Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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? ?? gg? ? ??????? ???? Mgggg le wis m. okist, proprietor.J %n |itbepenbent Jfamilir ftetospaper: Jfor % llromotion of % political, Social, Hgriraltnral attb Commercial Interests of % Sont|. TERMS?$3.00 A TEAR, IN ADVANCE. VOT, QR. YORKVILLE, S. O., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER SO, 1877. NO. 38. ^ ??? pstotg of jr. Carolina. HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP THE Early Settlement of South Carolina. BT BEV. BOBEBT LATHAM. A TRIP TO CHARLESTON IN THE OLDEN TIME. . Previous to the Revolutionary war, and for a number of years afterward, the people of the back-country did most of their trading in the city of Charleston. To this point they wagoned their tobacco, indigo, and what ever else of agricultural products they bad to dispose of. To Charleston they drove any live stock they might have to sell. From the more northern sections of the State, a trip to Charleston was no little unaertaKing. At consumed about a month. Generally, several neighbors joined in getting up the team, wagon and produce. Seventy-five or eighty years ago, a man who owned a wagon and team was regarded as being rich. It was only a few neighborhoods that were able to afford such a man. Tobacco was generally packed away in large hogsheads. When the time for transporting it to Charleston arrived, the hogshead itself was converted into a wheel. This was done by surrounding the hogshead with something which resembled the felloe of a modern wagon wheel. With large wooden pins, this hoop, felloe, or whatever it may be called, was secured to the hogshead; one of these hoops being attached to each end so high as to raise the hogshead itself off the ground. In bach end of the hogshead, a wooden gudgeon was fastened. To these gudgeons were attached something that might be called sbafts. The whole, when complete, constituted a cart of the most primitive kind. In vehicles of this kind, did the first set tiers of this country transport their produce fi-Am *11 rations of the State to Charleston. A trip to Charleston in those days was attended with as much romance, as is a trip to Europe at the present time. It was an onerous undertaking; still,it was full of excitement To go to Charleston in the manner above described, was the highest ambition to which the boys of the country aspired. A long life-time was too short to tell all that they saw and beard during such a trip. Really, there was crowded into the space of a month? the time during which one of these trips was made?a vast amount of human life in all its different aspects. Rarely did a single individual undertake a trip to Charleston alone. Generally, a small caravan was formed before leaving bome^. On the way, the number was increased, so that often, the road, for a considerable distance, was crammed with primitive carts. Every company made it a point to have a supply of "the good greature." At every watering place the "little brown jug" was brought out, and its contents tasted by the whole crowd. The caravan consisted of -wagons-of all shaDes and descriptions, together with a number of cows and calves and mountain steers. The cows were milked night and morning, just as at home, and the traders lived very much as they did when on their farms. They were in no great hurry. They took ^ the world easy, and rarely deserted a fellow trader in distress. If the wagon of one of the party broke down, the whole company called a halt and went to work to repair the injury. They shared, to the fullest extent, each others' joys and sorrows. Around the camp fire at night, they cracked jokes, discussed questions of grave importance, both in Church and State, or worked pranks on each other. Not unfrequently their fun would end in earnest, and a hearty laugh was often followed by a hard fight. That was, however, in the days before big knives and pocket pistols had been introduced, and a fight only resulted in black eyes and sore ribs. Neither did they allow their anger toburneontinally. A fight, generally, was an end to all strife. A man who would have gone to court in those early days of our republic, with an "assault and battery" case, would have been regarded, by every one in the community, as a consummate coward and a sneaking puppy. We, in this age of advanced civilization and refined customs, may be shocked at the barbarous manner in which the first settlers of our country adjusted their petty grievances, but it may be questioned whether the ends of justice are better secured now than then. A fight cost the community nothing, and a good sound thrashing proved more effective in reforming the disturbers of the public peace, fKan either the countv ia.il or State peniten tiary of the present day do. We will undertake to defend neither the fighting mode of adjusting private difficulties, nor the Trial Justice mode. Both indicate a bad state of morals. In those primitive times, in the wilds of North America, every man constituted himself judge, lawyer and jury, and settled his own difficulties without troubling his neighbors. There may have been more fighting in those days than now; but there is more quarreling and lawiug now than then. On one of those Charleston trips, it was generally understood that some trick was to be worked on every one that was met. Sometimes, in working these tricks, the moral law was not observed very strictly. The following incidents will give the reader some knowledge of the character of the pranks that these ? primitive traders were accustomed to play. """Sorae time after the close of the Revolutionary war, four individuals, from York county, set out for Charleston with a drove of cattle. Amongst the crowd was one by the name of Ezekiel Price. They passed down what was then called the "Bratton road," in the direction of Chesterville. The road leading from the western portion of Chester county to White's mill, in the eastern portion of the county, and this road, united, at that time, _ 1 . , ohnno nhpator /?r?nrf Vihiiqp auuui II UJIIC ?WVVV N/UWWI.V. VW1.. w ..Uvwv. On reaching the point at which the two roads intersect, a gentleman was seen approaching them from the direction of Catawba river. He rode a fine horse and was provided with saddle-bags. Everything indicated that the man was not in his own neighborhood. On approaching