Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

- - \ THE LEDGER. Tjeeday and Friday, *d. H. DeCamp, Editor and Publlaher, J. Brian Bell, News Editor. The Ledger Is not responsible for r he vlew> ui correspondents. All ct)rrospondence should be aa- dessed to Ed. H. DeCamp, Manager. We Invariably discontinue tending r he Ledger when a subscription runs 4it. for we have no way of knowing that a person wants It except by re ceiving his or her renewal. We ur gency solicit a prompt renewal, on the ground that the paper Is worth the money. We are trying month by m®nth to make It better and bet ter. NO' E8 AND COMMENTS. It will be gratifying to many of Solicitor Sense’s friends to know thai he has announced his purpose to sta-nJ for re-election to the solicitor- ship of this district.’ It will take a strong man to beat him. see Next Friday Gaffney will present quite a citified air. The circus and the minstrel will both be here and the bom-bom of the big base drum, the tingle-tingle of the symbols and the blare of the cornet and the slide trombone of two bands will make things lively. • • • Here we come again with another eight page paper on Tuesday. Its taxin" the strength of the force to keep up this gait but the people will have the news and the merchants will advertise and The Ledger is here for the purpose of meeting the demands of the people. • • • Some of our neighbors across the line are chiding us for not hanging llastv. in view of the fact that a North Carolina jury found Dr. Mathews guilty of manslaghter after he had deliberately noisoned his wife it does not become ‘^em to say aught of us. • * * There is a wide difference between the attedance at the court house when the court is conducting crimi- ■ al business and when It is conduct- ir- civil business. These days It re sembles a baseball park in mid-win ter while week before last it resemb led a baseball park in mid-summer. * * • The big ciU. papers are bqgining to print baseball news. Before long the cry of “play baU’’ will be heard. Why can’t Gaffney get an a team to fnrnish amusement for those who have not the time or money to spend the summer away from home. Now is the time to begin preparations. • • • There is considerable talk about the proposed organization of a busi ness men’s league for Gaffney. It is the thing to do. With the prospects before us we should not be slow in uniting and heralding to the outside world the advantages Gaffney has to offer to those who desire to establish small manufacturing industries. • • • The famous White Stone Springs ho tel was destro/ed by fire Sunday night. This is a news item that will brine a pang of grief to numbers of the press gang who have spent! a few dave of each summer in recent years beneath its roof, resting from the ceaseless grind. However, we will find another place to meet and mingle with each other exchanging pleasan tries and experiences. • * * We hear quite a deal of cri icisra of Messrs?"' Butler & Osborne for de fending George Hasty. This is not altogether proper. Hasty was enti tled to counsel and Messrs. Butler & Osborne had a legal right to take his case. They should not be censured for it. Each of them made strong speeches in behalf of their client— remarkably strong considering the case they had—and while we think they might have left off doing .some things, still they kept within the bounds of decency. Mr. Johnstone made a mistake in his attempt to be smirch the character of the ladies, and in this mistake Messrs. Butler & Osborne shared, but it is all over now and they lost out, so let’s for- gl'^* them. Hasty Found Guilty. (Charlotte News.) The Hasty trial which has been in progress at Gaffney, South Carolina has been one of the most sensation al trials in that State in sometime. This morning at six o'clock the jury, after long deliberation, return ed a verdict of guilty w't.h a rcc^^!- raendation to the court for meicsy. Tiie i xtent 6f the punishmemt im plied by tho verdict is life imprison ment. To ay the least this punishment is no* too’ much. We are glad to hear that the wheels of justice are still grinding in South Carolina, and that a man cannot slay two of his fellowmen and go free on some tech nicality. The counsel for the-defense* made every effort to secure an entension of tim<t, but the prosecution were steadfast. The sentence of t^e court will meet public approval. PRESS COMMENTS. What Our Contemporari«a Say of tho Hasty Trial. Two actors are worth mor^ than an editor, in the opinion of South Carolina juries.—Anderson Mall. Maybe if George Hasty had been able to show that those actors wig- g ed their thumbs at him he would have been acquitted.—Anderson Mail. George Hasty had beitter be satis fied. 11 he gets a new trial the jury might vote to hang him the next i ie.—Anderson Mail. Cherokee men wish to be under- st<x>d as saying that a woman may with safety stay at a Cherokee inn. —News and Courier. - We congratulate the county of Cherokee on the possession of at least twelve citizens who are able to distinguish between self-defense and murder.