Established 1899
DREDGING IN CATAWBA.
Widespread Interest in the
Work of Reclaiming Many
Acres of Swamp in
Catawba County.
The Dispatch has mentioned
the dredging of Clarke's creek
Catawba county, and Davidson
people living along streams
where land "has been ruined by
overflow were greatly int rested.
The Statesville Landmark ha?
the following which will prove
interesting:
It is estimated that there
8,000 to 10.000 acres of bottom
land in Iredell county that pro
duces nothing but meadow hay—
and much af it a poor quality of
that —because it is not properi.v
drained. Sav that there are
8,000 acres of such land, and this
seems a cor servattve es i nate,
the same land properly cultivated
and under favorable crop condi
tions would yield 480,000 bushels
of corn which, at the present
price would be worth $336,000.
The vast amount f»om this one
source which the landowners
would lose in a term of years is
apparent. Besides these un
chained lands are productive of
chills and in this way are detri
mental to the health of entire
communities around. Such com
munities are not desirable to live
in and in this way landowners
suffer loss. In view of these
things residents of the county
are becoming very much inter
ested in some remedy—something
that will make the land cultiva
table and rid them of the menace
to health.
Some time ago a dredge was
put to work in Catawba county
in an effort to d.ain some of the
swamp lands there and several
persons from Scatesville have
gone over there to see it at work.
Wednesday of last week Drs. F.
L. Sharpe and R. A. Campbell
and P. A. Bryant went theraand
saw the machine at work. The
trip from Statesville was made
in Dr. Campbell's automobile,
driven by Mr. Lonnie Thompson.
The forty miles were made in
about three hours and not a
breakdown was experienced.
This much to show an auto
mobile is practicabe for rough
roads and long journeys.
To go back to the dredge. It is
ar, work four or five miles, from
Newton. At present the machine
is making an entirely new chan
nel through the swamp. This
channel is 18 feet wide and 9
feet deep and is being cut at the
rate of a mile a month, counting
26 days to the month at an av
erage cost of $260 per month.
This takes into consideration the
cosr of the machine and equip
ment. The dredge is simply a
ditcher on a big scale. There is
a big boat and on this bo it is a
steam engine. At the front of
the boat, attached so as to re
volve. is a strong beam that runs
out in front of the boat. CKi tht
end of the beams is a large scoop
with a mouth a yard wide. Thi.-
is lowered into the water anr
mud and when it scoops full is
raised by the beam and emptieo
on either bank of the channel.
An ordinary size tree is no ob
stacle to the operation of the
dredge. The larger the tree, of
course, the more patience re
quired to scoop as it gradually
until it is uprooted and removed
The dredge has been operatec
long enough to cover some dis
tance and leaves a good channel.
Just what benefits will result
to the land, as to permanency oi
the work, etc.. can only be de
termined by time, but the under
taking seems entirely practical
for what it is designed to do
drain lowiands, make them culti
vatable and conductive to better
health conditions.
The cost of the machine now
at work in Catawba is $5,000.
We were told that a machine
double the capacity of this one
could be operated at very little
more cost. —Lexington Dispatch.
To Move Here.
Mr. Miles A. Carpenter, cash
ier of the Bank of Dallas, will.
The Observer's correspondent is
reliably informed, leave Da las
the first of the year, going to
Hickorv where he will be con
nected with the Craig-Henkle
Company in which.he has recent
ly purchased an interest. This
is a large concern dealine in
horses and mules, wagons, bug
gies, fertilizers, farming imple
ments, etc., with establishments
at Scatesvilie, Hickory and Le
noir. Messrs, D. J. and J« Rcb-
THE HICKORY DEMOCRAT
ert Craig of Gastonia are among
the stockholders and active offi
cers of the company. Mr. Car
penter's hundreds of Gaston
friends will regret very much to
know of his intention to leave
but wish for him abundant suc
cess in his new work- He was
formerly register of deeds of the
county and has been cashier of
the Bank of Dallas since its or
ganization several years ago. He
is a son of Mr. B. F. Carpenter
of Stanley and a young business
man of d .monstrated ability. It
is not known yet w! o will suc
ceed hi in us cashier of the bank.
—Ooserver correspondence.
Death of Miss Blair.
