The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, February 02, 1922, Image 1
I
k flje fotwtu llecotb.
- - . ? ^ . ' VOLUME
36?NO. ^ 4*1 THE COUNTY RECORD, KINGSTREE, S. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1922. PRICE $1.50 A YEAR IN ADVANCE
+ t ,
HORRIBLE DISASTER
IN WASHINGTON
ROOF OF MOVING PICTURE
THEATER CAVES IN UNDER
WEIGHT OF SNOW.
The Knickerbocker theater, a large
moving picture show house in the
city of Washington caved in Saturday
night under the weight of the heavy
fall of snow. Up to Sunday night
the toll of dead had read ed 107
persons when a final canviss was
made of the city hospitals and all
of the several emergency ^medical
stations which had been established
^ f to care for the victims. This was
said to indude everybody thus far
recovered from the ruins. The list
of injured totalled 134 and of these
14 were recorded as having sustained
serious hurts.
Of those in hospitals some sustained
injuries in many cases of such
character that the icvtims, if they
recover, will be maimed for life.
Ninety-two of the victims had oeen
identified when the force of volunteer
workers, 24 hours after the disaster,
approached the end of their long
search of the debris.
Nine additional bodies of those who
had succumbed to injuries after rescue
lay in city hospitals.
The large majority of the victims,
both killed and injuried, were residents
of the city, although many came
recently from other places. Exploration
of the ruins went on unchecked
after dark but those in charge believed
few additional bodies would be
found. Without regard to their own
risk soldiers, marines, sailors, police,
firemen and citizen volunteers had
fought their way beneath the wreckage
over practically the whole floor
space of the auditorium.
The exact number ;n the .theater
when the steel and concrete span of
the roof buckled and fell under its
three foot load of snow probably will
never be known. The more than
800 in the audience was roaring in
laughter at a filmed comedy when the
roof fell on them like a blanket, car-,
rying down the front of the wide balcony
in its path.
Normally the theater-has every seat
filled at that hour and nearly 2,000
persons was its capacity. The same
unp:-ecedented snowfall which brought
death to the venturesome few kept
the many at home. Street car traffic
had been abandoned and streets and
sidewalks were all but impassable
wfth drifts.
Recovered from the wreck and
horror of the ruined Knickeibocker
theater, a pitiful stream of mangled
bodies, dead and living, flowed all
niaht and Sundav into the
lower rooms of a Christian Science
church a few hundreu yards away.
As, the first word of the disaster, the
place was thrown open to the sricken
folks and the hundreds of others who
came to search for their dead or injured.
And as the full weight of the
losses became known the dead monopolized
the space, crowding the injured
in the all too small rooms.
It was merely a first aid station
for those taken crushed, but alive,
frtm the wreckage. They were carried
on stretchers over the slippery
pavement with lines of soldiers keeping
the crowds back. Doctors and
, ' nurses and women eager to bring
their sympathy and cheer to the suffering
or bereaved, waited in the
church. They tenderly washed away
the gray dust of crumbled concrete,
the grime and caked blood, blackened
some times by hours of waiting
pinned under the debris until the rescuers
cut the victims loose. Bandages
were applied and then the injured
were whisked away to hospital
or home.
Sought by Relatives.
But the dead lay long in the double
rows in which they stretched across
the floor, lay until a tearful relative
or friend, a husband or wife or father
or mother, recognized the crushed
form at last Up and down these
aisles of the dead walked those whose
fears had drawn them here because
of some one missing in the family
circle. Women already weeping in
certainty of what they must find sooner
or later beneath the kindly blankets
. that shielded the sleepers made the
journey of sorrow many times before
N 0 they found what they sought. Men
with working faces leaned to draw
r tack the coverings and then gasp
with short lived relief as they moved
on to the next huddled form. ,
4k Some of these seekers came with
the dirt and grime of the wreckage
upon them still. Some had passed
- Co
DASHES TO DEATH j
TO ESCAPE FLAMES!
DAMAGES ONE HUNDRED AND
TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND
DOLLARS.
Clio, Jan. 29.?Fire near noon today
destroyed business establishments
in Clio and entailed a loss of approximately
$125,000.
A tragedy in connection with the
fire was the death of R. D. Quick,
who collided with a truck as he dasheel
to safety from a falling wall and
was killed almost instantly. The
truck was driven by P. H. Lipscomb.
The body was placed in a nearby
building and the coroner notified.
Empaneled a jury and an inquest held
Monday morning. The tragedy is
greatly deplored but could not be
avoided by Mr. Lipscomb, who is
deeply affected by it.