—News and Courier. Georg Hasty. th« murderer of two theatrical men at Gaffney was on Tuesday found ^uiltv and will be given a life sentence to tho peniten tiary, w-hich he will serve until par- doned.—Rock Hill Herald. The Hasty lury deliberated twelve and one- half hours and found a ver dict of guilty, with recommelndation to mercy. Otherwise either Hasty or the jury might have been hung. News and Courier. The jury in the Hasty trial seemed to be of the opinion that for a man to shoot down two unarmed men on the pier of self-defense was carrying the matter too far, and in this most people will agree with it.—Charlotte Observer. The conviction of George Hasty at Gaffnev is a warning to the man wich the ready pistol and the thrist for blood, the verdict of the jury will find an endorsement in the minds of Law-abiding persons everywhere, and will tend to make human life of more value.—Newberry Observer. No verdict in a criminal case prob ably ever gave more general and widespread satisfaction than tnat re turned in the Hasty murder trial at Gaffney. Newspapers and people ev erywhere! are rejoicing over the vin dication of the law and the just con demnation of Hasty’s terrible crime —Spartanburg Journal. Editor DeCamp. of the Gaffney Lei ger ought to feel good. He has stoo for law and order in season and out of season, and although some black things have occurred in Cherokee, the jury in the Hasty case took a long step toward redeemihg the good name of their county and State — Bamberg Herald. The juries of Cherokee have re^ moved all staiq from Cherokee’s sklrtls. During this entire! term of court* there has not been an unjust or biased verdict, and by their fear less adherence to du*- have merited the statement from Judge Memmin- ger that “Cherokee county certainly has good Juries.’’—Cherokee News. The celebrated murder ease at Gaffney was concluded yesterday, alter the jury had been out all night they rendered a compromise verdict of guilty of murddr with recommen dation to mercy. The prisoner George Hasty, was sentenced to life imprisonment. This is a victory for law and justice, and the verdict is an honor to Cherokee county. Manning Times. Col. Bell, one of the States attor neys In the Hasty murder case, in ad dressing the court and jury Last Sat urday in Gaffney, said, in part, “lif is not safe in this Cherokee county we must make it safe. There have been 32 homicides (murders) in this county during the past eight years, and not a single one of them has suf fe-ed the extreme penalty of the Law. —People’s Paper. Charlotte, N. C. The! trial of Hasty for the murde of two actors, at Gaffney, was co'i ducted with commendable prompt ness, but bis lawyers will taL« advan tage of technicalities to keep him out of prison as long as possible. For a than guilty of murder in the first de gree. of two m<*n. a sentence of life Imprisonment is light. But it is -.ome better than the South Carolina aourts have done in previous mur der trials.—Charlotte Chlronlc’.e. George Hasty, the moral leper and nurderer, who has been on trial at Gaffney. S. C., for the past week for mirdering two showmen was found guiltv of murder in the first degree on Monday and sentenced to life im- rinonment. If undiapted evidence "pints for anything he got off light. o should have pulled hemp. But if the seioence is carried our he will iot attempt to Invade thr* he!room if ladles hereafter.—People’s Pape* ‘harlotte, N. C. Judge Memming ?r acted wisely in ■ -fusing r continuance in the Hast^ "‘ase. It is a custom ««h some, of ■io judges to grant continuances in '’or.tickle cases on flimsy grounds ..ith th< result that tue State 4 Al nesses become sc .t 'orr l and P is 1 - possible for the solicitor to make as -'trong a case. There have beep sov- val miscarriages of justice in our -'collection that were bronchi about iy means of a -continuance. Both i v> accused and the State are enti- b-1 under the constitution to a speedy” trial and the right should net be abrilged to either.--Spartan burg Journal. The trial of George Hasty, charged ith the killing of Milan Bennett in • e fervor’s hotel at. Gaffney. S. C.. , the tf> h of last December began Thu-sday in Cnffne" and ended •tondav evening at 6 o’clock, when the Jury retired to Its room. After being in the room all night the jury yrsterdav morning returned a verdict nf guilty with a recommendation to the mercy of the court, which means n life term in the penitentiary. No tice of a motion for a nCw trial was given. The prisoner was ably de fended and his case attracted con siderable interelst throughout the State. Hasty is also under Indict ment for killing another man at the same time, and public sentiment In Gaffney is very much against him.— Anderson Intelligencer. With reference to the Gaffney mur der we want to sav this: It was en tirely unnecessary and uncalled for, and Davidson and Bennett were a» much to blame as was Hasty, and Hasty was as much to blame as was Davidson and Bennett. We say this, even though it b© granted that every thing testified to on both sides be true, or every thing testified to be false, or whether wha^ both sides claimed be true and the oth^r false. Either side could have prevented the tragedy without the* loss of any self- respect they might have had, and one side was about as reprehensible as the other. Davison and Bennett suffer ed for the terrible mistakes they made with regard to the matter, and Hasty should suffer the same penalty fof his para The self-derfence claim is an absurdity as set up by either side.