University of South Carolina Libraries
A NEGRO LAWYER ON RACE PROBLEM JACOB MOORER OF ORANGE BURG AMUSED COMMITTEE. Election Contests Heard-South Car olina Cases Before House Com mittee on Elections-Amus ing Speeches Made. Zach McGhee writes the State from Washington under the date of March 5:-The house elections commiftee considered the race problem today. They had lots of fun, though Jacob Moorer. a negro lawyer from Orange burg, insisted that it was a serious question. Jacob Moorer, however, was the one who caused all the fun. The committee heard the case of Aaron P. Prioleau. contesting the seat of George S. Legare of the First dis trict, and the case of "the Rev. Isaac Myers," who would be a i-ongressman instead of J. 0. Patterson. The grounds of these contests are. in brief --eaving out of consideration the fact that all contestants are allowed $2,000 for expenses. regardless of the merits of their cases-that the elee tion laws of South Carolina and the constitution of that State disfran ehise men on account of race, color and previous condition. all three: and that even it this be not~so, the ne groes, who are in the majority, are not allowed to vote according to the law. As there was nothing new in this contention, the committee hav ing heard it oft before, it was hard for them to take the matter seriously. so they just set themselves baek in their seats and enjoyed the per formance. asking questions now and then. generally, facetious ones. about interracia-1 relations in South Caro lina. Jacob Moorer represented the Rev. Isaae Myers and his address was the feature of the occasion. Moorer is a typical southern negro of the better type, of more than the average in-; telligence, and with a good deal of the native mother wit characteristic of his race and clime. He is of full African blood, medium size, a young man, about 30, and his make-up was in. full accord with his part. He wore a black Prince Albert coat that seem ed to have been worn on several oc casions before, the edges slightly frazzled, two rows of large spheri cal buttons standing out in bold re lief. His' standing collar did not ex actly fit his rumpled "biled"' shirt, * nd his aged black four-in-hand cra vat was on erooked. A pair of steel spectacles came down over his flat nose. But his face was a peculiar, peasant one, and the wrinkles around his mouth and below his coal black eyes betoken good nature. He was very earnest in his plea that the ne gro in South Carolina is denied jus tice at the ballot' box or rather be fore he gets to the ballot boX. ".Why don't you take the matter to the supreme court ?' asked the chairman. 'As a rule," he replied uit takes * oney to go to the supreme court, and the class of people that this law affects in general haven't got much of that.'' "Do you mean to* say," suggested a member, "that it takes more money to take a case before the court than it does to make a contest like this: before congress?" "Wall, yes 'r, my opinion is that it takes more money and more brain.'' When he Aas telling how negroes were not allowed to register while white people were, some one asked: "Are there no republicans ainong the white 'people ?" "I kin count 'em on my fingers,, sir.' "What, only ten in the whole state?" "Jes er about, sir, or less." Mr. D. S. Henderson who repre sented the other side in the contest, observed here that there were 40 white republicans in his town. "Who's your national committee-' man?" some one asked. "Mr. John G. Capers, sir." "A white man," declared Mr. Hen derson with an air of triumph. But the negro's black eyes twinkled and he convulsed the committee and all the spectators, by- observing: "Yes 'r, I know, but he ain't ten." "Are there any republican office holders in South Carolina?" "0, law," exclaimed the negro in comical earnestness, "not since too long to talk about," but in a moment he added, "'eept a few notary pub lies." "Who