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.

I WHEN SOLONS MEET ? TALK OR HARMONY SESSION (IS AN IDLE BREAM BLEASE TO START A ROW V > * The Columbia Correspondent of the A^igusta Chronicle Thinks a "Harmony Session" is Out of the Question, as the Governor Wants a How and is Hound to Have One. The Columbia correspondent of the Augusta Chronicle says some people in this State are talking about the harmony session of the general assembly. This is all idle talk, for tne very life of the South Carolina general assembly is the talking which develops into hot factional fights. There never has been a "harmony session" of a South Carolina general assembly and there never will be, until all of the loud talking politicians have passed from the arena. The chances are they never will ?? io there > ou are. There are plenty of bri:r. / men in the body, but they are literacy smothered when the ranting ti re % comes along. The one 'lefim'.e subject for talk has not been di.ided upon so far, but some one will tin a it. That subject is going to bob up, and the mass of legislators will 101 Ipw it blindly. Whiskey has been the talking subject for many years, and now it is something else. The people in this State just love politics they must have. The present governor of South ' Carolina is absolutely dependable in one particular?that is to start something. He would never consent to a "harmony session". Just as sure as ' i twice two is four he will start something and the wise ones here are of the opinion that it will be started with his annual message. Some one said the other day that this was going to he a quiet session, ?"'1 Mint n nrnf/fnccl vn lirnOT!! Ill n f mill l 11 (1 b 1% j; I 1/^1 v. UU t t W |/i v. ?--- w legislation would be carried out. Kvery South Carolinian, down in his heart, if he has the interest of tlie State at heart, hopes that the prediction will come true. Hut if it should come true, then there would be a new day in this State. The blatant ones will blaze forth with all of their glory, insofar as loud talking goes, when the compulsory education measure is proposed. "Free nigger" will be shouted loud andystrong, and alleged argument against the measure put forward. The thinking people of South Carolina realize that the hope of the future of the State lies In the education of the children. They also realize that the education of all children depends on the right kind of compulsory education measure. However, just as in the past, this measure is going to meet defeat. Taxation is a question that reaches practically every man one way or the other. This question will be one of > the most important to be faced by the next legislature. About $2,000,000 will be necessary for the State government this year. It is estimated that about live and three-lourih mills will be sullicient for the ordinary purposes. Yet the asylum bond Issue was defeated, and the funds borrowed must be returned to the sinking fund commission. This will necessarily raise the tax levy, for all realize that the work of relieving the congested condition at the State Uos*1* A liot OTA All W JJILctl IUI l in; iiioaiiu in uni f~,u wu, ^ Tho supporters of the governor, wic wcic elected to 'his gene ?) ?sembly, are marshaling their forces, and will put up a deteijninol fight to gain every possible inch of ground. They want important committee assignments, which they v ill net get unless Mendel L. Smith lose? his nerve. He is assured of election us speaker, anil the Mease people want fieorge Rembert for chairman of the ways and means committee chairmanship. There is little interest in the report to be filed by the legislative j committee that was appointed to investigate the charge of the governor against Attorney General Lyon, and the members of the Ansel winding-up commission. The commission will very probably exonerate ail charged by the governor and let the matter drop at that. There was nothing of an incriminating nature proved against the governor at the Augusta hearing?however the suspicions may have boon aroused?so it is supposed that the committee will merely submit the verbatim testimony or tho hearing. The committee will very probably touch on tho Charleston gVaft situation. The Charleston racing situation is causing considerable comment just now, and the general opinion is that nothing v? ill develop to prevent the alleged sport. No one knows just what action Thomas TT. Peoples, the next attorney general, will take. A member of the Charleston County delegation will introduce a measure for a high