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TERRIBLE TRAIiEDY FALSE FIRE ALAR STARTS A CHRISTMAS STAMPEDE SEVENTY-TWO ARE DEAD While the Children of Calumet, Michigan's Striking Miners Were Around Huge Christinas Tree Some One Maliciously Shouted 44Pire", Starting the Fatal Panic. On the (lay Christendom has set aside as one of rejoicing over the birth of the Savior Calumet, Mich., stricken to tho heart by an almost unbelievable catastrophe, stood mourning by the side of its dead? tho seventy-two victims, most of them children, of tho frightful panic on Christmas Eve in tho Italian Hall. This nailic. followed n fnlsn nhirm cry of lire during tho progress of a Christmas tree entertainment arranged for families.of tliec opper strikers. All bitterness and ill feeling that lias existed in this strike-ridden community for months past is wiped away by tho one great, common affliction. Christmas day the people of Calumet only saw their neighbors, their brothers, their sisters and their little children staggering under an almost unbearable burden of distress and grief. A mass meeting of Calumet citizens was held in tho afternoon to express sympathy and devise ways and means to ameliorate tho suffering and sorrow of thoso families on which tho hand of death had fallen. A committee of twelve was appointed to visit each home and ascertain what financial assistance was needed. Funds are assured and no outside aid will be needed. The accident nrriirrr>(l Wpdnondnv night wliilo several hundred miners and tlieir "wives looked on, the children pressed eagerly to the stage to receive Christmas presents. At this point a man put his head in at the door of the hall and yelled "Fire!" The cry was taken up by those in the hall. Every one started for the doors. The weaker were thrown to the floor, and those behind tried to climb over those ahead of them. The stairway and other avenues of egress were blocked so effectually that those inside could not get out, and those without could not get in to aid the panic-stricken crowd in the hall. The principal exit was a narrow stairway at the back of the hall. When tliis had been cleared of the bodies that filled it to tlio top and n quick recounting had been made, U was found that seventy-two corpses had been piled up besido the hall building. It is thought that a dozen others were carried away by friends. The dead were piled up beside tlie hall included 37 girls, 1 0 boys, nine women and live men. Excited men ami women stood about the building, soino dazed by the sudden change from holiday festivities to tragedy, others calling hysterically for a missing child, and a few even threatened violence to the rescuers for keeping them back from the long row of bodies. There was not much work for the many doctors who hurried to the scene as soon as the alarm was spread, for those who were not killed in the first rush were held upright and safe by the very forco of the onrush towards the exit. Only three injured persons were taken to hospitals. A few went homo, assisted by friends. For many days the children of the copper mine strikers had waited expectantly for Christmas tree exercises, arranged by the Woman's Auxiliary of the Western Federation of Miners. The entertainment was set for the early evening, and the hall, on the second floor, soon was filled to its limit. Children selected to recite Christmas selections and sing carols had finished, and the man selected to play the part of Santa Clans had prepared to distribute the presents that were piled around the tree. The aisles were filled with the noys ami pins, wncn tiio man tlirust his head in at the door of tlio main hallway and shouted "Fire!" A woman near the door realizing the import of the act, seized the man by the shoulders and tried to counteract the alarm, hut her efforts were futile. The man wrested himself from her grasp and ran away and the cry of "fire" was repeated throughout the room. The word was shouted in several languages as parents rose and rushed forward to get their children. The lives were crushed out in almost a twinkling. Then the physical impossibility of further movement brought panic-stricken persons to their senses, hut most of those in the hall could not get out of the jam they had created. Policemen and firemen hurried tr tho building, to find the hall congested. Several climbed tho fire escapes and entered by the windows. In a short