VOL. VII.
McCRORY, ARKANSAS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER IT, 1908.
ISO. 4*.
the topics
OF A WEEK
Declaring it to be drastic, harsl’
and unreasonable and an invasion o)
the rights of the states, and, there
fore. repugnant to the constitution
the United States Circuit Court foi
the Eastern district of Pennsylva
nia Thursday dismissed the suits oi
the federal government to enforc(
the commodities clause of the Hep
burn railroad act against the anthra
cite coal carrying railroads of thai
state. Judges George Gray and
George M. Dallas filed opinions dis
missing the suits and Judge Joseph
Buffington dissented, but did not file
an opinion. The commodities clause
prohibits railroad companies to
Transport in interstate commerce
any article or commodity manufac
tured, mined or produced by them
jor under their authority. The case
!was argued in June, United States
Attorney General Bonaparte deliv
ering the principal argument for
the government. The effect of the
■commodities clause, if constitutional,
■would confine the mining of anthra
cite coal by the railroad for use in
Pennsylvania only, or compel the
railroad to sell all the mining prop
erty they are interested in, either
directly or indirectly. The decision
of the court did not come as a great
surprise. It is almost certain that
the ease w ill be appealed directly to
the United States Supreme Court.
| Deploring the utter uselessness
and awfulness of the epidemic of sui
cides which has occurred in Mem
phis in the past few days, Dr. Wil
liam E. Thompson, pastor of St.
John's Methodist church, is advocat
ing the establishment of suicide clin
' Vf_1 • _1. ... 1_ l_
ouvu ui: j
established in Chicago through what
is known as the “Emanuel Move
ment.” This movement was started
in the Windy City bv a bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal ’church. Men
and women lu whom life is all dark
and no glimmer of hope for the fu
ture are treated just as a physician
treats a patient. T1 is or her case is
diagnosed, and instead of medicine,
a book, a new job, a little heart to
heart talk is the prescription admin
istered. Hundreds have been saved
from self-destruction through these
clinks, and started on with a new
grip on life and a new outlook at
things in general.
After a lapse of thirty years ac
tion has been taken at New York to
have dismissed a suit brought
against the late Gen. Benjamin F.
Butler, of Massachusetts, by John
H. Lester, who sought to recover
$100,000 damages for alleged false
imprisonment in 1864. When Gen.
Butler was in command of the de
partment of Virginia and North
Carolina in 1864 he was called up
on by Lester, who wished to have
his family passed through the lines
0,1 n flag of truce. While he was
talking with the general he was rec
ognized by one of the latter’s subor
dinates us a spy. He was taken in
to custody and incriminating docu
iinrnts were found upon him as a
rosuit of which ho was tried by com
mission and sent to military prison.
Feeling in the General Assembly
at Atlanta. Ga., over pending convict
legislation resulted in a fist fight be
ta-pen two members of the House of
Representatives Wednesday night in
v hic-h Representatives Jackson of
Jonas and Cullom of Schley were
the participants.
Che postoffice at Breckendirge,
mas broken into early Monday
morning and about $1,100 worth of
stamps and a small amount of cash
■"'as secured by the robbers. Dyna
ttnte was used to blow open the safe.
A report from Wayne county, Ky.,
gays that night riders have put in
their appearance in that section.
John Holt, a well-to-do citizen, re
opdved nolice a night or so ago to
'acute or else suffer the consequences.
Since the killing of a white man
!,J a negro at Kansas City last Sat
urday, there has been a growing
alarm of a race war among the col
ored population, and the police have
learned that many of them arc pur
chasing firearms. A pawnbroker on
least Eighteenth street reported that
the negroes had purchased all the
shotguns, rifles and revolvers in his
store, besides a large amount of am
munition. Robert Thomas, a negro,
was arrested at a circus Tuesday for
carrying a revolver “to protect his
color.” Robert Mauhlin, another
negro, fatally wounded himself while
cleaning a revolver, which it is be
lieved he intended to carry. Excit
ed groups of negroes have been dis
persed bv the police, but no violence
has occurred.
Ortha Bard, a young married
woman, traveled from Frankfort,
Ky., to Middletown, 0., carrying her
dead infant in her arms to prevent
anyone learning her secret. A police
man found her in the waiting room
of the C., IT. & D. station. Mrs.
