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The Americus Times-Recorder
(THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR.
LOOKING FOR BANKER ROBERTS
ALLEGED SHORT IN ACCOUNTS
Prominent Citizen and President of the Buena Vista Loan
& Savings Company Disappears—Left His Home
August 28th—Reported That a Deficit of About
SII,OOO Exists—Nothing Since Heard of Missing
Cashier.
Sensational reports coming hers
from Buena Vista of the disappearance
recently of Mr. J. W. Roberts, presi
dent of the Buena Vista Loan and Sav
ings Co., created considerable surprise
in Americus business circles, where
Mr. Roberts had been known during
many years, and had always, been re
garded as a man of strict integrity.
It is said that a deficit of more than
SII,OOO exists in the bank’s accounts.
Descriptions of the missing banker
have been sent out, according to re
ports reaching Americus.
Roberts has a wife and son living in
Atlanta. The latter, Wick Roberts, de
clares that the charge against his fa
ther is the result of a conspiracy.
The former bank president left his
farm a few miles from Buena Vista
on August 28, and has not been recog
nized since, according to a circular
sent out by the directors of the institu
LIGHT RECEIPTS
AS RESULT OF
CONTINUED RAIN
* PRICE HUS DP VERT (Eli
Americus Buyers Still Pay:
Thirteen Cents
The effect of a whole week of rain
is reffected in the cotton receipts in
Atnericus, which are the lightest for
any week since the season opened. Re
ceipts yesterday, for instance, were but
255 bales, whereas 1,000 bales would
have been handled in the local ware
houses had fine weather for picking
the crop prevailed this week. The to
tal receipts for the week to date are <
scarcely more than 1,000 hales, where
as 5,000 bales might have been handled
here under a season of fair weather.
The prices held up well yesterday, and
Americus buyers continued to pay thir
teen cents for the finer grades.
i
HEAD OF STATE IS
SWAMPED WITH
INVITATIONS TO FAIRS
Atlanta, Sept. 19.—1 f Governor Sla
ton accepted all the invitations he has
received to be the guest of honor at
county fairs in Georgia this fall, hij
w ould not have a moment left to re-j
ma:n in Atlanta and attend to the bus
lUess of the executive office. He would
have to make up a daily railroad sched
ule like a circus peeformer or a lyceum
lecturer, and would be compelled to
1 iay one night stands at that.
»jje governor particularly desired to
d '<snd a few fairs, being keenly inter
red in the agricultural progress and
"elfare of the state, but when he re-
Cfc ' ve d this morning his forty-second
1 citation he threw' up his hands in
hopeless despair, and instructed his
secretary to write and decline all invi
,a Hons with sincere regrets. He could
n °t attend all of them, and did not feel
Uat il w °uld be proper to discriminate.
tion. An audit of the books showed
that he was short $44,945. This cover
ed a period extending over three or
four years.
Roberts is fifty-six years old and is
very deaf. He can hear without the ai l
of an ear trumpet only with difficulty.
He is five feet ten inches in height
and weighs about 165 pounds. He has
thin gray hair, blue eyes, inclined to
be watery in surprise or excitement,
it is said, and wears glasses. His face
was smooth shaven when last seen In
Buena Vista.
About two months ago Mrs. Roberts,
the former bank president’s wife
went to Atlanta. She took up her resi
dence with her son. A few weeks later
Roberts came to Atlanta on a visit. He
left again for Buena Vista>during the
latter part of August, remained there
but a few days, it is allaged, and then
took his departure for parts unknown.
TEACHERS WILL
HOLD INSTITUTE
AT COURTHOUSE
BIG MEETING THIS MORNING
State Supt. Land to Address
Teachers
The thirty w'hite teachers of Sum
ter county under direction of Supt. W.
S. Moore will assemble in his office a!
the courthouse this morning for their
monthly institute, and the proceedings
will be of more than usual interest and
importance. Among the speakers for
the occasion will be Prof. Land, state
supervisor of county schools, who
will address the teachers upon topics
of interest relative to their work. There
will be other features of interest upon
the program and the institue pro
ceedings will be of more than usual in
terest and importance.
FOOTBALL PRACTICE
GOES MERRILY GN
local High School Will Have
Strong Team
Football practice is going merrily on.
The local High school boys are work
ling out every afternoon under Coaches
I Reeve and Jones. About twenty con
didates are out every afternoon in uni
forms.
Several veterans from last year's
squad are out again. They all can
be counted on to piny consistent ball.
Among the new' men are several who
promise to make good. The team will
probably be light but the coaches hope
to be able to develop a fast aggregation
that will not need weight.
Both Coach Reeve and his assistant,
i Mr. Jones, are experienced players and
i the boys will have the best of coaching.
