Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Y She vUibmlk Utasscugro,. VOL. 2. ABBEVILLE, S. C., TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1886. NO. 28. Two of a Kind. [News and Courier.] Frequenters of the United States Courts in South Carolina, in the latter days of the carpet-bag regime, will never forget Major D. T. Corbin, the pretty Ex-United States volunteer officer, known as multitudinous Corbin. from the number and variety of offices he was wont to hold at one and the same time ; nor can they fail to remember the dapper, little, smooth-shaven lawyer, who, from the perpetual smirk which he wore, was aptly dubbed 441'komme qui rit>" and who was the junior editor partner and man of all i work in the firm of Corbin & Stone. These two worthies are called forcibly < to mind by the case of William Stone (of Corbin & Stone) vs. the State of South Carolina, which was argued before the Supreme Court of the United i States on Friday last, Mr. W. K. Karle I appearing for the plaintiff in error i (Stone) and Attorney General Miles 1 and Mr. James Lowndes for the defen- < : dant in error (the State of South Caro- < lina.) The history of this case is as ! follows: < In 1874 the Hon. S. \V. Melton, attor- 1 ney general, instituted a suit in lieau- < fort County against the South Carolina < * Phosphate Company, Limited, known as i the Oak Point Mines, and I). T. Corbin < and Win. Stone, copartners, were asso, ciated with the attorney general as attor- ] ney and counsel for the State. Judgment j was recovered by the State against the I Oak Point Mines, in 1875, for |28,000, ' which amount was recieved by Corbin * O A r 1 * o*_ 1 ana cuone ior me ruaie. Upon the demand of Comptroller General Dunn for a settlement, Corbin 1 and Stone claimed to retain all the tnon1 ey received by them except $206,06 $17,646 91 as a fee in the case, and $10000 mh a fee in the case of Hand vs. the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. After long and earnest controversy between Dunn and Corbin, Dunn on February 10, 1877, suddenly changcd front, abandoned the positions he had maintained from 1876 and consented that Corbin & Stone should retain all they claimed. Corbin Stone acconl! ingly settled with the State by payirg to the State treasurer the sum of $20606, which was received in full settlement. In August, 1877, Attorney Genernl Conner, by direction of Comptroller General Hagood, commenced suit against Corbin & Stone to recover the amount received by them for the State, except the sum of $3,740, which had beu?n allowed by the Court as a fee in the Oak Point Mines case. The defendant Stone left the State before he could be served with process, and subsequently filed a petition in the State Court to remove tlio case against him to the Circuit Court of the United States, atleging that he was a citizen of the State of New York when the suit was commenced. Argument upon thin petition war had before Judge Shaw, but he died without filing any decision. The defendants, Corbin & Stone, both answered, claim- ( ing not only that the payment to the treasurer of $206 Oft was in full satis- ^ faction of the $28,000 received by them for the St?^?Thut set up counter claims against the Stale for #800 for professional services rendered at the request of It. B. Klliot, attorney general, and the further sum of $18,700 for money loan- ? ed to the SJtate through F. L. Cardozo ( in December, 1876, for pay of members ( of the Legislature. (This, it will be re- . membered, was when Mr. Corbin was candidate for U nited Senator.) In April, 1880, Attorney General Younians and Mr. C. K. Miles, who had been associated with him as counsel for the State, moved in the Circuit Court of . the United States to strike the case of Stone from the docket of that Court, an having been improvidently docketed, on the ground that the Circuit Court of the United States was without jurisdiction, because the suit was brought by tho State, and because the case was not removable since it was not a case in which a severe judgement against the defendant Stone could be rendered. Judge Bond heard argument, but did ( not make any order or decision in the , case. The case of the State vs. Corbin & Stone was tried in the Court of Common Pleas of Richland County, in August, 1880. before Judge Hudson. Attorney General You mans and Mr. C. R. Miles appeared for th$ State, and Messrs. Wm. E. Earle and Win. Ackertnan, formerly attorney general of the United States, fo the defendants. Judge Hudson refuse< the motion to enter in the record tha the caRe as to the defendant Stone hat been transferred to the Circuit Court o the United States, and the case was trie< and a verdict rendered for the Stat< against both defendants for $23,723 44 with interest from the 8th of July 1976. An appeal was taken to the Su preme Court of the State and argued bj Attorney General Youmans and Mr Miles for the State. The Supreme Court sustained all the rulings of Judgt Hudson and tho verdict, and distnisse< the appeal. The defendant Stone sen out a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United States in April 