license liquor law In South Carolina. Under present conditions It does not seem necessary to enact any kind of whiskey legislation for the laws that are on the books are being flagrantly violated from one end of the State to another. It hi estimated that there are fully 5, NEGRO MURDERER SLAIN RELIEVED TO BE MlIltDEHER OF I K. N. HANKINSON. Another Negro Who Was With the One that Was Killed Makes His Escape Hut is -Being Hunted. Two negroes believed to be the i murderers of H3. N. Hankinson, the Barnwell county merchant who was beaten to death Saturday night ae his store near Ulackville, were apprehended Monday at Hardeeville. One was killed in resisting arrest. The other was captured, but later escaped. 1 * ' ' 1 ' 1 ? t f .. l. ? .1 ?v-? !i n 1 r\ 9 M a r_ \\ llllO 11 UUKill U, mm oitui \ji nut deeville, saw the negroes beating a ride on a freight train. He mounted (lie car on which they were riding and was about to make the arrest when the" two negroes jumped from the car and ran. Hubbard commanded a halt, and shot to frighten them and when no halt was made he eiiot above their head. One of them announced that it would be necessary to kill him in order to get him, whereupon Hubbard shot again and killed one. The other escaped, but was later captured, after a long chase. The town authorities of Hardeeville shackled the prisoner securely, placed a heavy guard around the jali. The prisoner was Tuesday morning turned over to the sheriff of Darnwell, who securely manacled him hand and foot and fastened him to the floor. Upon going back about HO minutes later the sheriff found that the prisoner had escaped. It is evident that the negro had outside help from others of his color. I'doodhounds on the scene failed to take the trail, and it is thought that the prisoner was taken off in a buggy. The negroes at Hardeeville have been much excited since the arrests, but the town is now quiet. The following is a description of the negro who escaped: About 2o years old, height 5 feet 9 inches, coal black, with bumps on fact, a scar across forehead and a fresh wound on wrist, wearing a dark brown suit with initials on inside coat pocket and tan shoes. Posses are looking for him all over that section and with all roads well guarded it is hoped that he will soon be apprehended. The sheriff of Barnwell is still on the job with several deputies. HEATS FIVE-YEAR AVERAGE. Cotton Production Per Aero During the Past Year. The production of cotton per acre during 1912, while lower than in 1911, was more than 13 pounds greater than the average for the previous five years, the department of agriculture's preliminary estimate announces. The acreage production in 1912 was 193.2 pounds, against 207.7 pounds in 1911, and 180.1 pounds, the five year average. The highest acre average production was in California, with 43 0 pounds. North Carolina produced 271 pounds; Missouri, 207; Virginia 200; South Carolina, 210; Texas, 200; Louisiana, 197; Arkansas, 190; Oklahoma, 184; Mississippi, 177; Alabama, 173; Tennessee, 171; Georgia, 103, and Florida, 119. All States except Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mis sourl exceeded the five-year average acreage production. WORST STORM IX YEARS. Croat Damage Done by Storm of Thursday Night. A New York dispatch says belated returns of the damage done by the storm revealed that, a clean sweep of the wires had been made from Jacksonville to Maine and that the storm was the most severe of the recent years. Thousands of men are at work repairing the damage. Higfi winds prevailed Saturday along the northern Atlantic seaboard, but the wire trouble, it was reported, \va* slightly compared to that of Fridar. The most serious instance Saturday was the break near Philadelphia or more than 60 through wires between New York and Washington. Daybreak Friday found the const from Florida to Maine do'fed with camps of linemen, many of whom had worked all night in the darkness. 000 places in South Carolina where I whiskey may he purchased. Right here in Columbia there are many wide-open saloons which are seldom if ever molested. Every one knows the, situation in Charleston. Tb n Fftjiftrnl nnsenihlv would nor waste any time if it pave serious consideration to the progressive measure for the betterment of labor conditions in South Carolina that have been proposed by Commissioner Watson. Some of the laws may be a little too far advanced for this time but tho majority of them will not work a hardship on any one. The general assembly is due to start moving Tuesday, and the set time is forty days, although it may go longer. The first few days will see* a flood of measures introduced. This is a new legislature and there will be many new faces. 