University of South Carolina Libraries
I " u i PUBLISHE WEEKLY. WINNSBORO, S. C., WAEDNESDAY, MARCH i, [905.ESALHD 84 Senator Johns n's Explanation. Editor The -eus and Herald: In your aper of February 22 a scurrilo s editorial article ap peare in which I am called u to explain my connection ith the Brice bill, providing for a new jail and court house and to bond the county $15,000 there for. The art'oie is so offensive in chaiacter and so unwarranted in fact as to call for no reply, and would in the order of things be consigned to the waste basket cf contempt were I not impelled by a sense of duty to my constitu ency to correct the many palpa ble misstatements made. You say "two important meas ures relating to Fairfield county have fallen through in the Gen eral Assembly because of the': action of Senator Johnson, who fortifying himself behind that almost insuperable barrier to, legislation, senatorial courtesy,,y bitterly opposed the representa tives in the house, refusing toll agree to any proposition. on their I part that promised the desired j results." -t Now, to show how utterly un - founded this statement is, I w.ill i only say no propositions what ever were submitted to me by any t member of the house delegation ] to adjust the difference between t the house and the senate bill, 1 save the bill itself. Instead of fortifying myself behind senato rial courtesy, as you charge, just the reverse is true. When the house refused to accept the sen ate amendment, I asked for a c committee of conference. This t committee was duly appointed t and I believe Mr. Brice, the author of the house bill, was a member of it. This committee reported that they were unable t to agree and asked that a free i conference be appointed. Sena tors Melver, Peurifoy and myself c were appointed on the part of the senate and Messrs. Cothran, Niaholson and McCants on the part of . the houoe. We met in the finance committee room of the senate and the two bills were e read in full before the committeer Mr. McCants made his statement in defense of his house bill and I tried to show that the senate 1 bill was preferable. I think Mr. M-Cants will agree that after a hu i discussion of the matter in t free eGference, the concensus of r ,opinios of both the senate and r the house 'gnfeiees were largely a,orable to the senate bill, be mas I presume they saw at at glance that the bill or the substi itake as poposed by myself was lair andjust to the taxpayers oft jFairfield cou.nty. ,So much for your so- called .ee4Lorial courtesy. I will - ay ~fartLer, Mr. Editor, that I ami not in thie habit of dodging behind ,sbter,iuges. It is more often t,bose that impugn the motives of b det2ers who are- guilty of thet 4eriaa~ they imagine in Glhers. Again, you say the house bill passed the house early in the.i aesson and was held up by me j iathe senake., azd did not getj back to the house tIjl the dayi before adjoui-ment when jt was )o late to make any cleange thi t .;geXt h iave benponibtle. Are you ~a yorant as you pretend to be, or ais ist.only your desire to boister7 oip yaar ,4tack at anty cost? Do Sanot kan~ that the free con-I jerence coc,iittee could have 1 ?nade any chagas in th.e bill they ,desired even if it ha ago the i \very day of adjournmnen# Da ,ygn~ not know that that is their~ so1e and only duty to adjust dif- 1 ferenrea and disagreements be itw-een,the two houses to the extent, ,af .earrying inl an entirely new ibill upon the subjept and it would .become law the same as if if had 4a.ken its regular course in kh; tWo houses? I believe your town3 gaan., M, McCants, was among th fis. if pot the first of the ~free confereaee gjomit tee, when dit was appare4t that? the majority w-as at least favorab~e ,t,o as ep age substitute, to express his a; ii-r that the bill should be killed rath.er than accept the senate's aetion. 