Newspaper Page Text
The Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal
VOL. XI
SEVEN TO FACE TRIAL j
1 STRANGE DEATH
OFIWIUIfHAWKINS ;
Story From Atlanta That Girl
Was Recently Seen in Jack
sonville, Fla., Is Now Given
Little Credence
(By Asaaciatad Praaa.)
HENDERSONVILLE, N. C-. May IS.
—The trial of A. B. McCall. Beatrice
McCall, his wife. George Bradley, “Bon- ,
ey” Bradley and Dan McCall, all charged
with being connected with the death of
Myrtle Hawkina whose body is said to
have been found in Lake Osceola last
September, will be called in the Hender- 1
son county superior court here tomor
row or Wednesday
All cases of minor importance on the
docket will be disposed of before en
tering upon the Hawkins case, which It
is expected will consume the greater
part of the three weeks’ term. Judge
Howard A. Foushee. of Durham, is pre
siding.
W, O. Shellnutt, of Atlanta. Ga., who
(rays that Myrtle Hawkins is living, is
here as a witness. He says he met her
in Hendersonville in 1910 and 1911, and
talked with her in Jacksonville, Fla.,
since her supposed death.
The prosecution places little credence
the theory that ahe is still living.
She is reported to be in Seattle, Wash.,
at present.
The trial of A. B. McCall. Beatrice Mc-
Acall. his wife. George Bradley. “Boney”
Bradley and Dan McCall on charges con
nected with the da th of Myrtle Hawkins,
whose body is said to have been found tn
Lake Oceola last September, opens here
today The statement of an Atlanta
.raveling map. W. O. Shellnut. that he
had seen Myrtle Hawkins at Jackson
ville. has added a new Hemtn to the
case, and his presence in Hendersonville
to testify irv the trials has given rise to
speculation if the body found in the
.lake were really that of Myrtle Hawkins.
A. B. McCall, Beatrice McCall and
George Bradley are charged with mur
der; “Boney” Bradley is charged with
being an accessory before the fact, and
Dan McCall with being an accessory
after the fact.
The story sent out from Atlanta to the
effect that an Atlantiaii was alleged to
have reported seeing Myrtle Hawkins in
Jacksonville has caused considerable
comment throughout North Carolina.
ATLANTA STORY QUESTIONED.
The opinion seems to prevail that the
girj. whose body was recovered from
lake Osceola, near Hendersonville, sev
eral months ago was that of the Haw
kins girl, the Atlanta story to the con
tray. There are too many things to be
explained away before the pubUc would
credit the report that the girl still lives.
The body fpwdjn the lake was identi
fied by friends and the family as that
of Myrtle Hawkins: the clothes worn
were those which she had worn on leav
ing her home when last seen.
It is charged that .parties who aided
in the crime first had a criminal opera
tion performed. Whether the victim died
as a result of the operation, or from
an overdose of chloroform, is problem
atical. *
One of the greatest legal battles in the
history of the state will begin today.
Seven persons are held charged with be
ing either directly or indirectly connect
ed with the ‘ase.
is said to point strongest to
young McCall and young Bradley.
Hon. J. F. Spa in hour, of Morganton.
N. C-. for 14 years solictor of the Hen
dersonville district, has been called in to
assist Solicitor Johnson in the prosecu
tion. Mr. Spainhour is one of the ablest
criminal lawyers in North Carolina. He
recently said that he expected to con
vict at least four or five ’of the parties
now held.
The first preliminary hearing resulted
in a fiasco, and so strong was criticism
over the failure to t ring any indictments,
that the newspapers and the public took
up the fight for a reopening of the case;
the governor increased rewards; addi
tional counsel and detectives were called
in. and as a sequence seven persons now
await trial.
It is generally believed that there la
nothing to the story about the appear
ance of Myrtle Hawkins in Jacksonville
Who killed Myrtle K. Hawkins* Who
concealed the body for several days and
then carried it to the lake to cover sus
picion?
