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-A VOLUME XXXvn CASES FAVOR 1 CONWAY FIRM Against 0. J, Bell, R, L, I Bell, And Estate of f J. L, Bell TOTAL OF $3720.98 n Jury Remains Out for Many x Hours Before Agreeing t c The three cases of Cooper-Smith | Company, plaintiff against O. J. Bell, , R. L. Bell and J. L. Bell, were all call- ^ e<i up and tried together in the court ' of common pleas last week. These cases have been pending for ( some time and have been continued . from term to term on account of a . 1_ _ 1 -1 1- A I congested aocKei. j The suits, three in number had been j brought on itemized, verified accounts for goods so'd and delivered to ihe de- ( fendants by the plaintiff two or three , years ago. 'Hie complaints in the three suits were practically identical. Each pomplaint stated the account as to the , whole of the debits and credits and demanded judgments for the balances ' due. The balance due as claimed in the ( complaints were as follows: ( O. J. Bell, $804.75 ) R. L. Bell 1094.15 J. L. Bell 1182.29 On each of the accounts there was credited to the defendants a sum re- 1 ceived as the proceeds of lots of cotton which the defendants had pledged with the plaintiff as security on these accounts. The cotton had been sold, after notice but no posting or advertising in the newspapers, and the marl ket price of the cotton in each in^ stance had been credited on the ac^ counts and the balance struck. The defendants each answered setting up that they denied each and evory material allegation of the complaint, as to one offense, and then in a further defense admitted the makof the account hut claiming that jFlhev h-nl paid what they owed to the plaintiff under it; and as the last defer: se in each answer there was a counter claim in which it was alleged in substance that the cotton had heen disposed of contrary to law, rnd and against the protest of the defendant-; and without advertising the svme as it should have heen, and claiming damages to a large amount in cach ca;e for this alleged wrong set forth in these answers. It appeared that since the action had heen brought, the defendant J. L. Bel! had died. It had heen agreed however, that an order might he taken by consent substituting the administrator ofl^^s estate as a party defendant in place of the original defendant. Before the cases were commenced, it was further agreed that a'l three of the suits would '>e disposed of at one and the same time, so that ?ii3 jurv ti'rvnl/l UntfA f a fi .>/) f ! * wiv/l irf c? 1 _ ? wimi i m > c v\* iiiiu v 11 i v?? *w v w i \ i v. c - iii~ stead of one when they passed i>n the case. On motion of the attorneys for the defendants each ind every jurymen e n the vejiire was sworn on his voir dore ns to whether he was related to the defendants or had any connection with the plaintiff company, or whether he had expressed any opinion on the merits of the case. It did not appear that any of the jurymen had expressed or formed an opinion, hut two of them, J. I.. Vereen and J. W. Carter were related to the defendants and these were excused. The jury was then selected without further delay. The jury retired with the cases, all three in number, some time in the afternoon of last Wednesday. They remained <<ut until past bed time, when the judge and the court stenographer and the lawyers engaged in the case were sent for by the bailiffs of the court. The jury remained out ^or nearly haif/ an hour after the court had reassembled. Later they announced that theV 'had agreed in all three of the cases and 'upon being brought out their veridcts were read out in favor of the plaintiff in the three cases as follow: r - it.. ??r c?.-w,;4-u in Lilt; ca.^c l?l V/U?|JCl-oiruni VUIIIpany against O. J. Bell, the jury found for the sum of $1030.04. Tn the case against R. L. Bell they found for the plaintiff the sum of $1204,02. In the case against the administratrix of J. L. Bell they found for the plaintiff the sum of $11100.32. The above amount included the balances claimed in the complaints to be due on the accounts, with interest on the balances from the time as alleged in the complaints. There was no proof introduced at the trial of the cases about the interest, as by their pleadings o^d action in court the defendants admitted the correctness of the HI accounts, excepting of course that ************************** JK 1* * There are fruits of the tree, J X which man mav eat, outside of * | * the Garden of Eden; and so long * Jt Jr r?