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BUILDING COLLAPSE If' CIGBT PEOPLE KILLED AND FIFTEEN ARE HURT ? FLAMES ADD TO HORROD Cfttustroi^e Caused by the Collapse of a Large Department Store, Wliich Was Densely Crowded Durrv * > ing a Dig Bargain Sale, In Which Were Many Women and Children. The work of clearing away rhe wreckage of the Cheeves Brothers department store, which collapseJ at fklcKinney, Texas, Thursday, was abandoned at midnight, the searchers being convinced there were no anore bodies in the ruins. LVIayor H. ) A. Finch gave out a statement placy ing tho dead at eight. Fifteen injured were recovered, six of whom were seriously hurt. Tho others were only slightly injured. The store had been crowded during the day by citizens and nearby families of farmers attending a bargain sale. According to Vernie Oraves, the only person known to have escaped uninjured from the falling ruins, there were fully fifty fjeople in the building at the time of the catastrophe. -Cracking of timbers and swaying of the building were quickly followed by the collapse. Excitement at tending the accident was increased by the falling of a two-story building adjoining the department store. Rescue work was impeded by the lack of mechanical facilities and practically the entire male population of McKinney joined in fighting the fire and searching the smouldering ruins. News of the disaster spread quickly and incoming interurban lines brought scores of farmers, who joined in the work. Many of those in the ill-fated ? building when the collapse came were women and children. Their cries spurred the rescue workers in their efforts to tear away the burned and splintered timbers, behind which the inmates of the building were pinned. Two persons reached by the rescuers lived only a few minutes after they were taken from the ruins. An emergency hospital was hastily constructed in a nearby building and physicians from all parts of the town rushed to the scene to render medical aid. Two of the dead were taken from the debris alive, hut died within an hour nt a sanitarium. One of these, 3Mrs. Mary Stiff, pleaded with the firemen working in the tangled mass above Ikt to kill her as the lire was rapidly reaching her. She was brought out barely alive. N. It. Presley talked with the fireman as they tore away the wreck, directed by the soijnd of his voice. lie was dead when they reached him. I/. W. Bush, a capitalist, of Mc Kinney, is believed . to be among those still pinioned beneath the .wreckage. Presley told those endeavoring to rescue him that Bush was on the opposite side of the counter from him when the building fell. ^ The building adjoining the j Cheeves Brothers establishment was occupied by a farm implement concern. The collapse of a wall In the implement house threw its weight against the corner building, and, with a noise that jarred the town ro its foundations, both sank into ruins. At the harsh crackling of timbers, I clerks and customers alike broke for the streets. Pressed outward by the weight of the heavy stock, the wall of the implement store swayed, sagged and burst through into the department store, and in an instant hundreds of tons of merchandise and the wrecked and shattered building material rained in a heap into the department, store, Hying thirty-five feet in the air. Jagged timber stuck from tho mass. After a moment, of stunned activity, hundreds of rescuers pitched into the ruins. Scarcely had they mounted the heap when tongues of flame burst through it. From all over the city came workers and were formed into relays by Mayor Finch. Ar one shift became exhausted another took its place. From the steaming ruin bricks were hurled aside, timbers torn out and cast into the streets and human forms lifted from the wreckage and hurried to hospitals. The fire was extinguished in an hour, but sometimes the flames brought the volunteer fire-flghters to the victims, who prayed for their rescuers to hurry. N. R. Presley, a clerk, was one of these. In interrupted gasps ho told the flremon that ? - * ? - r? u lie was waiting on i^osim uuon, <m Allen, Toy., capitalist, when the crash came. Then Presley begged: "Kill me, or give me a gun so I can kill myself. I'm burning. My right foot is burning off." A few minutes later, when the rescuers reached him, Presley was dead. His right foot was burned to a crisp. As darkness fell, olectric lights were strung across-the ruins. Assistance came quickly from nearby towns and from all parts of the State came offers of aid. In spite mmm i RAILWAYS AND THJC 1'KOI'LK. Discussed by President Finley of the Southern. Mr. W. W. Finley, president of the Southern Railway Company, was one of the speakers at the annual dinner of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce in the Yale University dining I hall Thursday evening. Mr. Finley i spoke on "State of Mind". He quoted from a recent magazine article by President-elect Wilson as follows: ' "Don't you think that some man with eloquent tongue, without conscience, who did not care for the nation, could put this whole country into a ilamo? Don't you know that this country, from one end to another, believes that something is wrong? What an opportunity it would bo for some man without conscience to spring up and say: 'This is the way. Follow mo'?and lead in paths of destruction." Mr. Finley followed this by a quotation from M. Gustavo Le Bon's book entitled "The Crowd, a Study of the Popular Mind," showing the small part often played by reasoning public opinion in economic truth the ease with which it may be swayed by affirmation and repetition. He argued that tlieso quotations demonstrated the