The news & observer., 1898-03-08
CAUSED BY KEG POWDER
MR. MASSEY ESCAPED WITH HIS
CLOTHES UNDER HIS ARM.
HORRIBLE HOMICIDE IN PERSON COUNTY
A Young Man Says He Was Shot While At
tempt Was Being Made to Rob Him
A Farmer and Durham Driver
Have a Scrap"

Durham. March 7.-(Special.) Sunday
morning about the hour of . o'clock our
people were aroused by an alarm Of fire
1t came near being a very destructive
conhagra.ion tco. The fire was ~ the
store Of Nr. Miller, on Church street,
next do II to the Durham Hotel on ne
south and Hackney Bros. on the north.
Soon after Gre was discovered tha"1 was
a terrific explosion that shocl things NJ
pretty gcncld;'y. The FIRE cOnr ,u:cs
we're soon nn the spot ami were not 0nE
in extinguishing the flames Those VINO
reached the scene first say that the store
was on fire from one end to the other
and after the fire was out the burning
seems to be- about the same all through.
DEVELOPMENTS show that the explosion
was caused by the igniting of keg of
powder This blew out the partition be-
tween ATiler's store and the Durham
Drug Co.'S store doing considerable dam
age to those establishments. Mr. Miller
had $500 insurance and his stock Was
nearly all burned mp. / could not learn
what the estimated loss was The Dur
ham Drug Co. was fully covered by IN
Snrancc. The stock Of Prof Alaslno was
also damaged upon which there was
$3.50 insurance. enough it is thought, !"
cover the loss. The building which fronts
on Main and Church streets is thc prop
ertv of Mr.. Rufus Massey AM vas in
sured for 900. He was seen this
morning but could give no idea IF tue
amount Of the damage. When the lire
occurred Mr.. Massey occupied room
a. (th1r~alA FCnf
and was awakened by the explosion and
had to escape with his clothing under
h:s arm
There was homicide in Person coun-
ty Saturday last. IT occurred on the
road between Red Mountain IN this
county and Mt 1irzah in Person. Sat
urday afternoon young man some IL
or 20 years old was found on the road
in a dying condition. Iie had hled pro-
fusely from a wound in the head.
AIcssrs. 7. w. Walker AMI !. \. Bald
win. of this city. found him They called
in some of the ncighbOrs and gave what
assistance they could Af5er bathing his
head the young man rallied little and
gained consciousness. He said his name
was Thorp. son Of VIM. ThOrp. and
that John Forsyth shot him while at
temnting TO rob him. This WIS all that
could be learned of the unfortunate diff
fculty. DR.. E. NJ. Holt was s~nt for but
I learn that the young man died early
Sunday morning There is such n man
as John Forsyth but M to this time no
arrests have been made. 1t looks like
cold blooded murder.
Capt. L. L. Pampln, one of North
Durham's clcvcrest citizens, is sick with
rheumatism. His genial face has been
missed upon our streets and his many
friends hope soon TO see him ont and
well again.
Col. T. !. Parrish conducted services
at North Durham Mission last night. In
addition to his own manufacturing inter
ests which are large and daily ON the
increase he has control of the entire leaf
department. of the Bull factory. yet he
finds time to do much valuable work
for his Lord and Master. The calls upon
him 20 hold services in the various
churches are very frequent, vet nOtwith-
standing there is Il great load Of business
upon his shoulders he is always ready to
respond.
\ shooting scrape occurred Friday
near Parrsh's warehouse. \ dispute
arose between a farmer named BullOch
from Granville county and cOlored
dray driver The colored man called
Bullock ugly names and i'm turn Bullock
pulled his gun and used it too. Forum
ately the ball struck Il bow to the dray
mans wagon led which so arrested it's
force that when it struck the man that
no serious damage was done. Up TO this
time no arrests have been made but the
matter will be iudicially Investigated.
Mr.. Julian 5. Carr. Jr.. spent Sunday
with his parents in this city.
Col. Julian $. Carr was able to be ont
a ~hOlt while yesterday and is now
rapidly recovering.
Mrs. l.. 4. Carr is reported very much
better and her physician is now hopeful
Of her recovery. This will he good news
to this lady's host Of friends.
Mr.. r. G. Russell, a prominent citizen
OF Lebanon township. was here to-day.
Miss Hattie Leigh. the % year oil
daughter of Mr. John Leigh, of Pattcr-
SON township, died yesterday after an
Illness of three weeks.
The county commissioners are in SEES
sion and have been engaged on the usual
routine business.
Mr. w II. Darlington. who had a Sc
we're hemorrhage from his lungs about
a week ago. is still confined to his room
but is improving and hopes to be out
in few days.
If thprp Is no vatNi. on tho u,oon -