Newspapers / The Morning Post (Raleigh, … / Jan. 13, 1905, edition 1 / Page 1
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vV ; '- 4' f 3 7- 1 THE WEATHER TODAY : For North Carolina : ; Fair, colder. For Raleigh : i, Fair, colder. ' ' TEMPERATURE; Temperature for th past 24 Koort: . ' , Maximum, 63. ' H 'A Ulnlmum, 39. VoL VIII RALEIGH. N". C, FRlbAY, JANUARY 13. 1905 ' ITo; 37 . . L . ' . . LI1MY W MRICANi District Attorney Skinner's Visit to Washington Excites Curiosity North Caroling Regarded as a Fine Field for Investigating the Methods of the Alleged Trust ; By THOMAS VVashington, Jan. 12. Special. Dis 4Tict Attorney Harry Skinner Is here on important business, the belief be jn,ir that he was summoned to "Washing- ton Oj lllc ucauuicut ui usuwc (inference with reference to the inves tiffntion of the methods of the Ameri can Tobacco Company, which the ad ministration Is conducting with the viow of making out a case of violation of the provisions of the anti-trust law. Interest in Mr. Skinner's visit was In creased when It became known, that he was in conference, with the attorney peneral and- the interstate commerce commission during the day. It Is known tint Mr. Skinner furnished the com mission with certain data and that , he 1m-' Id quite a lengthy conference -with .members of the body. As was to be ex pected, the district attorney declined to discuss the object of hlsfvislt. He con fined himself to the simple statement that he is here on official business. While is is practically certain that Mr. Skinner was summoned 'here with respect to, the prosecution of the alleged-tobacco trust, his conference with members of the interstate commerce commission is not easily explained, u.i loss it, be that he furnished evidence of some sort with reference to rebates .given-the American Tobacco Company by railroads that operate in the south. The question of rebates has not;arisen in the south the offense being confine! largely to western railroads, and" this dea was scouted in some quarters; tc i.iy. The interstate commerce commis lion. has no relation whatever to Mr. Roosevelt's trust buster arrangements, ind so Mr. Skinner's information which ie furnished could not have related to :ho investigation of the tobacco trust, ' mles it involved the question of rail oad rebates. r .' - There is no authoritative information m the subject, but the belief, prevails that Mr. Skinner has been directed!" to begin an investigation into the methods Df the American Tobacco Company in eastern Carolina, as has been frequent ly intimated would be the case ' since it became known that the administra tion was in earnest. North Carolina is the home of the ' Parent company, and in official of the department of justice rnjide the remark,oday that it was the west field in the United States, for prnbing into the methods- of the so Mlied trust. The first information published any '-'I'-re that the president contemplated n aggressive fight on the alleged to iicco trust appeared: in this corre spondence two days after the election. A few days later the fact was an- oe Trial "for Her ier Jury Selected and Three Wit nesses Examined Evi dence Not ot a Damaging Nature Lawyers Ex pect to Finish Sat urday Night Durham, N. c;, Jan.' 12; Special. The trial of the W. R. Murray murder case began this morning, and when yurt adjourned late this afternoon the twelve men who will pass on the life -J-n'l death issues had been selected and tm-ee witnesses examined by the state. A fP-eciaj. venire of 250 men had been 'ummoned. by order of the .court, . atid all of these with few exceptions were 0n hand when-"court convened' this morning; Those who did not answer their names were fined $40. -, From lt time until . 4 : 15 o'clock this after-' rirn, with the exception of the noon 'H-fcss, the court and lawyers struggled Jlth the proposition of getting twelve ir-minded, unbiased men to pass on ;r-e issues to be' presented. The JW s composed of seven farmers, two to-, jeconists, one merchant, one black 'iith and one clerk. They are as fol ws: j. G.. Parrish, T. A. Parrish, L. J - Nichols, A. L. Hoiloway,- Harrison :. r'pe.lJ.-B. Walker, R. K. Umstead, TorZ. Ellis. Sr., S. D. Bail.-. W.:.H.-jPo!y,-V. T. Carver, A. W. Umstead. 