Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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.gibe gtotmtji] + ' ? VOL. 36. KINGSTREE, SOUTH CAROLINA. THURSDAY, APRIL 15,1920. NO tJe. KENNETH GOSSETT GIVEN 40^ YEARS RECOMMENDED TO MERCY AFTER JURY DELIBERATES 4 HOURS AND 55 MINUTES , - i Abbeville, April 10.?Kenneth Gos- ( sett, seventeen-year-old youth will!, have to serve what is practically a ( life sentence in the State penitentiary, ( for criminal assault on a sixteen-year-1 old girl, a native of Abbeville. After being out for four hours and . fifty-five minutes the jury which heard | the case of the Honea Path youth re- . turned at 6 o'clock Saturday a ver-, j diet of rape with recommendation to ( ^tbe mercy of the court, and Judge ? Thomas S. Sease immediately pro- \ Enounced the extreme penalty of the ( law?forty years imprisonment at j hard labor. The finding of the jury and the pro- i nouncement of the sentence were heard < in stoical silence by the youth. Two \ of the brothers of the prosecutrix were in court, and tears ran down the , cheek of the older one.. ( Attorneys for the defendant, who , had fought the case bitterly since last j Monday in the face of public indigna- , Cion against the crime, appealed for , a new trial on the grounds that the court was illegally constituted and | that the venire was not drawn according to the law, in contravention to both the Constitution of South Carolina and of the United States. The motion was overruled. They will ap- i peal to the State Supreme Court. j In passing sentence. Judge Sease, said he presumed that the reason why the jury'recommended mercy was because of the extreme youth of Ken-1 neth Gossett. He hoped that the lesson which has been taught in the court this week will have a deterrent ? effect on others who commit like crimes. He said that, in passing the, sentence, he did, which was in effect' \5 imPrisorunent' he hoped that he prisoner would comtemplate on 'the wrong he had done. There was no demonstration when the verdict was announced. There was some surprise that the youth should be found gui lty.lt was thought bf many that there might be an acquittal, and it appeared when the jury stayed out as long as it did that there might be a mistrial. When it became known that the jury had agreed, the courthouse began slowly to fill up and there was a hush of solemnity as the jury filed in and announced its verdict. On the same verdict which con-, demned Kenneth Gossett was written' the verdict, at the direction of the I court, which cleared John.Gossett, his1 twenty-two-year-old cousin, who was 1 " - ?a L:I his companion on me automuuiie uip of March 14. r The jury could have found Kenneth. i Gossett guilty of criminal assault or 'i ^ attempted criminal assault, which \wouId have meant the death penalty, I * for attempted criminal assault with recommendation to mercy, which 'i would have carried a sentence of from < five to forty years, the same as in the ( first count, or of assault of a highly aggravated nature, which would have _ carried a verdict of from three months to ten years. The arguments were brilliant ef-! forts by all council, Homer S. Blackwell, of Laurens, solicitor of the Eighth circuit, opened for the State, j and he was followed by Gen. M."L. Bonham of Anderson, and his son, State Senator Proctor A. Bonham of Greenville, council for the defense, George Bell Timmerman, of Lexington, solicitor of the Eleventh judicial case went to the jury at 1:05 o'clock and the verdict was returned at 61 o'clock. * The jury was tied up so long because it was divided as to whether it \ should find a verdict of guilty or one of guilty with recommendation to the j mercy of the court, it is rumored. j Mrs. Gossett, mother of the defend-1 ant, held up throughout the trial, but! when sentence had been passed upon him she threww her arms about her i boy, kissed him and prayed over him. His father threw his arms around him and cried. ^^he defendant's father and mother, homeward bound in an automo- j 1 b>J, passed him as he was being car?ried to the jail. k The defendant left for Columbia on lie 7:10 o'clock train in the custody of United States Deputy Marshal Charles J. Bruco, Deputy Sheriff T. L.? _Cann and Special Deputy Burt Fergu- ! SMpon. About a dozen people were at 'a / I WILL BUILD FIFTY NEW RESIDENCES! i1 \ndrews Building Association to Com- j mence Construction of 50 Homes in iNexi ren ways. 0 To meet the insistent need for Aomes ' t tiere in Andrews, a company has been p recently formed under the name of the a Andrews Building Association, which F :ompany will commence work in the t! next few days on fifty homes in the, v :ity to be located in different sections n )f the town. ' b It is the purpose of this company x> construct homes on the bungalow ? and cottage type the cost of each to! 1( >e in the neighborhood of three thous- b and dollars. Homes will be provided b For a number of mechanics who are, employed now at the S. A. L. Ry. n shops, and for those who are expected a to arrive in the next 60 days on ac- a :ount of the extension program which has been mapped out for the plant, b This increase in the capacity of the n railroad shops has been made necessary on account of the volume of work y that is being placed on this division. * The Andrews Building Association proposes also to erect homes for negroes in the town as well as provide necessary residences for white fami- * lies now needing homes and those who ^ are expecting to move into town in the near future. Mr. W. H. Andrews is one of the principal backers of this i building association.?Andrews News. ? 