Miss Johnsie Bla'r died at
NL*wt>>n last Wednesday night at
' it 11.3) o'clook at the home
or her aunt, Mrs. W. E. Yount
Ic was one of the saddest deaths
that has occurred there in som*
time for she was a lovable char
acter and had many friends, be
ing the daughter of Dr. and Mrs.
J. C. Blair of Lenoir.
She was a trained nurse by
profession and had just come
from Charlotte where she had
been attending- a case for about
six weeks. Needing rest she
stopped over with her aunt and
was taken ill that night. Her
condition grew worse and every
possible attention was given her
Three phvsicians were summoned
but despite their efforts she
died about midnight from peri
tonitis.
Her father was ill and unable
to be by her bedside when she
died, but her brother was there
and carried the remains to Lenoir
where the enterment took place
Friday. She was 28 years of age
and a host of friends will learn
with deepest regret of her death.
Skull Crushed.
Durham, N. C. Dec. 1. —With
his face half devoured by ani
mals, Jim Kimball, an old bache
lor, who lives twelve miles from
Durham, was found this morn
ing. His head had been crushed
with an axe. The authorities be
lieve that a murder was commit
ted by mooonshiners whom Kim
bed! had offended by reporting
them to officers.
He had not been seen since
Saturday, and, though not dis
covered until yesterday, all ef
forts to arouse him had failed.
The coroner's inquest threw no
light upon the murder, but the
old man had declared that he
feared murder by moonshiners,
and admitted that he reported
them.
Christmas and the Mistletoe.
A srreat many years ago, be
fore the time of Christianity, the
•>ak tree, and especially the mis
:letoe, growing out of the heart
of the oak, were reverenced for
their supposed affinity with the
sun. The Druids worshipped
the sun as the one supreme
'jod, and believed the oak to be
in some wav associated with the
sun because they made fire by
rubbing oak sticks together, the
oak being at once the most com
mon tree and the most suitable
lor the purpose. Twice each
vear these Celtic priests gave a
religious festival in honor of the
sun, their places.of worship be
ing in the oak groves. In June,
when the sun was known to have
ceased mounting higher in the
heavens, the Druids gave thanks,
because a nearer approach of the
sun was thought to be possible,
ind this, of course, would result
in the burning up of the earth.
In December, at the time of the
snortest days, the Druids pre
nared a celebration in honor of
the sun's turning back from his
downward journey, which was
recognized as the days began to
grow longer. This second cele
bration was quite naturally the
happiest time, the people hold
ing the sun in such fear in June.
It was then the mistletoe was
honored as being the very es
sence of the oak.
When eventually the Church
was established and its followers
turned the ancient December cel
ebration into Christmas, the
mistletoe was hung up byway
of compromise, although it had
nothing to do with the new re
ligion. And so even today, in
our use of evergreen and holly,
and eke the occasional sp v ig of
mistletoe, we reflect the nature
worship which gave us, perhaps,
not only the foundation lor oar
Christmas but for our love of na
ture as well.—December Recre
reation.
Wiien shopping for Christmas
loook us over. J. A. Bowles.
HICKORY, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1909.
MOONSHINERS CAUGHT.
Magistrate and Deputy Sheriff
Found makinj Blockade.
' Bond SSOO each.
The revenue officers are always
on the alert for violators of the
law prohibiting the manufacture
and sale of whiskey and last
Tnursuay they dragged their net
ar.d caught three illicit distillers,
ole of thom was a deputy sher
iff and Another a magistrate of
the Coun'y of Burke. Carl Swink
was the deputy, and his son.
Haywood Swink, and Tim Lail, a
magistrate were puiled in by the
sr.rong arm of the iaw by Mr. C.
F. Bialock, special employee and
Mr. Henry Jones, p ;sseman.
Tta .'silling along along the road
that leads from Morganton ro
►Shelby in Burke County the offi
c ;rs wandered from the main
highway a short distance aad
found the moonshiners in the act
ot making a .un of beer. They
nad their plant in the open in a
thick piece of wood? and the
stroke curled lazily above the n
out of the tali pines. They were
exceedingly bold in their illegal
conduct and made no attempt to
escape when the officers came
upon them.