'lie of the.?e men came from the reg-ilh',-U'y'' In setting the other eleven o! th& venire men were exhausted. - rtrr securing the jufy an hour was oum1 to; the taking of evidence, uniif,' that hour three witness 'were ' riane(j An of thein were witnesses - " --iu. tw0 of them seeinaronlv ElEftlMST JICGO CDRIjPANY. J. PENCE catlng that her, might aapply for the office of district attorney himself. It is believed that he. will seek a foieignj appointment as consul, possibly at Rio or Glasgow. In the meantime he is holding onJ to the postmastership at Elizabeth City, inclining . to the old principle that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. The object of his visit here was to, seek the appoint ment of a general delivery clerk at the Elizabeth --City office. He saw Mr. Walters, chief of the salary and aljlow di vision, with reference . to the heed ance division with reference to the need is being investigated. .' Attorney R, H. McNeill returned to day from Asheville, where he went to make a motion before . Circuit Judge J. C. Pritchard. Mr. McNeill learned from State Chairman Rolling that he expects to reach Washington next Tuesday. Represenatative -elect Black burn is expected here today or tomor row. - - Tar Heel Club a Tender Subject Republicans who are holding office are very diplomatic in their attitude to wards the Tar Heel club of Greensboro. They do not want to offend Representa tive Blackburn by not joining, and do not want to become conspicuous in the organization for fear, of giving offense to Chairman Rollins. District Attorney Skinner and Postmaster . Meekins .said they had hot Joined, but that they in tended to. Ex-Governor . Russell, when asked if he was a member, laughingly replied that he had hot been invited. The subject is ' a tender one with a number of Republicans, and, not a lit tle amusement -has been had out of several officeholders who have endeav ored to evade the subject when subject ed , to cf oss-examlnation. " Representative Kluttz has recom mended the appointment of ' Oscar Ct Dancy of North Wllkesboro . as local census agent to take the census of man ufactures in the county. v It was neces sary to secure a local man in Wilkes for this, work, but "a special agent of the - census ' department will be sent from Washington to take the census in the other counties of the. district. Following up a conversation held with Chief Justice Clark some time ago, Mr. W. W. Kitchin has introduced a bill di recting the secretary of- the treasury to furnish each state .with copies of the reports of the supreme court of the United States in. exchange for the re ports of the highest courts in the va rious states. , - . - The district committee will give a hearing Monday on Representative Pou's bill to compel the local car com- OTirayBlaced. a part of the trouble.' The evidence given by these men was not very dam aging to theVcause 'of the prisoner. The only damaging feature was that three men the prisoner, his son and a young man employed . by the defendant were beating the deceased when he tired the first shot. NO one has yet said that the prisoner had the pistol in his pos session when the fatal shot was fired. On the other hand all say that the two men were in a struggle for possession of the weapon. , . ' 'r '-'v.--.. ' . Mrs. Murray, widow, of the deceased, and her sister, Mrs. Robert Duke, sat close by the solicitor throughout the day. .This afternoon the son of the de ceased, who is a cadet in a, military school, sat with his mother and aunt. The general opinion of . lawyers is that the taking of . evidence will be completed by Saturday noon. It is pos sible that tomorrow and Saturday night sessions of court Avill be held. This has not been decided, however. It is hoped to turn the case over to the jury before midnight. Saturday. , This killing was one of the most sen sational in the history of Durham and that shocked the city and state. The prisoner is a nephew of J. S. Murray, the man killed. Both were engaged In the same line of business and much bitterness, had been engendered. On the morning of Nvemhfr 25 the son of the prisoner and Walter Markham, an employe, got into some, words with de ceased, and the prisoner went into the trouble, claiming that It was for the purpose of stopping what threatened to be a fight. The deceased drew a pistol and a struggle ensured for pos session of it. Four, shots were fired, the last one proving. fatal. The defend ant claims that the? Pistol was -fired while both had "posseBion of It.., The state claims that prisoner disarmed the deceased and'then shot him. Since the second day after the killing the pris oner has been under a $20,000 bond., nounced by the press associations, and since then " a special attorney general has been appointed to take charge of the investigation. There is no doubt of the president's desire to put the. screws to the American Tobacco Com pany. He believes this corporation is" doing business in violation of the pro visions of the anti-trust laws, and his preliminary move is to make out a case. It is said that the