Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

The Abbeville Chronicle VOL. II. UNDER THE PRETEXT OF SANI TARY PRECAUTIONS. IT IS EVIDENTLY RETALIATION. Representatives at Washington Express Themselves Regarding the Matter. May Result In Commercial War. * A cable dispatch from Berlin says: The Prussian minister of finance, Dr. Miguel,' has issued a decree which goes into effect immediately, prohibit ing the importation of every kind of American fresh fruit. The decree has been sent to all the German ports and frontier stations, excepting Bavaria, Saxony and Wurtemburg. The United States embassy was not previously warned and the United States embas sador, Mr. Andrew D. White, sent a formal letter to the foreign office in quiring upon what authority this in imical step was taken. The United States consul at Ham burg, Dr. Hugh Pitcairn, telegraphs that 16,000 barrels of American apples have been forbidden thebe unloaded and that two trains ot rican fruit have also been forbi, m cross the frontier at Emmerich, which, aside from Hamburg, is the principal place of entry. Is It Retaliation? A Washington special says: Senator Perkins, of California, when shown the above dispatch, said that the preven tion of importation on sanitary grounds was a mere pretext and that it was simply to keep out fruits which competed with German production and the order was no doubt issued as a retaliation against tbe United States because of differential tariff on sugar from bounty paying countries. Sena tor Perkins said he had no doubt that the United States could meet this new order by retaliation and if Germany did not want to be a market for our fruits and meats, measures could be taken which would also limit the mar kets in the United States to German products. Louisiana, Senator McEnery, of was much interested. “If this country,” said he, “would only prohibit the im portation of Germany’s cutlery and woolens there would soon be an end of auy discrimination against American thinking,that products,’ and according to my way of ” is what should be done. Mr. Hitt, chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, expressed surprise at the step taken. Without discuss ing the motives of the movement, Air. Hitt said it was evident Germany based her course on sanitary grounds, which would exclude the idea that the move was of a political and prospect ive character. Air. Hitt expressed hope that this was not a step in Ger many’s retaliatory policy, which had been referred to in recent utterances by distinguished German officials. Other members of the house foreign committee expressed the views that this was a part of Germany’s retali atory attitude toward the United States. Representative Walden Smith, of Alichigan, member of the committee, said: “The attempted exclusion of Amer ican fruit from the German markets at Emmerich is not the first act of hos tility displayed by Germany. Under ihe Cleveland administration, when our markets were open to German ex ports, they dealt very unfairly with this country, excluding our beef from the markets of Germany on the false pretext that it was unwholesome. Senator Mills, a member of the for eign relations committee, expre sed the opinion that Germany’s action was the logical sequence of our high tariff system. Georgia, also Senator Bacon, of thought the prohibition one of tbe re sults of our tariff system. “They have the power,” he said, “and I see nothing we can do to prevent their ex ercising it.” Senator Elkins said: “We may just as well have it but with Germany now as any other time. There is no deny ing that we are in a commercial war and we should fight it out on the lines they have laid down. I should go back at them on their own terms. I should prohibit the importation of their sugar.” MASSACHUSETTS STORM SWEPT. A Score of People Drowned and Property Loss Will Reach OOO,OOO. Belated dispatches from Boston state that a score of persons were drowned and $2,000,000 loss inflicted by the storm that swept over eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island Mon day night and Tuesday morning. Four unidentified bodies lie in the coroner’s office in Gloucester. Five more are in Lynn, brought over from Little Nahant, where the schooner Charles H. Briggs xvas wrecked. Twelve unidentified corpses are re ported at Baker’s island in Salem harbor. That there are others in the waters of the hay seems almost certain. ABBEVILLE, GA., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10. 1898. A TILT WITH TILLMAN. South Carolina Senator Makes Hawaiian I>ebato Lively. A Washington special says: De cidedly the most interesting part of the senate executive session Wednes day was when the Hawaiian discussed, annexa- and tion treaty was being .Senator 'lillmau took part in the de bate. Tho South Carolina senator referred to the recent Hawaiian revolution and to what ho termed the effort of tho re publican party to establish a govern ment in the interest of the white peo ple in the islands when they number ed only one out of thirty of tho inhab itants, and in this connection referred to the reorganization of party lines in the south after the war. “We were then,” he said, “in South Carolina at tempting to establish a white man’s government. The republican party interfered with us then, or attempted to do so, professing to hold opinions about the sacred rights of the majority to rule. I should like