wisdom of so grounding public opinion in economic trurth respecting the problems of the day that mere affirmation and repetition could not lead to the belief that wrongs existed where they did not. Referring to the problems relating to transportation as among those as to which public opinion should be well grounded, Mr. Finley went on to deal with the economic truths affecting transportation from various points of view as a basis for an intelligent public opinion and the fair attitude of the public mind as to the railway system of the United States. Pointing out that the transporation system of the country was made up of the country highways, the waterways, and tho railways, each important in its particular field, ho showed the relative magnitude of the railway system and its importance as a factor in civilization, national progress and development, and gave a -1 -X C if. ? passing glance at some ui tin; piuuloms of railway management. Continuing, ho said: "Tho railways of the United States give to society a transportation service that is more comprehensive from year to year. They perform this service at rates of compensation that, on the whole, are lower than those paid for similar service in any other country. They give employment, directly or indirectly, to millions of our fellow-citizens and expend such vast sums in tho purchase of supplies and materials that not only tho industrial life, hut the general prosperity of tho country, are largely dependent upon the maintenance of their wage-paying and purchasing power. "Tn return for their service to society tho railways ask from society, not as a favor but as a right, that after they have been subjected to snob regulation as will protect the rights of the public they shall be protected in their property rights and shall bo permitted to enjoy such a measure of liberty in tho management of their affairs as is necessary to the success of any business undertaking. It is just as true to-day and in tho United States as it. was 1,900 years ago in Judea that 'the laborer is worthy of his hire'. "This great American enterprise is willing to be judged by the standard nnnrincin^ Kxf All r ^ laf I n frll foil - r 11 y |n vy wui ed citizen, the president-elect, in his question, 'Are you giving anything to society when you want to take something out of society?' " KILLED IX HEAI)-()X CRASH. ? ?. Five Others Hurt in Collision on Illinois Central. In a head-on collision on the outski its of 'Brook Haven Sunday night, between a freight train ana a southhound pessenger train, known as the Chicago and New Orleans limited, of tho Illinois Central Railroad, two members of the freight crew were killed and five passengers on the other train injured, though none, it is thought, fatally. The dead are: \V. D. Fredericks, engineer, and W. Selby, brakeman, both of McConvb City, i.Miss. The collision is said to have been caused by a misplaced switch. ? ? Rescued From Icebergs. After drifting among ice boes in Lake Erie for twelve hours, several residents from Pelee inland, Monday were taken off a government man boat by lifo savers. All of the party were men, and all suffered moro or less from the effects of exposure. of the immense crowds, tho scene was almost sflont. Men talked in whispers. At the temporary morgues only those looking for bodies wore admitted. Tho whole town appeared crushed. Men who had narrow escapes from death spoke of them briefly. "There is nothing to tell," they said. Vornie Graves, tho first fo escape, and who Is probably the least injured, said he heard the wall crack, looked and saw it falling. A moment later he remembers that ho plunged into the street, filled with clouds of dust. LAST DAYSJN JAIL AN OLD HAN TALKS PITIFULLY OF I1IS OWN CASE WANT TO PAY FOR CRIME Ho Says His Hands Are Stained With the Blood of His Oldest Boa Whom He Slow, and He Wants to Suffer for the Crime That lie Has Committed. An Atlanta dispatch says "Uncle Bob" Davis, bent and oroken, hair as white as the driven snow, but his hands stained crimson with the blood of his son Hewlett, has taken his place in "murderer's'' row", at the convict camp near Milledgeville, Ga. He went through Atlanta on his way from his home in the peaceful valley of Mill creek Wednesday morning. There were no shackles on his arms nor feet. "Uncle 'Bob" is 75 years old, and carries one of Sherman's bullets in his legs. He wouldn't run away if he had a chance. His hands are stained with the blood of his son, Hewlett, his llrst born, and he owes a debt to God and fellow man. "Only punishment can wipe away my sin," Uncle Bob says. "I must first square myself with man and then I'll get right with the Lord.'' "Uncle Bob" killed a thing he loved. It was a clear case of self-defense, but "Uncle Bob" did not try to evade the law. It was on December 11. He was killing hogs when his son Hewlett came through the gate. The old man ordered the boy away from the premises. Then his heart softened, and he asked him to go on into the house. The son picked up a stick, and the old man fled into the house and went where he had his shotgun handy. When he came out on the porch, the son was there. He raised the stick. There was a sharp report. The son fell over dead. "Uncle Bob" had trouble with his wife. They had lived happily on the farm in the Mill creek valley. She' left to go to the home of her son and grandchildren. That was what started tho trouble. It put murder in the heart of the old man. At least, that is the way he explains the tragic occurrences. "I would heap rather it bo I," he said. "I loved the boy and I loved his children. I didn't mean to kill him. When I aimed the gun, it was at his