North Carolina Newspapers

OMA H A Established 1870. Country, God and Truth. Single Copies Five Cents VOL XUV NO. 47 LUMBERTON, NORTH CAROUNA, THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1913. WHOLE NO 2884 ROBES N WASHINGTON STORM SWEPT. Cyclonic Storm of Wind, Rain and Hail Leaves Death and Ruin in Its Wake. Washington Dispatch, 30th. . Like a giant flail a cyclonic storm of wind, rain and hail whipped back And forth across the Nation's Capital .today, leay' ig- death and ruin in its wake. Three dead, scores injured and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of property destroyed was the .toll recorded in the hurried canvass .made when the city aroused itself from half an hour of helplessness in the grasp of the elements. Out of the blazing sky under which (the city was sweltering with the tem perature at 100 degrees came the .storm, roaring from the north, driv ing a mass of clouds that cast a man tle of. darkness over the city. The '.gale, reaching a velocity of almost 70 miles an hour, swept the streets clear, unroofed houses, tore detached small .structures from their foundations, wrecked one office building, overturn ed wagons and carriages in the, streets and swept Washington's hun dred parks, tearing huge branches irom trees, and even uprooting stur dy old elms, landmarks of a century. m Tonight Washington's well-kept .streets, with their wealth of trees, were littered with broken foliage, Toofs, debris and dead birds. As the wind wreaked its havoc, the rain came, and in five minutes the temperature dropped from the hun dred mark to between 60 and 70. Then the rain turned into hail and hail .stones battered on roofs and crashed through skylights and windows. For half an hour the city cowered, paralyzed under the beating of the storm, every activity was suspend ed. Trolley cars, street traffic and telephone service were halted, and Government Departments suspended tyeratibnsl The wind; 'wrecked a . three story brick office building occu pied by the B. S. Saul Company, real -estate dealers and 15 persons were carried down in the crash. W. E. Hil ton, vice president of J the reul estate company, Thomas B. Fealey, 65 years old, a clerk, and an unidentified man who entered the building to try ito rescue those caught in the wreck were - tak. n from the ruins-dead. JJalT a dozen were to hospitals seriously in jured and a half a dozen were treated for slight injuries. Tonight the po lice were still digging m the ruins fearing other bodies might be recov ered. Ruins White House Lawns. The neatly kept lawns of the White House were davasted. Three huge -elm trees uprooted by the wind, were thrown bodily across th lawn and up to the very portico of the building, blocking the drives. President Wilson was seated in the executive offices when the wind crashed through sev eral windows in the White House pro per. Secretary Tumulty hurried the President and Representative Korbley of Indiana with whom he was confer ring, to a sheltered interior room, away from the searching lightning flashes. The Capitol set high above the city caught the brunt of the wind, rain, hail and lightning. The Senate was in session when the hail swept down a deafening roar beating on the the glass roof of the chamber. The ; tumult made further business impos sible and hurrying to the Vice Presi dent desk, Senator Kern, megaphon ed, with his hands a motion to recess. The motion was put and although the Senators could hear ndthing, the Sen ate quit work for 15 minutes in con fusion. When the storm broke, 35 painters were at work on the dome of the Capitol, swarming over the curving surface or swinging high on shaking scaffolding. William Reese, the Tore man hurried to the dome and got most of (his men to shelter inside the 1 big inverted bowl. But Jim Boyle, John Ford, Noble Bailey and Bruce Jones were too late. Bailey and Jones succeeded in scaling the dome in the wind and rain and gaining a she. red ledge wherethey weather he storm after trying in vain to get inside, Boyle and Ford were caught on a swinging scaffold just under the eaves of the dome and there they swung, buffeted by the wind, beaten by the hail and soaked by the rain, while the flashes of blue lightning trickled around the dome, down from the plat inum lightning points on the head of the Goddess of Freedom that -surmounts the structure. When the storm was over they crept, shaken and bruised, to safety inside the dome. Panic Throughout City Here and there throughout 'the city WIDE APART ON MEXICO POLICY President's Ideas and Those of Am bassador Wilson Widely Different Ambassador Advised to Take a Rest Washington Dispatch, 28th. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, summoned from Mexico City to ..in form the Washington Administration of conditions in the rebellion-torn Re public, talked for an hour with Pres ident Wilson and Secretary Bryan to day, submitting chiefly a recommen dation that the United States use its influence to stabilize the Huerta re gime. . No policy was evolved, at least none was announced, but it became known that the President's Ideas and those of Ambassador Wilson's as to the course to be pursued are so radically different that Administration officials interpreted the day's developments as forecasting the acceptance of Ambas sador Wilson's resignation. President Wilson and the Ambassa dor regard the future of the Mexican situation, it was learned, from oppo site viewpoints. The President is con cerned over the morality .of any pol icy adopted and its effect over other Latin-American countries and is dis ciplined to strengthen a government that came into power through ques tionable events incident to Madero's assassination. Ambassador Wilson, on the other hand, is disposed to look at the situa tion, not from past events, but with the practical eye to the future. He believes it is the business of the government to look to the future and and his suggestions have been in the direction of extending things to con serve American interests. The inad visability from a diplomatic stand point of maintaining in Mexico City a representative who would not be sympathetic with the purpose of the Wilson Administration in Washing ton is said to have practically con vinced the President that the Embas sy in Mexico City had better be con ducted for . the present by Nelson O'Shaughnessy, its first secretary, re puted here to be efficient and exper ienced. The appointment of a new Ambassador would be contingent up on the establishment of a satisfactory Government at Mexico City. Mean while the President advised Ambassa dor Wilson to take a rest for a few days as he has been laboring under a nervous strain. Ambassador Wilson Secures Support fo His Plan. Washington Dispatch, 30th. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson's conference today with members of the Senate Committee on foreign re lations resulted in stronger support for his plan to recognize the Huerta government in Mexico, than he has received at any time since reaching Washington. After three hours' questioning of the Ambassador, many members of the Senate committee tonight ex pressed the opinion that serious con sideration should be given to his re commendations of a guarded and re stricted recognition of Huerta, design ed to bolster up the present govern ment until elections can be held Octo ber 26th. The determination of the Govern ment's main policy does not rest with the Senate, however, and there was nothing in the situation tonight to in dicate that President Wilson or Secre tary Bryan had wavered in their de termination not to recognize the Huerta government at present. panic appeared. Horses driven fran tic by the wind and hail, dashed through the streets in terror until they were opposed by. collision with some other wind strewn object. In gome of the office buildings and the Government Departments disastrous panics narrowly were averted. At the Bureau of Printing and Engraving where hundreds of women are em ployed, the wind, sweeping through a huge window, sent a storm of broken plate ' glass hurling through the big press room. Eight or ten women were cut down by falling glass and one printer suf fered severe scalp wounds. While the excitement was at its height, the wind caught a bundle of 1,000 one-dollar bills, half finished, and swept it through the broken win dow. The bundle was ripped to pieces and the bills scattered far and wide. Director Ralph hurried out a force of scouts and after combing the grounds of the Washington monument and fishing in the tidal basin nearby all but $75 worth of the bills were re covered. Subscribe for The Robesonian. J V. & C. S. RAILROAD'S . ' POSITION EXPLAINED. Supt. Russell Tells Why the Small Matter of $5 Per Month is Not the " Thing That Stands in the Way of Agreement On Union Depot Mat ter To the Editor of The Robesonian: Your article in yesterday's issue, headed, "Up to Corporation Commis sion," and also the street talk con cerning the so-called conference be tween the superintendents of the three railroads running into Lumber ton, and the mayor and town commis sioners of the town are all very mis leading and places the V. & C. S. in an entirely false light. This I am sure is due to a lack of information and not . intentional on the part of anybody. The "conference" was simply a fi asco, as matters turned out, though it is clear that the town authorities invited the three superintendents to meet with them with only the best of motives. Without going into the details of the long drawn out correspondence between myself and the Seaboard offi cials about our use of their passenger station at Lumberton, which corres pondence was undertaken originally at the request of the now defunct Indus trial and Commercial Club, I will sim ply state the case as it now is, after the dust of the aforesaid "conference" has cleared away: In the first place, Superintendent Gore came down here tied hand and foot as far as any authority to con clusively settle the matter was con cerned, unless the settlement should be the acceptance on my part of offer made by his people some months ago, and which if I had considered fair at all, would have accepted