Important witnesses for the state have
been found who will make sensational
statements. and it is believed that the
death of this beautiful girl will soon be
punished.
ANTI-SALOON PREACHER
HAS BECOME INSANE
LOUISVILLE. ‘Ky., May IS. —Search
for the Rev S. Fuller the Methodist
league worker, who disappeared from
Bidwell. Ohio, February 2. is being
prosecuted in Kentucky by his son.
lx»uis HoUnqs Fuller, of Columbus,
Ohio. Mr. Fuller reached Louisville
He l*el eves an itinerant
oreacher who has appeared at several
small towns in thia community recent
ly is his father, though the man calls
himself by another name.
Mr. Fuller says the description given
him of the itinerant tallies to the last
detail with that of his father, whose
mind, he believes, has become unbal
anced.
THOMASVILLE SCHOOLS
WILL HEAR SLATON
t Special Dispatch to The Journal.)
THOMASVILLE. Ga.. May 13.—Hon.
John M. Slaton, of Atlanta, president
•>( the Georgia senate and candidate for
governor of the state, has accepted the
invitation of the Thomasville board of
education to deliver the annual literary
address at the public schools com
mencement here on May 31.
The fact that Mr. Slaton will speak
during the commencement will no doubt
3 raw a large crowd.”
TRINITY CHURCH, N. Y.
WORTH OVER $14,000,000
(Bt Associated Pre»». I
NEW YORK. May 13.—Besides its
»en houses of’ worship and Its schools
and other tax exempt realty. Trinity
Chureh eon»oration now has produc
tive property in this city val led by
the assessors at 314.710,060. accord
ing to book of the parish is
sued today. This is an increase of
• AAli i«a tHa VF*.
iI.OOO-MILE DISH IS
BEGUN BF MB TAFT:
HE IS FIGHTING MAD
Between Now and Primary on
May 21 He Will Try to
Reach Every Corner of
Home State
I
MARIETTA. Ohio. May 13.—His fight
ing blood up, President Taft today be
gan in Marietta his 1,000-mlle speech
. making <iash around Ohio, which will
I take him into practically eveky corher
of the state, and which will come to an
end only a few hours before the pri
mary polls open for the voters to regts
' ter their preferences for president, x>n
May 21.
AT DEXTER CITY.
When President Taft, in his Ohio tour
today, remarked that “he understood
Dexter City was a Roosevelt town, 't a
man in the crowd yelled back that “it
is.” .• \
“They say you are against me because
I favored reciprocity,” said Mr. Taft;
then he declared, “you are utterly illog
ical in opposing me on that ground, be
cause. before 1 entered into it, Theodore
Roosevelt commended me most highly for
going into the business and approved it
in every way. Now that Roosevelt finds
reciprocity is not popular with the farm
ers he recants and says that—well, he
has changed his mind.”
Republican Committee
* Meets in Nashville
(By Associated Press.)
NASHVILLE. Tenn.. May 13—The
Republican state committee met here
today to make up the temporary roll
call for tomorrow s convention, which
names delegates and electors from the
state at large, and names a new state
committee. Secretary George Renfro
puts the number of delegates in contest
at 147. and claims 316 delegates out of
591 instructed for Taft. The Roose
velt forces do not concede the latter
proposition. They''give the number of
delegates in contest, too, as 157. Some
compromise talk is heard.
Utah State Conventions
To Be Held This Week
(By Associated Press.)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. May 13.
State conventions will be held by both
Democrats and Republicans of Utah
this week to select delegates to the
national conventions. The Democratic
'■ convention will be held in this city to
morrow. The Republicans will meet in
Provo Wednesday. Utah has 8 dele-,
gates to the national conventions.
Priamries in California
Will Be on Tuesday
'' *■ (By Associated Press.)
SAN FtIANCISCO. May 13.—Califor
nia will decide at primary elections to
morrow whether the presidential pref
erence is Roosevelt, Taft or LaFollette.
as Republican candidate and Clark or
Wilson as Democratic candidate.
