North Carolina Newspapers

THE ONLY EVENING ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWSPAPER IN CHARLOTTE. ESTABLISHED i CHARLOTTE, N. C, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 8. 1907. PRICE; 5 CENTS 73 ST Speaker Justice Jo-day Penalty Ftr Crimes Ti eir Introduced Another Bill Affecting Rwys. Life gaBassujiHim &YOMm'M'.itiMntwiiAA jt -.r.r-mii 1 1 111 11111 um 1 1 Sncwy"""" ""ln""" J5ltlUi'Mfai1"" With Double Hanging Occur red at Durham To. day IV hen Hodges and Jones Were Executed on Same Scaffold for Crimes. frank Bohannon Was AlSO Hanged at CrreenS- ;orO lOaay CitOry Of the Three Executions and Crimes Committed Sinvia! to The News. " p::rhar.i. N. C, Feb. 8. The first lian-;ng in the history of Durham co ni;y. was the double hanging today, win i : John H. Hodges, the convicted wife murderer and Freeman Jones, a m:o convicted of burglary and at tempt', criminal assault were hanged frciu a scaffold erected in the county jaa. The nangmg or Jrioages is almost on , the anniversary of his crime, which : weeks, finally being arrested in Dan vas i-ommhted February 24th, 1906. ! vnio. In the meantime, investigation Ho'Igts and his wife, Mrs. Alattie Kish Hodges, were continually having tnui It- in the courts and she had in stinnod divorce proceedings. The Sat urday night following this, John Hoiiso. shortly before midnight broke into the bedroom or his wife, threw her from the bed on the floor, where he shot her while she begged for mercy. He was tried and convicted for mur der in the first degree at the May term of court. 1908. Freeman Jones, the negro who on the 17th of last June broke into the home of Mrs. Jack Barker, in East Dur ham, and after burglarizing followed Mrs. Barker from her room and knock ed her off the front porch and attempt ed criminal assault. He v,ras detected by Mrs. Barker's hair around the but tons of his coat. After being sentenced to hang he was respited by the gover nor twice. Hodges, on the scaffold, made a short talk. He advised men that drank whiskey and abused their wives to siop. He said he had no hard feel ings against any one and thanked the jailor for his kind treatment. The drop fell at 10:32 and he was pronounced dead 20 minutes. Jcnes admitted on the scaffold that he went into the home of Mrs. Barker for the purpose of committing criminal assault, but did not accomplish his purpose. He had very little to say, and after the drop fell lived 19 minutes. Eohannon Hanged. Special to The News. Greensboro, N. C, Feb. 8. At o'clock this morning, the Rev. W, 11 R. Toiliver, pastor of one of the colored churches here, who has been adminis tering to the dead man for some time, held a regular service in the dead man's cell. At exactly 11:40 Sheriff Jones read the death warrant, during 'hich reading and up to the last mo ment the condemned man was calm and perfectly free from nervousness. When he cama out of his cell he looked over the crowd and said, "Good morning, friends, I stand before you a murderer, who hag violated the laws of God and man, but I have made peace with God and man and want you to meet me in heaven." The Rev. Toiliver asked all those tvho felt that they could do so, to join in the song, the first line of which was. ' When I was a little child," though there were only two or three out cf the group whose voice was steady enough to sing. Frank Bohan non joined in the refrain with a sweet, clear voice. After the song Rev. Toiliver made an earnest prayer for the murderer, his wife and chiid and those present. The scaffold was 40 feet from his cell with the trap just on a level with the second story of the jail, the jail stf.ps being used to ascend. Bohannon mounted these steps, stoor.ed and pulled off his shoes. The deputy then tied his arms be hind him, while another tied his feet. "After saying, "Good-bye, my fri'-nd.s, and God bless you," the black cap was tied on and the trap was sprung. There was no struggle and in 13 3-S minutes life was pronounced extinct. Krs. lirooks, Edmund Harrison arid Fosrn;-; were in attendance and said that his neck was broken. A plain, Maok coffin was brought and the body Place,! therein. The remains will be shipped to his sister in Winston, to day. Greensboro, Feb. 8. The crime for which Frank Bohannon paid the pen alty with his life on the gallows to day, was unsually bold and cruel. Ho was a teamsters for Lane Brothers, contractors in buildins the double track for the Southern Rail w&y, and was employed at one of the camps, near Jamestown. For several acts of carelessness and inattentive nf'S to his duties, Bohannon was dis clfuged from employment and was Paid off on the 30th of July last year. He went off mad, and going to the jnie of Kiser Crutchfield, a negro liv lrig near by, recited