11 CONDEMNS HOOVER MOVE t \i Gerard Says Danger Lies in Success ii of Republicans. I i S New York, April 10.?The recent 2 movement in favor of Herbert Hoover g for president was "a protest against a party control, not a declaration that in t all the broad United States Herbert d Hoover was the only man fit to be our c president," declared James W. Gerard g in an address here tonight, at the Jef-, v ferson Day dinner of the National t Democratic club. v "At the Jackson Day dinner in I Washington I advocated the nomina- * tion of Mr. Hoover by the Democratic ^ party," Mr. Girard said. "That was F when I and other admirers of Hoover * saw him a man who had done a good * service, who seemed independent and 1 could afford to wait the offer of a I nomination. : * "But a Herbert Hoover partisan, ? asking only the Republican nomination ? standing hat in hand before the House s when the forces of reaction are in 1 counsel, is quite another Hoover. It 1 is a Mahomet going a supplicant to 8 the mountain; not a mountain offering the nomination to an independent. , And because the Republican party is v the party of reaction there lies danger in its success." ' o the station, among them two brothers p of the prosecutrix. Protests His Innocence. it Still protesting his innocence and c claiming that he had been unjustly o convicted, Kenneth Gossett, convicted a of criminal assault with recommend-! a ation to the mercy of the court at v Abbeville and sentenced to forty I years' imprisonment, reached Colum- I bja at 11:50 o'clock Saturday night, f The prisoner was immediately taken t to^ the State Penitentiary. On the train coming down the con-1 victed youth made the following brief i statement. "I am innocent. I hope my God will j j strike me dead in my seat if I had' c improper relations with that girl. I j believe that if she were asked tonight j if I did that she would say that I did j not. I believe that she was ordered < to say what she did." The Gossett youth maintained the1 same impassive demeanor on the train j that characterized nis Denavior uurmg i the trial, occupied his time in looking! out of the window and chatting with I j the guards. At only one time did he show emotion, and that was when he I ^ stated that he never had an idea that! he would be convicted. Then his eyes filled with tears. Kenneth Gossett, in addition to having driven a public service car in Anderson and Greenville, stated tonight that he was employed by a Columbia * transfer company and drove a public c service car in this city for five months c during the latter part of 1918 and the ^ first months in 1919. b li 0 i For the first time in six months <j President Wilson called and met with 1 his cabinet members yesterda^j^reg- t ular session. NEGRO CONFESSES MURDER *B 'ells Texas Sheriff That He Killed Man Near Columbia 23 Years Ago. j Si A few weeks ago Mr. E. T. Hamer f Salters Depot received a clipping iken from a Houston, Texas, newsaper, and sent him by James Shaw, jm former Williamsburg citizen. Mr. lamer could not recall any murder w hat took place about 23 years ago C? rath which to reconcile the parties tc amed in the story, which is given h< elow: "Richmond, Texas, Feb. 14.?"I've ome to give up. Can't stand it any a >nger," said Henry Jones, negro, as cl e surrendered here to Deputy Sheriff it fagan. "Jones, who has lived around Richlond for 21 years, said that he killed man near Columbia, S. C., 23 years w go. His name was Perry Partee T hen. He fled to Florida, then to Ala- & ama, and in 1898 settled near Richiond. oi " 'It's been on my mind all these tc ears, and it's killing me,' Jones said. a' le asked to be locked up. | tl "In the 21 years that he has lived tl ere, Jones has never been in trouble. g< le has been married three times. His wo former wives and his present in rife were never told of the South c< Carolina affair." vi O el Ireat Baptist Gatherings Announced ^ The Baptists of South Carolina are ^ Doking forward with eagerness to heir great summer meetings to be leld at Greenville June 28-July 10, nclusive. The first of these gather- 01 ie Rontict Stntp Snndav 1' U&O AO WiW ^ School convention at Greenville June 18-July 1. A