Neither Underwood nor Harmon has
directed any organized campaign for
votes. California will send 26 dele
gates to each national convention.
Claims 13 t 000 Votes
Were Thrown Out in Mass,
. (By Associated Press )
BOSTON. May 13.—Quoting figures
from the recent recount of the vote foi
Taft delegates at large in the state
primaries. General Edgar R. Champlin,
of the Taft league of Massachusetts,
has issued a statement in which he
claims that 13,000 ballots were thrown
out In the primaries, or enough to have
elected the entire ticket for Taft del
egates at large to the Republican na-.
’tional convention.
OFFICERS ARE DECOYED,
THEN SHOT TO DEATH
(By Associated Press.)
GAINESVILLE. Fla. May 13.—Mar
shal C- H. Slaughter and Deputy Sheriff
Charles ’White, of Archer, Fla., were
decoyed to a lonely spot near there at
3 o’clock Sunday morning and assas
sinated.
J. A. Manning, another deputy, feign
ed death, and escaped after being
wounded. He shot one of the murder
ers. Capturing him and his three sons,
who are now in. tail.
Shortly after midnight Marshal
Slaughter received a message that
there was a "skin” game in progress
on the outskirts of the town. He depu
tised White and Manning and started
for the scene.
AMERICAN WRITERS TO
FORM BUSINESS LEAGUE
(By Associated Press.)
NEW YORK. May 13.—A committee !
of sixty prominent American writers is ■
perfecting the preliminary organization I
of a society to be known as the league I
of authors and dramatists. The league >
js to be strictly a business organiza-j
! tion. aiming to insure the writer full
and prompt returns for his work. Ac- i
j curding to present expectation it will |
be doing business by .September 1.
It is planned to handle the affairs of
‘the society through bureaus—one of
contracts and collections, another c>t
legal ser\ ice r.nd a third of general
i j information. j
AEGEAN SEA CLOSED
BY ITALIAN BLOCKADE
'By Associated Press.)
ROME. May 13.—1 tis announced in j
the newspapers today that the occu-;
pancy by Italy of the islands of Kar- ,
pathos, Kaso, Piscopi. (Tilos) and (
Nisyro in the Grecian archipelago, and
, !>elonging to Turkey, together with the
• capture of the islands of Stampalia
and Rhodes, completely closes the
. , Aegean sea.
Turkey is thus blockaded and iso
, Gated from the Mediterranean and she
is consequently unable to dispatch war
' I ships or troops to Tripoli.
Ihome-madFautomobile
i NEARLY KILLS FIVE
PITTSBURG. May 13.—While on their
first trip in a home manufactured auto
' mobile, five foreigners were seriously
injured yesterday when the machine
failed to round a curve and plunged
down an embankment. The men haa
worked for months constructing the au
tomobile and it was discovered too late
that the steering gear was good only
Xur straightaway • riding.
CONGRESS FACING
SUMMER SESSION
TO Ml WORK
Many Vital Matters Cannot
Possibly Be Acted on by
June—Real Work Still to Be
Done
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.)
WASHINGTON, May 11.—Unless con
gress decides to take a recess for the
political conventions and sit during the
summer, the following importaht sub
jects will be neglected: Tariff bills, par
cels post, safety in ocean-travel, gov
ernment ownership and regu'atlop of
wire’ess telegraph, the Lorimer case,
canal zone, and other legislation of al
most equal importance. Senators Smoot
and Crane have been trying to arrange
for an adjournment early in June. They
would prefer to have no action on any
of these subjects.
Now there is so much interest in
the results of / the government’s trust
prosecutions against the Standard ’ Oil
company and the tobacco trust, the de
bating societies ought to get the' brief
prepared by Louis D.’ Brandeis, the Bos
ton attorney, and presented through At
torney Levi to Attorney General Wick
ersham at the time the latter was con
sidering the p'an for reorganizing the
tobacco trust.
