Newspaper Page Text
THE MINES ABLAZE
AND TWENTY CONVICTS STIFLED
BY SMOKE.
Two of Them are Dead—Twenty
three Mules Also Perish.
A Birmingham, Ala., special says:
Shortly after 2 o’clock Sunday morn¬
ing the engine room in the rock slope
at Pratt mines was discovered on fire.
In the slope there were twenty con¬
victs and the first they knew of the
fire was the dense smoke that began
filling the vacant space. The men
huddled in a bunch and found fresh
air at the air shaft. It was decided to
stick together, and as the air became
more and more suffocating with the
hot smoke, they all began to give up
hope. and Louis Stevens de¬
John Patton
serted the crowd and attempted to
make their way to the cage leading
out of the mine. They were not seen
alive any more.
In the stable in the mines were
twenty-three fine mine mules. As soou
as they began smelling the dense
smoke they set up a loud bellowing.
Through the entire mines the noise of
the suffocating animals could be heard.
As soon as possible an alarm was
given on the outside. Willing hands
went to work and were fighting the
fire.
Three hours after the discovery was
made the fire was extinguished. The
fire was of incendiary origin, as no fire
is used in the engine, compressed
steam being the power, sent in from
the outside,
The fire, after destroying the little
room, caught to seven tram cars and
the oh that was about the place caused
the smoke to be thicker.
As soon as the fire fighters could get
beyond the engine room a horrible
sight met their eyes. One of the
men’s heads was battered almost to a
jelly, as he tried to kill himself before
suffo'cating. another
The mules had kicked one
almost to a pulp. gotten
The other eighteen men were several
out, and though none will die,
are in quite a bad condition, The
mules were worth $3,000.
The dead convicts were sent up for
grand larceny from south Alabama.
WAR CLOUDS VANISHING
And Sweet Peace May Yet Cover
Guatemala and Mexico.
A special dispatch from the city of
Mexico says: The severe illness of
Emilo DeLeon, Guatemalan minister
to Mexico, has delayed active negotia¬
tions on the international boundary
question which has now resolved itself
largely to routine business, auditing
work and diplomatic correspondence.
It has been generally accepted now for
over a week that there is not the
slighest prospect for war, unless things
should take an utterly unlooked for
turn.
General Louis Torres, governor of
Sonora, who has been conducting the
campaign against the rebellious Yaqui
Indians, has been summoned to report
in this capital. It is thought his com¬
ing has a bearing on the Mexican
forces now on the Guatemalan frontier,
but as the amount of indemnity to
Mexico is practically all of the ques¬
tion now at issue between the two gov¬
ernments, this is denied as a reason for
his coming.
OUR NEW MINISTER TO MEXICO.
Senator Ransom, of North Carolina,
Nominated and Confirmed.
The president Saturday sent to the
senate the nomination of Senator Matt
W. Ransom, of North Carolina, to be
envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary of the United States
to Mexico.
Immediately after the nomination of
Mr. Ransom was received, Mr. Black¬
burn moved an executive session, and
the nomination was forthwith taken up
and confirmed by the unaimous vote
of the senate.
Senator Ransom is admirably equip¬
ped for any diplomatic mission. He
has served in the senate for nearly four
consecutive terms, is a born diplomat,
speaks French and Spanish, and is
Latin thoroughly at home in the Greek and
classics. He is sixty-eight years
old, but is strong and active. He,
last fall, made a most vigorous cam¬
paign of his state, speaking nearly ev¬
ery day, and often traveling all night.
For twelve years he has been a mem¬
ber of the national democratic and the
national executive committees.
A DISASTROUS BLAZE.
Hamilton, N. Y., Suffers to the Tune
of $400,000.
The business portion of the village
of Hamilton, N. Y., has been almost
entirely destroyed by fire, Abont
thirty places of business were burned.
Phe fire started in the Woodruff
block. From there it spread, west,
taking the undertaking establishment
ot Ramlands & Beab, then crossed the
street, destroying Tripp’s opera house.
Fifteen stores were consumed on Utica
street. It is thought the loss will *g
gregate $400,000.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS DEAD.
He Was the Foremost Leader Among
Colored Meu.