1882, and this is the case which hai a. t ? |ust ueen arguea. The case for the State was rested or the ground that the suit against Ston< by the State of South Carolina is not re movable to the Circuit Court of th< United States under the Act of 1875, be;ause it is not a suit arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, is not a suit between citizens o iifferent States, and being against Cor i>in & Stone as copartners upon a joini :ause of actioD, no separate judgment iould be rendered against one.deponent uid therefore that Stoue was not entitlec to a removal of the cause. In 188*2 D. T. Corbin petitioned the Legislature to relieve him from th* judgment for $30,032 66, and also to refund him the $18,700 paid by him tc Treasurer Cardozo. This memorial was referred by the Legislature to a commission consisting )f the Governor, comptroller general, ?ecretarjr of State, the State treasurer '.he chairmen of the committees on the judiciary of the Senate and liouso ol Representatives, to take testimony and nvestigate the matter and to report tc .he Legislature. Mr. Corbin appeared before the com nission in Bapport of hi8 memorial ind Attorney General Miles for the state. The commission reported to the next Legislature against the claims of Mr Sorbin, and recommended that a settlement of the judgment be effected by compromise. The Legislature on the 24th December, 1883, authorized the commission tc fleet a settlement of the judgment bj jbtnining payment by Corbin & Stone >f such amount as a compromise as th? commission may think the best that oar ie done under the circumstances, provided that the action of tho commission ie unanimous. There was an offer ol ibout $1,500 in settlement, which wai lot accepted by the commiasion, and nc "urther action in the matter has beer ?1 u? it ! ??rii uy Lim commission. The decision of the United States Sujreme Court in the ease, which w?? argued on Friday last, is awaited with inerest. 1 Georgia Pine That Bears Aeorm. Captain John L.Martina protlriflen sitizen of Johnston County, Mfc hai ihown the editor of the Washington jra, JRecorder an acorn which grew ot l pine tree. 8ays the Recorder : Near his plantation home, which ii liuated eight or ten miles from thii >lace. stands the tree-a simon pure p?n< ?which h?ar? tKo nnr.o?.?~?i *?:* via* ??i UUIl Fhe tree iH an ordinary, medium-sis* tpeciraen of its kind, and to a persot itanding twenty steps away, would at ract no special attention among thi >ther? standing thickly grouped about A nearer inspection, however, woulc eveal its remarkable identity. Thickl} jerched upon every twig and bow ar< ,o be seen these acorns, varying it tize the same as they flourish on theii >arent stein, the oak. Intcrspersec acre and there upon tho tree are th< original pine burs. Captain Martii considers it a most remarkable freal >f nature, and he is certainly correct He can form no plausible reason fo the amalgamation and cannot in any wa; icount for the hybrid state thus es tablished. The trco, with the acorn on it, ia there to show (or itself, and th captain will take pleasure in showing ii to any one who would like to see th X # -1 f - - ^vnuunui cunosuy. Everybody boar in tnind that wo ar still offering almost our entire line o millinery at and below coat, determine to reduco our stock before the 1st Ja nary. R. M. Had'don dr Co. / Is the Negro . aFallare. r \ rAugustn Chronicle.] i Slatk Rock, Columbia Co., Ga., ( i February 27, I860. $ f Editoh8 Chroniclk :?Your letter of 1 the '24th inst. received. You call my 2 attention to the letter of Prof. H. C. , White, occupying the chair of chemistry , and agricultural science at the Univer sity of Georgia, as set forth in an ad1 dress before the State farmers in Colum bus Ga.. and in an interview with the - Chronicle, in Augusta. Prof. White, it - appears, has made up his mind that the I negro is a failure, and what the South or t Georgia Jmost needs is an intelligent i peasantry?scientific and skilled labor ers. In your first question you say : "I would ask you for y?*ir opinion about the negro as a laborer, and of the 1 race as a peasantry for the South. Do - vou believe that we must look for a new - class to supply his plnco on J the farm, and are scientific and /intensive farming and Northern and i foreign immigration the best substitutes I for the present labor system in the r South ?" I answer emphatically 1 do not, and I t base my answer upon fifty years, ext perience, l'rof. White to the contrary . notwithstanding. The negro is lazy, so 1 is the white man ; of course, we see honorable exceptions in both races, oftener i in the white race because they have ' more pride of character and more sense. The negro sees and feels this hence his > willingness to to be guided and directed by the wnite man. It is wrong, I think, ' to bluine the negro for his failure on the j farm where the land owner rents to him > and turns him loose to shift for himself. , He is broken when he beginu, and but s few white or black men rise^ So rare is F it, that when one succeeds it is apt to be I noised about that somebody has suffered. > The