Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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"THE Din AND RESPONSI! EXECITIVES IN Sneech of Ex-Governor Cole. ? K ence of Goveri Gentlemen of the Governors' Confer ence: H-ree-quarters of a century ago, in the historic city of Eoston, one or tne clearest thinkers which Massachusetts, or even the nation, has yet produced, in an address upon "IMan the Reformer," emphasized t! e thought that "every great and commanding moment i *-> tVio orindlc nf tho wrwrl rJ is th? triumph of some enthusiasm." He cited as an example "the victories of the *A.rabs after Mahomet, wi'-o, in a few years, irom a small and mean beginning, established a larger empire than . , - . . - . ' . O ifMHWintinfffii 111 i i"m? i i i i ' I "J-"-- U,^rw^>? "Rut '' ha nrc^ir>*Ad I ilia i vi iiuuiv.. uv I "there will dawn ere long on our polif tics, on our modes of lining, a nobler morning than that Arabian faith, in the sentiment of love. This is tf:e one remedy for all ills, the panacea of Nature. We must be lovers, and at once the impossible becomes possib'e. Our age and history, for these thou' sand years, has not been the history - t ^ r\,,?. Or Kincmess, DUl, Oi seiiusmitroo. v/ui distrust is very expensive. T'~e money I- "we spend for courts and prisons is very ill laid out. We make, by distrust, the thief and burglar and incendiary, and by our court and jail "^e keer> him so. An acceptance of the sentiment of love throughout Christendom for a season would bring ~ ~ ' a ?. _ the felon ana tne outcast to uur ?mc in tears, with the devotion of fcis W faculties to our services." There is not crystal ball in which man may see portrayed the future, and little did Emerson ti-ink that two decades after he was so eloquentlj' preaching this doctrine of peace and . love that this nation would be plunged into four years of civil strife. When ft lie said that "this great, overgrown, - ? 1 "> - r- ~4:11 [dead cnrisienaoiu or ours sun rcc^o alive at least the name of lover of mankind," and prophesied that "one day all men will be lovers, and every ' calamity will be dissolved in the uni* versal sunshine," little did he reck tf at seventy-four years later the farflung battle lines of Europe would stretch from hundreds to thousands of miles and that nearly the whole world would be in a death grapple, attended "by cruelty and sacrifice and misery which passes human understanding. ~ 1? -X. [Millions 01 men are seeding user's blood, and "Few, few shall part where many meet; ^The smoke shall be their winding v sheet; And every sod beneath their feet Shall be a soldier's sepulchre." ? But it r:as been the history of the world, in accordance with the slow but steadv nroffress of the thuman race W that the darkest night is ever followed ft by the brightest dawn, and from the p gloom which now enshrouds the land 1? and the sea, will emerge a nobler civilization, which will continue to gain strength in an atmosphere purified by the battle, and human nature by the blood that has the tearsthatha^ kie prayers of widAat fcave ascended HHi? GOd. Br this digres BILITV OF CilEF DEALING Willi PRISONERS" L Biease Before the Conferlors at Boston. sion; but the thought was suggested by the fact that the spirit wLich plunges nations into wars, except the nations which wage war against op pression, is the same spirit wnicii nas in centuries past led men to seek the cruel punisi ment of prisoners?a spirit which is vast'y too much in evidence even in this twentieth century. Within the past few weeks we read ~ 1? - ? ~ V\A /I in me newspapers ui a jlu^h v\uu uau made an attempt upon the life of another being plied with questions until I ::e was too weak to talk, then being j walked up and down the corridors of. i l I his prison to revive him, then plied with questions again, and subjected to God alone knows what else, in the administration of the "third degree." Later t? is prisoner was found on the floor of his cell with his skuli crushed in, and it was stated that he had climbed to the top of his ce'l door and jumped to the floor, killing himself. W ether he was murdered or whetiier he really committed suicide I do not know; but this I do know, that the suicide of any man would hardly be unnatural under such circumstances, and that the treatment accorded him, before conviction, would fcajve been a