— York.ille Enquirer. The Haity Trial. (Anderson Mail..) The Daily Mail has never believed that a newspaper should comment on a criminal trial until after all the evidence had been brought out in the courts. It is so often the case, when a crime is committed, that we get in complete or biased accounts of it at first that it is not safe to form con clusions if one wants to be just and fair. For this reason we have made no comment until upon the trial of George Hasty, of Gaffney, for the kill ing of the two actors, Bennett and Davison, last Defcember. We are glad that we did not, for the evidence brought out at the trial threw a somewhat different light upon the( af fair than that given in the newspaper accounts at the time that the killing occurred. But now that the* trial has ended, and the verdict of the jury has been given we are free to sav that we be lieve the verdict is a righteous one. Indeed, we do not see how any jury could have returned any other ver dict in view of the testimony. Hasty set up the plea of seflf-defen se. but this could not stand. A man to plead self-defense in a homicide case, must show that hel was without fault in bringing on the difficulty and Hasty could not show that. Hasty attempted tb enter, at night, the room occupied by an actress, the flanceei of the man who was killed, and sh- refused to a’low him to en ter. An effort was made during the trial to impeach the woman’s charac ter, buf, withput success. But this had nothing to do with it. Whatever the woman’s character may have been, she was a guest of the hotel of which Hasty was proprietor or man ager, and as such she was entitled to his protection. Instead of giving her good treatment he offered her In sult; and when her friend, or affianced husband, resented this he was killei. Hastv could not have been convict ed of murder in the first degree, we believe. As we understand It, mur der of that grade is the deliberate, planned, premeditlated, killing of another. , . 1 It cannot- appear that Hasty Jelib- eratelv planned to kill the two men. At the same time he knew he had committed a wrong act. He expect ed to be called to task and he armed himself with a pistol. When the two friends of the women upbraided him for his conduct, and in their indigna tion attempted to chastise him. he killed them. That was not self-defense If it was not deliberate murder it was the next thing to it. Tho jury, bv its verdict, has said that Hasty shall spend the remaind er of his life in prison. This is just what he deserves. He has had a fair trial, and it will be a great outnage if the verdict is aside npw. Another Murderer Unhanged. (Richmond News-Ledger.) Again we have in South Carolina an illustration of the squeamishness about hanging a white man respect ably connected which is at the hot- lorn of most of the continued blood shed and immunity of murders which Bsgrace that State. A jury at Gaff- nev has convicted , George Hasty of nurder in the first degree, but In stead of hanging nlra recommended him to me-cv. which means a life vntenee, with all its many chance of escape an ! pardon. If this man vas gui'ty at ail be should have been h"ng i*' anv man in ad criming! hk tory ever deserved hanging. He kept I he hotel at Gaffney, and # >'’'ong Ids gueyts we*e the members a small theatrical company play ’ r ornMiict.i stands in minor towns e evident jthat l T »sty durln ■' night aU!” the ne-formance at ’iiffnov ma 1;> repeated efforts to en e- the r<> ( .i. of one of the women of r comncnv through the transom and ■ 'v the window. He was a married •mn, his wife and children living in ne house with him. Next morning *•> ocured a revolver belonging to ret’, r en and out it in his over- •■,’t rochet. When the women he • 'n m’.rd 'minted him out to two ■ t % o -en of the comnan/ and they remonstrated with him, he called '.hem from the dining room into the 'll and ( "ti e shot and killed them hei.’. Neither had a weapon of any ! On • ef the rnon killed v ?s en- '• mi to he married to the woman ’ > v as Pisnited. It was as vile, * iital and cowardly a murder as >• ••- was done. Ye., the jury recom- ’°nHs th<> cindnal to mercy after finding him guilty and sustaining all the facts • presented by the State. There is ro reason or excuse for mc- cv of this kin 1. If men who protect women and strangeys who come '>morg us ar» to have no security for thejr lives th^ Southern boaste of chivalry and hospitality are mere vain babblings. 'The New«-Ledger. we believe, is in e-ror whe" it says that Hagty is a unrried man.