within speaking distance, he inquired of the four cattle drivers if they could tell him the road to Augusta. Three of them said they could not. Price, however, said, "That, sir, is the road that goes to Augusta," pointing, at the same time, in the direction from which the traveler was coming. No doubt Price only designed playing a ^ -Ma II Ml? trick on the traveler. Whether he knew the road that led to Augusta or not, he certainly knew that the road he pointed out to the stranger did not lead to Augusta. His object, probably, was to induce the traveler to turn back. Be this as it may, the traveler, without saying a word, rode on. In a short time Price and companions reached the place where now is the town of Chester. At the corner once occupied by George Kennedy, there was a "public house," as a hotel in those days was called. Price had forgotten all about directing the stranger as to the road to Aueusta. He was, it happened, in the rear of the cattle; whilst his three companions were, one in front and one on each wing. Just as Price made the turn to go down the hill, the stranger stepped out of the door of the hotel, and, confronting Price, asked him, in a cool and deliberate tone, if he was the man who directed him the road to Augusta. Price, without suspecting anything, suid he was. Without uttering another word, the j traveler grasped Price by the throat, and first jerking him forward, and then pushing him backward, threw him on the ground. Without letting go bisgrasp upon his throat, he placed his knees upon his breast and violently choked him until poor Price was black in the face and his tongue protruded from his mouth, when the traveler stooped down and bit off the top of it. This done, he rose, saying, "Now tell another man a lie." Price was unable to proceed ; but was forced to remain under such medical treatment as could, at that day, be obtained, until his three companions drove | their cattle to Charleston, disposed of them, and returned. Tbe incident which we are about to relate, will give us some idea of the fighting proclivities of at least some of the first settlers of this country. In York county, in the region bordering on King's Mountain, there lived a numerous people by the name of Henry. Amongst the Henrys, was one who was known by the n ame of "Big Jim." At a very early period in the history of the country, Big Jim Henry had made a trip to Charleston. On his return, some short distance above Yorkville, he met a wagon. The driver was a large man, but advanced in years. Neither Henry nor be knew each other. On meeting him, Henry accosted him in the following style: "I have been to Charleston and am nearly home again, and I have not had a fight yet Oetdown, sir; I am determined to have a fight before I go home" To this tbe bantered man replied: "I am too old to fight; you must let me off." About this time the son of the old man came up, and without any other provocation than what had passed, de glared his willingness to fight Henry. Both stripped, and at it they went, with as much energy as if they had been enemies for years. It will no doubt gratify the reader to know that Big Jim Henry got not only a fight, but a sound thrashing. Who the young man was, Big Jim Henry never knew; but the thrashing he never forgot. - At present, when it is reported that two men have fought, we conclude that they were either drunk, or one had cheated the other. In fact, a modern fight is a poor concern. It usually occurs at a place where the parties are sure to be separated about the time they strike the first blow. Then they foam at the mouth and rant. This was not the way those old fellows fought They felt their manhood and they had an ambition to try the powers of any one who claimed to be a bully. We are not to suppose that because they did not like to go to Charleston and return without a fight, that they were savages. Fighting is a barbarous custom, but every age has its relics of barbarism. Refined vices are the worst vices in the world. However hateful fighting may be, it is not a refined vice. ? i?lb A Haunted Hotel.?The Suicides' Hotel, in the Latiu Quarter, Paris, has been torn down. Ten years ago a young student, despairing and in love, blew out his brains in the Ko wnn oppiinvincr. and iust one iv/vriii " ? rj?o> j year afterward another student committed suicide in (he same room, after losing his money in a gambling house. The proprietor of the hotel was alarmed at the fate of these unhappy students, and the room was transformed into a lumber-closet. A few months afterward, a waiter, who had been accused of theft, crept into this lumber-room and hanged himself. The superstitious hotel keeper was now in despair. He surrendered the lease aud abandoned the chamber of death. The hotel was repeatedly sold, but its reputation was uncanny and nobody could thrive there. A strong minded druggist took possession of j the premises and carried on his business there, | but finding his wife had deceived him, retired : to the fatal chamber and there poisoned himself with his own drugs. The whole quarter was up in arms and demanded that the room should be walled up, but the new owuer only laughed at the fears of his neighbors, aud declared that he meant to occupy the chamber himself. At last notice was given that the place was to be pulled down to make room for the Boulevard St. Germaiu. Au indemnity of $50,000 was demanded, but refused, and the jury having decided that $17,000 was ! ample compensation, the owner grew aesponI dent, and declared he was a ruined man. A month ago he asked permission to visit the old premises before they were pulled down. His request was granted, aud nothing more was heard of him until the workmen found him haiigiug by the neck iu the same room.? Newark Advertiser. How Liquors ark Made.?At the recent meeting of the American Temperance Union in Cooper Iustitute, New York, Mr. Eli Johuson said : "Two years ago a prominent wine importer died in this city. Among his books no record of a single invoice of wine was found, but in his cellar machinery for making it was discovered. There are beer factories which can make beer in fifteen minutes, without a particle of hops or malt. I had heard that ! drummers of liquors no longer carried around i samples of liquors. They took a box of drugs ! instead, from which to manufacture their I wares. For a long time I tried to obtain a similar