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The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, November 21, 1894, Image 3

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WHY COTTON IS LOW.
A SECOND ARTICLE FROM LAWRENCE
YOUMANS.
He RevlewM rust >Ionet?ry Condition* ami
Compares Them With Preaent?Free Silver,
He Thinkx, Ik One Ueiuedy for the
Trouble.
To the Editor of the State: In my
previous article I conclusively demonstrated
that the great decline in the
price of cotton in 1819 was not due to
over-production, but to financial
changes which resulted in an enormous
contraction of the circulating
medium and effected the price of all
other commodities in the same ratio.
I also demonstrated that the rise in
price, from 1826 to 1836, was not at
all due to diminished production, as
the rapid advance took place in the
face, as Professor Sumner says, "of
increasing production, both here and
in India, but was the result of large
additions to the money volume both
here and in England. The heavy decline
which begin in 1837 and ended
in 1848?prices falling from an average,
in 1885. of 17 1-2 cents to 6 1-2
cents in 1&18, was not due to overproduction,
but to a repetition of those
causes, which produced the decline
from 1819 to 1826?financial changes
which wrought a great contraction in
the volume of money. In 1829, President
Jackson began his war on the
United States Bank and, defeating
every attempt to renew its charter,
terminated it by the downfall of the
bank in 1836,when its charter expired.
In discussing his veto of the bill to renew
this charter in 1832,the following
predictions were made:
Senator Clayton of Delaware, said,
in a speech delivered July 11, 1832:
"In less than four years the pecuniary
distress, the commercial embarrassments
consequent upon the destruction
of the United States Bank must
exceed anything which has ever been
known in our historv * * * bankruptcies
and ruin, at the anticipation of
which the heart sickens?must follow
in the lone train of evils which are
assuredly before us."
Daniel Webster said: (Works, vol.
3, page 419.) "I hesitate not to say
that as this veto travels to the West, it
will depreciate the value of every
man's property from, the. Atlantic
States to the capital of Missouri, its
effects will be felt in the price of lands,
the great and leading article of Western
property; in the price of crops, in
the products of labor, in the repres.
sion of enterprise, and in embarrassment
to any kinds of business and
ccupation."
In anticipation of a vacum resulting
from the downfall of the United States
T> 1. *1? ? l 1 Ko.,,
-LMfclllk., tut; lUUill UUlllV^ llOU IA3UI1 VU~
couraged by the President to enlarge
their issues?these notes, of questionable
validity, beginning to accumulate
in the government Treasury, whither
they had found their way, in purchase
of the public lands, the President instructed
the Secretary of the Treasury
to issue the well known "specie circular,"
requiring all pavment for public
lands to be made in tne precious metals.
This circular, reviving the demand
for gold and silver, destroyed
most of the banks which had not government
deposits at demand. The
subsequent demand for these deposits
in 1887, for distribution among the
States, as provided for by the act of
1836, completed the ruin of the "pet
banks." The sudden calling in of
these deposits, which had been treated
by the banks as capital to be loaned,
oegan the panic of 1837, which
fully verified tne predictions of Senators
Clayton and Webster.
In these pressing straits, the banks
and business firms of America drew at
long time, on their houses of credit in
Europe, and, failing to meet these obligations,
fell, and as they succumbed,
pulled down with them nearly every
foreign house that dealt with the United
States. So great was the run unon
the Bank of England that it haa to
sustain itself by loans effected with
some difficulty from the Bank of
France.
The situation was thus pictured by
DoubLeday, in his "Financial History
of England," pages 322, 323: "A scene
of bankruptcy ensued that beggars all
descriptions * * * A panic tooK place
in England, in the course of which
nearly all the houses engaged in the
United States trade were swept away
* * Immense bales of American
paper securities. State stocks, canal
stocks, bank shares, railroad shares,
etc., were sent to Europe, pledged for
what they would bring, and the proceeds
remitted in gold and silver across
the Atlantic to prop the tottering paper
issuing establishments of the various
States * * * Such at least was
the condition of the colFers of the
Bank of England that slie was refl11<a
Kr?rr tlio occiutanro frnm flip
Bank of France; and the indirect aid
of that establishment alone saved her
from ruin."
Alison, in dealing with the same
crisis in his history of Eurone, vol. 3,
2nd series, pages 314, 315 ana 31ti says:
"Terror and distrust universally prevailed;
the machine of society, like
a huge mill turned by water,'which
was suddenly frozen, came to a stand
* * * A universal run took place upon
the banks, which being in a great degree
unprovided with cash, in consequence
of its having been drained
away to the banks in the West, were
unable to meet the demand for specie
* * * Deprived of the wonted resource
of discounted bills to meet their engagements,
the greatest, as well as the
smallest houses, in all the commercial
cities became bankrupt. Two hundred
and fifty houses in New York
stopped payment in the first three
weeks of April; and in Boston, Philadelphia,
Baltimore and the other cities
on the coast, the devastation was not
less universal. Cotton fell from 14
cents per pound in 1835, to 7 1-2 cents,
all other articles of export in a similar
proportion. Soon the distress spread
like a pestilence through the various
ramifications of society. Public
WlirjiS, rauwujs, uinais, were uruuvin
to a stand; the shipwright and builder
dismissed their men: the manufacturer
closed his doors; one sentiment pervaded
all classes?the anticipation of
universal ruin and individual beggary.