disgrace to our civilization even had it occurred after he had been tried and sentenced. As remarks a very distinguished Southern minister of the /Irtcnol "rVio cn-M 11 Arl 'third is i a revival of the horrible method of the Spanish Inquisition, a species of , torture to compel an accused person to incriminate himself, a flat contradiction of the humane principle of law that regards every person innocent until proved guilty." This "third degree" method tf:at is practiced in the North and the East and the West? less frequently, I am g7ad to say, in the South?whether a man be killed j during its administration, or whether Via Kfl r>r\m mi t ciliriHp nr XiC UA J. ? V^JJL cvy VV*^?**44W wu.v.uv, v ! whether he be tortured sometimes into confessing crimes of which he may be innocent, is barbarity in a sneaking form, under the sanction of law, and those guilty of practicing it evidence a spirit as mean and contemptible as the malice which animates the midnight I assassin. i Three years ago I f'ad the pleasure of addressing this conference in Richmond. My remarks were telegraphed throughout the nation, and I was heralded to the world as a chief executive who advocated mob violence. I do not propose to go into a discussion of t)':at here; it is entirely beside the /inaofinn CtlfR^O it fllT" TT10 tr\ flQ.V fV??t 4UUOC1VU. UU1X1W A W 4V* w vv VIM; in the South, the lynching of a man for the unmentionable crime is a protection to our civilization, while the practice of this "third degree" violates the letter of our constitution at its most vital point and is a blow to tJhe whole spirit of our institutions. In . the South an aroused mob is an out' raged community which carries out the i law, but brushes aside with mighty i force the law's technicalities and dei lays. There is no hypocritical, sancti ?* - J> J ? t momous violation or xuzHjauieiiuu L rights under the cloak of law by those sworn to uphold the law; the deed i3 open, and civilization and justice are \indicated. And when mobs are no longer possible, liberty will be dead. As was eloquently said by a Southern orator not long ago: "A nation of molly-coddles might meekly lie at the I feet of popes and kings, while schools were being abolished, libraries burnt, scientific research penalized, and the great mass of the people plunged into ! ignorance, superstition and slavery; i but such a nation never reared a l Washington monument or drank patriotic inspiration on battle fields where ; brave soldiers died, or broke out into enthusiasm when ti. e Hags were flying ' and the bands struck 'Dixie.' Grapeiuice dreamers may cry, 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace, anywhere, nor was there ever any. The elements have no peace; the stars have no rest; the clouds toss and tumble, float or fly forever; t)';e ocean always murmurs and always moves; the rivers do not stop, and the dews are ?ver going up or coming down; the storm is gathering its forces, or spending them, all the time; there is no peace. It seems to me, I remember something about and ctrnn?p to saw these mobs are described as being pioneers of our independence and institutions. There was that Boston 'mob,' wlnose picture used to be in all our histories at school. * :i You can close your eyes ana see u now; the British soldiers, standing in well-dressed line, muskets at their shoulders, and the smoke and flame bursting out at the muzzles?and the members of the "mob" falling to tJ'e ground. The firing on the Boston mob fired the American colonies, and the " - J A ~ CA,I-A? cry went ail tne way uu?u iu agnail?'The cause of Boston is the cause of us all.'" ? The chief executive of a State leas not a more serious duty nor a graver responsibility than the obligation imposed upon him in dealing with prisoners?and by prisoners I mean to inihnco in iaii awaitina trial, witil I L/IUVfC * *-*. ^v... v~ .. ? w , the presumption of innocence thrown around them by tf:e law, as well as those serving sentences after conviction. The aim of the law?not some of the iniquitous laws written by man, I but the great Moral Law of God, which I was in the beginning and shall ever r\t o /"\/"> 1 Ci t XT De?exists ii>x" uut; ucuciit v/x and not for tJ'~ e punishment and deg* j redation of offenders against the law, j It is necessary to deprive men of their j liberties, and sometimes of their lives, i for