jiljf Hcralb.
Pries Or.. Dollir P.r Ye.r "TRUE TO OURSELVES, OUR COUNTRY ANO OUR GOD." singl. CoplM Plv. Canto
VOL. 28. SMITHFIELD. N. C.. FRIDAY. JULY 16.1909. NO. 2<>
PETROLEUM OUTPUT IN 1908.
Product 179,572,479 Barrels, Worth
$129,706,258. Oklahoma Leads All
States. New Commonwealth Sends
45,798,765 Barrels to Market and
Increases Output 5.23 Per Cent Ov
er Previous Yeai?Louisiana, Mis
souri, and West Virginia Show
Gains.
On February 3, the Geological Sur
vey published a statement showing
the general progress in petroleum pro
duction during 1908, according to
which the phenomenal production of
1907 had been eclipsed in 1908 by a
production of between 175,000,000 and
180,000^00 barrels.
The Survey is now compiling the
final figures for 1908, which will
sKow that the total production ag
gregatejl 179,572,479 barrels, valued at
1129,706,258, an increase in quantity
of 8.1 per cent over 1907.
Oklahoma led all the States in
production, with a total of 45,798,765 |
barrels, an increase of 5.23 per cent i
over 1907; California" was a close
second, with 44,854,737 barrels, an
increase of 12.85 per cent over 1907;
but Illinois gained the greatest per
csntage, rising from 24,281,973 bar
rels in 1907 to -33,685,106. barrels in
1908, a gain of 38.72 per cent.
Western States Show Gains.
Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Mis
souri, Utah, Wyoming, and West
Virginia also showed gains in pro
duction. The declines were in In
diana, where it was nearl;- 36 per
cent; in Kansas, 25 per cent; Penn
sylvania, nearly 6 per cent; New
York, 4.3 per cent; and Kentucky
and Tennessee, 11 per cent.
The average price of petroleum for
the entire country in 1908 remained
identical with that of 1907, but there
were considerable variations of an
important character in individual
States. The most notable of these
was the increase in price in Califor
nia, from 37 cents a barrel in 1907 ]
to 52^, cents a barrel in 1908. The
' Gulf States, Louisiana and Tejcas,
showed a decline in value from a
little over 80 cents to 60 cents. The i
Appalachain oil showed a slight in-'
crease in value, from $1.75 in 1907 j
to $1.79 in 1908. On the whole', I
prices were remarkably steady con
sidering the notable increase over!
the large production of 1907.
Increase in Three Fields.
The increased activity in the three
great fields?California, Oklahoma,
and Illinois?was the dominant fea
ture of the situation rather than the
. discovery and opening of any con
siderable new fields. The principal
new field to gain prominence was
the Caddo pool, in northwestern Lou
isiana. The hoped-for increase in pro
duction from the Markham and
Goose Creek fields in Texas did not
materialize, and the total from the
State showed a decline in spite of
the increased production in the Hum
ble pool. In the Appalachain field
7,115 new wells were drilled, of
which 5,292 were producers, with a
total initial production of 55,002 bar
rels; in the Lima-Indiana region 1,
2550 new wells were drilled, of which
J,088 were producers; in the new Il
linois field 3,574 wells were drilled,
of which 3,019 were producers, with
an average initial production of 26
barrels a well. In the Mid-Cojitinent
field 3,490 wells were drilled, of
which 2,587 were producers of oil,
471 were producers of gas, and 432
were dry; the initial production of
the producing wells averaged 83.7
barrels. In the Gulf field only 819 j
pew wells were driled, 606 being
producers and showing an initial
production of 297 barrels. In Call- j
fornia 617 wells were drilled, of
which 594 were productive, and in ,
other parts of the country forty-four !
wells were drilled, yielding twenty
four new producers. From the to
tal of 15,210 productive .wells drilled, |
the Initial production was 42.9 barrels
?Washington Herald.
Cyclone Kill# Three.
Dallas, Tex., July 10.?W. B. Dow- j
ell. his wife and ten-year-old daugh- j
ter were killed, and another daugh- j
ter aged fourteen years fatally hurt I
in a cyclone which demolished their
home three miles southwest of
Hennleigh, in the Texas Panhandle,
|asi night.
Not a stick was left standing of
the small frame house which was
tSe home of Dowell and his family. !
KILLED BY FATHER'S REAPER.
? ?
Child Hides Playfully In Wheat, and
Is Cut to Death.