1. nmade several conces sions. Amog them to report th? bill back and I.l it to remai:a apa the calendar uni j;ert ses dioa. and that I was even wm to incres the rate of interest in order to get together. Neither Of these propb.itLOIn seem to be ,wptable and I i'd mt qu aseed in the motion to diss~ you, r ether statement that I, iBna 02$$0 as t he w iDimuwt price for the gi2 a imposing a r(ondition whidh I k.-v sid .a new iail and court house. This is in keeping with your othe statements quoted above, and:i say frankly there is not a scintilh of truth in it. The Brice bil provided that the jail should bi sold to the highest bidder, n< matter what that bid might be [t is located right in the heart o our town, and if not wortl 35,000, it is simply worth noth ing. I venture the assertion tha Zhe same property in Ridgewa would command 10,000 easily Cnder the provisions of the hous< bill the jail and lot could hav< been sold for $100, if that hap pened to be the highest bid I'ben who of the taxpayers wouk nriot have had the right in tha aent to criticise the delegation ,nd justly so, for such unbusiness ike and unpardonable negligence ,n allowing their property to be sacrificed and some propective purchaser made rich at their ex ense. Bnt N ou say you are not oing to tickle me for this appa -ently smart trick. Well, I ar 2ot going to cry, if you don't or some editors don't help a fel ow much by tickling him these lays. They seem to hurt more ban they help. Next, you claim that in provid ng for the election to be held in 3ugust of next year at the same ime as the general primary that knowingly imposed a condition hat would render the measure unconstitutional. If that is true, vhich I do not admit, I will say was only following your bad xample of two years ago. Then, f you remember correctlr, Mr. l<cDonald and yourself can 'assed the entire county previous o the primary in 1902 in the in erest of the bond issue and were )erfectly willing to sabmit the natter at that primary, and did ubmit the matter at that elec ion. After Mr. McDonald's )rilliant oratory had been heard t every campaign meeting in the ounty and notwithstanding not a rord was uttered against the ssue of the bonds, yet the ma ority of the people voted against t and it was defeated. Why are ou unwillidg to go to the pri nary now? Are you afraid to isk the deaiciou of the whole >eop'e? Why has such a change :ome over you? Is it because a urnt child dreads fire? If it as constitutional then, it is con titutional now. Oh, consistency, hou art a jewel! No, I imposed o conditio:s th.t would have endered the bill uuconstittignw1. )n the other hand, I was honest m,ough to carefully gnuard against hat and provided that the matter bould be submitted to the qual fed yo4/r.R of thec county and not othe vote of spy party as yon :harge. So again the wifl :i4 icions and imaginations of the viked must recoil upon yonr >wn head. Will you be manly mhto admit it? Then you scome with the bold tatement, that my chyping the ime die bonds weie to run tram 60 to 2i0 years was done for'the urpose ~of making them non loaable. Not a word of it. My )nly wish in that respect was, if majority of the q;al.ified voters f the county saw fit to i.p;;e he indebtedness upon themuselvyes, hey should at least have the igh to gradually liquidate it in !9 yer qnd not be burdened to leath aying jp.terest for half a :entuiry. And you think it would tiv >een more manly for me to have pposed the bill openly then to jave resorted to such under guded measures. ad Mfr. Editor. I think it gould a been . l,ittle more nanly, as well as gentiamr4dy' a rou to have examined into 'the cts befor assailing a gentleman wiith such a tirade of misrepre ;entations. 