodies of Lee'? father, mother and brother were found in their burning home early Thursday and Lee was charged with the murder. After young Lee's statement Friday, Sheriff Scales, fearing the prisoner would be lynched secretly took him to Kvansville. Lee, who is twenty-two years old, calmly reiterated his story that he knew nothing of the circumstances of the killing of his family until late Friday afternoon, when he suddenly said: "I have something preyiiig on my mind." Calling for paper and pencil he wrote as follows: "I was awakened by a noise and went into the bedroom where my father mother and brother slept. As I opne'd the door I saw that my father had murdered my mother and brother. My father sprang at me, axe in hand, exclaiming, "I will get you too." I grabbed the axe away from him and nit him over the head with it. I could smell kersoine and I found oil had already been poured over the l>ed. Just because matches were handy and I did not know what else to do, I set fire to the bed clothing and then gave alarm of fire." After he had completed the statement he said: "I didn't know what else to do when I set the place on fire. I didn't know how the thing would look." The streets about the jail were crowded all day with townpeople and farmers. The county officials said they placed no faith in his statement. The motive ascribed by the officials in charging Lee with murder is that he wished to oibtain money with which to be married to Mina Taylor. Cash amounting to $100 said to have been in the Lee house Wednesday has not been found. The lives of Kichard and Clarence Lee were insured for $700. William Lee is known to have quarreled with his parents because they opposed his marriage. William Lee, of Evansvllle, Ind. 22 years of age, confessed late Saturday night that he murdered his father, Richard Lee, his mother and younger brother Clarence and then set fire to the house in the hope of concealing the crime, at Booneville, Ind. early Thursday morning. In verbal and written statements to Sheriff Davis in the jail. Lee said his motive was anger because his parents would not consent to his marriage with Mina Taylor, of Newburg, which he had planned for Thursday evening and would not give him money with which to begin housekeeping. When the confession was made public officers started with Lee in an automobile for the State reformatory at Jeffersonville to prevent possible mob violence. Lee had made a statement that he had killed his father in self-defence with an axe after his father had murdered his wife and younger son, but Sheriff Davis pressed the restless prisoner, for "the true story" and Saturday afternoon he wrote a haltingly worded confession. Saloons for Birmingham. Jefferson county, Ala, of which Ftirmingham is a large part Thursday voted to return to the legal sale of liquor by licensed saloons by a majority which may go to 2,000 votea. ment. to the suffering. It was necessary to chop through the sides and bottom of the day coach at the bottom and the work of removing the victims moved with painful slowness. Death had come swiftly to many, a large number of the dead had their skulls crushed in when they were thrown against car seats and projections. The mortality was high among the older passengers most of whom were veterans of the War between the Sections and their wives. The wrecked train was in charge of Conductor James Hilloc, of Geneva, with Engineers Bowman and Callan on the engines. Conductor Hillock had just stepped from the dining car to the next car in front when the dining car left the track. He pulled the signal for brakes and both engineers responded instantly. Engineer llowman of the second engine was leaning from his cab window and as he turned on the brakes he looked backward to learn the cause of the trouble and saw the cars toppling off the bridge. Passengers in the cars which remained on the track gave prompt assistance. Appeals for doctors and nurses wore sent to the nearby places and special relief trains were run from both east and west. So great was the number of injured that there was work for alL , s ? DEATH IN RUSH viif Pidire Fihi Expiries Teirifjiig Adinct. WILD RUN FOR DOOR In Fierce Rush for Doorway Men, Women and Children Are Piled Ten Feet High In Exit?Operator Succeeds in Checking the 1 (aging Flames. Twenty-five persons were killed and over 60p injured Saturday night when a moving picture film exploded in the Canonsburg, Pa., opera house. Immediately following the flash of the film some one shouted, "Fire!" There was a rush for the exit and in a moment there was a writhing, screaming mass of humanity 10 feet high in the narrow stairway.' leading to the entrance of the theatre. Most of the dead were smothered. A majority of the audience was composed of women and children. In the fierce rush for the exit, they were thrown from their feet and trampled upon. Others were thrown upon them and those at the bottom of the human pile wero suffocated. When two volunteer fire departments reached the theatre the sight staggered them. Those of the audience who .had escaped from the building and other spectators drawn A. ^ 1 1. ^ ^ ... A _ V. 1 1 A A V _ IU LI1U SWI1U WtTU rilSIUUg it UO11L XI10 1 front of the building. No one it seemed, was making any effort to aid the struggling mass within the theatre. The firemen pushed into the building and practically throw persons into the streets. The dead were laid in a row along the sidewalk. Relatives fought and struggled to break past the guards and reach the victims. Within a few moments after the film flashed and the panic started the fire whistles were blown. Practically the entire population of the town responded and packed in narrow Pike street from which the fatal theatre entrance led. All of them were apparently terror-stricken and could give little aid. The only cool persons were the fireman and several members of the police force. For several minutes after the explosion the audience, numbering about 1,500, was unaware of the accident. The operator heroically fought down the flames and succeeded in extinguishing them. Then, almost suffocated, he opened the door of the little box and staggered out. With the opening of the door, a dense cloud of smoke poured into the auditorium. At this moment some person yelled "Fire!" Then started the rush for the lone doorway leading to the narrow eight-foot stairway. At the stairway they collided and jammed into probably two hundred persons who were awaiting the end of the