Established 1841.
The Press and Banner
ABBEVILLE, S. C.
Wm. P. GREENE, Editor.
jr ? i ?
Published Every Wednesday by
The Press and Banner Co.
Telephone No. 10.
Entered as second-class mail matter
at post office in Abbeville, S. C.
T"?rm? of Subscription:
One year .. $1.50
Six months .76
Three months .50
Payable invariably in advance.
r
Wednesday, Nov. 1, 1916
TWO WEEKS IN EDGEFIELD.
We had the pleasure of spendinj
the greater part of the last two week!
in the historic and quaint old towi
of Edgefield. And to say that w<
enjoyed the stay among the gooc
people of that town would be bu
mildly stating the facts.
We have heard of Edgefield sinc<
the days when we were a boy. Ther<
were brave me* in that town anc
county in those days, and they weri
not afraid to strike a blow for liber
ty and civilization. Whether right
fully or wrongfully, we would no
say, the men of the county in thos<
days gained the reputation of beinf
men of courage, always ready t<
settle differences, too r^fcdy some
times, at the point where the differ
ences arose, and without awaiting
the slow intervention of courts ant
, judges and juries. These men ha<
just come out of a great war?th<
most terrible war of all times, then?
and they had been taught in that se
vere school that might is right.
Edgefield of Today.
But in these later days the people
of Edgefield are as free from per
sonal encounters as the people oi
any other county in the state we be
lieve. And we do not wonder thai
this is true. If you will go to Edge
field and meet the men of the count;
you will understand why. They hav<
no influx of people from other sec
tions. They are the descendents o:
the men who came to America t<
seek homes and who settled in thai
section, and who have an interest ir
making the hones or tneir iatnen
and their own the best in the land.
We saw a great many men fron
the county duriag our stay there
We met the Mea of the town, anc
the farmers from the distant points
in the county. We saw not a single
man in that tow* under the influence
of liquor. We saw no man seeking
trouble, but oa tke other hand, we
met a kindly, courteous, neighborly
gentlemanly set of men, who were
looking for the better things in life.
The Fertile Land*.
And we had thought too that Edge
field county made up of red hiDf
and sandy plaias and that lands ir
that county west begging, and the
people lived easily and did not allov
business to interfere with pleasure
But we found we were mistaken. The
farmers of the county ride to" the
court bouse lm die Dest mases 01 automobiles,
wear fine clothes, and beai
all the mark* *1 being prosperous
On one of the i?ries in the courl
then in sessiMi were three farmers
stated to me to be worth more than
fifty thousasi A*liars each, several
college men, Mi the others representative
citizen*, fee owners of theii
own homes ami evidently in prosperous
circumstaaNG.
We rode wit Senator Nicholson
from Edgefield to Trenton and passed
through facut lands making a
bale of cottos to the acre. We asked
the Senator if the lands would sell
for a hundred dollars per acre and he
c+o+oil +r? no that fwn hnnHivH Hn].
lars per acre would not buy many
farms in that section. The testimony
of witnesses ia the court satisfied me
that the lands ia the county, in other
parts and in every part, are valuable
and that a man who buys them generally
pays a good price.
Ia the City.
The stores in the town may not
look quite as up-to-date from the outside
as the stores in some of the
newer towns, but they are rapidly
putting on city airs, and many of
them now have modern fronts. Inside
the stores you find all the latest
goods, merchandise, clothing, etc.,
and as General Hemphill was wont
to say, you conclude pretty soon* that
a merchant ia Edgefield is "no
slouch."
But it is in the pretty homes, in
the large lots shaded with oaks of
the original forest, that Edgefield
excels. There are many pretty
places, so many that we would not ]
attempt to name them. {
We were interested in the fine i
home of Editor J. L. Mims, of the <
Advertiser; the old Gary Home, once j
occupied by Gen. Mart Gary and now \
the home of his sister, Mrs. Evans, j
the mother of Hon. John Gary Evans; (
in the stately mansion of Governor
Sheppard; the old home of General ^
Butler, now owned by Senator Nich- ,
olson; the modern colonial residence ,
of George Evans, and many others.
It makes a man mad that he is poor
i ? pftrto rvloooo lilro fliOQP TllA
VY11CU OWtU ^/lavvu **?v vuwwv.