two primary reasons; to remove them from society until they may be 1 reformed, and to deter others from committing like offenses. To go be! yond this is barbaric, inhuman and in ! violation of the highest law. A State I . or a nation t)':at allows its prisoners to suffer cruelties is guilty of a greater crime than the prisoners themsel'ves have committed. I We have prisons and prison methods in th-i United States today which are a disgrace to any civilization, and ! fhPTp are thousands of prisoners wfao .might well describe their condition in the words of Lord Byron's "Prisoner of Chillon:" | "My nair is gray, but not with years. Nor grew it white In a single night, As men's have grown from sudden fears. I My limbs are bow'd, though not witn toil, But rusted with a vile repose, ! For they have been a dungeon's spoil And mine has been the fate of those To whom the goodly earth and air Are bann'd and barr'd?forbidden fare." i Or we might describe some of these prisons in tfre words of Cellini, written in a jail in the sixteenth century, four v 3-~ j ?nn yc- Hofnro /mi r boasted civ ?1 uiiui eu jccno ? ilization of today: . "Mark well how Glory steeps her sons in gloom. J You have no seat to sit on, save the stool; Yet you were acti-ve from your mother's womb. i The knave who rerves hatlb orders strict and c'>ol a ? ? j . - ? nf or l XTC* t7/"vn 'jo 11st no wwu y 'i uuci, naught, Scaicely to ope the door; such is their rule. 1 These toys hath Gior;- for her nursling wrought. No paper, pens, ink, tire, or tools ol steel, To exercise the quick brain's teeming thought." When I assumed the office of governor of South Carolina, i inaugurated in my State the parole system, and ' granted hundreds of paroles. tAs ] stated in an article which I wrote for a leading law magazine recently, I was as 'rigorously condemned on the one Iband and a? heartily praised on thf other, for nearly every decision ] ! reached upon each individual case, at any man who has ever been in public life in the history of this country. 1 | cared not for the condemnation or the praise. I was seeking to do my dutj under tl-e constitution, to execute th( laws faithfully in mercy, and striving 4 to do the right and to give human be | ings who had made a mistake a chance (to correct it and to do their part foi the benefit of society. The parole sysI tem whicJ'n I inaugurated was entirel} ; successful. Out of the hundreds ol paroles granted, very few of those re1 ceiving this clemency failed to lead j good lives. TY:ey were given another J chance in life, and they took advan1 tage of their opportunity. I staled to the general assembly ol my State, in regard to t) is matter, that I considered the parole system the best I system ever devised for the handltng j of convicts. In a letter of transmittal i of the reasons which actuated me in I each case. I said, among- other things: " Xow, for instance, you parole a man during good behavior, wi':.o possibly has served more than half ol j the sentence imposed upon him?somellTV.rtrt 4- O Att tr/n Vk a r\ A r a! a/^ Hf h An UMica tiicjr nave ucca yai uicu ?u^n they had only ti'.iree or four more months to serve?you do not turn him loose, but say to him, go forth, make j a man of yourself, for if you do not, I and you are ever convicted again, yo'i j have to go back and serve the rej minder of the sentence imposed. Now, 'if these men had gone aJ'.ead and j served out their sentences, they would | be footloose to do as they please, and I - M 1 J U A 11 V\ f U *1 n A no resuami v\uuiu ue upuu men actions. E"*en a life prisoner may be paroled; it is simply giving him another chance in life; and how many men who profess to be great Christians would be living and enjoying the bessings of this life, had not God for given them and given them another chance? The parole, during good behavior, means what? Good bet'avioi j means that he shall not violate anj j of the criminal laws of the State. ~) they do, they are not of good behavior and they can be recommitted to tf2( penitentiary, without trial, to serv* the remainder of their sentences. Tin system I have now established in Soutl Carolina will be followed by other governors?possibly not so many will b( paroled, but the system itself will b( * ' - mi ( i Kept in VOgue. ilie Serine jsjaieiu 1; j being tried in otfcer States; some goln? even further and