Bard said sine was afraid to tell the
conductor her child was dead, fear
ing she would be put off the train.
At Middletown she met her husband,
George Bard, and the dead baby was
turned over to an undertaker. Mrs.
Bard’s home is in Chattanooga,
Tenn.. and she started from there
to join her husband. The baby had
been suffering from whooping cough
and was unable to withstand the
long journey.
A total oi 397,924 bales of cotton
ginned from the growth of 1908 to
September 1, and 6,G13 active gin
neries, are announced in the census
report on cotton ginning issued
Tuesday. This is against 200.278
bales at the corresponding date in
1907, 4,080 active ginneries; 407,
551 bales and 6,628 ginneries in
1906, and 476,655 bales and 8,629
ginneries in 1905. These figures
count round as half bales. The re
port for 1908. 11,503 for 1907, 21,
855 for 1906, and 22,231 for 1905.
The report also embraces 1,324 sea
island bales for 1908. 85 for 1907,
G3 for 1906, and 1.165 for 1905.
Rivalry for the hand of a woman,
which began in Sicily several years
ago, resulted in a murder at Cleve
land, O., Tuesday, when Angelo Maz
zo was stabbed through the heart
by Carmen Bulone. Both men lov
ed the same girl in Porta, Sicily, but
Mazzo won and married the young
woman. Bulone swore vengeance.
In order to escape Bulone's wrath
the couple came to America. Bulone,
however, followed them, and Tues
day morning, on a crowded thorough
fare. killed Mazzo with a stilletto.
Bulone fled, but was captured as he
was about to board a train for New
York.
The widow of Capt. G. A. Mer
riam, who died Wednesday at Ports
mouth, N. II., of “embolism of the
heart following an operation for ap
pendicitis,” said Tuesday that her
husband’s death was hastened by the
action of the Navy Department in
relieving him of the command of the
battleship Missouri. Mrs. Merriam
says that her husband felt he was
disgraced by his recent transfer and
she believes that this broke his heart
and killed him.
An express package worth $52,000
has disappeared and the W ells-Fargo
Express Co.'s* detectives are trying
to run down the thief. The package
was sent from Salem. Ore., to Jo
seph M. Meyers at the Portland Ho
tel and contained jewelry, notes and
valuable papers. It reached Port
land on the night of Aug. 21, but
immediately disappeared.
Over 40,000 bushels of apples have
already been put in cold storage at
Wichita. Kas., for the winter, and
they are coming in at the rate of
3,000 bushels a day.
The 2-year-old child of Mr. and
Mrs. J. J. Irwin of Pryor Creek.
Okla., died in Kansas City from eat
ing bread that contained an appli
cation of rat poison.
T. W. Edwards, a prominent citi
zen of luka Miss., was shot and in
stantly killed by G. W* Kimberly, a
well-known and pioneer resident of
It is announced that as a result
of Samuel Gompers’ recent visit to
Texas, a political alliance has been
formed between the National Farm
ers' I nion and the American Feder
ation of Labor. Jt was at the sug
gestion of Gompers, it is said, that
the Farmers’ Union, at its national
convention last week at Fort Worth,
adopted a resolution including the
following, “ltesolved, That a na
tional Legislative Committee be
created for the purpose of further
ing such legislation that will protect
and promote the rights and interests
of the farmers, and to prevent the
enactment of legislation inimical to
our interests. “Kesolved, That this
convention of the Farmers’ Educa
tional and Co-operative Union of
America hereby instruct its officers
and Legislative Committee to co-op
erate with the American Federation
of Labor along economic and other
lines of mutual benefit and advant
age.”
i
A great new nation is torniing in
Siberia. One of the most gigantic
migrations in history has been pro
ceeding so quietly that the world
generally has not noticed the move
ment. During the last 12 months
more than 50.000 llussians have gone
to Siberia, a number equal to half
the number of immigrants the Uni
ted States received during that peri
od from the whole earth. Prince
Yassiltchikoff, minister of agricul
ture, has furnished the Douma with
the figures of the migration across
the Ural mountains. For several
years before 190(1 it was 60,000 an
nually: in 1906 it was 180,000; in
190? it was 400.000. In the first
three months of this year it was 420,
000, comprised in 70,000 families.