Trie tubs were arranged in a
semicircle and the sturdy moon
shiners stoo l in the circle with
their sleeves rolled up faithfully
at work. In their possesion was
round about a thousand gallons
of beer and several gallons of
whiskey. Near-by against a tree
stood a shotgun, but they were
come upon unawares and the ar
rest was made without difficulty.
Bringing them to Hickory thev
were given a hearing before com
missioner L. R. Whitener Friday
and bound over to the April term
of the Federal Court at States
ville. Until that time they will
be confined in the county jail at
Newton unless they can give the
required bond of SSOO each.
Carl vSwink the depu-y sheriff
is gaining a reputation for mak
ing blockade and sometime ago
he was brought before the Fed
eral Court on the same charge at
which time he was required to
give a sboo bond for good behav
ior. Since he has indulged again,
nis bondsman will have to for
feit the amount or Swink will be
doubly punished for his offenses.
Tim Lail is an old man with a
long gray beard and the snows of
many winters on his head. When
brought into court they dropped
their heads in shame and refused
to go on the stand and testify in
favor.
General News.
The citizens of Marion are
clamoring for a new passenger
station at the Southern Railway
and a petition has been filed with
the Corporation Commission ask
ing that the railroad oe made to
furnish better facilities.
The St. Louis & San Francisco
Railroad consisting of 6,500
miles of track changed hands in
New York last Thursday bv its
severance from Rock Island
Company, which it was merged
in 1903. B. F. Yoakum and B.
L. Winchell are the purchasers.
About 50 of the leading busi
ness men of Morgan ton met last
week and organized a club for
the purpose of advertising and
building up the town. An ef
fort will be made to influence
outside capital and aid in the
erection of a large modern tour
ist hotel.
Miss Ethel Norman, age 17.
one of the most popular young
society ladies of Greensboro and
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W.
Norman, ended her life Wednes
day by shooting herself through
the heirt with a pistol. It is
thought that she committed the
act in a moment of terrible de
spondency. She was cultured and
refined and took part in the best
society of the city.
Cochran, Ga. De\ 2.—John
Harvard, a negro preacher who
shot and fatally injured Will D.
Booth, two miles from this place
yesterday afternoon, was cap
tured by a mob of enraged citi
zens at 10 o'clock last nist niorht
and burned at a stake, more than
a car load of lightvvood,/it is
stated, being heaped about the
body. Booth was in an automo
bile and scared the negroes
the tragedy occurred.
Hon. W. A. Stewart was killed
in a railwav accident on the At
lantic Coast Line some time ago
and his heirs brought suit against
the company for $75,000. This
case was tried last week at Lill
ington, N. C. and a verdict of
$35,820 was awarded. This is the
largest amount for damage ever
known for a railroad accident
and the company wiil not appeal.
A private letter from N. E.
Ramsey last week stated that he
was confined in the Charlotte
Sanatorium and his case 1 has
been diagnosed by Dr. Nesbit as
pellagra. Mr. Ramsey lives in
Lincolnton.
A $400,000 hospital was dedi
cated Thursday bv its author,
George W. Watts. It is located
in West Durham, about a mile
from the city on a 25 acre site
and is equipped with everything
that modern medical genius has
devised. Mr. Watts is a wealth/
manufacturer, being a large
stockholder in the American To
bacco Company.
Neer-Beer seems to be a profit
able business in Charlotte. The
day a new concern by the
name of Duke & Company, paid
the SI,OOO licence tax for the
p ivilege of selling the liquid for
seven months. This makes three
companies that have paid more
than the regular tax to seli the
stuff- Evidently it is a paying
business in Charlotte-
A presto-carbon tank in the
express office at Camden, S. C.
exploded last Thursday and de
molished the building and caused
a fire which swept the business
portion of the city with a loss of
3100,000. One negro is reported
killed and several prominent cit
izens injured.
Announcement was made
Thursday of a half million dollar
donation (to Trinity College at
Durham by the Dukes, the mil
lionaire tobacco men. The pur
pose is to build a medical school,
a pharmaceutical and dental de
partment and establish an educa
tional institution equal to any in
trie norte.
