TIEII7PIKNS SNTINE
PUBL1SHERDWEEKLY. OFFICIAL PAPER OF .PICK-jNS COUNTY $UBSCRIPT1IONPIEO~DLA E E~'
Established 1871-Volume 46 TIC KENS J.. IG UST 17, 1916 -"'
Great Loss of Pro
By Breaking i
Loss in Upper -Keowee Valley
Especially Heavy---People
in Need of Help
Those people living in the northwest
ern part of Pickens county near Keowee
river suffered heavily from the damage
done by .the water which came from
Lake Toxaway when the Toxaway dam
broke. The greatest damage, accord
ing to reports, did not extend far be
low Chapman's bridge. The water got'
above Nimmons 'bridge, but' the bridge
still stands. John Chapman estimates
that the water was'thirty-five feetdeept
straight, which is about nine feet high
er than ever lenown before.
News that the, Toxaway dam had
broken reached Pickens about 8 o'clock
Sunday night. Immediately 'two auto
mobiles carryVing Messrs. Larry Thorn
ley, Walt Langston Furman Holder and
a Sentinel reporter left town bound for
Whitewater 4nn, which' was in the path
of the water and where were the fem
ilies of Messrs. Thornley and Langston
besides several other Pickens people. It
was about iten o'clock when the first
-* antomobile got as far as John Chap
man's about twenty miles above P-idk
ens and they could get no farther Ifor
the water 'was then at its highest. IHe
owee river looked like an ocean in rthe
moonlight. As it was impossible to go
any farther Messrs. Thornley .and
Langston returned home and the others
waited until daylight to see what dam
age was done.
Chapman's steel bridge was washed
four or five hundred feet down the riv
er. Gus Robinson's house was washed
away and -his wife barely succeeded in
escaping in scanty clothing. They lost
all they had. R. B. Bryant and family
barely escaped with their lives and ev
erything in the first story of theirihouse
is ruined. John Chapman, who notified
this family of the rising water, -was
caught before he' could get baek :oie
and was forced to swip for his life.
The water moved bob' kfseley's 'barn
and left it in the middle of the road.
Several other small buildings were.mov
ed and damaged. The house of..Mrs.
Alice Mathis several ;miles above was
overflowed and everything in it ruined.
Some of the people along 'the river are
without anything to eat, the water
ruining their groceries. The Sentinel
reporter succeeded in walking through
mud up the river side to Elias Hamil
ton's, near where Toxaway and White
water come together making Keowee:
river and beiig nearly famished when
we got there the people at this house
divided their last meal with us.
Whitewater Inn, Pickens county's
famous mountain hotel, suffered heavily.
The water backed up into the building
six feet, practically ruining everything
on the first floor., and leaving mud sev
eral inches deep. There were a good
many guests there at the time. Among
the guests from Pickens who were there
-were Mr. and Mrs. G. R. Hendricks,
Mrs. L. C. Thornsley and daughter,
Mrs. J. W. Langston and children,
Miss Frances Bruce, Blertran Porter
and Edwin Earle. They have all re
tunned home, coming by way of Seneca.
Mr. Hendricks' automobile at the hotel
.was -covered with wvater.
Tom Cantrell, who lives on Toxaway
about two miles above Whitewater Inn,
* lost his house, cattle, hogs, chickens
and everything he had. He barely suc
ceeded in saving his wife and children.
In the excitement his wife fainted and
it was necessary for Mr. Cantrell to
carry her and~ the children in relays to
the top of the mountain. A t one time
Mrs. Cantrell was nearly covered by
water when her husband got back to
her.
Just above and below Chapman's
bridge was the hardest hit section so
far heard from. All crops along the
river are absolutely ruined and the peo
pie know not which, way to tnrn. The
only way to travel along the river side
is thru mud 'from ankle to more than
knee deep. The bdor of the mud is
sickening. Thousands of cat fish and
white suckers of al1 sizes were washed
out of the river and left In holes in the
mud. Many people were picking up the
fish Monday morning, some having fine
strings while others " had -sacks full,
Withiout seeing It would bey dfiicult for
one to realize the great number of fish
washei out. In some places 'a person
could hardly walk without stepping up
orn them.