allowing a man t< work himself out by his good behavio in the penitentiary. Take one case ' particularly, a negro had been in tin , penitentiary for eighteen years; he i rlnwinrt- r*r\r\A "K A V* O tri f\T ^ 1 1 [ifllUICU UUIlUg gl/UU utiicin.iv/i , i . given another opportunity to live. I : | he disturbs the peace or violates an : of the criminal statutes of the State . he goes back to the penitentiary fo life; that condition hangs over him and he knows that if ibe is not of goo< i behavior, he goes back to serve th< ; remainder of his sentence. Anothe in eta nrp n white man sentenced to thi penitentiary for a long term, for i crime committed while under the in fluence of liquor; parole fcim on th< condition that he take not anothe; drop of liquor. If he does, and thereb] violates his parole, he goes back t( serve the remainder of his sentence.' After an experience of four year: as governor of South Carolina, durin? whicfi time I exercised clemency ii more cases than any other three 01 four governors combined, I believ< more firmly today than ever before ii the parole system as the most ad' vanced step that has ever been taker in prison reform. As proof of the cor rectness of this opinion, I may stat( to you C':at since I retired from tn< office of governor, of all the large num ber of those whom I paroled not a on< has been returned to imprisonment These one-time convicts have re formed and are leading good lives anc making substantial citizens. By th< parole system they have been savec to their families and to the State. But ti':ere must be places of confine ment for prisoners who, it may be, cai not be paroled, and for those who mus serve sufficient time that the lessoi may be taught. Therefore, every ci.ie executive ought to familiarize himsel thoroughly witl'a the condition of th< penal institutions of his State, and se< to it that they are comfortable an< healthy, and that the inmates an treated like human beings, and no like cattle. I believe in fresh air and wiholesom* ' food for prisoners; and in comfortable well-ventilated rooms. 1 I believe they should have good lit ; erature and good newspapers, espe cially their home county papers, en ' abling them to be posted upon the act and doings and to keep up with th ; progress of the people of tiheir re spective counties and of their State in order that when they are given bad , to society they may not be as Strang ,L ers in a new and unknown world, bu ,l may have the incentive in familia surroundings to build their lives ane^ ' ] upon the solid foundation of honest; and integrity. I believe tftey should have the righ | kind of amusements, that the social in stinct so necessary in the plan of thei J salivation may not be deadened withi] ' them. I believe, that the whipping of pris s oners should be forbidden, except ii r cases of wilful disobedience of rule i er acts of insubordination, and tha ; tf:en the whipping should be adminis f - tered only in the presence of disinteri ested citizens of good repute wfco are not connected in any way, directly or - indirectly, with the institution. The ' people of the nation would be horriF fi if fVmtr lrr? o tit r\ f fVm fnorfnl K 1 _ L iltu 11 CUViJ TT V/i. i-V.C4.Xl.LlI Ui U tality practiced in our prisons?the [ merciless whippins, tine electric siaocks and other forms of shocking cruelty. Every chief executive should inform himself of these things, that he may ! remedy the appalling conditions. As I can testify from experience, it is no easy matter to secure tJ'ae information. It can not be done by personal visits, becai se on such visits everything will be in the best of shape, and if the o r\ o clr a/^ Vi att* f atr o rfi OU-iCiO (XI C ClOXV^U 1IU ? LilCJT CJ.1^ treated they will be afraid not to say . they are well treated, because of the : knowledge that if tfrey state the facts . they will be visited with even, more cruel punishment by their keepers. . But the proper kind of investigation, , in tne rignt Kind or way, win Dring , forth the facts, and the remedy can be applied by a just and fearless man. Thousands of prisoners ?very day . are being released after service of the full sentences imposed upon them. In wnat condition are mese men 10 reenter society and to take up again the burdens and responsibilities and privileges of citizenship? "What more important duty rests upon a chief