Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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amyou^ ! * & SAFE SIDE ? / J IF NOT, WHY NO 1Y Whose fault is it? It is not ours. We offer you the necessary requirements to place you on the safe side, and would be more than delighted to WRITE YOU A POLICY that will protect you from all loss f by fires at a very low rate. We represent the best, and most reliable companies on earth. Kingstree Insurance,Real Eslate & Loan Co, W. H. WELCH, Manager. i ifliiruiL'n nnne l uommno nuuo. H. L. WHITLOCKi ^|F L?Ke City, S. C., Special Sales Agent n?l_ I - * - Representing the largest manufacturers of all kinds Improved Copper and Galvanized Section Rods. (Endorsed by . the Highest Scientific AuBBgk ' thorities and Fire Insurance Companies). Pure Copper Wire 1_ Cables, all sizes. Our Full Cost Guarantee given with each job. wsi iii 1 sell on dose margin of profit, dividing commission with mv customers. 3-7-tf WATTS'JEWELRY STORE . KINGSTREE. S. C. ; I keep on hand everything to be found in an up-to-date jewelry house I Repairing and engraving i done with neatness and * despatch. :: As a home dealer, guaranteeing quality and prices, I Solicit Your Patronage. Mmmr the Railroad Station. % l Undressed Lumber. I alwayp have on hand a lot of undressed lumber (board and framing) at ' my mill near Kingstree. for sale at the lowest price for good material. See or i i write me for further information, etc. < V F. H. HODGE. | EYES EXAMINED I am now equipped to do this work satisfac torily and can save you from 51.50 to w on , each pair of glasses. Let me fit you out with She New KryptoK Glasses, reading and distance vision ground in each , lens. If you break your lenses bring them to me. I will duplicate them on short notice. Save the pieces. T. E. BAGGETT, Jeweler and Optician. Kingstree, South Carolina I The Meanest Miller in Town is prepared to grind your corn into fine meal, coarse , or medium grits. Bring along your corn. ] I am also prepared to 1 grind your wheat into the > very best grade of flour? A. the home ground kind. Bring us your wheat as < soon as it is ready. ; EPPS MILLING CO., S. F. EPPS, Proprietor 1 ( CYPRESS ; ^ SASH DOORS ! RI iNns i *4 * i 1 I ! 1 <? MOULDINGS ^ i AND MILLWORK ' i . ==v Co A novelization of the photo pla) the Chicago Tribune in a $10,000 pri; tion came from many sections in th< tours took part. $10,000 Fori,GOO Words or Less For an Idea For a Sequel to "THE ' DIAMOND FROM THE SKY" The American Film Manufacturing Company's Picturized Romantic Novel In Chapters. This contest is open to any man, woman or child who is not connected, directly or indirectly, with the Film Company or the newspapers publishing the continued story. No literary ability is necessary to qualify as a contestant You are advised to see the continued photo play in the theaters where it will be shown?to read the story as it runs every week, and then send in your suggestion. Contestants must confine their contributions for the sequel A? * O/l/l km.rfr /"? > I( HI W WV( WW W the td?a that it wanted. CHAPTER I. A Heritage of Hate. IT is June in Virginia. June In the year of our Lord 1882. The fields are green, the early blossoming of the honeysuckle gives a fragrance to the air. At such a time, in Buch a scene and such surroundings, two horsemen meet Both are men of striking appearance and proud presence and are in the maturity of their middle manhood. They are Stanleys, cousins in blood. The one on the bay hunter, Judge Lamar Stanley, is smooth of face, that is marked with cruel and heavy lines. His face is harsh and set, and the grim lines of his countenance set the grimmer at the approach of his kinsman, Colonel Arthur Stanley. The latter rides his chestnut saddler like a soldier. Judge* Stanley's 6eat is that of a huntsman. Even as they ride they differ. Colonel Stanley's face is kinder. A white mustache and imperial add to his soldierly appearance. In Richmond during the war Judge Lamar Stanley had been high in the councils of the cabinet of President Jefferson Davis. In the field his cousin, Arthur Stanley, followed the fortunes of the Confederate arms as a member of the staff of General Lee. Crossing each other in love, crossing each other in martial, civic and social ambitions, their mutual hatred grew with their growing years. There were deep causes for all this in the thwarted social ambitions of the Judge. As the scion of the elder branch of the American Stanleys, springing from their common ancestor, Sir Arthur Stanley, a gentleman adventurer, who came to America in 1015, Colonel Stanley held possession of the precious family heirloom, the diamond from the sky. The family tradition ran that this great gem had fallen in a blazing meteor at the feet of Sir Arthur Stanley three centuries ago just as he was about to