performance to take the places of those who had seen the show. Immediately the narrow stairway was packed and jammed ten feet high with the dead and dying. WANTS RECOGNITION. Issue Between Harrinian Lines and Blacksmith's Union. A conference between Julius Kruttschnitt, of the Union and Southern Pacific railroads, and J. W. Kline, international president of the Blacksmith's Union, was held at Chicago, Thursday without any steps being taken toward a settlement of difficulties involving 25,000 shopmen employed by the Harriman lines. The representatives of the railroad interests and the labor organizations were in conference several hours. Both Vice President Kruttschnitt and President Kline declined to discuss what was done at the conference, but it is said that the entire subject of the railroad's refusal to recognize the union's federation instead of individual unions was considered at ln^egth. It is said Vtice^President Kruttschnitt is following instructions of the directors of the lines in refusing recognition of the federation. The roads involved in the present discussion are: The Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Central Pacific, Oregon Short Line, Houston and Texas Central, Oregon Railroad, and Navigation company, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. Shop workers of the Illinois Central railroad have a similar grievance. * Unfortunate Captain Paroled, Capt. William M. Vanschalk, who was commander of the excursion steamer General Sloe urn when it burned at Hell Gate on June 25, 1904 with a loss of a thousand lives was paroled by the United States Government Saturday and returned to his home in New York that night from Sing Sing prison. Charged With Murder. Charged with connection with the death of Hattie Purcell, the 15-year old daughter of William Purcell, H. C. -Cox was held to the Criminal Court at Miami, Fla. without ball Thursday, after a preliminary hearing before Justice McCall. The girl's father, Wlllam Purcell, will have a hearing In a few days. DEATH AT RACES TWO DEAD AND ABOUT THIRTY SLIGHTLY HURT. While .Automobile .Race** .Are .Is Progress Gran stand Collapses, In* juring Spectators. The 305-mile road race at Elgin, 111., won by Lon Zengel in a National with Harry Grant second and Hugh Hughes third, was not accomplished without its toll of death and injuries. Dave Buck, the veteran Chicago A Akl1A 4 Uln ^ ^ uutuiiiuuiiw i itvtji, auu ui? uivciiau v? ian were killed as the result of an accident to his Pope-Hartford. Buck .had his back broken but lived until Saturday night. Sam Jacobs, hia mechanician, died instantly, his neck being broken. Buck was within 11 laps of the finish, going 64 miles an hour when his right forward wheel threw a tire. The machine turned a complete somersault. Another accident in which thirty persons were hurt, mostly slightly, occurred after 11 o'clock, while the first lap of the race was on, several sections of the recently built circus seats giviflg away. A thousand or more persons were precipitated to the ground. When the stringers by which the seats were supported give way the boards spread out like a pack of cards and the spectators were shunted in a huddle at the bottom. Four sustained broken legs, among them a daughter of Senator Lorimer, but the others escaped with cuts and bruises. From time to time during the remainder of the day warnings were shouted through megaphones to the remaining spectators not to jump to their feet in moments of excitement. Many left the grounds after the accident. The cars on the course at the time of the accident were stopped as soon as they reached the repaid pits, but a new start was soon made. ENDS LONGEST FLIGHT. Atwood Alights in New York After Flying from St. Louis. Sailing serenely over New York's water crafts, ocean liners and ferries, Harry N. Atwood, the Itoston aviator arrived in New York on his aeroplane Friday, the first man in history to travel as far as from St. Louis to New York by way of Chicago, in a heavier than air machine. Atwoods safe landing on Governor's Island, after flying down from Nyack, N. Y., above the Hudson river through a fog which made him only dimly visible to the million eyes that watched him, was a notable Incident in the annals of aeronautics. He not only broke the record for the world, covering 1 265 miles in an air line, or perhaps 100 more miles with his detours, hut no flew all the way in the same biplane and with no important mishaps. Atwood's flight is comparable only to that made by fast trains, for ho covered the distance in an actual flying time of 2 8 hours and 31 minutes. Atwood's final lap in his journey ney was a glide 25 miles from Nyack^ N. Y., where he had stopped overnight. He landed, dapper and smiling, hatless and hungry, in the arms of a handful of United Stales army officers and men who hailed him as America's greatest aviator. "Well, I'm glad its ended," said Ativood, as he stopped from his machine. UNEARTH REVOLUTION. ? - Honduran Government Discover Letters of Conspiracy. A gigantic revolutionary plot against the administration of Honduras was unearthed August 19th when Theo. Hernandez and M. Ugorta were arrested at Puerto Cortez Honduras, and letters found revealing the whereabouts of hidden arms and ammunition. Hernandez is now in jnit at San Pedro, where excitement is at fever heat. Ugorta was escorted to the capital, Tegucigalpa, under an armed guard, where he was incarcerated. Former President Davlla who was forced from the excutive cliai* by the recent successful revolt headed by Gen. Manuel Bonilla, is now In Salvador, and is supposed to be interested in the plot. The arrests were made by orders of Provisional President Bertrand. The letters mentioned that munitions of war were hidden near Fimlenta and that the first movement against the administration was to he started at the election next October of Gen. Bonilla, the unopposed candidate for the presidency. Will Pool Tobacco Crop. Representatives of 60,000 farmers of the bright belt of Virginia and i m _ .111. ? lit. it. ? iNonn uaronna, ameu wun mw mriners' Educational and Cooperative union, in executive session at Greensboro, N. C. Friday entered into an agreement to pool the 1911 tobacco crop until a price of not less than 15 cents per pound is obtained in any section; the "bright" grade of tobacco will be held for twenty cents. Delegates to the meeting will, upon returning to their respective counties, work to have all the farmers join thi pool. i - tirmSM