A Washington special says: Fred¬
erick Douglass, the foremost leader of
the negro race in the world and one
of the most picturesque characters in
American history, died Wednesday
night at his home in the suburb of
Anacostia. His death was sudden and
unexpected, as he had been in appa¬
rent good health up to the day of his
death.
Frederick Douglass was born in
Tuckahoe, near Easton, Talbot county,
Maryland, February, 1817. His mother
was a negro slave and his father a
white man. He was a slave on the
plantation of Colonel Edward Loyd
until at the age of ten he was sent to
Baltimore to live with a relative of his
master.
He learned to read and write from
one of his master’s relatives, to whom
he was lent when about nine years of
age. His master later allowed him to
hire his own time for three dollars a
week, and he was employed in a ship
yard, and in accordance with a reso¬
lution long entertained, fled from Bal¬
timore and from slavery, September
3, 1838. He made his way to New
York, thence to New Bedford, Mass.,
where he married and lived for two or
three years, supporting himself by day
labor on the wharves and in various
workshops. While there he changed
his name from Loyd to Douglass.
He was aided in his efforts in self
education by William Loyd Garrison.
In the summer of 1841, he attended
an anti-slavery convention at Nan¬
tucket, and made a speech which was
so well received that he was offered
the agency of the Massachusetts Anti¬
Slavery Society. In this capacity he
traveled and lectured through the New
England states for four years. Large
audiences werejattractedjby his graphic
descriptions of slavery and his elo
quent appeals.
In 1845 he went to Europe and lec
tured on slavery to enthusiastic audi
ences in nearly all the large towns of
England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales,
In 1846 his friends in England con
tributed $750 to have him manumitted
in due form of law. He remained
two years in Great Britain and in 1847
began at Rochester, N. Y., the publi¬
cation of “Frederick Douglass' Pa
per,” which title was charged to “The
North Star,” a weekly journal, which
he contributed to for some years. His
supposed implication in the John
Brown raid in 1859 led Governor Wise,
of Virginia, to make a requisition
for his arrest upon the governor of
Michigan, where he then was, and in
consequence of this Douglass went to
England, and remained six or eight
months. He then returned to Roch¬
ester and continued the publication of
his paper.
When the civil war began in 1861,
he urged upon President Lincoln the
employment of colored troops and the
proclamation of emancipation. In
1863, when permission was given to
employ such troops, he assisted in en¬
listing men to fill colored regiments,
especially the 54th and 55th Massa¬
chusetts.
His Career as a Lecturer.
After the abolition of slavery, he
discontinued his paper and applied
himself to the preparation and deliv
ery of lectures before lyceums. In
September, 1870, he became editor of
the New National Era, in Washing
ton, which was continued by his sons,
Lewis and Frederick. « In 1871 he was
appointed assistant secretary to the
commission to Santo Domingo; and
on his return President Grant ap
pointed him one of the territorial
council of the District of Columbia,
In 1872 he was appointed elector at
large for the state of New York, and
was appointed to carry the electoral
vote to Washington. In 1876 he was
appointed United States marshal for
the District of Columbia, which office
he retained until 1881, after which he
became recorder of deeds in the dis
trict, from which office he was removed
by President Cleveland in 1886.
In the autumn of 1886 he revisited
England to inform his friends of what
elave progress he African had made as in the a fugitive United |
of the race
States, with the intention of spending
the winter on the continent and the j
following summer in the United States,
His published works are entitled,
* ( Narrative of my Experience in Sla
very,” Boston, 1844: “Life and Times
of Frederick Douglass, Hartford,
1881 ; “My Bondage and My Free¬
dom,” Rochester, 1855.
FIRE AT HOT SPRINGS.
Three Lives Lost and Twenty-Eight
Buildings Destroyed.
Fire broke out in the Ledgerwood ;
bakery morning. at Hot Tbe Springs bakery is early situated Friday in j
tbe southern part of the city, where
boarding houses abound, and in an
hour three women had been burned
to death, six boarding houses, several
storehouses and fifteen cottages, in all
worth $200,000, had been swept away.
Dynamite Thieves.
Le Petit Journal, of Paris, says the
prefecture of police haB made the dis¬
covery that dynamite factories in the
snburbs of Paris have recently been
extensively robbed of their product.
The presumption is that the thieves |
are anarchists.
STATE NEWS ITEMS
CULLED FROM MANY SOURCES
BRIEFLY PARAGRAPHED.
