Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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EXTRA tandard. EXTRA VOL. XXXI. WALTIRBORO, S. C. SEPTEMBER 3. igoS. •ji KO. .1 IN JUNCTION ASKED FOR. > v. C. C. Tracy, Esq., Appears Before Judge Aldrich at Aiken to Secure hjimction. Capt. C. C. Tracy, attorney rep resenting W. R. Thackston of Cot- tageville. a citizen and taxpayer of the county, left yesterday after noon for Aiken where he appears before Judge Robert Aldrich asking for an injunction to restrain Supervisor J E Moore and .Treasurer R E Jones from paying out any money till the case be argued to determine if the contract between town and county be legal. Tlte following is the complaint: STATE OF SOUTH CAROUNA, Colleton County. In the Court of Common Pleas. Complaint. W. R. Thackston, Plaintiff, vs. J. E. Moore, as Supervisor of Colle ton County and R. E. Jones, as Treasurer of Colleton County, Defendants. The plaintiff complains and alleges: 1. That he is a citizen and tax payer of the County of Colleton. 2. That the defendant. J. E. Moore is supervisor of the said county of^Colleton. having been duly elected and qualified as such, and that the defendant. R. E. Jones, is treasurer of the said county, having been duly appointed and qualified as such. 3. That the said J. E. Moore was at the dates hereinafter mentioned Supervisor as aforesaid, and as such made and entered into a contract to and with the Town of Walterboro, S. C., as appears by a copy thereof which is hereby annexed to this Complaint and nade a part and par cel thereof. 4. That in pursuance of the con tract set out in the third paragraph of this Complaint the said defend ant, J. E. Moore, purporting to act as supervisor a? aforesaid, proceed ed to dig or here one artesian well at the agreed boundary as set out in such contract, and the water from the said well did not rise to a suffi cient elevation to subserve the pur pose of the parties thereto, and that in carrying out such agreement, the said J. E. Moore acting as super visor aforesaid, entered into a fur ther agreement, as this plaintiff is informed and believes, to and wdth • a firm known as Tippett & Wood, of Phillipsburg in the State of New Jersey, for the jurpose of purchas ing such necessary machinery and appliance* as might be necessary to elevate such water, at a cost of $2,318.00, and that such agreement ’ with th|e said Tippett & Wood was on or about the etrly part of March or the latter part of February. The whole of this parigraph be alleged on information aid belief. 5. That the said J. E. Moore, acting as superv*or aforesaid was and is confined to the iaw re'ating to County Supervisor for his power to . make the contracts aforesaid in so far as the same relates to the dis bursements of couftty funds. 6. That there is no statute public or private which would authorize the said J. E. Moore, acting as Supervisor of Colleton Count} to make and enter into the contracts aforesaid. 7. That th« ; said Tippett & Wood are now erecting and building a tower and tank in pursuance of the agreement h*r*4olore referred to, and the said J.IS. Moore, acting as Supervisor af ap—dd is about to draw on his coJdmdant, R. E. Jones, acting as Tre—rrr of Colle ton County, his draft or check for the aum of $280.75 in pert peyment of amount agreed upon to be to the said Tippett A Wood. q That the plaintiff is informed and believe*, the contract or agree- .mintby**tta mU Tippett and Wood aad the said de- jfendant, J. E. Moore, acting as Supervisor of Colleton County is, that the said J. E. Moore, acting as aforesaid, is to pay one half of 25 per cent of the said sum of $2318.00, when the said work on the tower and tank is half oompleted. 9. That- the said J. E. Moore, acting as Supervisor aforesaid, is about to draw his check or draft as aforesaid on funds belonging to Col leton County, and to which this plaintiff has paid in a portion now in the hands of his co-defendant, R. E. Jones, as Treasurer of Colleton County, and that the said R. EL Jones is obliged by law to pay such check or draft. WHEREFORE this plaintiff de mands judgment; that the said J. E. Moore, as Supervisor of Colleton County be enjoined and restrained from drawing any check or draft upon his co-defendant payable out of the funds of such County, in pay ment of any contract or agreement made and entered into by and be tween the said J. E. Moore, as Super visor, of Colleton County and the Town of Walterboro, S. C. or Tip pett & Wood of Phillipsburg, N. J. for building, or maintaining of the water-works now being erected in the said tosm sf Walterbors, ami that the said R. E. Jones, as Treas urer of the said County of Colleton be enjoined and resained from pay ing such check or dra.t, and for such other and further relief as may be just. Card Sent to Colleton News by Mr. Smoak. F/litor The Colleton News:—Kindly allow me apace ia your paper to make the explanation in justice to ail concerned. Aa article was puUisked- in The Press and Standard of lept. Jnd in which it was stated tbal it was impossible for it to seeare asopy of the contract be tween the town and county in refer ence to tbs well. I learned today that this contract has l>e*n apsoaded in the miaata heek of the town clerk under data, ®et, 3k. 1906. 