Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL. XVI. LAURENS S. C. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1901. NQ QQ BIhT, ARP AND HIS CHILDREN He Has a Good Time Watching the Grandchildren Piny With Their Toys. Tins Christmas is like ''lengthened sweetness long drawn out" at our house, for the hoys have gathered from the four corners and brought their love and their rations with them, New York brought a huge box of de corations for tin: Christmas tree. Jt was beautiful beyond description. Dolls of silk and satin and paper, all covered witli glittering spangles -little angels with pearly wings suspended by threads of invisible, rubber, golden harp* and hearts and wreaths of spun glass in rainbow colors?scores of little waxen candles to illuminate the scene. Oh| it wus like a fairy vision, and every limb and twig of the stately long leaf pine wus burdened with Christ? mm gifts for oM nod young. Then1 were twenty-four of the family present, and it took half the night to untie ami unfold the surprises, for all were re membered over und over again by old Santa, Yes, all, even to the venerable old patriarch?the 'Paterfamilias," the antique ancestor, for he brought me a baU and a monkey jack and some candy, because he hud heard that I was the boy?the only boy?nbout the house. But later on 1 discovered a silk cap and a pair of tdippers, some handkerchiefs und an inkstand that the little grandchildren can't spill the ink out of if they do turn it over. Littlo Mary Lou, who is .lessie's child, ?rot so many dolls and pretty things that shu looked tired and, draw mg a long breath, said: "?anpa, it's too much, and I can't hardly stand it." There were toys and books, and vases and perfumes, and baskets and gloves, and jowola and other gifts too uumer ous to in cut ion. Mexico brought a beautiful hand-woven Casliliau shawl for my wife, and she struts nround as lithe and gay as Eden's garden bird. My boy brought it from Mexico," she says, forty times a day. " My boy and my children" are always on ihe lip of her tongue. Well, that's all right. They are her hoys, sure enough, and she knows it. There may be some doubt, sometimes, about who is the father of a child, but everybody knows who is its mother. Downstairs has all been clothed with mistletoe und holly. Geraniums from the pit arc placed all around, and some beautiful ro9cs lift up their lovely forms from beautiful vases that old Santa Clans brought. Hunches of mistletoe hang from every chandelier, und every timo these merry, mischievous girls Und me standing under one, they slip up unawares and claim a kiss. Even Mrs. Arp lost her normal dignity and, corning slyly be hind me, suddenly wrapped the drapery of her Cast 11 lan shawl around mo and claimed a mistletoe kiss from my con nubial lips. Hut the old marble clock that for nearly fifty years has stood upon the mantel ticking the moments and re cording tho hours as they pass did not stop on Christmas night, and at mid night the happy group retired to lest and happy dreams. Next day came the feast?tho Christmas dinner. Every leaf was placed on the Ions extension table. At cacli end was a large Well? browned, well-dono turkey, and all tho intermediate spaco crowded with luxu ries for the inner man and woman. Eighteen of tho family were tho wel come guests at the table, while six of tho infantiles surrounded a smaller one nearby. I never asked a blessing with a more grateful heart, for Providence has beou kind, and since last wo met no affliction or calamity has befallen us. Vorily, the linos havo fallen to us in pleasant places. Would that all our kindred and friends?yes, would thai ovary family in tho land?the rich and the poor?could have a like happy and unclouded Christmas. As I survoy the happy scene it is enough to look upon tho serenity of the maternal an cestor as sho gazes fondly upon her boys?yos, her boys, who have come so fartogivo hei joy and comfoit. Oh, ye boys ?ye young men and middle aged, whom fortune or fate has re moved far from a good old mother's tender care and solicitude, don't forget her yearnings and if you cannot go to her at least once a year, write to her every month and comfort her with your loving letters. Tho papers are full of crimes of all descriptions, hut In my opinion, there is none that will more surely provoke the curso of God than for a man to neglect or distress his mother. Yesterday the boys with their moth er and sisterB visited the old home stead?the farm in thecouutry, where our children grew up to manhood and womanhood?where these scattered boys worked 'and plowed and planted and reaped where they had sown; where Utjay labored bard by day and hunted coons and 'possums by night; whore they went to tho nabor.ng mill and llshod in tho pond while the giist was grinding; where. Carl and Jessie went to school and crossed tho creek on a slender foot log, and gathered haws and maypope-and wild strawberries on the way These boys and their sistors wanted to revisit the old scenes and drink water from the same old gush ing spring. These boys wanted to boo the old meadow where the big trees stood in their majesty?the oak trees that we had named for Uoscoo Conk Ling and Blaine, and tho big sycamore that was named for Voorheeu, the tall sycamore of the Wabash. They wanted to see the old barn yard where thoy used to tease old Pete, the Merino nun, and incite him to resr oil bis hind legs and run to butt thorn aa thsy presented their posteriors in a d?