Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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■ .** ^ • \ ^ - - ■ ^ v • - ■ > ■ v- «.. .^r THtfBAftNWKLL PBOPI - , i . i ,:i: i l „’-:..’fci..: l i. l ..>^ BARNWELL, SOUTH CAROLINA »- * / ; s " •* v v THURSDAY, Coolidges, See the Constitution at Charlestown P*-’. ’ tK'-: w. lav 1 % " *S»T Is fll r» tw>‘ Jt3 Jr- ’ . I WM. m imH w if m w Wl > mi I '* : •% .>v ■ ill*.. Ad 1 •' .>V; ; iHi ' '^11 W.:- i >' Kf, i /> l mmM mt ,/t • rWX'f: w H- %*\i iwmm Him >#W: President and Mrn. Coolldge, toget'.ierTwlth Swretary Hixjver and others, went to the Charlestown nary yard and visited the historic old frigate Constitution, Tlie illustnulon shows the Mayflower, fhe Presidential yacht, coming in as.the sailors on the frigate, In the foreground, give the salute. BROWN GIVES REASONS FOR DEMANDING RESIGNATIONS — — j (CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE) Kennedy and not to me. This was in the beginning of 1923 that this Boar i ■was appointed, for four years, un less removed, etc. Because the pre vious Board had spent $25,132.87 the year before, the Delegation appropri ated for 1928, $25,000 for chaingang, roads and bridges. And remember that just at this time, we had tibnded the county to build the Government " road from Kline, through Barnwell to Elko, Williston to White Pond, and from Williston to Blackville towards Denmark, and from Barnwell through Blackville to Edisto riVer, towards Cohunbia, and these roads were take* over for construction and main tenance by the Government and that relieved the County Directors from the upkeep of all the through roads in the county, and ought to have lessened the expenses for chain- gang, roads and bridges. However, in 1923, the present Directors spent the sum of $31,695.74, or $6,596.74 more than was approprated. Mr Matthews, the chairman of the Board, upon going into office, immediately took the chaingang and moved it over beyond Blackville, n^ar- the planta tion of himself, his father and brothers, and kept it there, so I am informed,, six or eight months. There were two gangs at that time and Mr. Matthews took the big gang over in his community. .Mr. J. W. Fvk too/, the little gang to Rosemary, where hn lives, and it spent fro biggest part of the year in that •ectioo. Mind you, these two gangs '•ost Barnwell County taxpayers for 1923, $31,596.75, and worked in those two townships pri.c tically during 1923. It ♦vmv .luring the summer of 1923, th-t M.o conduct of Mr. Folk became so highhanded until at the summer, term of Court the Grand Jury took the matter up and made a special pr“}‘».itm .T»t on the subject. T don’t know now who wr.S on the Grand Jury, nor di T remem ber who the Foreman was then, but 1 assume that it vr.-i composed 'f eighteen honest men of 'be County. Read what they have to say rhout Mr. Folk practically running off the Super visor who had been elected by the people, taking charge of the gang, working roads in Aiken Oovnty for his friends and selling the County rotten corn which killed s'>me of the stock. This is the Gran! Jury, two years ago: 6. “In connection with the of- r flee of the Board of County Com missioners, now called Board of “County Directors, we find and re port a moWfeurnsatisfactory condi tion of affairs. We find that the new Board of County Directors which took office in March, is not 1 complying with what we consider the law under which they were ap pointed. We find that the Act of . 1922, under which they were ap pointed, provides for the appoint ment of five directors, shall have a general supervision of the affairs — of the county, and in addition to the employment of the other coun- ■ty employees, are authorised to ’ -employ a County Supervisor to 4< manage the construction, main- f tenanca and repairs of the roads 4 and bridges of the county”, and to whom shall be committed adequate atifcority and full responsibility for the construction and mainten ance of roads and bridges”, all tinder the General Direction of the ./ Board. The act of the Legtsla- ture further provides that the -Supervisor may first be nominated Democratic Primary. We Mr. J. ,S. Still who has for Barnwell laht yttr nominated as Barnwell County in HP-h! ToY that-while they ijjlflJTI'/ Bakmwell. in Supervisor divested Mr. Still of all authority to manage the construction, main-' tenance and repair of the roads and bridges of the county. We find that the individual members of the Board, fn violation of the act by which they were appointed, buying supplies for the county, without competitive bids or adver tising for the same, and indivi dual members of the Board direct ing the affairs of the chaingang, almost to the exclusion