round thousand dele- c' ;ates are expected to attend this first * mnual State Sunday school conven- 0j ion. A number of the leading Sunlay school specialists in America, in- a! luding several great leaders in the W general field of religious education, rill appear on the program. Among c< hose already secured for the con- ? ention are: Rev. L. R. Scarborough, f< ). D., president of the Southwestern 01 Japtist Theological Seminary, Fort j Vorth, Texas; Rev. Rufus W. Weaver, s> resident Mercer University, Macon; F Gof. L. P. Lea veil, chair Sunday M school Pedagogy, Southern Baptist w Geological Seminary, Louisville; Rev. n< lyron H. DeMent, D. D., president o1 laptist Bible Institute, New Orleans; oi diss Annie L. Williams, Birmingham, ind others. Every Baptist Sunday h chool in South Carolina will --send ai epresentatives and the greatest at- a' endance ever secured for a Baptist jt fathering is assured. Following the above convention, P uly 2-4, will be the 23rd Annual Con- tl -ention of Baptist Young People's is Jnions in South Carolina. Five hunired young Baptists will be there and he program will be the richest ever ^ ffered in the history of the young eople's movement in this State. On the evening of July 4th the Bapist General Summer Assembly will onvene in Greenville. The Assembly ^ f 1&0 will present a varied program A long all lines of denominational life nd activity. The buildings of Green- ^ ille Woman's College and of Furraan ^ Jniversity will be used to house the Assembly guests, and the richest east of good things for the mind and ^ he heart are in store for them. ^ o T Demands That Caused Big Strike. el V Here are the demands of the United UI lailroad Workers of America that are a ausing the big strike now on: U Engineers, $12.00 a day. t< Conductors, $8.80 to $9.20 a day. T Firemen, $7.50 to $8.20 a day. Brakemen, $4.50 to $6.00 a day. n' Baggagemefi, $4.75 a day. a Flagmen, $7.60 a day. Switchmen, $4.50 to $6.00 a day. Eight hour day. . ?* Time and a half for overtime, Sun- s< lays and holidays. P' Double time for Sunday and holi- a lay overtime. Back pav from June 1, 1919. 1 ^ tl ? w Must be a Queer Bird. ft si Cades, R. F. D. 1, April 8:?While si aking a hen and bunch of young a hickens off, I discovered one of the hickens had four feet, but only three egs, two being where they naturally ti elonged and well developed, the third s< eg being where its tail ought to be. It R s a natural leg to the knee, where it L livides into two legs and two feet, ii lie chicken is two days old and seems ir o be healthy and getting along fine., m S. C. THOMAS. w /. .'j [RMINGHAM FORMS CI BIG OVERALL CLUB ?cretary Threatens to Prosecute I> Anyone Trying to Profiteer in Overalls. Birmingham, April 12.?The Bir-; ingham Overall Club, with a mem- th ;rship of three thousand, pledged to ra ear overalls until clothing prices | C1 tme down, was formally organized (jn might at a meeting in the city court-: >use. c( Earlier in the day Birmingham te jv/spapers declined to comply with le request of a committee of retail a othiers that they cease publishing al ems about the overall clubs, the stailers claiming their business was ! pi iing injured. 'C Alvin Douglas, well known attorney, | as elected chairman of the club and i p heodore Lamar, originator of thej a derail club plan, was made secretary. J <j Friday, April 16, was set as the day : p, 1 which every member of the club is ! tl > appear on the streets clad in over-; t* lis and a solemn pledge was taken ti lat the denims will be worn until j "j le price of clothing "hits the tobog-1 p 99 : _ I p Organizations which joined the club j i a body include city hall employees,1 >urt attaches, Louisville and Nash-'^ ille, Southern, Alabama, Great South- p m and Illinois Central Railroad em- p, loyees, Birmingham street car com-' ^ any employees and the Bessemer f( re department. Membership lists had been circulat- 0 i in the larger mercantile establish-! s] tents of the city and those in charge { f the work reported enrollments of' u X) per cent. jre Bitter attacks upon the cost of n lothing marked the meeting which j j as, attended by men in every walk I pi f life. "The people have gone on strike | a gainst profiteering in clothes," said 1 g. [r. Lamar. ; Telegrams from all parts of the1 s| >untfy>were read by Secretary Lamar1 w i dor sing the movement and asking jj >r information as to the best means jj, F organizing clubs. Qualification for membership con- ( n sts simply in the ownership of one; air of overalls. There are no dues.! [embers are obliged to wear overalls hile at work and urged to do busiess only with other men who wear /eralls. While blue denims were recnmended, other kinds may be worn. Secretary Lamar stated that he had iquired into the prices of overalls j ' nd found out that the average cost; . t the present time for pants and 1 * , a? imper is $3.00. i "If I hear of anybody