1 had made exhaastive efforts to locate this contract, and 1 took the statement of the clsrk that he did not have the contract to mean that it was not oa file in his office-a natural inference. I was aruuous to publish this con tract, and I hereto attach a copy of it as taken frem the minute book of the town, and would ask that you give it spaea, H poendtle to do so. Mr Larearka has given me the fol lowing statement: “I, J. C. Leiaeks. clerk and treas urer off the town of Walterboro, hereby eortify that Mr W. W. Smoak, Jr. has asked me sevtral times wilhia the last raotth if I had 1 the well contract between the county of CoUeton and the town of Walter boro. 1 told him that I did not have and that I p» asaaned the chairman of the water-works committee had the contract: I further certify that I did not know that wid contract was recorded in the minute book of the tewn till after the hanc ef The Press and Standard of Sept. 2,1106, and that Mr Smoak eenld have inferred fram what I told hha that a cepy ef the contract was not on file my office. The said contend wms made a part of the minutes Oct 1006 and I never went ints the office till June 1, 1006, and have narer had nrrtmm to ge bade over the minutes of the pre vious administration. J. C. Lemacks, Clerk and toar. of the town ef Waltorbora. Sept $. Reasons For o Publishing Extra This newspaper has made re{)eated efforts to put the contract between the town of Walterboro and the 1 connty of Colleton in reference to the well proposition, before the people in order that they might see for, themselves what its provisions are. It has at last succeeded in get ting a copy of the contract, and has issued this special edition in order that the people may see it before the election. We would not have issued this special but unfortunately our efforts to get this contract pub lished failed. We secured a copy late Thursday afternoon, and im mediately took it to the editor of the Colleton News with a request that he publish it in that paper in its issue of Friday. We were informed that space would not allow it to be used, although the editor kindly published a card from us explain ing why we were unable to secure a copy of the contract earlier. Not to give the people these factra whatever cost, would be to betray a confidence they have in The Press and Standard, and we would ask that thep carefully read the contract and see for themselves whether or not Mr. Gruber’s statement as to its provisions is correct. Let the people see if by any process of reaon- ing they can figure out that the county will receive a part of the revenue from the town. We confess that we cannot. Another fact that was not brought out on the campaign taken from the minutes of the Town Council meet ing, Oct. 26, 1906, is that Supervisor Moore is to receive: “5 per cent on one-half the tost of said well or wells, to make necessary arrangements and to oversee the work” this to be paid by the town. Now, if he wanted the people U know all the facts in connection with the well, why did he not tell them that the town was pay ing him 5 per cent for overseeing the work on one-half the cost, which commission of course was large or small according to the cost of the well. <7 Now, so far as we know our readers are in possession of all the facts in the case, if they are not, we are not to blame for we have given them as we found them out, and not one statement we have made about this contract or the well or anything else has ever been oontradicted, and cannot be, for they have been state ments of facts. There have been efforts to hide the issues by vitu perations and slanders, but no facts have been offered to contradict one statement made by this paper. We have hewed to the line and let the chips fall where they may, ami this has made ssme sore heads, but we feel gratified to know that our course has saved the people of this county many dollars, and that today ths officers they have chosen to do their work are. in consequence of the stand for sobriety and civic righteousness this paper has taken, more careful as ts the manner in whice they perform their duties. We have nothing to regret, and we shall continue sur efforts alsng the same lines ‘‘if it takes the whole summer.” to win the victory. NOTICE. Notice is hersby given that the trustees of Williams School District, No, 8 are hereby "authorized and required to hold an election in said Schosl District on Tuesday the 22nd day of September, 1908, for purpose of voting on the establisment of a High School or No. High School for tail district. By order of the County Board of Education, HW Black. County Superintendent of Education. Walterboro, S. C. Sept. 4,1908. Reply to - Mr. Howell. 2 Barrels of Heinz Vinegar, just arrived, at Grace A Warren. Eggs, 20 cent* at Grace A Warren. ■ » »tmm b there a perpetual contract?