Newspaper Page Text
lTURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1905.
£8£
■■
E US.
During the next 10 days jwe are going to offer all our Winter Goods at greatly reduced prices. We are soon to need room for
our immense SPRING LINE; hence our reason for offerirV this reduction in prices. OUR STOCK MUST BE REDUCED.
Come on and buy if y^u igeed anything. Don't delay.
Ladies’ Dress floods.
Mo. Cashmer* sod Wonted
Me. BrUllenttne end Flennele
10 and llo. Optings reduced to
g lOo « " "
Calico, Bltaching, Ginghams and Efea bland per ya^
Ml-Sc.
■450.
»o.
71-fic.
do.
Miscellaneous.
Me. Faaoinaton Reduced to
Mo.
goo
Mo. Baby Cape
M and Mo. Baby C
LIT
THE
83c.
45o.
66c.
33c.
43c
Underwear.
ladies' 35e. Under-rests Reduced to
" 60c.
“ 86c. Union Saits Reduced to
Mens’ Heavy Undershirts Reduced to
** 60c. Heavy Undershirts Reduced to
(Other Reductions Will be Made.
IRE STORE, Valdosta, Georgia.
DREW SMITH'S ESCAPE.
GRAPHIC STORY OF HI8 EFFORT
TO GAIN FREEDOM.
t V
A White Man Who Went Five Oajrfl
and Nlahta Without Food Waa Cap
tured In the Very Moment of Hie
Triumph—'Wae Eervlng a Wle 8en-
tence In the Prleon Perm at Mil-
ledgevilic.
lost ev-
■ ■ :■ i! i '■ >
elgh he
"I vu house
tor toad—not of
nogro. 1 know tliat^^^Bto that
my garb was observcc^^Miuld bo
unsafe. I had no that
neighborhood and I kn^V that I
would be turned over to thn authori
ties. All day Wednesday D remained
under cover, and when darkness fell
I was almost unable to move. I suf-
«lf i had only had one more hour f«r with rheumatism, and/the entire
. T -A..U _.a uam Its t.* f1nv An the rnM. dfittin canned
of dorknost I would not now be be
hind the ban of the Bibb county jail.
Just one more hour, sixty minutes,
and I would have been a free man.
Ae It is now 1 have a life of servi
tude staring me In the face at the
state farm at Mllledgevllle. It seems
hard, after enduring and suffering all
that I did, that the lack of one small
hour should now cause me to >Bpend
my forty-sixth birthday In jail, wait
ing ‘o be taken back to the state
farm.”
Thus It was Drew Smith expressed
himself this morning to a Macon Bvo-
ews reporter a m«
_ (nanoer. , pr,f!S»
Wltti liberty almost In his grasp,
after suffering hardships of the most
severe character, his hopes were
dashod to pieces and ho was taken
In custody to finish serving his sen
tence of life for murder.
For five days Drew Smith wont
without sleep and without food to gain
bis llborty. For flvo duys ho wnlked
by night, skulking along the coun
try roads, afraid every minute that
some lone traveler would hco nnd
capture him. and In the day time hid
In ditches.
But ho did not sleep. Ho couldn't.
Every sound would cause him to
start, uml a thousand times 1m lm-
,jbut me
ilan. I p"*"* -
' 1 1 stumbled on tiw way.
“I know that it I once reachSd the
houso of my father-in-law at Cross
Keys I could get food, sholter and
clothing. I Just knew the old man
would not turn me down. All night
Wednesday 1 walked, stumbled and
full. My rhoumatlBm became worse,
and hunger was gnawing at my vltuls
until I thought I would go mad.
fact I think that Friday night I was
out of my mind, for I hnvo only a
fnlut recollection of whnt occurred.
Again Thursday I remained bidden
front sight In a ditch near a brook,
and hero I bathed my aching feet and
drank water. In vain did I look about
for something with which to satisfy
ngtncd he heard the baying of tlogB' my hunger. Once I saw a chicken
upon his trail. Every shout of hands nnd tried to kill it with a stono, but
In the fields ho mtstwik for shouts I couldn't. 1 was then afraid to try
further for fear some one would ace
me. I was hungry onough to have
eaten that chicken In any mnnner,
day on the cold, damp ground caused
my every Joint to ache. )But, hungry
and tired and discouraged, I was de
termined to go on. 1 /might life, I
thought, but then, I would as aton
be dead as spend the balanco of w*
life In stripes. j
“I knew it was a long distance to
Macon, and I wondered time and
again It I could yolk thirty mile*
without food or eleeiS Once or twice
I thought of giving myself up to nope
one In the neighborhood and aljjuw
him to get the reward ^Df |50 offered’
for toy'capture,shut mo thou
for 1
fho
of a searching party.