president's attention was called to the operations of the American Tobacco Company by a close and personal friend, who was forced out of business because he. en deavored to work independently of the alleged trust. '-a ... ""- . A deierjatlon including John Land street, W. J. Frledlander and r S. H. Harris, prominent tobacco manufactur ers, and the members of a special com mittee appointed for the j purpose "; by the Independent Tobacco Manufactur ers Association at its recent convention in Philadelphia, have called on Attor ney General Moody and laid before him data gathered by the &Asoclatlort tending to show the employment by the American Tobacco Company of methods claimed to be "in restraint of trade," and hence " In violation of the Sherman anti-trust act. The practices of which complaint Is made ccnjJst, it is said, in attempts to prevent both jobbers and retailers from handling the goods of the so-called independent manufacturers. ... Republican Factions in the State ' - Isaac M. Meekins, one of the bright and shining lights in the Republican party of North Carolina, predicted to day that unless various elements that are contending for control f patron age get together and agree upon a har monious plan of action the president is likely to give the boot to all of them and seek advice from other quarters when considering North Carolina mat- !MMe Habeas Corptus mm AMm&m Counter-proceedings Begun as to Lunacy Inquiry Law yers Talk of Trouble of Long. Standing in ; the Family New York, Jan. W.Levy & Unger, as counsel for the wif e ' of Brodie L. Duke, secured from Supreme Court Justice r Gay nor . in Brooklyn today ah order appointing a commission to in quire into the sanity of her husband and to hear testimony before a sheriff's jury beginning January 19. In secur ing this order from Justice Gaynor pending the return of a' preliminary order in a similar proceeding, before. Justice Greenbatim, Mrs. . Duke's law yers appear to have "short circuited" Nicoll, Anbale &: Lindsay, counsel for Duke's son and brothers. Justice Greenbaum's order requires Mrs. Duke and all others interested to show cause before him January 20, why such a commission should not be appointed. In the meantime, before any of these proceedings are reached, Justice Gaynor is to have Mr. Duke before him tomorrow in Brooklyn on the writ of habeas corpus secured by Cliampe S. Andrews, representing Mr. Barham, Mr. Duke's private secretary. It is not at all likely, now that Justice Gay nor has signed an order for the com mission to sit Januar, 20, that he wiU decide tomorrow that Duke is sane and discharge him. Duke will be produced in court by Dr. Brown, the head "of the Sanford Sanitarium, to which Duke was com mitted by Justice Trux's order last Saturday. Lawyer Andrews says that he will have witnesses in court to prove that Duke has always been per fectly sane. He says that over one hundred public men have come for ward volunteering to testify .' tliat Duke, while habitually inclined to go off on sprees, is nevertheless sane. Nicolas, Anbale & Lindsay say that they will confine their efforts to keep Duke where he is to an oral argu mentciting the fact that he had been committed by a supreme court Justice on the certification of Doctors Mac Donald and Hamilton. , Back of the legal- proceedings" in tended to free Duke lies, according to the lawyers, a story of a long war waged by Duke against his relatives hand against : the American .. Tobacco Company. According to the story tOl-J today by some of the lawyers,4 Duke opposed selling out the .tobacco intef ests by the Dukes to the American Tobacco Company, and he has since retained control of a number of minor concerns down south, refusing, to turn them into the trust. Of late, accord ing to the information supplied by. hia secretary, he has been looking into certain properties in Texas believing 1 that Havana and Sumatra tobacco could be grown there in .opposition to the trust. It was while he was look- ing into this that the Webb woman, who is no whis wife, came forward! with her proposition that he finance a ' concern formed to take over 750 acres of tobacco land In that state, i The Duke brothers, so the lawyers say, 'heard of this and have been trying 'to thwart his scheme. From things some of the lawyers said to looked as if the ! court might bes asked to consider Brodie L. Duke and Mrs. .Duke , aa rivals and victims of the tobacco trus The Interesting information was ters.