feet. I jest wanted ter keep him from me. My hands are stained with blood and I want to pay fori what I have done. There is nothing here for me." "Uncle Bob" will probably spend the balance of his days behind the prison walls at Milledgeville. Judge Fite sentenced him to serve five years for manslaughter. Five years is longer than "Uncle Bob" ever hopes to live. The prospect of dying behind the walls has 110 terror for him. "I hope I'll live to pay tho debt," he says. "Uncle Hob'' was granted a new trial by Judge Augustus Kite, in Whitfield county, and his attorney, George C. Glenn, believes that he what I have done. There is nothing second trial. "The blood is on ray hands," Uncle Hob said, as he was led unshackled to prison. He believes that by serving time he can wash away the blood. He wants to be alone, in confinement. "Uncle Bob" asked that the formalities of the law be set aside, and that George C. Glenn, his attorney, be allowed to take him to prison. He leaves a wife and ten children, with whom he lived in his mountain home. He wants to serve out his sentence like a man and return some day to the hills of dear old Whitfield. "Uncle Bob" followed Lee and Jackson through during the stirring days of the sixties. There is not a man nor woman In the country who is not willing to do all they can for "Uncle Bob" but he won't let them interfere. "My hnads are stained,'' he says. "Sorrow and tears alone can make them white." Wants Smoking Stopped. Senator Tillman wants better air In the senate chamber. With this in view he introduced a resolution forbidding smoking in the senate at any time by any person. At present the only time that senators can smoKO on .no noor i? wnmi iuu ?*??ate is in executive session. ? ? ? Governor Blea.se Was Wrong. Comptroller General Jones submitted a statement to the house on Wednesday that the Kuker claim nad not been paid, as stated by the Governor in one of his messages, and that the information could have been gotten from his office. Senator Till map need not bother himself about liis standing with the peeplo of South Carolina. Eliminate the floating mil/ voto, which ho nover did control, and he has more friends now than he ever had before since he entered politics. SHOULD HELP FARMERS A NATIONAL MARKETING ASSOCIATION NEEDED. It Wonld Enable the Farmers to Market Their Farm Products to Greater Advantage. Hon. B. F. Yoakum, Chairman of the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad, in the January number of the National Monthly contributes a very Interesting article on "A National Marketing Association for Farm Products," in which ho contends that the National Government should estabii-t ? i. 11 1 Oi ilHii sum a. oureau ior me ueneni. 01 the producers of the country. We reproduce Mr. Yoakum's article in full, which is as follows: American manufacturers, merchants, bankers and business men in almost every class of business have been engaged for the past few years in a direct and powerful concerted effort to increase the efficiency, of their manufacturing, merchandising and financing by reducing the cost of production and the cost of selling. It was that effort, and that effort alone, that has made the past twenty years an era of great combinations and trusts. The manufacturers figured out that they could reduce the cost of selling and distribution very greatly if they combined scattered plants, into one central organization and substituted ono selling expense for a dozen selling expenses. Through this great era of the elimination of necessary expense and of the gathering of larger profits from manufacturing, and all other lines of organized business and labor, the farmers of the nation, who are the greatest producers of all, have done almost nothing in the direction of eliminating unnecessary expense in selling their products. Ten years ago the conclusion was reached that from the way our political affairs were shaping that the safest way for a railroad to proceed was to go to work with the farmer and co-operate with him to better his piv?l IIUII itliu ill cv t;i J puao iun- n aj iu make him stronger, and increase his efficiency. Naturally organizations must proceed at local centers. For instance, the citrus growers of Southern California, the apple growers of Oregon, the truck growers of Southern Texas, have organized into agencies for selling, which have as their object control over the methods of selling the output. In a local way, these organizations typify the aims and the methods that will be followed in the long run by national organizations of farmers producing the staples of life. . The broad and comprehensive principles of the work of a National Producers' Association should not be n irunderstood. It should be clearly sec forth and thoroughly understood by the public that it is not the formation of a trust to increase the present high retail prices of food-stuff, but that its basic is to formulate and put into operation a system of selling end distributing the products of the field in such a way that they will go as directly to the consumer as good organization will permit and with the least expense. This new system of handling farm products will not interfere with the legitimate commission business of the country. Commission merchants wilt always bo necessary. They arc an established commercial organization and arrangements can be made for the use of their machinery to better advantage than other disfi**butlng agencies. All who have kept abreast of pubfic affairs know that both organized capital and labor through close relations with the government have fared well in securing legislation in the Interest of both. Roth have