Catholic Church, which stands in
front of the present hotel, is one of
the finest church buildings we have
seen. It is built of solid granite,
. covered with slate. It was built
some seventy-five years ago, by contributions
from people all over this
f country and in Europe. It is one of
3 the buildings of which the people are
! proud and justly so.
, The Court Officer*.
1 Edgefield has a fine Sheriff and a
t good Clerk of Court. The Sheriff
told us that no prisoner had been
? taken from him since he had held the
3 office he now holds, and we predict
1 when one is taken, that the funeral
? of Sheriff Swearingen will be held
. the next day. He is a man of cool
. courage, and the set of his under jaw
I shows that he means business?not
> that he looks fierce and ugly, because
f he is the reverse, but determination
j is written in his face. The Clerk of
. Court is an obliging gentleman in
. every way. He handles the business
r of the court in fine style and looks
I after every loody and everything. He
j likes good things to eat, and we are
j prepared to swear that he has them
at his house. Mr. Anderson, the
stenographer of that circuit, resides
in Edgefield and is one of the best
and most obliging in the State,
j The Lawyers.
Edgefield has a strong array of
I legal talent Governor Sheppard
stands at the head of the legal prot
fession, but he is not more highly
Vila laco nrofonfiAiia
m XbgaiU^U V&*?*AA *0 *VUVJ yAVWUVkVWW
r brother, Hon. Orlando Sheppard, who
5 like my old partner, Hon. W. H. Par.
ker, never felt better than when, sitl
ting up all night long, calculating in,
tferest or writing a decree in equity,
I and like Mr. Parker, Mr. Sheppard
j always has them right?and ready.
5 Then there is Hon. J. Wm. Thurmond,
one of the strongest advocates we
L have heard. He is learned in the
law, but his fort is in marshalling
i facts before the jury, and he does it
j as well as any man we have hea^d.
? George Evans is also a prominent
5 lawyer there. The people of Abbe,
ville are interested in him, and will
, be glad to know that he is prospering
in old Edgefield. Then there is S.
} McGowan Simkins, polite, affable,
and always a dangerous man before
the jury, when he is against you. He
. is named for one of the really big
, men of South Carolina. Col. Ar- ,
t thur Tompkins, Mr. Folk, Mr. Smith, i
> Mr. Wells and Mr. Mayson, with |
j Senator Nicholson, make up the complete
roll of the lawyers. They are
i all men of standing in the communi- .
5 ty, and are meeting with success at
. the great profession of the law. Sen- ,
. ator Nicholson is one of the young
, est men at the bar, but he is taking
; a fine stand there. He knows the
5 law, there is no uncertainty about it
l with him, and he handles his cases
[ well. He argues thoroughly his pro.
positions, and he is sincere in his
manner, and convincing in his con.
elusions.
Besides these lawyers, a number
, of other distinguished members of ;
. the bar were at Edgefield, chief ;
i among them, Hon. Boykin Wright,
[ one of the big lawyers of the great |
1 state of Georgia, his handsome son, ,
s Boykin Wright, Jr., just graduated
. from Harvard, and as Mr. Thurmond
- said, already carrying off honors 1
r which men fifty years of age cannot '
i do. There was R. Beverly Herbert, .
of Columbia. Dolite. eentle as a wo- <
I man, but a lawyer of great' ability, 1
. a good cross-examiner, and one of ]
the best of the corporation lawyers 1
we have heard. He does not soar, ]
; he argues the facts, and he does so
convincingly.
Some Funny Things. ;
There are many things I would 1
' like to say about the stay in Edge- ]
field which I cannot say. But there <
; is one good thing I must say. i
In the trial of one of the cases {
against the Georgia Carolina Power 1
Company, Mrs. John Scott, of Merri- <
wether, was a witness, and was se- f
verely scoring the health conditions 1
on Stevens' Creek since the building I
of the dam. She drew our attention 1
when she said she had a daughter t
living in Abbeville, Mrs. Tom Klugh. i
Mr. Herbert in a most polite way an
suggested to Mrs. Scott that she B<
would probably have some trouble in th
:onvincing the jury that she lived in nc
i sickly community, when she came of
into court looking so young and hap- he
py and care-free, when too she was,
aid eiiough to have grand-children. TJ
As quickly as it can be told she retorted,
"Well, Mr. Herbert, powder
and paint make us women what we'
ain't." Mr. Herbert subsided.