time tho uninjured and the faint had been pulled from the tangle of human beings and placed in the front of the hall. Mombors of the Calumet fire department relate many instances of heroic attempts at rescue. Patrick Ilyan arrived a few minutes after tho CUT DOWN DELEGATES | ? SOI TH CAHOUNA BOSKS SKVKN WITH IMSITISIjICAXS. X National Committee KihIn Its Babul s ( AVitli Compromise Keorgnni/ation j ? anil Adjourns. Tho Republican national committoo has concluded its labor for ic- \ form in party procedure, and launched its campaign for a reunion of warring elements, by adopting a res olutlon providing for a radical change In the basis of representation In national conventions which would reduce the quota of southern states from thirty-three to sixteen per cent, of the convention's total. ( Tho action of the committee, crlti- \ clsed in vigorous terms by several of c its .members, hut made unanimous ( beforo adjournment, must ho indors- f ed by states entitled to cast a ma- 1 jorily of votes in tho electoral col- i lege before it becomes party law. I In order that such action shall be ; taken as promptly as possible the committee appointed a subcommittee ( of three, consisting of Charles R. < Warren, of Michigan; Senator Borah, ( of Idaho, and (lovernor Hatfield, of \ West Virginia, to prepare an address < This address will bo drawn up short- i ly after the Christmas holidays, and ] leading members of tho committee , expressed the hope that it would be ] met by early action. 1 Approval by the states will insure ( a call from tho national committee \ for the national convention of 10 10 ( along the lines laid down. The reorganization plan adopted came as a ' compromise which reflected the views of many committeemen that southern i representation should bo reduced. but not brought to tho vanishing point. : According to figures submitted by tho subcommittee, tho new plan would reduce tho total number of delegates from 1,07 8, as in 1812, to 003. Under it theso states would lose delegates: Alabama 9, Arkansas 3, Florida 4, Georgia 10, Illinois 2, Kentucky 1, Louisiana 7, Mississippi 8, New York 4, North Carolina 3, Pennsylvania 1, South Carolina 7, Tennesseo 3, Texas in, Virginia 0, and Hawaii 4. The southern states would have 1G4 delegates in all. crush occurred at tho foot of tho stairway. Ilo estimated there were about one hundred piled in a heap when he reached tho entrance of the building. A boy of about six caught hold of Ryan's hand and hogged to be rescued. The fireman pulled the hoy partly out, hut was unable to ex tricate tho little fellow's logs'. The human mass kept pressing down and tho hoy's life soon was snuffed out. A girl of eight or nine grasped the hands of Angelo Curto, a fireman, kissed them and implored him to save her. lie made a heroic effort to pull her out, but tho crush was so great he was compelled to givo up the attempt and sho perished. Mrs. A. Niemela, one of tho victims, was suffocated, while standing up. Leonard Wilman, fireman, took out a crying hoy of six, uninjured. Near him his mother and sister lay dead. Ilis seven-year-old brother was taken out later. An elevenyear-old hoy rescued his brother of nine by carrying him down a ladder. There were other similar rescues. A child hurled from tho building was caught by a spectator. Chief Trudell, of tho fire department, caught another child thrown out of a window by a frantic father. John Saari killed his boy of five by falling on him, and he, too, perished. Other men began to pull the bodies of tho dead and helpless from the stairway and place them in a room beside tho building. This disposition of the crumpled bodies was found inadvisable because of tho hysteria it caused among tho spectators, and tho dead were carried back into the hall as soon as it was emptied of frightened snootntnrs ah tim nv. fc, v v.. ?. tuu Vviui 11 n wore lined with bodies and corpses had to ho placed in the kitchen of the hall and beneath the stage. Within an hour almost every person in Calumet was as neat the scene as it was possible to get. Police kept back the crowd. After much effort a lane was opened and the bodies of the children were carried through ranks of mourning and waiting women to Red Jacket Village Hall, which was turned into a morgue. It was many hours before all the bodies wero identified. During the confusion several bodies of children wero wrongly identified by mothers