fought for protection, because it was to their interest, and both have succeeded in making it profitable. The farmers are starting late. They have been slow. In a speech made to the workingmen in New York on September 4, Governor Wilson said: "Men waste their energies if they do not co-operate in a proper way, and therefore the way in which large bodies of workingmen are guided and directed is of capital importance to them in the creation of wealth." In this phrase Governor Wilson sums ! up very concisely and concretely what the farmors of the United States should have done, and have not done, for their own interest. A labor leader was quoted in the New York papers of the 14th of August as saying: "Legislation in the interests of labor has been unprecedented ly abundant this year.'' Ho enumerated nineteen separate achievements in the interest of labor during tho last Congress. T.ot 11s the government reports for a moment and seo how many hours those engaged in differ- ' ont occupations work to earn one dollar: i Mechanics working on plows, hoes, harvesters and reapers, three < hours: wagon and harness makers, S three and one-half hours; railroad s employees engaged in transporting < products of tho farm to market, two j an<J one-half hours; farmers, based 1 on farm values last year, ten hours. : To mako this clearer, the mochan- 1 ic who works in factories making It the plows, hoes, harvesters and oth- i J er Implement* that the farmers use, to earn one dollar works three hours. The automobile, wagon and/harness maker for the farmers' use works three and one-half hours. The railroad employee who runs the trains which haul the products of these farmers to market works two and one-half hours to earn one dollar. The farmer, who does all the work of producing:, takes all the riBk of drought and other hazards that go with farming, works ten hours te earn one dollar. Is such a division of the product of labor fair? Have the men who these 6,500,000 farm owners elected to represent them in Congress given them due considersa. t o HO 11 I The farmer is beginning to see things differently. He has come to know that there is a tremendous waste some place between his farm and the dinner table, and he wants to know what can be done to cut out that waste and give a portion of it to him. The time is passing by when men can satisfy the producer by loose and reckless statements about freight rates; about borrowing rates on mortgages and their products such as the German and French farmers have. They are tired of being told before election of tfceir own importance to the country and what a hard job they have. They want action, not sympathy. They are more interested as to how to sell their products, and get their full share of the final proceeds. The time has come when we have to get down to "brass tacks" with the farmer and talk business with him as a business man. The government of the United States has so far done nothing to improve the marketing condition in food products. Everything that has boon rlnno in thiK direction has been the result of individual effort and not of Federal encouragement.. The% Federal Government lias spent during the past ton years over $100,000,000 for the advancement of agricultural development in other lines. It has done much to teach the farmers how to select the best seed; how to prepare the soil; how to cultivate and gather crops; how to adapt the annual crops to particular qualities of soil; how to redeem swamp land; how to improve wornout and depleted farms and many other matters that are of great interest to the farming community, and which taken together constitute a great and splendid wor* that has been carried on by the government. In the matter of marketing, however, which is equally vital to the farming community from a standpoint of larger profit, the government has done nothing. A farmer when he has raised his crop has performed only half his duty; the other half is selling, which determines his profit for the year's work. It is just as important for the agricultural producer to know what the markets are as it is for the lumberman, the coal and ore producer, or the manufacturer to know what his .1,. v,r, ,, ,, ^uunn eli ? uriii in 111 v" mc&i i\?;t aiiu what competition he must meet in his selling. It would be possible to organize the entire truck growing territory of the Southwest into zones of distribution and to control the output in such a way as to prevent congestion and wasteful prices by overcrowding the markets. The government of tho United States should assist the formation of such a co-operative marketing system by establishing ample sources or direct information on markets and distributing that information to the producing communities. The time has come when bhe government must pay more attention to legislation for the benefit of the farmers than it has paid in the past. It is the tendency of this day to equalize the living conditions. Scientific and efficient governmental policy means extending equal opportunities to the different classes of its citizenship, and it is part of the business of the government to study any tendencies, methods and plans that, will tend toward such equality of opportunities. The government cannot, in justice discriminate by favoring one class more than another, for the whole principle of unjust discrimination is a thing hated by the American people. The people of the United States have rendered their verdict setting forth the fact that every class of citizens must be considered on its merits and must be given no undue advantage merely because it contributes literally in funds to an election campaign or controls a