Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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eONEFRENGE WTBM? "Continned from page 2. . Extracts from speech of Dr. Wa! B- Hill, Chancellor of the Uni ver: of Georgia: ? Recently I heard a group of Con! ?rate* veterans recounting stories their- can?paigns. One of them, Virginian, told of a faithful body s t vant who accompanied him to field. The negro was captured Federal scouts, and was given the p* tion of cook for the Federal Color 4 with salary attached. He ran at from this cosy berth and returned his Confederate master, bring: with him, by the way, for bis ow: a sack of supplies and a box of Colonel's fine Havana cigars, on ** plea that since he had been workng the Colonel and his owner had cevied no wages something was d The answer to this question, acco ing, at least, to our local interpre tion, is that the negro is in the Soi c by^ bis own choice, Because he is tre ed better here than elsewhere, and cause his most important right-1 right to make a living is more co i pletely secured. If it was not so, seems to us there would be northern western educational conferences d eussing at Philadelphia or Chic ago t problem of negro education in 1 North or West. In this city an allusion to a v story will not be out of order. The speaker related a story told a Colonel of a Virginia regime: The old veteran said if he lived to ? to New Orleans next month he v going to propose a monument, whi - was to be of black marble, and to erected in honor of the Confedera nigger. In justification of his pi posed motion, the Colonel told of 1 faithful slave, who had gone with h 38to the war as a body servant. T negro was captured by the Federa Igwas treated by them with patronizi kindness, being made cook of t Federal Colonel, with high wages ; j* teched ; but he ran away and retujn to his master. Afterwards, when t BSatter waS wounded in. battle, the r r" gro had risked his life to carry h: off the?eld. This story was introduc in order to say .that the duty of t South in respect to the education the negro, whatever that duty m be defined to be, is the duty of t ? South to the children and grandch dren of the Confederate nigger. EDUCATED BY SLAVERY. The beginning of the education the negro was slavery. The Sou does not regret its aboli ti ion, but si contemplates with satisfaction .tl fact that the tuition of slavery d veioped the negro in little more thi a century from the Condition of sa vag into a condition where, in the jud ment of thess hostile to slavery, tl nergo was fitted for the privileges American ctisznsbip. The second chapter in the histo: of nergo education began shortly a ter emancipation, and includes i blunders of the reconstruction peria It represents all the extremes of educ; tion. As the teaching of books hs been denied to the negro in slavery - was now assumed that the only educ? .tion needed was to supply this omissioi and acoordngly an effort was made i sckools and colleges to insert into tt mind of the nergo as by a surgicj operaton culture for whch the Angl< Saxon are irad been preparing throng long centuries of growth. .SOUTHS' PROBLEM. The nation has, in fact, remande the solution of the negro problem, ii clading, of course, the problem < education, to the South. In the da] when the southern ?section of ot eouctry was threatened with force bil and similar legislation, there were u 1 terances in the South which might b gathered up from press, pulpit an platform of. that time literally by tb millions, in which it was said that i the North would only let the Sont alone, the South would solve th problem in widsom and in justice These utterances were sincere, an their fulfillment involves not only plain duty, but involves also the stron point of the South, v the point c honor. The change in the attitude c the North cannot fairly be regarde as a desertion? of the negro, but, a Mr. Cleveland aptly said it is an ex pression of faith and confidence in th respectable white people of the South ALREADY DONE MUCH. The South has voluntarily done muc for the educatioon of the negro, am will take no backward step in thi t? direction. The United States Com missioner of Education says that sine 1870 the South has disbursed for negri education $109,000,000. For every dol lar contributed by the wealth-endowei philanthropy of the North for thi purpose, the South, out of her poverty has contributed $4. It cannot be pre tended that all the people in the Soat-J j are throughly satisfied with thes< things that have been done. It mus frankly be adimtted that some of then are restive under it, but it can at les be answered that the leaders are thi friends of negro education. Durim the past winter the Ne^ York Jonrna inaugurated a symposium, in whicl Southern men were invited to expr?s; * their views on this sabject. Amoni the contributors were Bishop Warrei A. Candler the Methodist Church Bishop C. K Nelson, of the Episcopa Church ; Hon. Clark Howell anc others. Ali of them expressed theil gratification at