Just how the fire originated is not
known. The first evidences of it were
in the Blackman & Mclnnis Drug
store about 11:30 o'clock and for more
than two hours it raged with the
resultant loss as follows: Blackman
& Mclnnis Drug store, $8,500, with
$3,000 insurance; Covington company,
$76,000, stock insurance about 60 per
cent; Covington company's buildings,
$25,000, partially insured; Wright &
Powers, stock $6,000, with $2,500 insurance;
D. K. Wright's building, $5,000,
partially insured; J. C. Covington's
building, $5,000, partially insured;
Southern Bell Telephone company's
office equipment, unknown.
J, E. Harrison, telephone operator,
lived over the drug store and all his
personal effects were lost, as he and
Mrs. Harrison were away when the
fire was discovered.
Bennett Hedgepetn Hardware company
had a loss by moving out their
$8,000 stock which was covered.
Damage to the Melinda building in
which Bennett Hedgcpeth were located
was considerable from the falling
wall of the Covington company
building.
A lot of cotton ignited from Calling
sparks at the Atlantic Coast Line depot,
which is a loss to the railroad,
as it was covered by bills of lading,
ten bales being damaged.
The fire department iiom Bennettsville
came to the rescue and rendered
much assistance.
through the crash of the roof and
balcony only to leave a dear one dead
in the tangled mass. They had worked
hours with the rescuers to find
that one, only to turn now and then
for a hurried trip to the chamber
of death.
Eleven times death struck down
husband and wife, side by side. They
died as they had sat to see the swift
picturing of the film. But many
other times it was only the wife or
the husband who perished and the
survivor must make the terrible pilgrimage
of recognition in the grim
chamber of the dead.
The times when children were taken
were sparingly few. Usually the
big theater has been in its earlier
hours of a Saturday the gathering
place of a host of youngsters who
come witfr their parents for the week's
amusement. But the storm that
wrecked the Knickerbocker kept most
of the little folks at home that night.
A Victim Tells of Crash.
An avalanche of broken plaster,
bricks, snow, splintered wooden and
twisted steel beams catapulting upon
the audience while the orchestra played
and a comedy film ground out is
the description of the Knickerbocker
theater disaster given today by Representative
John H. Smithwick of!
Pensacola, Fla. He was in the bal-1
cony of the theater when the roof!
j collapsed under its weight of snow j
and escaped unaided?just how he I
can not recall?with more or less serious
hurts.
"The orchestra was playing beautiful
music and a comic film was
running," said Mr. Smithwick, lying
in his bed, bandaged and with his
face and hands covered with cuts.
"Suddenly there was a sharp crack.
I looked up and saw a great fissure
running across the ceiling. It was
right over my head. I instantly
realized what was happening. The
plaster began to fall, dropping down
in large and small chunks all over'
the theater, it seemed to me. While
I was looking up a great piece right
over my head started to fall. I duck-,
ed, crouching, involuntarily, I suppose
down between the seats. The piece
struck the seat right where I had
been sitting. The force was broken
(Continued on last page) I
ii . V- K ;: -
i.;. .v.'. : v -.,,v
COURT REFUSES
BIGHAM APPEAL
ATTORNEYS, DISAPPOINTED,
HAVE NOT DETERMINED
UPON FUTURE STEPS.
In an opinion handed d wn late
Thursday afternoon the Supreme
court refused a new trial for Edmund
D. Bigham, all the members of the
court concurring in the decision.
This means that the sentence cf the
lower court will stand. Bigham, however,
will be brought to Florence during
the^Iarch term of the criminal
court which begins on March 20 to b.
re-sentenced. Any action that may be
taken by his attorneys to cany the
case further will be taken at that
time.
In discussing the decision Mr. A.
I. King, attorney for Bigham, stated
Thursday:
"The decision comes as a great
surprise to the appellant's attorneys
for the reason that they submitted
the case in all good faith believing
that practically every question presented
was meretorious. The decision
is especially disappointing," he continued,
"for the reason ?that a vast
majority of the bar who had expressed
themselves, were of the opinion
that the case would be reversed."
No word of cnticism was voiced by
Mr. King in discussing tne cecision
of the Supreme court. It was plain,
however, that his disappointment
was bitter. The attorney feels that
he 1ms exhausted every element of
the case that has developed up to
this time in his appeal to the Supreme
court, and that he has made
a good, clean fight for Bigham. He
does not hesitate to say, however,
that he still has graVe doubts of Bigham's
guilt.