* t? ere is any Adam left in any * of us, there are temptations to * be met, and they must be ac- X cepted or denied, as our strength * may decide. $ I R************************ mt REQUIRES SUM BE INCREASED Jnless Larger is Paid New Trial Results in Thompson Case After the trial of the case of M. B. rhompson vs. A. C. Thompson there vas an interesting development in regard to the amount which had been ?ound by the jury. The jury found for ;he plaintiff the sum of $500.00. The iourt had instructed the jury before hey went out to consider the case hat if they found there had been a binding' contract for the sale of the itock in the Conway Bargain House as ;o one-half interest therein and that :he plaintiff had made a part payment 3n that stock, they would have to find it least the sum of $2,500.00 for the plaintiff with the interest on the same From July 31st, 1919 at 7 percent per annum. The jury when they found the sum r>f $500.00 evidently established the fact that there had been a bindingcontract between the parties and that part payment had been made by the plaintiff in turning over to the Conway Bargain House, at the request of C. Thompson, his ginnery at Wampee at the agreed valuation of $2,500.30 as part payment on the interest in the business, and it was for that reason that the court granted the following order: Order State of South Carolina, County of Horry. Court of Common Pleas. M. B. Thompson, plaintiff, against A. C. Thompson, defendant. The above stated case was tried before me at the nresent term of this Court and the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for the sum of Five Hundred Dollars. The plaintiff moved for a new trial upon the minutes of the Court. After argument by counsel for plaintiff and defendant, on motion of H. H. Woodward and W. F. Stackhouse, Attorneys for plaintiff, it is: Ordered, That the verdict heretofore rendered in said case he set aside and the plaintiff he granted a new trial unless the defendant A. C. Thompson, through his counsel cause to be entered in the record of this cose within ten days from the date of this orler a consent in writing that the plaintiff may enter up judgment atrainst him in this case for the sum of Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars with 7 percent interest thereon from the 31st dpv of July 1919. S. W. G. SHIPP. Presiding Judg-e. July 12th, 1923. The above stated order means that unless the increased amount is paid by the defendant there will be a new trial of this case at the next term of the court. MARK THOMPSON riTimxT iTT^nrvinm Ijrl V iliiM VfiiltL/lt l Tlie onse of M. B. Thompson against A. C. Thompson was called for trial Tuesday morning, July 10th, when the court convened at 9:30. Following is the jury list: D. M. A If ord K. C. Gerrnld Rupert McNiell J. A. Rooth G. Ij. Johnson E. M. Gerrald P. M. Dorman D. A. Lawrimore Henry Smith J. C. Ayers J. B. Williamson ID. Graham W. F. Stackhouse of the counsel for the plaintiff stated the plaintiff's case to the jury reading portions of the complaint in so doing or rather referring to the complaint in the course of his remarks. The story in brief was to the effect that A. C. Thompson, the defendant, induced the plaintiff, his brother, to romp to Conwav and take a half Inter eat in the Conway Bargain House; that plaintiff came to Conway, disposed of some property at Wampee and that at the end of the year the defendant refused to allow* plaintiff any share in the profits, accused him of theft, and refused to deliver plaintiff any interest in the business. The answer was read, and composed of a general denial and an allegation that he was ready at all times to sell the h.alf interest in the stock of the Bargain House. The plaintiff was sworn, and testified in effect that prior to the year 1919 the plaintiff was engaged in the mercantile business and farming operations. He decided to take up the proposition to take a half interest in the Conway Bargain House. He moved to Conway in March and with A. C. Thompson ran the business of the Conway Bargain House. Later his ginnery at Wampee was moved to Conway and this ginnery was paid on the .purchase money of the one half interest he had agreed to buy in the stock. At first there had been some talk about Mr. A. T. Collins taking an in(CONTINUED ON PAGE SEVEN) they denied that they had been given the proper amount of credit for the cotton disposed of by the plaintiff. Mtttv, N CONWAY, S. 0., THURSDAY, ******** J CREDIT TO THE 1 $ The world sees the succes | knowing* what brought their % cribe the results to luck. % They do not consider that * work was at the bottom of v ! One reason why the succes * ter example for others to fc I common mistake of giving* cr work as the thing which brii No man can reap the ben * paying the incident costs of * which every man must answ * of attaining my desires, or | where I am and not shouldei * * WM. PAGE SUES ! JOHN T. FLOYD Forty Thousand Dollars is I Now Claimed in His Complaint IMPROVEMENTS TO LAND Grows Out of Verdict in Fa- i vor iof Floyd For Land 1 The particulars of the case of John T. Floyd against William Page for the ] recovery of a tract of land in Galli- i vants Ferry township, appeared in our ] last issue, and wherein it was stated 5 that the action resulted in a verdict \ for the said John T. Floyd for the 1 land sued for and the sum of five hundred dollars in damages. , The law provides that when a pur- l chaser of land, supposing his title ] thereto to be good in fee, makes im- < provements on the land in good faith, ] he may bring action against the person who may recover the lands from ^ him in a suit like this. This is known as betterments in ihe law cases, and it now appears from ^ the records at hhe court house that isince last week, when