Happenings of General Interest to
Georgia Readers.
Valdosta will soon have a well pat¬
ronized and complete telephone ex¬
change.
* * *
Nearly all the farmers living in the
vicinity of Montezuma will plant
many acres in watermelons this year.
The committee on agriculture of
the North Carolina legislature have
favorably reported the bill making a
$20,000 appropriation for an exhibit
at the Atlanta exposition.
* * *
Secretary Lamont in a recent report
to congress says Georgia has 264,021
available fighting men. The secre¬
tary should have added that one fight¬
ing Georgian can whip six ordinary
men.— Exchange.
m * *
There are now forty-two widows of
confederate soldiers in Hart county,
entitled to pensions. The ordinary has
received checks for the amounts for
these pensioners, and they are now
ready for distribution.
m * m
Suits against the Augusta Railway
Company, W. E. Moore and R. J.
Westinghouse Electric and Manufac¬
turing Company have been dropped.
These suits were brought on alleged
violations of the patents held by the
last named company.
Another telephone company is abont
to be organized at Augusta. The tele¬
phones to be used are the Columbian
’phones, which work automatically.
Each subscriber will be able to make
his own connection. The new ’phones
will be put in very cheap.
The Association of Editors of the
Weekly Press of the State have de¬
termined to memoralize the legisla¬
ture, asking that a law be passed
naming the judges of the superior
court of every county as the one to
pass upon the matter of the county’s
printing. Every member of the asso¬
ciation will work for the passage of
the bill.
A party of national guardsmen left
Jersy City, N. J., last Tuesday for
Savannah in a special car attached to
the Florida express on the Pennsylva¬
nia railroad. The party includes the
state rifle team, which will compete
with Georgia’s crack team on Wash¬
ington’s birthday. The southerners
were defeated by the New Jersey marks¬
men last September, at Sea Girt, at
the interstate rifle match. They want
another test of marksmanship, and
invited the New Jersy men to pay
them a visit.
Another contest case has been set
tied by the house committee in session
at Atlanta and the final decision was
in favor of the populist contesteee.
Although the committee is strongly
democratic, its actions have demon¬
strated that in its consideration of the
various cases which have come before
it, the question of politics has not en
tered. The members of the committee
have been actuated only by a desire
to arrive at exactly what they think is
the right, and it is a notable fact that
on no single question have party lines
been drawn,
The question of delay in the matter
Q f filing the bonds of the tax collec
tors and receivers in the forty coun
t,ies, heretofore noted, and the proba
bility 0 f calling special elections in
t fi e various counties has been sub
mitted by the governor to the attorney
general. After a conference it has
been decided to allow precedent in
suc fi ca8eg to govern in these. There
fore no such office whose incumbent
bas been direlict in filing his bond
w ithin the limit of forty days specified
by law, will be declared vacant and a
special election ordered unless the case
j B an exceedingly aggravated one.
Organization has been perfected re¬
cently for three concerns in Valdosta
involving a half million dollars of cap¬
ital. Probably the largest of them is
the Georgia and Florida Round Tim¬
ber company, a charter for which was
granted and tho organization perfect
The authorized capital stock of
the ooncern is $500,000, and over
$100,000 has already been paid in.
The company will deal in round tim¬
bered lands, and will be a great factor
in developing a large area of undevel¬
oped land through this section. They
have purchased within the last few
weeks 271,000 acres of timber lands in
Georgia and Florida.
What About the Central.
There is much interest felt in the
rumors that come from New York with
reference to the Central’s destiny. It
was announced the other day that the
plan of reorganization of the Central
had fallen through, or else that it
would probably haug fire for a good
long while to come, and this hns
caused some alarm and concern among
the holders here of Southwestern
stock. They want to know what is the to
become of the Southwestern in
shuffle, and since the courts have
granted permission to the Southwest¬
ern to expend thousands of dollars in
repairing track, many of the stock¬
holders aro asking what does it sig¬
nify. Some of them say if the South¬
ern has the money to spend this way
and there is to be no redemption by
the Central, in case of the failure at
reorganization, why should not the
Southwestern be holding ita money to
meet obligations which hang over it
threateningly?
Danger of Too Many Melons.