This brief is not a dull, heavy legal
document with references to antique
cases. It is a short, simple statement
of the facts of the tobacco business in
cluding the capitajizatioH, ownership and
control of the companies which make up
the tobacco trust. Mr. Brandeis con
tends that the dissolution of a combi
nation is a matter not of law but of
figures and facts. He therefore pre
sented the facts and figures to the at
torney general and showed how the pro
posed plan left the Independents entirely
at the mercy of the trust and was not
a dissolution. He also proposed a plan
which would have been a real dissolution
of the tobacco trust.
CAN’T PLEAD IGNORANCE.
If Mr. Wickersham had not had this
brief before him he might now plead
ignorance as to what would be the re
sults of the supposed "dissolution" of ths
tobacco trust. With this statement in
his hands, if he were as uninformed as
a schoolboy nine years old he could not
go wrong. When he refused to appeal
from the circuit court and take the case
back to the supreme court he knowingly
played into the hands of the trust and
contributed to the great rise in stock
values which followed.
Incidentaly, it is already noted that the
"prosecution” of the harvester trust
sent the harvester stock up two points.
TAX DODGERS’ HAVEN.
\ That the nation’s capital is a haven
for tax dodgers has long been vaguely
known, but owing tp the work of Henry
George, Jr., this charge is now based
on statistical evidence. George has been
probing into Washington; D. C., assess
ments.
He finds, ’vfor instance, that many
blocks of property where poor whites
and colored people are living, and where
there have been no improvements in the
last two years, have had their assess
ment boosted 29 per cent within a year
and are rated on land values which are
substantially «he same as those at which
the land is assessed on w’hich the Leit
ers, the Wadsworths and the Townsends
have their palatial residences.
The Lteither home is assessed at $69,000.
It is generally reputed to be worth
$350,000. Thomas «el son Page’s place
is assessed at $33,200; it would sell for
probably SIOO,OOO. Scott Townsend’s place
is assessed for $178,000, and is worth a
half million. The Wadsworth place is
assessed at $60,000; the R. W. Patter
aon marble palace at $75,000, and Mrs.
Henderson's brown stone castle at $50,000.
All these places are worth from three to
four times these amounts. It is the old
story of exempting the rich and laying
the burdens of taxation on the poor.
NORTH CAROLINA G. 0. P.
TO NAME DELEGATES
(By Auociated Frew.)
GREENSBORO, N. C., May 13. —Great
interest attaches to the Republican
state convention to be held in Raleigh,
N. C., Wednesday, May 15, when four
delegates at large and four alternates
to the Chicago convention will be se
lected. The supporters of Colonel
Roosevelt claim they will control the
convention overwhelmingly; their op
ponents tacitly admit as much. Dele
gates front seven congressional dis
tricts, including the Second, Fourth,
Fifth, Seventh. Eighth, Ninth' and
Tenth, will be selected tomorrow and
Tuesday.
The Third district will hold immedi
ately after the state convention. The
First and Sixth have been held. Sup-
I porters of Roosevelt claim they will
1 control all of these district conventions
apd send two delegates from each to
I the Chicago convention instructed for
1 the formen president. Friends of Presi-
I dent Taft do not concede this.
Although the c invention Wednesday
' is called primarily for the purpose of
selecting d negates to the national con
vention, it is rumored that an attempt
! mav be made at this time to indorse
for a new national committeeman to
succeed E. C. Duncan.
The Democratic primaries so • county
officers will be’ held May IS. There is
no opposition to the nomination of
Locke Craig, of Asheville, as the party’s
I candidate for governor. The fight in
North Carolina for delegates to the
< Democratic national convention is be
, tween Underwood and Wilson.
INHERifEb _
DIED WITHIN FEW WEEKS
(By Associated Frees.)
, CHATHAM, N. Y., May 13.—Charles
W. Hawley, who inherited $2,000,000 a
few weeks ago from the estate of his
brothel, the late Edwin Hawley, of
'! New York city, is dead here in his 65th
; year. He had been a hardware mer-
I chant in this village for many years,
i His money will be divided between his
j two children, a son and a daughter.