the Floyd-Page case was tried, Mr. William Page has ^ brought his suit for betterments on the land as the complaint now* on file ^ reads as follows: William Page vs John T. Floyd. The plaintiff complaining of the de- r fendant alleges: 1st. That heretofore to wit: on or \ about the 2nd day of August 1020, the defendant commenced an action in the ( court of common pleas for Horry , county against the plaintiff for the j recovery of all and singular that cer- ( tain piece, parcel and tract of land j situate in Gallivants Ferry Township, j County of Horry, State of South Car- j o!ina, containing' one hundred fifty ' (150) acres more or less, formerly the } property of one John L. Floyd, and < part of a two hundred fifty acre tract ] granted to Thomas Jenkins the 10th day of April 1771, being designated . as tract "A" on plat made by James , C. Beaty, deputy surveyor, 16th day . of April, 18G7. * ' ] 2nd. That this plaintiff, then the ( defendant in said action, made answer to the complaint therein, setting up title in himself and interposed the ^ plea of statute of limitations and presumption of a grant; an issue being ( joined thereon, the said case came on to he heard before his honor S. W. G. Shipp, Judge Presiding, in the 12th Circuit, and a jury duly empanelled at 1 the Fall term of Court of Common Pleas for Horry County, to wit: on the 7th day of July 1023 and the said jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in said action on July 3rd, 1023. 3rd. That the plaintiff herein purchased the lands and premises involved in the aforesaid action, in good faith, supposing at the time of said purchase, such title to be good in fee, and to convey and secure the same to this plaintiff the full and complete Fee Simple title. 4th. lhat atter the purchase ot the said premises, and before the commencement of the aforesaid action, the plaintiff believing his title to be /rood in fee, and acting upon said belief, and relying upon the title so obtained by him by the purchase aforesaid, cleared up the major portion of the aforesaid lands, erected a dwelling house, out houses, fences and fixtures upon the said premises at the cost of, at least, the sum of Forty Thousand ($40,000.00) Dollars; that the actual value of the premises so recovered by the plaintiff without the improvements so made by him, at the time he purchased the same, was not exceeding the sum of One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars, and that the said premises by reason of said improvements, namely, the clearing and improvement of the land, the erection of a dwelling, out houses, structures and betterments, in the way and manner aforesaid, have thereby been greatly increased in value, to wit, to at least, the sum of Forty Thousand ($40,000.00) Dollars; that the plaintiff is informed and believes and so alleges ' that under the statute in such cases made and provided, he is entitled to t 8 JULY 19, 1923 ***********************-. i * I WRONG CAUSE I * *s of great men without % - success about. They as- % ' * I instead of mere luck, hard * yhat was done. * 5S of the great is not a bet- * ! >llow is to be found in this * 1 edit to mere luck instead of * I igs the results. * lefits of greatness without | attaining it. The question % er is, shall I pay the cost % will I be content tb remain * the responsibility. * * * ************************* STANLEY CASES AGAINST CASEY Grows Out of Personal Difficulty at Loris Warehouse TOBACCO SALE CHECKS Case Creates Interest. The Last Jury Case Disposed of The case of M. M. Stanley against P. R. Casey et al, was called for trial on last Wednesday, involving a claim for damages for assault and battery illeged to have been committed upon the plaintiff by the defendant some time ago in the town of Loris. P. R. Casey, one of the defendants, is a tobacco warehouse man and has been interested in the tobacco warehouse business for a number of years ?ver since he became interested in the Loris tobacco warehouse. The plaintiff has been a member of .he legislature and is a son-in-law of the li^te Calhoun Butler. There was an array of lawyers on ihe opposing sides. The pleadings were read. M. M. Stanlpv testified. is n farmer and school teacher at this :ime. He began teaching when eighteen years of age. He said the defendmts are in the warehouse business in [.oris, coming from North Carolina. Fhev own an acre of land and a warehouse in Loris and knew of his mying a tract of land. On the day of the difficulty, young Casey came and told him his father wanted to see him, and he went back in the warehouse and looked at a pile :>f tobacco that had been sold and told him he wanted him to give back to lim. There was a ticket on the pile of tobacco. The ticket was produced in :ourt and was inspected by the attorneys. Witness saw the ticket marked, rhat the ticket had been changed and le said he saw Mr. Casey erase his lamn off it and mark it "No Sale." The bill made by the clerk of the warehouse was then shown. This was \ bill of the sale of the pile of the to!