his wrongs. Ki gave or sold him some liquor, and tl-t rJ-zht accompanied him to' the c'ii; and went the round of the white officers quarters, trying to get some of t h i to come out. They were nn &1ly run out of the camp, and nothing more was thought of. them. The next foy, at about 12 o'clock, while Fore- man R. L. Beatchnian, a South Caroli nian, was standing on the railroad track, directing the work of about 20 or 30. negro hands, Bohannon, sudden ly appeared, with a pistol in one hand and a shot gun in the otner. Draw ing bead on Beatchman, with the gun, bonaiiiion cursed him and defied him and the whole white force for having treated him wrong in discharging him. He became excited, as he cursed, and on being told by Beatchman to go away Ulid not brina- Irnnhlp rlpflnrprl that if made a step, he would shcot. Beaten- I T1V.ni C r-fill - 4- -r. transfixed with incredultiy at the reck-i lessness of the man's purpose, and sud denly gave a step forward. As he did so, the negro fired, the faithful fore man dropping with a load of buchshot in his stomach. The negro deliberate ly fired a second time, and turning with his gun and pistol pointed at the crowd of men at work made his escape. The wounded man, under the direc tion of the company's physician, was taken on the train to the hospital at High Point, but died in the station at High Point two hours after being shot. Every effort was made to find Bohan- non, but he evaded arrest for two had been shown that on the afternoon before 'the murder, Bohannon and Os car Crutchfield, son of Kiser Crutch field, had driven in Riser's buggy to Greensboro and had tried to buy a gun and ammunition. It was a holiday and the stores were closed. It was also learned that early next morning, Bo hannon and Oscar had again come to Greensboro, and had pur chased a gun and amunition of a store there, then returning home arriving there but a short time before the murder was committed. This, with the fact that cf the two Crutch fields being with Bohannon the night before when the raid was made on the camp, caused the arrest of the two Crutchfields on a charge of ac cessories to the murder. When Bo hannon was arrested he admitted his identity, said that he killed Beatch man, but was "put up to. it" by the Crutchfields. The night after he was placed in jail, in separte cells from the Crutchfields, the lynching of the Ly erly murders at Salisbury occurred. There was a great excitement in Greensboro, owing tothe reports that the railroad men and citizens of High Point and Jamestown communities, were banded together and "were going to lynch Eohannon - and the Crutch fields, the sheriff as a matter of pie caution, had the jail guarded all night by a specai force of deputies, and the Gate City Guards under Captain Hob good, were stationed inside the jail and in the yards will ball cartridges, prepared to shoot. Suseouent events proved that all reports of a threatened lynching were pure canards, but it was a night of excitement in the city and of terror in the jail. Bohannon crouched in his cell all night groaning and mourning and pray ing that he be spared from death. So overcome was he, that he went into a nervous collapse and, was at the point of death for several days. Ki Crutch field's fright was such, he deliberately turned up 'a bucket of kaisomine paint and drank the last drop, which was standing in the vessel. By prompt use of a stomach pump by the physicians, who was hourly with Bohannon, old Ki's life was saved. At the preliminary hearing before a Continued on page 2 Bloody Work Of Assassin After Shooting and Kill ing Governor of Penza The Assassin Killed Two Others Then Sui cided. By Associated Press. Penza, Russia, Feb. 8. S. A. Alex androvsky, governor of Penza, was shot and killed as he was leaving the theatre last night. In the attempt to escape the assas nin also killed an assistant chief of police and a policeman and wounded the manager of the theatre. Before the terrorist could be cap tured he shoi Himself and died in a hospital. The bullets which he used were poisoned. OUR SUGAR CONSUMPTION Only one FiFh of Vast Amount of Sugar Consumed was Produced in This Country. By Associated Press. Washington, D. C, February 8. The statement by the Department of Commerce and Labor shows that the amount of sugar consumed by this country last year -was six and one half billion pounds. m One-fifth of it was produced in this country, and another fifth in our is land possessions. Of the sugar produced in this coun try little less than half was from cane and the rest coming from the sugar beet. Rev. Dr. J- R. Howerton came in from ilontreat, yesterday. B TUt A-F?oljNb Hofri SHADOW . 1 - J Aj a 1 r atSas. ) nacres No l)r (AKu'tYnly Ouht l tfv M 1,P X lilt. y inn D nM. I wli U U -r- & r , I - W;TliM',1 1 I tr H I ..