$1 Per Annum.
Newark, Independence County, Arkansas, Friday July 15, 1904.
Vol. 4, No. 29
Judge Alton B. Parker, Democratic Nominee For President.
ALTON B. PARKER;
HENRY G. DAVIS
Sketch of th« Men Nominated by the
Democrat* for President and
Vice President.
The great national democratic
•convention is over. It adjourned
-at 1:15 a. m. Sunday, after one of
the most enthusiastic meetings ev
er held in the history of the party.
And the members are convinced
that they have named a winning
ticket for the November elections.
It is as follows:
For president Alton B. Parker
•of New York.
For vice-president Henry (i.
Davis of West Virginia.
Arkansas delegates and visitors
returning declare that it was one
of the greatest conventions they
ever attended, and that the enthus
iasm was unbounded.
The democrats of the nation are
to t»e congratulated upon the re
sult of the convention. For some
time their dissentions and bicker
ings have resembled war.They have
been headed for every point of the
compass, each bent ujion doing as
lie pleased, regardless of results.
In fact their dissentions have been
so great that the republicans have
boasted that the democrats didn't
know what they wanted and
wouldn’t know how to ask for it
if they did.
But these disciples of Jefferson
pondered over the situation and
came to the conclusion that it was
time to get together and do some
thing.
The result was they got togeth
er in St. Louis and adopted a plat
form that fully covers all the is
sues of the day, and one upon
which any democrat can stand. In
spite of enmities that have almost
become funds; in spite of hatreds
that seemed to have grown more
bitter with each passing year, a
platform was adopted without a
dissenting vote, and all elements
of the party thus brought together
harmony.
■ SK KTC'II OF .ll'lHIF. 1WKKKK.
' Alton Hrooks Parker was born
on a farm in Cortland county,New
York, May 14, 1M52. His ances
tors were farmers, and at the be
ginning of the revolutionary war
his great grand father left the
plow and served as a private under
Washington. Judge Parker’s
i white-haired mother is still living,
and is a woman of refinement and
education. She lives at Derby,
(’onn.
In his early days Judge Parker
attended the village school and
worked on the farm. When 16
years of age he taught a country
school and established his authori
ty by thrashing the bully of the
school. He rose in the profession
as a teacher and later went to
Kingston to enter the law office
of Shoonmaker & Hardenberg to
study law. \\ ithin a few months
afterwards he took a partner and
l>egan the practice of law. For
12 years he practiced law in King
ston and built up a large clien
tage.
In 1H77 he was elected surrogate
of Ulster county, and was re-elect
ed for a second terra. A few years
afterwards Governor Hill appoint
ed him to a seat on the supreme1
court bench. At the expiration
of his appointive term he was nom
inated by the democrats for re
election to the position. The re
publicans would not nominate an
opponent and not a vote was cast
against him. During his 19 years
on the bench he has ignored .poli
tics. In 1N9G and in 1900 he vot
ed for Bryan. It was understood
that he was a sound-money man,
but he accepted the will of the
party and supported the ticket.
.fudge Parker is six feet tall and
a man of giant strength. He is
nearly 52 years old and weighs
190 pounds.
SKETCH OF DAVIS.
Henry G. Davis was born No
[CONTINUED ON I’AOF. 4]
NATHAN BREWER
PAYS PENALTY
Met Death on the Gallows at Para
gould, for the Murder of
Bud Dortch.
Paragould, Ai k.,.) wly 9. Nath
an Brewer was hung1 hen* this eve
ning at 3:50 o'clock. His neck
was broken and Brewer died with
out a show of weakness. Prayer
was offered by the Rev. A. C. (Jrif
hn, the well-known Methodist min
ister, who delivered a short ad
d re* s.
Brewer spoke as follows:
"Well, you all an* standing;
there while l am here paying the I
penalty, but 1 have a home up
yonder and have nothing to fear.
1 have told the truth to you all
and want you to all understand. I
gave my statement to the press.
(rood-bye to yor all.”
Order prevailed throughout the
day. At least 3,000 people were
around the jail most of the day.
Sheriff Grayson and a dozen de
puties were kept busy most of the
day, and hundreds of callers went
in to see the doomed man in his
cell. Brewer is a young man of
30; and has been in poor health
for some time.
1 he same rope and scaffold was
j used today as was used one month
I ago, when Mart Vowell was hang
I ed. There was only one hour’s
| difference in the time of the exe
cution. None of Brewer’s relatives
attended the execution, and none
of Bud l>orch’s family Was here,
j but all will attend the funeral to
; morrow, near Marmaduke. Brew
|er\s wife kissel him good-bye Fri
' day morning. Their j>arting was
very heartrending. Several sher
iff's from adjacent counties were
in attendance.
HISTORY OF HRKWKh’s CHIME.
The crime for which Nathan
Brewer paid the extreme' penalty
of the law was the assassination
of Bud Dortch, about one year
ago, just across the line in ( lay
county, some sixteen miles north
of Paragon Id.
Brewer and his victim were
both white men and belonged to
quiet, industrious families of more
than average intelligence and so
cial standing.
The crime was one of the most
cold-blooded and diabolical deeds
ever perpetrated in this state
Dortch was an old and inoffensive
man. living alone on his farm, and
without an enemy in the world.
He had just sold some stock and
was thought to have quite s sum
of money, which he either carried
on his person or had concealed
about his house.
One day last August Uortcii was
found dead near his home, his body
being riddled with buckshot. Ev
idence brought out at the inquest
showed that Dortch had been as
sassinated and robbed, and suspic
ion pointed toward Nath Brewer
as the guilty man. Ho had been
seen in the neighborhood, although
he lived several miles away, and
was known to have inquired if
Dortch did not carry his money.