and taken , away, only to bo returned later by I |in ri.ironia wlm lm/i W..VU ? uu 1IIUI lUIIIIU HUM I DWIl offspring safe. Other cases saw parents run about for some time uncertain whether their children were dead or alive. Many mothers faintI ed, while fathers cursed all those I who interfered with their mad search for lost hoys and girls. > ? Killed Near Former Wife. ; Daniel do Villiers, of San Antonio, , Tex., was shot and killed early i Thursday by Hoy D. Glover, a wealthy land agent, who camo, to Dos. Angeles, Cab, two months ago with the mother of Do Villiers' children. Tho shooting occurred in the doorway of tho Glover homo, whore Do VillierB called In an effort to soo his former wife. iukns him must PARTANBUKG MURDtRLR GETS A PARllfIN IN FULL ? ULLEO MAKHIEU WOMAN iVn.s Tried for Ills Crime and Although Represented by learned Legal Talent He Received Death Sentence, Which Was loiter Commuted by Governor Rlease. Joe Hates, the convicted murderer >f Docla Hoiter, a white man, who ,vas pardoned Monday by the govjrnor, arrived in Spartanburg Monlay night and is at the homo of his 'ather. Ho was met at tho train by lis father and brother, Jack Hates, .vho have been untiring in their efforts to have a pardon granted, and i number of friends. Joe Hates was at one time a police jflicor in Spartanburg. IIo was convicted in 1909 and sentenced to leath, but after many delays his sentence was commuted to life imprlsmment by tho present governor, who now grants him a full pardon. Mrs. Docia Bolter, aged 18 years, wife of T. It. Hoiter, a farmer living near Fairmont was shot at and instantly killed by Joo Bates, a former police nflicer, but at tho time of the crime a c;iiard of tho city chaingang, on SunJay morning, August 29, 1 909, at 11:30 at tho homo of W. B. Cox, 108 Thompson street. Mamie Cox , tho eight-year-old illllfrltlni. a. C AT..., ... 1. ? ikiu^ik^i v?i mi o. ? IIU >Vtt? Htiimi-j i 11 ^ near with hor. little baby sister in her arms was also shot by Hates and seriously wounded. Hates was caught in the hallway of the house by Mr. Cox before ho could get away and was held until tho police officers arrived. Officers bookman, Cudd, Gash and Crocker arrived and took charge of Hates, who was carried at once to (bo county jail and turned over to Sheriff White. When tho case against Hates was called in tho general sessions court for October, 1909, he was represented by learned counsel and it was one of tho hardest fought legal battles ever waged in tho Spartanburg county court room. Tho principle defence for Hates was a plea of insanity. lie was convicted and sentenced to hang, an appeal to tho supreme court was made without success and after two years confinement in the county jail the governor commuted his sentence from death to life imprisonment. Tho pardon restores his citizenship. The Spartanburg Journal tolls tlio following story of the tragedy for which Hates was convicted: Doela Bolter, until a few weeks previous to tho shooting, was Docia Moore. She lived with Joe Hates at his homo at No. 1G0 Thompson street as his housekeeper and alleged paramour. She had lived with him for about two years, when a month previous she left him and married J. R. Hoiter. Rinco the marriago it was thought that Hates was crazed with jealousy. It is said that just before she left him, the Moore woman sold a cow Hates had and a number of household articles. For this Hates had a warrant sworn out for her arrest, but beforo the case had been taken up the woman was dead. Mr. and Mrs. Hoiter were coming to Mr. Cox's house to spend tho day. As they neared the house, Hates was in the road, so was Mr. Cox and his son William. Hates said to Mrs. Hoiter that he would put "them to the bad", and followed them to Cox's house. When Mrs. Hoiter got out of the buggy Hates followed her toward tho house. Suddenly he left her and passed around to the front of the building. He entered the front door as Mrs. Hoiter entered tho back door. Mrs. Hoiter took hold of tho hand of little eight-year-old Mamie Cox and was in (lio act of placing a ring on hor finger when Rates fired upon her from the door of the hack porch. Threo shots entered Mrs. Bolter's hody on the left side, ono ball hroke her arm in threo places, the other hall entered her right temple. She died almost instantly and as slio fell she exclaimed: "Oh! my Ood." The hall that hroke Mrs. Bolter's arm is supposed