* * * Cotton, the great article of
common export, nad fallen in consequence
of the measures of government
to 4 cents a pound, being not a third
of what it had been three years before,
and that, although the last crop had
been deficient rather than the reverse."
The price of cotton which had averaged
17 1-2 cents in 1835, declined to
1U 1-2 cents in 1 "!38 and to 6 1-2 cents
in 1848. The decline from 101-2 cents
in 1838, to 6 1-2 cents in 1848, took
place on an almost stationary volume
of production, averaging about two
million bales per annum. In 1849, on
a crop four hundred thousand bales
larger than any previously raised the
price rose to 8 1-2 cents and continued
to rise until it reached 12 1-2 cents,
which price it held with slight variations
for the next ten years, in the
face of an increasing production that
doubled itself in 1859 and 1860. It is
the causes that produced this rise and
sustained it for the next ten years, in
the face of an increasing volume, that
soon doubled itself, which I now propose
to consider.
As the crises with which I have so
far dealt resulted, principally, from
changes in the paper circulation, I
have not hitherto alluded to the more
imperceptible influences of the volume
' a1 Plii no fliov
OI UlU precious uicuiu. uut ? n.vj
will hereafter become the most important
factors in guessing the price of
cotton, I deem it necessary now to retrace
my steps, and consider their effect
upon prices.
Adam Smith, "Wealth of Nations,"
page 19.'}, says: "From the high or
low money price of goods in general,
or of corn in particular, we can infer
only that the mines which at that
time happened to supply the commercial
world with gola and silver were
fertile or barren. That is, the output
from the mines governed the supply,
and the supply regulated the price.
Mr. Jevons tells us that from 1789 to
1S09 gold fell 40 per cent. This decline
in its purchasing power was
caused by a large augmentation of its
volume, by an increased production
from the mines. But in 1808 Bonaparte
invaded Spain and as the moth
iL.
er country was overrun, tue opuiusu
American colonies, from whence this
increase had been desired, began to
assert their independence. The consequent
turmoil and unsafety of investment
banished capital from the
mining industry and the output being
diminished by one half, gold rose rapidly
in value.
Speaking of this dearth of the precious
metals aggravated by the paper
contraction of 1819, R. H. Patterson in
his "New Golden Age," volume 2,
page 211, says: "Perhaps the most
impressive testimony to the strange
widespread distress which then lay
like a night-mare upon Europe, or indeed
upon the whole civilized world,
is that borne contemporaneously by
the calm-minded philosophic historian
Sismondi, who wrote as follows in
1827, of what he justly called this
'great European calamitv:1 'A cry of
distress is raised from all the manu
XOUtUUIl^ w/uuo VI HIV V/1\* ?? V??
and all the fields of the New World
re-echo it. Everywhere commerce is
struck with the same languor; everywhere
it encounters the same difficulty
of selling * * * this period of distress
went on, lightening merely for
passing moments, until suddenly in
1848, the apprehension of Sismondi
was suddenly realized.' All society
was shaken to its foundations; governments
were overthrown by a wild
impulse, a grasping after some better
order of things; and wars and revolutions
rolled over Europe, from the
Baltic to the Adriatic, and from the
Bay of Biscay to the Euxine."
It was of this epoch, 1848, that Mr.
Shepperson spoke in his interview
with the New York Tribune, repubHcTiofl
a fpu- flavs fltrn in the News
?? ** ?O ~ -
and Courier, when he said: ' 'In October,
1848, under the influences of political
disturbances on the contiment, and
financial panic in England, the price
of middling upland cotton, in Liverpool,
was forced to 3 3-8 pence. That
was the lowest quotation in the Liverpool
market until now, when the price
is down to 3 3-32 pence.''
This low price in 1848, as we have
seen, was not due to overproduction,
for its volume had remained nearly
stationary for the ten preceding years
?it took place, however, after a forty
years dearth of the precious metals
which had reduced the price of commodities,
cotton included, to nearly
one-third of their former value.
Professor W. S. Jevons, in his
"Money and Mechanism of Exchange," j
page 325 says: "From 1809 to 1849 it
(gold) rose again in the extraordinary
**ufm /\t 1AO in rvt? Kv r\cir* npnt !
tauvf vi jLvv w viw v/* i
?doing what ?? rendering government
annuities and all fixed payment extending
over this period almost two
and a half times as valuable as thev
were in 1809."
Cotton is now lower by 5-32 of a
penny than it was it 1848. Why is it
so low? From the same cause that reduced
the price in 1848?a dearth of
the money metals. How was this
dearth occasioned ? By discarding silver
from the mints, and thus cutting
off one-half, or over, of the natural
supply from the mines. Why was
this done? To make the dollar unit
twice as valuable and to double the
value of all credits. How does this
double the value of the money unit?