box, but failed to do so. Finally a ' young physician committed suicide, induced 1 r - ? a manrv liio of. oy use or poisonous n^uui. ximw.ig v. 1 fects was found one of these sample cases. Here it is." The lecturer showed a black tin j box, in which were several bottles containing ; colored liquid. He continued : "In this box were essential oils for making eight kinds of brandy, six of whisky, four of gin and two of ! wine. Each of these bottles is guaranteed to , make twenty gallons of liquor. There is a | house in this city that manufactures these ar1 tides. This bottle of oil made by them conI tains material for twenty gallons of French : brandy. They also issue a book of directions," i which he showed, "which specifies one hun: dred different oils for manufacturing driuks. i All are made of different parts of alcohol, j water, sugar, tartaric acid and other delete; rious ingredients, together with the essential I oil. The oil is the only change made in any of them. The bottle is guaranteed to make twenty gallons of port wine. It is what physicians order for sick people." / Ipscilkum Reading. Prom the New York World, lOtli Instant. TEN YEARS OF RASCALITY. I . . ? NILES G. PARKER'S STORY OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA KING. The New York World reporter called upon Mr. Niles G. Parker, at his house in Jersey City, and obtained from him a very full statement, which was taken down phonographically. The statement was made without previous preparation, and this may account in a great measure for some looseness noticeable in the arrangement, and also for any slight inaccuracies of dates or figures. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Parker was engaged in conducting a large temperance meeting in Jersey City, and on returning home made the following? statement: parker'b record and election. I settled in Charleston, in February, 1866, engaging in planting and the mercantile supply business. Id 1867, Gen. Canby appointed me an alderman in the city of Charleston. Gaiilard was Mayor at the time, and there was a place in the Council made vacant by death. A few months later I was appointed chairman of the committee of legislation under the Reconstruction acts. After the discharge of that duty, I devoted myself again to private business. I was soon, however, elected a member of the Constitutional Convention from Barnwell county, though I made no effort to secure my Domination or election. In that convention I was chairman of the committee on flnance, and succeeded in raising the amount necessary for the expenses of the convention. In the discharge of my duties I had the cooperation and good will of Governor Orr. As a member of the convention, I opposed the passage of the law authorizing the State to issue bonds. I took the ground that the State indebtedness and the current expenses could be provided for by taxation, and that any further issue of bonds was unnecessary. As in previous years, the State expenses bad not exceeded 8400,000. I did not believe that more than 8600,000 would be needed to cover them. The surplus amount paid into the treasury as collected taxes, would be enough to meet the payment of interest on the State debts, consolidated and floating, and settle, in the course of a few years, all outstanding claims not represented already by State bonds. The act was incorporated in the Constitution, however, in spite of my opposition. At the first election under the new Constitution I was put in nomination for State treasurer and was elected. This nomination grew wholly out of the Buccess which I had achieved in raising the expenses of the convention. I went into office in July, 1868. Scott was Governor, Chamberlain was Attorney-General, Cardozo was Secretary of State, Frank Moses was Adjutant-General, and Neagle was Comptroller-General. The constitution of the Legislature was entirely republican, I think without an exception. The Democrats refused to take any part in the election. Naturally, both Senate and House were composed very largely of colored members. Frank Moses was the Speaker of the House, and undoubtedly the most influential member of it during his four years' terra of office. ONLY FORTY-TWO DOLLARS IN THE STATE TREASURY. Wheu I took charge of the State treasury there was only forty-two dollars in it. By the comptroller general's report for 1867 the bonded and stock debt was nearly $6,000,000, and there was considerable interest outstanding as well as other unadjusted debts, amounting approximately to $3,000,000. The nf firof mop tvaa 81 mills nnnn t.hfl assessed valuation of the property in the State. This tax was expected to yield $1,200,000 or $1,300,000. This 6scal year of the State closed ou October 31st, 1868. We went into office in July, and a special session of the Legislature was called immediately. Instead of imposing a tax to cover the expenses of the current year as well as the year ended October 31, 1869, we only imposed one tax, as we had then an honest intention to relieve the people of the State of all but necessary burdens. So we made a tax for one year only, intending to provide for outstanding claims by the issue of bonds. Of this tax imposed we collected about three-fourths, and the balance was left outstanding. No extraordinary measures were resorted to to enforce its collection, and I think that judgment was never obtained against the delinquents in the UUUIbO. chamberlain's peculiar bills. Under the Provisional Government a law had been passed authorizing the funding of all outstanding debts, interest and principal, up to July 1,1867. The Legislature in July, 1868, passed a bill to pay all interest clue from July 1, 1867, in gold. The bill was engineered by the State financial agent, H. H. Kimpton. He was a friend and classmate of Chamberlain's, and was introduced by him to me as the proper man to be the financial ageut of the State. He was appointed by the financial board?Scott, Chamberlain and myself. The bill was regarded by us as Kimpton's measure, and he represented that it would raise the value of the bonds materially, and enhance the credit of the State. In this view he was supported by Chamberlain. Here I may say that I never knew a financial act to pass the Legislature which was not proposed as a bill by Kimpton and sanctioned by Chamberlain. His bills were always passed as presented. In regard to this particular bill, it