Newspaper Page Text
LOWER RATES
GLADLY GIVEN
By Southern Railway to People of
South Carolina*
ACT OF APPRECIATION
•Conservatism of Palmetto State in Deal
ing With Rate Agitation Redounds
to Her Advantage.
South Carolina’s conservatism to
ward the railroads has worked to the
state’s advantage. The Southern rail
way will voluntarily inaugurate April
1 next a flat ticket rate in the state of
.2 1-2 cents per mile, with special rates
-of 2 1-4 cents and 2 cents, of which
-a large proportion of the traveling pub
lic will be able to take advantage.
The above announcement was made
fcy President W. W. Finley at a con
ference held with Governor Ansel in
■•Columbia Friday morning. Other mem
bers of the conference were B. L.
Caughman, John H. Earle and J. M.
Sullivan, constituting the state rail
■road commission; Frazer Lyon, the at
torney general; W. W. Finley of Wash
ington, president of the Southern rail
way; J. M. Culp of Washington, one
of the vice presidents of the Southern;
A. W. Thom, of Washington, the gen
eral counsel of the Southern, and B.
L. Abney of Columbia, the Southern’s
-division counsel. e
Mr. Finley said that the Southern
would inaugurate under the new re
gime the following classes of transpor
tation: Regular rate ticket, 2 1-2 cents
a mile; family mileage books, 500
miles, limited to the use of the heads
of families and dependent members of
their families, all of whose names will
-appear on the cover, 2 1-4 cents a
anile; mercantile mileage books, 2,000
miles, which may be used at different
times by different members or em
ployees of a firm or corporation, not
exceeding five in number, 2 cents a
.mile; individual mileage books, 1,000
miles, limited to use by the purchaser,
.2 cents a mile.
The arrangement will be given a
twelve months’ trial, commencing April
1. In return for its voluntary action
in reducing the fares and thus placing
-South Carolina on the same footing in
regard to passenger rates as other
states which have recently passed rate
bills, the Southern railway will hope
lor some minor changes in present
laws by the legislature, which meets on
the 14th instant.
The Southern wishes permission to
•charge a fee of 15 cents in excess of
•the fare when passengers board trains
without tickets. This the present law
forbids them to charge. It was pointed
•out at the conference that only by thus
.penalizing travelers for not buying
tickets can the Southern hope to keep
•out of the way of its conductors the
temptation that lies for them in the
handling of cash fares collected on the
trains. Then the Southern wishes the
minimum rate for short hauls made 10
cents. It is now 5 cents. It is also
desired that the legislatupre authorize
the company’s agents, in colecting for
tickets to make the amount multiples
of 5 cents. This is primarily for the
sake of convenience in making change,
-a problem that sometimes gets very
troublesome at small stations.
The Southern’s proposition Is that
.2 1-2 cents shall be the turning point,
that is, that if the fare is, say $1.32, the<
agent may charge only $1.30, but if the
fare Is $1.34 the agent may charge
■11.35.
THE VERDE NATIONAL FOREST 5
In Arizona Officially’Created By Proclama
tion of President.
A Washington special says: The
president has signed a proclamation
creating the Verde national forest in
Arizona Territory, with an area of
721,780 acres located in Maricopa and>!
Yavapai counties.
JAPS FORCED TO DECAMP.
Mob Raids Their Quarter in Ogden and
Riot Was Narrowly Averted.
With cries of “Hang the Japs!” two
hundred men invaded the Japanese
quarter at Ogden, Utah, and but for the
timely arrival of the police, a riot would
have resulted.
The trouble was brought about by
the placing of a number of white la
borers with the Japanese In the rail
road yards. The threats of lynching
by the mob frightened the Japanese
into deserting their homes and they
fled in every direction.
ANIMUS OF RAIDS.
Real Cause of Tobacco War in Kentucky
and Resultant Depredations of Night
Riders Pointed Out.
jjA Louisville, Ky., special says: The
raid on Russellville, Ky., early Fri
day morning by Night Riders, which re
sulted in the destruction of nearly
SIOO,OOO worth of property and the
wounding of three persons; the re
fusal Saturday of the tobacco growers
at a meeting in Winchester to accept
the proposition for the purchase of to
bacco and the announced intention of
the growers to proceed against the
American Tobacco company in the
courts, following Governor Wilson's
statement that the lawless element will
be severely dealt with, have brought
to an acute stage a condition which
has existed in Kentucky and Tennes
see for years. Recent conferences at
Frankfort between a representative of
the American Tobacco company and
the tobacco growers have resulted only
in transferring the matter to the head
of the company in New York for con
sideration.