-' This Is Mr. Meekins estimate of the situation : after havins learned of the; plans- of the various leaders who are preparing to make assaults on the White House. : With reference to his own -political fortunes, : Mr. Meekins said he 6id not think he would; be a candidate for the attorneyship against Harry , Skinner. Some time ago he wrote Chairman Rol lins hd asked .him t withhold his de cision inmaklng the appontnvmt, ii.di panies to vestibule their cars. - The' advance sheets of volume 18 of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate' navies in the War of the Rebellion, covering the operations of the wesUguIf blockading squadron from February 21 to July 14, 1862, have been published by the superintendent of lib rary and naval; war records under the direction of Secretary .Morton. The operations covered by the printed offi cial reports, correspondence and dif ferent data include the passage of forts St. Philip and Jackson, the occupation of New Orleans, . April 24 and 25, 1862, the passage of Vicksburg by Farragut, June 28, 1862, r and many other naval operations along the Mississippi river below Vicksburg and along the coast of the gulf of Mexico from St. Andrews Bay, Fla., : to the . mouth of the Rio Grande. - The- volume, contains over thirty illustrations and sketches of boats and fleets. ' Representative Kluttz was notified to day of the establishment of eight new rural ' routes in ? his district, three in Watauga, three in Iredell and two in Surry. . Dr. J. R. Parker of Cisco, Chowan county, W. F, Buchanan of Charlotte and Mrs. Charles W. Burkett of Ral eigh are here. Mr. Roscoe Mitchell, who is now liv ing in West yirginia, is here. He will leave tonight for Raleigh. TV given today that Barham's hurried trip here and' his subsequent legal proceed- lngs 'were the result of a telegram which reached him Sunday, coming ap parently from Duke, who was then at Sanford Hall. This telegram read sub stantially as follows: "Come here at once! and protect my interests." How DUke sent this' telegram, if indeed he seht it himself, rf the lawyers do not know. At any Tate Mr. Barham lost rio time . In ' getting here arid getting but the. ; writ of ' habeas corpus under which Duke will be produced tomor row. : The commission appointed by Judge Gaynor to inquire into Duke's sanity consists of Prof. Isaac Russell, dean of the New ' York University Law School, Dr. 'Thomas Fogarty and Ed ward D. Cahdee of Brooklyn. Under I the law they will si t as presiding j udges and the testimony will be taken before a jury empanelled by the sheriff. Dr. Brown , is directed to i produce Duke before this commission. Judge Gaynor's order was made on a petition of Duke's wife in w7hich she said that Duke had been forcibly seized and taken into custody by two persons representing themsleves to be police officers at the Park Avenue Hotel last Friday, that he had. been subsequently committed to Sanford Hall, and . that she, as his wif e, was not satisfied -with such commitment. The state law- provides that within ten days a person interested can pro test against such a commitment and ask for a trial before a sheriff's jury. Mr. Levy, of Levy & Unger, said to day that he anticipated tha't the law yers for the Dukes might consent to his discharge today, in the hope that he would go to North Carolina where, Mr. Levy said, the lunacy law was very strict. Mr. Levy said he might ask, If it is decided to hold Duke for the trial, that Duke be sent to an in stitution other than that selected by the other side. . Delancy Nicoll called on District At torney Jerome today in regard to the criminal aspect in the case, but re fused to say what was discussed, so did Mr. Jerome. IMPORTANT ORDER V,- 9 Trnsfer of I nspectors in Post Office Department Washington, Jan, 12 Postmaster General Wynne has issued an order transferring the entire corps of post office inspectors from the jurisdiction of f the fourth assistant postmaster general and placing them immediately under the postmaster general. - The action is taken on the ground of subserving the best interests of the government and is based on the fact that the inspectors of the other execu tive departments of the government are directly under the heads of the depart ments. The order is effective next Monday. It affects over 200 men, scattered throughout the country, who ever since the creation of the office of fourth as sistant postmaster general have been under the direction and the control of that official. The order is one of the most import ant issued by the post office depart meht for a long time, and may cause crime McCue had given up the office significant developments. Fourth As- 'of mayor, declining to stand for a third distant Bristow,: who is strenuously op- term. " j- - posed to the transfer, has given definite After the funeral of his wife the cor exrjression of hi onoosition