On the border between Tennessee
and Kentucky, there has been mus
tered into service a company of mili
tia which is the advance outpost to
head off night riders who might come
into Kentucky from Tennessee. The
new company, to which equipment
was issued last week, is located at
Columbus, Kv.. eighteen miles from
Hickman, and contains the full ros
ter. The officers are: Captain. A. J.
Hess; first lieutenant H. Pearson;
second liteutenant, T. J. Jordan.
An extra session of Congress will
certainly be lied this winter, im
mediately upon the adjournment of
tlu regular session on March 4. This
was the statement made here Satur
day by Senator -McCumber of North
Dakota, who had gone just to \\ ash
ington,. after a conference with the
president and Mr. Taft, held on this
subject at Oyster Bay. Not only
will the extra session be held, the
senator says, but the tariff will be
revised.
Because John C hnstman, aged 40.
of 3500 Chouteau avenue, St. Louis,
tied a rock to himself and jumped
into tlie Mississippi River, the po
lice locked him up on a charge of
disorderly conduct. Christman says
he was despondent because he had
failed to obtain a better job. He was
boating Monday near a ferry Im-ge
north of the Eads Bridge, on the
east shore, when he received the
idea of drowning himself.
Unprecedented In the legal annals
of Massachusetts is the defense which
is to be set up when Chester Jordan
of Somerville is brought to trial for
the murder of his wife. Honora. in
their home on the upper tlat house
in Medford street of that city. In
sanity, emotional insanity, brought
on Jordan through the constant nag
ging of Jordan's wife, will he plead
ed and testified to by witnesses in
his behalf.
Victor G. Bloede. president of the
Victor G. Bloede Company of Bal
timore. jointly indicted with Ed
win VanDyek, former ink expert of
the Bureau of Engraving and Print
ing in Washington, pleaded guilty
to '{laying VanDyek $'14,000 in com
missions of 1(T cents a pound on con
tracts for supplying the government
with ink. and was lined $5,000,
which was immediately paid.
The American battleships Maine
and Alabama, the advance guard of
the American fleet on the voyage
around the world, arrived at Suez
Sunday,.
Mrs. W. II. Hill of Prescott,
whose death occurred Saturday, was
buried Monday in a casket she pur
chased for that purpose 20 years
ago. Mrs. Hill had been a resident
of Prescott 25 years and formerly
owned and conducted the Parker
hotel, which was destroyed by fire
two years ago. After the destruction
of the hotel she was married to W.
H. Hill and resided on a farm two
miles north of Prescott. Mrs. Hill.
25 years ago weighed over 400
pounds. Realizing that in case of
death a casket large enough to con
tain her body could not be had in
Prescott, she ordered one made and
kept it in her residence up to the
time she died. She lost about half
her weight during the past two
years, but the casket she bought was
used at the burial. Mrs. Hill had
been in feeble health for some time
and recently one of her legs became
affected and complications developed
which necessitated the amputation of
the limb above the knee, from the
effects of which she never recovered.
Found unconscious and alone in
his cabin near the plant of a shin
gle mill at Scott, last Tuesday, Ed
ward Masters, 28 years old, was tak
en to the Battle Creek Sanitarium
at Little Rock, where he lingered
until 10 o'clock Thursday morning,
never regaining consciousness. Iler
morrhetic fever was the diagnosis
of the physicians. Masters’ home
is at Littles, Ind., but he had been
employed at the shingle mill for
more than a year. When the plant
closed down about eight months
ago, he was retained as custodian.
He was last seen Sunday morning
by neighbors. It is supposed that
lie became unconscious and was
therefore unable to call for assis
tance. ,
Gold and silver bearing ore is
said to have been discovered on the
line of tlie Prescott and Northwest
ern Railroad near Murfreesboro,
which, it is claimed, assays at $100
to the ton, the assays having been
made at Denver and El Paso, each
report being the same. The discov
ery was made by George W. Holland,
who has filed a contest in the United
States I,and Office at Camden
against the owner of the land who
entered it under the timber and
stone act. The land office will hear
the case to determine whether the
land is more valuable for its miner
al deposits than for the purpose for
which it was entered.