Mr. King stated that he had not
decided what steps to take to carry
the case further, if any. "This will
not be decided," he said, "until I
have a consultation with Judge Mendel
M. Smith, who is associated with
me in the case. Whatever is done,
however, will be done when Bigham
is brought here in March to be resentenced
to death and a date set for
his electrocution."
Mr. King suggested that there were
M." V Clttl ftVCUUCO IVf UIV * va
the case in the event that he and his
associate decided to avail themselves
of any of them. There was the possibility
of carrying the case to the
Supreme court on the ground that
there were noi women on the jury, as'
is being done in several cr.ses pending
now, this constitution providing
that juries shall be drawn from the
whole population, or that an appeal
for a new trial could be made on the
round of after discovered evidence.
Mr. King stated frankly that he (lid
not care to resort to mere technicalities,
and whatever step he took would
have a solid foundation in law. He
expects to have a consultation with
Judge Smith in near future.
The announcement of the decision
of the Supreme court created a great
deal of interest there Thursday. The
case is one of the most notorious that
has ever been tried in the Florence
courts and its progress has been followed
by thousands throughout the
State.
In it?? review of the Supreme court
decision the "State said Thursday:
"The Supreme court Thursday handed
down an opinion dismissing the
appeal of Edmund D. Bigham and affirming
the lower court verdict The
court dismissed all the objections
raised by defense counsel as to an un
fair trial and unjust cnargmg oy
Judge Memminger.
"Chief Justice Gary wrote the opinion
and Associate Justice Gothran
concurred. Justice Fraser wrote a
separate concurring opinion.
"Bigham was convicted of killing
his brother, L. Smiley Bigham, the
tragedy occurring near Pamplico on
January 15, 1921. He was charged
with the murder of Smiley Bigham,
his mother, Mrs. L. S. Bigharh; his
sister, Mrs. Margery Black, and Mrs.
Black's two adopted children, Leo and
John McCracken. He has never been
tried for the killing of any members
of the family except L. Smiley Bigham.
First Degree Verdict.
"Bigham was convicted of murder
in the first degree and sentenced to
die April 8, 1921. He appealed to the
Supreme court and Thursday this
court dismissed his appeal. Bigham
has been in the death house at the
penitentiary since a few days following
his conviction.
Bigbam will be carried to Florence
i '
STATE BIRTH RATE
SECOND IN COUNTRY
DEATH RATE LOWEST SINCE
RECORDS HAVE BEEN
KEPT.
When it comes to the baby crop
of 1921, the year of financial depression,
South Carolina is second to only
one state in the union, according
to the records in the bureau of vital
statistics. The one state that outpointed
South Carolina in he matter
of births in 1921 was North Carolina.
In 1921 the total number of
births in this state was 49,342, which
is at the rate of 29 babies per 1,000
population. This was next to the
highest rate in the registration area in
the United States, according to health
officials.
Not only was the birth rate high,
but the death rate was low?the lowest
South Carolina has maintained
since she was admitted to the registration
area. The total number of
deaths in the state in 1921 was 20,162,
which was at the rate of 11.9
people per 1,000 population. These
figures were t^ken from the records
of the bureau of vital statistics of
the state board of health.
South Carolina was admitted to the
registration area not very long ago.
The admission means that national
nfflmol': MMomiTP tVip stfltistiw
furnished as approximately accurate,
and recognition was awarded after an
investigation had shown that the figures
and records kept at the office
were accurate and reliable. The bureau
of vital statistics has registered
and indexed the 49,342 births, according
to the state health officer.
The supreme court of the United
States, on Monday decided the boundary
dispute between Georgia and
South Carolina, holding that where
there are no islands in the river the
line shall be midway between the
two states a normal flow stage and
that where there are islands the line
shall be midway between the islands
and the South Carolina shore. The
island in the Chattooga river were
awa > ded to Georgia.
county at the next term of general
sessions court for resentencing. .
"The crime was one of the most revolting
in the history of Florence
county and great interest has been
kept up in thfe case. The first theory
advanced was that Smiley Bigham had
killed the members of his family and
then committed suicide, but an investigation
resulted in the arrest of
Edmund Bigham and latter his conviction.
"After his conviction, Bigham went
before the Supreme court on a habeas
corpus proceeding, claiming that he
had never been tried, in that the
Florence court was unlawful due to
the fact that Judge Memminger continued
the court longer than the term
was supposed to have run. The supreme
court dismissed this plea and
Bigham then went before the court
in regular appeal at the fall term in
1921.