York, Pa.. July 10.?Playfully hid
ing himself in the tall wheat where
his father was driving a reaper and
binder, Lester Richard, three years
old, was today mangled by the blades
of his father's machine. He died in
half an hou>\
The family, with a party of neigh
bors, was holding a harvest frolic,
and the boy, unnoticed by his pa
rents, follewed bis father into the
harvest field. Reichard heard a
scream and found that he had run
the reaper over his own son. The
boy almost bled to death before a
physle??r could be summened.
The father managed to carry the
child out of the field and lay the
mangled body at the feet of his moth
er. Then he fainted, and it was
with difficulty that he was revived.
GIRL BURIED ALIVE TEN DAYS.
Dug Out of Railroad Tunnel Which
Caved In.
St. Gall, Switzerland, July 2.?A
young woman who was caught in a
cave-in of a railroad tunnel 10 days
ago was today dug out alive.
She suffered agonies of cold and
hunger during this period, but man
aged to sustain life by sucking mois
ture from her clothing on which wa
ter occasionally trickled. She continu
ed calling for help until she was fin
ally heard and rescued.
PAPER PRINTED IN BALLOON.
First Journalistic Publication in the
Clouds.
Hamilton, O., June 30.?The first
newspaper ever printed in a balloon
was received in Butler county yester
day, when a balloon from Dayton
passed over the western part of this
county.
The bag was equipped with a corps
of newspaper men and a printing
press by a Dayton (Ohio) paper, and,
as it soared over the towns miniature
copies of the paper, printed in the
balloon basket, were thrown to the
ground.
When the balloon reached Woods
Station, eight miles east of Hamilton, i
copies were sent down telling of an :
exciting experience at Darrtown, 4
miles from Woods, when it was said
farmers fired at the balloon with
rifles.
Banker in Harness at 90.
Et. Louis, July 10.?Rufus J.
Lackland, president of the Boatmen's
Bank, is 90 years old today. He cel
ebrated the event by working as
usual. Lackland is the oldesst finan
cier in the United States actively
engaged in business. He works every
day, reaching the bank by 9 o'clock
and leaves his office between 3 and
5 o'clock in the afternoon,, accord
ing to the qua?tity and urgency of
the day's business. Lackland is !
slightly deaf, but he shows in no
other way the consequence of his
?C years.
Bad Fight at a Saw Mill.
A bad fight took place a little
more than a week ago at a saw
mill a few miles west of Benson.
Fletcher Strickland is the sawyer and
he had agreed to push his work
along and keep the logs sawed as
they were put in place for him. A
man named Moore was to carry logs
to the mill. Strickland did not keep
up with the sawing and for this rea
son Moore h:yl to handle some of
the logs twice. They disputed over
this point and had a bad quarrel.
Strickland struck Moore with a tur
pentine dipper across a fence which
was between them. The dipper cut
through Moore's hat and into his
head, rendering him unconscious tyr
awhile. Strickland went into a house
where a man named Weeks lives.
When Moore recovered a little he
went to his home for his double bar
rel shot gun and came back to
shoot Strickland. Weeks tried to
prevent Moore from entering his
house but he rushed in anyway. Just
before he got into the house Strick- '
land was placed in another room and
concealed. This no doubt saved his
life. They were both arrested and
bound over to court for trial.
Mr. Holmes Makes Reply to Article
in Last Week's Journal.
In last week's issue of The Smith- !
field Journal appeared an article
written by J. C. Standi, in which he |
dodged all the former facts at issuo, 1
and proceeded to abuse me with all
the powers at his command.
Now I do propose to have some
self-respect, and as such 1 cannot
stoop low enough to indulge in lan
guage that would do justice to such
a batch of rotten, slanderous, false
hood, as appeared in that article.
The people of Benson and the com
munity know me, and any person
who would believe what he has writ
ten, no words from myself would
cause them to change their mind,
and the .intelligent citizenship in
other sections of the county
where I am not known, do know the
character of Republican Journalism,
and therefore it can do no harm to
cuss, or any good to praise me, and
for those reasons I shall not waste
my time in answering any such rot.
But there are a few things I feel
it my duty to say in as much* as
Stancil accuses me of trying to slan
der his family. Now everybody who
has read my article in The Herald
know that I cast no reflection what
ever on Mr. Stancil's family. I think
I would be among the last of men
to say a disrespectful thing about
innocent women and children, and
so far as Mrs. Stancil is concerned,
she is a lady of the very highest
type in every respect, coming from
one of the very first families of our
town. She and her children are held
in the very highest esteem by all who
know them.
Now in regard to what Stancil says
about the Benson Spokesman refusing
to publish my articles I refer the
reader to an editorial that will ap
pear in this weeks Issue of that paper
and I ask you to look it up and read
it.
Then comes N. T. Ryals with an
other letter claiming to be a member
In good standing in the Ananias
club. Well, we did not initiate Mr.