>acco. Tt is sent to the office where the hecks for the tobacco are issued. Ho said that he got a check for this pile of tobacco for $89.20, this being [ho value of the pile of tobacco. He nut the chock in bis pockot. The i Casey's made him give it up. When he went in with J. .T. Casey, while standing in the house he requested that he give up this chock and ho refused saying that he had gotten it in regular course of business. But thev insisted. (CONTINUED ON PAGE EIGHT) recover of the defendant herein, md from the plaintiff in said former action, the sum of Forty Thousand Dollars, namely the amount which said premises were, at the time of rendition of the said verdict and judgment, worth more in consequence of said 'mnroveinents, than they would have been had not such betterments been made. 5th. That the plaintiff is a purc'nas er of said lands for valuable consideration, and he supposed at the time of such purchase his title to be pood in fee; and that thereafter, he made the improvements aforesaid, verilv believing at the time he made such improvements or betterments, that his title thereto was pood in fee, and that he would not have made such improvements and betterments had lie not believed his title to be pood in fee. WHEREFORE, plaintiff demands judgment against the defendant for the sum of Forty Thousand dollars together with the costs of this action. This complaint is executed by Messrs. Tfcobt. B. Scarborough, Cordie Page and Sherwood & McMillan, as attorneys for the plaintiff. This suit for betterments, which is an outgrowth of the former suit in which Floyd won a verdict for the lands will come up for trial at a later term. In the meantime it is understood that an appeal will be taken in the original suit to the Supreme Court of the State, and a bond given under the law will tie up the matter as it now is until the case for betterments has been tried out avd the appeal has been decided.9 : ^ ? - > mXL ? CAR COLLIDES WITH A TRAIN R. W. Lane, the Owner of f The Car, Was Not Injured There was a collision on Main j street last Monday, just after the noon hour, when the mid-day passen- , ?er train ran into a new Buick car belonging to R. W. Lane, resulting in a broken and demolished step for t he rear coach and a bent and twisted fender, and lamp bracket for the Buick. No expressions have been heard as c to whose fault led the accident. T Mr. Lane had run down Main Street [ and after turning the center post, was ' about to cross the railroad track in J the direction of the Cooper Motor Company where he keeps his car, * when the engine of the Buick. which Mr. Lane was then driving himself, ( suddenly went perfectly dead. At 1 his 1 time the passenger train was backing up the street from the depot in order i to turn off on the siding for the trip ' to Myrtle Beach. The car and the 1 train were not very far apart at this : time. The engine of the automobile 1 would not budge, and the conductor of 1 the train could not get a signal through to stop and put on brakes, so that apparently both parties had to |: stand as they were until the train hit the machine and pushed it some distance along by the side of the track before the train could be stopped. All the step to the coach on that side was demolished except the top board and this was merely hang-in#. As the train came to a stop the conductor stepped out on the platform in order to see what had taken place and to find out if the car or its occupant were under the train. As he placed his weight on the demolished step it gave way and he fell to the ground. By this time the train was pulling away from the demolished car, and this unexpected drop on the ground on the part of the conductor came very near to being a serious thing for him. He had to run the best he could out between the train and the demolished car and it is said to have been a wonder that he was not mashed to death between the two. R. W. Lane was unhurt and it will not cost a great deal to repair the injured fender and lamp bracket and straighten out the dent which was caused in the radiator. R. W. Lane is the owner of the Lane Grocery Store on 3rd Avenue. The name of the conductor on the train at that time could not be learned at the time of the accident. MAKES EFFORT TO ENTER HOME Negro Arrested is Not Identified by Mrs. Bertha Hinson On last Wednesday night about 0 o'clock. Mr. Holt of the town police . force, was called hy Mr. .1. II. Marsh to the home of Mrs. P. O. Snowden, in ! an effort to catch a negro who had been seen prowling vound the premises. As has been the case in several previous occurences of the same kind lately; by the time the officer got there, the negro had fled. Examination of the premises showed signs where the negro had' waited -it a smoke house in the yard. Frym the signs left in the earth he had remained there for some time. Then signs were found round the corner of the street, and here also he had waited for some time. When he was discovered by the family he was in the yard, close to a window, on the side of the home toward the Race Path. The home is occupied by Mrs. Snowden, her daughter, Mrs. Bertha Hinson and her son, Percy Snowden, the latter having been sick for some time and not able to