The situation is the result of a fight
of the growers of tobacco against the
Amsrican Tobacco company and other
purchasers, and the complications are
best explained by the following re
counted sequence of events in chrono
logical order:
First: The apparent passing of the
leaf tobacco market in Kentucky and
Tennessee into the control of the Amer
ican Tobacco company, with the sub
sequent elimination of nearly all the
middlemen or independent tobacco
buyers and rehandlers.
Second: The awakening of the farm
ers to the situation, and the formation
by them of the American Society of
Equity and the two subsidiary organiza
tions, the Burley (light-colored leaf) To
bacco association and the Dark Tobac
co association, with the purpose of pool
ing and holding their crops until they
could obtain what they claimed would
be a fair price from the American To
bacco company and affiliated con
cerns.
Third: The failure of the attempt by
the farmers’ societies to win ever a suf
ficient majority of the growers of to
bacco In their pooling plan to enable
them to immediately compel the com
pany to pay the price demanded.
Fourth: Ostracism and petty persecu
tion directed against so-called “inde
pendents’’—the farmers who were un
willing or unable to pool and hold their
crops of tobacco, and who sold to the
“trust.”
Fifth; Whipping of tobacco buyers
and farmers who sold their crops; de
struction of beds of young tobacco
plants; burning of tobacco barns con
taining the harvested crops of indepen
dents; shooting into homes, and' the
wounding of innocent persons, among
them being women; the warning of re
fractory independents to leave the
country.
Sixth: The culmination of the mob
spirit In bold attacks on Princeton,
Hopkinsville and Russellville, towns
of from 4,000 to 10,000 inhabitants,
which raids resulted in the dynamiting
and burning of tobacco warehouses
controlled by the American Tobacco
company; the killing of several of the
raiders, the wounding of a number of
citizens and the destruction of property
owned by innocent neutrals because the
raiders refused to allow the Are depart
ments to work.
As to the claim that the trust forces
the grower to accept an unfair price,
neither side has produced any figures
as to cost of production and farm
values in the tobacco districts which
would bear out the statements pro or
con. The "trust” has suffered the loss
of a number of warehouses and their
contents, the estimates on the direct
gross loss running from $125,000 to
$250,000.
Fourteen of their warehouses have
been closed. This loss, however, un
doubtedly falls below the aggregate
by the men who have
refused to join the farmers’ associa
tions or pool their crops. Some of them
were too independent to be coerced.
DEPOT LEVIED ON BY SHERIFF.
Freight House of Louisville and Nashville
at Atlanta Held for Taxes.
To satisfy fl. fas. against the Louis
ville and Nashville railway for taxes
amounting to $6,240. the sheriff of Ful
ton county Friday levied on the prop
erty of the railway, deeded to the Lou
isville and Nashville by the city of At
lanta.
The railway company holds itself ex
empt from taxation, inasmuch as the
property is built on land belonging to
the Georgia railroad, which, being the
first established in the state, is not
liable for taxation.
CALEB POWERS
ALMOST FREED
Ten Jurymen Voted for Acquittal
But Two Blocked Their Game*
A MISTRIAL WAS RESULT
Was Fourth Trial of Noted Prisoner Ac
cused of Complicity in Goebel's
Murder-Fifth Trial July 6th.
After being out more than 48 hour*
the jury in the case of Caleb Powers
at Georgetown, Ky., tried on a otiarge
of complicity iu the murder of William
e
Goebel, Saturday, finally reported that
they were unable to agree upon a ver
dict, and were discharged by Judge
Morris.
This wag the fourth trial of Powers.
In two of the former trials Powers
was convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment, and in the third trial
he was also convicted and given the
death sentence.
Few criminal trials have attracted
more attention than hag the case of
Caleb Powers, who, eight years ago,
waa just entering on his term ae sec
retary of state, when William Goebel,
demooratlc contestant in the guberna
torial contest then pending before the
legislature, was shot and killed at
Frankfort, the shot having apparently
been fired from a window of the sec
retary’s office.
Powers was arretted and for nearly
eight years has been in various Jails in
Kentucky, part of the time as a state
and part gs a federal prisoner.
Powers was charged with being ac
cessory before the fact, and the open
window in his office has played a large
part In the various prosecutions. His
fourth trial, just concluded, continued
for seven weeks.
Through the inability of a jury to
agree In thiß last arraignment, Pow
ers will on the sixth day of July next
be compelled to staud a fifth trial for
his life. The attorneys for Powers
made a motion for bail, which was over
ruled by Judge Morris.
In their appeal to the court to grant
bail, Powers’ lawyers pleaded that the
defendant was not In good health and
that In view of the fact that the Jury
could not agree as to his guilt he should
be allowed to give ball.
Another motion of the defense that
the date of the next trial be fixed in
ten days was overruled and the data
was set by Judge Morris for July 6.