Norval Green, who is said to have
been thrown from the roof of a house
at Fort Smith Tuesday night by Ot
to Quinn, another negro, failed to
appear in Justice Danner's court
Wednesday to answer to the charge,
and the case will probably be dis
missed. Tuesday night a party of
negroes had mounted to the top of a
house to witness a dance at the ne
gro skating rink. Stones and clubs
were thrown at the negroes on the
roof. Finally Quinn, it is said, climb
ed to the roof and threw Green to
the ground, which resulted in the
breaking of Green’s arm.
In the county building at Fort
Smith Wednesday a child-mother
wept for over an hour after giving
her legal consent to the adoption of
her baby to another. The legal doc
uments had just been completed
which gave the child of Mrs. Maud
Barnett to Mrs. Muggie Schneider.
The husband, scarcely more than a
boy himself, sought in vain to com
fort the little mother. Circumstances
which precluded their keeping the
child led to its transfer.
Charels Eagen, arrested Monday
at Fort Smith on the charge of
drunkenness and who is alleged to
have charged that his money was
taken away from him and retained
by the police, was arrested Tuesday
on a warrant sworn out. by Chief
Surratt, charging him with slander.
A report received at Fayetteville
Istc Tuesday night is to the effect
that John 1). Holt, the 20-year-old
son of a Lincoln merchant, is the
suspect being chased by a posse head
ed by Deputy Sheriff Todhunter,
for the killing of John W. Murry..
According to the report, Murry
caught Holt; stealing watermelons
and upbraided him for his act and
this led to the trouble which ulti
mately resulted in Slurry’s being
shot from ambush on the road near
his home. The killing took place
about 5 o'clock Sunday afternoon.
Holt it is said, has disappeared from
his home, and a posse of 200 men
is trailing him across the country.
It is claimed that at one time the
boy was surrounded in a cornfield,
but he managed to elude his pur
suers and to successfully cover his
tracks. Bloodhounds which were
put upon the trail immediately after
the killing soon lost the scent, and
the man-hunters are depending upon
human agencies alone. A report re
ceived early Tuesday evening declar
ed that Holt had been captured and
that the officers were concealing the
fact of his arrest, fearing mob vio
lence, as the feeling against the
young man is high in the community
in which both lie and Murry resided.
Murry, the man shot from ambush,
was about 40 years of age and leaves
£ family.
Eeporting that he had been kick
ed off a freight train by a brake
man near Gilkerson, recently, and
two bones broken, Manuel Baca, a
Mexican, 18 years of age. and claim
ing El I’aso, Tex., as his home, walk
ed into Jonesboro Saturday seeking
work. After being thrown from the
train, the Mexican says, he spent
the entire day in a field, and late in
the evening attracted the attention
of a farmer who was walking along
the track. The farmer, he says, took
him to his home and cared for him
until ho was able to make way to
Jonesboro. The Mexican says that
the day before he left the farmer’s
house several young men in the
neighborhood threatened to tar and
feather him if he did not leave the
community at once, and that if he
told any one what they* threatened
to do to him in case of his refusal
to leave they would kill him.
The local operator at Dumas re
ceived a message Tuesday morning
from Gould, eight miles north, that
the depot at that place was a total by
fire, the company's records being en
tirely consumed in the building. The
property was doubtless the most valu
able station property owned by the
Iron Mountain at any place on the
line south of Pine Bluff and is es
timated to have cost .$',000. Fire
broke out at about 2 a, m. and is
supposed to be of incendiary origin.
The government force of cattle
tick eradicators is busy in Washing
ton county. It will take about 30
days to complete the canvass of the
county, and then, it is claimed, there
will not be a tick left in the county.
The government is also furnishing
the oil for greasing the cattle.
A bonus is being raised by the
citizens of Nashville to gaurantee an
extension of the Memphis, Paris and
Gulf railroad to Murfreesboro. The
railroad company agrees that, in
consideration of $7,500, it will build
the extension and maintain the rail
road shops at Nashville for a period
of 20 years. The company also
agrees, in consideration of this
amount to release the Nashville
business men from their guarantee
of 150,000,000 feet of timber, which
the company claims is not on the
land secured.
