The Douglas breeze. (Douglas, Coffee County, Ga.) 18??-190?, July 01, 1899, Image 2

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H. B. PLANT DIES SUDDENLY The Great Railway and Steamship Magnate Succumbs To Heart Failure. DEATH OCCURS IN NEW YORK AND WAS UNEXPECTED Accomplished a Great Work For the South, Wherein He Found a New and Large Field. Henry B. Plant, president of the famous Plant system of railways, steamships and hotels, and of the Southern Express Company, died Fri day afternoon at his home on Fifth avenue, New York, at 2:45 o’clock. The immediate cause of his doath was heart failure, brought on by a general state of debility. No one was with him at the last hour but his wife and family physician. Mr. Plant had complained of feeling ill the day before, but went to his office at 12 West Twenty-third street, and attended to business with his ac customed interest and alertness. In the evening several friends called on him and he chatted with them in his usual good-humored way. During the night, however, he was taken sick and his physician was called. Dr. Durant staid with him to the end, Friday af ternoon, as did also Mr. G. 11. Tilley, secretary and treasurer of the South ern Express Company. His only child, Mr. Morgan F. Plant, was not present, being on a pleasure trip on his private yacht off the coast of New Jersey. HENRY 11. PLANT, Head of tlio Great Sywlem of llntlroa<ln Wlilch Hear Ilia Name, Who Dlori Suddenly In New York. Mr. Plant had not been sick since Inst November, when, on returning from a trip from Florida, he was sud denly seized in his private car in the Jersey City railway station at which time his life was depaired of, but he revived and went back to Florida, where he has been able to attend to bis various business interests during the winter season. His death wah so sudden ns to have surprised even those closest to him. Brief Sketch of Ilia Life. Mr. Plant was a native of Connecti cut, and was born ut. Branford on October 27th, 181'J. He came of n long line of Puritan ancestors, and among the forefathers were men who fought for the independence of the country in which they all became fac tors more or less prominent during their days. His ancestry came from England in 1689, and nearly everyone ooeupied some position of honor and trust. On his grandmother’s side he was descend ed from Joseph Frisbee, wno was a major in Washington’s army, the same family that gave Harvard its profes sor, Levi Frisbee. Through the Fris bees he was related to Sir William Pep perell, Bart, and the same strain gave him a kinship with the late Sen ator Hoar, whose middle name was Frisbee. Like the maternal side of! bis house, Mr. Plant’s paternal ances- j try figured prominently wherever they were known. For over two hundred years the Plants resided at Branford, and on the lands which were given them by the crown their descendants still reside, •ud all, lika the late railroad king, are men prominent in the section of the country in which they reside. . Mr. Plaut's father died while he was quite young, and at the time of that death Mr. Plant wa,s himself quite ill, so ill that he was not informed of his father's death until several days after it oc curred. Why 11. Cam* South. In 1853 Mrs. Plant was seized with congestion of the lungs, and the fami ly physiciaus ordered that she be taken to Florida; and this was the inception of Mr. Plant's connection with the south and the work he has accomplish ed in this section. In March, 1853,he left New York with his invalid wife on a steamer, and after touching at Char leston and Savannah, lauded at Jack- : stmville. At that time the Florida metropolis was made up of a dozen TROOPS READY TO EMBARK. England Still Kntcrtaln* l*ropect of War Id South Africa. A cable dispatch from London says : The Shropshire regiment has been or dered to hold itself in readiness for immediate embarkation for Capetown. The order, which was given Friday afternoon, creates the most intense ex citement, and the talk of war with the Transvaal is now absorbing all atten tion. huts, and Mr. Plant found it hard work to secure accommodations for Mrs. Plant. • The day after reaching Jacksonville Mr. Plant secured a home with a Flor idian six miles from Jacksonville, and during the winter Mrs. Plant’s health improved so much that he was able to return north with her the next spring. But during that time Mr. Plant had found the great health-giving qualities there were in the climate of the Pe ninsula State, and within less than a year he had again invaded the state and made some investments, which later turned out to have been judi cious. About this time the Adams Express company was more fully organized in the east, with some of the leading capitalists of that section as stock holders, and Mr. Plant lind a connec tion with the company. On his trips south he found anew and large field for the work of the company, and in a short time had extended the business over the lines into many southern cities, where nn express company’s work had never been heard of. The leading citieH of the south were brought into the territory of the Adams Ex press company, and no more profitable territory was to be found than that discovered by Mr. Plant. The entire southern field was under his direction, and when the civil war came on the directors of tne company decided to dispose of the southern ter ritory, believing that the work of transmitting valuables and paeknges could not be carried