Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-15
Scraps and facts.

heavy artillery. A torrent Of burning
lava, estimated as being 1000 feet
wide and four feet deep, is pouring
down the slope. Everything in its way
has been carried before Ii. Groves OF
trees have been uprooted and set on
fire, and the lava stream is sweeping
through the fields, sending out for
miles around hot resinous waves OF
smoke. The peasants have left their
homes, carrying with them the aged,
the sick and the children and what
ever meager belongings they were able
to get together. Whole regions COW
cred with hardened lava from past
eruptions have been torn open by the
frequent earth shocks. Many Of these
have been Of great violence and the
peasants fear repetition Of the Mes
sina disaster.
The big cotton growers convention
in session at Montgomery, Ala, declar-
ed last Wednesday that cotton Is worth
Is cents a pound and that the staple
should not be sold at a less figure. Es-
Inmates were called for from the differ
ent cotton growing states and the ag-
gregate of these estimates, itemized by
states disclosed the fact that this years
crop can hardly exceed IL, SOC, 900 bales.
The governments estimating bureaus
were discussed and denounced as mere
stock jobbing concerns that were ut
terly unreliable, and that their princl-
pal use and aim was to depreSs prices.
President c. 5. Barrett Of the Farmers
Union, announced to the convention
that he had a bona fide proposal from
French, English and German capital
lists offering to lend the farmers $75,-
OOO, 900 at 6 per cent for the purpose Of
holding cotton of the market, and stat
ed that with the 100000 previously
offered by eastern bankers, 1t would
be practicable to control the situation.
A detailed plan under which the money
may be loaned will be arranged by a
committee consisting OF representatives
of the syndicate and the Farmers Un-
ion. A resolution was offered calling
upon the legislatures Of the cotton
growing states to provide systems OF
bonded warehouses in which cotton
may be stored. The resolution was
discussed at length and laid over for a
time, because Of its great importance.
The mystery surrounding the death
of Myrtle Hawkins, the young Hender-
sonville girl, whose body was found In
the waters Of Lake Osceola, two miles
from town, has not yet been cleared
up; but some very important addition
al facts have developed. The woman
did not die in the woods; but In lone
ly house not far from the lake, and she
died as the result Of an operation that
was intended to hide another crime.
It appears also that the coroner and
the physician who performed the post
mortem examination did not deal
squarely with the public or with the
law. DR.. w. R. Kirk Is the coroner, and
II Is stated that at the request or the
girls father he secured the assistance
Of DR.. A. B. Draft, a personal friend OF
the family instead of the assistance OF
]. Stevens Brown, the health officer Of
the county. The two doctors excluded
the public and did not even tell the
Jury Of what they learned. The family
is evidently not telling what 1t knows,
and the public is doing lot Of guess
ing, the common conclusion Of which Is
that a young physician Of Henderson
Vile attempted the disastrous opera
ton in the interest Of Hendersonville
young man. But all this Is little better
than rumor. The understanding is that
the coroner has summoned a new jury
oughness, and with a determination to
for today, and that the investigation is
being pushed with the utmost thor
spare no one who has had guilty con-
nection with the horrible tragedy. Hal
Cooper, the young business man OF
Johnson City, to whom the girl was en-
gagged is eXonerated from all POSSIBLE
ity of blame, as he has not been In
Hendersonville since last June.
With the arrival of the new Amer
lean dreadnought, Utah, to join her Sis
ter ship, says New York dispatch, the
dreadnought Florida, now nearing COM
-pletion at the Brooklyn navy yard, the
scales are again set in motion regis
tering the relative positions Of Amer
lean sea-fighters as compared with the
navies of other great powers. While
naval experts concede that Great Bri-
tain has the largest aggregate OF
fighting ships with Germany, and the
United States in a close race for sec
ond place, yet it is equally conceded
by these experts that the two new
American dreadnoughts now here out
rank in size and strength anything
afloat in the British and German ma
vies at the present time. The British
naval monsters Lion and Orion will
exceed in tonnage and strength the
American ships but neither Of these
leviathans Is as yet in service. Ger
many also has a number Of monster
dreadnoughts but they are in course OF
construction and the largest German
ship afloat is still less in tonnage and
efficiency than the Utah and Florida
now here for the first time. The Amer
lean ships have displacement of 22,-
900 tons as against the original dread
nought Of $4,000 tons. They also take
the lead of the Delaware and North
Dakota, 10000 tons each, which have
heretofore held the lead Of big gun
ships in the American navy. The two
new American dreadnoughts besides
leading the ships of all the great pow
ers in point Of size also bring Germany
and the United States nearer together
for second place. Among naval eX-
perts the original dreadnought has be-
come the accepted unit Of fighting ef-
ficiency. Counting the dreadnought as
a unit of 100. the American battleship
Delaware and her sister ship North
Dakota have a ratio of efficiency Of 10
each while the Florida and Utah have
a ratio of 125 each. These ratios for
American dreadnought ships aggregate
go as against an aggregate OF about
700 for Germany. However, on ships
below the dreadnought limit, naval ex-
perts claim that the tables are turned
towards the United States as second
in rank of naval powers. Coincident
with the arrival of these two leaders,
the keel was laid recently for the new
super r-dreadnought New York, $1,000
tons, which outranks in tonnage any
thing thus far built or under way in
England and Germany. The largest
British ships under construction are
those of the King George class, $4,000
tons, and the largest Of the new Ger
man ships building are $4,000 tons.
The British designers are planning the
Queen Mary Of $4,000 tons, but she is
not yet actually under way. So that
the New York represents the largest
warship now building and the Utah
and Florida the largest now in the SER
vice of the great powers.
When astronomers announced sew
eral weeks ago the discovery of a
comet known as &C 1911" later called
Brooks after it's discoverer, the Caroth-
ers observatory in Kenilworth was one
of the first in the country to pick 1t
up" Since then it has been under close
observation and nightly it has been
charted on it's great swing toward
the sun. Since September 5, the comet
has been growing tail, and now tail
and comet body are much larger than
our earth. 1t can plainly be seen with
the naked eye or opera glasses and fol-
lowing is a description and its location
issued by the Texas observatory:
Brooks comet 1911 c" discovered on