trying to ( rofiteer in overalls I will prosecute lem myself," said Mr. Lamar, who; ^ i a lawyer as well as a business man. I o I TOURIST HOTEL IS SOLD. ,? _____ eorgetown to Have Another Tobac- f< co Warehouse. S W The old tourist hotel, recently known B > Hotel Edwards, has recently been pi >ld to Messrs. W. B. Blount and R. | . Morgan, of Florida. The new own- m rs of the hotel will take charge April jc 5 and, after giving the buildings c( thorough overhauling, expect to rnn tl good, up-to-date hostelry. fc Another tobacco warehouse will be iilt and made ready for use before le coming tobacco season sets in. he stockholders met recently and ected Mr. J. M. Powell president and B falter Phillips secretary and treas- y, rer of the new company. It is to De in wooden building, 80x170 in size. ? ast year was the first that George- bi >w was made a tobacco market, pj he brick warehouse, which handled w le 1919 crop, did a surprising busi- n HARGES AGAINST \ ' CREEL AND OTHERS ; ^ isposed of Bulletin by Secret Con-; nivance and Numerous Abuses Claimed. { q It is announced from Washington tat legal proceedings by the governent against George Creel, former tairman of the committee of public. [formation; Roger W. Babson of r< ^ellesley Hills, Mass., and others con-! G trned in the transfer of the commit- f< te's war publication, the Official Bui- j S tin, to Babson, are recommended in report made public last week by Sentor Smoot, Republican, Utah, chair- N tan; and representative Kiess, Reublican, vice chairman of the joint E ongressional printing committee. Numerous abuses in the government y uhliVatirms inclndiner armv and naw ' f, nd other war service journals are|y larged in the report. Many of these ! f( ublications, it says, are favorable to le league of nations, the liquor in- C ;resta and officers in charge. Adver- h sements, the report asserts, included fi ?et rich quick" oil speculations and S olitical propaganda in government o ublications. I r Printed 30,144,362 Speeches. C Another alleged abuse of govern- y tent funds charged by the report was t rinting of 30,144,362 speeches. Pa- p er consumed totaled 1,451,000 pounds, s .s members of Congress must pay d >r their speeches, the report says, the t across abuse" from the free printing n f other federal officials' speeches y lould stop. n The report says that the committee r nder its power to supervise govern- h Lent printing investigating 266 jour- a als, magazines and periodicals and p iscontinue 111 at a saving of $1,200,- o )0 annually. tl Eight army and navy newspapers y nd magazines were surpressed at a iving of $400,000. p "This has been done," the report a tates, "without a single protest from d _ xi i A sss, and the new warehouse win nu w need that, was felt last year and p, ? the means of drawing a still larger m leasure of patronage to the George- f? iwn market. Mr. William Thomp- h< >n, the contractor, is ready with his K ans and win commence wore wiuim few days. The Georgetown Motor company 01 as purchased of W. W. Munnerlyn cj le four large stores adjoining the s( a rehouse of the Baltimore and Caro- 0] aa Steamship company, on front b; :reet, also owned by him, and will bi lortly convert these buildings into ti garage and offices. 01 ? ,>>; After fourteen years, during which tl me he has been living in security ol imewhere under an assumed name, ]ji ichard Derrick astonished Sheriff awson of Athens, Tenn., by walking tto the jail Saturday and surrender- i tl ig for trial on the charge of having ti nrdered Hugh Duggan, near Engle- r< ood. b< I i 1 't; ny man in uie ruiiKs, enemy in wuuac & iterests it had been urged the pub- d cations were printed. The objections v > discontinue came directly from high p inking officers. J o: o , |o L C. DAVIS MAYOR OF MANNING ! | ii Idermeo and Commissioner of Public ^ Works Also Chosen. s P At the municipal election which was eld in Manning Monday a mayor, six 0 Idermen and a commissioner of pub- a c works were elected. W. C. Davis ad H. C. McKelvy were candidates j ^ )r mayor, and for aldermen: L 1.1*' ppelt, A. C. Bradham, C. E. Chesnut, ^ . L. Dickson, J. D. Gersild, S. L. a uggins, J. S. Rigby, S. J. Smith, C. 0 [. White. For commissioner of pub- e c works, F. P. Burgess. W. C. Davis was elected mayor, and >r aldermen, G. L. Dickson, S. J. ia mith, S. L. Huggins, J. S. Rigby, C. ; ^ [. White and A. C. Bradham. F. P. ^ urgess was elected commissioner of a ublic works. P A total of 243 votes was cast for 0 myor. W. C. Davis received a ma- ^ >rity of 75. The newly elected offi- jS1 ;rs were in lediately sworn in by, le old council and assumed the duties ia >r the ensuing two years. , i? ic< ???c Commits Suicide With Shotgun. ! Wilmington, N. C., April 10.?Mrs. | g ertha Stormbaugh, a widow, forty|.