&ant and provoking vu ?".nsr. Somo thnssthsy got out of h.a way just in time, but evor nnd anon thoy thdcnt. and he sontthera on their winding way scratching tbo ground on their allfours. They wanted to sec tbo grave of old Bows, that good old dog whom they loved. I did not go for there was no room, and as I am tho boy, I had to stay at home nnd take enre of Jessie's children. Well thoy came back in duo timo and it was amusing to me to hear them tell how everything had changed with in them; dozen years; how the houso seemed to have sank into the ground a foot or two and the farm had shrunk up and the fields were smaller and the hills lower and the shade tress short* ??lied at the top. I've been through nil that before,and was not surprised. In? terspersed with our daily and nightly pleasures we have music, good music, classical inu$ic of the great masters and minstrel music with choruses from all the hand and even my wife, Mrs. Aip, was constrained to play the "Caliph of Bagdad" with her flret horn daughter- -her daughter, Music is our family's gift, for they ull play on something, and all have voices ior har mony of sweet sounds. This gift, 1 suppose, comes from their mother, and her touch upon the ivory keys h Mill as delicate as when she was a lassie of sixteen. I used to think that I, too, had a melodious voice, and sometimes would venture to hist the tune in .Sun day school when the tune hyster was absent and, like the crow who tried to sing, I thought I did it llnoly, No body else ever told mo so, and one day my wife said that my voice was a little cracked and if she was me she would not try to raise the tunes in the church any more. It was a revelation that shocked me, and l have never sang in church since, or anywhere else There are voices in chinch choirs of tho same kind, hut nobody will tell them. They are called lalsetto. farewell Christmas?farewell old .Santa Claus?while we all rejoice, let us not forget that Christmas comme morates the birth of the Savior of men ?the nativity of Kris Kringle, which means ??the little Christ child." It is well enough to rejoice, hut we should at the samo time icllocl and be grateful. BILL ARP. THROWING OFF TUB MASK. The Interstate Commerce Commis sion and the Railroads. N. Y, Financial Chronicle. De?1. I, 1U0O. In u decision rendered tins week the Interstate. Commerce commission lias thrv>wi\ off all disguise and has revealed the animus which is com rolling its course and action. The trainers of the interstate law intended that the com mission should act in an impartial manner, deciding cases before it Strictly in accordance with their merits. The board has from t ie first acted as if it were the champion of the shippers, and as if its chief function consisted in harassing ami embarrassing the rail roads and ruling against them when occasion offered, Rut while the com mission could not conceal the bias it felt, its utterances at least have hither, to hoen couched in judicial and unob jectionable language, thus preserving a semblauce of impartiality. This week, however, it has finally thrown precaution to the winds. The South ern Railway company had asked for a rehearing in (I case involving relative rates to Lynchburg, DanvillO, etc., which had been decided against it in the spring. In its petition the com pany claimed that to obey the decision of tho "ommission would involve a loss to it of $433,000 per annum, and that as no dividend had been paid on the company's CO union stock of $120,000,. (100 dining IKO'J, to insist upon cutting off that amount of revenue per year would be tantamount to depriving the owners of the stock of their properly without due process of law. The com mission makes an attempt to dispute the figures of loss given, and then goes on to say that the stock was issued us part of a reorganization scheme under which the company came into exist ence, that it does not appear that any thing wa3 ever paid upon such stock, and finally (apparently to clinch a weak argument) "that it does not rost iu the whim of a reorganization com mittco in Wall street to impose a tax upon the whole Southern country.'1 The allusion heio to the "whim of a reorganization committee" in "Wall street" is not only irrelevant and in ex ceedingly bad taste, violating every rule of official propriety, but in tho in ference which it Heeks to convey is a gross misrepresentation of the facts of the case. There was no occasion for lugging in the reorganization commit tee at all, and we can conceive of no reason for so doing, except a desire on tho part of somo of the members to pose before the couutry as foes of the railroad and financial interests. The reorganization committee was not on trin), and if tbo commission dcomcd the capitalization of the Southern rail way excessive and wanted to maintain its position witli reference to tho rato question, a decorous statement to that effect would have answered every pur pose and have shown that tho board still had some regard for Us ofllcial po sition. Instead, the commission seeks to cast aspersions upon a body of men who in reorganizing the old Richmond and West Point Terminal company and its constituent properties rendered as important a public service as was ever rendered under similar circumstances by a like body nuywhere in the coun try. As a matter of fact the reorgan isation committee., instead of being pil loried, should bo hold up to public ap proval and praise. They accomplished a task which seemed wellnigh hopeless - a task winch several previous com mitlsss formed for tho same purpose had been obliged to abandon because of its onerous character. The imputation that this committee, which carried to success an undertak ing which everyone else had aban doned, sought by the reorganization "to impose a Uix upon the whole Southern country" is absolutely