be burned at the stake by the Indians, whom he had in some way affronted and aroused. The legend was that the Indians had deemed the falling meteor an omen from the Great Spirit that the white man about to be tortured was under the favor of his protection. This legend further stated that Sir Arthur Stanley himself had so accepted the diamond from the sky as a token of suprLutiiuini in>urf wptrciiuiy a? tut? rndians had called It "the fallen star," and as "The Fallen Star" Sir Arthur Stanley himself had been called after Lils banishment from the court of King James of England for some wild escapade of gallantry when he was but turned of twenty-two. In the age stained family archives kept in the strong box at Stanley hall, the great mansion home of Colonel Stanley, there was the will of the wild Sir Arthur, and at its end there was a jtrange prophetic clause. This clause read that when the noble line of Stanleys became extinct in England and an tielr of the old Stanley earldom was jought among the elder sons of the American family of Stanleys in Virginia the diamond from the sky, the heritage of the elder son of this elder branch, should be borne and worn back to England by the American earl when be came into his English earldom. At the time we write?that is, in Tune, 1*^2?the last of the earls of Stanley was a bachelor invalid and recluse, without hope or desire of an boil*. Colonel Stanley bad no son to succeed to the earldom in England. He was married to a fair young wife, who ?xf??cted shortly to become a mother. ~Roir i pyrighl. 1915. by Hoy L. McCa\ r selected as the best in over 19,000 eubi te contest during December and Januai ? United States and Canada. Authors i and a bitter triumph over those you hate the most comes to you, sir." "Well, better fortune than that to the child you expect," said the colonel with a kindly smile. "And here is $20 to buy christening clothes and found ! the fortune of my expected namesake 1 ?if he Is a boy.' "It will be a boy, and you will be aware of him," said the gypsy woman, and again she closed her eyes and shivi ered as In great pain, not noticing the j money. "Take It, you fool woman, when the 1 kind gentleman offers it!" snarled the ; man. Seeing the colonel still offering the I money, the gypsy woman muttered her 1 thanks and took the money reluctantly, j and the gypsy, loud in his protestations I of gratitude, drove his caravan to the I copse. j Arriving at the gateway of Stanley i hall, the grand old mansion built by a ; great-grandson the original forbear of the family in America, the colonel cantered his horse up the splendid wide driveway. There on the lawn his flower faced youtg wife, Ethel, in a garden chair, swaddled in silken shawls nnH enrafnllv ntfended hv her Old COl ored nurse, Mammy Lucy, awaited him. The old negro manservant, Ned, chief factotum and butler of the establishment, appeared on the piazza and called J loudly to a half grown colored lad to I take the master's horse. The colonel and the old nurse gently I supported the flower faced young wife ' from the lawn to the portals of the I great mansion. It must not be thought that any over| whelming desire for title or exalted po! sition for themselves or for their exj pected child actuated Colonel Stanley ! and his fair young wife. In fact, the colonel was not only contented but proud in his position as head of the i Stanley family in America and master j of Stanley hall. It was only the graspJ lng snobbery of his cousin that had led the colonel to encourage the hope that his wife might bear a son to cheat his kinsman foe of his hopes. For the proud elder branch of the ! Stanleys?the Lords Stanley of Warwickshire, England-only survived In the person of a testy old bachelor invalid. The next of kin and in direct line for the earldom of Stanley was Colonel Stanley of Virginia, and, failing his surviving or having a son, the earldom would go to his cousin, Judge Stanley or the judge's son, Blair, now a child of three. It was a sore point with the last ; Lord Stanley that he had always hated I women after a love disappointment in [ early manhood and had never married, and now the succession would go to what he denominated as his "Yankee relatives." But the diamond from the sky was a i comforting thought in a measure to On the Porch of the Old Virginia Mansion. the old earl. It gave these "Yankee relatives" a prestige that even an earl might envy. For some time past the earl, through his solicitor, Marmaduke Smythe, had been in correspondence with the aforesaid "Yankee relatives." MarmauuKe nmyiue was a iuhk. iwau, lank, dry as dust British banister. He, too. was versed In full knowledge of the fame and fabulous value of the diamond from the sky. He, too, knew the legends concerning It But to his timid mind faroff America was still a wilderness, peopled