Three days after the commission
of the crime Brewer was appre
hended and placed in jail. As soon
as arrested the guilty man, believ
ing that his crime had been discov
ered and fearing mob violence, ex
pressed a desire to make a confes
sion. Being assured of protection
by the officers, he fabricated a
statement that afterward rendered
the insanity plea useless and prov
ed his utter undoing'.
lie alleged, in substance, that he
had been held up by two strange
men and at the point of pistols
made to shoot Hud Dortch. The
men were strangers, but he had
seen them before, and although he
could describe them minutely, he
did not know their names.
Meantime, the scene of the trag
edy had been carefully examined.
A brush blind had been discovered
built against the fence within a few
rods of where Dortch's body was
found, and inside of which the as
sassin concealed himself while ly
ing in wait for his aged victim to
approach on a nearby pathway, on
his way to the fields to work.
Within this booth were found foot
prints and impressions of the as
sassin’s knees in the soft dirt, as
he first stood and then kneeled, as
he became tired first of one posi
tion and then the other, while
waiting. The blind was worn
slick by much use and showed that
the assassin had lain there conceal
ed, solitary and alone, watching
for the innocent old man to come
along and Ini shot.
All the tracks in the blind, and
leading to and from it, were made
by one man, and not three, and
that man wore Nab* Brewer’s
shoes.
Late Friday evening Brewer
made another confession contain
ing a statement of facts entirely
different from that of his first sto
ry of the crime. In this second
statement lie says that he alone
did the killing, but that he did not
kill Dortch for his money; that he
never thought of money at any
time in connection with the deed,
and that he never touched Dortch’s
body, nor went near his house af
ter the shooting. lie said the sole
reason lie took Dorth’s life was
that Dortch had insulted or talked
in a scandalous manner about his
wife.
Brewer and his wife were both
young people. Dortch was an in
offensive old man, who lived sev
eral miles from Brewer, and par
ties living in that section say the
two families were never known to
have any relations with each oth
er, friendly or otherwise.
Flood Caused Suicide.
Paris, Ark., July 11.—W. P.
Tygar, a prominent merchant and
land-owner of Prairie View, com
mitted suicide at 10 o’clock yester
day morning. Flood losses and
other business matters were prob
ably the cause.
Woman’s Body Found in River.
Ozark, Ark., July 9.—This
morning while a mill hand was
looking after a raft of logs at this
place he discovered a woman’s
body floating on top of the water
in the Arkansas river. After con
siderable work, as the river is
quite swift, owing to the present
rise, he got the body near enough
to the bank and tied it to a tree,
and at once notified the officers.
From the appearance of the wo
man she had been dead a week or
more. She was about five and
one-half feet tall. Her age seems
to have been between twenty and
thirty years. Decomposition had
set in too badly for the coroner’s
jury to make a minute examina
tion, in fact, could not do it.
Therefore it is not known whether
she was drowned or murdered.
YOUNG LADIES
WERE DROWNED
Misses Ethel and Jessie Hodges Met
Death in Swollen Stream near
Sulphur Rock.
Misses Ethel and Jessie Hodges,
aged and is years, respectively,
daughters of Dr. and Mrs. R. II.
Hodges, of Sulphur Rock, were
drowned last Saturday afternoon
just south of Sulphur Rock while
attempting to cross Rig Creek in
a buggy.
The young ladies had been across
the mountain to close a contract
for a school which Miss Ethel was
to teach over in District No. 32,
beginning on the following Mon
day.
During the time the young la
dies were in the neighborhood,
south of the mountain, a heavy
rain had fallen, and immediately
after the rain ceased they started
to return home.
The heavy rain had swollen Rig
Creek, which had become very
swift. The young ladies were
alone, and not l>eing aware of the
danger that confronted them,drove
I into the st ream.
The buggy was swept away by
the current and the two young la
dies thrown into the angry torrent
that was sweeping down the swol
len mountain stream.
No one saw them enter the st ream
and it is not known just how Ionic
it was after the sad accident oc
curred until the bodies were re
covered.
The first intimation of the sad
occurrence was given by a section
hand who discovered the buggy
in a drift near the railroad. The
alarm was given and soon a large
number of friends were searching
for the bodies.
Miss Ethel was found in drift
near the ford and Miss Jessie w«w*
found a mile below. The bodies
were recovered about 3 o’clock.
The horse, also, was drowned
and the buggy swept away and
badly wrecked.
The news of the sad accident
cast a gloom over the entire com
munity, as the young ladies were
held in high esteem by all who
knew them.
Both were devoted Christians
and untiring Sunday School work
ers.
The funeral was conducted at
the residence Sunday afternoon by
Revs. C. H. Newman and C. L.
Castleberry. A large concourse
of sorrow-stricken friends follow
ed the remains to their last earth
ly resting place at the Sulphur
Rock cemetery, where the two
bodies were gently laid to rest in
the same grave.
Takes His Own Life.
Springdale, Ark., June 11.—W.
M. Craver, residing about two
miles east of this place, shot him
self yesterday afternoon about 4
o’clock. He had been in poor
health for some time and had be
come despondent. He and his wife
came to this section some twelve
years ago from Wisconsin. At the
| time of the tragedy his wife had
gone to a neighbor's to get some
one to go for the doctor. Upon
her return to the house she found
her husband dead, with a revolver
close by him. The coroner has
been sent for and the body will ba
taken care of.