what had been at? tempted in the Soutn. Not one ol them* felt that nergo, education hac been proved to be a failure. The policy of separate csbools will, of course, be maintained. Negro education must be suited tc meet actual conditions. It must bs adapted to meet industrial and agri? cultural needs This does not mean that the three R's are not to be taught in the schools. The common school education is not, therefore, to be sup? planted, but to be supplements for the great masses of negroes with manual and agricultural training. SHOULD BE ETHICAL. There is another direction in which the education of the negro should be brought more in touch with life. It should be more distinctly ethical. The speaker discussed the question of the -introduction of moral training in the pubilic schools and gave reasons why he believed that the objections w?ich would have been formerly urged against its introduction were now rapidly y diminishing in intensity. The three periods of the history of negro education may be expressed in terms of the title of the bcok, w had so great an influence on the sla issue. Unelo Tom's Cabin may no read by future generations, but it always be referred to as a great tori al document. In the second period we see U Tom without a cabin. This pe represents the era of reconstruct when alien adventurers, ri( into power on the shoulders the black masses, played s fantastic tricks in the n of government as the world never witnessed since the days Masaniello. The third era is that which is b< ushered in under the wise leaden of Booker Washington, when ihe gro is becoming a home maker, bo to the soil and a good citizen. Tl is no race problem as between the g citizens of the Sou til among the wh and the good citizens of the So among the-blacks. The solution t of the negro problem, so far as we see it within that immediate fut? which may be fdrecast from the ] and present and beyond the limit which it is idle for us to attemp forecast, but about which we justified in thinking with optim and hope, is Uncle Tom in his c cabin. HOSPITALITY APPRECIATE! Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, edi of the Century, chairman of Committee on Resolutions, presen the following resolutions : "We, the. members of the sixth c ference for Education in the Sou coming from various sections i many States desire to express our k appreciation of the generous i gracious hospitalty of the people, eluding especially the officers ? members of the local committee, Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, - ? other members of the, State gove ment, of the organization which joii in the invitation the press of Ri mond, and the associations, clubs i individuals who have so kindly opei their doors to the delegates and gues "We have derived pleasure and spiration not only from th? int change of information and opinion the immediate subjects of the conf ence, but also from the spirit of 1 good will of enterprise and of patri ism which characteries this city of great memories and heroic traditions DRS. MABIE AND ABBOTT. Mr. Ogden stated that he recen his first request just before the sessi began, and that he would be a cazr the worst kind if he did not grant It was from a number of ladies ti Mr. Hamilton Wright Mabie be ask to make a speech. Mr. Ogden cal] in Mabie to the front. This gentlem made a characteristic speech of gr( beauty and bristling with clio: thoughts, delivered in a beautii spirit of charity. Dr. Lyman Abbott, probably t most widely known man in the conf< enc?, and one of the ablest men America. As Editor of the Outlook wields a wonderful influence. T task assigned him was to give "E Impressions of this Conference. " Dr. Abbott is a striking figui When he came forward, prolonged a plause greeted him. ? His first impression was the wonde ful hospitality of Richmond. Frc the moment the visitors reached t! city until the present, they had bei recipients of a hospitality which had \ bounds. It was well, he said, that tl president warned them not to give w? to the delights of being entertained the neglect of the conference. He had been struck .with the el quence of Americans. He had be< convinced of this during the prese: conference. He referred to the addres es of Dr. Chas. W. Dabney, Dr. S Clair McKelway, Dr. Francis G. Pe body, Prof. P. P. Claxton and other He said that Dr. McKelway's tribu to Jackson and Lee brought tears his eyes. They of the? North we proud to have him represent thee The mention of Dr. McKelway's nan was received with great applause. F. had greatly enjoyed the address < Prof. Peabody and when he was tel ing a story he wanted him to keep c preaching. Dr. Abbott saw in this conferenc the solution and settlement of tl great question which was discussed i I the conference two years ago at Wini ton-Salem, N. C. "Should the Negi be Educated?" Now it was answere by all in the affirmative. THE SUFFRAGE QUESTION. On the suffrage question, Dr. Abbol said : "It has been sometimes suggestec by no member of this conference t me, that