It reduces by one-half the metallic
basis of money and proportionately
controls its volume, and as did the
contraction occasioned by the panics
of 1819 and 1837, reduces by one-half
the value of all commodities.
Whom does this benefit? All those
who live upon the labor of others?the
creditor and incomo classes. Those
who receive salaries and annuities,
and whose charges are lixed by law or
custom. '
How does it benefit them? It enables
them to command twice as much
labor and twice sis much commodities
for the same money.
Whom does it injure? All debtors
and producers. How? By doubling
the burdens of all debts, taxes ana
fixed charges and diminishing by onehalf
their power to pay them?a condition
of affairs which all standard writers
agree does more injury to a country
than war, famine or pestilence. Is
the low price of cotton due to this state
of affairs? The comparative shrinkage
in the volume of money and consequent
depression of the price of all
commodities affects cotton to a great
extent, but there are other factors
which contribute to its alarming depression.
What are they ? Cotton and
wheat, without any corresponding increase
of production, have fallen lower
in price than most other agricultural
products. We have to expect a large
surplus and compete with silver standard
countries for the markets of Western
Europe. Silver having maintained
its purchasing and debt-paving power
in these countries, is worth as much
for all domestic purnoses as it was in
1873, consequently tliese silver countries
can get just as much* for their
wheat and cotton as they could twenty
years ago, while we have to sell for
about one-third. This bonus on their
exports has proven just what was predicted
by British statesmen years ago,
that the demonetization of silver would
prove the ruin of the wheat and cotton
industries of America, and the salvation
of those in silver countries.
When cotton touched bottom in
1848, within 5-32 a penny of the price
to-day, I have been informed by those
who remember it that the very same
opinion of over-production was entertained.
At this time of general depression
and business stagnation, when
the cause of mankind seemed very
much as it uoes now, a i most nopeiess,
what was it that gave relief?a cotton
trust, or a curtailment of production
jus recommended by Broker Roddev?
No, sir. The only remedy that will
give any relief now?an expansion of
the currency, a well distributed circulation,
sufficiently commensurate with
the increase of poulation and the expansion
of enterprise and industry.
In 1848 gold was discovered in large
qualities 111 California, and, in 1851,
in large qualities in Australia; the annual
increase of the money volume
was almost immediately doubled, trebled
and nearly quardrupled. The
l>onds of debt and taxes were relaxed
and soon wore off under the prodigious
stimulus of renovated industry
and general prosperity. This decade,
from 1850 to 1860, is still referred to as
the most prosperous in our natiens
history?the national wealth doubled
itself and 36 per cent, over during
these ten years. The crop of cotton,
amounting to 2,423,000 bales of'47 and
'48 and thought to be an over supply
as it sold for an average of 6 1-2 cents,
was more than doubled, in 1855), and
Drougut aooui iz corns.
Patterson in his "Golden Age," Vol
II. page 22, says: ''So the long distress
quickly came to an end, and there
after was well nigh as much forgotten
as if it had never existed. Mores the
pity! For it is by a study of that time
that we may best learn to avoid, at no
distant date, a recurrence of the same
evil anti-industrial and anti-commercial
influence * * The gold mines for
a while made Euroupe young again."
Said the historian Alison, Vol. IV.,
2nd series, page 318: "The annual
supply of gold and silver for the use
of the globe was by these discoveries
suddenly increased from an average
of ten million pounds, to one of thirtyfive
'million pounds. * * * That
which for five and twenty years had
been awaiting a currency commensurate
to the increased numbers and transactions
of the civilized world, was now
supplied by the beneficient hand of
nature. The era of a contracted currency,
and consequent low prices and
general misery, interrupted by passi n ^
gleams of prosperity was at an end.
Prices rapidly rose; wages advanced in
a similar proportion, exports and imports
enormously increased, while
crime and misery as rapidly diminished."
In my third and hist article, I shall
attempt to trace the subtile influence
that manipulated the money volume
after the war and its effects upon prices,
particularly the price of cotton. I
think I shall show that all these catch
words, "honest money," "sound money"
and "full value money," partake
very much of the nature of the cry of
"catch thief," and are ingeniously put
forth by the thinking few to hoodwink
the unthinking many; and veil the
gigantic robbery and dishonesty of the
Sold standard, which is working the
egradation and industrial ruin of our
people. Its effects, not so sudden as
the panics of 1819 and 1837, but with a
progress as steady as the movement of
the nand on tho dial plate, in comparison
with the expansion of industry
and the increase of population, is producing
a constant and pitiless contraction
that is every day adding to the
purchasing power of the money mint
and reducing the price of all the pro
ducts of labor. Talcing two dollars for
the creditor when only one should be
paid by the debtor?it is furnishing a
harvest for greedy capital and grasping
brokerage that is running our homes
and pauperizing the great masses of
our citizens; and has nearly reduced
us to the Jews in the time of Nehemaial,
the Athenians before the advent of
Solon and of the Romans after the
first Gallic invasion.
This money power seems to control
legislation and, to a great extent, to
exercise a commanding influence over
the press. To us the language of Sallust,
"Pecuniam omnibus modis vexant."
