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THE DAWSON NEWS.
gv E. L. RAINEY.
H ——————
81-lAI'EST DISASTER WAS SINK
NG OF FRENCH SHIP IN 1898,
L
k. gundred Men, Women and Chil
dren perished When the 111
Fated Steamer Was Lost.
Fyen as the size and speed of ocean
ershave increased so have the mag
yude of ocean disas&ef's. Coming
th less frequency than in the days
the old-fashioned ship, they have
o increasing in horror ten-fold.
om the time when the Spanish liner
iscava, back in the ’Bo’s, was ramm
-4% i Barnegatl by the schooner
il scphice Hargraves and sixty per
s, including a Spanish million
: re, lost their lives, the number of
ose perishing 10 each disaster has
en increasingly greater.
The Viscaya wWas lost in 1887. In
greh, 1891, the Utopia, an infinitely
perior vessel to the Viscaya, was
it in collision off Gibraltar and 263
rsons perished. In the following
ar two wrecks, those of the steamer
okari, lost in collision, and the Rou
qnia, caused 237 persons to find
ean graves.
[n Junme, 1903, came the loss of the
arship Vietoria in collision off Trip
li, when 360 persons perished.
[ the loss of the North German
loyd steamer Elbe, one of the largest
ve of ocean liners, in the German
ean in January, 1395, 361 passen
ers were sacrificed.
oOf all the catastrophes at sea within
o last decade the sinking of the
rench liner La Bourgoyne. in collis
n with the steamship Cromartyshore
# (ape Sable on July 4, 1898, is
aver recalled without a thrill of hor
or. Five hundred and fifty-eight
en, women and children perished on
he French liner, many of them through
he cowardice of the French sailors,
ho fought the passengers with
cnives, boat hooks and oars, pushing
he helpless into the sea in order that
hey might find places in the life boats
nd on the life rafts. Only 164 were
aved.
[n sharp contrast to this was the
sonduct of the crew of the Clyde line
steamer Delaware, a short time later,
when that steamer caught fire off this
oast. The crew to a man obeyed the
aptain as if they were so many ma
hines. They fought the flames and
stood by the passengers and saved
their lives.
The greatest ocean horror in 1906
was in the loss of the steamship Valen
ia, which struck on Point Klanaway,
ear Cape Beale, on Vancouver is
land, last January, and 139 persons
erished.
Of the passengers and crew only fif
een were saved. They were in the
life boat that was sent ashore from
the ship to summon aid. Aid was
swiftly sent, but the hapless vessel
went to pieces after she had clung to
he ledge all night with her passen
<ers and crew praying for aid upon
her decks. They all found graves in
the ocean with the shattered ship.
MEDICAL SCIENCE PUZZLED,
Rome Man Has Queer Stroke of
Apoplexy.
While trucking one afternoon last
week in Morgan’s warehouse in Rome,
Ga., Lewis Garrett was temporarily
paralized, and with his hands tightly
lutching the hand bars of the truck
and his legs closely crossed, he had
10 be pried from his rigid position.
Garrett was working with a num
ber of other laborers when stricken.
Several of his companions rushed to
bis assistance and tried to pull him
4Way from the truck. In this they
Were unsuccessful and finally had to
SéCure 4 crow bar with which they
succeeded in prying Garrett from his
firm hold on the truck. Dr. Delay
¥as summoned and declared that the
man had suffered an attack of apo-
D:E‘x‘v'
Dr. Delay said it was of the rare
¢ases known to medical science and is
the first which ever came under his
Personal observation.
- HOKE SMITH ON DISFRANCHISEMENT
I favor and, if elected, will urge with all my power the
elimination of the negro from politicsas the best possible solution
of the race problem, for both whites and blacks.
Disfranchisement can be accomphshed by legal and constitu-
I tional methods, fust. as has been adopted in North Carolina,
! South Carolina, Alabama, Mississip Louisiana and Virginia,
| Without disfranchising a single white man.
i If elected I would oppose, with all my power, the enactment
i of any legislation that would have the effect of disfranchising a
| tingle white voter in Georgia. ' HOKE SMITH.
? WIFE WON THE WAGER.
Jumped in Well After Betting $lO.OO
| She Would Leave Home.