appoints these?" "The governor." " That does not look like -discrimi-, nation does it ?" asked Mr. Lilley of Pennsylvania. "Wall, sir," replied Moorer, "I'm: jes' tryin' to tell you about the dis eriminations which affect this partie d1r ncae If you want me to tell Voll a1out, al the 1 eS Or disCrImna tion againist the volored me IIoN there. Irn afraid I wouldi't have .ine. Ancld a-Z.ai 1e <-otulttve 1nd pee tattrs ere onv lsei wi!!1anlldter. \l',mer wVa- a'-kti if ini his prct !in tUe c()uts.; he had found any dis (1*1mnat on an I injustie lhe ne ,r?. t_pwn this point lhc wzs either Uncertain or el(s a little wary inu vimnnI ittin:: hiimself. but tinally ad ruitted after some discussion and some verv close qlestioning by Representa tire Ollie James. (if Kentucky. that when both the plaintiff and the de fendant we colored men. the jjury would render a verdict in favor of a colored man. He stopped once to make a personal statement about his own experience and his standing at the Orangeburg bar. "I don't want any thing but the truth to come out. Ev erybody knows me down there and everybody is kind to me. There 's Mr. Moss there. pointing to an at torney who represents another dem ocrat whose seat is contested. Mr. Moss knows me, knows all about me. I kin borrow anything he's got. 1. kin horry money from him. Amidst the laughter which follow ed. Mr. James observed: "That does not look like there is any discrimina tion against you. does it ?"t . Naws'r.' he admittetd. But then I ain't like the avera.e clored man. ''You are all ri.t1. anyway. eX laimed some one amidst the lau.liter. and this comnmittee will ive you a square deal.' Mr. James said. --I agree with Vou that yon are above the average but eouldn't the other c(o lored peciple rise up 1o your heioht if thlev would apply themnselves' A fiter a sh1ort* pZuse an1d 1 peilmd (.f expectaney on the part of those pres ent he answered, "Naws r. I don *t believe they could." 1). S. Henderson made a brief ad dress in behalf of Mr. Patterson, Jo seph H. Stewart, a negro lawyer of Washington. presented the case of Prioleau, the negro who was sentenced tthe penitent iary fortaprn with the mails in Charleston, but who somehow is loose and was present to day to contest the seat of Represen tative George Legare. W. A. Holmani and M. iTutledge Rivers of Charles ton represented J'Ir. Legare. Tomorrow the committee will take up) the case of the negro ,Jacobs of Sumter, who is contesting the seat of Representative Lever. Jacobs is rep resented by (Gen. W. W. Dudley 0:1 Washington, wvho makes a specialty of these contest cases. Lever is rep. resented by Mr. B. Hart Moss of Orangeburg andI Mr. C. M. Elird of Lexington. Nobjody seems 1*in an wa-tot' dlonbi what the outcome will be. FEWER WIDOWS WED AGAIN. They Have Met Greater Competition: -Young Girls and Bachelor Women More Attarctive and, Widows Enjoy Freedom More than Formerly. There is an old ballad the refrain f which says: "A maid is sometimes~ harming, but a widow all the while." Latterday rhymes on the subject of widows' charms are scarce, it is said. The fascinations of widows are not, it seems, a popular theme just now with writers i.n this part of the country. either in fact nor in fiction does the: widow play the leading part in most matrimonial romances. It was a New York widow of ma ure age and large fortune who point d out this circumsfance when at her uncheon tables some one referred to the scarcity of widows among the winter's brides and suggested that nwadays widows didn't seem to be in, uch a hurry to marry as formerly. "I could name a dozen widows." she said, "'women of middle age and ounger, good looking and with nice ittle incomes; whom I have been ex-' pecting to step off for the last five ears and they don 't step. Not one f them, so far as 1 know, is engaged. "At one time there were every sea son several weddings of widows who ere conspicuous in