should be added that the interest demanded was paid in gold until the winter of 1869-70, when the law was changed, so that thereafter the interest was payable in currency. Kimpton was himself obliged to obtain the change of the act, as it was seen to be impossible to meet the demands upon the treasury for gold. In the course of J868 and 1869, the Legislature passed acts to provide for the redemption, at par, of all floating debts outstanding. A II tl,noQ fin anniol mansnrCD Ollt twirilincr t.hp issue of bonds were susceptible of two interpretations. The wordiug of one act will sufficiently illustrate this point: "The Governor is hereby authorized and directed to borrow $1,000,000 upon bonds of the State of South Carolina, said bonds to be signed by the Governor and treasurer, and sealed by the secretary of State, to be payable in South Carolina aud at the New York financial agency." j The debatable point is whether bonds repreI senting $1,000,000 were to be put on the : market, or whether $1,000,000 was to be ob! tained by the sale of bonds at any price. This I point 1 will tftke up presently. In round I numbers the financial board was authorized | to raise $3,200,000 in the years 1868-69 by i the issue of bonds of the State of South CaroI lino SI ftflft Oflfi for fhfl navment of interest I on the public debt at 6 percent., $1,00U,000 for the relief of the treasury at 7 per cent., 8500,000 for the redemption of Governor Orr's currency, and 8700,000 for the purchase of lands under the land commission. One million two hundred thousand dollars was called for in addition to provide for the redemption of the bills of the State bank. These bills have not yet been redeemed, but are floating about iu considerable quantities, ' though I do not believe any one kuows bow many are iu existence. In this session also the famous Conversion act was passed. This act authorized the issue of bonds to take up all outstanding bonded and stock indebtedness of every kind, and authorised, furthermore, all holders of stock or any kind of government securities to convert them into these bonds. The object of this act was declared to be to give uniformity and oon-! solidation to all classes of securities. All these acts, I repeat, were presented by the financial agent, Kimpton, and urged upon the financial board by him as a necessity. They were never prepared by Scott or myself, but always by Chamberlain and Kimpton. Chamberlain used to say to me that Kimpton declared these measures to be necessary, and he supposed that they .were so. Under the act authorizing the Governor to borrow $1,000,000 to pay the interest upon the public debts, $2,000,000 of bonds were issued. Five hundred thousand dollars of these bonds were returned and bonded in presence of the financial board and others, 8250,000 were exchanged by the financial agent for conversion bonds, and $1,250,000 remained out. The $500,000 bonds that were returned had passed through the hands of the financial agent. While in his possession coupons might have been taken ? -- .i? - L. i i ?1:_J ?u~ on, or tney mignt nave ueeu uppnou w mo payment of the interest, and so got into the hands of the public.- In this last way they might have been presented to the State treasury honestly for funding. I was sued upon a civil process for $450,000 in 1874, the allegation being that I had funded that amount illegally in the treasury. A judgment was rendered against me for $75,000; but this, you will bear in mind, was the judgment on a technical wrong in a civil suit. As soon as the conversion act was passed, a very large number of these bonds were printed. Of these bonds $1,200,000 were issued strictly in accordance with the provision of the act, but all others issued were put on the market in an arbitrary manner. For all that, the money obtained by the State on these bonds by Frank Moses, was issued by me, as treasurer, in accordance with law. ENORMOUS ISSUES OF BONDS. Now the $3,200,000 which the Legislature authorized the Governor to raise by the sale of bonds had to be obtained at a sacrifice. The bonds of the State would not sell at anything like par. In fact, when first issued, we were obliged to dispose of them for twenty cents on a dollar. When the acts passed the Legislature, I understood, and I think it was generally understood by all members of the Legislature except those let into the secret, tkot 83 9ftfl flftft in hnndn at nar was the total sum authorized by the acts. When the acts were passed, however, Chamberlain and Kimptou pointed out what was the literal in* terpretation of the acts. They contended that bonds could be sold at any sacrifice to obtain the sum in cash of $3,200,000. Relying on Chamberlain as the legal adviser of the board, Scott and I consented to the issue of the amount of bonds necessary to raise the authorized sum. He found, however, that the ordinary bonds of the State were not taken readily when put on the market. Bankers require the best security possible, before they will invest their money in the purchase of bonds, that the bonds are legally issued. This poiut was involved in some doubt, and when they discovered that there were more than a million of bonds issued under the act to provide for the payment of the public debt, they refused to deal in these bonds, or rather to take them in any way. In this exigency recourse was had to the act authorizing the issue of conversion bonds. The act provides that these bonds shall be issued for the redemption of other State securities, but it was contended by Chamberlain and Kimpton that these bonds could also be issued directly, that is, they could be put on the market and sold like ordinary bonds, and the proceeds devoted to the redemption of outstanding claims and to meet other State expenses. Scott and I were prevailed upon by Chamberlain and Kimpton to countenance this issue of bonds. When, therefore, these conversion bonds were put directly on the market, they were sold quite readily, for brokers had no means of knowing how many were issued, or could be issued, in one year. So they secured these bonds as collateral security, and purchased them in preference to the others. Perhaps this was not exactly fair, but we went on the principle that outsiders were bound to look out for themselves. The object of the financial board in this was to secure money at the least cost to the State, and there was no intention