At an early hour Monday morning
ithe dead body of Mrs. White Hamil
ton of near Dillon, S. C., was found
in the lot well on their premises,
where it had been since last Tuesday
morning. On that day White Hamil
ton, a farmer living about two miles
from Dillon, went to town, carrying
with him his little daughter, the only
child, leaving the wife and mother
alone. She had expressed some op
position to having the child accom
pany the father, fearing, she said,
that the horse might become frighten
ed at the automobiles and the child be
injured, and even said if the father
persisted in carrying the little girl
she would leave .home. Hamilton
playfully and banteringly offered her
810, saying he bet she would not leave
leave. When he returned home a few
hours later there was no trace of his
wife. He saw that she had evidently
changed her clothing, and he found
the $lO sticking in the fob pocket of
the trousers he had laid aside that
morning.
TAGGED LIKE BUNDLES.
Three Little Girls Arrive in Boston
from Finland.
Three little girls, the eldest not
more than 12 years of age, each of
them wearing a tag marked ‘‘Port
land, Ore., United States of Amer
ica,”” arrived in Boston last week on
the Cunard line steamer Ivernia from
Helsingfors, Finland. The girls were
given over to the railroad officers.for
their long journey across the conti-‘
nent. They were going td their fath-.
er, Peter Weltgard, at Portland. |
SHREWD WOMAN'S SWINDLE
How Elegantly Dressed Woman Flim-i
Flammed Madrid Jeweler Out of
Diamond Worth $5,000. ‘
An amazingly audacious swindle
has just been perpetrated in Madrid.
The principal is a handsome, elegant
ly dressed woman who visited a spec
ialist in mental diseases on behalf of
her husband, who, she said was suf-‘
fering from religious mania. Having
explained the case it was arranged
that she should return in about an
hour with the afflicted husband. The
next scene of action was a jeweler’s
shop in another part of the city, where
she selected diamonds to the value of‘
$5,000 on the understanding that she‘
would buy them if her husband ap-‘
proved. She requested that some one
accompany her home in a cab, and the}
money would be paid immediately. A
trusted clerk was sent, and with him;
the lady drove back to the doctor’s
house. In an ante-room she took thei
stones ‘‘just to show them to her hus-‘
band.” Then, entering with sublime
assurance the doctor’s study, she in- 1
formed the specialist that her husband |
was now in the ante-room and ready‘
to be examined. Leaving a visiting
card, the lady took her departure, 4:
and the doctor bidding the supposed‘
patient enter, proceeded at his leisure
to ask professional questions. The'
clerk became suspicious, but the doc-%
tor interpreted his agitation as caused |
by his complaint, and when after two
hours matters were finally explainedi
the lady had vanished without leaving
any trace. |
NEW STATE BANKS. |
state Treasurer Park's Report to the
Comptroller of the Currency.
Capt. R. E. Park, state treasurer
and state bank examiner, in a letter
to Wm. B. Ridgely, comptroller of cur
rency at Washington, called that offi
cial’s attention to the many new banks
organized in the state of Georgia.
The letter was written 2t the request
of Mr. Ridgely, who asked for infor
mation. Ninety state banks have been
chartered within the last year and not
a failure has been recorded. Seventy
seven banks with a capital of 315,000
each have been organized. One with a
capital of $500,000 also got a charter.
The total amount of capitalization of
the ninety banks is $2,805,000.
DAWSON, GA., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1906.
Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars to Go to the
Cause of Charity Because the Owner Fears the
Curse. Heir Is Located by Dropped Coin.
l The story of the probable finding
of the heir to 750,000 in Spanish
gold which Captain Henry Pollex
fen, who was wounded in London
two months ago, is said to have dis
covered on a sunny isle where
Captain Kidd or some other bold
buccaneer had hidden them is ro
mantic enough to satisfy the most
violent romancer.
John Cox is an English attorney
and agent of a firm which makes a
specialty of finding lost heirs.
The tale of how Mr. Cox got into
’contact with Pollexfen of Boston is
not less curious than the story of
Hhe old sea dog, Captain Pollexfen,
‘murdered in the newest-of London’s
‘thoroughfares, and ends in the most
approved story book style, with the
promise to convert the ‘‘tainted
money’’ to the service of religion.
When Mr. Cox’s firm received a
'commission to produce the heir to
the fortune in dcubloons, for which
Captain Pollexfen was murdered
last May in Kingsway, London, it
at once turned to this country.