executive than that of seeing to it tlbat confinement has tended to reform the prisoner rather than to make a more hardened criminal of him? There are some professing Christians ?God save the mark!?down in my State wi:o condemn me for these ideas, . and who sneeringly ask if prisons are r to be made so attractive that they will lure men into them. ;\Ve can only pity such beings, and pray Ood that His all-encircling charity may in some manner include them. I believe that prisoners, in healtl'oy o n ^ Tt* V? r\} & c r\ r-n r\ C? n n 1 Ti O^e All ah t I auu ?T UUlCOUillC OU1X VUUUIU50, VU^"W . to be put to work at useful trades, or taught useful trades when they do not know i>':em. In my State most of the convicts are now worked on the roads. This vork, properly required, is ihealy thy for the able-bodied, and benefits r the people at large, But we have the women ;and the Weak-bodied also to e look after, and other suitable work s may be found for them. s And there is another matter wfaich f should be considered- In the majority v of cases the family of the prisoner suffers more than the prisoner himself. r It seems to me that much of ti'-is sufu fering could be relieved by paying to 3 the dependent family of a prisoner a ^ small compensation for the prisoner's lohnp T? mq n-ir inetonooc in mv Qtil I l?UUi I JLL J bMUVV AAA 1A1J K/WMWV e the husband and father is; imprisoned i for crime, and his wife ar.d little ones - are left at home without any means 5 of support, suffering hardships and r privations, thrown absolutely on the j mercy of the world for the bread they ) must have. Had there been a system " of compensation to the family in South s Carolina while I was governor, it r would itave relieved me of what I felt 1 to be the necessity for taking action r in a number of cases, where the hus2 band and father was sent home to save 1 his family from dire distress. We are - told by some that a man should coni aider his wife and children before fce - commits a crime. That is true, but if i he does not, the fact of suffering wo? men and children stares us in the face - ?innocent women and children sufferj ing for food and clothing. Of course . there are cases in whicTa even their - appeals must be disregarded, in order 1 that society may be protected, and ? charity, which too often is found want1 ing, must be relied upon to put bread in the mouths of babes crying because - they are hungry. 1 Still another matter wlhich I have t urged is that we ought to discard the 1 system of numbering prisoners?desf ignating them only by number. It f would have a much better effect in re2 claiming prisoners if their identity was 3 maintained, even though they occupy i a prison cell, keeping constantly be^ i +-r-nrvi tVia font fhnf- fhpv arp fin - IUIC U-CiJU I.UC lavu .......... t man beings and that they have a soul. (And when the prisoners are res leased it is nothing short of a greater crime than most of them have committed to hound them down by always re minding any one to whom they might - apply for work that they are ex-con 'victs. There ought to be a law passed s by every State, and a national law s passed and enforced, to. prevent this - great evil. The poor fellow should be - fooinod m rise and do better instead ? of being held down, with so-called de tectives, hirelings, running around tryt ing to get people to perjure themselves r in order to work up new cases against men who have expiated their crimes by Y the time they have spent in prison. I was heralded to tlbe world as "the t pardoning governor," and I am proud - of the title. I investigated every case r before me, and always was saddened a when I found a case in which my duty to my people forbade me to exercise - clemency. My ideas along the line of a the parole system and of prison reform s have "been called extreme "by many, but t there are those of us here today wfco - will live to see them carried out throughout the nation, if wc continue to go forward in the future a- we have advanced in the past. "What if some of tJ:.e objections whereby our institutions are assailed are extreme and eno^iiaHvp " cain "VTnssr>rhnset+s' great scholar, "and the reformers tend to idealism; that only shows the extravagance of the abuses which have driven theJ mind into tfce opposite extreme." rn"l~ J f 1/> "T1 Atr/il* lilt; git:a.Le&L ucuate imo nanuu witnessed