— Read the contract aad see. S per cent—For every dollar sank by the town-ithe supervisor raised a nickle. In the issue of The Colleton News of Friday, M P Howell replies to an article in this paper under the head: “Where is the contract?” Mr Howell takes about three columns in which to state that he is not guiltv of certain implied charges in the article referred to which he finds in the head-lines “thinly veiled.” He says the purpose of these head-lines is three-fold: “first to make the people of the county believe that this contract is intentionally kept from them. Second, to make the people believe that there is some thing in that contract that the town council is ashamed of: and third, to make the people believe that I have hidden this contract.” These infer ences he says are not true. I say that this expressed purpose is not true. The headlines simply state a fact, and that fact was that my efforts to locate the contract be tween the county and town were fruitless, and they were. If I had to depend on any information given me by Mr Howell my efforts to locate the contract would still be fruitless. If he knew that this contract was “regularly recorded on the minute book of council” or if he kp?w that it has been on “file in the supervisor’s office” why did he not inform me of that fact? 1 certainly would have appreciated such infor mation. The truth of the matter is that Supervisor Moore and certain of his friends did not wish this con tract published till after the elec tion. If Mr Howell had nothing to hide and he knew where the contract was, why did he not tell me where if was? Having gone, to Mr Howell so many times and having failed to get it, it certainly looked as if it were intentionally withheld from publica tion. ^ There is nothing in this contract that the town council should be ashamed of and Mr Howej| had no grounds on which to bate such an inference from my article, but I think the county Super visor ought to be ashamed for entering into such a contract involv ing the people’s money. Now I had been to Mr Howell at least four times to get this contract, I was referred to him by the Town Clerk as the proper person to have it, and he certainly should have had it, or have known where it was. I did not think of going back two years into the minutes of the town council, especially when the town clerk told me that he did not know anything of the contract and that Mr Howell had it. Mr Howell asks why I did not pn claim the fact that the county wia i being swindled, if I knew it, before the opening of the poltitical cam paign? I did. The files of my paper will show that I have been proclaiming the iniquity of this well business ever since the work com menced, and that is the cause of such a howl against me, and my paper. It .the truth that hurts. “Why (j d*»'t he demand this con tract during the campain?” asks Mr Howell. 1 did ask for it during the campaign, and Mr Howell promised to bring it to me to one of the meet ings the last week of the campaign, but he did not do it. Why? He knows; I do not. He says: “It would be a pleasure to me to discuss other similar mat ters but I will not.” To this I will say! “Lay on McDuff.” Now, no one regrets more than 1 do that Mr Howell should have taken offense at what 1 wrote about the contract’.* being lost. There is absolutely no good reason for him to be offended at what I wrote. 1 went to him a number of times to get the contract and I told him that I was anxious to publish it and gave him my reasons, and when 1 found 1 I could notjpet it, I told him 1 waa going to publish that fact, to which he replied: *’Go ahead and publish it.” Now if he knew where it was re corded, why did he not tell me? He He knows; I do not W. W. Smoak, Jr. THE WELL CONTRACT Copied From the Minute Book of tke Town Clerk. An Interesting Document. After a persistent search the elusive well contract was secured late Thursday afternoon from the books of the tewn clerk. It is a document worthy careful reading and thought. The contract follows: STATE OF SOUTH CAROUNA, County of Colleton, Articles of agreement made and concluded at Walterboro, S. C„ this 2nd day of October, A. D., 1906, by and between Colleton County and the Town of Walter boro, WITNESSETH: 1st. That the parties hereto con tract and agree to and with each other to bore one or more artesian wells on the boundry line separating main street, otherwise known as Washington street, from the Court house square, in the said town of Walterboro, each of the parties hereto paying one half of the ex pease and furnishing one half of the material for boring, casting and otherwise equipping the said well or wells. That when the said well or wells have been bored, cased and equipped as aforesaid the same shall become the joint property of the said County of Colleton and the T«.wn of Walterboro, and each of the said parties shall be entitled to use one half of the water dt rived therefrom. 