of the Supervisor. We further find that the Board has endeavored to put such conditions of service upon the .Supervisor' as to make it impos sible for him to satisfactorily serve the county. We find in one instance, where the chaingang is working over near the Aiken County line. That one of the mem bers of the County Board, over the protest of the Supervisor, directed a certain road to be worked, that the said road was not a County Highway, but a private road leading into Aiken County; that the Supervisor refused to direct said road to be worked by the chaingang. whereupon an order was given the Captain of the chaingang by Mr. J. W. Folk, mem ber of the Board, that the said road should be worked to a point which is generally conceded is as much as half a mile across the Barnwell County line into Aiken County. The Supervisor, who has been in charge of the roads and bridges in Barnwell County for many years, avers that the road in question is not a public road be longing to the county and that the portion of the road in question is in Aiken County. We further find in connection with the activities of Mr.'Folk, as a member of the Board, that recently he has caused the county to buy four hundred (400) bushels of corn which came from one of his brothers. It is reported to us that the com being defective was being offered on the market around Williston at 60c per bushel, but that four hundred bushels of the corn was sold to the- county. without competitive bids, at $1.00 per hushbl and paid for; that the same was never measured or receipted for by any Officer of the county unless by Mr. Folk. We have inspected this lot of com and we find it absolutely rotten; that the feed of the same has killed one of the county’s best mules and made another ill. and the county has been forced to discontinue feeding said corn. “7. In connection with the ac tivities of the new Board of County Directors we beg further to report that while there has been sufficient “* appvopriattofTS by tht County Dele gation for the maintenance of the chaingang for the construction of roads and bridges for the present year, fhore having been appro priated this year than in recent years, the Board of County Direc tors is requesting additional heavy appropriations from the County Delegation and to be allowed to overdraw the road and bridge ac count for-the present year. We recommend and request that the County Delegation be most care ful in their pledge to provide ad ditional funds for expenditure by ' the present Board. “8. We find that certain govern ment roads have been built through the county, and others are being bujlt under provisions made bv the delegation and that these roads are fine and satisfactory to the county and should in some measure re lieve the necessity for heavy ap propriations for chaingang roads. “9. Further in connection with the activities of the Board and es- necially with reference to Mr. Folk, in view of the many complaints that have been made to us and the witnesses whom we have heard ''j with reference to- his activities in requiring the working of a private road leading into another countv. and causing the sal?,, above the market price, of the rotten com to the county, causing death to its stock; that Mr. Folk is an improper and unfit person to be upon the Board of County Directors and we recommend that he be requested to hand in his resignation to the Governor." JU’wJ..' * 1 Uon’t say or charge that M Folk had usurped all the power of half a mile :tit > Aiken Cjunty -owards a swimming pool (hat s mt jiecplo up I there uantnl to go to. etc., and for all these vc» '•n* Air Folk vr« ufi fit to be • n ‘hi Bo; ro and demanded his resign:*ti m. That wa« the Grand Jury ta!k ; n». I tiled to get along with the BonH. aesfeml months, fh the meantime, aind before this agreement, the had sighed s written Capt. Black and uthOrs/lu to hufid the road from Williston to Edisto Rivsr, towards- Springfield, a road that Is almost impasable, and 'the only way the people of Willis ton have directly to get out towards Col umbia. Notwithstanding this, .the gang* was fly Turney. Folk and Mat> thews, voted to g<> to FolkVhome .com munity. At the Board meeting in August, Capt. B\ack, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. R. J. Rountree, Mr. Prothro and others appeared before the Board to insist upon their carrying out the contract to build the WflHston-EdisV* river road. A very large Delegation also came from Georges Creek to tell the Board that they could not get over their roads t«| haul cotton # t6 the gin and to town, unless they got help. Mr. Matthews, Mr. Folk and Mr. Tnr ner, over the objection of Mr, Morris and Mr. Baxley, I am informed, would not agree