Cox went to New York and began
his search by. dropping on Fifth
avenue the only piece of evidence
of the missing heir he possessed,
It was a gold coin, bearing the
likeness of a young man and the
single word ‘‘Henry.”’
In such a contretemps there was
nothing to do but to advertise, and
accordingly in three New York
papers appeared the offer of a re
ward of $l,OOO for information as to
the whereabouts of Henry, son of
the murdered Captain Pollexfen,
and of a reward described as ‘‘suit
able’’ for the dropped gold piece.
Such an advertisement brought
its results. First, came a response
by telephone to the Waldrof from a
William Pollexfen. He did not ap
pear to have any particular claims
to the cash, except his title to the
same good old Cornish name, and
Mr. Cox was satisfied with giving
him an appointment for an inter
view.
Romance Enough,
A few minutes later a long dis
tance telephone rang, and then Cox
knew that his search across the
ocean had met with due reward. A
voice from Boston declared that
Anthony Didring was speaking and
that Henry Pollexfen was standing
by his side. The voice went on to
say that Mr. Didring had been in
New York afew days before and
had taken a stroll up Fifth avenue.
As he passed the corner of Twen
ty-third street he noticed a gold
coin lying on the sidewalk, .and he
stopped to pick it up. He remarked
that it bore the features of a young
man upon it, but he did not pause
to consider them. He thought it
was merely a ‘‘lucky piece,”” put it
in his pocket, and went on.
Later Mr. Didring looked at it
more closely and a little later read
the advertisement. He realized
that Henry Pollexfen was a man he
knew and that the coin in his pock
et was undoubtedly that to which
‘the notice referred.
" Then Mr. Didring left the 'phone
ON A BARE MOUNTAIN SIDE
THE SYRIAN OUTCAST CAMPS
In a tent on a bleak mountain side,
not far from Elkins, W. Va., George
Rossett, the Syrian leper, about whom
there has been so much concern by
health authorities of a dozen cities
and towns in the past three weeks, is
existing without care of any kind.
The people in the vicinity are said
to be nearly panic-stricken over the
presence of the leper and the health
authorities of the state of West Virgin
ia are threatening the Baltimore and
Ohio raiiroad with all sorts of dire
consequences for bringing the diseased
man into the state.
The case finally has been brought to
the attention of the United States au
thorities after the afflicted man had
been shunted from place to place in
several states without being able to
find an abiding place where he can
Lbave proper care. Orders were issued
' that Rossett be examined by a
and Mr. Pollexfen took up the story.
er. Cox had been already sufli
ciently surprised by the turn his
search had taken, but he was still
more amazed by the first words of
his missing heir. [nstead of eager
ly setting forth his identity, as do
most people to whom unexpected
fortunes are promised, Mr. Pollex
fen began:
Spurned the Pirate's Gold.
“First, let me assure you that
not one half penny of this money
will T convert to my own use. For
many years I have devoted all my
life to religion, and 1 fear that the
guilt which clings to the amassing
of this gold by the bloody pirates
of old would pollute the hands of all
who handle it for their private pur
poses.
‘“‘Perhaps the fate of my unhappy
father‘is one more instance of the
Nemesis that pursues those who
care tco much for the root of all
evil.
“I have made up my mind. If
imy claim to this vast sum can be
lproved, part of it I will devote to
the hunting down of those who slew
my poor father, and the rest shall
be devoted to the sacred cause of
charity. My resolution is irrevoca
bly taken.’’
After this preamble, Mr. Pollex
fen proceeded to give Mr. Cox an
appointment to allow the production
of proper proofs of his identity.
According to the brief account of
himself which Henry Pollexfen com
municated to Mr. Cox over the tele-i
phone he is the son of the late Cap
tain Henry Pollexfen of London. |
Five years ago he left his father.%
He bhad, indeed, a hereditary yearn
ing for the sea, but he manfully re
sisted it. His thoughts turned to
holier things, and he therefore
slipped away, while his old father
was on a voyage to the South S«;as,l
and never let him know what had
become of him.
In his search for the higher life
he decided to come to the United
States to earn his living as best he
might. He dreamed that upon the
boundless prairies of the west his'
soul would be exposed to less temp-'
tation than in more crowded cen
ters. But some one told him of
Boston and thither he went to find
his peace in religious work.