society. It was lmost the.exception for a compara-: tively young and good looking widow. o stay single more than two years." "I do not know anything about the idows to whom you refer," said the ostess, "but I do know that, tak ing widows as a class, they are much ess popular than they used to be.! Vidows don 't get the chances to mar y they 'onee did. How do I account for it? In this way: "Widows are just as attractive as, ihey ever were, but spinsters, as they used to be called, bachelor women as they are now described, are a good: deal more attractive than in the old days. ''I was introduced to society at 17, ad soon after I remember I met a I voun 1t widow of 22. who use6 to go to the parties and entertainments given by her'.irl friends with whom she had 1rowII up. She was not nearly so pret t v as s4mi if' the girls. but she abravs -(t a 11t 1more nitf'nt"i4n from 1INI ilii mgn. -In those days a young~ girl might stan1d a slight chance of holding her 1wn with a wIdow of her own age; but a spinstAr f 35 or more had not the ghost of a chance when competing with a widow of 35. Young girls were kept back from minzling with general company and older folks till out of school and al most segregated from the other sex. with the result that when first intro duced to the world they were shy, lacking conversational topics and no match at all for a widow of any age. It is not like that now. The bache lor woman instead of assuming an apologetic air, born of a feeling that she is almost, in disgrace because she has reached 30 without being- married, goes about with a superior, lofty, I prefer-my-freedo.m expression, exact lv the reverse of apologetic; and in stead of retiring modestly behind vounzer women and widows she is more apt to be found in the front row when it comes to a question of being entertaining and jolly. "The widow is less charming than she ever was. but the unmarried wVoman-the one time old. maid-is much more at!ractive than formerly and -eneralky better read and better educated than most widows. ."Simply because she is a widow no longer entitles a woman to first place as a charmer of the other sex. She must now compete with young girls who are neither awkward nor shy. nor tongue-tied in the presence of men: and also with single women of her own age. quite her equal in dip lomacy and powers of fascination.,' ..'Perhaps you are right,'' returned the woman who had first spoken. "I am inclined to think, however, the reason why fewer widows than for merly marry is because they are more chary of matrimony than were widows in the old days and prefer to enjoy their freedom. They believe that the most enviable state for a woman is widowhood in conjunction with a good sized bank account."' When the manager of a big busi ness concern which employs hu'ndreds of women, among whom are many widows, was asked what proportion of the widows married again he gave the answer: "Almost none. so far as I know. In ten years I can only recall one case f a widow giving up her place here because she meant to get married.'' The Cost of a Debutante. Springfield Republican. There is a young debutante in Phil dlphia. Miss Clara Waterman Knight, of whom it is said by the orth American that two balls given in her honor cost. respectively, $20, 00 and $24.000, a total of $44,000. Th~e first was a dinner .dance or pink cot illion,'' gie for Miss Knight by her father, Edward Col ings Knight, and the second a ball at he new and fine Bellevue-Stratford otel. arranged by her rich bachelor unle, Edward Waterman Knight. The all room was decorated as a garden, ad in this garden bloomed 10,000 cut flowers. 