by savages. So It had been with much trepidation and much nervous caressing of his scanty black sldewhiskers that Marinaduke Sraythe, banister at law, Temple chambers, London, had received orders from his distinguished patron, Cecil, eighth earl of Stanley, to depart for America and arrange for the succession. / . t V. M. S CA.RDELL r-dell f mitted to the scenario department of i ry. The manuscripts in this competi- ^ of note as well as thousands of amiWere this child n girl It could have no hope for the English great title in the family nor to ever possess the diamond , from the sky. . On the utiles hand, Judge Lamar . ! Ofonlar liorl n crm n stiirdv linv of I ? j w j J three. His proud wife, equally with himself, dreamed of a day when this boy should bear the honors and have j the vast estates of the Stanley earldom and the wonderful, priceless dia- J maud from the. sky. As the two horsemen, kinsmen and bitter enemies, rode down upon each other in a smiling Virginia lane neither would swerve his horse a huirsbreadth for the other. Into each other, ( full tilt, their blooded horses charged, 1 and then the superior horsemanship of the soldier, skilled in cavalry encounters, told. Over went horse und judge into the dust of the road, and, with a J mocking laugh and not deigning to j look back at his fallen kinsman, who arose and cursed and shook his fist at him, Colonel Stanley rode on. The judge, discomfited in the dust. saw tne ciara race or a gypsy grinning at him through a hedge near by. The hedge was on the property of Judge Stanley. Mounted on his horse again he now saw a gypsy van on the other side of thg hedge. Judge Stanley, quivering with rage, rode Into the gap of the hedge and hoarsely ordered off the intruders. "But, yo' see, It Is like this," expostulated the gypsy. "I am alone here with my wife, sir. Our people has gone on. My wife is very sick. We can't go on, sir." "What do I care what ails your wretched wife!" snarled the Judge. "Drive your horses off my land and get out. I am judge in this county." j "Mebbe you are president of the United States, too," grumbled the gypsy. "Do you think you own the roads because the gentleman that Just rode by knocked you off your horse on the road?" Roused to a burst of fury, the Judge i drove his horse at the gypsy and j lashed him cruelly with the heavy riding whip he always carried. A wan but handsome gypsy woman, clutching ] at her side as though in pain, tottered | out from the van as though to protect , : the gypsy from the sheer brutality of , i the horseman. Stanley struck the gyp- | sy woman across the face, leaving a ( i livid weal. To his surprise she never ( i flinched, but faced him dauntlessly. ] "The bitterest disappointment of your } life and a death that will be a buz- , I zard's feast for you for that blow!" she ! said tensely, a light of prophecy in | j her courageous eyes. | The Judge faltered and wheeled his j I horse, but turning to the gypsy man ( he cursed him again and bid him be ] ! off his land. Then he rode on. ( Meanwhile Colonel Stanley had ridden to the village of Fairfax and had halted his horse at the gate of a pret; ?y cottage. A sign by the gate bore ! ^he words, "Dr. Henry Lee." The doctor was an amiable man of | some sixty years, inclined to corpui leuee, a kinsman of General Robert E. Lee. The doctor had been a surgeon in the Confederate army. Some fifteen i years older than the colonel, he had been the guardian of the other. During the war the colonel had saved the doctor's life by carrying him when j wounded back to the Confederate lines under a galling fire. A further bond ! between them, if others were needed, was the mutual hatred they bore to i Judge Lamar Stanley, who through ] some legal chicanery had impoverished the doctor in his old age, a breach of 1 confidence if not of trust. "Yes, doctor, come at once. My wife will need you tonight," said the colonel, i As the colonel neared his estates and 1 was within sight of the broad lawn of his colonial mansion, Stanley hall, a landmark of the countryside, he saw a gypsy van approaching. On the driving seat were two figures, a man and a woman. The man was bellowing hoarse curses at a disappearing horseman, whom even at the distance the colonel recognized as his hated cousin, , the judge. ] As he neared the approaching gypsy . outfit the colonel noticed the woman i had fainted from pain and weariness. ! He had just time to wheel his horse Yiacirlo thfi ran nnH nntnh ho* a a j she was falling from the seat In a few words the gypsy man explained their miserable situation. The kindly heart of the colonel was touchi ed. The fainting woman had now revived and was listening apathetically. ' "So Judge Stanley has ordered you off the earth?' remarked the colonel. "Well, my good man, that little copse of woods right over there, not far from my house, belongs to me. Camp there as long as you wish and I will see your sick wife gets every attention. She expects a child, you say? Ah, the curse of Eve falls alike in hut and mansion. 