some topics of discussio had better be avoided in such a gathei ing as this. But I have thought tba no gathering in this country, Nort or South, desires a speaker to spea anything but his sincere convictions We are beginning to learn, Nort and.South, that suffrage isaperrogativ and a duty, rather than a right. W are beginning to learn North as wei as South, that manhood suffrage mean manhood first and suffrage afterwards We . are beginning to "learn in th' North, what it seems to me ought t< have been an maxim, that no man ha: a right to govern Iiis neighbor win has not the intellgence and the con science to govern himself. (Applause. "I have spoken as if this was a lat? learning on the part of the North. I is, and it is not. If there was any mar in the North who had the right to b< called a friend of the negro, if then was any man in the North known a.* an uncompromising opponent ol slavery, if there was any man in tb* North who stirred the heart of thc North before the war and was brave and resolute throughout the war, ii was Henry Ward Beecher. WHAT BEECHER SAID. "In 1865, two montos after the as? sassination of President Lincoln and four months before the reconstruction measures were brought before Congress (which some of us in the North as many you in the South wish had never been adopted), Henry Ward Beeeiier said: 'All the law in the world canuot lift a man higher than the natural forces put him. You can pass laws saying that the colored men are your equals, but unless you can make them thoughtful self-respect? ing, intelligent, unless, in short, you can make them what you say they have right to be, these laws will be in vain. I am satisfieud that while we ought to claim for the colored man the right of the elective franchise, you will never be able to secure it and maintain it for him except by mak? ing him so intelligent that men cannot denv it to him, (Applause) "I wish that all of the North had '. agreed with Henry Ward Beecher and I Abraham Lincoln that those proposi : tions were trne, and I should like to ! print them, and put them in every j colored school-house in the South with I the name of Henry Ward Beecher at I their foot." ; ADDRESS LOUDLY APPLAUDED. The thought which Dr. Abbott sought in conclusion to drive home was the identity in result sought by education and religion. He could be heard distinctly in every part of the house, and the house rang and re j sounded with applause of approval I when he had concluded. THE USSR PROBLEMS. Peru, 111,, May 2.-Bishop Spald? ing, who was a member of the an? thracite miners' strike commission, in a lecture on labor problems at the coliseum last night spoke in part as follows : "Laws are not made for the great corporations. What a gain for the entire world if all dehumanized men should get oui. We have means enough, we can do without capitalists who come among ns and live on the blood of human beings. The cause of labor, if rightly understood, is the cause of humanity. What labor de? sires first of all is not charity, but justice. We Americans are using up too rapidly the resources of nature and we are using up too rapidly hu? man lives. One of the greatest fallacies of the age is that money is equivalent to human lives. "The spirit of commercialism is sinking deeper and deeper into cs. Whatever a man sets his heart on must increase or it ceases to satisfy him. What we need in America is a realization of spiritual ideas and the realization that the best things in life are not procured by money. Wages are never the full equivalent for Jiu man work. There is quality ;n al? men which goes far beyond the ques? tion of wages. One of the great curses of the modern world is the vast con? glomeration of people in huge cities. The idea of civilization is a country of cities from 20,000 to 50,000 inhabi? tants. If it were not for great cities we could do away with the evils brought upon us by corrupt poli? ticians. There is nothing which can give us relief from those conditions with the exception of trades union? isms. Tlie history of trades unionism is largely the history of beneficence. The strike is the open weapon of or? ganized labor, but it is as dangerous to labor as it is to capital." KILLED BY LIGHTNING. Florence, May 4.-This afternoon about half-past 4 o'clock Mr. S. E. Branson, who farms a few miles from the city, was struck by lightning, which will very probably provo fatal. A heavy hail storm was raging and Mr. Branson went in the back porch of his house and was surveying the damage of the hail when the bolt struck him. IndicatioBS on his body show that the bolt entered his breast and came out at his heel. He has been unconscious since the stroke, and at this time it is not known whether he will recover or not.' Several physicians went to the scene, but have not returned yet. There is no telephone "connection and at this writing his immediate condi? tion is not known. Later.