on with safety. Then it was that. Mr. Plant showed his great and unlimited faith in this sec tion and the people of it. He knew the character of the people among whom he had cast his lot, and as soon as the old company was out of the way he organized the Southern Express Company and was elected its first president. During his residence in the south he had won the confidence, esteem and respect of all, and none were slow to come to his support in the new enter prise, notwithstanding the fact that it was generally known thatMr.Plant’s sympathies were against secession. In a short time after the new company was formed the seat of the Confederate government was at Montgomery, and there President Davis and his cabinet were located. M. Plant was always open and frank. There was nothing of the deceptive nature him, and be fore entering upon the duties of a pub lic carrier in the new government he decided to let the head of that govern ment and his advisers know just where he stood. By an attorney he presented his views and ideas to President Davis in the presence of the entire Confederate cabinet. Mr. Plant was known to each of the gentlemen personally or by reputation, and when his position had been defined he was told to go ahead with the work, and that the government hud every confidence in his honesty and integrity.' After the war Mr. Plant continued the express company and was again and again elected its president, never being out of that office from the time of its creation up to the time of his death. In the later seventies and early eighties Mr. Plant' made two or three trips to Europe, and it was while on one of these trips that he conceived the idea of building palace steamers for his lines. How he carried out those plans the thousands who have ridden *on his steamers know well enough. Along with his steamboat lines, Mr. Plant projected a system of railroads whoih today reach far and wide. All Florida is touched by some of his lines, either a breach or a main stem tapping sections of the entire state. Few roads are better equipped and few employes find themselves so well cared for as those ou the Plant system. It was not until 1879 that Mr. Plant became interested in Florida railroads aud laid the foundation of the great system hearing his name. The first railroads purchased by him were the Atlantic A Gulf, now known as the Savannah, Florida and Western, and the Charleston and Savannah. Since then many lines have been ac quired and numerous connecting links constructed, now all embraced in the corporation chartered by the leg islature of Connecticut ns the Plant In vestment Company. Supplementing the railroad properties are several steamship lines, the most important of which is that running from Tampa and Key West to Havana, which has been in operation since 1884. ROOSEVELT IS PATRIOTIC. He 1* Aniiouk to FurnUh All Volunteer* That May Be Needed. Governor Roosevelt, of New York, telegraphed President McKinley Fri day, informing him that in the event of a call for volunteers being made New York was prepared to furnish all the men the government might ask for, and asked that an opportunity be given New York state to 3o so. II IP’S Ml! urn BARTOW PHILOSOPHER HAS SOME THING TO SAY ABOUT TRUSTS. BE DEPLORES THEIR EXISTENCE. “Trout In The Lord and IJo Good” In the Only Truat That William Commends to Ilia Fellow Mortal* David saitb “Put not your trust in princes,” and if he had lived in our day he would have added nor iu mil lionaires or oil trusts or sugar or whisky or tobacco or even in chewing gum trusts. “Trust in the Lord and do good” is the only trust he com mended. I wonder why the combines are called trusts. I reckon it is be cause the combiners know it is a rascal ly business and they will have to trust one another to tote fair and divide square, for they can’t enforce it by law. These trusts seem to he a modern in vention—a North American idea—an idea of our northren brethren to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The consumers of oil and sugar and such things are not complaining of the price—nor would they complain if they got them for nothing, but these combines are founded on selfishness and greed. They disturb the general welfare, destroy the equilibrium and put the public in constant peril. They can raise the price when they wish to and there is no competition to keep it down. If competition dares to build up against them they can destroy it in a week of a month. They ha've no heart or pity or kind consideration for their employees, but can reduce their wages or discharge them at their pleasure. They defy the law and bri,l>e courts aud lawmakers. Now, it may be possible that the oil trust or the sugar trust sell us those commodi ties as cheap or cheaper than if there were no trusts, but we would rather pay more and have a free fight, it is all a one-sided business and the old maxim that “competition is the life of trade” has been virtually destroyed. We old men have not ceased to la ment the destruction of the hundreds of small industries that before the war enriched our state aud made the peo ple happy and contented. The time was when there was a wagon shop aud a blacksmith shop at every cross roads —a hatter’s shop and two or three shoeshops in every village—a tanyard in every settlement and little mills on every creek. But big fish have swal lowed up the little ones. Their pro ducts may be cheaper now, but the producers have had to move away or go to planting