to know," he continued, “whether the republican party has changed its opinion on this subject of the right of the white man to rule; for, if it has and will extend it to the southern states, I will vote for the treaty.” “The distinguished senator from South Carolina evidently knows all about the efforts to re-establish the white man’s party in tho south after ihe war and could doubtless give us much interesting information ou that point,” said Senator Chandler. “I do know something,” responded Mr. Tillman, “and I know that there was some cheating and some use of the shotgun in those times, as there probably was in Hawaii.” “The senator from South Carolina would, I hardly think,” interrupted Senator Hoar, “say in open session what he has here said.” “I am willing to say it anywhere,” said Mr. Tillman. “I want the same policy all along the line. Throw open the doors and I will say what I have said before the entire world.” LOANED THE BANK’S MONEY To Wildcat Schemers and then Resigned From Ills Post. Wiliam J. Quinlan, Jr., cashier of the Chemical National hank at New Y T ork, has resigned his position. He acknowledged in a letter to the direc tors that he had loaned $333,000 of the bank’s money without consulting the president and knowing the direc tors would not approve of the action. He denies that he profited by tbe loan. The loans made by Air. Quinlan were on western securities of various kinds and were negotiated by Francis Grable, a promoter of land, mining and irrigation schemes. The first known of the affair by President Wil liams was when Quinlan called upon him at his home on (Sunday and made a full statement of the transaction. It is conceded that Quinlan, as cashier, had the power to make the loan, hut it is believed that in a transaction in volving so large an amount of money he should have consulted the presi dent. Air. Williams, president of the bank, said Wednesday: “We think that absolutely the worst is known and we are strongly in the hopes that Air. Quinlan’s expectations are true and that a large part of the money will be recovered. We would rather face the matter and let the pub lic know- the whole truth.” BURIED STOLEN MONEY. Saunders Admits Theft, But- Denies Re turning; Express Package. An Atlanta dispatch of Wednesday says: Although Lucius L. Saunders is in jail and has confessed that ho stole the $4,000 from the Southern Express Company, yet the return of the $3,700 to the company still appears to be a profound mystery. Pleading guilty to the charge against him, the prisoner at the same time stoutly maintains that he never sent the package to the express company and that he does not know who sent it. He tells a story which is as remark able and as interesting as the man’s filching of the money and his subse quent arrest and confession. Owning that he took the four packages of $1,000 each from the express car, he then states that he hid the money after he took it, and that when he went back to look for it it was gone. Somebody had taken the money from the hiding place and that person must have been the one who sent the $3,700 to the company. TURLEY GETS COMMISSION. Tennegftgee Legislature Formally Ratifies Action of Caucus. The Tennessee senate aud house met Wednesday in joint convention to elect a United States seuater. Hon. Thomas B. Turley, democrat, was elected, re ceiving ninety-one votes. The republi cans voted for Hon. J. W. Baker, of Nashville. A committee was appointed by Tur- the joint convention to inform Mr. ley of his election, and in a short time the newly elected senator ap peared in the hall of the house of representatives and, in a short speech, thanked the members for their action. He was then presented with his com mission. SENATOR MAKES PUBLIC ANSWER TO KENTUCKY LEGISLATORS. THEY REQUESTED HIS RESIGNATION His Rc)>ly On the Floor of the Senute to Their Demands Was a . Warm One, A Washington special says: Senator Lindsay, in tho Senate Friday, an swered the request for his resignation by the Kentucky legislature. He said in part: “With the relations existing be tween a senator and his constituency, this body has generally no concern. But there are exceptional cases in which a senator may be justified in calling mention to transactions, semi official iu their character, which, if left unexplained, might create the impression that he stands officially charged with conduct which would render him unworthy of a seat on this floor and an unfit associate for his fel low senators. “I hold in my hands a paper pur porting to be an official copy of a res olution recently adopted by the two houses of the Kentucky general as sembly, and which, it is due to myself and the senate, shall be fully under stood." He then had the resolutions read at the clerk’s desk and continued: “While this professes to request my resignation, it is couched in lan guage which regards the ordinary amenities of life, and is in effect, a de mand that I shall surrender my place in order to create a vacancy, and thus make room here for some one holding political views in harmony witli the authors and promoters of the resolu tion. “I desire to protest against this usurpation of power, and inasmuch as the resolution has been made a matter of record on the journals of the two houses of the state legislature, to which I have no access, I propose to give it a place on the records of the senate, and in that connection, to make