- - - - t se
Shack Shackeitora, 01 some sucn ,
name, took the stand as an expert
fisherman. Mr. Herbert inquired
particularly about his name, and jn
when he had nnally learned it, asked al
if the name was an African name, u]
to which Shack promptly replied, pi
"No, Sir, Hebrew." c(
Seeing the Senator. a
While I was in Edgefield I was indebted
to Senator Nicholson for a
trip to Trenton, where I wanted to ^
go to see my old school-mates, George gl
and Wallace Wise, neither of whom
I had seen for twenty-five years. s\
George is a prominent merchant e<
there, and Wallace is a cotton buyer =
and is the magistrate at that point.
Time had dealt gently with both of
them, or their wives have taken good
care of them. We found Senator
Tillman in his garden setting out
lettuce plants. He had just been up
to Greenwood to see his new granddaughter,
at the home of his son,
Hon. H. C. Tillman, and he had come
home, as a Chester lawyer once
wrote, "feeling his oats" and carrying
a basket full of lettuce plants,
which some industrious parties were
planting out, while the Senator gave
the directions "with variations."
Mrs. Tillman was there, and she
took great pleasure in showing us
about the place. She is really pretty,
if we might call a lady of her age
pretty?nothing else expresses it. She
was as happy as a girl sixteen years
old, and as care-free in her manners.
We understand why the Senator has
succeeded so well in life, he has followed
Mrs. Tillman's advice, we
know, though we would gamble on
the fact that he would not admit it.
At any rate, we vere glad to see him
again, and his old friends in Abbeville
will be glad to know that he is
still Ben Tillman, and that he is a
live wire yet.
"Pink" Wood.
One of the big men in "that section1
of the state is Pink Wood. He was
born and reared at Johnson, in Edgefield
county. His father died when
he was a small'boy, leaving the family
in straightened circumstances.
Pink had no education and there was
little apparently in the future for
him. But he grew to manhood, and
he dreamed dreams, and he awoke
to put them into execution. He paid
off the debts incurred by his father
in a lingering last illness. He enlisted
in the battle of life, and he
fought well. He saw millions of
dollars being lost in the wasted power
of the Savannah sweeping on to the
sea, and he decided as Mr. Wright so
well expressed it "to harness' the !
great river, and he did harness it,
and he is driving it today. He is the
head of the great three million dollar
company which has spanned the
river with a twenty-eight foot dam,
and he is making it a power for progress
in that section. The people all
love him. The very people who are
suing his company, come to court,
hunt him up, shake hands with him,
take dinner with him, and love him
the same as the others. He is a
leading business man in Augusta,
where the people all know him to
respect him. He represents the hopes
and the possibilities of the boys of
America, and his career which is just
beginning, shows what brains and
character and work can accomplish.
The Newspapers.
1? ^ A ViQn fitfA r\-f fVo V\onf rv-f
XJUgVU^lU UOQ V TT V/ VX UX
the county weeklies in the State?
rhe Advertiser, presided over by Mr.
J. L. Mims,' and the Chronicle, the
aid paper of Col. Bacon, now edited
by his nephew, Col. Wigfall Cheatham.
We went through their plants
where we found everything looking
prosperous.
Abbeville to the Front.
As it is in most towns, wherever
pou go, you find Abbeville people at
the head of affairs, in Edgefield,
Major Thomas J. Lyon, is the head
>f the City Schools. He is an Abbe
rille buj'. The principal of the High I
School is James Neel Bonner of Ab- I
jeville county. The engineer and I
:onductor on the train into Edge- I
ield are Abbeville men, Chalmers I
3ughes is the engineer and Capt. fl
tfoore, a brother of Editor G. E. H
Hoore, of Honea Path, is the conduc- H
or. The agent is Mr. Townsend, H
'ormerly of Due West, who married ^
t Abbeville county girl, Miss Annie
>wie, while John G. Edwards is
e biggest man in Edgefield (we are
>t talking of fat men). He is Mayor
the town, a leading physician, and
: runs things.