. Manager Reese is at work on an at-
I tractive schedule that will be an
[ nounced later through The Times-Re
corder.
AMERICUS. GEORGIA. SATURDAY MORNING. SEPTEMBER 20, 1913.
MAYOR LOWREY
IMPOSED FINE ON
MAYOR LOWREY
BOTH JUDGE AND PLAINTIFF
Declared Himself Guilty and
Pays Fine
Mayor M. M. Lowrey presided at the
session of Recorder's court ytsterday
morning, and a hushed stillness per
vaded the courtroom as his honor,
with accustomed dignity, ascended to
the throne, picked up the gavel and
solemnly scrutinized the long list of
cases that filled up the heavy docket.
“The first case I see here is that of
the city of Americus against M. M.
Lowrey, charged with having violated
section 273 of the city code in driving
his automobile without having the
rear light burning.”
The stillness of the room could have
been cut into large cubes with an axe,
as the audience listened to the execu
tive, about to pass sentence upon him
self.
“The defendant, M. M. Lowrey, en
ters a plea of guilty to the charge
against him, and as this is his first
offense, I will impose a fine of three
dollars, but with the admonition that
a second offense will secure for him a
heavier sentence,” said the recorder
with the gravity of a graduate under
»
taker.
Whereupon he counted out three sil
ver dollars into the itching palm of
Clerk Weaver, and then proceeded to
put the high touches upon the usual
bunch of black miscreants which the
cops had rounded up.
PRIEST’S ALLY IAS
MURDERED MAN
SCHMIDT’S ACCOMPLICE IN THE
COUNTERFEITING CHARGES
HAS MARRIED EIGHTEEN WO
MEN IN NINETEEN YEARS.
Chicago, Sept. 19. Johann Hoch
was hanged here February 23, 1906,
for the murder of his wife, Marie
Walker Hoch, in 1905, by the admin
istration of poison.
It developed after his arrest that
for 19 years he had made a busi
ness of marrying women, deserting
some and murdering others, the mo
tive in each case being to obtain the
life insurance or other property of his
victim. It was well established that
in 18 year he married twelve women,
of whom four died under circum
stances which left little doubt that
they had been poisoned.
Investigation lagged after the exe
cution of Hoch, but the conviction re
mained in the minds of police and
lawyers concerned in his prosecution
that the record of his crimes as un
earthed by detectives was for from
complete. •
EMMELINE IS COMING
TO AMERICA ON OCT. II
Paris, Sept. 19. Mrs. Emmeline
Pankhurst, leader of the British mili
tant suffragettes, in a statement here
yesterday, declared that she will ‘pos
itively sail for America, October 1.”
“I don’t believe that American immi
gration authorities will detain me and
certainly not for long,” she continued.
“I am not the least afraid of deporta
tion and will not resort to any subter
fuge to gain admission to the country”.
THE WEATHER:— More Rain Today.
DYNAMITES HIS
OWN HOME AND
HIS OWN FAMILY
MACK IIURST, AN INDIANA STONE
MASON, CALLS HIS WIFE ANI)
CHILDREN TOGETHER TO DIE.
EXPLODES DYNAMITE IN
HIS WIFE’S DEDROOM
HE AND ONE DAUGHTER INSTANT
LY KILLED, WHILE HIS WIFE
AND TWO DAUGHTERS WERE
FATALLY INJURED.
Bloomington, Ind., Sept. 19. —Mack
Hurst, a stone mason, dynamited bis
house here early today, killing him
self and one daughter, and fatally in
juring tw r o other daughters, •in addi
tion to demolishing the bouse. Mrs.
Hurst, in a remerkable manner es
caped injury.
The dead:
Mack Hurst, 50 years old.
Maud Hurst, 16 years old.
Fatally hurt:
Fannie Hurst, 13 years old, one leg
blown off and body mangled; almost
unrecognizable.
Elizabeth Hurst, 6 years old, body
unrecognizable.
But little is known of the tragedy
beyond the results.
Mrs. Hurst, who escaped injury,
how, she says, she does not know, sa>s
that the man awoke his family at 2
o’clock this morrifKg and called them
all together in his bedroom.
After they had all entered he closed
and locked the door and spoke only
these five words:
“We will ail die together.” Then
he picked up a stick of dynamite
which was lying on the floor near him
and threw it under the bed. Thei e
was a deafening roar and Mrs. Hurst
remembered nothing more until she
came to consciousness at.the home of
a neighbor nearly an hour later.
The noise of the explosion awoke
the whole city. Police,and firemen
hastened to the scene and at once
began a search of the ruins. The
bodies of Hurst and his dead daugh
ter were found in a mass of debris at
the rear of the house.