Ten of the twelve men on the Jury
voted for acquittal, two holding out
for conviction. Foreman J. T. Price
of Grant county, aged 65, and J. W.
Renaker of Harrison county, aged 62,
the two eldest men on the Jury, were
the two who refused to accode to the
ten.
There came near being an acquittal.
Mr. Renaker made a proposition to
Mr. Price to vote for acquittal. Price
held out, although a slok man. Rena
ker thereupon said he would vote with
Price. C. J. Marshall first voted for
conviction, but soon changed. The
jurors were greatly wrought up and
there was much ill feeling among them.
After the verdict was read in court two
of the jurors shook Powers by the
hand and actually cried. Powers states
that he Intends to fight the case to
the bitter end.
MEETING CALLED BY JORDAN.
Executive Committee of Cotton Associa
tion to Assemble in Dallas, Texas.
President Harvie Jordan of the
Southern Cotton Association has issued
a call for the meeting of the national
executive committee to be held at Dal
las, Texas, on February 19, next.
The annual convention erf the asso
ciation will also be held at Dallas,
Texas, February 19 and 20. The regu
lar annual meeting of the various state
divisions of the association will be
called to meet at their respective
state capitols throughout the cotton
belt on Wednesday, February 6.
PRISON SENTENCE SOON BEGINS.
Gaynor and Greene Ordered to the Atlanta
Federal Prison January 7th.
The Savannah attorneys of Greene
and Gaynor were notified Thursday by
District Attorney Erwin that it is the
purpose of the government to take the
prisoners from Macon to the federal
prison at Atlanta on January 7 to serve
their term of four years.
The notice was simply received as
Information. The attorneys will at
tempt no new step to prevent the car
rying out of the sentence. Nothing
more can be done.
TROUBLE STILL ON.
Night Riders Make a Raid on Russellville,
Kentucky, Apply Torch and Use
Gune Promiscuously.
A special from Louisville, Ky., say>:
Although all is now apparently quiet in
the struggle between the tobacco grow
ers of Kentucky and Tennessee and
the American Tobacco company, the
developments of the day have given
great uneasiness. The town of Russell
ville, which was raided by night riders
early Friday morning, was quiet Fri
day night, but the sheriff and his dep
uties, the police and the citizens were
on the alert to prevent any repetition
of the outrages. It was decided by
the peace officers and the leading citi
zens, iu view or the improbability of
another raid, that the governor would
not be asked for troops. State Fire
Marshal Mott Ayres, however, will be
gin an immediate investigation of
Thursday night’s raid, whicb resulted
in the Bhooting of three men by the
raiders, the burning of two tobacco
warehouses and a planing mill, and the
partial destruction of three smaller
buildings. The county judge and court
officials have notified Governor Wilson
that a special term of court will be
called to consider the evidence
brought out by the investigation, and
that extraordinary efforts will be made
to apprehend and punish the guilty
parties.
The most disturbing news of the
day, following as it did on the heels
of the Russellville raid, was the fail
ure of the Burley Tobacco Society and
the chief buyers for the American To
bacco company to agree regarding the
marketing of the 1907 crop held by the
society. The parties met at Winches
ter, in accordance with the terms of a
compromise agreement recently brought
about by Governor Wilson. The Bur
ley men wanted the company to buy
60,000 hogsheads of tobacco from them,
while the buyers would agree to take
but 10,000 hogsheads. The Hurley men
consented to sell the smaller amount.
The tobacco had already been Inspected
and graded. The Burley men fixed a
minimum price of 15 cents a pound. The
company buyers refused to give more
than 12 cents.
The Burley society issued, a state
ment after the failure of the conference
declaring that, after making the con
cession in regard to the amount to be
bought and failing to agree on a price
for the smaller amount proposed by
the company, the growers asked the
buyers If they would consider further
compromise propositions. The buyers,
according to the statement, declared
that further propositions were useless.
The statement concludes:
“The attitude taken by the buyers
demonstrates conclusively that the
American Tobacco company Is the
only buyer left for our tobacco, and
that It Is determined to fix Its own
price."
A further conference between the
buyers and Burley association has been
called for Frankfort in a final effort
to reach a settlement, but it is feared
the failure of negotiations at the Win
chester meeting may increase the fric
tion in the tobacco districts.
POOR DELUDED AMERICAN HEIRESS.
Countess of Yarmouth, Sister of Harry
Thaw, Wow Seeks a Divorce.
A London dispatch says: The fail
ure of another alliance of the; English
nobility with an American woman of
wealth became public Friday afternoon
when the cOuntess of Yarmouth, who
was Alice Thaw of Pittsburg, and a
sister of Harry K. Thaw, applied to
the divorce court for an annulment of
her marriage to the earl of Yarmouth.