without any foundation in truth, and bus nothing whatever to sustain it. When these people took hold tho proporlies consti tuting tho prcsont Southern railway eystcm were a physical as well as a llnaneial wreck. The service was bad, and tho cosily way >n which it was rendered forbade tho possibility of choaponlng the chargo to the public. The reorganizes provided tho means for rehabilitating the system, and poured millions upou millions into it for its improvoment and development. Now at Inst the territory served by tho linos has a railroad servico worthy of tho name. Ho far from having im posed a tax upon any portion of the Southern country, wo venture the. as sertion that the South today, as the rosult of theso efforts and expendi tures, is being served better aud cheaper than at any previous period in its history. The statement that therr is no evi dence that anything we* ever paid on the common stock of the Southern railway is Of the same baseless char acter. The stock referred to was issued in exchange for the stocks of tho old companies. Everybody iu the finan cial and railroad world knows that the terms were not liberal. Indeed, the organization was a peculiarly drastic one. Leaving out of account what may have been originally paid oil the old shares, the reorganisation managers levied heavy assessment on these old stocks, and also on some classes of bonds, and the security-holders had to pay those assessments in order to get any representation in the reorganized company. The Richmond Terminal shareholders had to pay $10 per sharo and the. Ea8t Tennesse, common stock holders had to pay #7/20 per share; and besides had their holdings rcducod lo per cent. So hard were these terms considered that many of the security owners sacriflcd their holdings rather than accept them, and tin- reorganiza tion syndicate had to step into the gap. If the interstate commerce commission does not know nil this it is inexcusably ignorant on a most important subject, coming directly within Us province. And what benefits have tho security holders who came iu under the reor ganization scheme received thus far? They have had no dividends upon their holdings of common stock, and today six and a half years after tho reorgani zation, they lind these shares quoted in the market at the munificent figure ot 17. When, therefore, the managers of the company Bought to protect these shareholders against the action of the interstate commerce commission in threatening a large reduction of the company's revenues, they were evi dently doing only their duty. The commission in denying the request for ?\ rohoarlng might at least have re frained from in jecting abuse into the refusal. ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Some Advantages Which A Modern Man Has Over His Predecessor. One hundred years ago a man could not take n ride on n steamboat. lie could not go from Washington to New York in a few hours. He had never heard of a Pullman palace car porter. He had never seen an electric light or dreamed of an electric car. He could not make a cake of ice as big as a lump of sugar. He could not cool himself under an electric fan or warm himself at a steam radiator. He could not send a telegram. He couldn't talk through the tele phone, and he had never heard of the hello girl. He had never seen a shut waist or a rainy day skirl. He could not ride a bicycle. Ho could not call in a stenographer and dictate a letter. He had never received a type written communication. No matter how grave a crime lie committed, lie never could be electro cuted for it. Ho had never heard of the germ theory or worried over bacilli and bacteria. Ho never looked pleasant before a photographer or had Iiis picture taken. He wouldn't have known a complex lens from a gin Kickey. He hail never heard of Neptune and Ceres. He couldn't measure the distance be tween tho stars. Ho knew nothing of the chemical composition of the stars. Ho had heard of oxygen, but would not liavo understood an allusion to liquid air. He had never beard of the molecular constitution of matter, or the conserv ation of energy, and did not know that he was descended from a monkey. He could not predict a rain or an nounce the coining of a cold wave or a cyclone. He was aware that there wan such a thing as electricity, but looked upon it as n germ. He never heard a phonograph talk or saw n kinetoscopo turn out a prize tight. He never saw through a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary with tho aid of a Roentgen ray. Ho had never taken a ride in an ele vator. Ho had never imagined Biich a tiling as a typesetting machino or a type writer. I Ho had never used anything but a wooden plow. Ho had never seen his wife using a sewing machine. He had never struck a match on his pants 01' Oil anytime, else. He had never hung up against a gas post. Ho had never seen a searchlight or drunk a cocktail. Ho couldn't take an anaesthetic and have his leg cut off without feeling it. Ho know nothing of geology because geology knew nothing of itself. He had never visited a free library. Ho had never purchased a ton cent magnziuo which would have been re garded as a miracle, of art. He could not buy a paper for a nickel and learn everything that had hap pened the day before all over tho world. He had never seen a McCorranck reaper or a self binding harvester. He had never crossed an iron bridge or traveled in a public omnibus. Ho had nover sailed through the Suez canal. Ho had ncvor used a deadly explosive or tried smokeless powder. In short there wore several things that ho could not do and several things ho did not know.?Memphis Commcr cial'Appeal, The