1 We expect this same momentous event at my house. You are doubly welcome. I will send I)r. Lee. our family physician, to attend your wife. The gypsy woman now spoke for the : first time. "For your kind heart I read ' your fortune. A bitter disappointment I ..." ? ? CHAPTER II. "I Will Cheat Lamar Stanley!* IN the preliminary correspondence concerning this matter Lawyer Smythe had been gratified to note that one of the Stanleys near of :in in Virginia waa a judge. To Lawyer Smythe's insular British underitamling being a judge in the jungles f Virginia was to be an uncouth, to mcco eating, hoarse voiced, nd faced ndividual. The feud and its consequent bitter nmities between Colonel Stanley and ludge Lamar Stanley were hardly rrasped by the testy old earl and his imld Loudon lawyer. But the lega. nind of Lawyer Smythe prompted him t\ rolv mr?stlv iitinn tllf? f:1r off Vil'Crin a judge. So it was tliat to carry out his misilon in what he deemed were the wilds >f America Lawyer Smythe determinid to place himself in contact with the Virginia Judge rather than what he :hought might be the more militant lead of the American Stanleys, the ex loldler, Colonel Arthur Stanley. The lawyer had written to the judge tnd hard upon the heels of his letter le had arrived at the little railroad .tatlon of Fairfax in the dusk of the ivening upon the (lay in which the udge and the colonel had encountered he gypsies, Matt Harding and his wife lagar. All the barrister saw when he alight?d from the slow local train that had irought liira, and when his luggage % ^ I The Mother of the Gypey Child. lad been deposited beside him by unceremonious hands, was a shambling negro with a private mail pouch attached to a strap over his ragged shouller. This negro was joined by several ether messengers of his sort, who were busy receiving mail from the station lgent, who was evidently also the local postmaster. Lawyer Suiythe looked up and down the platform, expecting to see cowboys ir a prairie wagon, or some sort cf backwoods i>erson to greet him or vehicle to convey him to Judge Staney's ranch. lie finally summoned up courage to inquire of the station agentpostmaster, as that Individual was ocking up for the night "Judge Stanley?" repeated the station agent. "Why, his nigger, Zelce, lust got the Judge's mail and has gone, rhe iudtre couldn't have been expect lug anybody, or be would have sent ils carriage. But mebbe Zeke will tell aim be saw you, and you will be sent for. You had better wait right here." And he turned the key in the i>adock on the station door and trudged iway, leaving the bewildered lawyer wondering if wild beasts might be ibout In the somber living room that was part law office and chambers of Judge Stanley, tho Judge and his equally stern visaged spouse were awaiting the jvening mail on the last train down from Itiohmond. In a few minutes Zeke, the colored tiandy man of the household, entered with the Judge's mail bag. The Judge jagerly separated a large, formally adIressed envelope bearing English stamps and sealed at the back. The Judge opened it, glanced at it hurriedly and handed it to his wife. 'It is from the earl's lawyer, Marmaiuke Smythe, you see. He says he may arrive at about the same time this etter reaches us." lie turned to the douchy negro. "Did you see a strange tnnn get off the train?looked like an andertaker?all English lawyers do?" "Yes, suh, a strange gemman did get )ff de train," replied the negro, "but he iidn't say nuffin to me, and I didn't say nuflin to him!" "You black scoundrel!" roared the ludge. "That gentleman has come all die way from England to see me on in important matter. Get my horse ind put a saddle on the black mare. I will go to the station for him myself!" At Stanley hall, in the old colonial ledroom of the mistress of the house, he colored nurse, Lucy, was minlsering to her flower faced mistress, vhile Colonel Stanley stood by solicit>usly confirming the old colored mamny's words with affirmative nods. "Yes, my honey, de doctor will be lore any minute." the old nurse was " A a1 Kn/il* 1111$, ?