Ryals into the club, he surely must
have been in company with J. C. S.
We did not even claim that Mr.
Ryals was a relative ot Ananias, at
all, we only gave the records as they
appear on the town minutes recorded
and signed by Mr. Ryals, as clerk.
Mr. Ryals calls me brother. I sup
pose he means in the political fami
ly. Now 1 might be some sort of
a half brother or a cousin of some
kind to a man who would allow his
naiua run on a ticket with radicals
in order to defeat the regular Demo
cratic ticket but never a hill blood
ed brother.
The truth of the business is Just
this. Nathan is cussing in the
ranks oC Democracy and praying on
the heights of Radicalism. Now in
regard to the charge I have made as
tft the conditions of public affairs
he?e, every man who has taken time
to investigate knows I have stated
nothing but facts. I have quoted the
records exactly as they appear on
town docket, and facts and figures,
not on record were furnished me
by the mayor, chief of fire depart
ment and others in authority, and
tor continue to write in reply to ar
ticles written by men who have no
regard for truth and decency what
ever, would be folly indeed, and as
I have stated before the character of
Radical Journalism is too well known
in the county to do me any barm.
Respectfully,
J. W. HOLMES.
Benson, N. C., July 13, 1909.
Trouble of long standing led Chas.
J. Dresser, a railroad detective at
Toledo, to kill William Chatterton
Tuesday.
Watching freight trains for tramps
at Laporte, Ind., Lake Shore Detec
tive Charles Silverside was killed,
probably by trrmps.
The crest of the flood in the Kan
sas and ? V'ssHouri Rivars in Missouri
has,be.;H reached, and -onditions are
improving fuat.
The ?iillioft mark for attendance
at the Seattle Exposition was pass
ed In 42 days, beating both the
Jamestown and Lewis and Clark
shows, which took 90 and 65 days
respectively.
After fatally clubbing his wife, J.
M. Parks hanged himself at Waco,
T?nt., Monday.
The Smithsonian Institution is to
locate a meteorological and astrono
mical station on Mount Whitney, Cal.,
14,000 feet high.
AWFUL MURDER NEAR SELMA,
Joe Pulley Meets Horrible Death at
Hands of His Child, a Twelve year
Old Girl Who Brained Him With
An Axe While He Lay Sleeping.
Man Was Cruel to His Child. He
Was Considered Very Bad Man.
Selma, July 14.?Early Monday
morning a little girl, Marie Pulley,
the stepdaughter of Joe Pulley, and
said by some to be his illegitimate
child, struck Joe Pulley on the head
twice, or more, with an axe, crush
ing his skull which caused his death
some eleven hours later.
The evidence as taken before the
coroner's jury is as follows: The
jury was T. H. Whitley, B. S. Pitt
man, H. B. Pearce, Sr., K. A. Ash
worth, G. B. Craven and W. T. Kir
by.
Marie Pulley, the defendant, said
"I am 12 years old. Joe Pulley said
that Mr. Carlyle told him I had stol
en collards from Gabe Sherrad. 1
told him 1 did not do it. He whipped
me. Wore out three sticks on me,
said he was going to kill me. This
was last March. He was good to
me before this; bad since. Whipped
me and choked me because 1 holler
ed. He went to where Gabe was
plowing, Octavia hollered for gun.
When Joe came to the house said I
was the cause of it all. Sent me to
Gabe's house to te him to come
here. Gabe said for Joe to come to
to him. Joe threatened to shoot me
because 1 dug up one hill of corn.
He took hoe handle and hit me a
cross my body and arm then wore
out a switch on me. Yesterday morn
ing he went up to Mr. Pat Hicks';
heard about my stealing chickens,
said he would pay me tomorrow
morning. Was going to whip me
and drive me away. I got up before
the rest did and went out and got
the axe and hit him twice. He hoi- j
lered 'oh! Lordy,' at first lick. I I
hit him as hard as I could, l m-1
tended to kill him. .When I saw blood
I ran out. Oot&via, Pulley's wife,
jumped up. She never said a word.
Just ran out. It was between five |
and six o'clock.. A little^>oy lay by
Pulley's side. Octavia and baby and ;
I lay on be<^- Thought it all right j
to kill him. My mother was a Brant- |
ley from Wakefield. Joe married j
her when I was eight months old.
My mother's father was George |
Brantley. Heard Joe say he would j
kill Gabe. Said he would take Oc
tavia to Pender county and leave me |
in the woods. He often said he j
would take me to the swamps and J
leave me. Heard Joe talk about kill
ing four men and laugh about it.