to have entered the body of little Mamie Cox, dangerously wounding her. * Fatally Wounded in Explosion. Mrs. Harriet Adams, temperance leader and author, is expected to dio in a hospital at Cleveland, Ohio, of burns received Saturday afternoon in a gas explosion at her home. She is 75 years old. The explosion was caused by Mrs. Adams striking a match in a room filled with gas from an open Jet. ? Three Killed at Crossing. Two men and ono hoy were killed at a grado crossing at Hammonton, N. ,T., Wednesday when a Reading Railway express train struck a wagon and demolished it. ? Earthquake at Seattle. A light earthquake shock forty seconds' duration was felt at Seattle, Wash., at 6:45 o'clock Thursday morning. It did no damage. / , > FOR AN HONEST PRIMARY LEGISLATOR CALIjS FOR IIILL TO PREVENT FRAUD. ! \Y*ul<! Provide Penalties for "Irroj?ularities"?Present System Leaks' liiko a Sieve. It is our purpose to publish a few articles on primary reform written by a member of the legislature. They are strictly non-partisan and aro designed to point out the changes necessary to eliminate fraud without taking the ballot away from any South Carolina Democrat. The articles are in no way inspired by any candidate for oflice, and none know of their preparation. They are designed solely to assist tho mass of Democratic primary votes to clean house. Hills to this end will bo acted on in tho next legislature and South Carolinians aro of course interested in tho subject at this time. I r Every lover of pure democracy must rejoice in those features of our primary system that give every true Democrat in South Carolina tho right to voto whether ho be rich or poor, learned or illiterate. Perhaps nowhere elso in tho world is there such universal white manhood suffrage. The problem is to make tho vote pure as well as free. No matter who the voter is he does iiwt wuiu 111h vote Kiiioa ny tno nailot of some repeater or outsider. What use is it for one county to bo honest when some other practices wholesale fraud? or for you to vote once when others are voting twice, To decide on a remedy wo must Freedom has to he guarded, first find exactly whore the trouble lies. 1 am going to cito some instances. See if you do not agroo that the fault is twofold, first with you and me and the rest of the rank and tile who have been unwilling to ho put to the trouble of obeying even the loose rules wo have, and then with these rules which are so poorly arranged that the most conscientious election' managers aro helpless where voters set out to cheat. Tammany Methods. "There may have been some minor irregularities in this county, hut we believe that it was a fair election so far as county is concerned," reported one county chairman to the investigating committee a year ago. lie adds, however, "I found that the club lists had disappeared. Our committee has been unablo to locate them." Over night some ono stole the record from the ballot boxes. A familiar device of Tammany thugs in tlio good old days practiced right here in a farming county of South Caro una. 1 no chairman was honest and sincere, though, when he called this a "minor irregularity", for every one of us who has anything to do with our election management sees rules so violated on every hand that only downright bribery is considered serious. Early or Not at All. In another important county it is no uncommon thing for a voter to find on going to the polls that some 0110 has east a ballot in his name. Friends who had this experience laughed to mo about it as a part of the. regular order of things, remarking, "Next time wo must be at the polls when they are opened." The State executive committee called on the party authorities from that county for a report on the election and the reply was "no irregularities found". There so mild a term as "irregularity" is too harsh a name, for the most flagrant frauds and everything goes. Why Kules Among Friends? In still another big county the local executive committeo found among other "irregularities" that: Men wero alloged to vote whose names were not enrolled on the club lists. At one box 12S names of thoso who voted were found after a most searching examination to bo fictitious. The average of the poll lists of all the county boxes showed from 10 per cent, to 15 per cent, that could not bo identified. At other boxes 2 10 names of actual persons were found to have apparently voted from two