-At 8 o'clock tonight the condition of Mr. Branson was dis? couraging and there is little hop? of his recovery It is feared that the damage don^ by the heavy hailstorm will amount to thousands of dollars. A few miles noftii of the city for more than half an hour it hailed stones as large as walnuts, doing much damage to all growing crops. So terrific was the hail that in several houses the win? dows were smashed to pieces. The hail east of the city was also very heavy while in the city it was small and lasted only a short while. Large Scale Farming. Reidsville, N. C., April 24.-Mr. J. P. Turner, who formerly lived in Reidsville, where he represnted the Virginia Life Insurance Company, is now engaged in farming on an immense scale in South Carolina. Mr. Turner bas interested several capitalists of the Palmetto State in his enterprise, and fifteen hundred acres of fine land is now being cultivated in tobacco near Orangebarg. It is the most gigantic enterprise of the kind known of, and is along the line said to have been outlined by the American Tobacco Company some time ago. Mr. Turner, realizing the peculiar advantages of the soil around Orangebnrg for the cultivation of tobacco, employed a hundred or more farmers to make ^to? bacco on.their lands for him an?/his concern under their direction, pay? ing them so much for their teams, their lands and their services. He then employed fifteen expert tobacco raisers from the famous tobacco belt of Vir? ginia and North Carolina to superin? tend tho work. Mr. W. J. Courts, who was in Reids? ville this week, is employed as one of the superintendents, and says that fuUy one hundred and fifty acres will be planted this season, a great deal of it having already been set. He says that the superintendents of these farms are furnished with about a hundred acres to watch over, and the necessary horses and buggies which they use are owned by Mr. Turner's company. These, ho says, are re? quired to travel approximately twenty miles eacli day to see that the land is properly cultivated and that the tenants and hands are carrying out the work according to instruction. Mr. Turner, has local capitalists interested with him, and last year bought up great quantities of tobacco on the hill for*.-* per hundred, and realized about 830 for it on an average.-Richmond Times-Dispatch. Washington, May 4.-The interstate commerce commission today received the answer of the Vicksburg, Shreve? port and Pacific railroad io a com? plaint of the Central Yellow Pim- as? sociation, involving rates on pine lumber The road denies that it gives to manufacturers of yellow pine lum? ber having mills and plants located along its lines running tnrough or into the yellow pine region west of the Mississippi river any undue advantage over the complainants in rival mar? kets. I TB?Oi? END OF EXCURSION. I Railroad Horror at Detroit Street j Crossing-Fifteen Poles Killed and Thirty Badly Wounded. i - Detroit, Mich., May 3.-The Grand ! Trunk Pan-American Flyer from Cbi \ cago ran into a crowd of people at the corner of Dequinder and Canfield I streets at 8.40 o'clock this evening, killing 10 to 15 men and seriously in? juring about 30 more. The majority of the killed and wounded are from Toledo. Fifteen hundred Pclanders from Toledo came np to Detroit this afternoon on a special Lake Shore train to celebrate a holiday. They left the train at the corner of Dequinder and Canfield streets and went over to St. Joseph's church where they spent the day with that congregation. The Lake Shore tracks run out De I quinder street and a special train was to stop for the Toledo excursionists at Canfield avenue at 8.30. Accom? panied by hundreds of their local friends, waiting for the train the ex? cursionists jammed Canfield avenue some time before the train was due, in readiness for it. When the train was sighted the crowd pushed across the track and on to the Grand Trunk tracks which adjoin those of the Lake Shore, as the Grand Trunk Pan-American Flyer came thundering in from the west. The people were thrown into the air and dashed to either side of the track. Many of them were ground under the wheels. The police depart? ment was notified and allthe ambulances in the city rushed to the scene. The victims were scattered along the track I for a distance of two blocks. SIMON ON THE BOND SCRIP. Declares That it is Valueless as Legal Tender. Special to The State. Charleston, May 2.