Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE WATEKKB MESSENGER, Published Every Tuesday by (J II AS. W. BIRCHMORE, Prop. Subscription $1.50 A Year in Advance Entered as Second Class Matter at the Postoffice at Camden. 3. C. Tuesday July 24, l'J28. PARDON REVOKED GoV. Richards has taken an unusual procedure in the case of Ben Bess, whom he first paroled and later pave a full pardon. Bess was convicted of a criminal assaurt upon a whi-.e woman, described as one of vory or dinary type. An affidavit was made by this woman exonerating Bess. In addition to this appeals had been made for pardon to former Govern ors. With the facts placed beefore the Governor, which were at the tim .> at least, supposed to be correct, tlu-re was nothing left fur the Governor to do but to grant a pardon, if he de sired to right a wrong which had been done this negro. lie granted the pardon, and did not stop here, but bepan an investigation to know if some one had not been guilty of perjury, and then the woman came forward and repudiate:! her affidavit, saying that she could not r< ad nor write and thought she was merely signing a paper forgiving Hess for what he had done. We do not know, but we believe that if nothing fur ther had been done about th:s after the pardon had Ik en issued, no ques tion would have been raised, but as a perjury charge was likely to fol low, this brought another thought. A mistrial resulted in the first trial of the Bess case, and he was released upon furnishing a bond of $1,000. His second trial resulted in a convicti n and he was given a sentence of thirty years. He has served something over thirteen years of this sentence. When a negro attorney of Colum bia instituted proceedings to gi t Bess released from the penitentiary, a conference ,was held between Gov. Richardg and Attorney General Dan iel, and the result was the Governor revoked the pardon. Whether or not he had a legal right to do this will ibe settled in the courts. Gov. Rich ards says that this has been done in other states where pardons were ob tained by fraud and it is contendeel that the pardon of Bess was obtained by fraud. The results of this case will be watched with interest, me-an while Bess is being held in the peni tentiary. _ There was a hearing in this case before Judge W. II. Townsend Thurs day, and the whole matter has been referred to the Master of ? Richland' county as a special referee tn Jnke testimony and report his finding f fact to the circuit court, and he is to do this as expeditiously as possible. Witnesses on each side are to be summoned anel the whole matter thoroughly investigated, when a final decision will be rendered by the A FINE TRIP The South Carolina Press Ass icia tion are off this week on an excep tionally fine trip. They will leave Charleston this morning at eleven o' clock on a steamer for New York. They expect to arrive there Thursday morning and will be met by a com mittee representing Mayor Jimmie Walker, and escorted to the city hall where they will be welcomed by the Mayor. The Mergentl^aler Linotype people will take them in charge for a sight-seeing trip and luncheon*; the American Press Association will take them in charge for a part of the time. Many social entertainments have be; n proffered, so many in fact that the association will be unable to }1ecept them all. They will leave New York on tehir return trip Saturday, arriv ing in Charleston Monday morning. This promises to bo one> of the finest trips the Association has ever taken. We were anxious to join our news paper friends on this trip, but were unable to do so. We just thought how fine it would have been had a number of our subscribe rs "paid up" so that it might have been possible for us to have taken this trip. We mailed out some statements recently as a kind e>f feeler, and had we re ceived the responses we should have had, we wenild at this time be on the steamer on our way to New York, getting the outing we so much need. A WORTHY EXAMPLE The joint meeting held last week in the city council room to take ac tion with reference to the gift to the city and county by Mr. Woodward, which was attended by the members of city council, the county board of directors, representatives of the chamber of commerce and the young men's business league, set a worthy example for other meetings looking to the development of our town and county. It was one meeting that will ffo down in hislory as being abso lutely without disagreement. Kvery One heartily favored the proposition, and it moved with swiftness and nmoothnefrs rarely ever before .ox perieneed, not that we have hereto forj had disagreements, and ironed them out, but there was nothing to iron out in the joint meeting held to take up the matter of an air port. After the meeting was over most of those present went to the P.alnutto Tda Room, where an elegant dinner was served, and good fellowship reigned. It was so fine a meeting, so unanimous in sentiment, that we want to call attention to it as an exam Pk worthy of being repeated on other matters of interest to cur com munity. GEN. OBUE(;ON