For fivo days did Drew Smith thus
Journey, clad In his convict garb nnd
not once during that time did ho tasto
food. But he pushed onward in the
hope of getting food and clothing and
had reached his destination and was
eating hie first meal slnco ho oluded
the watchful guards at the state
term, when he was surrounded by
farmer* with guns and captured.
Last Thursday It was that Smith
escaped from the state farm. Re
wae at work about noon sawing and
apUttlng wood near tho railroad when
he perceived a chance to got away.
Ho was quick to take advantage of
the opportunity, and
away,
COTTON GROWERS MEET
ERS IS THE SLOGAN.
icaily and tried to cheer hlro^jxp.
“Never mind, old pal,” said a hUo,
waiting to be sent to the gang for
beating his way on a freight train. | REDUCE ACREAGE AND FERTILiZ
"you'll get anothor chance some day.
Give 'em a run for their money next
time. You ain’t cashed In yet by a
great deal. Walt till yonr pegs get
In good running and you've had
a few square feeds. Ton'll Be all
right then.”
Sut dmith could only think of the
balance of his life In convict garl/, and
the thought that he had Just been
In grasping distance of liberty made
him all the mroe melancholy.
"I hardly know what I did Satur
day night,” continued Smith, some
what cheered up by the words his fel
low prisoners had spoken. *1 just
kept stumbling along and was so anx
ious to get to my father-in-law’s houso
Wore daybreak. I was almost down
afed.oftt, and fcould not travel very
fast.’ Jpy mind must have wandered,
ought i
fo bfi
several times I was on
ordering a breakfast In,
t and called to a
something to ei
•used me renleml
I was a hunted fugitive from JuFtlce^
and that T was almost perished ;My
feet ached so, and every Joint was so
racked with pain that I fell down set*
eral times. I know I was several
miles from my destination, and T was
eager to got thers before daylight.
A meal and some clothes, and this
beard removed from my face, and I
would then be free.
"But 1 just couldn't go any fautar,
and I saw that day would break bo-
fore I could get thero. I hoped that
I might get thero unperceived, for I
could not spend anothor day in a ditch
without food. And lioro is where I
mndo a fatal mlstako. If I had been
like Joshua and commanded ih) sun
to stand still, 1 would now bo
man. Just ono hour more of
ness would have savod me.
"I got to tho old man’s house, and
I didn’t think any ono had seen me.
I asked for food tho first thing, and
Eleven Hundred and Thirty-five De'e-
gates Registered at the New Or
leans Convention—Measures for the
Protection of tho Planters to Be
Adopted.
New Orleans, Jan. 24.—By a unan
imous vote at the close of the first
session today, the Southern Inter
state Cotton Convention, by general
agreement the largest and moat rep*
resontative that has gathered in the
South, declared that reduct’on of
acreage and commercial fertilizers is
the paramount question to be consid
ered at the convention, and it must
be settled before any other business
is undertaken.
Eleven hundred and thirty-five del-
tea, representing they thirteen cot-
|U growing states andA territories,
when tholconvention
Tho more 8m!tU talked about his w “ ravenously dovourlng a breakfast
adventure, It was evident the more
molnncholy ho bocamo.
Soveral times during his narrative
he wiped the sloeve of hie coat across
his eyes and bemoaned the fact that
he had not been given another hour
of darkness. It waa evident that he
had the sympathy of the other pria-
oners In the cage and they crowded
around him, eager to hear his story.
"I kept out of sight all day Thurs
day," continued Smith, with a sigh,
"and again Friday night I took up
hastened my weary march. Just all that I did
that night I cannot remember. When
"Every minute," said Smith, "I ex- j I began my Journey that ovenlng I
pected to hoar tho crack of a rtfio or was so benumbed that I could hardly
the report of a shotgun, and tt was walk, and when daylight came I was
with fear and trembling that 1 man- drenched to the skin and almost frox-
agod to get away from the vicinity on. Tho cold rain polled mo In my
of the farm. I dared not go on tho'face, and I was chilled to tho bone.