Allsalopg the river sides may be seen
great nlsm/bers of trees which have
been Wa~hed away. Some have been
uptoated whlae others have beh t*isti
perty Caused
Af Toxaway Dam
ed from their stumps by the force of
the onrushing waters and the ends re
semble a large tooth brush or snuff
stick. At some places the pile of debris
is as large as a house. Packs of shingles
and lumber nmay be seen along the way.
It is feared that still greater damage
has been done the people living in the
big Cane Break section, but no word
can be gotten from there.
It is impossible to.estate the dam
age done, but it is enormous consider
ing the circumstances of the people.
Many have lost their year's work while
others have lost everything they had.
The people need aid and some steps
should be taken, by the county authori
te render immediate and substantial.re
lief. *
The people in this section were. not
expecting the high water. In speaking
of hearing the water coming Mayor
Hendricks of Pickens, who was at
Whitewater Inn at the time, tells an
interesting story.
Bertran Porter also tells an interest
ing story of the rapidly rising waters
and the escape from the hotel.
Mrs. John Chapman says the noise
was fearful and the report of trees be
ing broken sounded like rifle shots.
Wade Chastain says he was athis home
more than thirty miles from Toxaway.
and he heard the dam break. He and
W. T. Edens Monday were making their
way up the river and expected to walk
to where the lake was.
So far as is now known no lives were
lost in the flood of water turned loose
when Toxaway dam broke.
A Correction
Editor Pickens Sentinel: Dear
Sir: In your paper of date Au
gust 10 appears an advertise
ment "Solicitor's Race". Near
the bottom of the reading mat
ter y ou have this "Lanford.
Smoak and Harris are outspok
en, the fifrt two anti-Blease and
te latter Blease." This copy
went to you reading "'Lanford,
Herkis tind Snoak are outsiok
en, the first two anti-B3lease and
the latter Blease." Mr. Harris Is
anti-Blease and Mr. Smoak is
Blease and they have both so
stated on every stump in Green
ville county.
This advertisement was writ
ten in behalf of my candidacy
and I do not wish to have it ap
pear. although the error is cleah
ly typographical, that I would
mis-state one single fact.
Please be so kind as to publish
this that the matter may he vor
rected. Very truly yours,
J. D. LANn.
The speaking cam paigi oft Ihe
Pickens county candidates be
gan at Central last 'Thursday.
All the scheduled meetings havei
been held and several others be -
sides, w here the commnnities
invited the candidates: Th'le
campaign is. getting very wvarm.
Trhe candidates for solicitor are
also speaking with the counts
candidates and all make fierv
speeches and with the exception
of Lanford and Daniel indulge
in many personalities.
Nearly 28,0001 Voters
According to figures the total vote in
this Congressional Cistrict will be nearly
28,000. The exact figures are:
Anderson county ._..-.9,000
Pickens county....... ... . .4,211
Oconee county--------...4,112
A bbeville county......- ----..2,371
Newberry county............3,478
Greenwood county.,............-3,238
McCormick county.............1,247
Card' From Hon. Wyatt Aiken
To the Voters of the Third District:
P~or several weeks I have been want
ing to leave Washington and go home
to take part in the campaign, but so
far It has been impossible for me to get
away. This session of Congress is
nearing its close. The House has about
completed its program, but the Senate
Is far behind with its work. A number
of important bills are in conference
between the two Houses, andl other im
portant bills are yet to pass the Senate.