2,500 of them American Beau tv r*oses. American Beauty roses are 1 apiece just now,-but Mr. Knight's rder was so large it emptied all the hot houses within easy train distance f Philadelphia, so some of the roses ost $2.50 each. A great b,ank of ~reenery ran from the ball room floor p -to the galleries, cutting the ,ball oom down to half its usual size. Here ad there in the green were broad peads of white blossoms. Most of hese big masses of blossoms were ountain laurel in bloom. Some of the trees were found in the greeneries f Philadelphia and neighboring cities md others wet-e brought from the outh. Other white blossoms were those of the white lilac, another bush not easy to find in bloom at this sea son. without going far to the south ard. 'Hundreds and hundreds of palms and ferns and palmettoes help d to make up the bank of green. Rare ybodium ferns stood at the corners and in the middle boxes, the finest pecimems to be had in the country, oston ferns were brought all the way from the Pacific Northwest. In the Clover room and Red room, where the all supper was served, there were im ense masses of pink roses and g'reat bouquets of American Beauties. It is figured that the decorations ost $10,000, the hotel rent' for the night was $1,000, the cost of the ball supper and wine fr-r 1,000 persons is put at $12,000, with $1,000 for addi tional expenses of various sorts. This second social function for an eighteen ear-old girl, charming. of course, vas a grreat success. "All society was there, b)ut the Philadelphia set-the )ld-tjme set opposed to the Newp9rt smart set-was most in evidence. F nally. we are told that "the father made his money in sugar and muhi plied it in stoeks. and the une] is in steel manufacturts. in mines alind westetIn raneclhes. They reallv won't miss i menr.' The Red Man's Last Roll Call. C. 1. Harvev. in the Atlantie. Like the Moorish King. Abu Ab dullah. looking mournfully backward at his lost Granada. Geronimo, from Fort Sill gazes westward across his prairies and hills to the Arizona of his great days which he will not see again. Up at Pine Ridge agency the Sioux nonogenarian Red Cloud, the most famous of Indian living warriors who could tell as many marvels as Aeneas told to Dido, refuses to accept the government's offer of an allot ment of lard, and goes down, like Dickens' Sagerforth in the storm as Yarmouth, waving his hand defiantly in the face of destiny. Most of Her eules' labors looked light compared with the task which the late Henry L. Dawes undertook when he and the commission created under the law of 1893 started out to induce the Choc taws. '"- Creeks and their neighbors to allo. neir lands to their members as individuals,- to abolish their tribal government and to merge themselves in the mass of the country's citizen ship. That work has been grandly finished. The last councils of the Five Tribes have been held. The epic of the American Indian has closed. For the Defendant. Last summer there died at Wash ington a lawyer, who for many years had shocked a large number of friends by his rather liberal views touching religion. A friend of the deceased wli cut short a Canadian trip to hurry back to Washington for the purpose of at tending the last rites for his colleague entered the late lawyer's home some minutes after the beginning of the service. "What part of the service is this I" he inquired in a whisper of another legal friend standing in the crowded hallway. ''I've just come myself,'' said the other, ''but. I believe they've opened for the defence.'' Dr. R. M. Kennedy, DENTIST. Newberry, - - S. C. uVER NATIONAL BANK. WORK BY A Newberry, Steam Laundlry Co. (schedule iniEffec't April 16, 1905.) So. 52. Daily. Lv. Newberry.. ...........1236 p. m. 'Ar. Laurenls...... ...... .50 p.m' - No. 2. Daily. Lv. Laurens. ............ . . . .5 p. mn. Ar. Greenwood............ 2.46 p. m. A r. Augusta.............. -5.20 p. m. Ar. Anderson............ 7.10 p. mn. No. 42. Daily. Lv. Augusta... ...... . ........ .. .... p-35 p. mn. Ar. Allendale..................-...... 4 3o p- m. Ar. Fairfax..... ............... ........ 4.4! p. mn. Ar. Charleston................................ 7.40 p. mn. Ir. Be auf ort.... . ............... ... 