and made - oner's jury named McCue as the-man efforts to avert the change. The Argument Presented by President Spencer of tho ' Southern All Aro Agreed That Rebates Are r Improper Washington, Jan. 12. Samuel Spen cer, president of the Southern Railway, and authorized to voice the sentiments of the New York Central, Erie, Chi cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, - Northern Pacific, Illinois Central, Delaware & Lackawanna and other railway com panies, spoke vigorously today before the House committee on interestate and foreign commerce against the Cooper-Quarles bill or any proposition to' authorize the interstate commerce commission to , fix railway rates. Mr. Spencer is the flrst direct and official representative pf the railways to , be heard, by the committee, and his te3ti many is regarded - as the keynote of the opposition to rate fixing by the government. ' Mr.- Spencer stated at the outset that it was not his purpose to discuss the subject in its entirety. There were, however,, a -number of important points which he . wished to emphasize. The interestate commerce law and the commission, he said, had been in operation for eighteen years. Before its operation -the rebate, the secret contract and: discriminatory devices of various kinds were the rule." Now, the reverse is the :ase.v Rates ara sub stantially maintained..' "There is no difference of opinion," continued Mr. . Spencer, "between the railroads of the country, congress and the president on the, subject that re bates are wrong. We agree with the language of the president that the j highways of transportation must be kept open to all upon . equal terms.' On that basis the railways are ready and anxious , to co-operate ; but I do not think .any additional legislation is necessary in order to proceed against that particular plass. of abuses. If such legislation does appear to con gress to ,. be necessary, the railways of the country will certainly stand, and I have.no hesitancy, in saying so in co-operation and aid "to" that end. , "That particular phase of regulation has already '"been pronounced by , the committee as fully, 'covered . by exist ing "statutes.'"'; ; It pimply becomes a question "of enforcement of , the law. "But the .'question before you is-not of that character; it; is that of the power to name a rate upon the part of the commission after complaint and hearing. It "has been claimed that this will be a means of stopping rebates. This clalm'I'have no hesitancy In dis puting, and will give it attention later.", "- , About 90 per cent, of all the claims or questions of various kinds which have been presented to the interstate commerce commission have been ad justed without formal hearing and de cision on the part of the commission. "That," hV said, "does not indicate either, a fight or non-co-operation on the part of the railroads." Of the remaining 10 per cent, of the work of the commission scarcely 2 per cent, was the subject; of litigation. Re ducing the suits to figures, Mr. Spen cer gave the number, as 43 suits out of 194 cases decided against the rail- Court of Appeals HoBds That MlcCue Mut Di The Charlottesville Wife Mur- derer at the End of His Chances in the Courts. Governor May Grant Him a Respite Richmond, ; Va., ( Jan. 12. The su preme court of appeals today refused a writ of error in tho case of ex-Mayor McCue of Charlottesville, convicted of wife murder, and sentenced to be hanged the 20th of this month. A Charlottesville special says that when the news of .the action of the su preme court in denying a ;writ of error was conveyed to McCue he lost hi3 nerve and, fainted. "In the case of McCue against the commonwealth the Judgment of the corporation court of Charlottesville, be ing plainly right, the writ of error is denied.", . - That wag the announcement made by Judge 4 James Keith, president of the supreme court of appeals, In the case. So far as the courts" of the state are concerned the case .Is ended, the only hope of the condemned man being with the sovernor. V J- In September last J. Samuei McCue was convicted of the murder of his wife by shooting her' in their home. Two davs before the commission of the j responsible for her death. Ha wa la - T7T ill roads, "showing that" the . railroad! acquiesced in . four-fifths - of the de cisions of the commission. Out of the : 43 which went to litigation .25 related to rates and In 22 out of the 25 case the decisions of the commission wen reversed by. the courts. One case only was affirmed by the . cdurts in Its en-. tirety, while two were partially con firmed and partially reversed. . Thesa figures covered eighteen years, and a railroad