negro as a laborer on the farm, i since freedom, deserves credit instead of censure. The change from slavery to I freedom was very great. It actually i t killed a good many before they found rnif tVi? f frnndntn uvauLI A? ?a W,.v VVUVUI VTVUIU IIVV UU VU C?t. t Then the franchise was extended to . them when they were profoundly igno> rant of what it meant. But what race, nation or tribe would have behaved as well untlcr sitniliar circumstance ? No > sir; the negro is not a failure on the > farm. Take any county in Georgia, and ' where you And the most negroes there t you find the most cotton nude, and that i is the trouble and has done more to i cripple the farming interest than bad labor. I would not be understood to i say that our labor system is a good one, r but I do say it is the best we can get, i and with concert of action among the > farmers, could be made the best labor i for the South to be had, either from the old or new worlds. The negro is easily satisfied. He can stand the sun. God . Almighty has put a sweat pad upon his . head which saves him from sun-stroke, and has given him a constitution in every way suitable to the South. Upon the subject of education, I would say first educate him to speak the truth and t try to teach him that in the great future { criinewill.be punished and virtue rewarded, and that a good character is , worth something, even in this world. 8condly, educate him in the use of tools, i the plow, the hoe, the axe. This, I t think, is our duty. When it comes to ? books let him win his spurs and wear them; a man is always better helped j who helps himself. An ecclesiastical t politician has said that there are seven . millions of negroes here to stay, and ? most of them Uneducatod and will remain so unless they get he'lp. It may I be safely said that ttore are fourteen r millions of neonle of nwn j race here to stay, who are uneducated j and will remain so unless they get r helped. I am disposed to stick to oar \ to our own race and help them if we 3 can help at all. until they set out of the 1 meshes of igronance, and then, with a ( better grace and stouter heart, help the negro if he still needs help. I think it r was Moses's idea to stick to his own f race when he slew the Egyptian, not because Moses had boon imposed upon, B but because the Egyptian had imposed e on one of Moses' race. Georgia, -when t it wss first settled, was known and e called and asylum for the poor. I would not. if I aouH. nw.nt , I *"v l" M but honest and industrious emigrant from coming as long as we have room, A but to invite them here to take the place of nogro aa laborers I am opposed n to that. What would become of the negro ? How long before ?1 mean now if tho change was made) the farmer would be introduced to a striko ? If the negro was to get up a strike it is highly probable that he would be struck : and besides all this, negroes and wage-work ing whites never did get along together. In my opinion, it would be unwise to undertake to make the change, with the negro here in sufficient number to do the work, especially if his labor was supplemented with the white race, and thus let the white man feel that it is incumbent upon him to see that the labir of the negro is intelligently and industriously directed, until the nogro becomes sufficiently skilled to pull through himself. A few urn flninrr that now, and the nuaiber is increasing. In justice to the negro, let me Ray that for ten years before the war between the States I was engaged in giving lessons- in metal?welding and tempering steel, soldering, plating, &c. I also proposed among farmers who owned slaves to take a sprightly man (negro) from the farm, and in ten days teach him to do the most of the plantation work, such as making and pointing plows, ironing hames, single-trees, screws, and taps, &c., &c. For this 1 charged one hundred dollars?no cure, no pay. 1 succeeded in at least nine cases out of ten. I often instructed poor white boys in this way, and some rich ones, whose parents wanted to develop their muscle and give them .the use of tool*. I found the negro almost destitute of inventive genuis. but a genius of imitation, highly developed. I succeeded better with negroes than with whites ; not because they were as smart, but because thev were willing and anxious to learn, and not afraid of Work. Tlic whiln ? ?w .. iiuii Q Iinuun nuuiu blister, and it was very rare thut I could got one to cure the blister by raising nnother under the one already formed. I can still show a good many blacksmiths, white and black, instruced as sbore described, within a day'uride and some in Augusta, who were slaves and instructed by me in this county in 1857 and 1866. In conclusion 1 would say give the negro a ohancc. He has had a hard travel sinco he left his brethren in the wilds, and although he was enslaved for two centuriep or more his contact with the white man and civilization has made the little bunch here worth more than all the balance of negrodoin put together. Very respectfully yours. Marion McDanikl. The Call to the Farmers. To the Farmers of South Carolina : Seventy-six per