to defraud the State thereby. DEBT INCREASED 810,000,000 IN FOUR YEARS. During the four years in which we were in office, the bonded debt was increased about 810,000,000. All outstanding claims were provided for and wiped out, so that at the end of the four years the only outstanding debt was for the current expenses of the State during 1872. This board has been censured for causing these acts to be passed. Who drew up and presented the acts ? Chamberlain drew up every one of them, and Kimpton pre' sented them. The proposition for the issue ! of conversion bonds directly was made by j Chamberlain. I looked upon this issue as a | necessity. I look upon it, now as I did then. My first opposition to the issue of bonds in the Constitutional Convention was due to the belief that the State expenses could be provided for without this issue, by taxation. When I found, however, that the State expenses were extravagant, and demands were made upon the treasury by Jaw for money, I acquiesced in the measures proposed by Chamberlain and Kimpton. pRAuva v.x nnvp.RNOR MOSES. There waa a terrible increase of expenditure at each succeeding session of the Legislature. Frank Moses was in the chair, and I am told by trustworthy persons that he has acknowledged to having signed away $500,000 dishonestly, though I am sure that it was a much larger sum. I believe that three or four million of dollars were spent in excess of the necessary expenses for the meeting of the Legislature duriug these four years. Both Senate and House were responsible for this. The first president of the Senate was a pretty good man, Boozer. They soon got him out, however. He was elected a judge and went out during the first session. Bansier, a colored man, took his place. He was equal to the occasion. Corbin was president pro tem. of the Senate when Boozer, the Lieutenant-Governor, was absent. I paid Corbin a good deal of money. Still, he held a large number of offices and received large salaries I and regular perquisites therefrom. I know I nothing, therefore, to inculpate him. I had no doubt that a number of charges I brought against the treasury were improperly passed by the Legislature. In particular, there were a number of five thousand dollar claims presented which I thought were outrageous, certificates issued by those who purchased senators and representatives. The certificates were properly authorized, however, and I had to pay them. Suppose I bad refused to houor them, what would have been the result ? Why I should have been kicked out for not mJ duty as treasurer. There was too much influence brought to bear against me. If I had stood out alone, it would not have made any difference. Why, I have been to Frank Moses, WITH TEARS IN MY EYES, and said to him: "You will have no money at all in the treasury if you go on in this way." Frank Moses would only look up and laugh. "Talk about these Republican Reformers," he would say, "you never heard me say anything about reform." "No," said I, "I never did," I went out of office on October 91. 1872. Scott went out at the same time, and Moses pame in as Governor. Samuel Melton sue ceeded Chamberlain as attorney-general, bat when Chamberlain went out of office he became Melton's law partner, and so got right behind the throne again. One of the first acts of the Legislature, after Frank Moses became Go?ernor, was an act directing the attorney-general of the State to prosecute the late sinking fund commissioners of the State for corruption. These commissioners were Scott, Neagle, Chamberlain, the chairman of the finance committee of the Senate and the chairman of the ways and means committee of the House. Did Melton do it now ? What did he do ? Waited until April, 1874, and then commenced a prosecution against me. The complaint was made by Daniel H. Chamberlain, then Governor and ex-officio president of the sinking fund commission. The attorney-general brought suit for the recovery of 325,000, alleged to have been fraudulently misapplied. I was arrested and held to bail. A night or two before my arrest Chamberlain had been talking to me as pleasantly as ever in the theatre, where Anna Dickinson was lecturing. We had a loving parting, but he sneaked off and caused me to be arrested on the next day, or within a few days at any rate. When I succeeded, however, in pressing the thing to a suit, it was nol pressed by the attorney-general. On whose shoulders does the blame for the borrowing of the 325,000 lie? The sinking fund commissioners ought to have been prosecuted for their part in the matter as well as for other crimes which they committed. The treasury needed the money, and it was none of my business who lent the amount. It was not my funeral at all. I consulted with Chamberlain, asking him if it was any crime on my part to borrow this money. "No," said he, "it is no crime of yours." Chamberlain will say now that he was in a minority on the sinking fund commission, and that the commission lent the money to the treasury without his consent. At any rate, the sinking fund commissioners are responsible in this matter and not myself, the treasurer. THE BLUE BIDGE RAILROAD 8WINDLE. In regard to the Blue Ridge Railroad swindle, by which the State was said to have been defrauded out of 31.800,000, I can say at least, that I had nothing to do with the road, except when called upon, in my capacity as State treasurer, to pay over to the officers of on*tn ko fkfl T^rrifllafurA luo iuau buu ownp vukcu *jj iiuw When Harrison was President of the road, $4,000,000 was voted by the Legislature, in State scrip, to defray tbe expenses of its construction. Harrison applied to 8cott, who was then Governor, for money, and Scott requested Kimpton to furnish $200,000 to Harrison for the road, in return for $600,000 of tbe bonded stock of tbe road owned by tbe 8tate. Kimpton, I believe, still has that $600,000 of stock. Cameron succeeded Harrison as President of tbe road, and Patterson succeeded Cameron. So Patterson came to have control of tbe four millions of stock, less the $600,000 which Kimpton had gobbled. It is this $3,600,000 that he has got now to account for. I know that he borrowed $325,000 from a gentleman in this city, Mr. E. B. Wesley, giving $700,000 of the Blue Ridge Road stock as security. I cannot tell what disposition he made of any portion except of this amount. I never owned a dollar's worth of Btock