SLAYTON WILL SPEAK
TO GRIFFIN SCHOOLS
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.)
GRIFFIN, Ga., May 13.—Hon. John
M. Staton, of Atlanta^will be one of
the principal speakers at the closing
i exercises of the Griffin High school,
which begin on Friday night. May 24.
Governor Slaton will address the grad
uating class on Tuesday night, May 28,
and the most interesting program of
the commencement season will be ar
ranged for that occasion.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1912.
WILL SHE JILT WILLIE?
NEW JERSEV LIQUOR MEN
PLAN TO FIGHT WILSON
Retail Dealers in Secret Con
ference Decide to Work
Quietly Afeainst Him
(BT BAX.TK SMITH.)
WASHINGTON, May 11.—There is
reason to believe that the liquor inter
ests of New Jersey are preparing to
mak an unostentatious campaign
against Governor Woodrow Wilson at
the presidential primaries that are to
be held In the state toward the close
f the moth, accofding to the New York
Sun. A widely credited rumor has it
that at the meeting of the executive
committee of the New Jersey retail
liquor dealers’ protective league held in
Newark on Thursday Governor Wilson's
attitude on the liquor question was the
topic of an animated discussion.
The meeting was held behind guard
ed doors and the details were not made
known, but it is said that while the
committee did not deem it advisable to
commit the organization against the
governor .the dealers in the state are
to be advised that a vote in the pri
maries for Wilson is a vote for an ac
tive prohibition president.
The committee's action follows closely
the announcement in a Chicago liquor
organ edited by the secretary of the
National Retail Liquor Dealers’ league
that "we do not want a prohibition
president.”
The Chicago organ prints a letter
Governor Wilson sent to the Maine pro
hibition party when the campaign
against the constitutional prohibition
clause was going on In the state last
fall and another letter of his to the
Texas prohibitionists declaring his be
lief that state-wide prohibition was the
thing for the Lone Star commonwealth.
The letter to the Mafrie prohibittion
ists was in denunciation of the use by
the anti-prohibition workers In that
state of a letter the governor had pre
viously sent to the Rev. Dr. Shannon,
of the New Jersey anti-saloon league
favoring the local option plan. For
years the anti-saloon league of New
Jersey has striven to force the legisla
ture of that state to enact a local
option law. Never more than a handful
of votes could be secured for it in either
branch. When Dr. Wilson became gov
ernor the Rev. Dr. Shannon sought as
an ally. To a letter the parson sent
him the governor made answer that
while he did not desire to see it made
an Issue between the parties, but rather
treated as a moral issue that should be
dealt with on non-partisan lines, he
yet believqfl in the principle of local
option.
And in the recent veto of a liquor
bill passed by two legislatures at the
instance of the Wholesale Liquor Deal
ers’ Association, he made the plea for
"home rule,” in liquor regulation, which
is the rallying cry of the New Jersey
prohibitionists in their local option
campaigns.
R. L. GRAY ENDS LIFE .
IN CELL IN TAMPA
(By Associated Frees.)
TAMPA, Fla.. May 13. —R. L. Gray of
either Atlanta or St. Louis, committed
suicide in a cell in the city prison Sun
day morning at 7 o’clock by swallowing
carbolic acid.
Gray arrived in Tampa Friday ana
gave his name at the hotel where he
stopped as Carl Gannon. He rented a
typewriter Saturday afternoon and a
few hours later sold it for S2O to an
automobile dealer, who became suspi
cious when the price was mentioned.
Gannon was subsequently arrested and
carried to the police station.
At six o’clock Sunday morning he
was served with breakfast and at seven
was found on tne floor of his cell dead.
A cell-mate was still asleep when the
dead body was found.
Letters, laundry marks on the .gar
ments worn by the man and baggage
identifiedy him as R. L. Gray. The
carbolic acid was bought in Atlant*
and clothing marks indicate that he haa
also purchased clothing there.