cent, of our State's population are actively engaged in agricultural pursuits. At least one-half of thu remainder are directly dependent upon the fanners for the means of a livelihood. We may justly claim, then, that we constitute the State, yet we do not govern it, nor are the laws administered in our interest, and few are passed for our benefit. We pay taxes and vote and there is no further use for us. These taxes do not grow any less, while our ability to pay them grows smaller year by year, and nothing has been done to foster and cncourage that interest which feeds and sustains all others. The negroes used to be the "mudsills" of our economic fabric; but thousands of white men? land owning farmers?are themselves slowly but surely sinking beneath the waves to be added to the foundation upon which a few men and corporations are erecting their fortunes. Impending bankruptcy stares thousands in the face, while other thousands are overseeing tfeeirown plantations for their victuals and clothes. An insane system of farming largely prevails and our lands are growing: nonfpr voir kv T ? -r r j ? j v-?.. ami go ui South Carolina aro being made a desert to feed negroes, while the landowners, giving no thought to the future of themselves and children stand idly by, or assist and.direct this skimming of a State, which, by reason of soil, climate and geographical position, might be made a veritable Garden of Eden. The negroes will ug) West" when the bones are picked. What will we do? We are "farming towards despair" in thus continuing to impoverish our lands by ignorant - culture, but uothisg is done by our legislature, or its creatures, to stop tt, or to try to toach the people a bettor fend wiser system. Forty > -I't" thousand dollars are spent annually in the State, three-fourths of it paid by farmers, to educate men for other professions and pursuits ; the farmers get nothing, and are left to grope thjir way toward the grave in ignorance and its consequent poverty. Even the the pittance donated to educate farmers by the United Stales government is taken from us and appropriated to sustain the institution at which our future masters are being trained. How thankful we should be to the good Lord for such generosit}' and wisdom among our statesmen socalled '. Again, we pay $25,000 annually by specific tax, which comes out of the tanner alone, to sustain the department of agriculture. A good slice of this is spent to celled the phosphate roaylty, which goes to support the State government, and the rest is frittered and wasted so far as we can see, the only benefit received by the farmers being a partial protection ajrainst fraudulent fertilizers. A majority of the board of agriculture are not engaged in farming. Who wonders, then, that so little lias been done by it to benefit our farming interests ? Four bad crops out of five and the onscquent poverty of the farmers cry aloud for economy and the reduction of taxes. But this cry, which came from every county, was ignored by the last legislature, which also refused to obey a mandate of the constitution to provide for reappointment of representatives by taking a census. It is small wonder, then, that nothing was done to protect farmers against robbery by dishonest fertilizer manufacturers. The legislature which recently adjourned, though not corrupt, has been very negligent of the public welfare. The thoughtful and intelligent farmers oi the State can not afford to elect another such body of lawmakers and constitutional breakers. Nor can they afford to ?1fAt the agricultural interests of the State to be subordinated to everything else, and no effort made to foster and protect them. Other States with less expenditure than we are making, are doing ten times as much to encourage aud assist those engaged in farming. But the money spent is not entrusted to politicians. The farmers manage and control it themselves. Believing, therefore, that the crisis demands prompt and united action on the part of tho true and loyal farmers of State, and that a convention of such can only redound to the benefit of agricultural and consequently of every other interest and calling, we call such a convention to meet in the city of Columbia, Thursday, the 29th. of next April, to take into consideration the question touched upon in this address, together with such other matters as they may deem of importance to the political, social, educational or industrial in. te rests of the farmers and of the State. Each county agricultural society is requested to send live delegates. Each local or township agricultural club is requested to s^nd ene delegate. The farmers of each county are requested to send five delegates over and above those from organized socities, and to effect this it is suggested those in symypathy with tho movement call a mass meeting or county convention of farmers in their respective counties to appoint said delegates. If the wisest and best of our farmers thus assemble we feel and believe there is enough of both patriotism and statesmanship among us to find remedies for these evils, and, without trenching upon the rights