total number of iuquosla hold during tho year just closed by tho Coroner of Charleston County was 85, divided as follows: Murders, 20; drowmngs, 15; as rosults of railroad accidents, etc., Iff; burning, 4; mis cellaneous, 8; suicido, 3; accidental shootings, 0; < xplosions by lamp, 1; justifiable homicides, 4. This country oxports nearly $10,000, 000 worth of fruit to England every year. the Ths Kind You Haw Always Boujjil OUR FUTURE DF,VF,I,OPMF,NT The South to RniHe Fifteen Million Bales of Cotton and Manufacture Five Million liales in igio. Progress made by the South in cot ton manufacturing during the ??ist ten yearn is likely to he duplicated during tho next ten years it certain conditions arc met. The outlook in this direction is discussed at length in last week's issue of tho Manufacturers" Record 1))' Dr. Charles W. Dabuey, formerly as. sis tan 1 Secretary of Agriculture, now president of the University of Tonnes* lee, and recognized as an authority in matters affecting tho industrial and agricultural advance of the South. In his paper ho contends that undue W< ighl should not he given natural re sources, hut that the people who must convert them into wealth must also he considered. Among the natural re sources he reckons the soil ami climate of the South, the best in the world for the growing of cotton ; its water-power from rivers running eastward, south ward and westward from the Appala chian Mountains to be used directly or through electri". transmission; abun dant coal from 47,000 square miles of workable fields, of which less than a thousand square miles have been de veloped up to the present time, and an equable climate, in which arc tho de desired conditions for tho most refined kinds of cotton manufacturing. I!c finds that to those natural resources must be added an intelligent and rea sonably cheap labor, largely made up of young people, and on thai point he says ; " It l.s well known that the while people of the Piedmont section of the South form an excellent nianfacturing population. They come from an in telligent and kindly race, who learn rapidly to be skillful mechanics. With ' proper training they make as expert artisans as cau bo fouud anywhere. There is less opportunity for unions among this domestic population; these mills are owned largely by local people and modified co-operation promises to keep out the vicious walking delegate and all Iiis kind. Tho negro has not been much used in the mill so far, but there is little doubt but that lie will lie employed in particular mills or in those lines (d* manufacturing which require cheaper labor, with less ability to think. The uegro is by nature an imitative creature and rapidly Icarus any process that is shown him. He is thus well acapted to all those forms of manufac ture that do not require originality or forethought. " The only thing that wc need in the South for an almost indefinite expan sion of cotton manufacturing is more capital and more technical experts, both in the. business and in the tnanu facturing departments. The capital will be forthcoming, as it always is, as soon aB the men tie found to take care of it and me it. TliO BotlthoiH people are getting richer cvoiy year, and will undoubtedly.invest their spare means in cotton mills as fast as it accumulates. The great need of the Smith to-day is men to organize and conduct the busi ness of manufacturing, but especially men who know how to build and oper ate the cotton mills themselves. The movement for technical education, ami especially that for textile schools, is going to supply these experts at an early time. Our conclusion, then, is that the only things we need in order to operate ninny more cotton mills in the South is more education for the masses of the people, from whom the laborers will he drawn, and more tech nical training for tho young men who are to build and operato tho mills. All these things are surely coming, mid they all betoken tho prodigious develop ment of cotton manufacturing during tho next ten years. " The Southern States now produce more than 00 per cent, of all the cotton consumed in tho world and manufac ture about 7 per ceut. of it, while tho Northern btntcs manufacture about 10 percent. With China and Africa both opened to our trade, with the canal cut between the Atlantic and Pacific, 1 pro phesy that in ten year? the Southern States will have trebled the number of their spindles and will he manufac turing at bast -20 per ceut. of the cotton of the world, which by that time will be at least 20,000,000 bales. The South manufactured about 1,500,000 bales last year ; this means, allowing for improvement in machin ery, that sho must prepare to manufac ture 5,000,000 bales, half her present crop, by 1010, when she will ho prob ably growing at least 15,000,000. When wo consider her past progress and her magnificent resources in con nection with the opening up of the Bast, and the general advancement of eiviliz vtion, we cannot expect any less." Tiik Running of a Fast Train.? A speed of ninety miles per hour wn* recently made by tho lllack Diamond Express of tho Eehigh Valley railroad, says tho Kail way Itcview. Tho train consisted of four Pullman cars and an ?? Atlantic " typo engine. The train was thirteen minutes late at Hoclieslet .)unction, nnd on this run to Manches ter an attempt to make up the lost time waH made, and was nioro than accom plished, One section of tho road a distance of 5.1 miles was made in ex actly threo ini nut es and forty-one sec onds. For the last 1,800 feet of that distance the brakes wero applied, slow ing down for n train order hoard. Tho ilrst four and three-quarter miles