Joe Jeffries and Johnson, the
negro pugilist have signed final
articles for the heavyweight
championship of the world to be
puiled off either in Salt Lake
City, Utah or in the vicinity of
Sanfrancisco on July 4th. The
articles calls lor a fortv-fiive
round contest. The purse for
which they will flight is SIOI,OOO.
A notable feature*of the state
board of agriculture the ap
propriation of SS)O in prizes to be
awarded, one prize of £SO in each
congressional district, to the boy
attaining the best result in com
petitive agriculture und the aus
pices of the Boys' Ciub depart
ment
The entire plant of the Michal
Gheen Manufacturing Company
at Lincolton was destroyed by
tire at an earlv hour Saturday
morning. The company was a
lumber plant, and the machin
ery, buildings and raw materials
are a totai loss but was partially
coverei by insurance to the
amount of $7,300. Mr. Victor F.
Vlotz was was the principal own
er. The main building was 50 by
120 feet in dimensions.
Admits Whipping.
I/'ncolnton, Dec. 3.—Capt. C.
E. Child, attorney, of this place,
returned yesterday from Morgan
ton, where he had gone to in
vestigate the alleged mistreat
ment at the State Deaf and
Dumb School of little lola Self,
the 9-year-old daughter of Mr.
H. A. Self states that it was not
denied.to Mr. Childs that the
child had been whipped with a
leather strap, and that the strap,
seemingly a piece of harness
leather about two feet long was
shown to him. He also states
that it was admitted to Mrs. 11.
A. Self, when she went to Mor
ganton Sunday to bring the child
home, that the child had been
whipped with a strap.
It is alleged that one of the
lady teachers took away from
the child, probably to keep her
from losing it, money which the
child's sisters, who were there
for Thanksgiving, had given her
before they left last Friday morn
ing. The child cried for the
money and that is presumably
the cause of the whipping. Mr.
Self alieges thst two women held
the child by the arms while the
principal whipped her with the
strap. Mr. Self will not send
the child back to the school
though he has been asked by the
manager to do so.
Fancy Drawn Work, Linen
embroidered, and plain handker
chiefs for Christmas presents, at
J. A, Bowles.
ON THE FARM.
People Have About Stopped
Moving From Farms to Mills.
We hope we have seen about
the last of Southern white far
mers leaving the farm to take
work in cotton mills. We are
anxious to see the manufactur
ing enterprises of the South
built up, but we are more anx
ious to see the farm lands of the
South held by prosperous small
white farmers, and to see these
small white farmers have their
part in the great agricultural
awakening now going on.
Someone has wisely said that
in all ages and all countries the
men or the c'asses who own the
land sooner or later make them
selves the aristocracy of that
country. We have not come to
this condition so rapidly in Amer
ica as in other counties, because
of the abundance of cheap land
resulting from the newness of
the settlement and the sparse
ness of population as yet; but in
the long run the history of other
countries must be repeated here.
These thoughts came verv for
cibly to mind as rode through a
cotton mill village the other day
and saw its hundreds of white
employes—men, women and
children —who have left the
farm to become the homeless
hirelings of the cotton manufac
turers. The negroes, finding no
place in manufacturing for them,
are left on the farm and are be
coming land-holders in rapidly
increasing numbers. Prof. W.
E. Dußois, a prominent Georgia
necro educator, has just pub
lished a map showing that since
1900 Georgia negroes have in
creased their land-holdings from
850,000 to 1,500,000 acres, and
now own within the State of
Georgia alone an area larger than
the entire State of Delaware.
Not only this, but the negro
children are going to school and
developing healthy bodies in tne
open air and healthy surround
ings of country life instead of
Leing shut up in the cotton mill,
overworked, uneducated, and
poorly developed physically, —as
the tendency must be in all cot
ton miils so long as the legisla
tures of the South are too sub
servient to the less humane mill
owners to enact needed laws for
restricting child labor in the mills
—the less humane mill owners,
we say, because there are many
thoughtful and far-seeing mill
owners who heartily favor strict
er regulations.
Remember, we have no ill wiH
toward the cotton manufacturers;
we have no ill will toward the
negro. We do realize very strong
ly however, that the safety of
the Suuth depends upon the pres
ence of a large white rural popu
lation. The drift from the farms
to the cotton mills not only af
reets this directly, but also in
directly, because when once the
population of a community be
comes predominantly negro, the
small number of white people
left may be forced to move out
in order to find sufficient num
bers for a society of their own.