of others, manhood enough to domand and obtain a proper recognition of rights and needs. While this is essentially a farmers' movement we invite the sympathy and moral support of good mon of overy calling. Agriculture is the basis of our economic structure and supports the rest. It can not rise without carrying with it the supeistructuje. There is among the politicians in South Carolina an op country and low country. There ia no auoh line of divis* ion among the farmers. Oar interests are one. Let us come together from the mountains to the sea, and, exercising the God given right that the majority should govern, organise as fannora and obHter* ate thia line forever. Signed by J. T. Hanna, 8. & Newell, J. Jameson, Roht 8. Beckham, W. H. Timmean, H B. Gallmaa, Q. P. Cheatham, B. R. TiJUman and eiders. The Last Words foa Drunkard. The following extracts were take.; from one of the lectures of J. J. Talbot, who recently died from the effects of a drunken debauch at Elkhart. Indiana: "But now the struggle is over. I can survey the field and measure the losses. I had lost position high and holy The demon tore from around me the robes of my sarced office and sent me out church less and Godless, a very hissing and byword among men. Afterward I had a business lari?p nnil 1 ?0?? .uv.1 avi ic. unu my voice was heard in large courts, pleading for justice, mercy and right. But the dust gathered on my books, and no footfallscrossed the threshold of the drunkard's office. I had money ample for all necessities, but took wings and went to feed the coffers of the devil which possessed me. I had a home, adorned with all that wealth could buy. The devil crossed the threshold and the light faded from its chambers: the fire went out the holiest altars, and leading me from the portals, despair walked forth with ine and sorrow and anguish lingered within. I had children?beautiful to me, at least as a dram of the morning?and they had so~entwined themselves around thia father's haart that no inattoH ;? might wander, ever it came back to them on the wings of a father's undying love The destroyer took their band in his and and led them away. I had a wife irhone charms of mind and person were such that to see her was to remember her, and to know her was to love her. Thirteen years we walked the ragged path of life together, rejoicing in its sunshine and sorrowing in its shade, The in. fernal monster would not ever spare roe this. "I had a mother who for long yp*r? had not left her chair, a victim of tmffering and disease, her choicest delight was in reflecting that the lessons taught at her knees had taken root in the heart of beryoungest born, and that he was useful to his fellows, and an honor to her who bore him. But the thunder bolt reached even there and did its infernel work. Other days mry cure all but this. Ah, me ! never a reproach from these lips; only a shadow of unspoken grief gathering on her dear old face; only a tender hand laid more lovingly upon my hand; only a closer clinging to the cross, only a piteous appeal to heaven if her cup was uot at last full. And while her boy raged iu his wild delirium two thousand miles away, the pitying angels pushed the golden gates ajar, and the mother of the drunkard entered into rest. And thus I stand a clergyman without a church, a barrister without a brief or business, a father without a child, a husband without a wife ason without a parent, a man without hope? all swallowed un in tho miloo'mm drink." The Edgdfield Lynchers. [Special to News and Conricr.1 Edgefield, S. ('., Mardh 3.?It is just possible that nil but a few of the thirty-one will be eliminated form partrcipation in the lynching, and that the remaining ones will set up a plea of self-defence, inasmuch as it is ctairaed Culbreath tired the first shot. Itiasiid now that the lynchers were fully informed of the fact that Culbreath lilid not assassinate Hammond, and theirikbject was merely to extort from him a eon- ' I fession as to who had done thedeecl. How it was proposed to get thatconression is a story that can only be told by the defendants when they go upon the stand. The lynching, according to this view of the matter, was not a bloody vengeance for a crime which they ?upposed Julbreath to haye committed. ?|j As far as the transction in the town of Edgefield is concerned, it was onlv ^ beginnig of the tragedy and affords good matcial eithor for the prosecution or the defence of the prisoners. The sabsequence crime, when ^ul breath was taken out of the town and left by the party on the roa/ aide in a dying.condition, will probaf ly be the feature of the case on which Kjbqt srtess will be laid both by the Sreband defence/ Of the details of the Iran saction, when Culhr**tk ~ ->-* * ... . w>i ?u? if wiwmi uvn wmcii ho died, nobody knows anything enxcept the lynchers themselves, and the verdict will, of coarse, greatly depend opo? the character of the story they tell, One thing, however, is particularly evident' and tbstis that when tbe oese comtaon, the lyachors will lick nothing tfestttfc- y. nds and money can nofttvHmte to, defence, and that if tbey a pwlong^