by actual l)luo print mcasuremont was run in three minutes and eight seconds. Thin speed was timed by threo watches, winch nevor left tho hands of tho mon holding them. Tho total distance wns covered at an avorage of eighty-eight miles an hour, and the rate for tho first four and three-quarters was ex actly ninety miles per hour. On the samo run tho distance between llochcF ter Junction and Manchestor, 20.1 miles, was covered in nineteen minutos and ten socouds. This tune was taken from a standing start at Manchester, the apoed being reduced to a rate of twenty-five miles por hour through the Manchester yards. OAOTOTIXA Bean tho lhe KM You Haw Always Bought Signature of THE CENTURY IN COTTON. The Outlook tor Our Chief Staple is One of Great Piomlse. Oue of tho sinking developments of the South has been iu tlie Increased production and manufacture of cotton. At lids century mile-stone we arc tak ing backward glances at the progress we have made, and to the South gen erally anything relative to cotton is in teresting. In the New Year's issue of the itfow York World appears the fol lowing: To the Editor The World: The close of the present century suggests a brief review of the cotton industry of this country, the remark able growth of which?from a crop of about ".?,000 hales n I tie year IT'.io will be shown by a ance at the fol lowing; lgurcs: Total production? Hales. 1800-1 HOI. 120,000 1821-1822. .725,000 1834 1880 . l.l??.OOo |H50-18?l. 2 450,000 18(10-1801.3 850,000 1870-1871 . 4 350,000 HS ) 1881. ".00 0!?0 1800-1801 . 8 058 .00 1808-18011.11 271,000 1890-11)00. t) 430,000 The increase in production is still more lcmarkable if we consider that at 1800 tho average weight pet bale was about 225 pounds. By 1S20 it had increased to 2?'>0 pounds, 1840 to 30o pounds, from which period the weight ha9 steadily increased until the present avetage of about 500 pounds has been reached. Whilo our producing power cuables us to supply the world with tin; raw maiurnl, wo view with equal interest and pride the rapid increase of our spinning industry. In 18?o tho quantity of cotton consumed in tins country was less limn 500,001) bales, in 1870 it had increased to 1.000,000 hales, and last year the takings of the mills amounted to 3,005,000 bales. Those striking iiguro:.' are very large ly tlte result of the recent industrial enterprise of the South. Tho opening of the Oriental markets presents a new avenue of trade, of which our cotton-goods merchants will not bo slow to take advantage. Briefly, the outlook for the cotton trade in this country is one of great promise. WiLhiA&i V. Kino, Superintendent New York Cotton Exchange The industrial progress of the South is recognized by the superintendent of the New York Cotton Exchange in his communication, and in the same way it is impressing itself upon the atten tion of tho whole country. In the new century southward the star of progress will take its course, and the great Held of development is liorc. The building of the Nicaragua canal will be another great factor in the development of this section. It is true Ihut the people of the North, Kust and Northwest have the fortunes, but in searching about for profitable investment they will find the South the most inviting field. There is abundant room here for added population and capital, and there is no other section of the. country that of fers so many advantages to men and money. Maj. .John YV. Thomas, president of ilie Nashville, Chattanooga ami St. Louis railroad, a practical and far sighted business man, has truthfully doclared that there are associated and conspiring factors in the future growth of this section of the United States that no othor country in any asro has ever offered io human energy. He thus summarized these factors: " 1. The capacity of the soil of the South to feed live times the popula tion it lias at present. " 2. The. largo area of ils coal fields, embracing 17,000 square miles that haVO seams of workable thickness. " ;!. The largo quant it}' of iron ore found in eight of the fourteen Southern States. " i. The ability, by reason of the cheapness of coal and iron ores, to make cheap iron, which is now the standard baBis and meter of civiliza tion. " 0. The national advantages for the manufacture of cotton and wool. " 0. The largo extent of forests and the thousands of industries that will naturally spring from the pretence of such forests."' FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION. The Agricultural Department is Sen Ung Out I^nrge Bulk of Oar den Seeds. The largest annual seed distribution ever made by the government began ln?t week by the shipment of garden seed to farmers of the Soulborn States, and will continue until every part of the country lias been readied. The Southern States, where planting times comes earliest, will be served first, and the Northern ?States last. The demand for government seeds by tho farmer^ is constantly increasing. In the past Representatives have found it necessary to purchase seeds to sup ply the demands of their constituents, and as a consequence the appropria tion was increased at the last session of Congress from $130,000 to ?170,000. This will allow an increase in each Representative's quota of seed of over 3,000 packages, each package contain ing livo or six varieties of seeds. Whilo tho Agricultural Department is charged with the enormous yearly task of getting those scods ready for shipment through the mails under tin; frank of tho members of Congress, it has been tho custom to let tho contract for furnishing und packing tho seeds to private individuals or firms. Last year a California planter secured