-J-C H Kolie,i 1 shovel. B FE$mL? 1 1 Evelyn Neshitf J haw Went on the For Her Husband. By Associated Press. New York, N. Y., February S. The public interest in the Thaw trial grows with its progress. Evelyn Nes bit Thaw's ordeal has only begun. Although on the stand practically all of yesterday's sessions she had only brought her narrative down to the time when, after repeatedly refusing to marry Thaw, she had returned to the stage in 1903. Today she will take up the story where she left off last and it is quite probable that a great part of the sss- sion, if not all of it, will be taken up with the continuation of her testi mony. It is doubtful if any woman over un derwent a more terrible ordeal. Searching for Chorus Girls. While to-day's testimony may be less dramatic it will be none the less important. The defense is now trying to show that the subsequent acts of White so inflamed the mind of Thaw that he became mentally unbalanced. The district attorney searched the city for the chorus girls whose names he has had as being able to throw light an the relations of Mrs. Harry Thaw and Stanford White. The detectives were told last night to bring in the witnesses. After -midnight three young women had been found, and under watch, they spent the night in an up-town hotel. Mrs. -Thaw on Stand. Evelyn Thaw was recalled to the stand. Delmas continued the reading of one of the letters. The prisoner's pallid face broke into a smile as he recognized his nrother. He seemed at first annoyed by the crowd. When Mrs. Thaw took the stand she was pale and her lips trembled visibly as she replied to the first simple question. Reading the postscript to the letter written by Thaw to Longfellow, Delmas ask ed the witness if "her" referred to witness? "Yes," she said. The letter contained the following: "To make you sure I'll explain. After I saw the poor ill-advised angel I was so sorry. She meant to do light, and was right had she only kept the purest things from a pollut ed, lying double-minded, deceitful, money-grasping, smooth-tongued, hard hearted, but soft speaking profession al deceiver." "In the letter were the words: "If I wished Evelyn to become my mis tress ," but through them had been drawn a pencil line. The next letter, afso written to Longfellow by Thaw while in .'aris, ::oon after he heard Evelyn's story, said in part: "Thank you for sending ?50 and $20 and for White's telegram. I know a contented woman is happy. If you hear anything cable, but I think it will be secret. I wasn't mis taken; being honest has finished me." The next letter read by Delmas was very brief and was written by Thaw after reaching New York. "Dear Longfellow," it read, "en closed find check. Send a ?10 bill, (always clean), in first typewriting tomorrow.. Send ?50 to May. .Thank von more than ever, which is a jLjreat deal. I have nothing to live lor. Yours, H. K. Thaw." Contents of Letters. The next letter contained these words: "Slept seven hours. I saw many Pittsburgers on tlie train. Mr. and'riase. ie said ne was taming me to Mrs. George Carnegie should be your Abe Hummel, the greatest lawyer loving sister and brother-in-law. I am so glad the duse dress is pretty for s i. i t i l.il you. l wisn aiways 1 ivuevv juu wuum wear it first for me. I have some thing important to tell you. 1 saw all through it. I believe ycu are hyp notized but I know it isn t your fault and you meant no wrong. I want you to know I shall never hurt you. Yon know ' I never lie. I give you my sacred word that by the hope that A FEW NOTES ON THE WEATHER. i Again To-Uav J there is a Heaven above, your pure soul shall go there. You have already been unlucky enough. You know I have always treated you with perfect re- spectJ The letter continues: "Your mother must trust her friends who robbed you of your birthright as ' a young lady and made your father's , name a by-word. If only you had let j me save you before you were sixteen."; The letter continues: j "It would never have been told. I would have just acted as a friend, you know, and as a friend would have rejoiced and asked nothing. Those stories about morphine were false. I have not used any dope in my. life. I never lie to you." It was evident from this letter, which was sent to Attorney Longfel low to be delivered to Evelyn Nesbit, had been written subsequent to Thaw's interview with the girl at Hotel Na varre after their return from Paris in 1903. At this interview the girl told him of the stories she Had heard about him and said she could not see him alone. The letter continuing said: "Your reputation as to beauty would have been greater over the world. You could have owned Pittsburg not in money but politically. "Alone I can