railroad, and I was afraid to tnko tho
wagon roads, because my convict
stripes would tell the world that I
am an escape. I managed to get a
few miles from the farm without be
ing observed and then I got Into a
ditch and covered myself up with
brush and there I remained until night
oamo on. Then I started toward Ma
con. All night long I walked and Just
before daybreak Wednesday morning
I got Into another ditch and prepared
to spend the day. By this time 1 be
gan to feel the effects of hunger, hut
I dared not show myself. I just re
mained where I was, and although I
needed sleep I could not cloee my
eyes without Imagining I could hear
my pursuer*." ,l
Hero the thoughts of whnt he had
gone through seemed to unnerve the
ooavtct and It was some minutes be
fore he could proceed. He spoke In
n low voice, broken occasionally by a
sob er two, and Us whole demeanor
By this timo I was almost fronxlcd
from tho effects of hunger, and sev-
eral times I was just on the point
of lying down to dlo.
"But I knew that I must bo near
the end of my Journey, and, tight-
entng my belt and taking a drink of
water from one of the muddy pools
along the road, I trudged until nearly
daylight. Then began the weary wait
for daylight to vanish. My wet clothes
and the cold caused me suffering
cannot describe, and I cared not
whether I ever reached the house of
my father-tn-law. But somehow or
another I managed to worry the day
through, starting at every sound nnd
fhnring to hear the bark of dogs and
th* crack of a rifle. I was afraid to
run nnd afraid to lie still, nnd my
mental anguish, together with my
physical Ills, almost made me mod.
-Oh, I hate to thfcJt of it," and here
Smith turned away hit head. The
other prisoner* looksd on sympathet-
when sevoral men with guns entered
and covored mo. Then I knew It was
all up. All my Buffering and m t hard
ships had been endured for nothing.
They had seen me outer the old man's
house, and come after me.
"Well, I'll try to stand It th* bal
ance of my life, hut I don't think I'll
take my fellow prisoner's advice here.
I'll Just try to stay there till 1 die. I
have been s convict nineteen months
and I can say that never once dur
ing that tlmo have I boon punished.
Not ono lick havo I over re vived
from the strap.
"But, I swear, young man, it’s
mighty tough to go through ail I did
nnd spend your forty-Bixth birthday
In Jail waiting to go back to scrvsj
out n life sentence.”
Some Kinder Lou Dots.
Kinder Lou, Jan. 25.—We have a
nice Sunday school overy Sunday a
3 o’clock. Everybody Is cordially In
vltod to attend.
Misses Della and Bessie Toumans
entertained quite a number of friends
as a musicals ono night last week,
Mr. J. B. Chisholm has been on tho
sick list for some time. His many
friends are glad to know he 1 s Im
proving again.
Messrs, w. O. and A. R. Rivers and
W. A. Parrish made a flying trip to
Valdosta Sunday.
The young folks had qulto a pleas-
ant time at a party at the home of
Mr. C L. Rivals one night last week.
Mr. O. C. Allred and several other
hoys gave us some nice music at the
etngtng Sunday night
There are between olght aad ton
million young men In tho United
States.
of the convention.
Tho forenoon end early afternoon
were devoted to the compromising of
all differences that existed as to or
ganisation, the central idea b ring that
tho work of the convention should go
to the country with the stamp of har
mony and practical unanimity. Th#
result was that former Congressman
Catchln's name was withdrawn and
all opposition to hnrvle Jordan s se
lection ended.
Washington Artillery hall, seating
2,000 people, was crowded to tho
doors when the convention met. As
president of the Southern Cotton
Growers. Mr. Jordan called It to or
der. Ho raid in part:
Agreed Upon Four Points.
“Wo are all agreed upon four gen
eral propositions:
"First. Wo must tie up nnd take
care of tho surplus of this crop nnd
romovo it from the markots of the
country until next fall, and hold the
balance of the crop absolutely In our
possoscion until tho price advances
to normal conditions.
Second. Wo must reduce th* cot
ton acreage and use of commercial
fertilisers under cotton at least 2S
per cent, under that of 1904.
"Third. We must arrange for a
general system of bonded warehomses
under local control of the people
throughout the South.
'Fourth. We must at once proceed
to organlxo the producers of the South
In every cotton growing country on a
business basis to carry Into opera
tion a permanent system of relief and
protection for the future."
Judge E. B. Perkins of Dallas, nom
inated former Lieutenant Governor
Jester, of Texas, for temporary chair
man, and ho was unanimously elected.