ASSASSINATED The whole civilized world was shocked upon hearing that Gen. Ob regon, who was soon to b.come pros ident of Mexico, was assassinated while attending a banquet given in his honor. His assassin, known as Juan Escapulario, was overpowered and carried to prison. He refused to give any explanation for the crime. Naturally great ixeitement prevailed as a result of the assassination, but so far there have been no outbreaks < if disorder. The news was receive.! in America with profound sorrow. After all the strife and turmoil in Mexico, the election of Gen. Obregon was looked upon with great favor and it was believed that his influence I would lead his people into smoother paths than have heretofore marked . the Mexican government. Obregon, ' while a great warrior, was for peace. On a number of occasions his life was in jeopardy, but he seemed to have j led a charmed life. In one of the conflicts in which he was a leader | he lost an arm. His friendship for America was expressed on a number of occasions, and while in Washing tun during the presidency of Wood row Wilson, was a guest at the White House. Maity messages of sympathy from America have been sent to Mex ico and the stricken family. Presi dent Coolidge was among the first to send a message of sympathy. Gov. Smith, democratic presidential nomi nee, sent this message to President Oalles, of Mexico: ''With a feeling of horror I learned of the assassination of President-elect Obregon. May I prevail upon your excellency to convey to his family and to the Mexican people my sincere condolences with them in this great tragedy." Writh a wet , candidate for presi dent, and a wet national chairman, the only hope left the democratic voters is to see that dry senators and representatives are elected. This will materially aid the work of keep ing the country dry in the event that Gov. Smith should be elected. 11ETTER SERVICE WITHOUT HIGHER COST The recent trend of railway man agement has been toward intensified economics, and improvements of ser vice by increased executive compe tence. In the last two years one road has reduced its inventory fifty per cent. By eliminating a large, amount of obsolete material and more strin gently standardizing car equipment. Where parts were formerly carried for repairing seven kinds of motors, they have been reduced t? three. This policy was carried out with control lers, car fitting and so on. Still an other important means of cutting down the inventory was by eliminat ing apparently trivial items, such as odd-sized bolts, screws and rivets. Railroad service is now b'ttcr than it Iris ever been. Car shortages are practically unknown; condition of rol ling stock is better, great progress in the safety movement has been made; moveni< nt of cars )? been ap preciably increased. Yet this ser vice costs the user no more, and in many cases it is less than formerly. The railroads are doing everything in their power to give us efficient o peration and they are succeeding. Rut we must not he too optimistic. Their tax burden, coupled with regulatory action, lias kept their profits far he low the point of fair return. Unless they ar<- given a chance to increase their net earnings further progress ion will ultimately become impossible. POOR ROADS EXPENSIVE . Recently conducted experiments show that bad roads cost the motor is! the equivalent of a tax of 3 cents on every gallon of gasoline used This figure is reach* <1 by the assump tion that a car makes 10 miles to the gallon on poor roads. On a basis of a speed of 33 miles per hour, tests in several Rtates showed the cost of gasoline and tires per thousand miles over a rough road used in experiments, was $3 ">.10 for an average four-cylinder car loaded. The cost for the same car running at the same speed over a smooth highway was shown to be only $12.80. What better argument can there he for improving highways as fast as funds can be made available? Road oils are constantly playing a more important, part in transforming thousands of miles of unsatisfactory roads into modern serviceable high ways. A CONFERENCE AND THE ANSWER A number of dry democrats met in Asheville last week for tin1 purpose of formulating plans for the d l'eat of the democratic nominees, Gov. Smith and Senator Robinson. That the men attending this conference are good and true men no ens with any knowledge of their past records will diny, but their determination to vote for Hoover will be questioned by a large number of loyal demo crats. Reasons actuating them in the course they are taking were giv en, the report of the conference in part being as follows: "While declaring our unswerving allegiance to the principles of true Democracy and our determination to labor to preserve the spirit, id als and unity of our Southern Democracy, we have deliberately an I finally de cided that we cannot support Govern or Alfred E. Smith, the nominee of the Houston convention, for the pVvS idency of the United States, and we hereby pledge otirselves as anti-Smith Democrats, to use all proper Mid h >n orable means to