From all the information obtainable
it is feared that there is danger of too
many melons again this year. Quite
a number of farmers in both Houston
and Crawford will increase the acreage
in melons this year over last. There
is also a number of others who will
plant liberally this year. It would be
wise in growers to plant some, but
not so many as to make them unpro¬
fitable to all. Unless there is quite an
improvement in general conditions,
tho laboring classes in the United
States will not be able to buy as many
melons as they did last year. Men out
of employment cannot buy bread now,
and if there is not a change before
melons get on the market we can’t see
where the buyers of melons are to
come from. Then again, if there
should be a full crop of peaches it will
have the usual effect of depressing the
priee of melons. It may pay to think
of these things and not plant too much
of either cotton or melons.
FRED DOUGLASS’ REMAINS.
To Lie in State at the New York City
Hall.
A delegation of colored men, who
said that they voiced the sentiment of
the entire colored population of the
city, called at the New York city hall
Saturday to ask that the remains of
Fred Douglass be allowed to remain in
state Tuesday.
They asked that the body of their
dead leader rest on a catafalque in the
governor’s room in the city hall, so
that the colored people and others
could view the remains before inter¬
ment. A delegation was appointed to
go to Washington and represent the
New York colored people at the fu¬
neral. Mayor Strong sent word grant¬ Fred
ing permission for the body of
Douglass to lie in 6tat,e at the city hall
on Tuesday.
NEGOTIATIONS IN ABEYANCE.
Adjustment of Trouble Between the
Southern and Its Meu Delayed.
Messrs. F. P. Sargent, chief of the
Brotherhood of Railroad Firemen,
and E. E. Clark, of the Order of Rail¬
way Conductors, who have been in
Washington to assist in the adjust¬
ment of the wage controversy between
the Southern Railway and its em¬
ployees, have left the city for New
York. By the time they return Vice
President Baldwin, of the Southern
Railway, is expected to be back from
the south and negotiations between
him and the employees committee
will be resumed.
THE LOAN REFUSED.
North Carolina’s Legislature Defeats a
Bill Appropriating$10,000.
A Raleigh special says: The presi¬
dent and members of the Ladies’
Monumental Association, together with
a number of other ladies, filled the
lobbies and galleries of the senate
chamber Saturday to hear the debate
on the bill to lend the association
$10,000 with which to pay for the
statuary for the monument. The de¬
bate continued three Lours, but the
bill failed to pass—yeas 8, nays 28.
A Big Mining Deal.
John E. Smith has sold his one
fourth in the Moose mine at Cripple
Creek, Col., to J. K. Maynard, of
Utica, N. Y. The amount of stock
held by Smith was 162,000 shares and
the price paid was at the rate of 50
cents a share, or $81,000 cash. Mr.
Maynard placed the value of the min¬
eral in sight at $256,000. Dividends
to the amount of $84,000 have been
declared in the past twelve months.
This sale was the largest spot cash
mining deal ever made in Cripple
Creel;.
The Crew Rescued.
A dispatch was received at the mari¬
time exchange at New York Saturday
morning from Bermuda stating that
the steamer Trinidad, which arrived
there Friday, reports that she passed
a schooner having on board the crew
of the schooner John M. Moore, Cap¬
tain Doughty, which sailed from
Brunswick, Ga., for Philadelphia Jan¬
uary 30th.
France Will Retaliate.
The French cabinet has decided that
It the German reichatag Totea in faror
of the granting ot bountiee upon ett
ported sugar, meaauree will be imme
diately taken by France to counteract
the effect of each bountiee upon the
French market.
= ——
POPULISTS MEET.
NATIONAL REFORM PRESS ASSO¬
CIATION SN SESSION
At Kansas City to Consider Party
Questions.
One hundred and fifty members of
the National Reform Press Association
met at Kansas City Friday for the
purpose of considering questions
looking to the advancement of the
principles advocated by the populist
party.
The first d ay was largely spent in
considering the advisability of estab¬
lishing a national news bureau in
Kansas City. The matter was finally
referred to a committee of five for
consideration and report.
Dr. S. C. McClallin, editor of tbe
Advocate of Topeka, put on his war
paint and made threats that unless the
people’s party managers come around
to his way of thinking, he proposes to
create a disturbance within the ranks
which may have the effect of disrupt¬
ing the present organization. Mc¬
Clallin charges that there is an effort
to betray the party into the hands of
enemies.