"In the opinion handed down by the
court it is clearly stated that all of
trie oDjecnons raisea are wiuiuui.
grounds for reversing the circuit
court. The refusal to grant a change
of venue was proper, the court says
and adds that Bigham received the
benefit in Florence of the prejudice
against Smiley Bigham, who had been
tried for a "revolting murder," but
acquitted.
Regarding Charging.
"Edmund Bigham claimed Smiley
Bigham had killed the members of the
family and then committed suicide,
and one objection raised was that
Judge Memminger charged improperly
on this point as to suicide
"A part of Judge Memminger's
charge, "as to the case," was objected
to, but the court says the charge was
absolutely just and was not prejudicial
to BighaVn.
"Probably the most important odjection
was that Judge Memminger <
did not charge the jury that Bigham '
was clothed with a presumption of in- 1
nocence, but the court says Judge ?'
Memminger did make this clear in i
part of his charge. 2
"As to the language used > by the :
judge to Attorney King the court $ays 1
Mr. King did not speak court language <
and that Judge Memminger was cor- 1
rect in stopping Mr. King when he 1
did stop him, adding that a judge may <
lose control of his court within half i
a minute if he does not take imme- J
diate charge of any situation arising." 1
FORD EAGER 10 AIT
AT MUSCLE SHOALS
PROMISES CHEAP FERTILIZER
TO FARMERS IF CONGRESS
WILL AUTHORIZE LEASE. 1
Detroit,. Jim. 27.?Henry Ford is
near the goal of pricps he set out to
attain several years ago when he announced
he would sell "a car, a tractor
and a truck fcr $1,000." The
price for the three now is $1,173.
Today he cut the price of the tractor
37 per cent?$230. On the yearly
production of 500,000 tractors this
means a cut of $115,000,000 in revenue
from tractor sales.
? i 11 ?... 1.VA ?
"1 nave Deen a iarmer an my in-c,
Mr, Ford said, "and am vitally interested
in solving the farmer's problems,
especially that ve:-y acute problem
.of reducing cc3ts of farm production.
Although during the last
eighteen monchs farmers l:ave bettered
their financial conditions, production
costs are still tco close to
selling prices to allow fair margins
of profit
"We are doing our part in bringing
the cost of power machinery
within the farmer's reach. Another
way is through fertilization of the
soil, building up the yield of crops
per acre. If Congress will lease Muscle
Shoals to us we'll show the American
farmer what we can do to bring
a very cheap and effective fertilizer
within his reach."
"But," it was pointed out to Mr.
Ford, "it is charged in Washington
that you cannot make fertilizer at
Muscle Shoals at a price cheaper than
the present market price."
"If that were so, why is the fertilizer
trust so strenuously opposing
our getting the property?" Mr. Ford
asked in return. "I can tell you right
now that if we get Mu9ele Shoals the
thing we will do is to start making
cheap fertilizer. The most impressive
fact that entered my mind after my
recent trip down here was that those
great plants are all ready to be set
in motion.
"A crew of men could get everything
in place and adjusted in a very
few days. Then well take the steam
power plant there on the property,
start it up, and have the big plants
going within a week of the time we
get the lease. Fd lfide to go down
that way again pretty soon, nut wnen
I do I want to start those plants running.
Spring is coming on now and
its time to get to work."
WOMAN BURNS TO DEATH
Attempting to Thaw Out Frozen
Water Pipes.
Her clothing becoming ignited
while attempting to thaw frozen water
pipes under her house with a
burning kerosine soaked sack, Mrs.
R. E. Tollison, aged' 31, was burned
to death at Greenwood Friday of last
week before assistance could reach
her. Mrs. Tollison was the wife of
R. E. Tollison, bookkeeper for the
Greenwood Grocery Company. Mrs.
Tollison was alone at her home when
the tragedy occurred. She had driven
home In her car and was still
muffled ih her wraps when her clothing
caught afire. Before the flames
were extinguished almost every thread
of clothing had burned off and her
features had been charred until they
were unrecognizable. In response to
her screams for help, a next door
neighbor went to the burning woman's
assistance. By the time lie reached
her she was unconscious and her
-* ??1 ? Ada.
Doras provea i&uu. ** mm imcu
gallon kerosine can and a handful
of matches were found on a box in
the yard near her body.
Mrs. Tollison's hucband was not
at home at the time and fire trucks
passed him on the way to his house.
