Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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t t**************************************** The REFORMER By CHARLES M. SHELDON, Author of “In His Steps,” "Robert Hardy’s Seven Djj s,” tie. <&- Copi/rii/M, 1901, bu Chark* M. Sheldon -o -jr< h V 4 v v*E* [« <4 4J. *J4*I4 4^ ♦J‘44*V*4> & P.J44J. 4. CUAPTKU IV. match and t<i>. ISS ANDREWS had come into the room and up to the table before .tohu Gordon raised his bead. "These names”— “You fotii. . them. Of course I in tended you should. 1 am sorry for you.” Miss Andrews spoke sadly. “Sorry for me! Sorry for them. Miss Andrews! 1 am not altogether sur prised to find my father’s name here, but Mr. Marsh”— lie was silent a moment. “Mr. Marsh?” Miss Andrews asked, and John Gordon, who had been won dering if he could toll Miss Andrews anything about Luella, realized that she was in total ignorance of Luella and her father. "Mr. Marsh is senior member of the firm of Marsh, Lyon & Humber, elec tricians. He is an old friend of my father. I have known him since I was a boy and always respected him. It was a great surprise to me to find his name here.” “Why should it be?” Miss Andrews questioned calmly. “Business in many of its regular methods is not noted for a refined and loving expression of the Golden Bute. Most of the names in that list are names of men who fare sump tuously every day and are counted among the best citizens.” “I’ve made up my mind what to do,” John Gordon said irrelevantly. "1 am going to see my father, and”— “And what?” “I won’t promise until 1 have seen him. But you know better than 1 do that the city ordinances are violated a dozen times in the Waterside district. The overcrowding, the plumbing, the absence of lighting, are all in direct vio lation of every ordinance on the sub ject. Scores of the tenants complained that their landlords refused to do any-, thing.” Miss Andrews said nothing, but she eyed John Gordon with her customary calmness. It was the calmness of one who has been through the entire hell of political apathy and municipal in- competency and criminal neglect and still preserves its equanimity. “Let me know the result of your in terview, please,” she finally said as John Gordon lapsed into a silent brood ing. He went into the business city next day and entered the bank of which Rufus Gordon was president with a feeling that he strove to subdue and the prayer that he might not be pro- .yoked into saying some things that burned In his heart. At the same time when he was once in his father's pres ence he begun to doubt bis ability to discuss the facts calmly. Mr. Rufus Gordon showed no sur prise at the sight of his son, although the two had not met since that event ful day when John Gordon had taken somewhat formal leave of his home. “Will you take a seat?” Rufus Gor don spoke with the cold politeness he might have shown any man who had In all probability come to negotiate for a loan. John Gordon remained standing and came at once to the point of his er rand. “Father, we have decided each to go his own way. but that does not mean that we are never to have anything more to do with each other, does it?” “When you are tired of your present foolishness, you can come back.” There was the faintest suggestion in Rufus Gordon's manner of relenting in bin tone and attitude. The lips trembled slightly, and the eyes rested for just an Instant on the son’s face before coming back to the apparently indiffer ent gaze that bad been directed at the table. % “1 have not come to talk of that, father. It is impossible for me to change my purpose. What I have come to see you about is this: You control •ome tenant property in Waterside dis trict, Bowen street, two blocks south of Hope House. Do you know from personal knowledge the condition of that property?” Instantly over Rufus Gordon’s face ■wept an angry wave of color. “It is none of your business! This is part (.1 \ our contemptible meddling as a reformer in other people's affairs!” “But it is my business! It is the business of every man. Father, do you know the horrible condition of that property and the awful condition of the people living there?” Rufus Gordon made > o answer, but the anger was evidently deepening in him. John Gordon wait 'd a moment. All his accumulated passion growing out of what he had seen and heard dur Ing that one short week in Hope House was in danger of rising like a torrent against lii« own father. But when he spoke it was with an earnestness that revealed his attempt at sell mastery. “Nos. IT and U), owned by you. father, contain seventeen famiiiea. The.x are, as 1 suppose you know, front and rear tenements. They are both horribly out of repair and absolutely unfit for human habitation. Take the ease of the plumbing. There are no revents to any of the pipes, and only one waste pipe has a trap. That is of no value because of the condition of the catch basins, w bicli are below ground and have simply become so clogged with grease that they are cess pools that overflow the court and even run over into the basement, where two families atv? living. Back of No IS) on the alley is a stable in which a vegetable dealer keeps two horses and a cow. These are directly