(They have troubled money in
every way) and as was said by Juvenal,
"are devouring the people to the
very bones." L. W. Youmans.
Fairfax, S. C., Nov. 7, 1894.
Honda will be IhouciL
Washington, Nov. 13.?There is no
longer any doubt that an issue of
bonds has lieen definitely decided upon,
and it can be stated on good authority
that a circular asking for bids will be
issued during the present week, probably
by Thursday. It is fully realized
that the gold reserve has now reached
a point where it could be completely
whiped out by a few heavy shipments,
and it is thought to be the part of wisdom
not to wait until the gold in the
treasury is practically exhausted before
making an effort to recoup it.
Wednesday last Mr. Carlisle, after
several consultations with the president,
wrote to President Stewart, of
the United States Loauand Trust company
of New York, reciting the law
as to an issue of bonds, and asking his
opinion as to which class of bonds
could be placed at this time to the
greatest advantage to the government.
The result of this correspondence was
that the president and Mr. Carlisle decided
to make the forthcoming issue
the same in amount and rate, and, in
nearly all other important particulars,
the same as the February issue. The
circular is now being prepared, and
indications point to an official announcement
at once.
Jiulfffl Killed.
Nashville, Tenn.,Nov. 1-1.?Chancellor
Andrew Allison of this city was
shot and killed in the corridors of the
county court house here at 1 o'clock
this afternoon by George Whitworth,
ex-clerk and master of the Davidson
County Chancery Court. Whitworth
then attempted to commit suicide and
inflicted what will probably prove a
fatal wound on himself. Whitworth
was appointed to his office by Judge
Allison and served one term. At the
expiration of that term a few days
since Judge Allison appointed his son,
Granville Allison, to succeed Whitworth.
It was this fact that instigated
the murder. Judge Allison was reelected
to liis office of Chancellor in
August last. He was as man of about
fifty years of age and a member of an
old and prominent family.
A Quoer Sulcl<lr.
Norwich, Conn., Nov. 14.?Mary
Ncilson, 25 yearn old, of Philadelphia,
while dining with a party of friends
in this city, in response to a toast,
laughingly drank a glass of carbolic
acid with suicidal intent, and died
soon afterwards. Not one of the party
suspected that the liquid was poison
until its fatal result was seen. Grief
at the death of her husband led to the
act.
.
THE DEATH OF PARKER,
AN ORANGEBURG COUNTY INCIDENT
OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
How a Hand of Torien Wim Ulipert?d ud
Itw Lender Killed by a Hand of Patriot*
Under Command of Captain Raiapli?A.
Dnrlng Deed.
The following interesting story of
the Revolutionary War was printed
in the Southern Cabinet in 1840:
After the seige and fall of Charleston
in the year 1780, and the shameful
violation of the articles of treaty by
the British officers, the war in South
Carolina became essentially of a partisan
character. The State was overrun,
but not subdued. Bold spirits
arose everywhere to assert their
liberties, and they were frequently and
instantaneously crushed by a powerful
and unsparing foe, and no recollection
now survives of themselves or their
deeds;?but not all of them thus perished.
One fearful contest tradition
lias preserved, which I will endeavor
to record;?a struggle of man with his
fellow man?a pursuit? a pistol shot
and a death.
Captain Jacob Rumph, (known after
the Revolution, better perhaps, as
General Rumph,) of Orangeburg district,
was the commander of a trooD of
cavalry, raised in his neighborhood to
protect themselves and their families,
who lost no occasion of aiding their
friends or annoviner their enemies.
They are all gone;?history has not
recorded their names; but few bolder
spirits struck for liberty in that eventful
war. Captain Rumph was a man
of prodigious size ana strength, of
great courage and coolness in tnehour
of danger, and though of a harsh and
imperious disposition, no one was
better fitted for the command of the
hardy and intrepid men who composed
his corps: Tney were usually dispersed
at their ordinary avocations on
their farms, but they united at a moment's
warning from their leader.
Not long after Charleston was taken
by the British, Capt. Rumph was returning
with two of his wagons, which
had been sent into Charleston with
produce, in charge of a Dutchman
named Houselighter; and while slowly
riding in company with his wagons on
a small, but strong horse, his mind
gloomily brooding over the oppressed
and almost hopeless condition of South
Carolina, he had reached a large pond,
on what is now called the old road,
about seven miles below the village of
Orangeburg, when he was suddenly
roused by tiie approach of three men
on horse back, whom he instantlv recognized
as his most deadly foes, hey
were well mounted and armed like
himself, with sword and nistol.
When the horsemen haa reached the
opposite side of the road to Captain
Humph, they halted for a moment and
would have approached him nearer;
but he, placing himself in the best
posture of defence he could, called out
to them:
' 'Gentleman, stand off?I wish to
have nothing to do with you."
The Tories, for such they were, surveyed
him for an instant; and after a
short conference with each other, to
Capt. Rumph's great relief, rode on,
and soon disappeared at the next turn
of the road.