FLAT RATE COMING SOON.
Georgia Railroad Commission Will Issue
Order at an Early Date.
An order establishing a flat rate of
two and a half cents per mile for pas
senger travel on the railroads In Geor
gia, this arrangement to become ef
fective April 1, will be issued in a
short time by the state railroad com
mission.
TWELVE CENTS WAS REWARD
Gives By Rich Woman to Man Who Found
Her Well-Filled Purse.
Douglas Gibson, a chair pusher,
found a pocketbook on the board walk
at Atlantic City, N. J., containing S4OO
in money and Jewelry worth several
thousand dollars. He was Just count
ing the money when the owner, a wo
man, appeared. She praised Gibson
for his honesty when he turned her
property over to her and said be should
be rewarded. She carefully counted
the bills and then gave CJibson two
nickels and two pennies as a reward.
THE SEABOARD
HAS TROUBLE:
Big Railway System Victim of Ad*
verse Legislation in the Sooth.
RECEIVERS APPOINTED
Attorneys Rusk to Federal Judge Pritchard
With Application to Placa Road’s
Aitoira in Court.
Because of its inability to secure tbs
funds to pay fixed charges due January
Ist, this inability being due to adverse
legislation in the south, the Seaboard
Air Lino railroad system was put lute
tho hands of receivers at Richmond,
Va., Thursday morning, through the ac
tion of Federal Judge Pritchard,
who was hurriedly summoned fioia
Asheville, N. C., to take cognizance of
the application for a receivership.
Judge Pritchard appointed as receiv
ers It. Lancaster Williams, of Rich
mond, and R. Davies Warfield of Balti
more. Both men are identified with
banking houses in Baltimore, Williams
being of the firm of Mlddendorf, Wil
liams & Cos., and Warfield is president
of the Continental Trust company. Mr.
Williams la also a partner in the firm
of John L. Williams & Sons of Rich
mond. The bond of each was fixed at
$50,000.
The title of the case as filed is "Th*
Seaboard Air Line Railway, complain
ant, against the Continental Trust Com
pany, trustees, under the first mortgage
made by the Seaboard Air Line railway,
defendant.”
Judge Pritchard’s decree gives the
receivers immediate possession of the
property, which embraces the main
stem from Portsmouth, Vs., to Tampa,
Fla., with numerous branches to coast
points on the east and to Atlanta, Mont
gomery and Birmingham on the west,
total of 2,382 miles.
The preliminaries to the appointment
of receivers for the Seaboard form •
dramatic Incident quite unique in rail
road history. Decision to put the road
into the hands of receivers was reached
at a conference in Washington on Tues
day night betwoen members of the vot
ing pool and creditors of the road,
both the Ryan and Williams force*
concurring. New year’s day application
for the receivership was made to Judge
Waddill, in Richmond, but ho referred
the party to Judge Pritchard of the
United States circuit court, who was at
his home in Asheville, N. C. Respond
ing to an urgent request by wire, the
judge started at once for Richmond,
and was met at Danville, Va., Wednes
day midnight by several Seaboard
attorneys, who had gone there from
Richmond by special train for a confer
ence.
The special train with Judge Pritch
ard on board returned to Richmond, ar
riving after a fast run at 7 o’clock oa
Thursday morning. After their sleep
less night and strenuous efforts came
no relaxation, however, the party only
allowing themselves a hasty breakfast
before presenting themselves be
fore Judge Pritchard to have put into
effect the arrangement reached at the
midnight conference for the passing of
tho crippled road with its $72,000,000
capital and $58,000,000 liabilities out
of the control of the voting trust into
the hands of two men. The necessity
for prompt action arose from the ma
turing of heavy liabilities January Ist.
By the decree the receivers are em
powered to borrow money if needful to
pay such rental aa may become due,
purchase cars, etc., and pay for labor
and supplies, but not for any other pur
pose without an order of the court har
ing primary jurisdiction. *
The effect of the receivership will bo
far-reaching in Baltimore, where the
securities of the company are more
largely dealt in and held than in any
other trading center, not even excepting
New York. The bond issues placed on
the property since it has been merged
into one system aggregate $30,765,000,
of which amount it is estimated nearly
$5,000,000 is held In Baltimore.
ROBBER WAS TRAILED BY DOGS.
Merchant Locked Up in His Store By
Negro Who Robbed Him.
After one of the most spectacular
chases ever known in the state of Ala
bama, Carol McDougall, a negro, was
caught In the swamps of Escambia
county. The pursuit illustrated, too,
the great value of good dogs, a pack
aiding in bis captuie.
The negro held up and robbed a
storekeeper of $2, holding a pistol on
the keeper and locking the door from
the outside. Those inside did not get
out until he was some distance away.