without the aid of any conference whatever. But nobody knew of the bonds which held Mr Gore, and the mayor and his board, in their effort to help to a solution, "figgered" and "figgered," using .all sorts of bases, which while they may be useful in the renting of rooms to lodgers, etc., could not help at all in the settlement of a case such as was being considered. Railroads have their own peculiar points of view and the average citi izen cannot usually see this except with great difficulty; his training is not of that kind. I, also ignorant of "Mr. Gore's hob ble attachments, began to do my best to bring him to a compromise figure. I moved up towards him twice and when he still "suck out," Mayor White offered the kind offices of his board as arbitrators. This of course was out of the question, for the rea son stated above. Mr. Gore declined the mayor's offer, giving as his rea son that the power to determine all such questions rested alone with his president or general manager. This put the doctors out of business and the patient promptly died. However in the death rattle, it was desired to know the opinion of the town board, and they expressed their opinion and it was just as eroneous as the basis upon which it was' founded. As far as the railroads' standing at this time is concerned, the V. & C. S. goes back to its original offer of $125.00 per year for' a use equal to that of the R. & C, which is about 8 per cent on that share of the investment; while the Seaboard demands $300, which is about 19 per cent, on the same. The V. & C. S. will handle all its ' own business at the station while the R. & C. is served by the Sea board's employes. The Seaboard keeps all that part of the grounds which the R. & C. uses in order. The V, & C. S. will have to spend several hundred dollars preparing the grounds back of the station for use and will have to maintain them afterwards at their own expense. All this is shown in the correspondence, but is not known to the public or the town's people. It is none of their affair and I only speak of it here in order to set the V. & C. S. straight with its own people. We have always treated the town in a friendly spirit and the flavor of unfriendliness in the at titude of the city. fathers at the "con ference" was anything but pleasant. The V. & C. S. has contributed to the comfort of the citizens of this town in more ways than they know of. Clerk Page can tell you something about coal, for instance. I should not go into these matters, however, for the spirit in which I did them was one of pure interest for the place and people; and not with any expectation of "buying" anybody. I think it should have secured us fairness, in any case. One more thing: my let ter to the mayor on the day after the "conference" simply stated that the V. & C. S. could not accept the conclusions reached by the town HOT ON LOBBY'S TRAIL. Senator Overman Refuses to White wash Anybody or Suppress Any Facts In Position to Render Fine Service to His State and Party. Washington Cor., Baltimore Sun. The lobby investigation by the Unit ed States Senate is even now certain to establish Lee S. Overman, junior Senator from North Carolina, in a po sition of power in that body. It is Overman who heads the lobby probers. He is the backbone of the whole investigation. He made the fight on the floor for more time and more money to press the inquiry to the bottom, regardless of how many fathoms deep that bottom is. He de termines the course and fixes the policy of the committeee. When the Mulhall letters came out and it was apparent that some Sena tors and Representatives might be come seriously involved, Overman in stead of soft peddling his investiga tion, announced that it should go on, regardless of whom it hit or how many of his personal friends were hit. This investigation had started tamely. Each member of the Senate was called and politely asked what he knew of the President's charges that a lobby was at work in Washington. It looked for a time that the commit tee's report could be made in a week and the fact vouched for that no Sen ator or Congressman had been impro perly influenced by lobbyists. As the probe went on, however, clues of lobbying began to develop. A faint thread of suspicious work was discovered here and a trace of it was pursued there. Then the committee suddenly opened up a wilderness of lobbying. The exposures were so far reaching and startling that the com mittee itself was at first too bewil dered to do more than assure the country that all the facts should be known. Every fresh development is fur ther vindicating Senator Overman's assurance that no whitewash would be applied by his committee. Mr. Overman has been a Senator for 10 years. Until last March he was a member of the minority, but preparing to take his place in the leadership of his party in the Sen ate. The Carolina Senator's most impor tant move, after the Democrats re- organized the Senate was to make a demand upon that body that the civil service of the United States be in vestigated. He made a strong speech on the Senate floor