secure his defeat. This decision is ba<e 1 on tin* follow ing reasons: First: Governor Smith's repudia tion of tlie Houston platform ( n pro hibition. "Second: Governor Smith's wet record. VThird: Governor Smith's selec tion of a wet Rt publican as ehair man of the Democratic nati .mil com mittee. "Fourth: Governor Smith's rela tion to Tammany lla'.l." The statement then recalled the Houston convention activities. in cluding the fight in the resolutions commit tec over the prohibiti >n p'ank: how a plank finally wa^ agree ! upon and Smith nominated. It recalled the receipt and reading of G ?v ?mot Smith's telegram pledging enforce ment of the laws but sta ing th it e favored modification of th national prohibition act, accusing the govern or of "bolting the party platform." "A courageous man", it says, would "have followed the example of Judge Alton B. Parker in 11)01 and refuse;! to accept the nomination on \ p'at form from which had been d. lib -rat- - ly and positively exclude 1 all pro posed wet repeal or modification planks. But the belated sending of Governor Smith's two-faced tele gram was an action of brazen, politi cal effrontery plar.ned in advance, taken for the purpose of emphasizing in spectacular fashion Governor Smith's opposition to prohibition in order to scuurc.wot Republican vot^es, especially in the North and Kast( It was at the same time, open int' de fiance of the position of dry Dehi > crats everywhere, and especially in the South, who were thus publicly and insolently notified that they must surrender their convictions on a great moral question and must vote t:> en able Tammany sachem to secure a so called Democratic victory by a combi nation of wet voters in the North hi I Hast with dry voters in the South, with a positive declaration that if e hctid, the wet Tammany candidates would regard his election as a man date to advocat. and to secure the. adoption, if possibl.e, of drastic mod ification of the prohibition law. ''Such shameless proposition of political double dealing is in full ac cord with Tammany method? an 1 ideals but must indignantly be reject ed by honorable, self-respecting Southern Democrats, who will refus ? to commit moral suicide to secure the spoils of a petty partisan politic;il victory." I he answer to this is found in a call issued by Hoke Smith, of Geor kria, who was a member of the Wil son cabinet, a Jef fersonian democrat as w< II as a Wilson democrat, who will organize for the purpose to wage an aggressive campaign /or the regular nominees. The reasons for the bolt as given by the Asheville conference, howev. r, is not without reason and any attempt to make it appear that those who attended this conference were not good democrats will fall flat, however iim-h it is d< - sired ?o secure the election of the regular democrats. The democratic party can gain nothing by voting with the republican party. Their re cord following t close of the war and the record of the leaders of that party from Ohio during the past eight years, precludes the thought of turn ing to them for relief. The party in this state certainly hold no attract ions for the democrats. There are some clean republicans in South Car olina, good and loyal citizens, but their leaders are not the kin I self respecting, patriotic democrats would like to espouse. Kven a good neighbor objects to feeding somebody's chickens out of a growing garden. Little Willie's mother bought him a suit of combination underwear which was guaranteed not to rip, ravel or tear. He found it necessary to wrar it for a year as ho lost the ocmbination and couldn't get it off. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA WEEKLY IN DUSTRIAL REVIEW B'elton ? Rapid progress being: m ule j paving: Belton-Anti. rson highway, j U ,372, 049 gallons gasi^ine so! i in South Carolina in May. 1 Windsor ? Edisto Public Service Company wiring residences and streets of Windsor for electric lights. Blackville- ? 251 'cars cucumbers ' shipped from here to recent day. j Estill? Hampton County Banking Company opens brandies at Estill jsnJ VarnvilU'. Lodge ? More than 1000 crates cu icumbvrs shipped from here recently, i Columbia ? Surface-treated high ! way from here to Barnwell proposid. , Easley ? yth carload poultry recent ly shipped from Piekcns County. Pickens ? Biggest road program in histc:y of Pickens County under way. ? Arderson ? $3T0,000, fund appr ?ved j for paving 13 mil s highway from I Glu 'k Mills south <f here t; town j of 1 v a . ? Semca? Oconee County may build modern hospital. ' Dillon ? Funds provided for con struction of har.lsurfaced highways j east and west of lv re. ' Sumter ? Building permits issue 1 here for June represented $20,lV>. ! Lexington? Bids received for con struction of new five-r >om school ? building for negroes in '.his town. ! Ki -gstr v ? Lima btans b-.