tho contract, but the distribution just to bo made and tho one for next year will bo executed for tho government by the New York Market Garden As sociation. This Arm has leased the large building No. T210 1) street, Washington, and is establishing a plant of machinery with which to do most of tho work of packing. A newly patented machine for lllling with scod and sealing the little, en velopes is to ho used. Eight of theae machines aro being installed. Each one has the capacity to fill and seal ssvsnty envelopes a minute, and the sight machines are expected to do ths j work heretofore requiring at leust 100 ' girls. Noi withstanding this great labor ' savlug device, it would he necessary for the tirni to employ at least *ne I hundred girls. This force will bo : worked in n day and a night shift, and the plant kept running constantly, j Besides the envelope tilling ma j chines, several other machines are to I used for making the envelopes. Sev I oral carl >ads of paper are now stored j in tun basement of the building to be used in this way. In speaking of the seed distribution Secretary Wilson said: "Thisdistribu tion of gulden seed is not a mat tor of particular pride with the Agricultural Department, but is one of our duties, and we endeavor to discbarge it. All the oeeds sent out will be te-tctl for germination, purity and variety. The wo*-k in the J) street building will bo constantly under the surveillance of inspectors from this department, and everything will he done to have the distribution now to be made better and mote OXpeditiOUSly accomplished than previous ones." THK KINGbTREE DISPENSER Charged With Malfeasance In Office Gross Carelessness and Incompetency. The Kingslrec dispensary case reached a chmax Saturday afternoon when Prank M. Player, tho dispenser, was placed behind tho bais of the Ktngstree jail to answer at (honext term ol coml to the charge of malfea sance in office, A few days ago (?ov. McSweeiicy received a telegram from Kingstroo announcing that Dispenser Player had been held up at the back door of the dispensary by four masked men and robbed of $1,80<?. Player staled that lie was unable to identify any of the men and readily gave up and allowed thorn to help themselves to the con t< nts of his safe. The sloiy was pub lished ai the time in full. Player had been dispensor for about a year, and this is the third robbery that he had reported since he had tilled that posi tion. Gov. McSwceney detailed W, 11. Ilolloway, a special constable, to ac company Mr. Statist 11, an inspector, to Kingstrec, to look into the matter ami, if possible, to arrest thoguilty party or parlies. They have been at work continuously ever since and were, reinforced by Constables .1. P, liale nian, Ceorge S. McCravy and member of tho .State beard, A. F, II. Dukes. An examination of the books and stock (ui hand show a shortage of at least $2,500. Such is the condition of the books that it is next to impossible to get at the exact amount. The. statement of these gentlemen in that Player was incompetent to 1111 the position and had no conception of the duties required of him. Kvidcnlly ho was badly imposed on by Iiis friends ami loaned out the State's mouey as well :u credited out liquor, winch is contrary to the dispensary law. Player's bond expired December l?th and the board knew this tact, yet he was not required to renew it, and it is stated that Player, while under the inlluenco of liquor, boasted on tho streets Christmas day that he. had 82,000 in his pocket, and when re monstrated with by his friends that he should not take such a risk, but should deposit it with the county treasurer, he coolly replied that if it was stolen it could not hurt him, as his bond had ex pired. At a previous robbery, which occur red just after the primary, Player re ported that he had been rubbed of stock amounting to $127. This the board allowed him and credited the amount, but when an investigation was made it was found that he was ?:p27 short instead of SP27. This $200 Player paid up. These facts, together w'th other evi dences of criminal carelessness, con vinced those hi charge of the ease to fcwear out a warrant against Player, which was done by W. Ii. Ilolloway and placed in the hands of Constable Ualcmnn for execution. Batcman went to Player's home and quietly arrested him. Player broke down and wept like a child. lie pro tested that he had done nothing wrong and added that he had loaned out some small sums of money to his friends, which his books would show, but vig orously stuck to his story concerning tho robbery. Solicitor John S. Wilson was in town to represent the Slate, and although Player employed counsel, a preliminary was waived and bo was sent lo jail in default of 8*2,000 bail. Player's home was searched a few days ago, but nothing was found in the shape of money. He has turned over to Treasurer Itollius $135, which ho claims was under his pillow at the time of tho robbery. The dispensary is now in the hands of Mayor Kennedy, being t imed over to him by Mr. Dukes, of tlie State board, but will not be reopened until a new dispenser is appointed. As soon as it can be done a new county board will also tie appointed. The State is in possession of much criminating evi dence, which will not be made known until the case is called in court. Player comes of n good family in Clarendon County, who have always stood well in their community. a Historic Site.?a delegation fron Virginia has appeared before the House committee on miliSary affairs relative to the project of having the government acquire the lilies to the historic site at York town, Va., where the revolutionary struggle