Rumph, though he saw with no little
satisfaction, that the Tories bad passed
on, yet was too well acquainted with
them to suppose for a moment that he
was to get off so easily. He knew verr
well that the short respite they had
thus given him was only, that with an
increased force he might become their
prey with less danger to themselves.
He rightly coniectured, that the three
who had passed him on the road, were
only scouts sent to apprehend nim if
unarmed, and who. if he had incau
tiouslv suffered them to approach him,
would have shot him down while off
his guard.
Casting his eyes about a moment,
for means of escape from his wily foes
the danger of his situation became fully
apparent. The three troopers he
knew belonged to the corps of the
sanguinary Cunningham, a part of
which, he was certain, was in the
neighborhood, under the command of
one of his subaltern officers; and Capt.
Rumpli, after carefully surveying his
situation, became fully conscious of his
extreme danger of falling into the
hands .of his merciless foes. He was
mounted upon a strong but slow horse
and the thought of escape on horse
back was abandoned by him without
hesitation. He was armed with a
trusty cut and thrust sword and a
brace of pistols; but it would have
been madness, he well knew, to think
nf fivnnsinir himself to such odds aa he
was sure would bo brought against
him. There was no time to be lost.
His only chance of escape at once
flashed across his mind, and he immediately
set about executing it. He
rode his horse up to the pond already
mentioned, and tied him fast to a
tree. Ho then took off the greater
part of his clothes and left them near
his horse, to induce the suspicion that
he had concealed himself in that pond.
?But that was very far from his real
intention. He walked in the wa:er
near the margin of the pond, until he
had gained the side opposite to which
he had tethered his horse, and choosing
with some caution the place at
which he could best leave it, lie set off
at a rapid rate through the pine woods
for home, a distance of some sixteen
miles.
In the mean time, the throe troopers
who as Capt. Humph truly supposed,
were a party detached to seize nim if
they could, returned to their main
body, consisting of about twenty men
under the command of Lieutenant
Parker, and reported the situation in
whic\\ they had left Capt. Rumph.
Without loss of time the whole party
set off to overtaken him. Upon their
arrival at the pond, they found that
the wagons had proceeded but little
distance from the spot which they occupied
when the three Tories passed
them, and Capt. Rumph's horso and
clothes were in the same situation in
laff Kir In'm
VV JUUU tuc^V iiuvi IA/VH lUiv WJ ?
whole party rode up to the wagon, and
fiercely inquired ofpoorHouselighter,
who was pale with terror, where
Rumph was. He pointed to the pond,
and tliey rode up to the place where
the lior.se was tied, and when they saw
his clothes, and other signs of Rumph's
having taken to the pond, they surrounded
it on every side, and dismounting
they entered it sword in
hand, and searched every place where
he could possibly have been concealed.
But their search was fruitless.
Rumph was far on his way towards
home, before those who were so eagerly
thirsting for his blood could satisfy
themselves that lie was not there. I
Irritated by the escape of the prey ]
which they were so confident they had
in their grasp, while one part scoured
the neighboring woods in search of
Capt. Rumph, the other part of the
wagons, and after taking such of the
horses as could be serviceable to them,
they stripped the wagons of every
thing they could carrry away, and
burnt them to ashes with the remaining
part of their freight. They worried
poor Houselighter until he was
ready to die with fear, and left him.
Capt. Rumph reached home about
sun-sei,wnn tne ueierminauon to give
his pursuers chance of a fight with less
odds on one side; and he immediately
set about collecting the scattered members
of his corps. This was soon accomplished?and
they, about twentyfive
in number, were ready to set off
in pursuit of the Tories by day-light
the next morning.
This party had proceeded for several
hours on their way, and had nearly
reached the spot where the wagons of
their leader had been burned the day
before, and which was the scene of his
perilous escape, when they were informed
that the Tories, not far below,
were feeding their horses near the road
and were wholly unprepared for an
attack. The patriots were extremely
anxious to be led to the charge. Just
before their eyes weretho evidences of
the wanton destruction of property by
the Tories, and their memories could
readily supply numberless instances of
their horrid barbarity, rapine, and
murder. They proceeded at a quickened
pace along tne road, and soon their
enemies appeared in the situation in
* * n 111 .1 :a
wmcn tney naa Deen uescriueu, wuu
their horses carelessly feeding with
their saddles on, their bridle-bits out
of their mouths, and their riders lying
about in groups or sleeping apart from
from the rest on the ground. No surprise
could have been more complete.
The Tories discovered their opponents
at the distance of three or four hundred
yards, and at once prepared for
fight. They soon caught their horses
bridled them, and in and instant were
mounted and flying in every direction.
"Save who can," was the only word.
Capt. Rumph and his Troopers dashed
down upon them, and as the Tories
scattered, everv one for himself, the
patriots were ooliged to single out and
pursue, as they were nearly equal in
number, almost every one his man.
Various were the results of that fight
and pursuit.