/\ui t IUC VI/IU1IC1 jrot imvi\ 'rom ?oln' after him? Bless my soul, ioney, dere come Dr. Lee hisself drlvn' up wld dat ole red hoss, Stonewall, >f his." The colonel's wife lifted her fair face 4 as the colonel bent over to kiss it. The old nurse softly bustled to the door and admitted the doctor. In the copse of woods, hardly farther than a stone's throw from the mansion, night was falling darkly with the mutterings of an approaching storm. Over a smoldering lire crouched Matt Harding, the gypsy, puffing at his short black pipe. A cry of pain iron) me \\ earner siauieu leni injur uy roused the man, and he arose and sullenly walked over and entered the shabby shelter. In a few moments he emerged and hurried rapidly in the direction of Stanley Hall. \ As he rapped at the great door of the mansion Ned, the colored butler, opened it, throwing a glare of yellow light upon the sinister face of the gypsy. "You can't see nobody in this house. Mr. Man," said Ned. "But I tell you Colonel Stanley promised me his doctor would be here tonl/vlif mill 11 A ntf ADII mr n 111 ^ Li L tlllU UliU 1IU UVUiU uucilVi w wife. She needs the doctor now. It's a matter of life and death. And it's bad luck when a gypsy dies without being able to face the rising sun." "De colonel's alius doin' foolish kindnesses fo' poo' white trash," grumbled the darky as he shut the door on the strange caller and went reluctantly to bear his message. But the good old physician wus positive that no harm would come from hisabsence for an hour or so and hastened! away on his errand of mercy. At the little station of Fairfax meanwhile the now frightened London lawyer was wonderhig whether he should! load the elephant rifle with which he had nrovided himself and fortifv him self behind his luggage. As the beat of horse hoofs drew nearer the English lawyer rose with leveled rifle and cried: "Haiti Who goes there, friend or foe?" The approaching horseman, Judge Lamar Stanley, laughed grimly as he called out: "It's a frierd! Don't shootr And then he rode up to the platform and introduced himself to the Englishman and explained matters to the latter's satisfaction. Then the Judge fastened the luggage of his visitor to the two saddle horses, and they rode off together. Tn ronse of wood the Datterinz will at midnight. The colonel blanched at the news, but the flower faced mother smiled and called her husband to bring the diamond from the sky. With trembling hands he brought the precious heirloom, and the mother with her own weak hands placed the chain and the locket that contained the " jewel around the neck of her newborn daughter. "She is heir to Stanley hall, at least," murmured the mother. ' and until you die." she added, turning to the colonel, "she may wear it as a 'charm against harm.' as the Stanleys of our branch have always done." Then as all turned away to bide their teare at the pathos of her words the young mother, with trembling hands, drew a slip of folded paper from beneath her pillow and, opening the se eret catch at the Lack of the locket, placed a Toother's last message unnoticed beneath the diamond from the sky, murmuring as she did so: " 'A charm against harm,' my little daughter; 'charm against harm!'" And then she sank back upon her pillow, her babe upon her breast. The old nurse turned and gazed fixedly at her mistress; then, with a scream of grief and terror, she threw herself beside the babe and mother. "She is dead!" shrieked the nurse. "My sweet mistress is dead!" It was but too true; this gentle soul had passed. ******* The County Record $1 a year. w I . . -.''..jvii night rain fell upon the gypsy tent. The storm passed as quickly as It had come, and the moon shone out refulgently. The flap of the tent opened, and the bulky form of the good doctor was seen in the moonlight He held a small swaddled object in his arms. # "Matt Harding," said Dr. Lee impressively, "the storm has passed with the miracle of birth, and you may say, as was said of old. 'Unto, us a child is born; unto us a son is given.'" "Them's fine words for rich folk," grumbled the gypsy grutily. "To me it don't mean nothing but another mouth to feed." The /doctor regarded the man with such a look of sternness that the gypsy took the child from the doctor and entered the tent with it after promising: the physician to take good care of it and its mother. The good doctor hurried back to Stanley hall, where all were impatiently awaiting him. He smiled reassuringly at tlie colonel's wife, the coionet and the nurse. "A fine boy has been born to the gypsy woman." lie said. "It seems an omen of like good luck to Stanley hall. We may expect a tittle earl to be born here this night," he added gently. The colonel's flower faced wife shook her head and smiled back at the old doctor, and the colonel spoke quickly. * "I have no ambitions for any title for a son of mine," he said. "But I wish a boy if but to thwart my cousin, Lamnr Stnnlev A bitter expression crept into the face of the negro woman at the mention of Judge Stanley's name. "Don't you worry, honey," she said softly to her mistress, "an' don't you worry either, colonel. De good Lord don't intend no luck for Judge Lamar Stanley. I was a slave girl on his father's place when de jedge was a young man. ITe killed my brother likea dog, an' he had me beat insensible when I called him 'Cain.'" A girl child was born at Stanley