in the road myself. Scott owned stock in it and holds it to-day. As to the letter of Patterson to me as State treasurer, published a few days ago, authorizing me to deliver to H. H. Kimpton revenue bond scrip 1 amounting to $114,250,1 am ready to admit that it is genuine. If you ask me whether I paid this order, I answer that I paid every 1-_ P _ .L: J . ..... ?),/> l.nnan.n oruei lor mis scrip uiauc ujnsu mo uohuij by Senator Patterson as president of the road. I did not see that I had any authority to withhold the scrip, so long as it was drawn in accordance with legal provisions. If the scrip was afterwards misapplied, I had nothing to do with this subsequent handling of it. As financial agent of the State, Kirapton had in his possession all bonds of the State that were ever issued for raising money. He was not obliged, by law, to exhibit his accounts to the State treasurer, to the financial board, nor to render any vouchers thereof, and he never did so until his fiual settlement. When his final settlement was made in accordance with a special act, he received from the financial board a due bill of about $150,000, and settled with the board upon wkat is stated to be a fraudulent set of books. Chamberlain was a member of the board, and took an active part in all that pertains to the issue, management and settlement of its finances. Judge Willard told me that Kimpton had manufactured a fraudulent set of books, bnt I cannot assert it of my own knowledge. I suppose this statement will show my hand to him, but I do not care much. Chamberlain signed the settlement and papers in that matter, and took part in all other transactions of the board. THE PRINTING SWINDLE. The appropriations for the benefit of the Republican Printing Company were in the main a gigantic swindle. Woodruff and Jones, who ran the company, will be compelled to tell how the money was appropriated. The following dispatch to the Charleston News and Courier supplements Mr. Parker's prediction in regard to Messrs. Jones and Woodruff: "The agreement with^Jones and Woodruff, the late clerks of the House ana senate, is that a nolle pros, sh ill be entered on the indictments against them, they to testify in behalf of the State when called upon to do so. Each surrenders $28,000 of Bonanza warrants and all claims against the State for printing, Ac.; Jones also $12,000, and Woodruff surrenders the Republican Printing Company's building and Bxtures in Columbia, valued at about $7,000, and also claims against the Bank of the State for $130,000. Both Jones and Woodruff saved their respective residences in Charleston as settled upon the wife in Woodruff's case, and the children in that of Jones." As to the THOMA8 W. PRICE PRINTING COMPANY, continued Mr. Parker, I know that Thomas W. Price is a merchant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I am quite positive that, when his claim for printing was first presented, it was for $6,000, and was afterwards raised to $10,000. James Thompson, Chamberlain's right hand man, and the editor of the Daily Union-Herald, acted as an agent between Price and the treasury, CHAMBERLAIN DIRECTLY CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION. I don't wish to say anything which may appear like a personal attack on Chamberlain, though I acknowledge that I have been offended by his treatment of me. I do object, however, to being made the scapegoat of the Ring, and I am by no means willing that Chamberlain and Kirapton should thrust off* any of their load on ray shoulders. I am tired of hearing of what Parker did, and how he acted in this transaction and that, when X know (hat my share in the questionable doings of the Ring from 1868 to 1874 was no greater, to say the least, than that ot the other members with whom I acted. During these six years the corruption and peculation increased yearly, and it is idle to attempt to palliate or deny it. If the present investigation in South Carolina is pushed, the extent of the corruption will be laid bare, and all who were parties to it will be brought tojudgment. I wish to be understood that I do not shrink from this investigation. I desire rather that it be made as thorough and searching as possible, and I am ready to hold myself responsible for my share in it. If I have sinned in the matter, I am ready to make the amends which the State shall direct. All that I ask for, iB that the part which each one of the Ring took in the transactions of those six years shall be exactly determined, and condemnation meted oot in proportion to the extent of the offending. For Chamberlain and Kimpton to deny that they were privy to what was going on, is simply absnrd. Some things undoutedly Chamberlain had no hand in directly, though they were done nnder his nose, and he must have known about them. In other transactions his name did not appear, but there can be no question that he was concerned in them in some way. In other cases still, he reaped a direct benefit from his cooperation. Like the case of the MARINE AND RIVER PHOSPHATE MINING COMPANY for instance. The shady transactions connected with the management of this company, and the bills lobbied through the Legislature c- - Cl knnmn lor 110 UtlllttUt, arc <JUIW gBUCiaujr auunu. The measures by which the interests of its stockholders were subserved in the Legislatures have been published in the Charleston papers; but Chamberlain's connection with it has not heretofore been stated. The stock of the company was owned Largely by members of the King, and Chamberlain held one-fifteenth of it. It was $500,000,1 believe, in all; so that Chamberlain's share uf the stock was $32,200. Tim Hurley, Chamberlain's right-hand man, and the treasurer of Charleston county, lobbied the bills, for its benefit, through the Legislature. Then there was the GREENVILLE AND COLUMBIA RAILROAD. The bills passed in connection with this road were notoriously disreputable. Its cap ital stock was held in twelve shares, I think, of $25,000 each. Scott, Neagle, Patterson, Chamberlain, Cardozo, Kimpton, Hurley, Crews and myself, were stockholders. A BIT OP DIRECT CORRUPTION. I know also that Chamberlain received $2,000 direct, for his connection with a transaction which I do not care yet to make public. It was the same transaction alluded to in the letter which Elliott read in the last nominating convention. He rose in his seat, brandishing this letter