It was the fortune of Lieutenant
Parker, the officer in command of the
Tories, to be singled out by Lieutenant
Wannamaker, of Capt. Rumph'6
troop. Wannamaker was a man of
singular boldness and true devil-maycare
soi*t of spirt. He was a fine horseman.
and onlhis occasion was uncommonly
well mounted. In this respect,
however, he was not superior to Parker
; for after a chase of nearly two
miles. Wannamaker had gained but
little if any upon Parker?but, unfortunately
for the latter, after keeping
well ahead for that distance, and while
looking back to see if the enemy
was gaining upon him, his
horse carried him under a
stooping tree, which struck him
a violent blow upon the left shoulder
as he rode uuder it and knocked
him nearly off, and in his struggle to
recover himself his saddle turned and
got under the belly of his horse. In
that situation he rode for some distance
at an evident disadvantage, and
Wannamaker be^an to gain upon him.
Parker's horse, however, broke the
firth, and the saddle fell, so that Parer
was again for a while able to keep
Wannamaker at a safe distance. But
it soon became apparent, to Parker's
great dismay, that his hose's wind was
failing from being ridden without a
saddle. In vain he whipped and spurred
his jaded horse. Wannamaker
was shortening the distance between
them at every leap. Parker beheld
him nearly within pistol shot; and,
frightened beyond measure, he took
off his hat and beat his horse on the
sides with it to accelerate his speed.
It succeeded for a moment, but the
fagged horse had done his utmost.
w?nn?m?W -was inqt. h#?hind and
called out to him with presented pistol.
"Parker, halt! or I will kill you."
Parker heeded not, but continued
with renewed violence his blows with
his hat. Wannamaker approached
nearer and called to him again; but
still he rode on. Wannamaker called
to him again, the third time, and offered
him auarter; but the unhappy
man knew tnat he had no right to expect
that mercy which he had never
given, halted not.
"Halt, Parker," says Wannamaker
"I have told you the last time."
Parker rode on. Wannamaker fearing
something might occur to incline
the chances against him, approached
the doomed man within half a horses'
length and fired. Parker rode erect
for a moment; but his hold soon relaxed?he
fell backwards on his horse
I ?rolled heavily off, and expired. J.
Says He Can Restore Life.
Syracuse, N. Y., Nov. 13.?Dr. P.
J. Gibbons, of this city, this afternoon
forwarded to Governor Flower an application
for permission to try his theory
of the resuscitation of human beings
"killed" by electricity, on Charles
F. Wilson, who is to be electrocuted
at Auburn State prison for the murder
of Detective Harvey, of this city.
Dr. Gibbons said to me: "I have
been present at the autopsies of electrocuted
murderers, and have carefully
studied the reports of autopsies
of this character made by other scienitfic
men. We find no pathological
change, 110 change in the blood, and
no destruction of any vital organs or!
tissues which we would have in death, I
and could determine cause of death
in the autopsy. I have always con-1
tended that execution by electricity
is painless, and that it renders the
subject instantly unconscious, but
very often does not produce death. 11
assert that the condition produced is
suspended animation, excepting when
the electrocuted one be physically
weak, having heart disease, aneurism,
or some other similar affection, in
which case the diseased parts are frequently
ruptured by the shock.
"My intention is to discover some
means of saving1 the lives of those ac- J
cidentally shocked. I will have everything
in readiness and will operate
upon the bodv as soon as the surgeon
pronounces death. We will apply
Eromptly a current of electricity to
eep up body heat and body electricity.
My methods and apparatus arc
simple. The latter consists of two
bellows so arranged that they enter
the one tube. The distal end of the tube
we insert through the neck, as in
tracheotomy. When we depress the
handles one bellows inflates the lungs,
and when we elevate the handles the
other exhausts the lungs, and on the
next depression drives the air into
space. This operation is continued. I
would not bo discouraged till at least
three hours had passed."
FOREST FIRES.
A Colorado jTown Destroyed?Large Loss
of Lives and Property.
Boulder, Col., Nov. 15.?A forest
fire which was started from a camp
fire last evening has been raging all
night and today North of the mining
camp of Gold Hill, a town of five hundred
inhabitants, fifteen miles from
here. The timber is as dry as powder
and a fierce wind carried it over five
miles of dense timber in a short time.
Fifty people came into Boulder this
afternoon in wagons from Gold Hill,
mostly women and children. They
report that the business men and miners
were carrying what goods and
property they could into the mining
tunnels and had abandoned hope of
saving their stores and dwellings.
A courier arrived at Boulder at 1:30
p. m., reporting that all the buildings
at Camu Talcott, a short distance
from Gold Hill, were burned except
the stamp mill and that the fire had
reached the Western portion of Gold
Hill, burning the mill of the Prussian
mine. Several ranch houses
were burned this morning, two men
named Eihler and Zaman being badlyburned.
At 3 p. m. the fire was spreading toward
the town of Copper Kock. The
gravity of the case is fully appreciated
here at Boulder and the utmost excitement
prevails. It is believed many
small camps will be burned. The residents
of Gold Hill who have not come
to Boulder have assembled on the top
of Horsefel Mountain and are watching
the progress of the flames as they;
consume tneir former homes. The
wind is blowing furiously and drives
the fire before it in large sheets of
flame.