under a room which lias been added to the old brick bakery, that is in a terrible state of decay and threatens to fall down. If it does, as it is liable to do at any time, it will certainly result in the death or injury of the tenants. All the plumbing is in direct violation of a distinct city ordinance which makes it an offense to put in piping without traps, revents and catch basins to ac cumulate material that clogs the sewer connections. The overcrowding is sim ply indescribable. “In both these tenements that you own and control there is less than 200 square feet of floor area for families of from live to seven, living in three and two rooms. There are six bed rooms in No. 17 that are absolutely dark and that in spite of the ordinance which provides that every room of a tenement or lodging house must have window space equal to at least one- tenth of its floor area. These rooms not only do not have one-tenth window space, but they do not have any at all. They are simply dark rooms, the only light and air that ever enter them be ing wbat can get in through the door, which in many cases opens on a middle room, which In turn has no light or air except what can enter through a shaft between the front and rear tene ments only six feet wide and into which the tenants throw their garbage because the boxes in front are broken and overflowing. Father, these human beings are rotting in these inhuman surroundings, and no language can convey the awful horror of child life, the cruel torture of mother life com pelled to give birth to children, to nurse sick babies, to prepare meals, to endeavor to obtain sleep or rest, in the heart of overpowering odors, all in less space and with less light and air than a human being would grant to a suffering dumb animal. Father, the property owners of tenement buildings in this city are paying less attention to immortal creatures made in God’s im age tiuui they pay to sick cats or im ported toy dogs or blooded race horses. And. oh, father, for the sake of all this tortured life, of these children horn without playgrounds, of these mothers who struggle to keep decent and these girls who go down to ruin under the stress of the inhuman crowd ing, will you not do something? You can do it. The old buildings can be destroyed. They never can be repaired. They are simply alive with vermin and disease. But new buildings, cov ering the legal space on the lot, could be put up and he made to pay better than the old ones. You could save the lives of children for the future. You could”— “Are you lecturing at me?” Rufus Gordon suddenly interrupted, his fat flabby face white with passion. “I know my own business, and I will at tend to it!" John Gordon took a step nearer and gazed with painful intentness into his father’s face. "Then do you mean to say, father, that you will not raise a finger to right these great wrongs? Will you not”— “I will attend to my affairs as I think host and without any meddling from any one!” “But. father, all this has nothing to do with our difference of opinion as to my choice of a career. It is simply an appeal in the name of a common hu manity. Will you not do this much at least? Will you go down to Bowen street and aee things for yourself?” “I will not! My agent attends to all the business.” “Have you ever been there? Have you ever looked at the misery with your own eyes?” “It is none of your business!” Rufus Gordon started up In his chair and confronted his son. This time the man’s cheeks had a deep red spot on them, and his lingers twitched nervously. The stoop of his shoulders, the wrinkles about bis eyes, the whole pose and atti tude, revealed to John Gordon even more than during that memorable in terview when ills father hud refused to give his sanction to his son’s choice the aging of vital forces that once had seemed incapable of weakness. John Gordon clinched his band and repressed the words that trembled on his lips. If he spoke, he knew he would say too much. After all, was he his father’s Judge? Yet If the property owners refused to act what redress, what hope for the future? It was a horrible commercial system that per mitted, with tin* municipal authorities’ sanction or indifference, the brutal vio lation of ordinances that were on the statute books, but never executed, spU upon by officers and citizens alike, a mockery to all decent government. For a minute father and son faced each other silently. Then John Gordon turned and without another word went away, but as he walked down jthe steps of the massive stone building his heart was sore within him. “My own father! My own father!” lie repeated over and over, and tears dimmed his eyes and sobs choked his throat as he said the words. Nevertheless, with that fixity of pur pose which always ignored private feelings in the face of public duty, he considered his morning task only just begun. He must see Mr. Marsh, and ho walked straightway to his oflice, which was near by. Mr. Marsh had just come, and when John Gordon appeared at the door of his private office he greeted his visitor heartily, saying as he motioned Gor- uou to a coalr: “Glad to see you. vYhere have you been lately? Been on the point of dropping you a note ask ing you to come and dine. You ana Luella haven't quarreled, have you? Come to thing of it, she's looked rather sober lately.” Mr. Marsh was a large, handsome man of fifty-two. Jlis manner was hearty, ids whole bearing confident, with the air of one who has succeedea in every business enterprise he ever undertook. As a man of large wealth, of university training and some degree of culture, of which perhaps lie was unduly conscious, he was reckoned among the solid business men of the city and was always proud to see his name used in that connection. “Luella has not told you, then?’ John Gordon asked in a low tone. “Told me what?” “She refuses to marry mo.” “Refuses to marry you?” Mr. Marsh spoke in astonishment. “Why—why—why, how is that, Gor don? You are old enough to know your own minds.” “I thought so, sir,” John Gordon re plied almost bitterly, “but Luella thinks otherwise. She will never be my wife.” “It’s not so serious a break as that?” The older man spoke with great kind ness and came nearer. He was really fond of Gordon, and the unexpected news affected him deeply. “Yes, sir. To make a long story short, I asked Luella to go into Hope House us a resident with me. She refuscnl and”— “Into Hope House! And you ex pected her to live there with you?” “I certainly asked her to. Whether 1 expected her to or not, I am not quite so certain.” “You asked too much!” The words came sharp and incisive, and John Gor don at first shrunk back as if from a blow. “You had no right to expect a girl brought up as Luella has been to make such a complete change in her life as such a course would demand. It was unreasonable.” “Perhaps it was,” replied John Gor don quietly. "Nevertheless I made it, and 1”- “You have come to ask my inter cession with Luella? 1 am sorry, but I don’t think 1 can ever grant it. As 1 say, your demand is unreasonable. I don’t object so much to the reform business 1 have heard you discuss, but there are extremes I cannot sanction. I would never wish to see my daughter living in such surroundings as those of Hope House.” “I have not come to ask you to make any intercession for me, Mr. Marsh. The matter between Luella and myself has been settled by her own refusal, and I am not going to trouble her or you by any pleading.” “Why—why”— Mr. .Marsh seemed unable to frame a sentence that fitted the occasion, and John said calmly: “What I came to see you about, Mr. Marsh, is a matter connected with cer tain tenement property on Bowen street, in the Waterside district, near Hope House. I have been making certain in vestigations there, and in the course of them I find that you own or control tenements Nos. t»l and !)7.” Mr. Marsh struck a bell on his desk.- and when a clerk appeared he asked him to bring a volume from the safe. When it was brought and the clerk had gone out, he turned over the pages un til he came to a certain number. “Ninety-one and 97. That’s right. Fronting Bowen street mid in the Wa terside district. Well?” John Gordon paused a moment. He had not the remotest inkling as to Mr. Marsh’s probable action. His experi ence with his father had given him reason to believe that what Miss An drews hud said about the Golden Rule in business was only too true. Besides, if that experience had not come to him there remained the deadening fact of the tenements themselves, which preached powerfully of the landlord’s neglect. “These tenements, Mr. Marsh, are simply a disgrace to civilization. I do not like to believe that you know the real facts about them, and 1 have come here today to ask you as a man, with a muu's feelings and with a man's |>owem, to help right some of the dreadful wrongs that humanity suffers in those buildings.” Mr. Marsh did not move a muscle. There a not a quiver or a change of color 0:1 his lace to indicate to John Uv i d • 1 whether lie was angry or indif ferent or interested, and the first question he asked when John Gordon jialist'd did not reveal to Gordon the inau’s feelings. “Why don’t you go to the board of health and make a complaint?” “Will you go with me, Mr. Marsh? But I don’t go there first because you, as the owner of the property, can. if you will, make most of these wrong conditions right. Take, for example, the double decker, the dumbbell tene ment No. 97. That is simply an in staller of the worst form of tenement building in existence. There is noth ing to compare with it. not even in the cities of the old world. The testimony of as high an authority as Jacob Riis says. ‘The committee after looking in vain throughout the slums of the old world cities for something to com pare the double deckers with declared that in their setting the separateness and sacredness of home life were in terfered with and evils bred, physical and moral, that conduce to the corrup tion of the young.’ That this is true must be evident. Mr. Marsh, to any man who knows the construction of those bouses. And as owner of one of them you must be more or lees fa miliar with their evils, and I plead with you to help remove them as far ao possible.” There was a moment of very embar rassing silence, which Mr. Marsh final ly broke by saying: "io be very frank witli you. Gordon. 