closed with tho surrender of Lord Cornwallis. The delegation included I ho Virginia Sena tors and Representatives, A. o. Mauck, the, owner of the property, and several nieinl)ers of the Virginia House of Delcgatos. Tho sito includes live hundred acres and the old Moore mansion Which sheltered Washington, LnKnycttc nud Uochamhcnu when the surrender was consummated. At tho hearing me moria!" v/ero presented from a number uf Stato Legislatures asking that the government acquire the place. It was explained by thoso who were heard that nsido from its historic valuo, the sito was suited for national encamp ments and for a naval rendesvous, as the waters of Chesapcaka bay and York nvsr corns togothsr naar thsrs. STATE NEWS AND NOTBS Gathered From Our Exchanges and Other Sources. The ngurogatc lossws by Are in (he city of Columbia for the i>??t year were * lit, 87?. Tire new century was ushered in in Charleston by tho pealing <>f tho chimes of old St. Michael's. Prof. .lohn L. Pressly has boon late ly elected to till the chair of Greek and German at ?rskine College. Gaffnoy and Lumens are preparing to have the residence, business houses and vacant lots numbered. Lieutenant Governor Scarborough has ordered an election for a successor to Senator Mauldin, of Hampton. A reward of $200 has boen ottered by Governor McSweeney for the arrest of the Kingstreo dispensary robbers. Governor McSweeney has ordered an elyetioti for a successor to Sheriff Kennedy, of AbbaviHs, who was killwd last week. The liquor sales m Laurens for two days dining the Christmas holidays went over $2,000, while that at Abbe ville was about $2,000. ( onway recently had the largest lire in her history. Two stores, a re sidence nod several smaller buildings were burned. The cause of the tire is yet unknown. From the time the privilege tax on fcrtilizets was inaugrated this tax has yielded the State 8700,000.18. The largest amount received wasduriugthe past year, 8/3,580.34, It Will l?e interesting to know that the pension roll of the State shows that there are 7,707 pensioners on the rolls. Of this number 4,">75 are old soldiers and 3,132 arc the widows of veterans. The New? and Courioi has published tin: death list of the white? in Charles ton for the year 11)00. There was 34d White persona above the age of 21 who have died there the past year, most of them at an advanced age. The. Norris cotton mills, of which Col. D. K. Morris is president, has advised the Secretary of State that it has increased its capital stock fron. $100,000 to 8200,000. Tins increase has been put in the Norris mills. The fearful number of new patients that go In tho State Hospital for the Insane may be appreciated when it is known that the annual report of Dr. ?abcock will show that there bavo been four hundred and forty-eight admis sions to the State Hospital for the Insane during the past year. This is by decided odds the largest number of admissions for any one year. Col. Louis Du Hois, an old and dis tinguished citizen of Charleston died on the. 31st ult. Colonel Du Hois, who was SO years old, had been in failing health for some time. He was born and educated in France, but in 1800 came to this country to live. He was a close friend of (<cn. R. E. Lee and held an important position connected with tlie Confederate government. Dr. H. Ilaer, of Charleston, died on the 2nd inst. He was eixly-seven years old and one of the leading men in the Methodist church in this State. He was a Hebrew by birth and a high ly educated man. He was possessed of great force and strength of character, and was a power in tho church and in uccular affairs. II? was a wholesale and retail druggist, and hail mat with marked BUCCC8S in business. Rev. A. Tootner Porter, D. I)., tho founder and until now the principal of tho celebrated mililaiy academy in Chailcston which bears his name, has retired trom the management and con trol of that institution. Dr. Porter, in addition t<> being old and in bad health, is losing Iiis eyesight, and these are the reasons lor his action. The academy passes into the bands of the Episcopal church of South Carolina. A company of Tennessee ami Chi cago capitalists is preparing to con struct a railroad from Louisville, Ky., to Hort Royal, S. C. Those interested in the project have organized them selves into the Louisville and Port Royal Railroad company, which has been chartered with a capital of ?100, 000. Surveys will be made within the n xt two or three, weeks anil next spring the promoters expect to have the work under way. Work on the improvements on the State House is progressing so rapidly that a hoisting apparatus has been placed in position in front of the State House. Two large work sheds are crowded with workmen, who arc hew ing out the rock, and additional work is being done at tho quarry in Sparlan burg County. The Slate House grounds contain much of the finished rock to be used in the improvements. The I root steps will be torn away during the coming week and until tho Mouse is completed those who enter the State Hotue will have to do so through the side doors. Governor McSweeney iitlds Hint un der tho statute law he has the authority to appoint the successor to Sheriff Kennedy, of Ahheville. This is some what unexpected, hut the statute law requires that the Governor shall ap point a sheriff where a vacancy occurs from any cause. Governor McSweeney has written the Aoboville delegation that if it he the desire to have a prima ry it will ho acceptable to him, hut if the delegation wish to recommend Home one lor appointment he will ap point Whoever the delegation recom mends, presuming, of course, that a suitable