‘EVELYN NESBIT THAW WANTS ,
CASH INSTEAD OF ALLOWANCE
(By Associated Press.)
NEW YORK, May 13.—Bewitched by the
charms‘of a red-cheeked, black-haired
tot, Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, it is reported
here today, is straining resource
to collect 315.000 on checks signed by her
husband. Aftsr this. It t» declared, she
hopes to quit Thaw entirely.
With the beautiful baby boy. whose
constant companion she has been ever
since his birth in Europe 21 months ago,
and with $15,000 capital, she hopes to cut
loose forever from Thaw, abandoning the
$5,000 a year she long has received from
him. Her ambition is. to seek upon the
stage the independent life and freedom
for personal effort denied tier by terms
of the contract under which she has re
ceived money from the Thaws.
She will not be a witness in the habeas
corpus proceedings before Justice Keogh,
in White Plains, next month, if she car
ries out the purpose she has announced
YOUNG WARD, OF DE LA BARRA
STABS COMPANION IN NEW YORK
(By Associated Press.)
NEW YORK, May 13.—Jose Balboa,
20 years old, son of a Mexican million
aire merchant, was locked up in tl»e
One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street
police station early today, charged
with felonious assault on Frederick
Sausront, a young Porto Rican student,
who is in a serious condition in the
Harlem hospital, suffering from a stab
wound in the left lung.
According to the police, Balboa and
GREAT WAR FLEET WILL ATTACK
CITY OF NEW YORK IN JUNE
(By Associated Press.) (
NEW YORK, May 13.—Officers of the
United States army at Fort Totten and
Fort Schuyler, on Long Island Sound,
today are making the final plans for the
defense of New York city from an invad-
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
TO HAVE COMMENCEMENT
(Special Dispatch to Tne Journal.)
AMERICUS, Ga., May 13.—The com
mencement exercises of the Third Dis
trict Agricultural college, at Americus,
will begin next Sunday, marking the
close of a very successful session of
this institution. Rev. W. F. Harden, of
Cordele, will preach the commencement
sermon before the graduating class of
11 members and student body of 150.
The annual address to the students ,
will be delivered the day following,
20th inst., by Hon. T. G. Hudson, late
commissioner of agriculture and candi
date for governor.'
Twenty-two counties and a half
dozen states represented in the
student body at this fine school this
year, and already the demand for ad
mission for the fall term will fill the
class rooms and dormitory to the ca
pacity point.
A new dormitory for girls is being
erected and w'4ll be ready for occupan
cy by the opening of the fall session.
Supt. John M. Collum Is at the head
of this fine school and has made of
it the peer of any educational institu
tion of its class in the state. The
school is upon a military basis with
three companies of uniformed, well
armed and well-drilled college cadets.
W. G. DEAN DIES SUDDENLY
AT COLUMBUS HOME
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.)
COLUMBUS, Ga., May 13.—Walter G.
Dean, aged 35, died suddenly this morn
ing. He was to have been married on
May 24.
to friends. If she were called, it would
involve exploitation ot the infant tq.
whom she is tenderly attached, ana
whose young life already has had more
than its share of mystery.
The child was born in Hamburg, Ger
many, a little less than a year after the
test of Thaw’s sanity in White Plains in
July and August. 1909.
Thaw enjoyed a large degree of per
sonal freedom at that time.
All who Have seen the little fellow
from the time of his birth are enthu
siastic about his baby beauty. They say
he has bright, snappy black, eyes and
curly raven hair, a flawless rosy com
plexion and every charm that babyhood
can claim.
When Evelyn Thaw and her baby first
returned to New York, about a year
ago, they lived in Harlem, but recently
have been in an upper Broadway apart
ment. The baby Is in charge of a negro
mammy.
Sausront became involved In a heated
argument regarding the present insur
rection in Mexico. Sausront made a
slighting remark about President Ma
dero, and was attacked by Balboa.
Sausront says that Balboa drew a knife
and after several lunges stabbe<r him
under the shoulder.