to five times, and after making allowances for a possible proportion as proper, a large number were seen to be repeaters. Tn a very few instances was the club roll certified to. T} ~ ~ ,1 - - * * * j?Liuiuer? wero caiiea in oy managers to assist in counting tho ballots, ono of whom did destroy or attei. to destroy tickets. Managers of election wero not sworn and other voters took no oaths. Yet this committee in summing up spoke of these things as "numerous irregularities", hut found no evidence of fraud. Summarized in Another Way. Managers omit to take tho honesty obligation oath the party rules require. Regarding tho rules, they allow men to vote whoso names are not on tho poll lists. These voters and others cast their ballots without swearing as to their qualification, though the party rules demand tho oath. Uncertified poll lists with dead i HAS BIG MAJORITY * REVISED CURRENCY BILL PASSES HOUSE, 298 TO 60 A DEMOCRATIC VICTORY ? Prolonged and Uproarious Applause Greets Vote?Many Republicans and Progressives Join With Majority in Pushing Measure Along Its Congressional Career. The House passed the conference report on the administration currency bill at 1 0: 4 G o'clock Monday night by a vote of 398 to CO, and sent the report to the Senate, which had waited in session to receive it before adjournment for the night. Prolonged and uproarious cheers from the Democrats greeted the announcement of the vote by Speaker Clark, and many members of the House hastened over to the Senate to see the report received there. On tlio final vote thirty-four Republicans, eleven Progressives and one Independent, Kent, of California, voted with the majority for the report, and two Democrats, Calloway, of Texas, and Witherspoon, of Mississippi, joined the opposition. The vote followed a debate of nearly three hours, during which the galleries remained crowded with spectators, including many prominent figures in oillcial life. The House adjourned until 2:30 p. in. Tuesday, when the leaders hope to put through a joint resolution for a recess until January 12. The decision to take a final vote on the conference report in tlie Senate not later than 2:30 Tuesday afternoon was reached by unanimous consent heforo 1 0 o'clock Monday night. At the suggestion of Senator flallinger, the Republican leader, Senator Owen agreed not to press the report for consideration in return for an agreement to vote Tuesday. I3y unanimous consent it was agreed that the Senate should meet at 10 o'clock take up a vote not later than 2:30 o'clock. With this arrangement made the Senate just heforo 10 o'clock took a recess until 11:15 to await the arrival of the report from the House. Representative Glass appeared in the House with the conference report lust, hofnrn P, r?'plr>Mr nml nlnrl? began reading there was a rush for the lunch rooms. An hour was required for the formal reading, and it was understood that there would he about two hours of debato before the final vote. In the meantime Senator Owen had presented the agreement of tho conferees to tho Senate and that body, after ordering the report printed, recessed until 9 o'clock to await action by tho House. Tho Senate leaders hoped to hear from the House soon after convening and were prepared to hurry action on their side so as to send tho completed hill to the president before midnight. After the announcement of the vote a joint resolution proposed by Majority Leader Underwood that tho House recess upon adjournment Tuesday until January 12 was adopted. Senator Owen announced that separate bill to provide for guaranty of hank deposits would ho considered in tho near future. This had been intimated in debate by Chairman Olass, of the House hanking committee. Old Man Cremated. Robert E. Lee, 70 years old, caretaker for Joseph 13. Sellars, of White Plains, N. Y., was burned to death Saturday night when tho Sellars' place, near Greensborofl N. C., was destroyed by fire. Neighbors attemnt od in vain to rescuo Leo, but the heat drove them back. * men's names by the score and scores of other men who bad moved away written on loose sheets of paper and in old books years ago were used. Hut mind you, the party rules require that each list be certified to by the officers of the clubs. "Where We Are at." These instances might bo multiplied, but sufficiently illustrate the free and easy condition wo have reached, when tho most glaring infractions