HE LYNCHING AT ABBEVILLE
Charleston News and Courier)
Crawford, the negro who was
AVi^avillo nn Rnfiir/1#1T
ems to have been the type of negro
ho is most offensive to certain eleents
of the white people. He was
itting rich, for a negro, and he was
solent along with it. It is not prob)le
that the crowd which first set
pon him intended to do more than
mish him well for his abuse of the
>tton seed buyer with whom he had
igaged in a dispute. _
But it is seldom left for those who
ike matters of this sort into their
to hands to say what the end will
2. The ultimate consequences of
ich a procedure are nearly always
ir- reaching. Sometimes they are
vift and terrible. That is what provi
true in this instance. When the
"IS
\?r
I (mm
bjjl
He
ELECTRIC Lie
* ?I
H
Starts, stops, ^ools and lubr
ply turn on lights and use them,
churns, fans, sewing machines,
Write today for illustrated
G. L. FLV
crowd set upon Crawford for a second
time, after his release on bond,
following his initial rescue by the police,
he resisted, striking one of his
assailants with a sledge hammer and
inflicting a very serious wound. This
naturally excited the crowd still further.
Crawford would probably have
been done for on the spot had not '
officers of the law intervened. They
lodged the negro in jail but the blood
lust was up by this time, and in t&e
glare of mid-afternoon Crawford was
taken from his cell, dragged to {he
edge of the town, strung to a tree
and riddled with bullets.
It was a dreadful affair and one
which ought to have been prevented
and which could have been prevented
if the right sort of effort had been
put forth. Those who did the thing
will defend it to themselves, of course (
on the ground that negroes like Crawford
have got to be kept in their ,
places and that his fate will be a
wraning to others of his type. But j
those who talk this way will know ,
better in their hearts. They know
that however offensive Crawford had
made himself this was not the way ,
ar?
5#? * "Ten D<
/ But the shrinks)
fl'L J concern your co
m L handed with s Per
IP" It stands for pr
*Jp weather changes
y when the furnace 1
i those little fall ct
P pensive to cope w
p Warms bedroom, hi
carry it anywhere; ax
? good-looking.
More than 2,000,000
any good department
Use Aladdin St
STANDAI
Waahlnfton, D. C. 1
Norfolk/Va. <
XV PER
\v.>^ _ 1 | \
| y'y
I ! ^RLV __^?trM^tf1#t,,^^k^/,V,V?V/?*/
[fats for Farms,
kA
com
Gas
mo
p curr
one
# furn
per 1
HHHL hom
HHHI day.
icates automatically. No twitches to ti
, Will furniah current for lights and p
, washing machines etc.
[ catalogue.
rNN, Abbe\
to deal with him. They know that
the net result of such an affair as
this can only be to intensify race bit- t
terness. They know that the debas- ;
ing effects of Saturday's work will b*
manifested in and about Abbeville
in one way or another for a long
while to come. No community can
experience such an orgy of uncontrolled
passion and not pay the penalty
for it.
TT71* M A/] nA UVkattiITa
TT uat WOO 11CCUCU Ob AMWOTUiV
above everything else was a little aggressive,
assertive leadership-of the
right sort in the initial stages of this
affair. The people of the South know
well enough the danger there is in
such a situation. Where, as appears
to have been the case at Abbeville,
nothing is done to prevent an angry
crowd from degenerating into a law- y
less mob, the work of the mob must
stand as an indictment, not only of
its members, but also of those who *
might have saved the mob from itself
but who failed to do so.
Mrs. J. B. Holm an is visiting Mrp. .
J. Allen Smith.
' ' ' ^
agrees Down!"
ge of the mercury doesn't
mfort if you've been forefection
Smokeless Oil Heater. % '
eparedness against sadden
, Gives comfort insurance
has an off day. Drives away
tills that a coal fire's too exith.
' ,'2 ''
ithroom, and library., You can , > .
id it's always clean, durable, and
:
. I - v
users are its endorsement. Ask
tore, furniture or hardware man.
enritj Oil?for be?t naulta
ID OIL COMPANY
(NtwJmer) . ?
BALTIMORE
Richmond, Va. Charleston, W-Va.
Ebarlotta, N. C Cbarlpatoa, 8. C.
FACTION
HEATERS^^
HHHHHRHHHBB ' y',^H
Villages, and I
lrbur ban I
Homes I
Matthews light is a I Bj
plete electric Plant, I H
engine and Dyna- I H
for generating the I H
ent?^combined i n fl Eg
compact unit will B B
ish 50 lights 24 hrs. n Hj
day for farm and 9 IH
e at a cost for aver- I
home of 5 cents a I
urn or engine to crank. Sim- I
tower for amall machines, suck
rille, S. C I I