Balboa is a student in a private pre
paratory school Ijere. His legal guar
dian until a short time ago was Fran
cisco de la Barra, former Mexican am
bassador to the United States.
, ing fleet which is to attack the city
early in June. The hostile fleets will be
commanded by membera of the naval re
serves. For four nights they will play
at the war game. According to the ar
rangements, the battle commaoders’ sta
tion will be at Fort Totten.
TALLADEGA SWEPT
BY TWO CYCLONES
(By Associated Press.)
TALLADEGA, Ala., May 13. —A cy
clone struck Talladega Saturday night
at 8 o’clock, doing a property damage
of approximately $165,000. There was
no Joss of life. The storm struck the
town from the southwest, going east,
and when immediately over the busi
ness district the twin disturbances unit
ed, doing heavy damage in the way of
broken windows and unroofing stores.
The Talladega county court house
was badly damaged, the force of the
wind snapping fodr massive granite
columns like reeds. The plants suffer
ing heaviest were the Alabama Power
Development company, 565,000; court
house, $10,000; Highland City Cotton
mill, 512,500; Talladega Machine and
Foundry. company, 510,090, and to the
telephone and telegraph system, $15,000,
Until 11 o'clock today Talladega was
completely cut' off from the outside
world and details were unobtainable.
The early reports of the cyclone were
exaggerated. The five state institu
tions located at Talladega were unin
jured, being out of the path of the
storm. The two depots were also un
damaged. The path of the tornado
was a half-mile wide and a mile long.
While the wire service is still inter
rupted, details are being given out via
the railroad.
Moore Dies Suddenly
NASHVILLE. Ga., May 13.—Mr. Jack
Moore, who has resided in this county
for a number of years, dropped dead
near his home. Heart failure was the
cause. The interment was at Long
Bridge.
COBURN BE KffiS
HIKES ISSUEm
SECRMY WILSDfI
Declares 1912 Wheat Crop
Will Not Be Small and That
Reports Sent Out Are Very ■
Misleading
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.) "
KANSAS CITY, Mo.. May 11.—Wheat
is the most important and most widely B
diffused of the cereals and the premier
breadstuff; hence there Is universal
interest in it from seedtime to harvest.
A small wheat crop means dear bread, . <
and a large yield, lower prices, accord- .ii
ing to F. D. Coburn, Kansas state sec- J
retary of agriculture, - J
One disturbing and ‘altogether too in
fluential factor constantly tending to
uneasiness and disturbance in the mar
kets in certain seasons of the year is
the continuous stream of reports by so- |
called crop “experts,” apparently em
ployed by certain interests to yavel
about in the agricultural states anu j
use the wires, the mails and the news.
papers to help spread a cloud of pes
simism, a wet blanket, so to speak, over
the entire growing crop situation. 3
TOO MANY PESSIMISTS.
Mr. Coburn says: “It is notable that J
these parties have never before been r»
industrious, so acute, so ingenious in
their methods and so liberal with their
testimony as they are this ’
Seemingly they report with the same
facility for territory they traverse on
limited trains in the night as they -j
could if they leisurely tramped the
fields at high noon, microscope in hand- ?
"No person can ride over the 52,-
000,000 acres of Kansas to scan and es- i
timate the prospect of the seven and a
half million acres that were sown to
wheat last fall. It would be a physical «
impossibility in the first place, and in
the second place if he could cover.th*
ground it would be at such a" rapid
pace that his findings would be of no
value. i
"Furthermore, when the ‘expert*
makes his visitation he steers for the
’bad spots' to lesrn of the damage,
rather than the counties of most prom
ise. Hence, the apostles of woe see only
the poorest kind, that too often it
seems, is what they are seeking.
“There are inspectors who have
real desire to know the actual grais
conditions, who take the time to make
bona fide inspections and whose reports
are based on what was actually seen,
bunt their showings being more con
but their showings being more con
servative and less sensations!, are
less potential in speculative circles than
those that breathe devastation and de- x"
struction.