The other two daughters were in
another part of the ruins. Both were
unconscious and it was some time be
fore they were revived. Neither was
able to tell anything of the occur
rence.
The shock of the explosion wreck
ed the house, and was felt in the
whole immediate neighborhood. Every
pane of glass for a block around was
broken and other minor damage done
homes in the vicinity.
Hurst, who was a stone mason, but
who had not been working for some
time, had been acting strangely of
late, and an inquisitorial body hid
declared him insane.’
It was not thought, however, that
his insanity was of a violent kind, and
no preparation for his custody had
been made. It is supposed that he
suddenly became worse and while in
a frenzy committed the act.
Hurst had been separated from his
wife for six weeks and yesterday she
refused to take him back. It is b©-
! lieved that he then, in a fit of insan
ity, determined to wipe out the entire
family consising of his wife and 3
children. The dead girl met the fate
intended for her mother, the fact that
they had changed beds for the night
costing the girl her life. Hurst, af
ter stealthily, in the darkness, plant
ing a stick of dynamite under each of
the three girls in the house, tied two
sticks to his own body, crawled into
the bed which he had formerly occu
pied with his wife, but which last
night contained the three daughters,
POST OFFICE
WILL BE OPEN
TO INSPECTIUN
MUllli PEOPLE INVITED
Box Reots Are Due at Post
musters Office
To the average customer of the lo
cal postoflice, it is a place to buy
stamps, call for your mail, get a regis
tered letter, or send a package, and
nothing more. But the local officials
are attempting to create a new im
pression. From now on they will try
to bring about a spirit of co-opera
tion. The new postmaster is desirous
that the citizens of the town consider
the federal building as their building
in every respect.
The entire plant will be thrown op
en for inspection at any time during
the day. The public is invited to make
a tour of the entire plant and see just
exactly how much business the local
branch of Uncle Sam's greatest busi
ness does.
In order to facilitate the handling
of mails it has been found advisable to
ask customers to pay their box rents
in the postmaster’s office instead of at
the general delivery window. This will
enable the force to devote their en
tire time to distributing mail and
waiting on customers. The plan is
expected to work out to the advant
age of everyone concerned.
In discussing the local situation, the
new postmaster, Mr. D. F. Davenport,
said: “I had no idea of the vast col
ume of business the local office did.
I believe that a majority of the citi
zens are like me in that respect. I
enjoyed going over the building and
seeing how they handled the mail and
, I believe that others will also. For
that reason we will all be glad to pilot
visitors around through the mazes of
the office and show them how we do
things. We are desirious that the
people of the city feel a pride in their
office.” »
MAN, WIFE, FRIEND
ALL TAKE POISON
Two Found Dead, One Dying
in Home of Glenwood
Glenwood, Ark., Sept. 19. —“Tired of
living,” according to the man’s explan
ation, T. J. Turner, a real estate dealer
who came to Glenwood recently from
Georgia, his wife and a young woman
known here as “Miss Carter” swal
lowed poison at the Turner home yes
terday. When neighbors forced their
way in the house the two women were
.dead and Turner was dying.
A note signed by Turner said:
“There is no use asking questions.
We were all tired of living, and want
ed to go together.”
Miss Carter came to Glenwood with
the turners.
Maude, Fannie and Elizabeth, Fannie
spoke to her father:
“Lay still,” he replied. “We will all
die together.”
Before the girl could make a move
the explosion rent the house and
aroused the entire city.. The police
and fire department rushed to the
scone, sent the two Injured girls to
the hospital and cleared away the de
bris. Four sticks of dynamite uneX
ploded, were found in the ruins an 1
the fact that only one and that one
attached to Hurst’s body, had explod
ed accounted for the escape of the
■ oher members of the family.
PRINCESS SOPHIA
MIMICIDE
Preferred Death to Life With
ou! Sweetheart
Heidelberg, Germany, September 19.
Princess Sophia, of Saxe-Weimar-
Eisenaoh committed suicide early this
morning. Hr>r body with a bullJt
wound in the temple, was found to
day in her room in the palace of lie* -
father, Phince William.
The death of the princess was due
to a love affair. She was engaged
to Hans Van Bleichroeder, son of the
senior member of one of the most po\v r
erful banking houses in Germany.
When the engagement was announced
prematurely some months ago, it was
learned that the reigning grand duke,
Prince William Ernest, strenuously
prohibited the union, unless the prin
cess renounced all titles and dignities.
This she refused to do.