about a month ago in which he showed Dy Republi can testimony that the Civil Service laws had been applied for years to strengthen the Republican party in the governmental machinery. He showed that under Republican administrations every department had been crowded with Republican office holders, and produced the report of President Taft's Economy and Effi ciency Commission to bear him out. Down in North Carolina the people like to remark that years ago Lee Overman waa Senator "Zeb" Vance's private secretary. As chairman of the Senate Commit tee on Rules, as ranking member of the Committee on Judiciary and as a member of the Committee on Judi ciary and as a member of the power ful appropriations and claims com mittees, Senator Overman is in a po sition to render fine service to his State and to his party. J. F. E. State Tax Receipt for 1912. Sheriff; R. E. Lewis received this morning from State Treasurer B. R. Lacey a receipt for $32,663.93, this being the amount Robeson paid the State out of 1912 taxes. Sheriff Lew is says that this covers practically all of the moneys to be turned over to the State for 1912, though there probably will be some other small amounts that may be collected. Elijah Lewis of Beaufort county was struck and killed by lightning in an electrical storm the other day. board. The word "conclusion" meant not the opinion of the board bufalso the basis used for reaching it. I did not say that we were still willing to pay $20.00 per month. That offer passed with the collapse of the conference. Supt. Lane of the R. & C received scant courtesy as far as my observation went at this meet ing. As a resident of the town I regret this very much, for himself and Mr. Gore are two of the nicest fellows I know. If this letter is not too long, please publish it and set us straight. J. P. RUSSELL, Superintendent V. & C. S. " Subscribe for The Robesonlai.. FIRE LAST NIGHT. Blaze in W. D. Raggett's Hardware Store Quickly Extinguished Con siderable Damage by WaterOri gin Unknown. The fire alarm was turned' in last night about 10 o'clock for fire discov ered on East Third street in W. D. Baggett's store. The fire was dis covered by Mr. Leak Parker, who was passing the building and he at once informed Night Policeman Barker, who turned in the alarm. When first discovered the fire was all on the in side and there seemed to be but little blaze. The smoke first attracted at tention. The fire did most of its burn ing between the ceiling and the roof. It looks as though the fire might have started on the top shelf on the west side of the store, burning through the ceiling and down the side of the wall. The fire fighting force did fine work and the fire was soon out. The store was soon flooded with .water, and the goods were damaged as much from water as they were from the fire. Mr. Baggett says that the stock invento ried between $2,700 and $3,000 and he has $1,500 insurance. The store will be closed until the insurance can be adjusted. The origin of the fire is unknown. It is said that the fire alarms failed to work properly and the alarm had to to be 'phoned in. The word quickly spread when the crowd gathered that there was dynamite in the store or closeby on outside and most of the crowd kept a respectful distance, but that did not keep the firemen from doing their duty. AUTMOBILISTS BEWARE! Joy Riders Who Exceed Speed Limit Will Be Pinched Ordinances will be Inforced. Chief of Police Redfern says that hereafter he is going to enforce as nearly as is possible the town ordi nance In regard to automobiles. The speed limit is violated every day by practically every automobile owner in town and it must be stopped, says the chief. Hereafter all who are guilty will have to pay the fine provided for such offenses, no matter who it is; there will be no discrimination on ac count of race, color or previous con dition of servitude. There is also an ordinance in regard to street cross ings which is pretty generally violated and which will also be enforced. Let autoists beware if they do not want to pay the penalty. Chief Redfern considers it more important to pro tect the life and limbs of small chil dren and others than to humor the autoists who think that the ordinances do not apply to them. UNION DEPOT HEARING. Corporation Commission Will Hardly Hear Arguments Before Sepiemoer, It will be a month or more yet be fore the Corporation Commission will hear arguments pro and con in regard to the proposed union depot fo Lum berton. Town Attorney H. E. Stacy has received a letter from Chief Clerk A. J. Maxwell of the Commission ac knowledging receipt of the petition of the town board and advising that as soon as the railroad companies file answer date will be set for hearing before the Commission,, but that on account of tax assessment and freight rate matters the Commission will not be able to reach this matter until Sep tember. The commission will be asked to decide the matter of rent, about which there is disagreement. Mr. J.P. Russell and family are moving this week into a house on the corner of Pine and Fifth, where they will