KANSAS CROPS. x
“When timely showers and sunshine
have put the fields aglow w’ith a com
ing prosperity not to be repressed oth
erwise, the public may expect to read
in the near future of fierce eruptions
of ’green bugs,’ ehinch bugs, Hesilar.
flies, army worms and whatever other
media may be deemed most effectively §
alarming for the purposes sought.
“So far as Kansas and Nebraska,
the principal points of the great win
body disputes that there are counties
body disputes that there are evounties
where an unfavorable fall or winter.
or both, have caused severe damage;
others that are damaged, but less se
verely, and many others where condi
tions are well-night perfect. There W
no reason whatever to suppose that
out of all this there may not be a vast
aggregate of wheat.
"May first the t Kansas department
reported, after a* thorough canvass,
that we had more than 6,000,000
of growing winter wheat that would be
left standing (one-fifth of all in the
United States), with an average condi
tion of 81.2 per cent.
“A report at this time of the year on
winter wheat can only comprehend j
stand, growth and condition. To some
it may indicate probable yields; it |
would to all if we could know that
present conditions were to continue
until after harvest.
’Some history Illustrates the futll
ity of guesses based on ante-harvest
days. In April, 1911. the acreage of
Kansas winter wheat left standing
was 5.330,000, with a condition of 78.54,
the yield was 50,704,673 bushels,
“In April. 1910, on 4,532.000 acres
the condition was 76. and in November
the yield was found to exceed 60,006,-
000 bushels.
"Now note the contrast?
"In 1910, with a smaller acreage and
a lower condition in April, there was a
crop 10.000,000 bushels greater than in
1911, when the April acreage and con
dition was considerably higher.”
TEACHERS ARE NAMED
BY VALDOSTA SCHOOLS
(Special Cable to The Journal.)
VALDOSTA. Ga.. May 13.—At a meet- «
ing of the city school board yesterday, *•’
the following teachers were elected for
the next year: Superintendent, W. O. .'i
Roberts, Yatesville. Ga.; Valdosta high
school principal. T. D. Seals, Atlanta.
Ga.: mathematics, T. D. Seals; English. 9
E. Grigg Elcan. Virginia; history. Miss
Mary Kelly. Valdosta; Miss Maua
Bolton, Tignall, Ga.
Grammar School —Sixth grade, Miss
Leila Ellis. Valdosta. Ga.. fifth grade. i
Miss Camilla Stevens, Valdosta. Ga.;
fourth grade, bliss Mattie Sallas, Mill- 1
edgeville, Ga ; third grade. Miss Alma
Albritton. Quitman, Ga.; second grade, 8
Miss Minnie Lane. Valdosta, Ga.; first
grade. Miss Mabie Murchison, Nortn
Carolina.
Central Grammar School—Principal.
Miss Cora Mahone, Macon. Ga.; seventn
grade A.. Miss Cora Mahone; seventh
grade 8.. Miss Willie Wood, Cedar
town. Ga-; sixth grade. Miss Lillian jJ
Harkness, Jackson. Ga.; fifth grade
Miss Sarah McDowell, Talbotton. Ga.;
fonrth grade. Miss Josephine Denmark,
and Miss Noyce Ellis, Valdosta. Ga.;
third grade. Miss Taylor. Val
dosta, Ga.; second grade. Miss Mamie
Gray, Harieni. Ga.. and Miss Susie How
ard. Valdosta, Ga.; first grade. Mls»
Ruth Candlish, Atlanta. Ga.
GRIFFIN BOY SCOUTS
WILL HOLD CAMP
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.
GRIFFIN, Ga., May 13.—At an en
thusiastic meeting of the' Boy Scout«
of Griffin, held Saturday afternoon, it
was unaiimously decided to go into
camp at Warm Springs on June 3. el
for their annual outing of ten days It
Is expected that fully fifty scouts will
go into camp this year and the boys
are anticipating a very delightful trip.
NO. 68.