The property loss will amount to
over $1,500,000. There will necessarily
be great destitution. Among the
business houses at Gold Hill are the
following: Frank Body, general
merchandise and postoffice; Dr. Trovilian,
drug store; Johnson and Hawkins,
general merchandise store;
James Corvell, boots and shoes; Mi's.
J. Murphy, hotel.
seen forty miles away.
Denver. Col.. Nov. 15.?At3o'clock
a fierce wind and dust storm struck
the city from the North, filling the air
so that it was impossible to see across
the street for a long time. Many plate
glass windows and awnings were destroyed.
The temperature fell 20 degrees
in thirty minutes. Before the
storm broke dense clouds of smoke
could be plainly seen rolling up the
mountains around Gold Hill forty
miles distant. At 6 p. m. a wet snow
began falling but it is probably too
late to save Gold Hill from destruction.
loss of life large.
Memphis, Tenn., Nov. 15.?Reports
from the forest districts in this vicinity
show that while the loss of property
is not great, considering the extent
of the territory covered, the loss of
life exceeds apprehensions. Within
fifteen miles or Memphis three lives
have been lost by fire in the past two
(lavs, and there are rumors of a fearful
burning in Arkansas, where five
lives were Tost. The remains of five
human beings were lounci, witn tne
flesh and clothing all burned off, in
St. Francis bottom, all-within a quarter
of a mile of each other. There are
fears that they are the remains of a
party of hunters from Texas that went
into that country last week, but there
is nothing to support this except the
number of the bodies.
Fatalities in this county are peculiarly
distressing. Fanny Woods, an
aged negress, had her dress ignited as
she fled from a burning house,and she
ran, surrounded by flames till she fell
dead. Pitt Roy, a nine-year-old boy,
ran into his father's house, which was
afire, to save some property. The
house collapsed and he was burned to
death before many spectators. The
name of the third victim could not be
ascertained.
the destruction very great.
London, Nov. 15.?As a result of
the violent winds, heavy rains and
overflowing rivers the inhabitants of
some of the river siae vmas ai XLton
and Windsor are obliged to approach
the doors of their houses in boats. Upwards
of a thousand persons in Bath
are rendered homeless by the overflowing
of the Avon. Generally the
rainfall continues, but the gales have
subsided.
London, Nov. 15.?The British ship
Culmere, Captain Read, last reported
at Hamburg, October 1, from Iquicui,
foundered m yesterday's gale eighty
miles off Spurnhead, Yorkshire. Twenty-two
persons were drowned, including
the captain and his wife. Eight
bodies were washed ashore at Worthing
this morning. It is believed that
the Britisli steamer Zande, last reported
at Hamburg, November 1, from
Raffi, also was lost yesterday. Heavy
floods are reported on the island of
^ * -i* i-v f t : ?i
uyprus. i\. cuspatcn irom uiamaui
says twenty-one persons were drowned
and that the number of domestic
animals destroyed is far into thousands.
A Curious Case.
Cincinnati Nov. 14.?A subpoena
for the arrest of Col. Coit, who commanded
the militia at Washington
Court House during the recent riot
over the {attempted lynching of two
men, has been issued. The subpoena
cites that Col. Coit was wanted as a
witness at the trial. His friends have
urged him not to accept service on the
subpoena, as they claim it is merely a
ruse on the part of the authorities of
Washington Court House to get him
there and then place him in jail 011 the
charge of murder. They state that
the feeling against him is so intense at
the latter place that his life would be
in jeopardy. The members of the local
militia are greatly excited over the
affair and some of the hot-headed ones
advise that the militia go to Washington
Court House without uniforms,
but with their muskets loaded and act
iis a body guard. It is stated that Col.
V^Uit Ilcts UUfglrtpiJfU V4UTVA4*vk *..w
Kinley asking what lie (Coit) shall do
in the matter. The Governor is reported
to have advised Col. Coit to go
to Washington Court House in response
to the subpoena and that if he
finds that matters there are of such a
character that his life is in danger,
the Governor will order out the militia
to protect him and preserve order. Up
to a late hour this afternoon Col. Coit
had not decided whether or not he
would go.
Sensible Furmern.
Dallas, Nov. 14.?The planters
here are determined not to plant more
than one-half of this year's acreage of
cotton next season, as at the present
market price the cost of production is
in excess of the selling price from 1 to
2 cents per pound. li,very hale of this
year's Texas cotton will he marketed
within six weeks.
*
THE COTTON CROP.
WHAT MR. ALF. B. SHEPPERSON HAS
TO SAY ABOUT IT.
Tlie Largest Crop Kvcr Ma<le Was Nine
Million Two Hundred Thousand Bales In
1890-91?Half a Million Acres Less Planted
this Year.