630 p. mn r. lort R< yal.... .......... ..... 640 p. m A r. Savannah.................... .. -. 6.45 p. ml Ar. waycross.......... ................ 10.oo p. mn. Ar. Jacksonille................... ......... .. No. x. Daily. Lv. Laut ens.... ......................... 2.07 p. mn Ar. Spartanburg .. . ..................3.20 p. mn No. 52. No. 87. Daily. Ex. Sun . Lv. Laurens.............2.09 p. mn. 8.oora.m Ar Greenville..........-3.25 p. mn. 1o 20 a. mi BUE RIDGE RAILROAD. Time Table No. 5. In Effect November 29, 190$ Between Belton and Walhalla. EASTBOUND. WESTBOUND. No. 10 No. 12 No.xi No. 5 P. M. A. M AR. Lv. . P. M. A. M 3 35 1o025.--.Belton..--35 So 0o47 3 10 xeoo..... ...Anderson ... 422 11 04 .... 9 25...Pendleton...4 47 11 33 (5 15 I I51, .... 858---.---eneca ...531 100o .... 35---. waha11a..- 5 5 12 J. R. ANDERSON, supt. The Pacific Mutua Compa Its peculiar LEGAL organizatior Life Insurance Company in Amer, old. It gives the Greatest Guaran of any Insurance Company at less rates are LESS than any other coj section. The following are the RATES pating plan: Whole 20 Payment Age Life Life 20 $14 65 $22.60 21 15.00 22.95 22 1.5.35 23.30 23 15.70 23.70 24 16.05 24.10 25 16.45 24.55 26 16.85 25.00 27 17.30 25.45 28 17.75 2590 29 18.2.5 26.40 30 18.7.5 26.95 31 19.25 27.50 32 1980 28.05 33 20.40 28.60 34 21.05 29.20 35 21.70 29.8-5 36 22.40 30.50 37 23.15 31.20 38 23.90 31.95 39 24.75 32:70 40 25.60 33.51 - 41 26.55 34.35 42 27.55 35.25 CALL TO SEE US ROBERT P GENERAL AGENT FOR Newberry, Sou GEO D. DA Still in the market, and headquarte New crop Florida Cabbage, Seed Irish Potatoes, Hams, Evaporated Peaches, Apples Plum Pudding, Postum, Qi Grape Nuts, Shreaded \1 Cream of Wheat, Hec Loose Buckwheat, Jul 'Fresh line of Choco Olives and Pickle Coffee from 20 Ground free High grad Garden A full We are making a special .run or Harness. Call and see me before For the niext WE OFI .50 Ba : :OF: Straighi AT $4.00 PE S. S. Bir . P'rcosp erit . STA TENV (CONDENS: The Exchange Bank o: December 3( ommenced business September, 190.5. Sixty RESOURCES. oans and discounts.........$ 79,304 12 Cap urniture and fixtures......3,251 75 Prod Due from Banks........... 11,616 89 Dep verdrafts.................. 462 63 Ban Cash and cash items........ 23,505 44 Indi $118,140 83 We beg that you give our statement your< spetfully solicit your business. We are prepared to offer you every facility justify. Remember, too, we pay 4 per cent. ompounded semi-annually, January and July J. D. DAVENPORT, President. R. C. CA RLISLE, Vice-President. I Life Insurance m.y. i makes it the STRONGEST ca. it is nearly 40 years tees written in the Policies cost. Its non-participating -nDany doing business in this per $1,000 on non-partici Whole 20 Payment kge Life Life 43 $2860 $36 20 44 29.70 37.20 45 3I.90 38.25 46 32 15 39.25 47 33.50 40.50 48 3495 41.75 49 36-50 43.10 50 38.15 44.50 51 39.90 46.00 52 41.7.5 47.60 53 43.75 49.30 54 45.85 51 15 55 48.10 53.10 56 50.50 55.20 57 53.10 57.45 58 55.85 59.85 59 58.30 62 4.5 60 61.95 65.25 61 65.30 68.16 62 68.92 71.45 63 73.80 74.95 64 78.35 78.76 65 81.50 83.20 OFFICE OVER POST OFFICE. qORRIS, 3OUTH CAROLINA, th Carolina, VENfimPOHT rs for good things to eat. and Apricots, iaker Oats, rheat, ker's Buck Wheat and key Tablets, late Candies, Jellies, :. to 35c. per lb., and : charge by Electric Mill, e Teas,. Seeds of all kinds, line of Fancy Toilet Soaps.. i Buggies and Wagons and buy -g elsewhere. Ten Dogs 'ER rr els. :Flour R BARREL. ge Co. y, s. C. lENT E~D) F Newberry, S. C. ), 905. per cent of Capital Stock called for. LIABILITIES. ital Stock paid in.......$ 31,330 00 its less expenses paid.... 2,045 92 osits, viz: ks........$ 1,457 03 vidual ......83,307 88--$ 84,764 91 $118,140 8 |areful consideration, and we re which your business and balance interest in our savinigs department, .We take deposits from $1.00 up . M. L. SPEARMAN, Cashier.