1 1 PKUTU.I PHIltMlil SENATOR TILIM\N UHCiFS SOME REFORM BY LAW j STATE IS IN JEOPARDY i I The Senator Feat'8 That Good Government is Doomed In less Legislation is Knacted co Put the Primary Substantially Under the Sumo lietfulutioiis as the General Flection. "Wo must either reform tho prrmary system by law or see it die, * warns Senator Benjamin ltyan Tillman, in an open letter to the South Carolina General Assembly, soon to meet, in which it is urged that legislation bo enacted to safeguard the primary system of election in this State. "If we do not safeguard the primary system," writes Senator Tillman, "and make it above suspicion, good government in tho State is doomed." Tho senior Senator again warns the people agiaust the negro being used in politics under white leadership; if the black population be thus mobilized, he thinks, ofiices or trust and power will become mere "pawns in the game of politics, to bo bought by the highest bidders." Following is tho statement: "I dislike to have the appearance even of assuming tho right to dictate to the General Assembly, a no such is not my purpose now. But for reasons unnecessary to enumerate t feel that I have a duty to perforin in the present instance. "The angry passions aroused last summer in tho State campaign for Governor have in a measure subslo_ 1 1 11. ? 1 ~ 1 An/xlrk/1 Cd, anu IIHJ ])t'uj)i? liuvu i;uui?:u uii. To my mind there was great danger to white supremacy and Democratic unity which is now happily passed. Hut unless every possible safeguard is thrown around the primary system, by law, rules and regulations made so plain and of such a just and reasonable nature as to compel honesty and fair play in the primary?the system is doomed and the people Of the State will settle their political differences at the polls in November just as they do now in all border and Northern States. "There are many people in South Carolina who would bo glad to see two white parties in the State. Were conditions different I myself would like to have two white parties, but as things are now iv. would mean the mobilization of the negro and his active and aggressive return to State politics under white leadership. "I know of no calamity greater than this that could overtake our people. 1 speak advisedly, for 1 went through the reconstruction period and know the degradation to whicn our people sank, the rottenness ain? corruption that wer? tn our politics, and made our Government a by-word and a hissing, and I know how hard it was to get the white men to lineup shoulder to shoulder and throw off the yoke. From 18G8 to 187G we had the vilest and most corrupt Government in South Carolina that has ever existed in any State of the Union, except Louisiana, t "The negroes outnumber us in South Carolina by more than one hundred and fifty thousand, and a mini l>oi< n f Minm nro nlllior rot*. I I(U II UII1 UU1 Vt I * v III i??? \> VI v?*v>* I VH istered or eligible for registration. It' they should ever he mobilized and led*to the polls by white men, in the struggle for mastery and control, t hen we can never save the State from a repetition of even greater corruption than we nave already endured. The State corporations and Standard Oil, to say nothing of the railroads, would use money lavishly, and the Governorship and the United States Senatorships, to say nothing of the Congressional delegation, ' would become pawns in the game of politics to bo bought by the highest bidders. "The Democratic party of South Carolina, when it meets again 1 n Convention, will no doubt deal with this question, but the Legislature ought to deal with it now, at this coming session, whilo the memory is fresh and knowledge of intensity of feeling has not faded away. "i cannot and will not indicate just what sort of a law the Legislature ought to pass. The details must bo worked out in committee, but I can and will outline the general policy which should govern us in this : crisis: i "First: The primary ought to be 1 honest and fair and above all suspicion. 