He did not know of the accident until
he saw the body of his wife covered
with a quilt in a room at his
home, where she had been carried,
o
South Carolina is paying its 1921
debt at the rate of a half million a
week. State Treasurer Carter states
that so far he has been able to meet
all the notes due this month. The
state borrowed last year $4,000,000
for running expenses and $1,000,000
for some past-due debts. The $4,000,000
is coming due now at the rate
of $500,000 a week, running from
the second week in January until the
Bret week in March. The $1,000,000
of renewed notes is due May 9. State <
tax money is slow this year, but so
far, says Mr. Caiter, the big notes
lave been met
hjT- *' ?>?'; i 'J*2 \ '?|T * . ,*3T
' : ? *? ' ' . /.: ...
SERVICE HEN SEEK
ACTION ON BERGDOLL
MOVEMENT IN CONGRESS TO
UNEARTH COMMITTEE
REPORTS.
A Washington dispatch to the
Charleston Sunday News says: Some
six months ago there were laid be- >
fore the House of Representatives the
majority and minority reports of the
special committee of five members
which was appointed to investigate
the circumstances of the escape of
the country's best-known slacker, f
Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, of Philadelphia,
who sought and obtained
refuge in Germany?the enemy's conntry
at the time he fled.
Now that we have made a treaty
of peace with Germany and have
resumed diplomatic, relations, many
members of the House, and partku- ' V
larly those with service records, desire
to seek the extradition of Berg*
doll without any further loss of time. .
They want to put it op to Germany
to return this breaker of his conn- 'i
try's laws. In order to ventilate the
matter they will seek to pull the reports
of the special investigation \
committee out of the pigeonholes in which
they have been reposing for .
half a year or so.
Therp will be some hot debate over j > J
the disposal of these reports?though :. y
it would probably have been hotter *
if Representative Henry D. Flood, of
Virginia, had not died. Mr. Flood .
submitted a scathing majority report,
signed by himself and Representar
tives Johnson, of Kentucky, and 4
Luhring, of Indiana, recommending ' |
the punishment of certain army officers
responsible for the safe-keeping
of Bergdoll and in calling for the
disbarment from federal practice ef s
former Gen. Samuel %T. Ansell, who A
was one of the counsel for BergdoB y W
and had given personal assurances
to the War Department that it waa
all right to let the slacker go with .
two guards in search of a "pot of *
gold" which Bergdoll claimed to have,
hidden somewhere in Maryland.
Bergdoll induced the twp guards to
accompany him to his mother's home K &
in Philadelphia on the vay, and. during
that visit he made his celebrated
escape.
For some time during the war
period Ansell had been Acting JudgoAdvocate-General
of the army.* He g
had a bitter controversy with See- ^
retary of War Baker and Judgb-Ad- /:
v ocate-General Crowder over the administration
of army justice and * \i.tj
signed to enter the private practice ' J
of law, becoming counsel soon afterwards
for the special committee which
the Republicans of the House ap- .j
pointed to investigate the conduct ef |
the war by the Wilson Administration.
The minority report cf the special j
Bergdoll committee was signed by *
its chairman, John A. Peters,, of
? - - . T* LI*
Maine, and by one otner Xvcpuuucan
member, Representative ^McArthur,, . *
of Oregon. This report wac very \ ,j
much milder than the Flood-Johnson- ).
Luhring report, and that was why .
Representative Luhring, an Indiana ?j
Republican, parted company with his
two Republican colleagues and weat
over to the two Democrats, thus
making the latter's repcrt the majority
finding of the committee.
But for the act"- <r-in J
turning his back upon the Peters- ' I
McArthur report as inadequate to
the situation, the report of the special
committee on the Bergdoll case
would have assumed ?. straight
partisan aspect, with the three Republicans
signing what is now the
minority report and the two Deare- ?
crat signing what is now the ma- "
jority report But the course of this
Indiana Republican member broke up j
the prospect for a straight party
fight and embarrassed some of the 4
? a
Republican leadens not a little, iney
did not mind letting the Babject slum- %
ber in the desk of the Clerk of tie ? ;
House just as long asjt could.
In the meanwhile, ^ Bergdoll has
plenty of time to move with hiK/wpot
o: gold" into Russia if lie fears that
Germany might deliver him over to
the country from whose justice he ,
is a fugitive. '
o , ' -a
At midnight last Thursday the Senate
Daased the inheritance tax bill -J
by a viva voce vote. A fight, led
by Senator Baker, of Florence, on the
measure collapsed and the bill was
ordered returned to the House with
amendments. This is the first of the v
remedial tax measures to pass the
Senate. .. *
J