work. As soon as an alarm was given the negro must have heard the noise and he ran. Efforts were made to stop him and get him under arrest but he escaped. Mrs. Hinson obtained a good view of the negro and said that she would be able to identify the man if she could see him again. The officer sp^nt the night until about 2 o'clock in efforts to find a negro as the one described by Mrs. Hinson. Ho loft a big track, not loss than ono made by a number ten work shoe. These tracks, appearing at several places in the yard wore measured and the measures kept. At a late hour that same night the officer found a negro answering to the description and he placed him under arrest. After the arrest he was brought to the Snowden home for identification. Mrs. Hinson said that while the packet the negro wore put her in mind of the same man, that yet this man under arrest was not as heavily built as the one who had appeared at the window. The man wanted was described as being coal black md oi somewhat larger frame than the one put under arrest by the officer. The man was then released. The ne^ro arrested was Henry Gagum, a I NO. 13 VIGHT PKOWLERT IS OPERATING Megro With Dirty, ..Greasy Shirt and Checked Cap On \DDITIONAL INSTANCES )fficers of Law Have Rua Down All Available Leads Recently this paper carried an ac ount of an attempted attack upon Mrs. W. R. Salmon, by n mid-night )rowler, as she rested on the porch of let" home on a recent Saturday night lefore Mr. Salmon had returned from ate hours at the five and ten cent store. It was impossible to obtain any oviience upon which an arrest could be made. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bacot in the residence section of Conway, on Thursday night following- the holiday, Mrs. Bacot and the young son of Mr. and Mrs. Bacot saw a negro near a window of their home standing up by the side of a tree with his hand resting on the trunk of the tree, while in the other hand he carried a large stick. They made some noise in passing about inside the house and before they could obtain the presence of aid, and perhaps an officer of the law. the negro ran away. This was inside the premises at the home and inside of the yard of the house. Again on that same night at the home of Jesse Bronett, a Swede, Bronett was awakened by some person crawling through an open window near the bed room whereon he and Mrs. Bronett were asleep. When Bronett saw the negro half in at the window and in fact, in the act of getting on the floor inside of the room, and not far from the bed on which they had been sleeping, he, Bronett, jumped off the bed intending to use force if necessary to expel the intruder. He had no more than struck the floor off Die lied before the negro fled out at the window through which he had come. This negro carried a big stick in his hand, coming in with it and taking it out with him again. In both instances the negro was described as wearing a dirty and greasy shirr and a cap of some checked mater'al. There were no tracks found that would do any good for use in locating the man. and at last accounts, although the officers had spent some time in running down clues, nothing had been learned upon which an arrest might be based. (See another article in this issue giving an account of another instance of night prowling, probably by the same party.?Ed.) o A WT ? - UJINWAY MOVING TOWARD PAVING Men representing the Ryan Engineering Co., of Columbia, have been taking* elevations and surveying the streets of Conway relative to the paving that the town is contemplating. As soon as the plans for the paving are submitted a petition will be circulated among the citizens for their approval of the project, probably about the first of August. The pian the the town has in view is that the property owners on the two sides shall pay one half of the cost of paving, and the town the other half. As soon as the town obtains twothirds of the names of the property owners along the section to be paved a bond issue will be put on for the town's part. For those of the abutting property owners who want time for their payments, their part will be secured by certificates guaranteed by the town, and this certificate will be a lien against the abutting property for the assessed proportion against the property. The exact streets to be paved have not been decided on as yet, but it is understood that the main business block will be paved and probably more. o Last Thursday night, not long before the occurence at the Snowden |w\ino f l\a i 1 ?l vr?r? /if VI i- \t I"1 V. Harrison, were frightened by a negro coining up and waiting1 in the yard. laborer. The tracks found in the yard at the Snowden home are described as the same tracks seen in the yard of the Salmon home some time ago following an attempt to approach Mrs. Salmon on her porch. * jit J There is nothing certain in * & this world, no, not even death or * I taxes. The man who is sure may x * yet be mistaken, and he who is * * of one opinion today may T $ change his mind before the mor- ? ? row. The law of change must be J JjJ taken into account in all things. J a************************# - - V