such comments as I deem necessary and proper under the circumstances. “It is to be observed that in the ar rangeinent which precedes the resolu tion there is no charge that I ever dis obeyed the expressed will of the peo ple of Kentucky. There is no charge that any act of mine as senator is sub ject to animadversion or complaint; no intimation that I have ever given a vote which did not reflect tlie views of a majority of my constituents, or that I have at any time failed to look after their interests, or have been wanting in any duty owing to them or to the country, or that I am opposing legis lation which a majority of the people of Kentucky regard as essential to the public welfare. “The substance of the complaint is that I am opposed to the free and uu limited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and that I opposed the elec tion of the nominees of the lute Chi cago convention, and by so doing be trayed the trust reposed in me by my constituency. I shall not discuss the presidential campaign of 1896. It is not necessary to do so to meet the charges that I betrayed the trust of my constituents by opposing the elec tion of the Chicago nominees. Aly constituency is made up of the people .:f Kentucky, and that people voted against those nominees, and 12 out of 13 of the electoral votes of Kentucky were registered against them. “I am a senator from Kentucky, but I am also a senator for the United States. In questions local to Ken tucky I am always ready to serve her interests to the best of my ability, consistent with the obligations of hon esty and fair dealing, and regardful of the limitations of the constitution. When great public interests, affecting alike every portion of the union, are to be acted upon, they are to be con sidered from the standpoint of the broadest patriotism,and this I propose to do, no matter who may condemn my action or who may approve it." In closing his speech the senator said: “This much I have thought it proper to say, and xvith these remarks I dis miss the so-called legislative request for my resignation.” MAY QUARANTINE OUR HORSES, Members of Prussian l>iet Agitating; the Question. A Berlin special says: Baron Von Hammerstein-Loxten, the minister of agriculture, at Thursday’s session of the Prussian diet, declared that Amer ican horses developed influenza after importation. He added: “If the importations increase we shall certainly be forced to adopt a suitable quarantine in order to protect ourselves.” When the above cable was shown to Chairman Hitt, of the house foreign affairs committee, he said the move was clearly a part of the general move ment toward exclusion shown by the recent action against American fruit. GOV. ATKINSON MAKES REPLY. To An Artlclo In New York World Ite ganling Our Convict Law. Governor Atkinson, of Georgia, has written a vigorous denunciation of a story printed in a recent issue of tho New York World reflecting on the new penitentiary system of the state. The statement in part was as follows: “The World, New York: “My attention has been called to a sensational slander published in tho Now York World of January 27, last, in form of a dispatch from Atlanta, dated January 26, 181*8. “This dispatch contains so many misrepresentations and is such a tissue of falsehoods that it is impossible to refute all of them in a short space,and I shall therefore confine myself to such of them as appear most promi nent. “It states that ‘more than two entire regiments of state convicts will he auctioned of to the highest bidder’ . . . ‘and thus will be witnessed the renewal of a system which has already been condemned.’ . ‘In the coming auction of human chattels to persons who are not offi cers of the state. ’ This whole fabrication is apparently based upon the fact that the prison commission of Georgia, by authority of an act of the general assembly, ap proved December 21, 1807, have ad vertised for bids for the labor of able bodied male convicts, to go into effect upon the expiration of the present lease at a definite per capita per an num, the state through its penitenti ary officials, agents and guards em ployed and paid liy the state, con trolling the convicts and with them performing the work so contracted for; the contractor having absolutely no control over the convicts and pay ing for such labor so furnished. This advertisement is in strict conformity with the law, and .no other construc tion can be justly placed upon it. “This being tlie statute and the advertisement, it follows, first, that the statement ‘more than two entire regiments of state convicts will he auctioned off to the highest bidder, ’ is untvne. “Second. That the statement ‘thus will lie witnessed the renewal of a sys tem which has already been condemn ed’ is untrue. “Third. That the characterizing this step as ‘tlie coming auction of human chattels to persons who are not officers of the state’ is untrue. “This dispatch further states that ‘the worst feature of the new law. . . is that these men, thus hired out to traders in human labor may ho sublet to others, though tlie state assumes to keep an eye upon them.’ The premises upon which this conclusion is based, having been showm to he false, the conclusion is likewise untrue, and has no foundation except in that provision of the law which, by and with the consent of the commission, allows the contractor for this labor to engage tlie same in contracts for others than him self, the state still controlling the convicts through its own officers, agents and guards. “A large part of the last session of the general assembly of Georgia was devoted to this question, and measures looking to a re-enactment of the lease system repeatedly defeated. The law finally adopted embodies every ele ment of reform necessary, and in di rect line with the suggestions made by me and others who had devoted much time to the study of the question. “It is easy to slander a state or a public institution, and hard to correct the impressions made by the slander ous publication, but where the truth can be so easily obtained as in tbe present case, when a copy of the law could have been had for the asking, it is remarkable that a newspaper like The World should have been so easily imposed upon, and thus become a party to the injustice done the good name of a state. “W. Y. Atkinson, ‘Governor of Georgia.” REINDEER FOR AMERICA. A Ship I.oail of Them On (lie Way From Norway to New York. A cablegram received at the war de partment Friday from Dr. Jackson, at Altena, Norway, announced that the steamship Afanitooair,chartered by the United States government, had just sailed from that port for New York with 530 reindeer and 87 Lapp men and women to care for the animals and drive them on the government relief expedition when they arr ive in Alaska. SAGASTA’S DEFIANT REPLY. Ignores Suggestion for Fixing Date for Ending; Cuban War. The Madrid correspondent of the London Standard says Senor Sagastu’s response to the official note presented by General Woodford, United States minister, complains of filibustering expeditions and declares that Spain cannot entertain the suggestion tor fixing a date for her completion of the pacification Pessimist of impressions Cuba. cur are now rent regarding the relations between the United States and Spain and have depressed the Madrid and Barcelona bourses. Public feeling among all classes is strong against America. CONSIDERATION OF AI’PROPHIA* TIDY BILL GAVE W IDE RANGE. 'PROSPERITY OR NON-PROSPERITY.’ Slniprion, of Kansas, Makes a Humorous Dig a* niiiEluy—Proceed lines of tile Senate. A Washington special says: Tho house spent the day Thursday ostensi bly considering the fortifications ap propriation bill. In reality the major portion of the time was consumed in the discussion of political topics, the existence or non-existence of prosper ity in this country being the main question of dispute. Tho feature of the day was the dis covery by Mr. Simpson, the Kansas populist, and the exploitation of the alleged fact that Mr. Dingley, chair man of the ways and means commit tee, wore a London made pot hat. Mr. Dingley explained that the hat was made in New York. The London trademark was simply placed there to please the anglomauiacs who always preferred tilings because they were English. All attempts to increase the appro priations in tlie fortifications appro priation Dill or to amend it in any re spect were voted down. The debate drifted directly into pol ities and Mr. Burke, democrat of Tex as, and Mr. Grosvenor, republican, of Ohio, joined issue on the subject of “McKinley prosperity. ” Mr. Simpson, populist, of Kansas, followed and again took up the contro versy he had a few days ago with Mr. Pitney, republican, of Now Jersey, over the trusts, which he said were or ganized in New Jersey to prey ou Kan sas and other states, in a humorous vein he said the people of New Jersey -were not to blame; that legislation in that state was knocked down to the highest bidders, as they were the de scendants of tho Hessians. Mr. Dingley said that Mr. Simpson was given to talking through his hat, and ended liy denying that he (Ding ing) had imported wool before the passage of the Dingley bill. Tho whole episode caused a great deal of amusement in the house. Without completing the bill, at 5:05 o’clock p. m., the house adjourned. In his invocation at the opening of the senate the chaplain made a fervent appeal for tlie restoration to health of the senior senator from Mis sissippi, Mr. Walthall. A bill repealing an act granting American register to the steamers Claribel and others, was reported and passed. Mr. Frye, of Maine, said that the act had been passed under a mis apprehension, ns the vessels were owned by Englishmen. Germany’s order prohibiting the importation of American fruits into that empire called out a resolution from Mr. Davis, Minnesota, chairman of tile committee on foreign relations, calling upon the president, if not in compatible with the public interest, to transmit to the senate the correspond ence and other information hearing upon the matter in his possession or in that of the state department. The resolution was agreed to. In accordance with Louisiana, notice previously given Mr. Caffery, called up formally the resolution reported from the committee on privileges and elections, declaring that Hon. Henry W. Corbett is not entitled to a seat in the senate from the stute of Oregon. The senate committee on interstate commerce decided to report tlie anti scalping bill with a recommendation that it pass. Republicans Caucus. The republican members of both houses of congress held a caucus Thursday congressional night., at which the republi can committee was prac t ; jjlly organized for tho campaign, A limit seventy senators ami represen tatives attended. The delegations