Meanwhile Captain Pollexfen, af
ter forty years of the sea, retired,
and announced that he had acquir
ed a fortune. It seems that really
he had discovered the hiding place
of the store of an old-time pirate.
| From this he packed §750,000 in a
itrunk end settled down to end hjs‘
‘days in quiet in Kingsway, Lon
“don. : ‘
l Robbers got wind of his pousses
'sions and they burst into his rooms,
'stole $125,000 of the money and
;murdered the old mariner. Yet
- still what he had left was so heavy
‘that it took three men to carry
‘away the chest in which it was con
itained. If Mr. Cox is satisfied that
‘Henry Pollexfen of Boston is the
%true simonpure article all this mon
ey will go to him. .
surgeon of the marine hospital service
and a Syrian interpreter with a view
of ascertaining his status in this coun
try. How he got into the country, at
what port, what examination he was
subjected to and various other ques
tions is what the officials want an
swered. If he should prove deporta
ble, such a course will be followed at
once.
STEEL CAR STOOD TEST.
The steel railway car had a practi
cal and severe test in the wreck near
Burbank, 0,, the other day. It was
a railroad postoftice car and two
clerks were at work in it at the time of
the accident. The car rolled down an
embankment and turned over three
times, vet suffered scarcely a dent and
the two clerks escaped with only a few
bruises. The two following cars also
went down the embankment. They
‘were the ordinary wooden cars, and
| were smashed to pieces.
PARALYSIS AMONG BEES.
Busy Little Insects of Isle of Wight
Have Become Paralyzed.
The prevalence of paralysis which
is reported to have destroyed nearly
all of the bees on the Island of Wight
is causing considerable speculation
among experts. The claim has been
made that it is the result of ‘‘over
civiliziation,”’ or the up bring
ing of the bees in frame dwellings in
stead of straw hives. This idea, how
ever, is scouted by the editor of the
British Bee Journal, who says the
disease may have existed in earlier
times, but may never have been no
ticed owing to the difficulty which at
tended bee observation when straw
skeps were used.
The disease was flrst reported from
the southern states of America some
years ago, and in recent years a few
cases have occurred in this country.
The British Bee Journal says the dis
ease has been more or less successful
lv cured by changing the queen bee,
by removing the bees to another part
of the aviary, and in other ways. But
the cause of the disease is unascer
tained. }
RAILROAD IMPROVEMENTS. ‘
G.F. and A. Will Build Two Depots
at Cuthbert.
The Georgia, Florida and Alaba
ma Railway Company is preparing to
begin work on its depots in Cuthbert.
The company is to build lines into its
terminals there and when this is under
headway it also proposes letting the‘
contract and beginning active work
of construction on its line northward
from Cuthbert. It has recently added
extra passenger and freight equip-'
ment.
WOULD SELL THEIR BODIES
Indiana Young Man and Woman Want
ed to Use the ‘Money to Have
a Good Time.
Warran Greenstreet, a baker of Ko
komo, Ind., and Miss Maggie Down
hour, a young lady whose parents
were once wealthy, offered their bodies
to three well-known Kokoma physi
cians, saying they had agreed to sell
their bodies, have a good time with
the money realized from the sale, and
then end 1t all by committing suicide.
They had decided to use chloroform,
and begged the physicians to buy their
bodies. The doctors refused to buy,
and tried to dissuade them from their
purpose, but failed to do so, and, in
order to prevent them carrying the
compact into execution, informed thel
police, and the pair were placed under‘
surveillance.
Several years ago the Downhour
family was in good circumstances, but
during the natural gas boom the fath
er had some bad investments and was
reduced to poverty. Maggie did notl
want to be a burden on her aged fath
er and mother, and went out to ser
vice in private families.
She and Greenstreet became ac
quainted and subsequently engaged,
but their earnings have been small and
they have not been able tosave enough
to justify marriage. After consider
ing the matter from all points of view
they decided to commit suicide, first
selling their bodies and having a good
time on the money.
“QUARRIES CAN'T GET CARS.
Several Suits Growing Out of Sltll-‘
tion at Lithonia. ‘
More than 150 men have been thrown
out of employment at the granite quar
ries at Lithonia owing to a dearth of
cars for transporting the stone. At
‘that place there are a dozen big com
panies and they are at a standstill
until the lack of facilities for removing
the products of the quarries has been
relieved. President S. T. Doby, of
the Brantley Granite Company, says
he is afraid to go into the market for
big contracts because of the lack of
cars. He stated that suits had been
entered against the Georgia railroad
because of contracts cancelled, and
| that one of these actions is for $2,000.