was staged in the senate of the United States between a son of Massachusetts and a son of South Carolina. Both.were imbued with the higfi&st patriotism, and each was striving towards the same goal, but along different paths. Looking back to that time, we can see the gloom of civil war, in which brother was to be ! pitted against Drotner, was aireaay sex! tling upon our great nation. A few [ years later the inevitable storm was upon us. Fifty years faave now passed since its fury was spent, and today South Carolina and (Massachusetts, by the fervid devotion to principle which helped to bring on the great battles in which the sons of one wore the gray and tJbe sons of the other the blue, can clasp hands with higher respect *-- ? ? -t At- 41.. eaon tor tne omer ana wuu iue mcuuship of brothers ead'a- of whom knows i the courage of the other and his devotion to a common mother. And I am glad that today South Carolina's voice can be raised in Massachusetts in the interest of the great reforms wfhich I would urge. ^ - 4<tT hear sometimes expression from the North and the East and the West as to the treatment of negroes and | negro prisoners in the "South. Let rae say that wlaile I was governor of South Carolina, tfcree-fourths, at least, of the cases in which I exercised clemency were those involving negro prisoners. The best friend the negro has ever Ihori on inn? ?jS the neero stays in his ^ w place, is the Southern wibite man, and j the ne?ro knows it. The South will | work out her own problem along this j line, and outside criticism and interference can only retard the solution. But in the underlying principles of improving our systems generally, we . & should all work hand in Inand. i in fhic ftnnnpptirm T mav ?av that A.U. V-'J ? . recently I 'visited the penitentiary of my State, and I saw walking around in a large, comfortable corridor," two BeI groes held upon the charge of having ! criminally assaulted white women. I They lead escaped their just deserts I for the time being. Locked and barred | inside of cells about four feet wide and | about seven feet long, with a little window, iron-barred, about two reet square, were tbree white men, charged with having killed a negro who had criminally assaulted a white woman. I do not mean to say tlie incident is usual, but it was in South Carolina. : In conclusion, I would again urge the importance of the duty of the chief I oviiniitiroa in the nrnnpr : ?ndlin2 and treatment of prisoners. Our chief exexecutives are clothed with large powers, and a foeavy responsibility is tfneirs. A man in jail awaiting trial is presumed to be innocent?a presumption too often trampled upon by the law which has made it. A prisoner serving a sentence is a human being, with a soul?a being created in the image of the same God in whose image you and I were created. Society must be protected, but the most efficient means of protecting it is the reform of the criminal, and just as surely as we make criminals more hardened by the punishment which we mete crut, as surely is society going to suffer, and those responsible must give an accounting some day, if noit in this life, then at the bar of the Great Judge, who, I must believe, is going to hold to a stricter accountability those who have 'violated His laws under tJ':e hvDocrical cloak of laws made by men, than he will hold the por unfortunates who have erred through the frailty of their human natures, "For tftey appeal from tyranny to God." NOTICE. A meeting of the stockholders of Tpp Farmers' Bank, Silverstr^et, S. C., will be held in ti':e bank building at Silverstreet, S. C., on Tuesday, the 31st day of August, 1915, at 4 o'clock p. m., at which meeting the matter of liquidating, winding up the affairs and dissolving the said bank, a corporattou under the law of the State of South Carolina, will be cosidered and -voted on. Stockholders may attend in person or by proxy. This meeting is ordered by the terms of a resolution of the board of directors of said bank. H. 0. Long, President of The Farmers' Bank, Silverstreet, S. C. To Drive Out Malaria And Build Up The System Take the Old Standard G&OVB'd TASTELESS chill TONIC. You knew what you are taking, aa the formula la printed on every label, showing it ia Quinine and Iron in a tasteless forai. The Qninine drives out malax ia, t'ae Iroi Guilds up the system. 50 cents