1 "Second: No man (fight to ob'ect to whatever expense and trouble are 1 necessary to secure such registration and preparation of the Democratic ' club rolls as will insure honesty and 1 fair play. It must not be left to liaz- 1 ard and guess work. ! t "Third: Stringent rules and regulations are required. No man 1 1 should participate in the primary to nominate who is not willing and able fo stand the test of registration to ' participate in the general election. "The rules should oe few, plain and simple, but they must be enacted into law in order to compel compliance with them. itlgid punish- f ment ought to be provided for any < i BOTH WILL HAVE THEM SCPItKMK COCKT UKNDKHS JK HIGHTECH'S VEKMCT. Mr. II. R. Tillman Jr., Given the Custody of His Little Girls Part of Each Month. The Supreme Court Monday afternoon filed an order in the Tillman children case designating what times of the year the mother is to have the custody of the children and whai time the father is to have them. The children are to be with their fathei in the months of July and August, from December 26 to January 2, and one week in April. During the time they are with tneir momer nicy arc to be permitted to see their father every other Saturday, and during the time they are with the father they are to be permitted to seo their mother every other Saturday. The question of support is not passed on. The following is the order: "R. R. Tillman Jr., petitioner, vs. Mrs. Lucy Dugas Tillman, alias Mrs. Lucy Dugas, respondent. Per curiam order: The parties to this controversy being unable to agree as to the details referred to in the order dated December 9, 1912, the Court orders as follows: "The children, Douschka Pickens Tillman and Sarah Stark Tillman, are to bo in the custody of their father, R. R. Tillman Jr., every year during the months of July and August, subject to the right of the mother to have them at all times when ill. They are to go to their father every year on December 2G and remain until January 2, following, and to spend with him any week in April of every year that the mother may duly indicate to him as most convenient. "The children aro to spend every other Saturday with their father when in their mother's custody and with their mother when in their father's custody in July and August. The duty is imposed on the mother to provide that the father shall have reasonable access to the children in case of serious illness. The children may be taken temporarily out of the State by either parent for their health or pleasure, but the undertaking to the State of South Carolina, mentioned in the former order, shall provide that they shall not be removed permanently from the State, and that they shall at all times be subject to the order of this Court. "The Court adjudges nothing as to the duty of the father to support tho children, because that question is not before it in this proceeding, and because there is no evidence that the father has refused to supnort tin m.M HOl'SKS ARE lUiOWX DOWN. Heavy Wind Does Some Damage in Lancaster County. One of the worst wind storms thai has ever visited in these parts, assuming at times cyclonic proportions, struck Lancaster between 1 and 2 o'clock Thursday night, and continuing with unabated fury throughout the night, caused considerable damago in many sections of the community. Numerous outhouses, small barns and fences were blown down, and in some instances carried several hundred yards away. A number of chimneys and stove flues have been inzed to the ground as if from an earthquake shock. Numbers of billboards, signs and other pieces of lumber were to be seen scattered here and there along Main street Friday morning. No reports of dam- : ages in the rural districts have yet reached there, but it is thought that 1 considerable damage, especially in some sections, was done. The veloc- < ity of the wind during the day, tho somewhat abated, is still so great as 1 to cause anxiety. < < man who noglecis to comply with all ' conditions and rules or he ought to jj lose ins vote. An nonest ann lairiy * i conducted primary can and will com- ; mand tho endorsement and support of all right-thinking white people; a dishonest one will command the support of nobody. "We must either reform the pri- ] rnary system by law or see it die. Xo decent man will object or resist the rule of the majority fairly expressed. Let us see to it that none lint duly qualified citizens vote at the Democratic primary, and danger of ^ trouble will disappear. If we do not ( safeguard the primary system and t make it above suspicion good govern- j metit in the State is doomed. want 110 man in the Democratic primary who votes tho Republican or at her national ticket I11 tho general ^ election. ! "I writo the aho believing that I r will never ask tho people to vote for j mo in another primary, because I lie- ] lieve I will be dead before another j Senator to