J. 6. PARKS. “Time Tried. Fire Tested.” R. E. BELL.
1 Y AL ! 1\
THE LONG ESTABLISHED INSURANCE AGENCY
of PARKS & BELL is still in the field offering to the public only
the best quality and highest grade of insurance, and at reasonable
rates. Over a quarter of a century in the business, and representing
The Strongest and Best Companies in This Country
we believe will justify us in soliciting your business with the assur
ance that prompt payments and liberal settlements will be made in
every case of loss. We issue policies insuring against loss by fire,
lichtning and storms; also accident, health, burglary, plate-glass
and steam boiler insurance. We represent one of the strongest and
most liberal bonding companies in the United States. See us or write
us when in need of any kind of insurance.
PARKS & BELL.
Offices in Dean Building, Opposite Court House, Dawson, Ga.
VOL. 24---NO. 47.
THE SPEED OF ANIMALS
!SMALLEST OF THEM MANAGE TO
’ OBTAIN GREATEST SPEED.
iA Remarkable Array of Facts to
| Show How Fast or How Slow
Hundreds of Animals Are.
A European engineer, Joseph Ols
hausen, bezan about fifteen years ago
to measure the speed of all creatures
that he could study, and as a resu't
he has collected a remarkable array
of facts, each one based on absolute
experiment, to show just how fast or
slow hundreds of animals are.
He has found that man can attain
remarkable speed, but only by the use
of artificial aid. At quickstep he goes
five miles an hour; athletes attain
their greatest speed on securing the
initial velocity for the broad jump,
about 393 inches a second; swimmers
average 39 inches a second; oarsmen
in . an eight-oared barge cover 197
inches a second; skaters go 10 yards
a second at the speediest point; on a
bicvcle man has rarely done better
than 66 feet a second.
The horse can keep galloping six
miles an hour for a considerable
length of time. The swiftest dog in
the world, the borzioi, or Russian
wolf-hound, has made record runs
that show 75 feet a second, while the
gazelle has shown measured speed of
more than 80 feet a second, which
would sum up to 4,900 feet a minute,
if she had the necessary endurance.
TiLe gazelle, swift as she is, cannot
equal the ostrich, for that homeiy, bus
swift bird can run 94 feet to the sec
ond when he really gets down to it.
He is somewhat helped by his wings.
The whale, struck by a harpoon,
and scudding in terror, has been
known to dive 330 feet in a minute. In
the air we have the Virginia. rainpi
per covering 7,500 yards a minute, and
the European swallow. 8,000.
The slowest creatures are snails and
certain small beetles. Some of them
habitually move only a foot or two
an hour. But parts of the slowness is
due to the fact that they remain mo
tionless at intervals. A good healthy
snaii, when kept going, does about
five feet an hour.
~ The lady-bug is a pertect race-horse
compared with this, for it climbs a
blade of grass at the rate of two inches
a second, or nearly ten feet a minute.
None of the speeds made for any
length of time compare with speeds
that are held for a second or a frac
tion of a second by some small creat
ures. Thus a jumping mouse found
in the African desert leaps through
the air at the rate of 800 feet a second.
Of course she clears only about ten
feet in a jump.
Still quicker than the desert mouse
is the flea, which can jump with an
initial velocity of 850 feet a second.
It the flea could keep up his speed it
would cover ten miles a minute.
TATTOOING AMONG SAILORS.
Movement Is Begun to Do Away With
the Practice.
Enlisted men in the navy have insti
tuted a movement to do away with
tattoo marking, which was formerly
so popular with sailors. Since the
conviction of a Brooklyn man,
through the efforts of the officers of
the humane society, for mutilating the
arms of a young boy by decorating
them with India ink designs, tattooers
have showa unwillingness to embel
lish the bodies of men who are not
‘known to be of age, and as few adults
care to have their bodies decorated,
‘the practice may soon become a thing
‘of the past.
The following description of a de
serter from the navy shows to what
extremes some men have gone in deco
rations, which cannot be removed:
““Tattoo marks on chest, shoulders,
arms and back, viz: Eagle, woman,
ship, flag, sailor, cards, clasped
hands, flag and flowers.””” Tattoo
marks are a ready means of identifi-
I cation of deserters.