-The validity of the Blue Ridge Railroad Bond scrip figured again today in a decision handed down by Judge Simonton in the United States circuit court- in a suit which had been brought for the recovery of a tract of land in Fairfield county'sold for taxes, the part pay? ment of which had been in bond scrip and refused by the county treasurer. The title of the case is H. S. Robin? son against T. B. Lee, Jr. The court ruled that revenue bend scrip for taxes was not sufficient, the scrip being invalid, first because it was in contravention of section 14, article 9 of the constitution of 1S68, prescribing the mode in which debts shall be contracted by the State; second, because the guaranty of the bonds of the Blue Ridge Railroad company, under the act of 1868, was in contravention of article 9, section 14, of the constitution of 1868, and so the revenue bond scrip was issued for the redemption of what was erroneous? ly supposed to be an obligation of the State ; third, the issue of the revenue bond scrip is invalid because this scrip in law and in fact are bills of credit and so in conflicit with section 10, article 1, of the constitution of the United States; fourth, the plaintiff is the rightful owner in fee simple of the tract of land described in the bill of complaint, and so is entitled to im? mediate possession thereof ; fifth, the owner is entitled to the mesne profits by way of damages, at the rate of 8400 per annum from the day of June to the date of entry of this judgment. Value of a Trade. Bill Arp says that the closest obser? vers are the world's benefactors. He says, I believe in school where the boys can learn trades. Peter the Great left his throne and went to learn how to build a ship, and he learned from stem to stern, from hull to mast, and that was the beginning of his great? ness. How many college boys are there in the United States who can tell what kind of native timber will bear the heaviest burdens, or why you take white oak for one part of the wagon and ash for another, or what timber will last longer under water, or what out of water? How many know standstone from limestone, or iron from manganese? How many know how to cut a mitre or a brace without a pattern? How many know which runs the fastest, the top of the wheel or the bottom, as the wagon moves along the ground ? How many know how steel is made, and how a snake can climb a tree? How many know that a horse gets up before and the cow behind, and that the cow eats grass from her and the horse to him? How many know that a surveyor's mark on a tree never gets any higher from the ground, or what tree bears fruit without bloom? There is a power of comfort in knowledge, but a boy is not going to get it unless he wants it bad, and that is the trouble with most college boys-they don't want it. They are too busy, and haven't got time. There is more hope of a dull bey who wants knowledge tham of a genius, for genius generally knows it all without study. - - i i ??? Drink water and yon get typhoid. Drink milk and you get tuberculosis. Drink whiskey and you get jimjams. Eat white flour and get appendicitis. Eat soup and get bright's disease. Eat beef and encourage apoplexy. Eat oysters and acquire toxemia. Eat vegetables and weaken the system. Eat desserts and take on paresis. Smoke cigarettes and die early. Drink coffee and tea and obtain nervous prostration. Drink beer and have dyspepsia. Drink wine and get the gout, in order to be perfectly healthy one must eat nothing, drink nothing, smoke noth? ing and even before breathing one should see that the air is properly sterilized.-Exchange. Sal?nica, European Turkey, May 2. -Thc number of Bulagrians killed during the recent dnynamite riots is now estimated at ?00. A complete bomb manufacturing plant has been discovered in a shoemakers' shop, communicating by an underground passage with the Ottoman bank. Mr. C E. Salinas, who has been in the cotton business in Savannah dur? ing the past season, is now in Dar? lington with his mother and sisters to spend about a month, after which time he will go to his plantation' near Mayesville.- Darliington News. BOOT SUPPRESSES THE TOOTH. Gn!y a Garbled Portion of Gen. Miles' Report f?ade Public Subordinates Inspired io At? tack ?8?iies. ^ Washington, May 2.-In spite cf the fact that the report of General Nelson A. Miles was made public daring the earlier part of the week the comment on its disclosures seems to have grown in direct proportion to the number of days which have intervened since the War Department saw fit to s How its publication. Your correspondent call? ed at the Department to see the origi? nal document, but was refused per? mission, with the assertion that the country was already familiar with all its details through its dissemina? tion in the press. He found however, that after weeks of suppression, the War Departmnt has given out only parts of tie report When it is recall? ed that General Miles was ordered by Secretary Koot and President Roose? velt to proceed to the Philippines and report in writing on conditions as he found them, the present action of Root is indefensible, and, according to the tenets of honesty held by a number of prominent men who have been questioned in the subject, con? temptible. What e?se can be thought of a Secretary who orders the highest Army officer to perform inspection duty, and then suppresses the report as "confidential?" After that, unable to further ignore the requests for publication which came from sources he dared not refuse, he gives out a garbled version, * prefaced by the statement that Miles' judgments were worthless, practically giving the lie direct to an eye-witness of conditions which grew out of a regime equalled only by the* cruelties in