Princess Sophia and her parents
were much beloved in Heidelberg for
their interest in the poor and the gen
eral public welfare, although the fa-'
ther was by no means wealthy and was
living on an appanage from the reign
ing grand duke. As head of the fam
ily the grand duke objected to the
union of the princess with a man in
an inferior station. Her father, it is
said, was inclined to accede to his
daughter’s wishes, but was unable to
take an independent stand owing to
bis financial relations with the grand
duke.
The princess and Von Bleichroeder
had often been seen together at Heid
elberg since the engagement was an
nounced. He studied for several years
at Heide'Arg and made the doctor's
degrees last winter.
It is not known whether the pair
had resigned themselves to the de
cision of the grand duke, but Von
Bleichroeder it is reported started from
Berlin for Heidelberg yesterday.
No statement has been given out and
official confirmation of the suicide
could not be obtained today at Prince
Williams’ palace. But the townspeo
ple have accepted the suicide ver
sion and the pathetic feature of the
affair has caused deep sorrow.
According to one of the palace em
ployes, the princess killed herself
about 6 o’clock in the morning, and
a maid entering her apartments soon
afterward came upon her body. The
princess was 25 years old.
A brother, Prince Hermann, resigii
ed from the Prussian army several
years ago. He settled in London and
married an Italian actress. Compelled
to renounce his title, he took the name
of Count Ostheim.
DAMAGE TO PAVEMENTS
RESULT OF WEATHER
Blocks Bulge io Several Lo
calities
The effect of the continued rainy
weather is shown upon the ereosoted
paving blocks which, in several locali
ties have swelled and “buckled” to a
considerable extent, making ugly
places in the hitherto smooth pave
ments. The damage thus wrought is
not considerable, and repairs will be
quickly effected.
WED HIS STEPCHILD;
NOW SEEKS DIVORCE
Trenton, X. J., Sept. 19.—Charles H.
. Mandaville, of Newark, filed suit for
I divorce against his wife, Katherine,
j who was his stepchild before their
. marriage eight years ago. He named
, Augustus Hoff, of Elizabeth, as co-res
| pondeut.
AMERICUS WILL
BE NEXT SCENE
OF BABLOW TRIAL
BEFORE JUDGE EIETEEJM
Will Be Heard Here Oe
Selurday
Americas will, in all likelihood, bo
tiiu i ext scene of action in the spiritel
ogu' fight for the possession of the r
little daughter, which has been waged
recently between J. E. Barlow and his
wife, Mrs. Edith Barlow. The case
originated at Lumpkin, Stewart coun
ty, and was won thera by Mrs. Barlow,
who was awarded custody of the child
by the ordinary.
Judge Z. A. Littlejohn had heard
the case some time ago in the suit in
stituted in the initial proceedings, and
directed that the child be awarded the
father, but with the provision that the
mother be permitted to see her at stat
ed intervals. This order, it is said,
was not complied with by the father.
The legal fight has been waged for
some time now in the state courts. The
Atlanta Constitution has the following
in regard to his now celebrated and
interi sting case:
“That Mrs. Edith Barlow, wife of
J E. Barlow, a wmalthy citizen of Cu
ba, who is fighting for his little daugh
ter, Marie, will attack the validity of
Mr. Barlow’s second marriage is a
statement credited to Hudson Moore,
attorney fior Mrs. Barlow No. 1.
Mr. Barlow was married to the pres
ent, Mrs. Maud Barlow after he hai
secured a divorce from his first wife,
and the latter claims that Mr. Barlow
did not live in Stewart county long
enough to be able to get a legal di
vorce.
“Action in Americus in the superior
court Is expected to come up Septem
ber 27. ,Mr. Barlow who wants to take
the child away from Mrs. Edith Bar
low, is represented by Atlanta attor
neys.
*
BURKE WILL SERVE TIME
UPON PLEA OF GUILTY
White Moo Goes to Gang for
Four Mouths
W. S. Burke, a young white man who
recently came here from an adjoining
county, went to the Sumter gang yes
ttrday to serve a term of four months.
Burke entered a plea of guilty before;
.Judge W. M. Harper upon a misde
meanor charge, and was fined S4O or a*
term of four months in the chain
gang.
LAUGHED AT STRAW
HAT; IS ARRESTED
Washington, Sept. 19. —Scoffing at
the appearance of a stray hat is as ba 1
as smashing it in derisive objection at
this time of year, in the opinion of the
local police court. George Smith, yes
terday a care-free citizen, but today a
dazed and nervous man, discovered this,
truth from the lips of Police Judges
Mulloway. Smith jeered at the head
gear of a large man who wore No. I?
shoes and who chanced to be a police
man off duty and out of uniform.
Smith was arrested. When arraigned
Judge Milloway lectured him severely,
and then let him off, but he issued <*
solemn warning to others that any crit*
licism of the stray hat in future would
be visited by condign punishment
NUMBER 225