cotton. Northern cap ital takes our iron and timber and hides and wool aud after paying freight both ways sells back to us what we had been making at home. Time was when I wore shoes that were made in our village—made from leather that was tauned not far away. Time was when I was proud of the wool hat that Ben South made—made while I was looking on. I remember that the whipping post was planted not far from the hatter’s shop and how 1 ran home on one occasion to keep from seeing a white man whip ped. “I will meet you at the hatter’s,” was a time-honored maxim, but is not now. Time was when once a week I rode the little bay mare to mill three miles away and left my grist so as to have a race back with some other boy. And there was a country school on the road and the boys waylaid us because we had dared to cry “school butter.” This reminds me to say in passing I re ceived a letter the other day from some Alabama school boys wautiug to know the origin and meaning of “school butter." My father was an oldtimo school teacher and said that in his boyhood the expression was “school better” and signified that “our school is bet ter than your school,” and it always provoked a collision. Some very huu gry boys corrupted it into “school butter.” But the town boys never go to mill nowadays; the mill eomes to them. Home-made shoes and hats are things of the past—everything eomes from the north, and is now made by a trust—and on almost everything we use or consume there is a duty or tariff, aud we pay our part of it to kesp up the government expenses aud pay the pensions and fight the Filipinos. Talk about the trusts —that pension trust is is the biggest trust of all, and the most corrupt. How the north stands it I cannot understand. Over $2,000,- 000,000 have already gone that way, and John Brown’s soul keeps march ing on. Ohio gets $13,000,000 this year, and Georgia has to pay her quota of the $160,000,000 and gets nothing. Yes, Georgia pays about $6,000,000 annual ly through the operations of the tariff. I bought a pocket knife today for 50 cents that I could have bought in London for half the money. Just think of it, my brethren, $6,000,000 in tariff taxes annually to support a million pensioners, oue-tenth of whom are entitled to it under the law and line-tenths are frauds. This scanda lous trust is backed by the G. A. Rs., and they are backed by the republican party, and that party is backed by the cohesive power of public pluuder. If this was all that Georgia paid we would be happy, but our state haR to pay her part of $800,000,000 toiore than it takes to run the national machine. Altogether we pay not less thai,\s4oA 000,000 annually for the remaining in the union How for oppression? I tell you. ii- an.ounr of patriotism ern man to love his eovt'.' ,l flH|S fight for it. The only Av to be a patriot is to shut one’s ey/s and go it blind. It would not do to think about our grievances, for they interfere with •our digestion. Besides all these troubles there is a long, dry drought upon us, and our gardens have dried up and the money has given out, and the cook is sick, and I have to hunt up kindling wood and lire up the stove before sun-up and go to market, and there is a picnic on hand tomorrow and one of the little grandchildren got hurt on the jogging head. It tore li e fie-ui from her ukle, and T almost cried; and out log and another dog cot to figlitina right over another little one and knocked her down and scared her into fits, and I couldn’t run to her as fast as I wanted to, for my corporosity interferes with my alacrity. • Besides all this, the town is kept in commotion about the jug business, and it has got into the courts and into the churches, and folks have taken sides and friends are alienated, and a man don’t dare to go to town hardly for fear of being drawn into it, ‘ ‘A soft answer turneth away wrath, ” but they are not soft in these parts. “When a man’s ways please the Lord He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him,” but his ways don’t seem to please the Lord in Cartersville, for his enemies are not at peace with him. The great question here is not about drinking or selling whisky, but is about the right of a man to order a bottle or a jug from Atlanta for his private use or for medicinal purposes; and its agitation and denunciation has made as much talk as the magna char ta, and both sides declare they will take it to the supreme court of the United States of North America and the Philippines. Then, again, Hon. Pope Brown, the zealous president of the State Agricul tural society, says the state will not prosper any more until the negroeß are sent away or colonized; but if they won’t go, what is to be done about it? He says that education has ruined the negro as a laborer, but how is it to be stopped? The rich fools at the north keep ou dying and leaving money to negro schools, and our law-makers keep on making appropriations for them and taxing us to educate them to oppose our people and to take sides with our political enemies, who are killing negroes in Indiana because they want work. And .now the war party want ne groes to go to the Philippines and fight other negroes. That would be a good deliverance all around, but I don’t believe they will go to any ex tent. The negro is in the wood pile, and he is here to stay. Let him stay as long as he behaves, and if they won’t behave and be good citizens they will suffer in the flesh. Our people are tired fooling with them, and are desperately in earnest. I reckon we can get up excursions and take all the bad ones to Indiana and drop them. They will go on an excursion.