The old B. R. Anderson home
stead near Nashville, together with
all its contents, was destroyed by
fire Thursday night. The fire is
supposed to have originated from a
defective flue.
The old settlers of Randolph coun
ty will hold a meeting at Biggers
September 24. A permanent organi
zation of old settlers of the county
will be effected at the meeting.
A. J. Ward has sold his interest
in the Rogers Free Press to Rev. A.
P. Coppedge, who has taken charge
of the plant.
The Fort Smith officials of th*
Mine Workers’ Union are making a
rigid investigation of the Haileyvilie:
disaster in which 29 men lost their
lives. Although the officials’ reports
have been received, an inspection has.
been made by the mine inspectors.
A statement was made Saturday by
the officials that the death of the
men, was due indirectly to lack of
presence of mind on the part of em
ployes of the company above ground.
Fearing that by drawing out the air
in the “up cast” the shaft and fan
house would be destroyed, the air,
they allege, was shut off and the men
were consequently suffocated. It is
also claimed that two men who went
to warn their fellowinen of the im
pending danger met death as a result
of the air being shut off. i
The new town at the p>oint where
the Arkansas, Louisiana and Gulf
Railroad crosses into Arkansas from
Louisiana is to be known in the
future as Geddie. It has been known
as State-Line heretofore and is so
given in the railroad tariffs. The
change of name was decided upon at
a meeting of the citizens recently. It
is authoritatively stated that 50 new
stores are to be built at an early date.
Churches and a school building will
also be erected within the next few
weeks. The new town starts with a
population of about 500 and since it
is surrounded by a densely settled
and prosperous agricultural country,
it is believed that it will soon become
a thriving village.
secretary w rignt gave a near
ing at Washington Saturday to
representatives of the St. Louis,
Iron Mountain and Southern
Railway Company, concerning a
bridge at Fort Smith, Ark. Tho
government work above the bridgu
lias been swept away by high water
and the channel lias been diverted
from the Fort Smith side of the
river to the opposite side. An order
was issued that a draw of the bridge
should be moved to conform with
the channel. The railway company
is urging that it should not be re
quired to change the bridge. No de
cision was reached.
Mt, Vernon Township Sunday
School convention will meet at Ben
tonville September 20. The program
in part will be as follows: Address
of welcome, "Mrs. May Harris; re
sponse, Mrs. Pipper; “How Can We
Secure the Attendance of the Pa
rents in the Sunday School ?” A. C.
Withron, Henry Martin and others;
“ Teaching a Model Sunday School
Class.’’ Prof. S. C. Parish; Address,
Rev. Mr. Carnahan;‘“The Best Me
thod of Securing Study of the Les
son.” Miss Nannie Roberts, 0. F.
Anderson and Miss Mattie Buttram.
A cat afflicted with rabies appear
ed on the streets of Fidelity Thurs
day, and before it was killed had bit
ten two persons and scratched nine
others. Those bitten bv the mad
animal were John Flanner and Buz
zie Boyd. Those scratched were
James Moran. Misses Ena Moran,
Viola Kurtzs, Georgia Kurtzs, Dollie
Kurtzs, Anna fathers, Myrtle BoydJ
Ruth Boyd and William Bovd. John
Flanner and Buzzie Boyd, who were
bitten by the cat, were taken to
Chicago for treatment.
A team ot mules attached to a wag
on. in which there were five calves
and driven by William Hinkle, a
Jackson county farmer, ran down the
steep embankment at the ferry land-:
ing at Newport, bolted across the
ferry boat and into the swift cur
rent of White river, Thursday. The
mules and the calves were drowned,
and the wagon was carried by the
current a distance of a mile below
Newport, where it lodged upon a
sandbar. Mr. Hinkle escaped unin
jured.
The DeQueen Fruit Growers’ As
sociation met at DeQueen recently
and completed its settlements for the
season. A surplus of $113.(;r> had
accrued from assessments, and each
grower was refunded 1 1-1 cents per
crate. A committee consisting of S
D. Roland, M. S. Yoiies and T. ,T.
Marsden was appointed to select a
site for a packing shed and canning
factory. It is proposed to establish
a factory with a daily capacity of
50,000 cans.