It was a wise saying of James
Oliver's, "Happy is the land that
is titled by the man who owns it,"
and the great need of the South
to-day is to encourage the hold
ing of small farms by white far
mers. We repeat, that we say
this in no ill will to the negro,—
in fact, it should not be necessa
ry for us to say this, because no
one else in the South has preach
ed more persistently than we
the doctrine that it is the intel
ligent, prosperous negro who
helps, and the ignorant, poverty
breeding negro who makes us all
poorer, —but we say this for the
good of white and black alike be
cause the best interests of both
races demand that the rural
South maintain its large white
population. Unless this is done
the negro himself will not prog
ress as rapidly as with white
guidance, and unless this is done
the cities of the South must also
inevitably go backward.
We urge every white tenant
farmer, and especially every
white man who for any reason is
thinking of becoming somebody's
hired man in town instead of
owning his home in the country,
to buy land. The great planta
tions of the South, for the good
of our section as a wnole, must
be broken up. We must encour
age the spirit of home-owning,
with every man sitting under his
own vine and fig tree, and we
must especially encourage the
Democrat and Press, Consolidated 1905
development of a great class of
small white farmers.
The saving of the rural South
to the white race is one of the
most important problems now be
fore the people of the Cotton
Belt. —Progressive Farmer.
Our Barefooted Days.
Poets mav sing them in their
sweetest songs, artists paint
them in the brightest colors, and
our memories may deceive us re
garding the days of long ago.
when we were boys on the farm
or in the village, but sober re;
flection, with the glamour omit
ted, leads to the belief that more
myths date back only a score or
so of years than stretch to the
days when the world was in its
infancy. How many of us of
mature years had the comforts,
much less the conveniencies, of
modern life? The great majority
grew up without street car ser
vice, without gas or electric
light, without steam radiators in
our rooms, without the telephone,
and without an abundant water
supply for the kitchen and bath.
The old swimming hole sounds
romantic, and there were many
da>sofbiiss. But the boys of
today has so many other sources
of pleasure and delight that he
would scorn the swimming hole.
It is by contrast that pleasures
are derived. The lad of forty
years ago was forced to get up
at daybreak, go out into a dew
laden pasture and drive in the
horses and cow; he had to carry
in wood and in some cases start
the kitchen fire; and some of us
were required to do part of the
milking.
When we were fortunate
enough to find a Jnice red apple
after the holiday it was a treat
indeed; when a half dozen oran
ges were brought from the gro
cer's, it meant a delight that was
not forgotten for some days. In
stead of going to see the best
actors and actresses of the age,
the lad of our memory was su
premely happy at the thought of
going to see the circus once a
year. It was an anticipation
that surpasses anything within
the range of possibilities to-day.
What were at one time com
forts almost beyond belief have
become necessities, while
our conveniences have multiplied
many fold and luxuries are stead
ily growing in number. Thanks
giving is an ideal time of vear to
look about and find something to
be grateful for. A. contempla
tion of conditions then and now
is not amiss, and life will be the
sweeter as a result of retrospec
tion. Would you voluntarily live
over those days? Would you take
them in preference to being a
boy of the present day? Most of
us would not. —Washington Her
ald.
Be Wise Today." Phone Now
Get a jar ready for Croup,
Colds, Pneumonia, Vick's Rem
edy works on outside and inside
at same time and nips these trou
bles in the bud every time. No
equal. Take no substitute and
regret it. 25, 50 and $1 00 jars.
All Druggists.
New Enterprise for Wilkes.
The Finwin Cotton Mill Com
pany has been organized at North
Wilkesboro by J. L. Erwin, of
Concord, T. B. Finley and others
of North Wilkesboro. The com
pany will build a mill on the
Yadkin river, a half mile from
North Wilkesboro. The author
ized capital is $200,000 and the
company will begin with $50,000.
Only a few pairs of the Elkin
blankets left. Get them before
cold weather comes. J A.