They will be amended and come to con
ference. The'Democrats have a ma.
jority of only some 23 in the House,
and If very many of them go away some
of the important bills may be emaseu.
lated or defeated entirely. The leader,
of Congress are constantly urging the
Democratic members to. remain here
until the work is finished. Only a
couple of days ago I received a notp
from Senator Tillman urging me to
stay here until his Naval appropriatior
bill has passed through conference.
The revenue bill, the shipping bill, the
child labor bill and others of importance
are yet to be passed, so that really
much of the most important work of
session remains to be done.
I could arrange to be paired, of
.course; but much of the work of the
conferences between the two houses or
important legislation is being done now.
Members of the conference committees
have their friends helping them to fee:
out the sentiment of the two houses, sc
that the bills 'may be so shaped thai
they will be acceptable when the con.
ference reports are finally presented.
All the Democratic members,' andk es.
pecially the older ones, those who have
been here a long time and know what
to do, and when and how to do it, have
a share in this work, and it is important,
though not so spectacular as some other
kinds of work.
I am as anxious %s anybody could be
to get home and into the campaign, bul
my colleagues say my presence is need.
ed here, and I think they are right. I
feel that 1 should remain here and try
to -do the work that, the people have en
trusted to me, rather than neglect the
work .and go home to look after my owr
political fortunes. Aside from my sense
of duty, my feeling of gratitude ani
-obligation to the people, who have re
peatedly honored me with the positio
I now hold impels me to this course
The:people of the Third District knov
full well that I have never shirked o:
dodged a fight. Just as soon as I car
feel that I can safely leave here, I wil
take the first train for home. It ma3
be that I can get away within a week
or it may be that I will have to remai1
here until the end of the session o
Congress, and that may be the middl
or last of Septerner. But it is m
plain duty to stay here now, und I an
going to stay.
Aside from my legislative duties,
SHon. CoL
...
Pi
Alli~ Cadiaesf
Weila delve a'clo
Music by the 1
has seemed that the calls for -individual 1
service for individuals in the District, i
in matters pertaining to the govern- 1
ment, have been greater and more 1
numerous this summer than ever befo-re.
For instance, the mobilization of the
national guard has entailed a great deal
of extra work on the part of every I
member of Congress. Only a few day.s
ago I was able to secure the release of
a member of the guard. After he had
enlisted and gone into camp at Columbia,
his father died very suddenly, leaving
a widow and several small children.
The young man is now needed at home
to support the family, but if I had not 1
been here on the ground I would not
have been able to secure his release so
quickly, and probably not at all. The
comfort that I have been able to give
this bereaved family will always be
worth more to me than any possible
number of votes that I may lose by not
being at home in the campaign.
I have no unkind word to say as to a
single one of my bpponents. They have
a right to run for Congress, of course;
though if they are doing anything at all
'in their professions-three are lawyers
and one is a banker- they would be
better off at home than here in Wash
ington with a Congressman's salary
after paying the heavy expenses of a
member of Congress. Any man who is
doing anything at all as a lawyer or a
banker is better off than a Congress
man, and I take it for granted that the
people of the Third District do not want
a man who has been a failure in his
chosen profession to represent them in
Congress.
I understand that some of my oppo
nents have been criticising my record
in Congress. I have not heard any of
i their speeches, and none of them have
I appeared in print, so I do not inow just
I what they have been saying. If they
have stated my record correctly I have
i no complaint to make. My record here
r is made, and I am willing to be judged
by it. Even if I were not willing to
be so judged, I could not help myself,
i for the record is public and the facts
can be ascertained by anyone who
t wants to know the facts. I ai sure
L. Blease
A
. I
IEr
'hat not one of my opponents would
ntentionally misrepresent me, but it
may be that they have been doing this
inintentionally through misinformation.