Cuba which the Spanish War was waged to redress. Added to this he has instructed sub? ordinate omcers to attack the veracity of the ranking general, and General Chaffee, who could not be called on by the Secretary to add his word to the array of depositions issued contempor? aneously with the Miles report in re? futation thereof, sees fit in an inter? view to declare the findings of his superior officer as of "no importance. " Naturally he was prodded by the "power behind the throne," but these attempts to discredit General Miles in order to bolster a malodorous regime, renders the administrations open to the serious charge of fostering a spirit of anarchy in the American army, at the same time that the Republican party is posing as the defender of the military sevice of the country against attacks upon its discipline and integ? rity. .Another thing not pointed out by the daily press, but which has come under the observation of your corres? pondent is this: The replies of the bureau chiefs, of Ordinance, Engi? neers, Commissary, etc., inspired by Root, are actually embodied in Miles' report and given out as a part of it by the Department, with this .significant exception ; General Hughes, in whose department occurred the worst atroci? ties as proved by courts-martial, was called upon to reply to that portion of the report which bore upon his ac? tions. It is notable that Hughes' con? tribution is withheld, the excuse vouchsafed to your correspondent be? ing that it was "not gentlemanly". Here we have the spectacle of the com ! mander of the army, so bitterly assail? ed, according to instructions, by a subordinate who is confessedly not an j "officer and a gentleman" that his words are unfit to print. To those who willing tc see the force of these facts it is patent that Mr. Root is "hoist with Iiis own petard." In spite of attempts to goss things over the Postoffice and other scandals "will not down." Machen is still being shielded and all inquiries at the Postoffice Department are met with the assertion that nothing further will be done until the President is made acquainted with the findings of the investigation as far as it has gone. On asking how the President was to be informed your correspondent learn? ed that Secretary of War Root will be mixed in this matter as he seems to have been in other unsavory affairs which reflect but little credit upon his incumbency. He was in close consulta? tion with Postmaster General Payne last Wednesday and left directly for St. Louis where it is expected that the Postoffice affair will be the chief topic of conference between Mr. Roose? velt and his right-hand man. It can be understood that a conference would have as a prime object the hushing of Republican mismanagement at the capital, at least during the time that Mr. Roosevelt is calling the West's attention to himself and his party. They realize that there is some virtue in consistency, at least. Fpur executive departments and two national governments are worried over the dispositions of some 86,000 taken from Charles F. Neeley, when he was arrested in connection with the alleged postal irregularities in Cuba. The amount ??,234. IS to be exact, now rests in the safe of Postmaster Gen? eral Payne. How it got there is a long story, but it can be briefly stated for your readers in this way. Neeley was arrested by the Chief, of Police of Rochester, N. Y., and held there awaiting the arrival of postoffice in? spectors who were to take Neeley to the scene of his trial. Neeley holds the receipt of the Rochester Chief for the money taken from him at thc time of the arrest The'postoffice inspector receipted to the Rochester man, and General Wood receipted to the inspector when the money was taken to Cuba to be used as evidence. It then went to Secretary Root on a receipt, and he in turn accepted one from Postmaster General Payne. Neeley was released from custody under President Palma's anniest act, and was not convicted by the Cuban courts of the theft of this money. He called on the Chief of Police for the money and was referred, through the successive steps of the chain to the War Department, and now that the Postoffice Department has the custody of the sum it is assumed that the next demand will be made upon that Department. The flaw in the chain seems to rome in the action of General Wood is not turning the sum over to the Cuban Treasury as apart of fae loot-- recovered from the postal frauds, but it will be remembered that at that time there were traceable to army headquarters in Cuba other irregularities, whose spectres are still stalking, and which will receive re? newed attention through these develop? ments. The State Department also is entangled because the Curban govern? ment has just claimed the whole sam through its legation at Washington, and this involves Secretary Hay. Some time ago the Department of Justice was asked for an opinion as to the final disposition of the 86,000, and Attorney General Knox advised that nothing further be done until suit was brought to recover the money. Neeley declares his intention of suing, and Mr. Payne will try to persuade Mr. Hay to per? suade Senor Quesada to persuade his government to bring snit likewise, and there the matter lies, another tribute to the ineffectiveness of the adminis? tration. mm i ou Manchurian Negotations Take Fav? orable Turn. RUSSIA MERELY ME INQUIRIES. The Views Expressed in the American and Chinese Capitals. Washington, May 4.