of party rules are held in the highest quarters to be merely irregularities that do not impair tho integrity of an election. Don't blame tho managers. All of us arc to blame. For years wo havo shouted from the housetops, "It is .better that ten dishonest men should |vot.o than that one honest man be deprived." Wo have tolerated and insisted fin t }llnv nilno i?? ? ?. .?? i uiv/o uiiu laser uil~ forcoment until any man can vote, bo ho resident or non-resident, over ago or under age, whether he lias voted before ten times or not at all. A Remedy. Ooes it not seem to you that the time has come to replace this looso system that leaks liko a sievo at every Joint by a law that will be short, simple, definite and carry penalties? I have no bill of my own to present but later will further describe the way frauds are carried out so you can see how to stop the leaks. \ioi?iflpB9T / THE HORRY HERALD CONWAY. S. C Published Every Thursday. . " ^ ??? ? ????pa THI KSDAY, JAXl'ARY 1, 11>I4. PROFESSIONAL CARDS. II. II. WOODWARD, Attorn*/ and Counsellor at law, CONWAY, b. C. B. B. SCAIUIOUOLOU. AOornvy at law. OONWAY, ft. . M. M. BLJUtOCGLiB, aad SwMiwu. OONWAY, . O. 1 W. M. McCORD, Dental Surraos CONWAY, S. C. ILBNE RAVKNIBI, laid Swrvayiag and DrAlaage Rpivey Building C??wwy, 8. O. FREES AMERICANS. 11 uci-t h Orders Release of Trio Held in Mexican Jails. By appealing directly to Gen. Iluer ta Friday Nelson O'Shaughnessy, American charge d'affaires, obtained from him almost immediately unequivocal consent to the releaso of three Americans now in jail, whoso liberation long has been delayed by legal manoeuvring. The men ordered set free by Gen. Iluerta are II. J Kidder, William Krauso and John John Parker. It apparently developed that Gen. Iluerta had known nothing of the incarceration of the men or of efforts that had been made by Mr. O'Shaughnessy to procure their release. Mado impatient by the long series of evasions and excuses given him from other quarters, Mr. O'Shaughnessy risked incurring the displeasure of minor otllcials and apparently found Iluerta willing and anxious to demonstrate by the order for his releaso his intention to maintain fair play, lie declared that as long as he is president ho woul^l not countenance any discrimination against Americans or any persecution of them because of nationality. Parker is in jail at San Luis Potosi. Ho is charged with being implicated in a murder. Krauso and i A A? i? j M - *? rviuuur art) ill jail at 1MGX1C0 Ulty. The eases against the men are not to ho dismissed, but the men will not he forced to remain in jail. The conditions of release oblige the men to present themselves at the American embassy. * ? KILLED IN CAR. Dillon Merchant Ijoses His Life in Auto Accident. W. Aaron Pass was instantly killed and Miss Mary Moore was soriously injured Sunday afternoon at six o'clock when an automobile in which they were riding ran into a deep ditcli one-half mllo from Dillon. Miss Moore, daughter of John B. Moore, of T.atta, was rushed to Dillon in an automobile, where she was given medical attention. Mr. Pass is a well known merchant of Dillon and is a native of New York. A spoke on tho steering wliell severed the jugular vein of Mr. Pass. Mr. Pass and Miss Moore had heen for a rido through tho county and were returning to Dillon late Sunday afternoon. Just after passing tho Maple dairy tho machine swerved sharply to the right and plunged into a ditch. The car was badly damaged. Soveral persons in an automobile nnssintr P. O minn<i?? o . n .# v iiiniicf) iaiui 1UUIH1 1110 wrecked car. Mr. Fass was dead and Mias Moore was unconscious. Those who viewed the wreck were unable to account for the accident. It is supposed that the steering gear broke, sending the machine into tho ditch, which is about six feet deep. Tho car was overturned. Sent to Prison. Raymond Shuhert, 2 8 years old. - and wealthy, of Milwaukee, Wis., was found guilty Friday of murder In the fourth degree and sentenced to one year in prison for running down and killing Mabel Lohman, four years old, with an automobile. Saved by Safety Device. A serious wreck was prevented at .Toilet, 111., Thursday by an automatit derailment switch, which sent a runaway freight train into the ditch barely in tlmo to allow a passenger flyer to shoot by. ? ? ? "Santa" Cots Burned. Sophia Preston, 15, of Knoxvllle, Tenn., died Thursday of burns while playing Santa Clans.