Threatened to shoot me last Thurs
day. Whipped me last Wednesday
with a switch as large as my thumb.
Joe was sober yesterday. He took
all his spite on me. Octavia rani out
of house first and I ran out behind
her; threw the axe down by side of
the hbiise."
Octavia Pulley said: "I was born
in Pender county. Married Joe Pul
ley in August, 1903. Joe went to!
Pat Hicks' yesterday evening; came |
back and told Marie he had heard
she had been stealing Mr. Carlyle's
chickens. Joe told Marie he was
going to whip her this morning and
drive her away. Joe had been mar
ried three times. Treated Marie
kindly until two years ago. l Qian t
see licks struck as I was lying on j
back side of bed. Only heard licks.
Heard Joe holler; was badly scared.
Marie ran out of house ahead of
me. Joe and I got on all right.
Thought he would whip Marie this
morning. Did not think he would
kill her, though he said he would."
It is told by those who were pres
ent at the burial of Joe Pulley that j
his father Mr. Josiah Pulley came
up just as they were about to low
er the body into the grave, and on
being asked if he wanted to see
the body, replied, yes. After taking
a long last look at the body of his
son, he turned and said: "Yes, that
is Joe. I guess It is best that It
is as it is, he has lived a bad life,
he has been in lots of trouble and
it Is said has been the cause of sev
eral deaths. From what I hear it is
best as It Is for he would have caus
ed more trouble." Just to think
that a man can stand at the side of
the grave of his dead son and say
that It is best that he is dead. And
this in a Christian land! What
were the surroundings of this boy
in his bringing up? Surely he was
not trained in the right way, or he
would not have met the end be did.
Jot' Pulley had served a term lu the
I'nited States prison for counterfeit
ing, It is said, and lu Jail for block
ading, and was known as an all
round bad man. The girt Marie Pul
ley who Is twelve years old or more
says she has never been to church
or to school in her life. She has j
lived all her life, any way for the i
last six years in the hearing of the
church and school and has not been
allowed to go to either, and strange j
as it may seem, that child is not the j
only one that is not allowed to go I
to church or school.
8ENEX.
The Crop Outlook.
The outlook for a big corn crop
is better than ever before. The acre
age is the largest ever known, be
ing seven per cent larger than last
year. The condition of the crop is
8'J.3, the highest reported for July |
in nine years. The best estimate
is that the yield will be 3,161,174,000 |
as against 2,5)27,400,000 in 1906, and j
that year was a record breaker.
The wheat crop promises to yield i
663,500,000 bushels as against 664,- j
600,000 harvested last year. The J
price Is high, which is good for\ wheat
growers and bad for buyers of |
wheat and flour.
The cotton outlook is poorer than
for years, the recent government
crop report putting the couditlon
lower than ever before in a July re
port. In Texas the crops have been
hurt by drought and the Atlantic
States by excess of rains. The spin
dles of the world have Increased
enormously, even more than the in
crease In cotton acreage. Cotton has
gone up three cents a pound and
the cotton farmer who manages to
raise a fairly good crop of the staple
will get good prices for It.
In the Eastern part of the State
heavy rains have hurt tobacco, but
in other sections the damage has !
been slight.?News and Observer.
Diet of European Nations.
The following is a summary of the
dietetic habits of the rural popula
tion, the healthiest portion of the
several European countries, accord-1
ing to Food and Drink.
Belgium?Coffee, black bread, po
tatoes, vegetables, chicory, and some
times salted meats.
England?Beef, pork, potatoes, veg
etables, tea, cheese, beer cider.
Ireland?Oatmeal, bread, potatoes,
beans, milk, butter, vegetables.
Scotland?Oatmeal, bread, potatoes,
milk, butter, coffee, tea, very rarely j
flesh.
Rhenish Prussia?Milk, soup, dried 1
fish, grapes, potatoes, flesh only for i
the feast days.
Saxony?Bread, butter, cheese, soup
vegetables, coffee, flesh only on
feast days?
Bavaria?Porridge, butter, milk. '
cabbage, potatoes.
Italy?Macaroni, bread, fruits,
beans, peas and lentils, wheat, rice, ,
grapes, wine, a very little flesh, on
feast days, but only in certain re
gions.
Spain?Bread, vegetables, fish,
fruits, flesh only occasionally.
Russia?Rye bread, cabbage, mush
room soup, wheat cooked with milk
and oil.
Sweden?Potatoes, rye, oatmeal, :
barley, milk, salt herring, beer, no |
flesh food.
Switzerland?Cheese, milk coffee, .
vegetables, soup, wine, very rarely
flesh.