-The Chinese minister called upon Secretary Hay today at the state department and dis? cussed the Manchurian situation with him. There is good reason to believe that tlie negotiations have taken a more favorable turn and that the Rus? sian coup which was expected has been either abandoned or indefinitely post? poned. It is nnderstcod that this involves no retreat on the part of the Russian government from any position ofScially taken. Certain inquiries were addressed by Mr. Plancon, the Russian charge at Pekin, to the Chinese government respecting the Ch mese purpose as to Manchuria. The Russians hold that these were errone? ously taken to be a set of demands. As a matter of fact they were nothing but inquiries and, the Chinese answers be? ing taken as satisfactory, the Russian Government has decided to carry out its original programme for the evacua? tion of Manchuria. FROM THE OTHER SIDE. Pekin, May 4.-Minister Conger, Mr. Townley, the British charge de'affaires, and M. Uchida, the Japanese minister, have had several interviews recently with Grand Secre? tary Ching on the subject of the Rus? sian Manchurian negotiations. Prince Ching at first was reserved, but he subsequently discussed the question with greater freedom. The document embodying the Russian demands is lengthy and certain portions of it are vague though its eh'ect does not differ from the synopsis as cabled The Russian ambassadors' assurances to Foreign Secretary Lansdowne that the negotations concerned Manchuria alone are confuted by the text which stipulates that the administration of Mongolia is to remain^unchanged and vaguely that Russian interests are paramount in north China and that only Russians should be employed there. The clause particularly distasteful to the representatives cf the interested powers is the prohibition against grant? ing concessions or leases of land in the valley of the Lian river to other powers, which, it is asserted, Russia would take extreme measures to pre? vent. DESTRUCTIVE BML SM. Ground Covered With Hail and Windows Smashed in Churches and Dwellings. Beaufort, May 4.-This afternoon at five minutes past 3 o'clock a hail storm of unusual severity passed over our town, lasting for fifteen minu? tes. Hailstones completely covered the ground and smashed glasses in dwellings. The hailstones were of various sizes, from that of pigeon eggs to that of ben's eggs. Vegetables are stripped and battered down. Window glasses in the church windows have been terribly smashed. Outside of Beaufort and higher up the road the hail storm does not appear to have done much damage. During the storm the thermometer, which had indicated 72 degrees, fell 10 de? grees. At Port Royal and at the naval station the hail stones were larger and the storm more severe. T. G. W. HAIL ?X EDGEFIELD COUNTY. Edgefield, May 4.-Today between J and 2 o'clock a heavy hail storm pass? ed over a section fenr miles from Edgsfield, on the road to Johnston, ex? tending to within two miles of that town. The depth of the iee Sakes was as much as twelve inches in some drifts. This is the statement of sev real drummers who Lave just come to our town from Jonhston. Tee damage to vegetation, however, cannot be much, as very- little cotton or corn is up, and vegetables can stand it bet? ter. McG S. RAIL STORM AT OAKLEY. Oakley Depot, Berke ?ey County, May 4.-This afternoon a heavy thun? der storm, with a furious squall from the west-northwest, passed over the Cooper River section. In about an hour tuere was a fall of 1.35 inches of rain, with the heaviest fall of hail seen in years. Tomatoes, snap bear.s, squashes, cucumbers and other garden truck, which were quite fine looking and flourishing, this morning, present a very beaten down and sorrowful ap? pearance, but it is to be hoped are not past recovery. . HAIL STORM IN CHERAW. Cheraw, May 4.-At 7 o'clock this evening a severe hail storm began, lasting for fifteen minutes. The 'hail stones measured three-quarters of ar. inch. The storm will probably neces? sitate replanting gardens and crops. The hail was followed by a severe rain? fall. J. H. G. HAIL IN DARLINGTON. Darlington, May 4. -A storm of wind, rain and hail passed over this afternoon with thunder and lightning. Vicksburg, Miss., May 2.-Wm. Long, a prominent planter living at Adams Landing, on the Mississippi River, six miles west of Redwood, at tactedto a burning house on his plant? ation last night, was set upon .by ne? groes and killed. Posses are scouring the country for three negroes suspected of the murder A wholesale lynching is probable if they are caught.