person he suggested. It is likely that a primary will he held. James Kelly, a negro, was haiucd in Charleston on Friday, Jan. 4th, for the murder of Willis Bonncau, a miser, whom he lirst robbed, he murderer's father, an old man bent with age and infirmities, saw the execution. The father watched the sheriff ae the ropes were being tied and never lifted his eyes from his son as he was being ex ecuted. When the body had been cut' down the old man sought tho sheriff and grasped his hand. " Boss," he said, " I is seen a lot of niggers hanged, but d U is do best job ol dem all. Dat was my youngest child, but y >u surs did hang him good." Tin father had the coffin placed in a wagon and drove it to the cemotery. Our book*, loll ?' ??? itiou ot fertlll/ors CSI lldil|tlf?l lor ?II civ| ? ill liuuiuia. CI KM VN K \i I VVOKliS, 41 Nu ?hi Si., X.'v S Mtki THE STATE PENITENTIARY. Result of the Year's Operations ? The Permanent Improvements Tlie hook** of the Stale penitentiary Uavo been < i for the year of lOOtl antl the accounts have been balur.eod. The report is now in course of prepa ration. The ligurcs iiulicutc that the I penitentiary under the capable man? ngement of Capt. D. J. GrillUh will make perhaps the best showing of at v I of the State institutions, Capt. Grifllth and the board of directors arc n uolv ing congratulations from those ndvis id Dt ihe results of the year's operations, and particularly in regard to the per manent improvements made, Including amounts spent for perma nent improvements this year the insti tution will show a net earning ol $ 10, 483.07, which takes no account of lue amount of corn and otlu r products from the fauns during Ihe pusl year used at the institution for mainten ance. Tho yoar opened with 89,8,80.07 on hand. The total receipts for tho year wore 805,920.30 in nclunl cash. The totn.1 disbursements wen 871,879.01, leaving a cash halanco on Dkc.il lnsi of 83,033.12, to which amount should be added the estimated value of 328 hale- of cotton on hand -?13,120 ? and $2,002 due for convict hire and oats, making a total of 820,010.12, Po this also should he added the follow ing disbursements for permanent Im provements, makhig the not profits first given: New prison building, 89, 460.60 of the contract price of 814,040; reformatory, $1,000; artesi,iM wt.ll:, 81,220; barn, 82,000; gravel roof on hosiery mill, >''d; new boiler, etc., $1,100; recovering guards' quarters, $110; mowers, binders, mules, etc., $1,142, The total receipts were ac ? lually therefore 882,008.30. The population report will show that thorn were 801 prisoners in con lineinent at the close of the year 1890. From the courts sine, that dale 240 were received; 11 were recaptured, making a total of 1,008. There were 1H7 discharges, 24 pardous, 23 escaped, 20 died and 1 killed while trying to escape, leaving in the prison on Dec. 31, 1900, nt? prisoners. it is hopi d that the new prison building will be ready for the Use of the prisoners by Feb. I. The work is progressing well. A Romantic Makriaok.?Chiun (.rove, N. C , was the scene, on Dec. 20th, of a very romantic marriage in which Newbcrry (Jouuty had put, as tin parents nl the bride live nem 1' nnaria. A lew weeks ago Mi>s Cor nelia Beatrice [lent/., went from the latter place to China (.rove ostensibly to visit her aunt tho wife of the Rov. Jos. {}. Wen/., but a> a matter of tu. I and as she soon informed her rolativcs, to meet for the first lime tho gentle man who is now her husband. The facts of ibis Interesting episode are these: Tour years ago Miss limit/ and several other young Indies win* were at Mount Atuounn Female semi nary, Ml. Pleasant, N. <'., formed n close friendship with a classmate, Miss Helle Penland, of White Pino, Toun. Miss Petllnud was married soon after to Mr. Win. Taylor Hale, of Morris town, Tenn. Her death occurring within a short while, Mr. Haie naturally Informed these friends of the death of bis wife and a correspondence grow out of the circumstance hotweon each of the young Indies and himself. This correspondence, begun mil of mutual sympathy and affection lot tho wile and friend, booh dovclopcd into a more personal rcgaid on the pari "t the two leading characters in tin- little romance in real life, resulting ill then marriage on the above dale at the Lutheran parsonage at China Grove by the Ht V. Jas. Q. Weit/, ih" c. rcmony taking place at ?*. o'clock, aller which an elegant supper was served by the hostess and at half-past seven the eon pit; ho romantically united lot'i for the home of the groom near Morrislown, Tonn, It tn:iy be Staled as an indisput tble truth that no man ovor succeeded at farming who was ashamed of his crops, nays the Southern Farm Mcvjaxim . A man wllOSO faun la ho poor or whose tillage is ho had that hi^ crops arc. worthless had better abandon his call* mg and get at something else. 11 bis laud is poor he BllOuld Olllicll it. If he neglects to work bin crops well he is a fniTuro already. There \* an intense pleasure to the intelligent farmer lo so direct the operations on bis faun as to produce crops of which ho will bo proud. II?! then rejoices in his vocation. His mind Is ever on the alert foy new improvements either for : lertlli/.iu ; his soil or for cultivating bin crops. Considerable excitement was created on the streets of Cumdon a few nights ago bv a Shooting between \V. I). Coodalo and Allen Dens in the store of M. BaUlll & Co. Mr. Dens had some previous difficulty with GooJalO and walketl into the <re where he was wot king, and al le ome hot words ihoy pulled pistoii atoJ fired several ?hots each. Go< dale was not hit. Doas, however, was shot in the mouth.