succeed me is elected. Therefore, no charge of selfish or ( personal motive can he just made t igninst me tnklne the position T do. ^ It is solely because know the dan- f; jer, having passed through the crisis j :>nee, that I mako hold to write this way." n The Sumter Item says a safe, sane t uid profitable resolution for the raer- c ?hant who is determined to succeed \ lift in fill.liliN fiuUKS FrflMIN NFFHKM hmKTS CRITICRISE BLcASE SAYS HE ABUStS POWER ? The Governor is Severely Censureo For Turning Loose on the I'ublh Several Hundred of Convicted Criminals, Many of Whom Arc Murderers and Assassins. HeWitt L. Pavne. in Cirit. says the action of Bleuse in freeing 7 9 convicts, closely following that of Gov. Donaghey, of Arkansas, who recently granted 31G state and 44 county convicts their liberty, almost emptying the state penitentiary, has brought down upon their heads considerable censure. The governors of a number of other states also made free use of the pardoning power during the holiday season, and the result has been a country-wide criticism of the system that allows one man to undo tne work of 12 men who sat as a jury in each case and decided the individual to be guilty of an infraction of the laws and a fit subject for punishment. The action of Gov. Donaghey of Arkansas, in freeing 360 convicts at one time, was aimed by that otllcial as a blow at the prison contract labor system of the state, and, while it was freely criticised by those who believed that law-breakers should receive adequate punishment, it was admitted that conditions in Arkansas gave him a valid excuse. But the action of Gov. Blease, who had no excuse of this kind, has been freely criticised in general, while in specific instances tho governor has been accused of downright unfairness. Among the 79 criminals pardoned by Gov. lilcase were 17 who were serving life terms for murder, five who were serving life terms for burglary, two who wero serving life terms for assaulting women, and one serving a life term for arson. Seveial of the men freed have notorious criminal records in several parts of the United States, and it was the turning of these men, with the injunction that they should leave South Carolina and never return, that has aroused the greatest criticism of the South Carolina executive. In addition to the "life termers" pardoned, 2 8 of those set free had been convicted and sentenced for manslaughter. The balance were serving time for crimes ranging from grand larceny, assault and battery with intent to kill and highway robbery to bigamy and violating the liquor laws. Forty-five of the men freed by Gov. Blease, or over 55 per cent, of the total, had been convicted and sentenced for killing others, and several of the crimes have been among the most notorious in the state. While the general criticism of the state executive's action is against tho wholesale pardoning of criminals, many residents of South Carolina are indignant over tho freeing of so many slayers. The enemies of the governor declare that he has established a color line in crime and cite tho pardon granted to Popo Havird on Oct. 7 last. Havird, who lives in Saluda, was sentenced in March, 1911, to fl,ro years in tho penitentiary for abusing a young schoolteacher. Bu* ho was paroled two months ago after serving but a fraction of his term. In the two years he has been governor of South Carolina, Blease has pardoned 509 criminals. This includes 2.10, or almost half the total, who had boon sentenced for either murder or manslaughter, a killing in either case. Ho has also freed 50 charged with assault. In the nine pears of the throe immediate predecessors of Gov. Blease, only 145 parions were issued, an average of 10 a rear. Gov. Blease's average is over 250. ? ^ WHISKEY BY 1M11CELS POST. tut Smashed Bottle in Post Ollico ' * Exposes Scheme. The accidental dropping of a par els post package in the Savannah j >cst olllce Sunday disclosed the fact hat liquor dealers are trying to use he system. About 25 packages from he same addrcssor are now being lew at uio posi omce. One and two quarts of whiskey appear to be in each package. They ire fixed up like jewelry packages s Hid only the accident disclosed the < nature of the contents. The pack- J iges started in steadily Saturday af- i ernoon and the clerks noticed the < arge number of packages of a sim- t lar size. < One was dropped and immediately \ he odor of liquor permeated the en- < ire otTiee. Postmaster Daker is i lolding them for the order of the ad- i lessor, wh) loses the amount put on