Concluding a brief, but effective ad
dress, Mr. Jester said:
Two Reforms Needed.
“Two reforms must bo inaugurated
by tho Southern farmers: Diversifi
cation of crops that will reduce the
production of cotton and better facili
ties for the storage of cotton that will
give lower insurance and Interest and
better protection."
J. A. B. Lovett, of Blontavllle, Ala,
Richard Choatham, of Mississippi, and
J. H. Whyto, of New Orleans, were
elected secretaries.
The question of representation Im
mediately arising. Governor Varda-
m»n moved that every properly ac
credited delegate should be entitled
to a seat on the floor and a voice In
the convention, and though the mo
tion provoked considerable debate. It
finally prevailed. -
On motion of J. A. Brown, of North
Carolina, a committee on permanent
organisation of one delegate from
each state was named, and pending
its report, welcoming addresses by
Mayor Bohrmann and President San
ders, of tho Progressive Union, were
listened to.
Pope Brown Spoke.
There were responses by Walter
Clark, of Clarksdalo, Miss, and J.
Pope Brown, chairman of the Georgia
railroad commission. Mr. Brown said
It was the number of bales which reg
ulated the price of cotton, and the
price would not advance until It was
known that the production this year
waa to he curtailed. Eight million
bales would be an ample crop to raise
this year. With the four million of
surplus held on to It would give pre
cisely the crop the bears desire. He
believed the South could whip in
the present light.
W. D. Nesblt, of Alabama, present
ed the report of the committee on
permanent organization. It provided
for Harvlo Jordan for president, for a
vice-president from each state, and
for the three secretaries named by
the temporary organization. It fixed
rotation on the basis of one
abama, 10; Arkansas, 8; Florida, 1;
Georgia, 14; Louisiana, 9; Mississip
pi, 14; North Carolina, 6; South Car
olina, 9; Tennessee, 3; Texas, 28; Ok
lahoma. 2; Missouri, 1; Indian Ter
ritory, 3.
Committees Provided For.
These committees were provided
for:
Reduction of cotton acreage and
use of commercial fertilizers, with one
farmer, ono banker and one merchant
from each state.
Permanent organization of farmers,
with three farmers, ono merchant and
one banker from each state.
Financing and holding balance of
the present crop until legitimate
prices aro secured, with one farmer,
one merchant and one banker from
each state.
Warehousing and financing future
crops, similarly constituted.
On direct trade between farmer*
and manufacturer*.
On transportation.
On resolutions, to consider matters
of a general nature not otherwise
provided for.
"Reduction of acreage and commer
cial fertilizers being of paramount im
portance, we recommend It bo made
the first order of business and be
settled before other business is un
dertaken,” was the conclusion of the
committee's report, which was unan
imously adopted.
Sheriff Has Not Yet Levied.
Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 25.—Tho short
of Emanuel county has not yet lovi-
the execution sent him several d
ago by Comptroller General Wright
on ike. Stillw Ire Air Line. Mo
rntj^ng OomptfoUer Wright
ed a letter from the Sheriff asking
he could levy the execution on
engine which waa engaged In pulling
a train that carried the United States
malls. The comptroller wrote tho
sheriff that he had better levy on
some other property of the road and'
let the engine alone.
The execution is for taxes which'
the road has not yet paid the state
for the year 1904.
"Neglected colds make fat grave
yards.” Dr. Wood’s Norway Pine
Syrup helps men and women to a hap
py, vigorous old age.
••o.l-o-po-i-o+o-i-o+o-i-ovo'i-o-i-o'i-o+oil-o+o+o-i-o-i-oe-ovo-t'o-i-o+o+o+o+e
Mimaki Linker Cmpuy,
LUMBER,
Shingles and Wood.
Mill No. 1, Doerun, Ga.
Mill No. 2, Cutting, Ga.
ROUGH AND DRESSED
tlifOHB yo. ltr
C. B. Peeples,
—DEALER IN—
Paints, Oil, Varnish, Brushes, Pine
Mantels, Tiling, Grates, Brick, Lime
and Cement.
I Sill "White Rose” Lime, the Beet Line lade In the
Soith, and Atlas and Lehigh's Portland Cements.
McCormick & Plano Mowing Machines
and Rakes, Parts of all Mowers and
Rakes. I occupy my own building, pay
no rent and sell cheaper than any one.
C. .B Peeples,
113 Hill A.ve., West, VALDOSTA, QA