It has been my good fortune to Incur
the enmity of one or two men, whose
1ames I need not call here. These men
lave been fighting me In season and
)ut of season, as the people of the Third
District well know. I know that in a
previous campaign they wrote speeches
ind furnished campaign material for
iome of my opponents, and I have reas
n to believe that they have been doing
the same thing this year. And it may
)e that my opponents have been using
statements furnished them by these un
;crupulous enemies of mine, without
taking the trouble to verify them, and
that in this way they have been mis
representing me. If any man in the
l'hird District is in doubt as to my
record, my faithfulness, or my stand
ing as a member of Congress, I suggest
that he write to Speaker Champ Clark,
Hon. Claude Kitchen, of North Caro
lina, chairman of the Committee on
Ways and Means. Hon. J. J. Fitzgerald,
if New York, chairman of the Commit
tee on Appropriations; Hon. Carter
Glass, of Virginia, chairman of the
Committee on Banking and Currency;
Hon. W. C. Adamson, of Georgia,
chairman of the Committee on Inter
state and Foreign Commerce; Hon.
James Hay, of Virginia, chairman of
the Committee on Military Affairs;
Hon. L. F. Padgett, Tennessee, chair
man of the Committee on Naval Affairs
-any of these chairmen or any mem
bers of these great committees-men
who have served with me for a long
time and know me. I have not asked
any member of Congress to write a let
ter in my behalf, of course, and would
not do so, but I will be willing to be
judged by what they may say about
me.
I would like to be at home in the
campaign, so I might tell the people of
the beneficial legislation that has been
enacted by the Democratic Congress.
I would like to tell of the the new tarif1
law, the new currency law, the new
anti-trust law, the income tax law, the
act providing for Federal aid for goo(
roads, the rural credits law, the Nev
South Carolina Federal District, an
other laws that have been enacted fo
the benefit of the people. I voted fo:
all these good laws which have beei
placed on the statute books. Some o:
my opponents do not seem to know tha'
these laws have been enacted, judging
by the way they are advocating them.
There are other laws that are needed
and they will be placed on the statute
books if the Democrats are returned tu
power in November as now seems likely.
The outlook for Democratic success this
fall is bright, and this makes it all the
more imperative for Democratic mem
bers of Congress to reiain here now
and close up the worki of this session in
good shape. And with the )emocrats
continued in charge of the government,
it is a reasonable, common-sense propo
sition that members of Congress who
have been tried and found true, men
who know the needs of the peol)le and
aire experiened~ in legislation and know
how to acomp~lish results, may be
rusted to continue their good wvork.
Ana old farmer told me once that he
did no.t think it was a goodl idea to trade
off a safe horse (diring a crop season.
I respectful ly coimmend this thought to
the voters of the Third District.
In conclusion, I must thank the peo
psle for the confidence they have reposed
in me in the past. If they think me
worthy to continue to represent them,
I shall be under increatsed inidebtedniess
to them, andi will try to serve them
with the same faithfulness and single
nuess of puirpose with wvhich I have tried
to ser~ve them in the past I can prom
ise no more than this, andl I doubt if my
opponenlts can promise any mUore..
And let mec repeat, that if I can get
inito the camp)aign before it closes I
shall certainly do so. I want to be
there now, but my duty is to stay here
for the present, andl I shall stay here
until the way is Open for me to go home.
It Is for the people to say wvhether I am
dloing the right thing or not.
Itespectfully,
W YA'TT A IK EN.
W ashing ton, August 8, 1916.
(Advertisement)
Two Good Planks
Over in the Third Congressional Dis.
trict, Henry Tillman is a candidate foi
lRepresentative Aiken's seat. He ii
standing on a sound platform which
contains some excellent timber. Al
this is by way of parentesis, for Th<
News is taking no part in the five cor
nered race between Aiken, Dagnall
Dominick, Horton and Tiliman, the pur
pose of this article being merely to di
rect attention to two specific plank
which every candidate for Congres
who believes in real ponular govern
ment ought to incorporats i0 his Mip
of purposes to be. fulfilled if hAgets a
chance to stand'at Armageddon and
battle for the people.
