The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, April 22, 1904, Image 2

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Powder Explosion on Missiouri Wreaks Deadly Carnival. Twenty-nine Marines Hurled Into Eternity While Doing Target Practice Off Pensacola. A Pensacola, Fla., special says: By the explosion of 2,000 pounds of pow der in the after 12-inch turret and In the handling room of the battle ship Missouri, Captain Willlam 8. Cowles, commanding, twenty-nine men were in stantly killed and five injured, two of whom will die, The Missourl was on the target renge witli"the Texas and Brooklyn at practice about noon when & charge of powder in the 12. inch lefthand gun ex ploded, igniting four charges of pow “der in the hansllng room, all exploded and only one man of the entire turret and handling crew survives, But for the prompt and efficient work of Captan William S. Cowles in flood ing the handling room and magazine with water, one of the magazines would have exploded and the ship would consequently have been destroy ed with every man on board. At the time of the explosion the fourth shot was being loaded and from indicationg the first half of the charge had been rammed home and the sec ond section was being rammed home when gases from the shot previously fired or portions of th ecloth cover ig nited the powder. The breech was open and a dull thud gave notice of something unus wal. No loud report was made, but flames were seen to leap from every portion of the turret. A few seconds afterwards another explosion some what more fierce occurred. This was it. the handling room below, where 1, 600 pounds of powder or four charges ready to be hoisted@ above and ignited Three minutes after the explosion ali were on deck and the surgeons from the Missouri, T'exas and Brook lyn were attending to those pot dead. The twenty-five men of the turret were found lying in a heap. They had srarted for the exit when the first ex plosion occurred and had just reached there when the more terrible explosion in the handling room occurred which burned and strangled them to death. Bodies Terribly Mangled. The bodies were hardly recogniza ble, the terrible and quick fire having burnt clothing from the bodies of the men, and the flesh hung from them in shreds. The faces were mutilated by the smoke and flames. Only one man was breathing when the turret crew was rescued, and he died a moment after he reached deck. In less than five second after the first explosion two streams of water were being played in the rooms, and when volunteers were called for every man of the ship responded and were eager to go into the turrets and rescue the crew. The second explosion occurred near ope of the magazines and so hot was the fire that the brass work of the magazines was melted. Smoke and the fumes of the burned powder made ' it almost impossible to enter either | the turret or the handling room, but ’ officers and men, with handkerchiefs ] over their faces, made efforts to res cue the men inside. . ' Before the fumes of the burning ’ powder had left the turret officers ang men were in lifting the dying and dead | men. ’ GAMMONS MAKES CONFESSIOw. Tells of Killing Farmer Kimsey and His Daughter, Fannie. A dispatch from Jackson, Miss,, says: Ed Gammons, the young white man who killed Lake Kimsey, of Wa ter Valley, and his daughter, Fannie, has made a confession in regard to the killing of Mr. Kimsey. In his confession he, for the first time, tells of the killing of the girl, with whom he was in love. He says that when he went to the house after killing her father in the field, he told the girl about it, and they at flrst planned to run away and get married, but he says the girl suddenly changed her mind, and asked him to kill her, which he says he refused to do at first. Then she tried to snatch the pistol from his hand, whereupon he told her to step off a few paces and Grn her back, which she did, and then he shot her. First Minister from Paraguay. Don Cecilo Baez, envoy extraordina ry and mniister plenitpotentiary to the United Staes from Paraguay, was received by President Rooseveit at the white house Saturday, Secretary of State Hay presenting the new min ister. IPRO'I'EST UNDER CONSIDERATION Uncle SBam Cannot Act on Hypothetical : Wireless Telegraphy Case, The state department has taken the ’protest regarding wireless telegraphy |lu the Russo-Japanese war uander con ‘isideration, but following the almost ‘unbroken practice, it probably will de cline to take any action on a hypo thetical case, If an American citizen is arrested by tbe Russian officials the state depart ment will lay down a line of policy to meet this rovel departure in in tcrnational law. | e e e e e ' DISPOSITION OF S'ULLY’S COTTON. Judge Orders that Warehouse Receipts 5 be Given to Receivers. After a hearing in the United States district court at New York Saturday Judge Holt issued an order directing the Guarantee Trust Company to turn over to Receivers Taft and Miller, of the supended firm of D. J. Sully & Co., the warehouse receipts for the 3,008 bales of cotton and the cash bal ance of $12,209 which was still held by the trust company. i e e e e g CRUM.CASE CALLED UP. ‘ TRI Nomination of Charleston Colored | Collector Again Postponed. ! The nomination of W. D. Crum to be collector of customs at Charleston, S. C, was called up in executive ses sion of the senate Thursday by Sena itor Gallinger. | Senator Tillman, who opposed the ' confirmation, explained that he was 'not well enough to make a speech and the nomination went over out of cour | tesy to him. jTO RELEGATE TRADING STAMIE, Atlanta Merchants Will Not