— Bill Arp in Atlanta Constitution. If you have something to sell, let the people know it. An advertise ment in this paper will do the work. WOMAN CONTRADICTS HERSELF. Mrs. Graves Is Welding: Strong Chain of Evidence. Each day the evidence against Mrs. Graves, in jail at Valdosta, Ga., charged with the murder of her hus band in Echols county, seems to grow stronger aud the woman herself is welding the chain. Her first story was to the effect that it was a case of sui cide. The inquest disproved the suicide theory, the physician stating that the wound could never have been inflicted by his own hand. Seeing the fallacy of her suicide statement, it is said, Mrs. Graves then changed her statement at the prelimi nary hearing to about as follows: “I was in the kitchen and Mr. Graves ou the porch just outside. We were talking and I had my hand on the coffee mill. I turned my head aud as I did so I heard a pistol shot, and turning saw my husband fall, but do not know who fired the shot.” INCREASE STANDING ARMY. Orders Given For Enlistment of Volun teers For Philippines. Asa result of a conference between the president and Secretary Alger Tuesday evening, it is announced that it has been decided to begin the en listment of volunteers for two years’ service in the Philippines. Orders to recruiting officers to this effect are to be sent out immediately. It is proposed to arm and equip at once three brigades, or about 10,000 men, and then to continue the work until the whole 35,000 authorized by the law are secured. There will be no call upon the states. The regiments will be organized as United States vol unteers. Officers will be appointed by the president and assigned to regi ments without regard to state lines. JUGGLED OYER DEPOT. Railroads Granted Further Time In Re gards to Atlauta’e Car Shed. Representatives of the railroads, the city of Atlanta and the state of Geor gia met in joint session before the state railroad commission Tuesday morning, juggled with the depot ques tion for two hours and a half, declared everybody interested was in earnest, reiterated the story of old, made new promises and then the roads asked for further time. The discussion was interesting and H times rather spicy, and it looked at H'eral times that the city rymld score, Hit the commission adjourned after Hving the roads until August Ist to Hport back in writing just what they Hrnld do. MINERS BATTLE IN ALABAMA Three Negroes are Shot Down By Whites. RACE WAR OCCURS AT CARDIFF Negro flinersWere Attempting to Prevent Capture of a Member Of Their Band. A special from Birmingham, Ala., says: Three negroes dead aud one not expected to live, is the result of a riot between the white and negro mi ners at the ore mines near Cardiff, in Jefferson county Tuesday. The dead are: Ed Ellis, Jim Dill, Adam Samuels. Seriously wounded—Rudolph Wil liams, George Thomas. The two races came to a clash late in the afternoon in Glasgow Hollow, where the negroes had congregated, armed with winchesters. A white man passing along the road was held up and besides being abused, was roughly handled. This news soon spread and an armed body of white miners moved toward the hollow. It is supposed that they went around by a circuitous route in the mountains and came upon the negroes unexpect edly. Ringleader First to Fall. Ed Ellis, the ringleader, armed with a rifle and Colt’s revolver, fell at the first volley. A rifle bullet did the work. There was another volley and four of the other negroes fell. Jim Dill and Adam Samuels died a few minutes later after being removed to a negro house. George Thomas was shot through the abdomen with a Winches ter bullet. is not expected to re cover. Rudolf Williams will live. The trouble started Monday when it was thought that John Shepherd, who last week assaulted Mrs. Monroe Jones near Corona, was in that com munity. The negroes armed themselves to prevent his capture. Both sides were aroused and only the timely ar rival of a sheriff’s posse prevented an outbreak. Tuesday morning the negro miners held a mass meeting and refused to go work. They all belong to a secret or ganization known as the “Knights of Africa” or the “Mysterious Ten.” They keep rifles and ammunition on hand at all times. It was in the after noon that they gathered in Glasgow Hollow, although with what intention is not known. Influential citizens say that the ring leaders are now out of the way, and they hope to manage the other ne groes. Ed Ellis, the head of the band, and holding the chief office in the secret organization, made a speech to the negroes just before his death, telling them not to believe what the white officers had- told them, and swearing that he for one would get even with Sheriff O’Brien, who on Monday at the point of a shotgun or dered him to disperse his gang. Shortly after the riot Sheriff O’Brien left Birmingham with a hun dred armed men. Late reports say that the situation is extremely critical, and that the ne groes are talking of avenging the death of their leaders. Sheriff OBrien, who was at Bloss burg, received a message from Adams ville, three miles from that place, ask ing for protection. The message stated that an armed body of negroes were gathered in the mountains threat ening to make a descent upon the min ing camp in the valley. He dispatch ed all the