for the gang to go to either place where they Jiad promised that it should go and the meeting adjourn ed without action. The next morning, I am informed, Mr. Mathews personally went to the gang and had it moved—where to? \ To Georges Creek to fix the roads for those country people to haul their cotton to the grin, or on the Williston- Edisto River road^as they had agr<»ed in writing they wouTcTdo ? No, back over to near Mr. Matthew’s brother’s place, near Healing Springs, or Wal ker station, in the same community in which the big gang had been kept for nearly a year—a little over a year ago. Then about ten days ago the Treas urer advised me that at this Boird meeting the money for chaingang, roads and bridges would be exhausted, and probably overdrawn. Spent $30,000 and over the first eight months of the year! I immediately got in touch with Dr. Patterson, laid the situation before him, and calcu lated the rate at which the Board had been spending the firpt eight months we figured that they v.-ould spend $16,- 000 or $20,000 more during the re mainder of the year, if it he given them, making a total of forty five thousand dollars fof the maintenance of a chaingang averaging about twen ty negroes, for a year. How about that for going some? I knew that on the Sept. Board day, which was for mor* the ‘‘S. * - v **- * ,$TtplWjr ICVtVT; 4to the great and wrote At the end of 1923, Mr. Mathews, Mr. Folk and Mr. Turner combined the two chaingangs and gave them to Mr. Turner up in Four Mile, where it stayed for about n yetir, built all the roads in, to and around Mr. Tur ner's place and a few of hb friends and among other things used the gang about four months in ""Building a road from the Town ‘of EUenton, which is in Aiken County, Lut right on the line, down to Cashel’s Mill, where he has a friend who owns a big plantation. There is not, I am informed, a white man living on that road, and it cost Barnwell County at least $10,000 to build it. During the year that Mr. Turner kept the gang up there, it might be interesting to the tax payers of the county to know he (being in charge of the gang and given the power to buy the supplies), would direct the county trucks every Saturday morning to drive from the , . „ ., . Court House in Barnwell, and from i„j T,1 “ d * )r ’ the Bo * rd woold ^ * skin * front of the stores of the Barnwell •p»nt, and the lack of co-operation be tween them and the Delegation and among themselves, that we were un willing to let them handle any more Of the county’s money (see letter published elsewhere) and suggested that tjley resign and allow us to ap point a more economicaf Board, etc., and failing in that, that we would re- fbse "to 4 appropriate further money for tnem and demand that the gang be turned over to the penitentiary and that we would make other arrange ments at the next Legislature to have the roads of the county worked. Their reply to this letter was a de mand on Tuesday for an additional $15,000. We refused and the Delega tion passed a Resolution (printed elsewhere) again calling for their resignations, that we might appoint men in whose ability a'hd integrity we had confidence to handle the ^county’s affairs, and if they again refused, di rected them to commit the gang to the penitentiary, sell the equipment and deposit the funds with Capt. Arm strong for disposition by us at the next session of the Legislature in January. I knew that this apparently wilful squandering of the county’s money was being done by these three men, with two purposes in view: First— To get roads worked in their immed iate section. Second—To spend all fhe mpney th$y could, make the dele gation appropriate it and let ihe peo ple of the county “cuss” Edgar Brown for high taxes. But they have got another guess coming to them. That crowd of tumble-bug politicians, look ing one way and working the other, won’t ever livelong enough to work me into that sort of hole in Barnwell County politics. I may got ‘'cussed” about a lot of things, but l have never been accused of being partisan or in terested in one section or one people against the other, and I never will be. And they will all admit that through my efforts Barnwell County has re ceived special consideration at the hands of the Highway Department and the government, and some won derful government roads, among the best in the State, eriss-o'ngg this county, but they^were not built by, through or with the assistance of the above named gentlemen, who, during all this time, have squandered the by | county's money and about three or four out of the township* In £hf 7 county, while — fS&ftle suffered and paid. They tour* resigh or not resign, as they It matters little to me, They spent 4 