\i g *h p j ped from Williamsburg .County to Northern markets. Salters Depot? Tobacco crop n thi locality promising. | Kingstree ? New rural route t > serve patrons between here at: i Fow ler will be in service August 10. ; Hartsvilh ? Dyeing and Finishing Co. has factory about rea ly f.?r us Charleston ? N\ ?v building bring e reeled for Citizens & Southern Bank of South Carolina. Walterboro ? Last stretch of Coast al Highway through Colleton county .paved and opened to traffic. Kings ? Farmers of this community | receiving much aid by attending night agriculture school. Shipping Peaches From Kershaw For the first time in its history Kershaw will be shipping pi aches l>> the car lot. There are several fini orchards of young trees surrounding Kershaw and the trees are this yeai bearing enough for shipment t;? b made in car lots. At this time a force under the direction of A. T Drawdy, of McBee, an experienced grader and /packer, is engaged in gathering the peaches from the orch ard -of ?J. O. Massey and several hun dreds (,f bushels are being graded and packed for shipment, with other shipments from Mr. Massey's orchard to follow. And we are in formed that shipments are wry soon to be made from the orchard of W. T. Rcdfearn also. Other extensive orchards are those of B. II. Chimin, C. F. Clyburn, .1. II. Clyburn and .1. C. .Jenkins in the vicinity of Ker shaw. but we are not informed a to wh ther or not they are yet rea ly to make shipments by the car from these. The Kershaw Era. NOTICE OF REGISTRATION The books for the registration of voters for Kershaw county wil. !>'? open the first Mondays in August, Sept mber and October an I remain open for three days each month. G. R. CLEMENTS. G. E. TAYLOR, Board of Registrati >n. NOTICE OF DEMOCRATIC EXEC I'UVE COMMITTEE MEETING All members of the Kershaw Coun ty Democratic Executive Committ e have been requested to attend a spec ial me ting to be held at the court house in Camden Saturday, July 21, at II a. m. This meeting call' d by the chair man upon recommendation of the fi nance committee's chairman to tak" the place of a meeting previously announced for Saturday, July 28, at 1 1 a. m. The county chairman is receiving numerous inquiries regarding enroll ment of voters owing to a general enrollment having been ordered in an adjoining county. In Kershaw coun ty the same hooks as were used in 15)20 will be used in th<.> primaries of tbiR year. The only need for new books is i?i cases where they have been lost or destroyed. Voters becoming cf age or taking up residence within the (dub limits since the last election will have to sign the roll of their new club. The time for enrollment will ex pire Tu< sday, July 24, and the time for candidates to file their announ e ments will close on Wednesday, July 28. All roll books must be in the hands of the county chairman within three days after they are closed. j. f. McDowell, County Chairman. M. L. SMITH, JR., Secrc tary. ''Stal > and unprofitable" is the fodder-pulling habit of Southern farmers. \\ ICKK-i 1?n ! > K X ^ t i . S i ( ) N S To S.'.VANNAI. AM) rI Vi-iKK l'rom Savannah Oieraw 7.1c Hoc v. anuien ? J*> ?.'??> i./.:hunbia (>. lu i>onmai*!-: ? -"oO lairfax 2.N0 i'ro;j?ri '.Mi'.iif Lav /ai\s i'ror.i Other Stations 'i ;L'kci< :m?1. i v?r ;.il I t*;t i 1 1 - Fridays a*al Saturdays, limit (I 1 (. I : u n Li' i<> ivich st :: rt i tiy: point by mid i * izl : t follow i vr Tit. . <!: y. For ;,,irt in. r i 1". >rma:?I.?. ??i. r-'iv m aivst Seaboard Tickit Ajuvnt. S b: A H O A R 1> A i K LI X F RAILWAY Y> 1LSE . MARTIN ISA RM'.SS am! SA1)M,K MAKER W !n?lr>ulc I I'Uthcr ;n\d Shuo Kinrhn/s \iitn In" M.iker and Rvpuirvi illl'U DEALER l'll-l'*-!"* ! i mi i) ' 1 1 (i Phono (>H2(? COLOMBIA. C BUY Your Tires Where Tire buying is Safe I he sji f c win 10 lie sure you arc getting a tire bargain is to buy a good lire from a reliable dealer siiicl pay a fsi i r price. In this way yon play safe arid are (assured of salisfaclory ser vice at the lowest possible cost. Buy (iOOD YKAR A I LW I' A I 111 R TREAD Balloon I ires from us. Let us do your \ I l.( ANI/IN(i. We are well equipped for this kind of work. MYERS SERVICE STATION Camden, S. (.. SK \ r.O \ l< I > \IK I. INK I \ 1 1 \V \ \ ( OMI'AW St li ??<! it !?? ?; I "??.*?! n an To (aniden, S. ( in* ret ted to .hi !y I >, I A rrive 10:11 A . M . >'.> r.'.:, !'. M.x 10:10 P. M. C?: 10 A. ,M . 1 P. M . (a 7 P. M I'iilSt C T II 1 ):i >1 1 i n Ka <t in I I For I.f'HVC Hi<> f I ? > ri < 1 ; i . I :>? ?; I- lorii'a it ies Florida <nila~ l la^tci n ( it ics a iila- Mast "in (it ics ? ri'la Kastern Cit.es lit: I I A. ,M x I 'J : ;!"> I'. M 10: 10 I'. M. 0:11) A. ,M . (a !:.'{ ? I'. M. 7:?.r, P. M. x Stops to di. charge j > n ? n if ? ; from (lam)1 I and beyond and If) receive passengers for Savannah >> i d beyond. (<C Stops to discharge |>.i s* ii." rs lion; ('olumliia and beyond and to re_ reive passengers lor Hamlet and beyond. Pullmans, Conches Mi'iet". I'or further information or reservation-:, call on Ticket Agent. I'OR SAI,K ? One sccon I lu?n<l Mc Cormiek Deorinf? 2 '! I i: < h Two Homo Wajfon in K<>o I < ?n lition. Will soil cheap for ("ash. Apply to RHAME RROTHF.RS. Many people these days nre pre svntinj; their views of the modern tf i r I . yet that doesn't. st-ip the rest. of us from wanting to have our views. / ?, i