live until their residence on Wal nut street and the Elizabeth road can be completed, which will be sev eral months. The house vacated by Mr. Russell, Elm street, just north of Sixth, belongs to Mr. R. R. Carlyle and he and Mrs. Carlyle will move into it soon. A.B. Saleeby of Salisbury, a native Syrian who is an applicant for ap pointment as United States Consul to Syria and who has endorsements for the place from leading politicians and professional business men throughout the State, is distantly re lated to Saloom Saleeby of Lumber ton and Laurinburg, who is now erect ing on Elm street a store building in which he will conduct a candy kitchen and ice-cream parlor. Paul C. Sneed, a druggist, 40 years old, was found dead in his room in Durham Tuesday morning. He had died during the night of paralysis of the heart. Subscribe for The Robesonian. BRIEF LOCAL NEWS ITEMS. Cotton today, 11 cents. Miss Ada Pitman of Back Swamp and Miss Lee Pope of route 4 from Lumberton left yesterday morning for Charlotte, where they will be students at King's Business College. "Charge of the Little Brigade," Edison, and "Mama Wanted," Pathe, will please visitors to the Pastime theatre this evening. Show opens 4:30 and is continuous till 10 o'clock. Mr G. F. Humphrey, who lives near St Paul's, was in town yester day with a load of the prettiest wa termelons one would care to see. He was kind enough to leave a most de licious one with the editor. The Virginia & Carolina South ern will operate a special train be tween St Paul's and Elizabeth town Monday and Tuesday of next week, August 4th and 5th, to accommodate those who wish to attend court at Elizabeth town. Mr. Jno. Fuller, junior member of the firm of C. M. Fuller & Son, dealers in all sorts of vehicles, left yesterday for Carthage and Oxford, where he will purchase buggies, a car load at each place. He will re turn tomorrow or Saturday. The Robesonian has received a news letter from East Lumberton which it would be glad to publish but for the fact that the writer neglected to sign his or her name, which is ne cessary, not to make the name public but for the information of the editor. An unsigned communication from Lumber Bridge states that last Fri day evening about 6 o'clock the livery stable of Mr. J. A. McRacken at that place was struck by lightning, killing two nice driving horses, damaging one surrey and some harness and sliarhtlv injuring Mr. McRacken and his son and a small negro boy. . .. Mr. T. R. Tolar expects to leave tomorrow or Saturday for Richmond, Va., where he will enter a hospital for treatment Mr. Tolar has been in ill health for two or three months. He spent some time taking treatment in a hospital in Charlotte two or three weeks ago and his condition improv ed somewhat at the time. The streets were in darkness Sat urday night as the result of a con dition and not as a result of a policy a leaking valve or something re duced steam pressure to the point where it was impossible to carry all the load and it was decided to be bet ter sto limp along with part of the lights burning than to cut out the whole works. Mr. A. W. McLean went this morn ing to Fayetteville .where he will spend the day on legal business. He had intended leaving either yester day or today for Hendersonville to join his family, who are spending the summer at Kanuga Lake Club, but on account of several pressing Lusi- ness engagements he will hardly be able to get away before Saturday. Mr. R. M. Norment will leave the first of next week for Johnstown, Pa., where he has accepted a position as night editor of The Democrat a daily morning newspaper. Mr. Norment is a newspaper man of experience and ability. He recently on account of his health resigned a position as tele graph editor of the Wilmington' Star. Johnstown is a city of some 60.000 inhabitants. -Mr. and Mrs. H. M. McAllister and their guests Misses Annie Belle and Lucy DeVane of Red Springs; Miss Margaret Goley of Graham, who is a guest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jas. D. Proctor; and Messrs. Lawrence Parker, Sandy McLeod and A. P. McAllister returned Monday af ternoon from Lake Waccamaw. where they had been since Sunday afternoon. The outing was given by Mr. and Mrs. McAllister and the trio was made in autos. The party was entertained at the club house at the lake. It was stated recently in The Robesonian that Miss Altie Marsh of Red Springs had accepted a position with County Treasurer M. G. McKen zie as bookkeeper. She will beein ' work Monday of next week. In men tioning this the Red Springs Citizen says: Miss Altie Marsh has resigned her position as assistant cahier of the Bank of Red Springs to accept office work with County Treasurer M. G. McKenzie. Miss Bessie Jones succeeds Miss Marsh at the bank. The many fnend3 of Miss Marsh reeret the v change, as she is not only a splendid business lady, but her kind, genial ways and affable manners to one and all in her daily life among us since childhood, make them loath to part with her. Mr. McKenzie can congra tulate himself in securing the servi ces of Miss Marsh.