—Gastonia Gazettie.) • -Don’t forget that Cole & Rogers aii-oad shows will exhibit at Gaff ney Friday, March 16th. Everybody mho a day off and bring your fanl lies and have a good time. The Conviction of Haety. (Spartanburg Journal. Good for Cherokee! The attempt ed despoiler of women, the vulgar li bertine and double assassin hears the Inevitable verdict of 12 honest men and must pay the oenalt of the law for' his crime. All the legal talent, ail the sophistry and perjury, all the befuddling forensic energy that could be summoned to his aid could not sav© him, and a life sentence in thej penitentiary must he the consequence' of the base and degenerate act of the hotel-keepr at Gaffney who in sulted two lady miests of his house j and murdered their two friends who protested against his beastly conduct. Georg© Hastv has been found guil- t” of the murder of Milan Bennett, | the musical director of a theatrical company, and being recommended to the mercy of the court under the law gets a life term at hard labor in the* State nenitentiary. There is still pending against him the charge of murder for killing the actor Davi son at the same time, the trial just closed being only for the killing of Bennett. It is not known what will be done as to the charge, but if the supreme court shall sustain the ver dict in the present case, it will prob able to dropped. A life term in the penitentiary is a terrible punishment, but the extreme limit of the law would have been none too much for this fellow. It is a fine thing for the country at large and the world to know that the South and South Carolina, while mak ing due allowances for t' -> killing of another in self-defense and while tiak ing a most liberal and forgiving view of a homicide done in defense of wo manhood and virtue, will not stand for a moment for anv sort of tolera tion or Justification of a murder that is a sequence of the attempted spolia tion of women or of any improper advances or proposals to one who is modest and well-behaved. Such women have always been safe in the South, whether among friends or strangers, and they will remain so. for woe to the man who invades the sanctity of their privacy even by try ing to force their bed-chambers. Our juries will justify a man for almost •anything he may do in defense of his wife or his sister or his mother or other female relative or of his fiancee or even a woman friend, hut a man who comes into court with bis hands dripping with another’^ life blood has a poor plea to offer when it must be stated that he himself brought on the difficulty by an unpardonable in sult to a woman. Thank God, there are few men in the South like Hasty, few such wild beasts who lie in wait to outrage pure womanhood, and this righteous verdict* of Cheroke*’ will make fewer still. It will make safer i.he women who must go among strangers, show ing, as it does, that the South justi fies and demands of its men the mos careful and vigorous defense of its women and holds to the strictest ac countability any man who allows his beastly passions to urge him on to the commission of the greatest of crimes, the assault on the virtue of a woman. Routlh Carolina and the South owe a debt of gratitude to the Cherokee jury, the solicitor and his assistants and others who promoted tbo correct application of the law of the land to this outrageous crime. Both Papers Wrong. (Spartanburg Journal.) In North Carolina where judges on thrt bench may often be seen in the summer time bereft of coat and collar, the customs of this State seem strange and move the Charlotte Chronicle to remark: The Hasty trial at Gaffney reminds us of the mediaeval court customs still prevailing in that State. The< judge, we believe, does not wear a wig. but he is solemly gowned and preceded into court by an officer with drawn sword, and deputies lean ing on ancient halibuts, guard En trances aud aisles. And the sheriff, too. is in the habit of bringing in his prisoner handcuffed NOTICE OF FINAL DISCHARGE. Notice is hereby given that; on Tuesday, April 10th, 1906, I will ap ply to Hon, J. E. Webster, Probac Judge, at his office, at thei cour * bouse in Gaffney, S. C., at 10 o’clock a. m. for a final discharge as Admin istrator of the estate of A. Frank •KneJrick, deceosed. All person holding claims against said .estate mist appear and present the same at O” beford chat time or be forev barred. W. J: Pridmore, Administrator estate A. Frank Kendrick, deceased. Gaffney, S. C., Moh. 10, 1906. Pub. Ledger Mch. 13, Mch. 20, McT 27 and Apr. 3. MOVED. 1 have moved my wood yard next to th«* power house, and am prepared to furnish wood cut in any length f**" stove or flye place. ’Phone, office 176, residence 67. V. I. SPURGEON & CO. March 13 1 mo-pd. • ladies' and Cents' Tai'orinp', Having secured the services of nn ex- pert Tailor trom New York, I am now arepared to cut and make Suits for Ladies tn<1 gentlemen in the very latest styles. LADIES’ TAILORING A SPECIALTY A full line of samples of the newest fabrics always on band. Have your clothing made in your ov n ow n where you can be sure of a fit. All work guaranteed. Give me a trial ’lotbing altered ami remodeled. W. H. Robinson. Upstairs over Settlemyer building DR. J. F. GARRETT, DENTIST. Moved to new office over ’Frederick street. .Front of The Battery. ’Phone, in Office and Residence. « CO CO Q /