11 gjy not afraid to trust the >eople, /M ga are snme u-io are Lhe people can alwsyg' by e 1ended upon to do the righi ;bing at the proper time. I was perfectly willing to sub nit the building of a new jail and couri ;og.se to the people to pass upon provided gl;yt the matter should ye voted upor u h 99 primary in 1906(, when a fi~u rree expression of all the people ud taxp'yers could be laid Dold anything have been fairer p, but you want to have the stectiou aonit the last of May og the first of June d; thi vear as provided by the Price 'bill, whia every farmer ini the county wouk b.e t~oo busy to go to the polb a1 ha~ a forty year indlebted uess~ of 8-12,UA,0 fastened upoi the tixpav"rs without th h- ro Memoirs, Traditions and History el Rocky Mount and Vicinity. { Wrinfn,or The Ncws an(l Hfrar(1r, by L. f. Ford.) II. REVOLUTIONARY TIMES. The occurrence at Beckham ville and a similar one at Mobley's Meeting House alarmed the com mander at Rocky Mount and he sent out Captain Christian Huck, a profane and unprincipled man, with four hundered cavalry and a body of well mounted Tories "To push the rebels as far as he might deem convenient" He executed his orders with alacrity. He destroyed Colonel Hill's iron works and. burned the residence of Rev. William Simpson, pastor of Fishing Creek Church. He hated the Presbyterians bitterly and made them suffer when he could. Well loaded with plunder, he fell back to Rocky Mount and made preparations for other de predations. Sumter was gathering a little army together and Hack pro ceeded to execute his orders be fore Sumter's approach. He marched to and -encamped upon James Williamson's plantation, now Brattonville, July the 11th, 1870. Shortly after midnight Colonel Neil and the companies of Captains Bratton and McLlure came down from Sumter's camp in Mecklenburg and cautiously approached the sleeping enemy in his encampment which was in a lane At dawn they fell upon Huck's party with fury. The surprise was complete and- the battle ensued fiercely for about an hour when Colonel Huck with Colonel Ferguson of the Tory militia-were killed and the party dispersed. The whole patriot force consisted of 133 men. McClure and his men, who were well mounted, pursued the fugi tives almost to Rocky Mount and 1wjthip four hours the army of Huck was as iampleLely dis solved as if they had never seen each other. Colonel Neil lost only one man. These defeats had encouraged the Whigs and had* the opposite effect upon the Tories. Many 'oinpd Suier. 4pd he soon felt able to attack the force a 4jacky Mount, which was known to be a third larger than his own. The post at Rocky Mount at this time was under the command of Lieut. Col. Turnbull and consisted of gbo t one hgndred and fty Neiy York volunteers and som,e south Carolina militia. They were stationed in three log hous;es upon a slope surrounded by a ditch arnd abattis and eneircled by open wood. 1780, Geneg'al Sumted aoimp anied by Colonels Neil, Ivine, and Lacy, Captain McClure and some of the Gastons, appeared upon an elevation northeasterly fromn the forts. The British comm?~ander'gain l;ep .wnyt.1 by a Tory was pr epared to reeee them, and though the Americans pour ed some severe volleys upon the for ts, but .little effect was produced thereby. They leaped tib gtg a after three as saults drove the garrison intg the houses. They were witholit artillery and could not dislodge them with musketry. They en deavored to burn the houses by g4roy/inn burL'ing fagots upon them add thia jaiJed uaso. 4" old wagon was procured whibli was loaded with brush and straw and these were ignited and the wagon was rolled down against the houses. The British, seeing gleir danger, hoisted a flag. tAppGaing Thgy in ei4o4 l6q Si render. Sumnter ordered the firing to cease. Just at that moment a sho wer of rain fell and extinguish - ed the flames. The enemy defied him Having no other means to dislodge or seriously injure the A mericans lost the g dlant Coi onel Neil early in tbhe action, two white men and a Catawba Iudian lost th'-ir lives and tc'n were wounded. The British loss was ten killed an I ten woun led. m4-)fram.y of $4e fQuggciNn of the old foy.ta nay be been te days The rocks 'behind which soine of Samrtor's men fought were bespattered with British bullets during the fight. During the digging of the old c unal some ,th;;; rodVs were split no and uea prcba 14i the f t he mouth of R~ocky Creek.' Hopp)ing John Mlillr, one o'f Samter's par tisane, would get hwijnd a b~ rock, carefully loatd -about to shoot, and always after taking deliberate aim~ utter thae brief ejaculation as he pulled th trigger: "May the Lard direc the bullet." Some days prior to the battli William Stroud of Beckhamvill section borrowed some ammuni tion of the garrison at Rock Mount to kill some Whigs, 1 told them. He went into th battle with Sumter's men an while the fight was raging h told the British that he was the returning his borrowed ammuni tion. After Sumter withdrew, Oquad of British went up and caught him in a neighbor's- cril shelling corn. He was arrested carried to the main road, an hanged to a tree on the west sid< of the road a few hr:ndred yard: north of the residence of Mrs R. B. Boyleston, Beckhamville and there his body hanged threE weeks in August with a placarc attached to the corpse forbidding his burial under sev>re penalties But at last a few friends, bold enough to risk the vengeance threatened, came at night, dug a hole under the corpse, climbed the tree, cut the rope and let the body fall into the grave. This young man. during the last months of his life killed more soldiers than any other man dur ing the entire war. Captain Dick son, York county, cut him down. Other acconuts state that he was buried by Sumter. Some time previous to the battle of Rocky Mount, Captain Ben Land was drilling some patriots near where the Ebenezer Methodist church now stands, when they were charged upon by some British aragoois. The patriots, having no previous -iotice of their approach, disper sed. Captain Land was over taken and surrounded by the dragoons, who attacked him with their broad sword. He defended himself with his sword to the last and wounded several of the enemy severely before he fell. Soon after his death his widow gaye birth tq E son, whom she called Thomas Sumter. in honor of the American ( !reral. The grave of Captain Land is still pointed out on the waters of Little Rocky Creek. It is said that the person who carried the igforrgatiqq which led to the death of Captain Zand did not die in his bed. While this was happening, part of Captain Land's men were at a neigh boring shop having their horses shod. They were followed, fired Po ap4 ore rtn wia killed, Te dragoons then erossed Big Rocky Creek and went to the residence of Rev. William Mar tin, took him plisoner, and car ried him to Rocky Mount, where was Thomas Walker, who had been tp.ken p rigqner ;;qre tija pr'evioas. LMurig the battle of Rocky Mount these two men were bound to the floor of one of the houses. The British had a wholesome dread of the stormv eloquence of Rev. William Mar ~ther Gaston and her sister. in-law, Jane Qast.on, having been informed c f the expected attack upon Rocky Mount early ,in the morning of the day of the battle, mgounted their horses and llop; ec$ tovyarg,s the scene 99 act{on. When nearly there, they met two or three men coming away with faces paler than became heroes. Esther stopped the fugitives, upbraided thetg witl} egward ice, ~44 entpeated th1rH tc return tq their duty. While they wavered, she advanced and seizing one of their guns exclaimed: "Give us your guns and we will stand in your places." The moat coward ly of me gutst lap 1Men reaged by swoh a taqu t, Covered with confusion and for very shame, these runaway soldiers wheeled about and returned to the fight with these two heroines3. During the action these two ladies were id le greogatqc., ig alied them 1ele diingently in rendering wvhatev. r services were required, assisting to dress the wounds of the soldiers and in carrying water to allay their thirst. &. Catawba Indian~ severely wounded was succored by 13c' agc4 is last to thosa who had soothed his pain and supplied his wants. For the acconuut of the battle of Rocky Mount and the Rev olutionary incidents above men tioned, I am indebted to, that 1art gf 'Tihe Vorgen of the Bew,hioni written by Dani&l s'tinson, Fishing Creek. (To be continued.) CA.s OYt. 