deputies he could spare across the country. SOUTHERN PROGRESS. List of New Industries Established the Past Week. The more important of the new in dustries reported during the past week are a $60,000 brick-making plant in Florida; coal mines in Kentucky; three cotton mills in Georgia and one each in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia; cottonseed oil mills in North Carolina and Texas; electric light and power companies in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia; a fertilizer factory in Georgia; flouring mills in Arkansas and Tennessee; gas works in North Carolina and West Virginia; graphite mines in Alabama; ice factories in Alabama and North Carolina; an iron bedstead factory in Tennessee; lime kilns in West Virginia; lumber mills in Georgia, Kentucky and South Car olina; planing mills in Florida and Georgia; a rice mill in Louisiana; a rope and yarn mill in South Carolina; a sash, door and blind factory in Georgia; a telephone company in North Carolina; a tobacco stemmery in Virginia.—Tradesman, (Chattanoo ga, Tenn.) POSTMASTER ARRESTED As Result of Examination of the Key West Office. As the result of an examination of postoffice affairs at Key West, Fla., Louis Otto, the postmaster, was ar rested Tuesday on charges preferred by Postoffice Inspector Rosson, and taken before United States Commis sioner Crain, who placed Otto under $2,000 bond to appear before him for a hearing. GOEBEL m mill KENTUCKY DEMOCRATS FINALLY AGREE UPON A CANDIDATE. CLIMAX OF 11 LONG WRANGLE Senator Won Victory On the Twenty-Sixth Eiallot— Harmony Completely Restored. The wind-up of the most sensational convention in the history of Kentucky was reached at twenty-five minutes past 10 o’clock Tuesday night, when State Senator William Goebel was de clared the democratic nominee for governor. After one week’s continuous session, marked at times by outbreaks, whose intensity seemed to augur riots in the immediate present and the split up of the party as a natural consequence, the nomination of Goebel was finally accomjflished with harmony and the best of good feeling prevailing. Goebel has won through splendid generalship. He came to Louisville with but a few more votes, but by clever manipulation, by brave, courageous fighting, by his manly attitude throughout the con test, he has impressed his personality so strongly upon the convention that all the manipulations of the shrewdest politicians of the state could not pre vent his ultimate nomination. His victory is due to his own gener ship and good sense. Twice before the final coup he held the nomination within his grasp. One was that open ing ballot, when his Louisville leader made the mistake of breaking the agreement with the Stone people, and then again, when the skeleton ballot of Monday, when he had a majority of the quorum voting. Had Goebel been the kind of a poli tician some of his enemies pictured him, he would have demanded the nomination on that vote and would have had plenty of preliminary expe rience to sustain his demands. But instead, he sent Chairman Redwine word that he would not have a nomi nation by less than a majority of the full vote of the convention. This won him friends, for it showed his fair ness, and in the end it was a factor in bringing his nomination. The twenty-second ballot was most peacefully taken. After the result had been announced, one of the Goebel leaders introduced a resolution provid ing that on the twenty-fifth ballot the the lowest man be dropped. There was another hard fight over this, an effort being made by the Hardin-Stone managers to array those forces against the resolution. But the delegates had grown tired of the ceaseless ■ struggle, and the vote was finally completed,and stood 571 in favor of the resolution and 519 against it. The end was now in sight. Two ballots were to be taken before the test ballot, which was to determine which man was to be dropped, and the two who would have to fight it out. The twenty-third aud twenty fourth ballots were without incident, the only diversion being the injection of several dark horses. It was 9 o’clock before the fatal twenty-fifth ballot was taken. The result was . Goebel, 383; Hardin, 377 J, and Stone, 330*. Accordingly the chair announced that the name of Stone would be dropped and the desks were cleared for the twenty-sixth ballot, which was to nominate William Goebel. CfYDE STEAMER BURNS. The Pawnee Totally Destroyed, But All On Board Were Saved. The steamer City of Macon, which arrived at New York Tuesday from Sa vannah, reported that on Monday she passed the burning wreck of the Clyde line steamer Pawnee forty miles from Cape Henry. • The crew of 21 men was picked up by the George W. Clyde. All hands jvere saved. The Pawnee left Brunswick on Fri day aud Charleston on Saturday for Boston, laden with a valuable cargo, consisting of 400,000 feet of lumber, 11,500 crossties, 527 bales of hay, six carloads of watermelons and 456 bales of cotton She carried no passengers. The vessel was valued at SIOO,OOO, fully insured. PRESIDENT RETURNS HOME. Mrs. McKinley Became 111 and Outing Was Cut Short. The President and Mrs. McKinley with the other members of the presi dential party arrived in Washington at 10:30 a. m. Tuesday, an A were driven immediately to the whit^iuse. Mrs. McKinley, whose illdH cut short the president’s stay Mass., stood the joimu^M|^^H' W ell anil was slightly •H i : ■ 1 -:"e Jfll i- H wAM ED IX pH*? - ■ H H ■ I e ' .t .j for