money and contracted the ty’s credit to the extent of fS2,019. or $2,019.10 more than allowed by in three-fourths of the year and de- many $15,000 more. At the proper time they Will be called upon to ex plain why. EDGAR A. BROWN. r- f fc-V--: •V | 4 ip Miss; Mary Roberts, of Columbia, spent the week-end in the city with friends. VALUABLE SMALL FARMS i FOR SALE. v - - a •, The undersigned hold for sale some very valuable town and farm proper ty just east of Bafnwell, on both sides of the Coast Line Railroad, and West of Jordan Branch, being part of the' lands formerly owned by P. Butler Hagood. This land has been cut up into small tracts and a plat thereof can be seen at the office of Mr. Simms in Barnwell. You are invited to look at the plat, look over the lands and see us about buying any pap or all of this land. If necessary, we will try to assist in raising as much as one-half of the purchase price. R. C. HDLMAN, •—r- Assignee, ^ . 4:HAS. CARROLL SIMMS, " Agent. k “Your remedies are all that you claim for them and worth many times the price.” James Pearson, Box 192. Drumipond, Wis. PE-RU-NA Has Been Meeting the Emergencies of Every Day for Over Fifty Years. Coughs, Colds, Catarrh, Stomach and Bowel Disor ders and all other Catarrhal conditions. Sold Everywhere. Tablet and Liquid. \ i $ hail ^eer. elected aud had had rotten to other people bushel sold to the and that i* killed the stock, and that heqqjktd Ms friends* road* across the line, at oae place the Supervi by the corn that for sixty county at $1 cel merchants and go to Ellenton, in Aieken County, and there buy all the chaingang supplies, which amounted to several hundred dollars each week. The merchants at the Court House had no opportunity to even bid on these goods. At the beginning of 1924. having appropriated $25,000 in 1923 and the Board having spent 331.596.75, and claiming that they -ould not' get along on less, we ap- oronriated $.30,000 for chaingang, roads and bridges and warned the Board that they must stay within the appropriation, tnat we had pass ed a law making it a crime for a County Board to spend more money than appropriated, or pledge the credit of the'county in excess of the amount appropriated. At the end of the year they had spent $32,545.24, snd we again warned them and at the beginning of this year put the ..Board on specific nftHrerthatWte would not stand for their exceeding the appropriation. We made up. the deficit last year, as in the past. This year we appropriated $30,000, and I personally told members of the Board that they would be given no more. $.30,000 is over six mills on all the real estate of the county, and it is levied and collected on a man’s farm, whether his children ever see a chaingang o^ not. He has no say so, once a Board is in and the money is given them, they can keep the gang in one township a whole year, work roads around their farms arid those of a few friends, and the balance of the county pays for it. At the be ginning of this year, I am informed, after Mr. Tuhier turned the gang loose from Four Mile, he and Mr Matthews gave it to Folk to go to Rosemary. In the meantime ami be fore the gang moved to Rosemary near Mr. Folk's place the Board in meeting assembled, during the spring of the year, passql n solemn Resolu tion stating that when the gang left Mr. Turner’s place it should be sent to Georges Creek to repair some of the roads so that the farmers might haul fertilizers out and thoir cotton in this tall. The roads ir Georges Creek and Great Cypress during all this time, without attention, have become impassable,- and there are children down there big enough to go to school who have n$ver seen a chaingang. Treating th;s agreement m a scrap, of rnper, and notwith standing Mr. /oik had kept a gang for a year in Roaemary, just a tow months previously, the whole gang waa moied flack near Mr. Folk’s place an* hat been in and around then - mmm % After Yout Have Bought Your Car And Have Some Money to Spare— 1 We Have to Offer You Furniture and Household Goods a ^ • * % at Factory Prices The reason that we are in a position to offer you goods at factory prices, we have stock in several furniture and mattress fac tories, and have been advised by them to put these goods on our floors and let them go at their prices. Our stock will be com plete in a few days. We have at present to offer you Ladies’ Hatboxes at $3.50—regu lar-price $5.00. $ ¥ ■A A\ SPECIAL: Oak Dressers at $12.50. They won’t - \ ^ \ \ last long at this price. • t We also have 2-incfi Iron Beds to; offer you at $8.50 and 50-pound Cotton Mat- tresses at $8.75. 1 " WE WILL BE GLAD TO HAVE YOU SEE OUR STOCK BEFORE MAKING YOUR PURCHASES ELSEWHERE. IK* SP; Mu*!-- ■4 ••« - - *