Hon. H. E. Taubeneck, the chair¬
man of the people’s party national or¬
ganization sent an ultimatum from
Washington setting forth his views as
to how the party should be managed,
and threatening that unless these are
carried out he will resign hiB present
position.
GROWTH OF THE SOUTH.
The Industrial Situation as Reported
for the Past Week.
week. Beports Indicate from that all over the the unprecedentedly south, for the post
ooW
weather has had but little effect outs de of the
farming and fruit growing districts. Many
lumber mills are starting up to meet the in¬
creasing begun demand, and more new ones have been
during tbe past thirty days than have
been reported for many months. Reports from
the iron producers say that tbe market is quiet
and that the prices are less firm. The output
of the furnaces continues to be very large, and
some iron is accumulating in the storage yards. ^
Coal is in active demand at steady prices, with
an Among increasing newly output. organized cotton mills reported
during the week are the Lockhart Mills, of
E Lockhart, S. C., with $250,000 capital; tie
$50,000, onomic Mills, of Greenville, S. 0., capital
with right to increase; the Wampum
Mills, of Wilmington, N. C., and mills at Hen¬
derson, Ky., Bessemer City, Elkin, Graham and
knitting Rockingham, N. C., and Belton, Tex., and
mills at Albany, Ga., and Cheraw and
Trenton, There S. also C.
Ocalla, is of reportfd the Meadow the organization at
Fla., Land Improve
ment Canning Co., capital of *500,000; the Indiana $’50,00); Fruit
Co., Macon, Ga., capital
the Stone, Sand and Gravel Co., of New Or¬
leans, La., with the same capital; the Cbestatea
Pyrites Co., of Atlanta. Ga., capital $100,003,
and a cotton oil milling company at Little
Rock, Ark., with $50,000 capital. Tobneoo
works to cost $40,000 are reported at Rock HiiL
S. C.; $20,000 agricultural implement works at
Newport, Ark.; $20,000 ice factory at New Or¬
leans, La.; $15,000 figuring mill at Spartin
burg, S. C., and extensive saw and planing
mills at High Point, N. C.
Enlargements of cotton mills are reported at
Davidson and Goldsboro, N. C., and of wood¬
working plants at Brunswick, Ga., and George¬
town 8. C’ Among important new bui dings
of the week are a $70,000 court bouse at Deca¬
tur, Texas., a $50,000 college building at Nash¬
ville, Tena, and a $30,000 school house at
Madison, Ga.—Tradesman, (Chatttanooga,
Tenn.)
NEW ORLEANS JUSTICE.
A Bribe Taker and a Dishonest Law¬
yer Sent to tbe Penitentiary.
At New Orleans, Conncilman Numa
Doudoussat, convicted for having ac¬
cepted a bribe of one hundred dollars
from Groceryman Sherman was sen¬
tenced by Judge Ferguson to three
years’ at hard labor in the state peni¬
tentiary. Ambrose
Smith, a well known and
popular attorney, convicted of having
appropriated to his own had use collected one thous¬
and dollars, which he for
a client, was also sentenced to three
years in the penitentiary.
FIVE PERSONS FROZEN.
Death Came to the Whole Family
While Asleep.
From Beaufort mountain eight miles
south of Irondale, Mo., comes the re¬
port of a sad incident which happened
in that section during the recent bliz¬
zard. A woodchopper named John C.
Warner, his wife and three children
were found frozen to death. The place
where the bodies were found is an
isolated wood-chopping, three miles
from the nearest farmer and five miles
from any town.
PROMPTLY REPULSED.
Chinese Attack the Japs and Are
Badly Beaten.
A dispatch dated Kai Ping, on the
17th, says that about a thousand Chin¬
ese troops attacked the Japanese out
posts and at Kumo-Cheng in the morning
were repulsed promptly. The
Chinese retreated precipitately, leav¬
ing thirty dead on the field. The
number of wounded had not been as¬
certained. The Japanese suffered no
whatever.
Trial of the Train Robbers.
The trial of the Aquia Creek train
Morgan, or Morganfield, and
w.s began , at . Stafford Court _ ,
S’™' P’^ 8 ; V, V Wednesday rial. The Morgan last count waa
°n
the md,0 ‘ mc »* ■*““* oharg
*° rob - wae discharged.
other eolm “ '" re n P held -