2nd. Tha* should the water from the said well or wells not rise to a sufficient elevation to subserve the purpose of the parties hereto, then, and in'that event, the parties hereto contract and agree to purchase such necessary machinery aad appliances as may be necessary to elevate the said water, the cost of purchasing and operating the same to be borne equally by the parties hereto; pro vided, should the water derived from the said well or wells attain a sufficient elevation without pumping to subserve the purpose of either of the parties hereto, then, and in that event, the said party shall not be required to defray any part of ex pense of purchasing or operating machinery for pumping water for the use of the other party, the pur pose of Colleton County being to elevate the said water to the top of its Court House for a water works system for its public buildings, and the purpose of the Town of Walter boro being to elevate the said water to tanks to be used for a system of waterworks for the town of Walter boro. 3rd. That this contract shall go into effect immediately upon its execution, and continue in effect until rescinded by the mutual con sent of the parties. In Witneto Whereof, the parties have hereto set their hands and seals in duplicate, The County of Colleton by its County Supervisor duly au thorized thereto by a resolution of its County Board of Commissioners, and the Town of Walterboro by a committee duly appointed and au thorized by a resolution of its Town Council, the day and year first above written. Colleton County, By J. E. Moore, Supervisor. Town of Walterboro, By W. B. Gruber, D. B. Black, G. C. Brown, Committee.. Witness, M. P. Howell. Jr., SUPERVISOR MOORE Gets Fiye Per Cent of Half . The Cost of Well The following extract from the minutes of the town council shows that the town pays Supervisor Moore five per cent, of half the cost of the well, or if he has to bore only one well his commission will be five per cent, of $4,363.43 which makes $218.17. He said on the stump "you boys paid me only my salary" but we “boys” in town had to “corns across” to the tune of $218.17. Extract from minutes of regular mqpting of Counoil held October 26th. 1P06: * ‘The committee on public improve- metts reported that acting under instruction from Council, that they had entered into a contract with the County for the purpose of boring artesian well or wells, each paying one half of the expense: and that said committee had agread to pay Mr. Moore r > per cent, on one half the cost of said well or walls, to make necessary arangements and to oversee the work. It was moved and carried that the Clerk of Coun cil be instructed to record the con tract entered into with the County for the purpose of boring artesian well or wells and that the action of such committee in entering into such contract is hereby approved and confirmed. What Does the Contract Mean? “That the parties hereto contract and agree to and with eaclT other to bore one or more artesian wells on the boundry line separatihg Main street, otherwise known as Washing ton street, from ths court house square, in the said town of Walter boro, each of the parties hereto K ying one half of the material for ring, casting and otherwise equip ping the said well or wells.” It will b« seen by the terras Of the contract that the county is tied up with the proposition of boring more than one wefiT It says “ONE OR MORE.” If the present well doea not give sufficient water then toe town can compel the county to bore two, three, four or a doeen wells until a sufficient supply of water be obtained and to pay T ‘one-half of the expense and furnishing one-kalf the expense of boring, casting and otherwise equipping said well or wells.” The well already bored has lost the county $4,363.43. Suppose there is not enough water what will become of poor old Colleton? Will the tax-paysrs submit to this high financiering any longer? It has been stated publicly %at The Press and Standard has mis represented Supervisor Moore by using the headline over Mr Gruber’s article, “A PERPETUAL CON TRACT.” Now let every voter read j paragraph 2nd in this remarkable I contract and if it does not mean ■ that the county has entered into “A ( PERPETUAL CONTRACT” it dses ! not mean aaything. It says if the 1 water does not rise high^epoUgh, ’ then the parties (the county and town) are to purchase the necessary machinery: “The cost of purchas ing AND OPERATING the same to be borne equally by the parties hereto.” Now everybody knows that the flow obtained is a very small one and that it does not rise three feet above the ground. Every body also will remember that ihe air compressor and machinery for elevating the water have already been ordered and the county is to pay one-half of the cost of the same. Wherein has Mr Moore been mis represented? Don’t take The Pness and Standard’s statement nor Mr Moore’s: Read the 2nd paiagraph of the contract, and see who has bsen slandered. Of coarse, the proviso provides that if the water should rise to (he top of the courthouse then me county would not have to pay any part of the expense of purchasiog and operating the machinery for pumping. Of course not. No pumping would be necessary. The town would not have to pay half the expense either. Paragraph 3 provides: contrast shall ’That tfus II go into effect kn- mediately upon its execution, and continue in effect until rescinded by the MUTUAL CONSENT of (be parties.” The contract went into effect Oct. 2, 1906 and is still in fore*. Tke only way it can be ter minated is by the MUTUAL CON SENT of the parties. It is there fore perpetual until* the town of Waltorborb consents to turn the county loose. Does anybody thhik that the business men of Wafer- boro would turn loose such g good thing? Supervisor Moore afe thathe could sell the well to_ town at a profit Why ahould *