t hem in parcels post stamps. Tho Columbia State thinks that, in i mnouncing that ho is to print a let- 1 er from the mikado of Japan, Col- t >nel Roosevelt has badly scooped t Vm. R. Hearst. j VESSEL WENT TO iiOlluM THIRTY-THREE PEOPLE LOST ON A HOODOO SHIP. Rurned to the Water In August, Wrecked on the Rocks In March, Her Record Full of Disaster. Leaving marine records strewn with tales of death and disaster, connected with her career, the Rosecrans, once a United States Army transport, was lost on Peacock Spit, just beyond the bar at Astoria, Ore gon, Tuesday, in a furious gale that drove her on the rocks. Thirty-three of her crew of thirty-six perished when the ship wen*, under, it is believed. Three othere clung to a topmast and their death seemed certain. The Rosecrans cleared from Southern California points with a cru le oil cargo for Portland. Ore. She encountered a sixty-mile gale as she stood in toward the bar at the mouth of the Columbia Hiver. It is thought her officers lost their bearings and the tanker was hurled on the rocks to pound herself to pieces. Attempts at rescue were futile, er's hull had sunk from Right. Three men of her crew of thirty-six clung to the topmast, which projected above the water. All others, it is belieed, have perished. It seemed impossible that tho three survivors could be saved The Rosecrans, owned by the Associated Oil company, has been an ill-fated vessel. While loading oil at Oaviota on August 2 7, 1012, she caught fire and was burned to the water's edge. In March of the same year she was driven on the rocks at Oaviota and two of her crew were lost. Built at Glasgow tn 1883, the Rosecrans was 335 feet long and registered 2,070 tons gross. She formerly was an army transport. At the ofllees of the Associated Oil company it was said the vessel carried a crew of thirty-six men and was valued at about $200,000. THE COTTON CORNER CASE. ? It. Must Go to Trial on the Parts Refore a Jury. B.y upholding certain disputed counts against James A. Patten anil others charged with violation of the Sherman law in running a so-called cotton corner, the supreme court Monday sent the case against the men to trial in the lower courts. Patten, Eugene G. Scales, Frank B. Hayno and William Brown were indicted in New York on charges of conspiring on January 1, 1910, to corner cotton by extensive buying on the New York exchange as a result of which prices had been changed ultimately to bring arbitrary and excessive prices. Tho conspiracy was described as calculated to yield ten million in profits. The supremo court Monday acted on the government appeal from tho decision of the federal circuit court of New York which held insufficient four counts of the indictment. The Patten case now goes back to the federal court in New York for trial and other proceedings. The decision Monday settles the important question that the corner of any commodity is a restraint of interstate commerce and may be a violation 01 the Sherman law. ? ? LEAPS TO HIS DEATH. ?. . Congressman Jumps From Ships an?l Perishes at Sea. Representative W. W. Wedemyer of Ann Arbor, Mich., who suddenly went insane at Colon, Panama, at the time of President Taft's recent vlsri to the isthmus, jumped overboard Thursday night from a ship on which ho had been taken at Colon. His body has not been re?|vered. Representative Wedemyer went to the Isthmus of Panama with a congressional party at the same time the president visited there. On the voyage from Now York he collapsed rnd was taken first to a sanitarium In Panama and later was put in confinement in a hospital where he became violent and raved about his defeat at the last election. He developed a suicidal tendency ind was closely watched. W'edeniey?r's close friends say that a few days before leaving for the isthmus ho fen ind struck his head on an icy sidewalk. It was not regarded as serious ind did not deter him from going with the congressional party. * ? ? The plan adopted in England a short while ago to settle a threatened striko over there was an admirable one. The matter In dispute was referred to a commission consisting two representatives of the men wo of tho employees .and a neutral chairman. It is another proof of the ?reat advance that democracy in 3reat Hritain is making, and it must nevitably encourage and help the donocracy in all other European counries. If every man in we State would resolve to quit carrying a plstoi, lomicides would become a thing of :he past. The handy pistol is responsible for nearly all the killings n this State.