"The Pork Barrel is the carse of Con&
gress. It is.the system whereby Cdn.
gressmen swap their votes and 6ften
times stultify their consciences in order
that things may be .obtained for their
district and they may thereby inake a
showing at home. The people pay the
freight. While I would strive earnest
ly to bring the Third District every
thing that it is honestly entitled to, I
would not maice it a matter of barter
or trade. The Southern Congressman
who does is a fool. We have always
paid our part of the taxes but, we will
never get our part of the swag. And I
would not relinquish one single principle
to get a public building in every village
in district. If you want a 'pork barrel'
Congressman, vote for some one else.
Tillman is not the man you are looking
for.
That's pretty bold talk, but it's true.
The present pork bat-rel grab by Sou
thern Congressmen is well-nigh a na
tional scandal. A great many of them
are acting like hogs. Federal approp
riations for local buildings and water
ways are proper when they are neces
sary, but this thing of building a $100,
000 post office in a town of 2,000 is an
outrageous waste of the people's money.
The Congressman who indulges in this
sort of steal is, as Candidate Tillman
says, a fool-and we go him one better
and say that such a Congressman is an
unfit public servant. Things have come
to such a pass in this country that we
are very apt to judge a Congressman
by the quantity of loot and swag and
plunder he can land for his district. We
do not inquire whether he is a man of
statesmanlike principles, we merely ask,
"Can he bring the bacon home?" We
do not ask whether he ought, as a mat
ter of right, to bring ithome. Calhoun
and MeDuffie didn't care a rap about
postoffices and other Federal buildings.
They were not elected on the basis of
material benefit for the State they ob
tained from Congress, for they got
precious little, anel the people were sat
isfied. The average Congressman re
minds us of the woman who takes an
empty basket - to a picnic and tries to
see how much of the good things she
can jam into it to carry back home. We
should measure a Congressman by his
legislative record as to principles and
not by his capacity for gormandizing in
the pork barrel.
The Greenwood aspirant, in the sec
ond place, declares that the government
spends $10 per capita each year, that
we howl about State taxes and county
taxes, but never pause to consider that
our national taxes stamp us as the most
extravagant government on earth;"
that "we have many useless offices and
wasteful officeholders." He avows that
if elected, "I shall tight to stamp them
out land bring this government back to
a business basis. One billion dollars per
annum is our record. I want one bil
lion dollars worth of service or I want
less than a billion spent. I pledge my
self to strict economy and will fight
that which is wasteful and extrava
guant.'
I f Sirz. T1illman c ould do that, he would
have to tackle the Augean stables, b~it
even if he tried and failed, he would
deserve better of his country than a
thousand M. C. 's distributing seed,
mnisusing the free postage privilege, and
doing nothing more energetic than draw
ing their lpay. TJh~e Congressman who
sets his face against extravagance by
the Federal government is up against a
problem, but the support of the p~eople
is his. If Mr. TIillman should go to
Wanshinigton, there will be plenty of op
portunity for the redemption of his
campaign pledges. The pension steal
and the public building graft are enor
mous. The time has come when some
thing ought to be done to check this
wanton waste of the people's money.
The Nation is hard put to find enough
revenue to meet its expenditures. It is
looking about for new sources, and, if
the present drift toward public bank
ruptcy is not stemmed, the day will
soon be here 4,hen the $10 a week clerk
in homespun will have to pay his income
tax just as the millionaire in purple
pays his.
The News unhesitatingly and gladly
commends these two planks in Mr. T'Ill
man's platform and voices the hope
that, if he shall be chosen, lie will ham
mer on them day in and dlay out. If he
does, ho will have little competition in
the matter and his spear will know few
brothers. At any r-ate it is encourag
ing to perceive that a candidate for
congress in South Carolina stands on
such unusual, but excellent planks.
Greenville Daily News.
(Advertisement)
We wvant you to rocad this pa
per over and see if you think
' you can afford to do without it
for two cents a week.
rJ