and threatening to make its contents public. An agreement was -? is ? t_ l:_ -_j inereupon paicneu up ueiwtr?u uiw nuu Chamberlain, and he made the best he could of his previous threats against him. He read the letter, omitting the names of the persons concerned, one of whom was Chamberlain. I have spoken of the $150,000 due bill in favor of Kimpton, audited by the financial board. Now, when Kimpton was appointed financial agent, an agreement was made between him, Chamberlain and myself, that all commissions accruing to him should be divided equally among the three. Scott was left out of this arrangement, although he was on the financial board. Chamberlain and myself were thus entitled by this agreement to $50,000 of the audited claim. As a matter of fact, we never got a dollar of this amount, for Kimpton's due bill has never been paid, and I should be very much surprised if it ever should be, in view of the coming developments in the pending investigation. Both Chamberlain and Kimpton will deny this arrangement as a matter of course, but it is a fact nevertheless. You may remember the letter from Chamberlain to me, published in the News and Courier some time ago, which reads, as nearly as I can now remember: "Dear Parker?How did the commissions foot op?" What did he care about these commissions unless he had a personal interest in their amount? No I Chamberlain kept in the back-ground as far as he could and pulled the wires, or employed Kimpton to act as his proxy. It is too preposterous for him. now to pretend blindness and innocence. WHY PARKER 8AY8 HE FELL. In 1874 a civil action was brought against me before a mixed jury, Judge Carpenter presiding, to recover $450,000, of which amount it was alleged I had defrauded the State by funding coupons wrongfully detached. The sole witness of importance to the proseaIawU mino nomn/1 cu11uij woo a 1uiujc1 ug1a ul iuiuv, uuuiuu Ludd, who swore that I had told him one day at dinner, that I had funded that amount of coupons for Scott, Neagle, Kimpton and myself. He did not say that the proceeds were delivered to Chamberlain as well as to the others, but that Kimpton received the amount which it was understood he was to account for to Chamberlain. Well, the jury sat on the trial about two weeks, and finally agreed together that something must be done. So they brought in a verdict against me for $75,000. Assuming, for the sake of the argument, that the verdict was legitimately rendered, why were not indictments drawn against the others who were impeached by the same testimony? If Ladd was to be believed, all concerned in this transaction were equally guilty aud equally exposed to prosecution for their share in it. His evidence, if it affected one, affected all. These statements will be denied, of course, but I have endeavored to state the plain facts as accurately as I could. I do not seek to deny or extenuate the part which I took in this Ring corruption. I frankly admit these acts of mine in South Carolina, which I now bitterly regret, and which I would give much 1" k-- " kl? T nan Atilti on w fltaf T LU UC ouio LU Uiut uuiit x vau vuij ooj kumv jl went to South Carolina an honest man, and succumbed, like others, to the great temptations in my path. We were surrounded by enemies, and were obliged to maintain our places by the exercise of all the power which we could get into our hands. With the power and opportunity presented to us, surrounded as we were by an array of unusual temptations, such as few men bad ever presented to them before, it is not strange, perhaps, that rings were formed and corruption reigned as it did in New York city under the Tweed ring. So far, however, as my official action as State treasurer is concerned, I deny that there are any irregularities in my accounts. There was no plundering of the State treasury, except that authorized by the Legislature. I paid such demands as were audited and Eresented in accordance with law, but the ooks were carefully kept and no irregular payments made to any person. The suit brought against me was for funding coupons after I left the office of treasurer, and the accounts which I delivered over to my successor have never been impeached. After the elections in 1872,1 remained in Charleston on private business. I began the study of law in Mai. Melton's office, and con1 ' 1 a i a?1 t a a turned as a student tnere unta x weui to Europe in 1874. PARKER AS A REPENTANT 8INNER. In the fall of 1874 I came North and settled in Jersey City, engaging in business in New York. For the past two years I have tried to live an honest and Christian life, and help the temperance cause and other good measures so far as lay in my power. I do not wish to oonceal the record of my life in Charleston, but I desire also that the life which I have been leading for the past two years should be considered when my case is passed upon in judgment. THE RING PICTURED IN DETAIL. I have no respect for the men with whom I v /* ni t_ - l _ was connected ior six years. imamDeriain impresses me as a cold, reserved, calculating and unscrupulous man in his ambition for power, place and reputation. In hia conduct towards me he has been hypocritical, as well as base, Cardoso I believe to be an oily, plausible, intriguing, unprincipled fellow, and it seems likely that he will be shown up, in the present investigation, in his true light. . a Frank Moses is a good-natured, easy-going man, with no principles in particular, and little pretension to any. So long as his father was alive, he bad no fear of the issue of any prosecution, and so was more open than some of the others in his underhand dealings. Kimpton is a fit ally for Chamberlain, exactly the man to have been his most intimate friend in college, and he was worked in close accord with him. They were not warm friends, because each was too selfish to care much about anybody except himself. Patterson was an active member of the Bing, and is dipped as deep as any of them. He may succeed in suppressing the investigation, so far as he is concerned, backed by the influence which he can control, but the suppression of evidence is the only thing that can save him from indictment As to the PRESENT CONDITION OF SOUTH CAROLINA, I certainly think that it is better than when in the bands of the Bing. Wade Hampton I believe to he .an honest man, and one who will try to do his duty to all classes of the