Bowles,
Tries Suicide
Swallowing poison and then
leaping through the window of
the second story of the Hotel
Berkley at Asheville Friday af
ternoon, Robeit K. Abbott of
Chicago, a young travelling man
made a determined effort to end
his life. He was picked up from
the ground below with his foot
broken and his lips burned by
the bichloride of mercury tablets
he had swallowed. He is travel
ling representative of the H. E.
Bucklen Company, a medical
house making Dr. King's New
Discovery. He was temporarily
deranged caused by desperate
illness when he tried to suicide.
Evaporated Fruits: now in,
Pears, Peaches, Prunes, Apricots,
Cherries, Raisons and Figs.
Whitener & Martin.
IN OKLAHOMA.
j Party of Hickory People in
Lawton Receive Welcome.
As mentioned in the Lawton,
Okla., News Republican of No
vember 27th, a party of North
Carolina capitalists and business
men had arrived in the city, but
were too much on the wing for
individual mention. The party
is composed of E. L. Shuford. J.
W. and Bascom Biackwelder,
bankers; Walter S. Martin and
Z. B. Buchanan, all of the Old
North Dominion of the Carolicas.
Mr. Shuford is here to start work
on his $500,000 cotton mill. This
h commonly known here as the
"small mill," but erroneously so,
for a $500,000 industrial concern
is no small fry.
The Shuford brothers are here
for business and have always
been regarded as perfectly reli
able and able to make good their
mill here, on conditions of $200,-
000 bonus.. This will now have
to be forthcoming, according to
the terms of a contract made
and entered into by them and the
"development company."
Pursuant to that purpose there
was a meeting of the directors
and stockholders of the Oklaho
ma Realty and Devolopment
Company last night at the cham
ber of commerce rooms and it
was largely attended. The re
markable thing was the spirit
exhibited. All were anxious to
make payment on their subscrip
tions. A levy of 25 per cent was
made for the purpose of con
structing the switch and it was
cheerfully assented to and paid.
The switch is under construct
ion and the Shuford's are wait
ing for its completion that their
material and machinery can be
transported to the other mill site.
Thus the first step has been tak
en and there will be no let up
till the necessary land is pur
chased, set aside for the mill and
the balance platted into lots and
sold, to raise the bonus for the
Shuford mills, ihey are on the
ground and their proposition has
passed from the speculative to
the stage of real activity.
These North Carolinians includ
ed among their number a whole
sale druggist, who is looking for
a place to establish a wholesale
drug house, and he intimated
that Lawton looked good to him
and that Oklahoma City had no
terrors for him. Here is a vast
unoccupied field, open to con
quest and easy to control. A
wholesale drug house may be the
result of his visit. The Black
welders are bankers and are look
ing out farm lands for a large
colony of farmers from their
section.
In addition to the North Caro
linians, Wallace Swiggert and
Browne Cornelison, of Oklaho
ma City, promoters who are look
ing after the interests of the
prospectors whom they have been
| largely instrumental in bringing
! here. W. A. Fulwiter, a Mr.
Ashman and T. H. Lindsey, all
railroad men also accompanied
the party from Oklahoma City.
They too are looking for the
business end of things.
Their presence set the Lawton
people on fire and never was such
enthusiasm and grim determina
tion exhibited as last night at
the chamber rooms. Members
are not only ready and willing to
dig up 25 per cent of their sub
scription but 50 per cent if need
ed. It was decided to raise sll,-
940.30 this morning to take over
the Houghton land. This land
was bought today. Thus the
great enterprise is fairly launch
ed and Lawton has started on
her upward career.
Assault in Burke.
Gordo* Bailey, a son of County
Treasurer, Wm. Bailer of Burke
county, was arrested Nov. 23rd
on the charge of an assault on a
daughter of the late Moulton
Shuping in the woods near Salem
church, on Sunday, the 21st,
while the young girl was return
ing home from Sunday school.
Young Bailey, who was working
on the new building at the D. &
D. School, gave Sheriff Berry a
chase and hard fight before be
ing taken into custody. Bailey
was arraigned for trial on Wed
nesday, the 24th. when he waived
examination and was bound to
court in the sum of SI,OOO for an
assault on Miss Shuping and £4OO
for resisting an officer. Failing
to give bond, he was remanded
to jail, and later was removed to
the Marion jail, for safekeeping,
the jail here not being considered
safe.