not settle down. Be sides I have no one worth doing it for." Further -the letter continues: "Promise me one thing, dont drink champagne. I am too poor and must live at home. I can't pay for your ring now. Of course if you are in need I can get loads of money, but it would make trouble. I must stay here or get a cheap ticket east." Stories Told By White. Asked if she had told Thaw of an episode in her life, . connected with Stanford White and Abraham Hummel, she said -she did in January 1904, after her return from Europe. She said she had and told him she was called to the telephone and it was White. "He said," she continued, " 'My, but it is good to hear your voice again, and said he (White) wanted to come and see me. I told him I could not see him." She said he told her it was a case of life or death, "so he came to see me at the Hotel Savoy." "When he came in he tried to kiss me, but I did not let him. He asked me what was the matter. " I told him to sit down and asked him again if my mother was ill. He said, no and at once besan to talk about Harry Thaw. He told me thp.t different actresses had told him that I was in Europe with Harry Thaw. "He said presently that Harry Thaw took morphine and asked me why I went around with a man who took mor phine. He said positively that Harry Thaw took morphine, that he was not even a gentleman and I must have nothing to do with him. "After that he came constantly to see me. He also sent people to me who told me stories about Thaw, the stories I told the court yesterday. I told Thaw afterwards that these stories worried me so much I could not sleep at night. I was very nervous for I knew Harry Thaw was coming over and I didn't want to see him. I told White I didn't want to see Harry Thaw. "One day White telephoned me he was going to send a carriage for me and I was to come to Broadway and Nineteenth streets. did so. and White met me and got into the car- ew York, who wouia protect me frm Thaw. He said I was not to be nfraiH nf TTmYitnol- Yit wns a little man . , - ""'" " : . with " a bir, bald heacL warts on his face and very ugly. When She Met Hummel. "When I got to Hummel's office Wttite went away from Hummel's office, the walls were covered with photographs of actresses, with writ ing on them. He asked me how I to Testify Letters Read came to go to Europe with Thaw and I told him that I didn't, I went with my mother and Thaw followed us. He asked me aboui my quarrel with my mother in London. I said it was a continuous quarrel between us; we simply could not get along. She wanted to come home to .America and I said she could come but I was going to stay there and return to the stage; but the doctor told me I couldn't dance for a year. He (Hum- mel) asked me all the places where I went with Thaw. I told him all I could remember. He said I was a minor and that Thaw should have been more careful. "He said, he had a case in his office against Thaw, but the woman in the case was a very bad one and he didn't think the case was much good. Then he said Thaw was a very bad man, and above all things I must be protected from him. White then said what he wanted was to get Har ry Thaw out of New York and keep him out. She continued: I "White- said that strong methods must be resorted to to keep Thaw out of New York and to protect my self I must help in every way I could. "White said I must leave every thing in Hummel's hands. Then they sent for a stenographer and the law yer said I must not interrupt him in what he was about to say. I was very nervous and excited and I think I began to cry. Then they began to dictate and put in a lot of stuff, that I had been carried away by Harry Thaw against my will. I started to interrupt but the lawyer put up his l ands and stopped me. "They put in that I had been taken away from my mother and a lot of Etuff that wasn't true that I had been treated badly by Thaw. "Several days later Mr. Hummel called me up and asked if I had any letters from Mr. Thaw. "I said I did, but I couldn't see what that had to do with it. White also called up and said if I wasn't willing to help in every way, they couldn.'t protect mo from Thaw. He said I must do just what Hum mel said. Told All to Thaw. Mrs. Thaw said: "So I made the letters up in a bundle and took them down to Hum- mel's and added: v "He said he just wanted to hold them over Harry K. Thaw's head." "Then he asked me why I didn't sue Harry Thaw for breach of prom ise. I said that that was absurd, for if there had been any breach of prom ise it was on my part. He said that didn't matter. '.'Hummel said a breach of promise suit would be a fine advertisement for me." ' "Yhat more did you tell Thaw?" suggested Delmas. "Thaw asked me if I had signed anything in Hummel's office " and I said I had not. He said that was funny for if they wanted to cause trouble I must have signed some thing. I said I had signed absolute ly nothing in Hummel's office. Thaw was very much agitated. He said Hummel was a blackmailer and he said I think, that there was some thing bad in the air and he impressed me that he was going to see Long- lellow, his lawyer. Continuing she said: "Thaw told me that I had no busi ness to speak again with White. He accused me of having improper rela tions with White since I came back from Europe and I said that it was a lie. He said it would look to people as if I was a blackmailer by jroing to Hummel's office." Fhe then said she went to Hum mel's - office with White when they showed her a paper and asked if the Continued on page 2 STATESVILLE NEWS. Mail Carrier Falls and Sorains An kle Mr. -lordan Comes to Charlotte Personal." Special to The News. Statesville, N. C, Feb. 8. Mr. F. W. Lentz, who some time ago sold his gro cery business on depot hill to Mr. Lee Albertson, has purchased the business from Mr. Albertson and has again taken charge. Messrs. J. P. and L. L. Alexander have purchased the interest of their partner, Mr. H. A. Yount, in the mer cantil business of Yount & Alexander in West Statesville and will continue the business. Mr. Jas. Jord?n, who recently took a position at the depot as car clerk, has accepted a similar position with the Southern at Charlotte. He went to Charlotte yesterday. Mr. Louis Webb, of New York, one of the owners of the Houstonville Hunting Club in north Iredell, who has spent some time there this season, will arrive in Statesville to-day from the club and will leave tonight for a trip to Europe. While walking along Broad street Monday night Mr. Jas. D. Davault, one of the city's mail carriers, slipped and fell on the pavement in front of Hill's drug store and so severly sprained his ankle that he has been unable to leave his room since. Mr. Jno. L. Milhol land is carrying the mail for Mr. Day vault. LOAFERS BEFORE RECORDER Officers Nab Three Black Vagrants Who Are Known as "Road-Sports." John Wilson and Oscar Sanders, two colored "road-sports" as a witness has termed them, were before the Recorder this morning on a charge of vagrancy and were iven a fine of $10 and costs. Walter Wood was fined $10 and costs in two cases of the same nature. Wood said he had been at Blacksburg when the policemen nabbed him at the Southern station and that he had been ridng on "transportation." For carrying concealed weapons Henry Boyd was bound over to the Superior Court. D. B. Starnes was fined $5 for obstructing the street with a pile of lumber which he had failed to move. For drunkeness, Will Elliott, a white workman, was fined $10. Death of Capt. Henry D. Stozve One of the Prominent Fig ures in the Making of Mecklenburg County. Honorable Cureer in Armv, and in Business. The death this morning at six o' clock of Capt. Henry DeLambert Stowo, at his residence on Eleventh street, marks the passing away of one of the county's most distinguished and influential citizens. Capt. Stowe had been unwell for the past three weeks and was, for that length of time, con fined to his bed. Suffering yesterday morning a stroke or paralysis, he im mediately lost consciounsess and af ter a very restless night, died at the hour above named. The funeral services will be conduct ed tomorrow at 1 o'clock from Steele Creek church, of which the deceased was for years a member, the proces sion leaving the residence in this city at 11 o'clock. Rev. A. R. Sharif, pas tor of Tenth Avenue Presbyterian church will conduct the exercises. The deceased was survived by his second wife, who was Miss Laura Stowe, to whom he was married in 1877, two children, Mr. Sam. T. Stowe, superintendent of the roads of the county, and Miss Lizzie Stowe. Four Drothers and one sister also survive: Messrs. C. T., J. P. and M. E. Stowe, of Belmont; Roburtus Stowe, of Mooresville, and Mrs. John Garrison, of Belmont. Mr. T. P. Stowe, druggist of this city, is a nephew, and Mrs. C. P. Moody, a niece f the deceased. Went Into the War. Capt. Stowe was born in Gaston county near Belmont Sept. 22nd, 1831, nd was therefore 75 years of age at the time of death. The story of his early life is the checkered record of 1 school boy's career. "When he be came competently prepared, he left 'iome to teach school in York county, S. C, and for several terms was the orincipal of the school at Clay Hill. At the outbreak of the war, he came home and joined forces with the friends of his boyhood, enlisted and went to High Point, serving in the commissary de partment. After the seven days' fight ing at Richmond, one of the memorable engagements of the great struggle, he was discharged on account of