1 must tell you 1 never have seen the property you describe.” “Never saw it! And you arc the owner!” "The lots came into my possession .lust before I went abroad five years ago. My agent was instructed to put up tenements on the lots. The actual work was done while I was away. It certainly docs not sound very humane or even businesslike, but the fact is 1 have never been down to look after the property. Davis is very prompt with his remittances, and the tenements have been good paying investments. From his specifications and plans as he submitted them from the contractor I understood the buildings were sub stantial, and they certainly have proved a source of steady and hand some income. You say they are called dumbbell tenements or double deck ers?” John Gordon sat still, looking at the man in wonderment mingled with in dignation. That a business man with the reputation of Mr. Marsh could ac tually lie guilty of such indifference and neglect was almost beyond belief. It was not until other events threw light on the subject that Gordon fully understood the shrinking that Mr. Marsh had from contact with any form of human degradation and tr.!eery. As John Gordon remained silent Mr Marsh uttered a short laugh and said uneasily: “I don't wone’.er you think it very queer ihat 1 have never been down time. : >f course I have trusted Dav! Uilpiie-iwy. At ihe .same time 1 have of necessity ben'll ignorant of conditions. You regard them as bad?” “Bad! They are simply beyond any description. It Is useless for me to at tempt it, Mr. Marsh.” Gordon spoke with tremendous earnestness, for there was one word that Marsh had dropped that gave him hope v “You saiel it did not sound very humane to say you had never seen that property. Will you go with me and look at it? I cannot tell you the facts. If I were to give them to you as they are, I am actually afraid you would not believe me. There are thousands of business men In this city who do not know the hor rors that are congested in and around Bowen street and Long avenue and High lane. But if you have any heart In you you cannot be unmoved by the sight down there. In the name of the suffering babies and little children I beg of you, Mr. Marsh, come with me and sec* with your own eyes. You lost a little child once, Mr. Marsh. I re member Luella telliug me, your first born son. In the name of that sacred memory will you take an interest in the dying innocent children in your own tenementsjT This story will be continued in next Friday’s issue of The Ledger. FOLEYSHONEMAR Cures Coldsj Prevents Pneumoala My Hair “I had a very severe sickness that took off all my hair. I pur chased a bottle or Ayer’s Hair Vigor and it brought all my hair back again.” W. D. Quinn, Marseilles, 111. One thing is certain,— Ayer’s Hair Vigor makes the hair grow. This is because it is a hair food. It feeds the hair and the hair grows, that’s all there is to it. It stops falling of the hair, too, and al ways restores color to gray hair. $1.00 a bottle. All drutflata. If your druggist cannot supply you, seml'iis one dollar and we will express you a bottle, lie sure and give the name of your nearest express otliee. Address, J. A YEK CO.. Lowell. Mass. Garden Seeds Best for the “Sunny South,” because they are specially grown and selected with a full knowledge of the conditions and require ments of the South. Twenty-five years experience and practical growing of all the different vege tables enables us to know the very best, and to oiler seeds that v:il give pleasure, satisfaction and Profit to all wiio plant them. Wood’s New Seed Book tcriCCO (Mailed on request) is full of good things, and gives the mort r i' V information about all seeds, bo.h for the Farm and Garden. T. W. MOD & SO/JS, Seedsmen, Richmond, Va. WOOD’S SEED BOOK also tells alt about Grass and Clover Seeds, Seed Potatoes, and ail Farm Seeds. Write for Seed Book and prices of any Farm Seeds required. Tax Returns for the Year 1903 OFFICE OF COUNTY AUDITOR. Notice is hereby given that this office will be open from January 1st, 1903 to February 20th, 1903, for the purpose of receiving returns of property for taxa tion. G. W. Speer will be in the office dur ing my absence. All persons are required to state in what school district they live. Those having property in School Districts Nos. 9 and 10, must state in their return how much lies in these Districts and how much outside, and all new buildings erected since last return and their value. All persons are required to make out and return a statement of all personal property, moneys, credits, investment in bonds, joint stock companies, notes, mortgages, or otherwise in your posses sion or under your control as husband, parent, guardian, trustee, executor, ad ministrator, agent, or attorney, on the 1st day of January 1903, and fix a value thereto. Any person or jiersons who have sold real estate since last return must state to whom, the number of acres and value, all persons who have bought real estate since last return must state how much, the value and who from. If you fail to make return as above stated on or before February 20th the law requires me to add 50 per cent, as a penalty, on the return of 1902. All returns mu.d be made and signed iiefore me or my clerk. If made before anyone else they must be sworn to. All persons liable for the income tax under Sect'on 335 of the Acts of 1897, are required to make return of same. POLL TAX. All able-bodied males between the ages of 21 and 60 years are liable for a poll tax, except Confederate soldiers over 50 years of age. W. D. Camp, County Auditor. Nov. 28-iawk-till Feb. 20, 1903. ItoLEYSHONBY^TAR for children 1 mafm, *urm» Bo opiate* r •-*>.. 