Pay Heavy License Tax Imposed. Leading Atlanta merchants who have been giving trading stamps, have agreed to discontinue that feature of their business on July 1, and the city council will have before it at its next meeting a measure seeking to have the recently enacted ordinance placing a $lOO license on trading stamps become effective on that date ’ . | Battleship Strikes a Mine and Quickly (Goes to Bottom. Vice Admiral Makaroff and; Nearly His Entire Crew Went Down With 0 Fated Vessel. An Associated Press dispatch from St. Petersburg says: Official telegrams ‘ from Port Arthur state that the Rus sian battle ship Petropavlovsk has been sunk off the entrance to the har bor. i It is estimated that eight hundred men lost their lives by the destruction of the ship. . - Among those who were drowned were vice Admiral Makaroff, the com mander of the Russian naval forces in the Far East. So far as known only four of the officers were saved, among them beingl the Grand Duke Cyril first officer of the vessel, who was wounded. ‘ As the Japanese fleet approached, Vice Admiral Makaroff ordered his whole squadron out of the harbor to mee; the attack. * According to the Associated Press informant, while preparing to draw up his line of battle in the outer road stead, the Petropavlovks struck a mine on her starboard side, amidship, and immediately began to heel. Be fore the crew could flood the compart ments of the vessel in order to keep her on an even keel, she turned bot tom up and sank in a few minutes, carrying down almost the entire crew. Captain N. Jakovloff, the Grahd Duke Cyril and two other officers were sav ea because they were standing on the upper bridge. The frightful loss of life among the officers and men was due to the fact that they were at their stations ready for action. The Petropavlovsk turned turtle in a manner similar to the British battie ship Victoria, which was rammed by the Camperdown in 1893, and to the incident in the Chino-Japanese war, when a- Chinese warship turned tur tle, many of the crew remaining alive for several days, hammering desper aiely on the upturned hull. The correspondent of the Associated Press wag informed Wednesday after noon that Grand Duke Boris was going to accompany his brother to Mukden. According to the advices received, Grand Duke Cyril’s injuries were slight, Report Received by Czar. . The following dispatch was received in St. Petersburg from Rear A'dmiral Grigovitch, the commandant at Port Arthur, addressed to the emperor: “Port Arthur, April 13.—The Petro pavlovsk struck a mine, which blew her up, and she turned turtle. Our squadron was under Golden Hill. The Japanese squadron was approaching. Vice Admiral Makaroff evidently was lost. Grand Duke Cyril was saved. He is slightly injured. Captain Jakov. loff was saved, though severely in jured, as were five officers and thirty two men, all more or less injured. “Rear Admiral Prince Ouktomsky has assumed command of the fleet.” POSTAL WIRES ARE CUT. Western Union Telegraph People a’ Savannah Start a Merry War. : Monday the Western Union started a erusade against the Postal Telegraph @ompany in Savannah. Manager Poebles, of the Western Union, took a foree of linemen and cut down the wires from the Western Union poles, on which they had been strung. This eut eut an important sub-station of the Postal and destroyed three circuits. An appeal was made to the city au thorities, but found it was unsupported Ly any ordinance. ; IRONCLAD TRAIN FOR CZAR. Russian Ruler May Go to the Front in Protected Railroad Car. An ironclad train is being built for the czar to take him to the Far East if he should decide to head the army. The train will consist of a summer and winter palace car home, sleeping quarters for 300 men and stables for a hundred horses. The difficulty is com bining safety with a minimum of weight. The rails of the Siberian road are not heavy enough for ironclad traing such as the English used in Africa. JELKS GOES TO MEXICO, Alabama Governor Seeks Health on the Advice of Physicians. Hon, William. D. Jelks, governor of Aiabama, accompanied by his wife and daughter, left Thursday for Las Vegas, N. M., in search of health. The governor’s health is badly rum down and on medical advice he will seek rest in a high altitude. He ex pects to be gone several weeks. Lieu tenant Governor R. M. Cunningham, who is in Europe, has been cabled to come home and take charge of the executive office after the expiration of twenty days. MAKAROFF BRAVE OFFICER. Sad Fate of Russian Admiral Creates Profound Sensation. - The news of the death of Admiral Makaroff caused a profound sensation in naval and military circles at Wash ington, for he was probably better known than any other Russian naval officer. This was because of the fact that he had visited the United States in 1896-97 and also commanded the Russian north Atlantic squadron. The general opinion is that Makaroff was an officer of singular ability. In the matter of personal bravery he had no superior. IGORROTES TO FEAST CN DOGS. Edict of Humane Society at St. Louis to Be Ignored. There is great joy in the Igorrote re servation at the world’s fair in St. Louis. The Igorrotes are going ‘o have a dog feast, for which all arrange ments have been made. Six delicious dogs were mysteriously tethered to stakes in the reservation Sunday and carefully guarded by the savage Igor rotes from the Philippines. Governor Hunt, who hae charge of the Igorrotes, states that the humane society canmnot interfere with the pro posed feast, as the reservation is 300 yards outside the ecity limits, which also precludes interference by munici pal authorities,