Charleston', S. C., Nov. 14.?With
a view to finding out just how much
credit was to be given to the recently
published statement of the present cotton
crop of 10,000,000 bales, and to
put before its readers a trustworthy
and intelligent statement of the cotton
situation at the present time, the
Charleston News and Courier applied
to Mr. Alfred B. Shepperson, of New
York, the well-known cotton statistician,
and author of that invaluable
trade medium of the cotton trade, Cotton
Facts, and received the following
icuijr ;
New York, Nov. 8.?Cotton lias declined
again today, chiefly I understand,
upon a crop estimate just issued
by Mr. Neill of New Orleans,that
the crop will be over ten millions of
bales. The crop is undoubtedly a
large one, but I confess that I am unable
to see any basis for such a large
estimate. The largest crop ever grown
in this country was that which was
planted in 1890. The yield of that
crop was probably 9,200,000. The
commercial crop of that season was
8,674,000 bales and the difference between
this and the quantity which I
have given as the probable yield was
marketed in the following season.
There is no evidence whatever to
Erove that the acreage of the crop now
eing marketed was any larger than
that of the crop of 1890-91, nor is there
any evidence to my mind at least, that
the weather conditions have been
more favorable this year than in 1890.
I am at a loss, therefore, to understand
to what cause or causes can be reasonably
attributed a yield so much in exr*/\e*ct
nf 4-V* A nYiAn nf 1)500
1/c33 vi lug v/iv^/ vta iuuv.
The acreage in 1890 was about 20,500,000
acres, and I do not think anyone
has claimed or will claim that it
was any more this year. The department
of agriculture has been making
since Feb. 1, a careful investigation
of the cotton acreage and has employed
a special agent for the purpose,
who has travelled throughout the
South, and has investigated the matter,
as I am informed, in the most
thorough manner possible. The Acting
Secretary of Agriculture wrote
me on October 25, that the result of
the investigation was that the acreage
in 1893 was 19,525,000 acres. There
has been but a small increase in acreage
this year over 1893. the department
of agriculture calling the increase
less than 1 percent., so that the.
acreage of the crop now coming in is,
according to the department of agriculture's
estimate, about 19,650,000
acres.
Let us assume that the department
-- ?jif famnxi'liof qt1/1
lias uiiuer-cstimetku h wiuuiuiu?wuu
that the acreage is as much as 20,000,000
acres. This, as you will see, is
500,000 acres less than 1890, and yet
we are asked to believe that upon an
acreage of 500,000 acres less than in
1890 a crop of a million bales more
has been grown. I am not prepared
to accept such a conclusion, because
it is utterly repugnant to reason and
common sense.
At these low prices, or anything like
them, the tendency will be to largely
increased consumption of cotton everywhere,
and there will evidently be
upon the part of spinners a general
disposition to buy cotton greatly in
excess of their wants for the season,
because at these prices they can well
afford to carry in the mill warehouse
a large supply of cotton in the next
season.
There can be no question that unless
the price advances very greatly by the
time for planting the next crop that
the acreage devoted to cotton will be
reduced to an extent that it never has
been curtailed before, from one year
to another. So great a reduction in
acreage would cause beyond doubt an
advance as great and as rapid as the
decline has been. When preparations
were made for planting this crop middling
cotton was worth 8 cents in New
York, and should there be jj. great reduction
of acreage this spring it will
be very likely to go to 8 cents again
soon after tne next crop is planted,
and the world recognizes the fact bevond
dispute that the acreage has
been, and consequently that the supply
of cotton will be greatly reduced.
fillip fWnlv with the South
i XT-J
em people because of the great depression
which has overtaken their staple
crop, and from the manner in which
cotton is being rushed to market it
looks to me as if when the advance in
cotton comes it will not benefit the
planters because they will have sold
all of their crop, and that the spinners
and speculators alone will reap the
benefit of the tardy advance.
Yours verv truly,
Alfred B. Shepperson.
A Just Finding.
Columbus, 0., Nov 15.?Coroner Edwards
of Fayette County today reported
his findings in the inquests
upon the bodies of the persons who
were killed by the volley of the militia
defending the court liouse, where
the rapist Dolby was confined. The
Coroner holds the shooting to have
been unjustifiable and holds Sheriff
Cook and Colonel Coit, who were in
command of the militia, responsible
for the fatal results. The finding was
not unexpected. The Coroner is an
uncle of one of the victims. So far as
can be learned to-night no warrants
had been issued for the arrest of the
men but Welsh, the father of one of
the victims, will swear out the warrants
to-morrow. Colonel Coit'sfriends
protest against his being taken to
Washington Court House without a
a military escort for fear of assassination.
Governor McKinlev refuses to
discuss the matter, but ir it is made
apparent that the lives of the officers
will be endangered he will send a suf
ficient force for their protection. The
feeling against community is growing
very strong in other parts of the State.
TltOUHAllllti Slalu.
Londo.v, Nov. 13.?Three thousand
Armenians, including women and
childlen, are reported to have been
massacred accordin<* to a Constantinople
dispatch to the Daily News, in the
Sassoun region, near Moosh, Turkish
Armenia, during a recent attack by
the Kurps. Twenty-five villageswere
destroyed. The Turkish officials declare
that the report is not true; and
that it grew out of the supppression of
a small uprising in the region in question.
The British ambassador is mak1
ing inquiries into tho matter.

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