^ sars old, of Sault Ste Marie, travelig representative of a Western drug i >mpany, went to Sunset Park, a su-! ^ irb, this morning and, seated on a' g ile of lumber, blew out her brains j ith a shotgun, which she had bor-1 ^ >wed under the subterfuge that she anted to destroy rats. The woman at the muzzle of the weapon in her outh and pulled the trigger with her j ^ >ot. She left a note saying that her . an/1 ftiat c'np Hi/1 Tint I -tllL.il Jiau XOIIWU ?uu VMM .... . a ire to become a burden on relatives, i o Dry raiders have been ordered to jserve the constitutional rights of tizens against unlawful search and iizures without warrants. These rders might well be supplemented y punishment of tho9e who have ?en following these unlawful prac- ^ ces. No citizen's rights or liberty | ^ aght to be invaded with impunity j S1 y officers of the government. If ^ le latter are ignorant of the limits F their authority, they should be re- 01 eved of it. o Tatest reports are to the effect that, p le big strike among railway opera-! B ves has been settled. The men are J c 'turning to work and embargoes are : J ?ing lifted. if 1 / OUTH CAROLINA . MEMORIAL FUND ___ OV. COOPER URGES EVERY CITIZEN TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS FUND NEXT WEEK. The editor of The Record recently eceived the following letter (from overnor Cooper, which we publish >r the consideration of our readers: tate of South Carolina, Executive Chamber, Columbia, April 7th, 1920. [r. W. F. Tolley, Kingstree, S. C. ear Mr. Tolley: Though this tetter is addressed to ou personally, it is intended qot only ' | >r you, but for those associated with ou in the memorial organization, and sr the people at large of your county. more tnan twelve mourns ago xne General Assembly speaking for the f carts of South Carolinians, took the rst step looking to the erection of a tate Memorial to the many thousands f men and women of this State who endered service during the great war. Inly a part of the money necessary /as made available from the State reasury, the plan being for the people of the State by voluntary subcription to supplement the one hunred thousand dollars provided for byhe General Assembly. Upon a molent's reflection the reason for this all be apparent to you. Had all the loney needed for the memorial been aised by taxation, the structure would ave lost some of its valuable char- , cteristies, for taxation is highly unersonal, and largely inexpressive of f any particular wish on the part of be taxpayer as to the purposes for rhich the money is to be expended. Six months or more ago the camaign for popular subscriptions was nnounced, four hundred thousand ollars being the sum agreed upon, pproximately one hundred thousand ollars has now been subscribed. For . J arious reasons the campaign was' not ashed to a speedy termination. All f us had just experienced numerous ther campaigns; we were resting, jo, from the fatigue of high pressure icident to the war and necessary for ;s conduct It is, however, not necesary for me to elaborate on this hase of the situation. The issue we now face is this: We lust raise the four hundred thousnd dollars. The purpose of this let?r is merely to refresh your memory, ' > recall to you, and through you to tie people of your county, the fact bat this memorial is to be erected nd forever stand as one of the tokens f our undying appreciation, of our verlasting gratitude, for the services ? sndered by our fellow Carolinians. The other "drives" are now over, nd we have rested from our nervous msion. We have passed through a ear of unparailed financial earnings, nd have every reason to believe that rosperity, formerly scarcely dreamed f, will be vouchsafed to us for many ears to come. Shall we, so happily Itiiafosl QO this hpsitAtp PVPT1 for a jw days when asked to raise money, small amount of money, for a memrial? Shall we swell our bank acjunts, add to our luxuries, expand our leasures, and have never a gift in temory of those who gave their lives ? The memorial is necessary. The tate must find means for expressing self, else it stagnates, and memorials re a means of expression. The memrial will be erected; I am sure of lat, because I know the history of outh Carolinians. As a symbol it tiall be raised, as a token of affection ud as a perennial inspiration it will ver stand. I wish to urge that you give your me and thought to this campaign, .pril 19-30 are the dates selected for nishing the task. Just present the luse to your fellow citizens, and the imainder, I am sure, will be easy. Respectfully yours, R. A. COOPER, Governor. Ex-Governor Manning Coming Ex-Governor Manning, who is projundly interested in the success of lie South Carolina Memorial, will peak in the courthouse here on Friay, April 23, in the interest of the and. Every citizen is urged to come ut and hear him. o It is announced that work on the roposed Pee Dee bridge at Mars luff, connecting Florence and Dillon ounties, will be commenced about uly 1. Estimated cost of the bridge i $400,000.