substantial vote at the polls. In reducing the high cost of selling wo have one of the biggest questions that must be answered in formulating a constructive program for the betterment of agricultural citizenship in this nation. It is a good basis upon which to proceed to save ns far as possible the fifty cents on the dollar, shown by the department of nericnltnro nn nn linnrrnsanrv wasteful expense in passing produces from the producer to the consumer. To do so will add millions to the farmers and save much to the consumers. There is, for instance, no sound or even theoretical reason why the Southwest Texas Truck Growers' Association should not expand their organization to include the truck growers of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. This is a small trade >.one viewed from a comprehensive ousiness standpoint. If beans, pota:oo?, cabbage, early corn, strawberries, or onioua are selling In Texas LOST WITH ALL HANDS * ONE 8TEAMKK SEES ANOTHER GO TO THE BOTTOM. Haw Large Ship Flange Beneath the Wares in Terrific Hurricane With All on Board. v, The News and Courier saps the sinking of a large Danish steamship, with all hands on board, off the southwest coast of England during a terrific hurricane ou the 26th of December, was the scene witnessed by Cant. K. Itee, master of the Dutch steamship Phecda, which arrived in port Saturday night from Hamburg with a cargo of fertilizer material. The name of the lost vessel is not known, but it is believed by some of Capt. Ree's officers that she was a large Danish merchantman, probably the Ivar of Copenhagen. Capt. Reo says that on tho 25th and 2 6th of December tho Phecda passed through a hurricane. On tho afternoon of tho 2 6th, about three o'clock, tho officers of tho Phecda sighted a big Danish tramp, which seemed to liavo been badly damaged by the storm, but was fighting her way slowly through high seas. Capt. Reo signalled to know If the steamer was in distress and needed assistance. Tho unknown vessel did not request aid. Sho carried her flag at half-mast. As tho Phecda drew nearer tho Dane appeared to be trying to make a turn and come to tho leeside. The high seas washed her decks and scattered her boats. At about 4:15 o'clock a mountainlike sea swept over her, and when it passed tho vessel plunged downward head first. Capt. Roe thinks that tho last high sea that broke over tho ill-fated Dane s vent tho men from their defies. Tho Phecda came up to the spot where the unknown vessel was | seen to go down and stood by until I nearly midnight. The officers of the 1 hecda kept a sharp lookout to see if any of tho bodies of the drowned men could bo found, but nothing floated afterward by which the lost ship could be identified. Tho weather was clear after the storm and the moon shone brightly. I The vessel which sank appeared to be a steamer of about 3,000 tons, with black hull ana smokestack. Tho smokestacks had the sign of the perpendicular cross. It is believed that she was a Danish merchantman owned in Copenhagen, probably the Ivar. The Phecda experienced an exceedingly rough passage, but b^ing a very fine ship and in the hands of able officers and seamen she weathered the gale and is entirely seaworthy and ready for the sea again at a moment's notice. at a good price, and the market in Louisiana or other localities can be broken, it reduces in proportion the buyer's buying price in every section where vegetables at that time are on the market. The majority of the farmers have been prejudiced against others. They have fought all other trade comblna tions ana negieciea ineir own, wmen is going to become one of tho biggest, most beneficial and influential, and in saying this, T am not unmindful of the many difflcultiew and obstacles to be overcome. The farmers work longer hours and harder than any other class. They live away from town and it Is not as convenient for them to attend co-operative meetings and become familiar with their advantages. They are too busy during the day and too tired at night to attend many meetings. They must be informed of the co-operative trade advantages through associations and educational work aided by the government. During the last Congress two bill/* were introduced, one by Congressman Reall of Texas, and ono by Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia, neither of which passed, for the establishment of a market bureau under the Agricultural Department, to bo operated in the same general manner as to the good roads department, etc., to find every feasible way to inform tho farmer on all things and methods pertaining to marketing form products through a system of daily farm market bulletins during the shipping seasons in different coBt of boxing and packing, but the freight rates, the express rates, the storage rates, and selling commissions, the different products that can go by parcels post, the proper way to pack: |fruit, vegetables, poultryproducts, etc., and overy item of expense from the farm until sold at the markets. ^ Sooner or later such a bill will got the attention of Congress. They Had Free Fight. At Cheyenne, Wyo., a riot broke out in tho house of representatives of the Wyoming legislature Monday when Speaker Spratt and Speaker Pro Tom Wood both claimed the A txrno 1/1 A A ^ * I iQHV w |/l VOIU9I JV \ I t I 1 t ' 11 1 ngni, which was interrupted hv members, took place between the two officers. ? A letter from Columbia says Senator E. J. Dennis, of Berkeley County, is a candidate for Judge from the first judicial circuit, to succeed to the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge Robert E. Copes, and friends are industriously pushing hid candidacy.