mileage . of: 20,000 nilles at the present time and 135,060 miles at the beginning of the period named. "Does this indicate the necessity foi legislation with respect to. rates?" queried Mr. Spencer.. L 7 Referring to the personnel of the commission, he expressed the confidence of the railway w;orld in it, and said it was justly worthy of the respect of the country. -.';. '-..! v. .. ,. "v ' There was but one feature of the Quarles-Cooper bill which he wished. to discuss specifically.,. That was the. por tion conferring power on the commis sion to substitute a. rate for one- com plained .of as unreasonable. after due hearing, said rate to-remain in effect, subject to change only by the commis sion or by the courts on appeal by the railways. The treasons advanced . for. the necessity of this , power were enumer ated by Mr. Spencer, , the . first being that it is merely restoring a . power which the commission had for ten years exercised. This power, LMr. Spencer de nied, had ever legally 'existed. . - The- most important claim in the whole situation, Mr. Spencer believed to bethat such a power would enable ithe commission , to prevent discrimination between localities. t This question of ad- . justing rates bet ween . iocalities, he said, was the most difficult and'intricate. of all. The .present s.djusthient .was ths outgrowth of natural competition, not only between localities,, which had and would always exist, hut between- rail roads as well. To disturb this, he main tained, would not only be a task .so enormous that no statement could con vey a comprehension of it. but would be impossible toi satisfactorily compHe in . the hands of a body with authority on ly to take into consideration the one phase of adopting rateswith reference to their, equalization sofar as' the car rier waa concerned, and leavingout the question of competition between locali ties. , , ' '"; : "? In this problem the price of commodU ties of every sprt would have to be ta ken into consideration and he instanced the compfetitioh tbtweerfl, mining ; cen ters, agricultural centre? manufabthr. ing centres, ' etc., as illustVating his meaning Stability as to prices of com-, moditles could not exist, he maintained. Should such be the 'case commerce would become absolute stagnation. Taking the subject of unreasonable rates, Mr.. Spencer referred to the state ment, w-hich has been made to the com mittee, that rates were thirty-thrM thousandths of 1 per fcent." higher r ts 1903 than in 1899,' making a total':, ralst of $155,000,000. This heconceded to bi true when the gross receipts were taken into consideration. He gave as a rea. son the increase In the price of com moditles of every description; and con sequently the cost, of operation of rail ways. The net .return to the roads had been less than in 1899. j It. was a singu lar coincidence also, i he maintained, that the comparison was made with the year 1899," which was the lowest year as to rates in the ' history, of American railroads. " ' Mr. Spencer will continue his testi mony tomorrow. dieted and tried at Charlottesville, ths case attracting more attention s; than any murder case in the state, in twenty five years. He was conyicteij. oy'a Jury chosen from various parts of the state, the jury spending twenty, of the twenty-six minutes while out in - prayer. Death was the verdict ' v An appeal was taken with the result as given above. . It is thought that the governor will give McCue a respite for a short time in order that he may prepare to meet death. . He has three children, one boy and two girls. I New Yprk a Skating Rink: ' New York, Jan. 12. A light drizzling . rain " which continued through -night, feezing as it struck -the groundM by today had transformed the stieetsn arid sidewalks of Greater New Yortt into great skating rink.? Transporta tion lines and horses in street traffio found themselves alike practically help less. -." ' - r " : ',;".- : A dense fog which settled over the city during the night added to the seri ousness of the situation and 1 harbor traffic" suffered almost 'as. seriously; at the land transportation lines. . Japanese Force Strdnjgthoned Berlin, Jan. 12. The NuesteNach richten today published a dispatch from Mukden, saying that according -to Rus sian intelligence ther Japanese array fac ing' General-- Kuropatkinstorces has been reinforced by 368 siege ? guns, re cently, used in the investment of Port Arthur and also by 32,000 infantry, mat ing a total of 388,000: men - with 1.2ii JcUm. V I 7 I r - r .-.
The Morning Post (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 13, 1905, edition 1
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