citizens. I have no doubt that many colored I votes were cast for him in the last election. Many of tbe blacfcs baa become aisgusiea with the Chamberlain government and the wholesale plundering that was going on under the Ring, and which Chamberlain at least did not interfere to prevent I am convinced that the determined struggle which Chamberlain made to retain his post as Governor, was due largely to his rooted dislike of having the new administration overhaul the records of the past eight years. If immunity from suspicion or direet charges could have been assured him, he would not have, held out so long. The control of the State is now so entirely in Democratic hands that the Republicans have practically no chance of political success for years to coma The party was trusted with the reins of government and misused its trust All people have lost confidence in the integrity of the Republican leaders, and the party, as a political organization, has fallen to pieces. Remarkable Recoveries from Brain Woundfl.?A Confederate soldier from the valley of Virginia, in one of the battles of the late civil war, was struck on the head with a rninnie ball. The ball passed through the skull, and the surgeons, afraid to probe the wound in search of it, left the man to die. In the course of time he recovered, but had lost his reason, and was sent to the insane asylum at Staunton, where he remained for eleven years. At length Dr. Fauntleroy, an eminent physician of that city, obtained permission from the asylum authorities and friends of the insane man to make a surgical examination of the head with the hope of finding the ball. He was successful, and found the ball imbedded on the inside of the skull and pushing against the brain. Unable to extract it with any instrument at hand, he took a chisel and mortised it out. As soon as the ball was removed reason resumed its control, and the deranged one was in his right mind. He says that he is not conscious of anything that occurred during the interval of eleven years. From the time he was struck on the battlefield to the moment the pressure was removed on the brain, all was a blank to him. Another case in the same county of Aogusta was that of a boy whose gun burst while shooting, and drove the lock into the brain. The piece was taken out by a skillful surgeon without serious injury to the patient But the most remarkable case was in the same neighborhood. It was that of a woman subject to fits of mental derangement While in a spell of lunacy she drove an eight penny nail into the top of her nanatMtinn Jnvn intn tho hrftin thfl urou, jrouvu ?>??? ??" ail having been driven np to its head. The nail was drawn out, and the woman has been in sound mental condition ever since.-? Wheeling ( W. Fa.) Register. ?? Little by Little.?If you are gaining little by little every day be content. Are your expenses less than your income, so that, though it be little, you are yet constantly accumulating and growing richer and richer every day ? Be content; so far as concerns money, you are doing well. Are yon gaining knowledge every day? Though it be little by little, the aggregate of the accumulation, where no day is permitted to pass without adding something to the stock, will be surprising to yourself. : Solomon did not become the wisest man i in the world in a minute. Little by little? never omitting to learn something, even for a single day?always reading, always studying a little between the time of rising up in the morning and laying down at night; this is the way to accumulate a full storehouse of knowledge. Finally, are you daily improving in character? Be not discouraged because it is little by little. The best men fall far short of what they themselves would irish to be. It is something, it is much, if you keep good resolutions better to-day than ydu' 1 did yesterday, better this week than you did last, better this year than you did last year. Strive to be perfect, but do not become downhearted so long as you are approaching nearer and nearer to the high standard at which you aim. Little by little, fortunes are accumulated ; little by little, knowledge is gained; little by little, character and reputation are achieved. The Liberty Cap.?The history of that symbol known as the Liberty Cap is thus briefly told: When a slave was manumitted by the Romans, a small red cloth cap, called pileus, was placed on his head. So soon as this was done, he was proclaimed a freedman (,libertinus,) and his name duly registered. When Saturnine took the capital, in the year 263, he hninteH a ?an on tha ton of hie snear to indi cate that all slaves who joined him should be free. Marious employed the same symbol when inciting the slaves to take np arms against Sylla; and when Csesar was mnrdered, the conspirators marched forth in a body, with a cap elevated on a spear, as a token of liberty. The Goddess of Liberty in the Avenue Mount was represented as holding in her hand a cap, thesymbol of freedom. In France the Jacobins wore a red cap (bonnet rouge,) but in England the cap of blue, with a white border, is the symbol of liberty, and Britannia is sometimes represented as holding such a cap on the point of her spear. The American cap of liberty is also of blue, with a white band or border on the bottom, upon which thirteen stars are placed, and has been adapted from the British. There is no absolute or positive regulation in regard to this cap, beyond its shape and color, so far as America is concerned. It is in shape of an old-fashioned nightcap or truncated cone. The Leather Medal.?We often hear of the leather medal, and in some instances our military marksmen have won, and occasionally worn, the leather medals as a sort of absurd regalia, marking a very low rate of marksmanshp. Some time during the fourteenth century, the French King, John, for the ransom of his royal person, promised to pay Edward III of England 8,000,000 of gold crowns. In order to fulfill this obligation, he was reduced to the mortifying necessity of paying the expenses of the palace in leather money, the centre of each being a little point of sliver. In his reign is found the origin of the burlesque honor of boyhood, called "confeiTing a leather medal. The imposing ceremonies accompanying the presentation gave ftill force, dignity and value to the leather jewel, which even noblemen were proud to receive at the hands of majesty.