'V A,s3gi e AMATTEROFHEALTH pOYA el POWDER Absolutely Pure HAS 10 SUBSTITUTE GRAND JURY PRDSENTI1ENT, A Statement from the County Super visor Showingthe Present Indebt edness of Fairfield County to be a; Least $23,500 After All Taxes are Paid In. To Hon. R. 0. Purdy, Presiding Judge: We, the grand jury of Fairfield county for the year 1905, respect fully report that we have duly considered and passed on all bills of indictment, handed to us by the solicitor at this term of the court. By special committee we have examined the poor house and farm and find the premises in good shape, and the inmates properly oared for and the farm in good condition. There are on hand all necessary agricultural implements, 3 mules, 1 bull, 2 milch cows, 3 yearlings, 3 sows, 16 shoats, 14 pigs, 7 bales of cotton, 200 bushels of cotton seed, 500 bushels of corn, 8,000 bundles of fodder, 1,000 pounds. of shucks, 93 bushelq of peas and 500 p.onds .of cured bacon. We especially recommend that a windmill, tank and pump be erected at once and 250 feet of hose be provided and that all chimneys be put in safe condi_ tion, and that one of the jr;ata, John Howell, he sent to the asy lIu for the insane. We repeat the recommendation made Py several grand juries pre ceding, urging upon the preper authori;ies to better secvre fqro fire risk the recordq c the eounty offices < 4 m4ra especially those iin the oftlce of the cleak of coul t and that a sufficient number of comfortable chairs be put in the court and jury rooms. As matter for public informas tion we report that l\n 4. 13. Burley, eg,qrty sigpurvisar, in igq tlie grand jury that after much work in his office he has arrived at what he believes to be a correct estimate of the present, indebtedness of this county and that he puts the same at @,00 that this amo4nt will be reduced '4449c6 %14 by moneys arising Ifrom the remainder of the taxes of 1904 now in process of collec tion. leaving a net indebtedness of about $23,500. We have appointed fr'om opp number a pornittee ni three, whq~ with the assistance of an expert accountant will ex-imine the record books and accounts of the various county offices, make a report upon the same to be snhs mitted tl the4 cqurt s.t the egse ~uent tejg. We desire to express thanks to your Honor for the informaiion the court has extended to its. Respectfully snaitted Q. W. TWo;ds, Foremsn. Winausboro, 8. C , Feb. 23, 1905. Bearnthe The Kind You Have Always Bonght signatar of N'9tic o Municipal Elec Ktionl-rgo5 INOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN tha prsuntto provisions of Article 2' Chapter 49, Volumie 1, of t) e Code of Laws of the yey 1, n eton for Mayor Agd ;g Adermen for the tow X'\\nnsboro wvill be held In Hall, on the FIRST dONDAY, (the third (lay) OF APRIL. 1905. The polls will he openi from 8 o'clock A. M. till 4 o'clock P. M. The, following gentlemen are p pointed ma~nagers to conduct the sal election: Johni A. ThinnanitkLpnigaareet Gantt and Roteg BA~TcHed. Mtd Mayor. -To Ou SLaxative Bron Sevn inon bozes sold In past 13 u S. ..I BUY OTHER SEEDS WHEN' Buist's Reli for the same money? Our stock c also a lot of WHITE AND RED O[ Call here for your Garden Seei Geo. R. Lau MULES! MI I have just recei lot of fresh Kentuc which I offer cheal or on one and t, time with approv ity. Give me a c buying elsewhere please you. M. W. D JUST ARR A Carload of and Hor: BE SURE T THEM. A. M.Ow At McCarley's Old Stables. There is No Bett ori the rnarket th ==-Crystal Fancy]1 Try It. Call here for all your Groceries. Everything for the farm in th< artdl Gears needed at this season of A. B. C . Just ArriP SEVERAL CARLOADS OF: pine, good heart) and DRESSED L UI Also SASH, DOORS, MOULDI) A full.supply of good H EA RT S] Call on me for your wants in buildi J. o. re a Cold in One Da 10 Ollinmne Tablat.Aa ( l YOU CAN (GET able If these is full, and LION SETS. Is. derdale. ved a nice ky Mules, p for cash wo years' ed secur all before and I will ~ty A.y Mules A ses. ) SEE ens. er Flour Patent.-= : way of Ploughs preparation. athcart. red. ROQUGH (long leaf dBER. NG, L A THS, Etc. -IINGL ES. nig materials. BOAG. c--I. LnTo .s