some disability, and came back home. Shortly thereafter he went again to his school in South Carolina and was married to Miss Katherine Tate.' Be coming captain of a company of young men near where he was teaching, he volunteered again for active service for the South and was sent to Savan nah, Georgia, making a short while Continued on page 9 Mr. Justice Introduced Bill to Prevent Unjust Discrimin ations in Freight Rates. Bill to Make Nezv County. Bill Making Drunkenness a Misdemeanor is In troduced. Other Mat ters of General Interest Were Taken up To-day. By Bell Telephone. Raleigh, N. C, Feb. 8. The House speht the greater part of today dis cussing the bill,' by Parsons, to equal ize jury challenges in criminal cases. The discussion resulted in the defeat of the bill by a vote of 56 to 44. Speaker Justice introduced a bill, out of order, just before the House ad journed, to prevent unfair and unjust discrimination in freight rates and to correct abuses in handling freght. Among the bills introduced was one by Dowd, of Mecklenburg, to protect woodcocks and squirrels. - By Strickley, to the support of the State Normal and Industrial College, at Greensboro. The bill provides for an appropriation of $50,000 for mainte nance, $50,000 for new buildings and $10,000 for the completion of the pres ent buildings. Chairman Manning, of the House committee on public service corpora tions reported the committee bill, for the regulation of railroad passenger rates. It was made a special order for Wednesday of next week. The committee also reported a sub stitute for the Dowd-Mortcn jim crow street car bill. It empowers street car conductors to separate the races where it is possible, by assigning tho negroes to the rear seats. A demand was made by Redwine for the return of the Bickett anti-lobbying bill. Charman Mason of the commit tee said the bill would be reported Saturday, and the call for the bill was withdrawn. A long discussion was heard over the bill to promote public decency by mak ing drunkenness a misdemeanor. The motion to table the bill was lost. The bill was referred to the committee. Mr. McLaughlin introduced a bill to restore dentistry to a position as a branch of surgery. In the Senate. A bill passed its second reading to day in the Senate, to create a new county out of portions of Moore and Chatham counties, the county seat to be Sanford. The bill was made a special order for noon tomorrow. There were only four votes against the bill to-day. The Buxton Pure Food bill passed its final reading. The Grandfather Clause. Raleigh, Feb. 8. The caucus of ihe Democratic members of the North Carolina general assembly has just voted to have no legislation during this session looking to the extension of the famous "grandfather clause" of the constitutional amendment relative to the exercise of the franchise in this State so as to allow ignorant white men to vote but exclude ne groes who cannot read and write. A proposition was pending to extend the time from 1908 to 1918. The senate committee on railroads lias decided to report favorably bills to put the burden of proof under the penal statutes on the railroads; de fine what is meant by "reasonable time" in the transmission of freight; require the registration of mortgages or deeds of trust for the purchase of railroad equipment only in the coun ty in which the principal office of the road is located instead of in every county traversed by the railroad; allow the Dover and Southbound Rail road to extend its line to Warsaw, Duplin county. The committee re rorted unfavorably a bill by Rein hardt which represented in its cap tion to provide right of way for the Hickory-Catawba Springs electric line, but which the committee found also had a clause that gave author ity for the company to use the noted Jefferson turnpike Wilkesboro to Jefferson which the two counties and the State have built jointly. The committee on Hqucr traffic in the House voted last evening to pro vide a dispensary for Bethel in Pitt county, now under prohibition. The , I-iedominence of blind tigers at Bethel caused the demand of citizens for a dispensary. There will be an election on dispensary or prohibition within a year. But a saloon vote will not be permitted. Cannot Mix Races By Associated Press. Washington, D. C, February 8. Federal encroachment on state rights with the Japanese school question as thep rincipal illustration, was the sub ject of an address to the Senate by Senator Frazier of Tennessee. He said if the Federal Government, by treaty could force Mongolians into the white schools of California, a like treaty could force the negroes of Cu ba, Santo Domingo, Hayti and Congo into the schools of Tennessee in defi ance of the laws of the seperation of tho races.