of all but eighteen states announced the selection of their representatives on the committee. The Southern members of the committee as far as chosen are as follows: North Carolina, Iteprese amative Pearson; Tennessee, Representative Henry R. Gibson; Texas, Virginia, Representa tive lb B. Hawley; Repre sentative J. R. Walker; West Virginia, Rcnresentative Warren Miller. EXPENSE OF CUBAN WAR Officially Estimated From Inception to Kml of 1807 at, *‘440,000,000. A Madrid dispatch says: The cost of the Cuban war from February, 1895, to the end of 1897 is officially esti mated at $240,000,000, besides tlie arrears due from the Cuban treasury, amounting to $40,000,000. The Imparcial complains that the commercial negotiations between Spain Cuba and the United States are being entrusted to Senor de Lome, the Span ish minister at Washington, and urges the government to appoint experts to examine the terms of the treaty ou Spain’s behalf. NO, 4. SIX FIREMEN MET DEATH. Blaring; Building In Boston, Man*.. Falls In Upon Them. Six firemen, including a district chief, a captain and u lieutenant, were killed at a (ire at Boston, Mass., Sat urday morning which burned out the interior of a five-story building ou ESTlffi'U \V. bedding, etc. The dead are: District Chief John F. Egan. Captain James Victory. Lieutenant George .T. Gotwald. Hoseman Patrick H. Diskeu, Fireman John J. Mullieen. Hoseman W. J. Walsh. Four other firemen were buried in the ruins, but they escaped with more or lesN serious injuries. They were: Captain Joseph M. Garrity, Hoseman Thomas E. Conway, Hoseman T. J. Lieutenant Doherty und Hoseman Edward Shea. John J. McCarthy, of Pro tective I, was slightly bruised by fall ing bricks. The contents of the building, valued at $ 30 , 000 , are a total loss. The dam age to the building itself will bring the total up to at least $75,000. This is partly covered by iuuranco. The Evangelical Baptist Benevolent and Missionary Society and the Tre mont Temple Association own the structure. The alarm was sounded at 3:58 o’clock a. m. The building was filled with the most inflammable materials. It was joined on the east by a tliree story tenement; on the west was sep arated by a narrow alley from a simi lar structure, while in the rear of the tenement houses on South Margin street is a narrow light well. So quickly did the flames spread to the fourth and fifth stories that within a few minutes the three upper stories, rear and the third-story front were a seething furnace of flames and there was no prospect that the firemen would he able to save anything above file second story. A tight was made at the start by the stairways, lint soon the firemen were driven bade by hot air explosions and a suffocating smoke and were obliged to fight from the other side. Two aerial ladders were raised on the front as were also several long extension ladders, while streams were carried through the South Mar gin street tenements from the back windows, of which floods were poured into the fiery furnace. The fire was nearly under control at the time of the accident. The men on engine No. 7 were on the fourth floor and engines 36 and 31) were on the second floor when the rear section of the roof collapsed, car rying down portions of all the floors through the basement and burying the firemen beneath a mass of debris. Hasty canvuss of the members of the department showed that ten men were missing. TENNESSEE’S EXTRA SESSION Brought to a Close After Butting la Twenty Rny«. The twenty days’ extra session of the Tennessee general assembly euded Saturday. Only two general hills be came laws. One of them simply reaffirms tlie authority given the railroad commis sioners at the regular session to assess railroad, telephone and telegraph property for taxation. Tlie other amends the revenue law so as to re lieve general merchants from paying cigar stand tax, and puts a privilege tax on circuses. All the other bills passed were local and effect Nashville, Memphis, Bolivar and Alartin. A bill placing a privilege tax of $500 on trading stamp agencies, and $250 oil merchants using tho stamps, was vetoed by the governor because tlie subject was not in his call. CUBAN PORTS OPEN. SupplicH Can Now lie Landed at Any Point. Free of Duty. A telegram lias been received at the state department from Consul General Lee at Havana stating that the govern ment there consents to the admission of supplies for the destitute arid suffer ing Cubans into any Cuban port free of duty. This privilege was formerly limited to goods entered at Havana, John K. Elwell, who lias had much experience as a shipping clerk and is familiar with the Spanish language, has been appointed by the central cuban relief committee to accompany the president of the Red Cross Society to Cuba to assist in receiving and dis tributing supplies for the sufferers. “CONFEDERACY OE LABOR” Proposed For Southern UniouB Independ ent of Those In the North. A movement to organize “The South er n Confederacy of Labor” has been started in Atlanta, Ga., and is now so far under way that a convention will probably be held in that city at an early date to formally launch the new organization. convention The plan is to call a of the white labor organizations of the south for the purpose of formulating such plans as will bring about harmo ny and concert of action among them, independent of big labor unions and federations of the north.