France?In the neighborhood of
Bourgogne meat is eaten but once a
year. The peasants of Morven eat i
meat twice a year. The peasants of j
Sardinia once a year; the peasants of |
Auvergne very seldom; the Bretons
never, except rich farmers, who eat
flesh on feast days.
We see from this table that Euro
pean peasants, the hard workers, sub
sist almost wholly upon fruits, grains !
and vegetable food, a regimen which ,
is highly economical, and by which
they are sustained in good health, j
The peasants live to be much older j
than aristocrats and crowned heads,1
who feast upon meats and the lux- I
uries of courts.
When a big touring car was over- i
turned at Middletown, N. Y.. Tues- j
day, Mrs. Sylvester L. Ronk. a wid- j
ow, was killed.
Cutting his throat with a razor.
Private Harry .Charles, of the Ord
nance Department, at Aandy Hook,
is dead.
The Benson Spokesman Has a Say.
Benson, N. C., July 15, 1909.?la
an editorial In tomorrow's paper, the
Spokesman will have the following
to say regarding the controversy be
tween Mr. J. W. Holmes and Mr. J.
C. Standi:
"It is our policy to steer clear of
political controversies as much as
possible; but, in as much as Mr.
Standi of the Journal has seen fit
to state that he has been informed
that we refused to publish cretain ar
ticles written by Mr. John W. Holmes
of this town because we supposed
charges made by Mr. Holmes in. these
articles to be false, we feel that in
justice to Mr. Holmes it is our duty
to enlighten the public on this sub
ject. In the first place Mr. Holmes
never mentioned his articles to us
until we requested him to furnish U9
a copy of his second reply to Mr.
Standi. This he willingly did and
at the same time said that he would
have requested us to publish his
first reply had he not known ours to
be a strictly non-partisan publica
tion. He also stated that if we car
ed to ^publish his second article we
could do so and he would greatly ap
preciate it.
"After reading Mr. Holmes' reply
we found that we had not time or
space for it, and too, it contained
some things of a personal nature
that we did not care to publish, so
we returned the article.
"We will add also that, Mr. Holmes,
being a gentleman, realizing that he
had made his article too personal,
requested Messrs. Heaty & Lassiter
of The Herald, to rfevlse It so that
it would contain nothing but a state
ment of facts.
"We did not pay the slightest at
tention to this controversy until Mr.
Standi so unwisely mentioned the
name of our paper in his last at
tack upon Mr. Holmes; therefore, we
did not know which of the two
gentlemen was stating facts; but,
since we have been drawn into this
argument greatly against our wish,
remaining true to our policy to
treat every one fairly, we have made
a careful investigation of the matter
under discussion and have found ev
ery statement made by Mr. Holmes to
be absolutely true in every particu
lar."
The Aldrich Bill Passes the Senate.
Last week the United States Sen
ate passed the Aldrich Tariff Bill by
a vote of forty-five to thirty-four. Ten
Republican votes, we are glad to
say, were recorded against the meas
ure. They were cast by Mr. Bev
eridge, of Indiana, Mr. Bristow, of
Kansas, Messrs. Brown and Bur
kett, of Nebraska, Mr. Crawford, of
South Dakota, Messrs. Cummins and
DolUv^r, of Iowa, Mr. La Follette,
of Wisconsin, and Messrs. Clapp and
Nelson, of Minnesota. These men
come from the central West; they
stand for an Intelligent constituency.
The more important changes which
the Senate has made in the Tariff
Bill as passed by the House are:
the substitution of a. corporation tax
for an inheritance tax; the provisions
for a tariff commission and for a
Special Custom Court; the elimina
tion of the retaliatory feature of
me maximum and minmum provi
sion; and the Increase in the Inter
nal Revenue on tobacco. The tariff
duties themselves have bien chang
ed by devices of classification, by
decreases and increases, the net re
sult being that the duties proposed
represent, in general, upward and
not downward revision, and are a
betrayal of the spirit of the Republi
can platform pledge and of the prin
ciples repeatedly enunciated by Pres
ident TaCt. The bill, together with
the Hoiine bill, nov g >es t) a con
ference between the two houses.
While the country looks to the Sen
ate conferees to stand firm on such
administrative features as improve
those of the House bill. It certainly
expects the House conferees to
stand firm on their more moderate
duties. Fortunately, verv many mem
bers of the House will soon be fan
didates for re-election. What one of
them feels that the Aid'Lit sched
ules of ultra-protection w luld help
his campaign??Editorial in Outlook,
New York.
Dragged from a launch by a wire
catching her under the chin, Dorothy
Bruce was drowned at Iowa Falls,
La., Tuesday as was also Archie
Drakfl, who Jumped into the water
^to save her.