05 v \ 1.0 v' .... wfHY us:: LARS' ^ /V>. ' . v ' SUMMONS. * .i^uL # 4. A.K THE VEGETABLE FAT SUPERIOR IN QUALITY AND PURITY 47 ! flSa m South Carolina, ) Com-t of Common Chkrokkk Co. i Pie ..,. G. B. Humphries, B. P. Turner, Cor delia Parker, Columbus Turner, Matthew Turner. C. A. Turner, Paoiia Hamrick, Polly Ann Powell, Julia Jones and C. F. Humphries, Plaintiffs, vs W. T. Humphries, in his own rigljt and as administrator of the estate of Mar tha T. Humphries, deceased, Louisa Daniel, Eliza E. Stacey, Mary Jones. Charles T. Byars, W. B. Byars, Luther Byram, Jackson Byram, Robert Byram, Lizzie Connor, Cornelia Davis, Belton Humphries, Bee Humphries. Etta Hum phries, Ila Humphries, Allie Gaffney, Harry Gaffney, Jack Gaffney, Ernest Gaffney, Susan C. Stacey and J. J. Hum phries, - Defendants. To the defendants above named: You are hereby summoned and re quired to answer the complaint in this action, which was filed in the office of the Clerk of Court of Common Pleas for said County of Cherokee in the court house of said county, at Gaffney, on the 4th day of January 1902 and to serve a copy of your answer to the said com plaint on tlie subscriber, at his office in the City of Spartanburg, said State, with in twenty days after the service hereof, exclusive of the day of such service, and if you fail to answer said complaint with in the time aforesaid, the plaintiffs in this action will apply to the Court for re lief demanded in said complaint. And the infant defendants will take notice that unless within twenty days after the service hereof, application is made for the appointment herein of a guardian ad litem for them, such appli cation will lie made in their behalf by plaintiffs. Stanvarnk Wilson, Plaintiff's Atty. Dated February nth, 1903. Attest: J. Eu Jefferies, Clk. C. C. Pis. [seal] Feb. 13-20-27, Mar. 6-13-20. Sheriff's Sale. State of South Carolina, ] County of Cherokee, j Court of Common Pleas J. C. Plunck, Plaintiff, Against, W. A. Hayden, Defendant, and, Bank of Blacksburg Plaintiff, Against, M. A. Hayden and J. C. Hayden, Defendants. By virture of a decree of foreclosure, rendered by Judge Jas. Aldrich, in tlu first entitled case, above mentioned, and by virture of an execution to me directed in the second entitled case, and levy thereunder, I will, on Salesday in March, J903, during the legal hours of sale, at the court house door, in Gaffney, said county and State, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, the following de scribed real estate of the property of the said W. A. Hayden. ^ All that certain tract or parcel of land, situated in Cherokee county and sayi State, known as the Lower Peeler Island, and designated as lot No. 6, on a au-vey made by Ira Hardin, in 1884 Begining at an iron stake on the west prong of the river; thence down the river to the mouth of the east prong to a stake; J. C. Plonk’s corner; thence S. 70^ W. 14 chains and 57 links, to tlie begining comer, contaia- ing seventy-four acres, more or less. ferms of sale, cash. Purchaser to j>ay for all papers. W. W. Thomas, Sheriff of Cherokee County Feb. 9, 1903. Feb. 13-20-27111. To Scbool Teachers and the Public. I will keep my office open e\ery Fri day and Saturday of each week. For further convenience I w ill also keep open every first Monday in each month, as long as the schools are in session. After consulting with a great many from different sections of the county, I decided to keep open on these days, viz: every Friday and Saturday of each week. This will give ample time to meet with the teachers, sign papers, dispense hooks, and talk over school matters. If the above time is not sufficient and does not meet the requirements of other sections of the county, I would he pleased to hear from them in order to meet every requisite from every section, and meet the demands fully of all the people. Respectfully, J. L. Walker, Supt. Education. Feb. j 3-20-27 Clerk's Sale. TO ALL OTHERS X' vh 'l .» ADDRESS — JVsSU^L^SOUTHERNCOTTONGLCG.j' ; A’JANNA'L GA. , THE CAROLINASa-o GEORGIA. . Hi - State of South Carolina, \ County of Cherokee, i N. E. Crawford, vs D. D. Gaston et al. In obedience to a decree herein, for foreclosure, dated Oct. 10th 1902. I will sell at Gaffney, S. C., before the Court House door, to the highest bidder, during the legal hours for sales, salesday Marj 2nd 1903, tlie following described lat to wit:- All those two certain pieces, pare lots of land in said County and Sr Cherokee Township, bounded river on the Southwest, on the IJ lands of J. W. Rhyne and lot^ the East by lands of I). D.' lot No. 3, and South by lane and J. S. Mint/, fully shownj filed and marked as lot Nj 170 acres, and lot No. d acres, said plat lieing njf office. Terms of Sale: On< on one and two y« each year, securj gage of the prei interest paycj - cent Attornc Pure! recording paying a'J This risk oil ton.