Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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United ?ta?es with;.ut regard tu citizenship <;f a particular-State, it overturns the Died ?catt dec by making ali Dersons born w the United States and subject t< jurisdiction citizens of the Ut States That its main purpose to establish the citizenship of negro can admit of no doubt, phrase "subject to its jarisdict was intended to exclude from operation children of ministers, suis of citizens or sujects of for States born within the United St? While it is true that the Supr Court has held that the Uth am ment did not add to the privih and immunities of a citizen and no new voters were necessarily rr by it, it is equally true that it in ei held that it increased the numbs citizens entitled to suffrage under Constitution and laws of the Sta It also held that in the light of history of the late amendments t -there was no difficulty in givin proper meaning to their provish and that the existence of laws those States where emancipated groes resided which grossly disci inated against them as a class i the end to be remedied by ?hemt~. ihatbythem such laws are fori den. Ii also fully determined thi citizen of a State is now simpi} citizen of the United States resid in that State ; that his rights as si are those that belong to him as citizen of the United States, i that they are not dependent upon citizenship of any State, do not pend upon it? legislation and can be destroyed by its power. As understand the decision of the ? preme Court, they sustain the cia of this plaintiff that the Courts of I United States, are open for the rel of c?t?zenV^oX. the United Sta whose privileges have been abridg by the State in which he resid* Certainly they should be and I w sorely so hold until advised by tl Court that I am in error. Fr< these same decisions I find ? while the right of suffrage is not necessary attribute of Federal ci zensbip, that it surely is such an ; tribute as is exempt from discrimii tion io the exercise of that right i account of race and previous co dition, and that while the right vote in the States comes from tl States., that the right of exempth from the prohibited discriminate comes from the United States. While as a rule the rights of citizen of a State are such as ? citizens of the United States enjo; yet this plaintiff has also certa right'* under the Constitution Sou?h (karolina hy virtue of the A of &?hgre** of June 25, 1S68, whk was accepted and acted upon by thi State, in which it is provided th; the Constitution of said State sha never be so changed as to depri* any citizen or class of citizens of til United States of the right to vote i said State who are entitled to vol by the Constitution of the sam< recognized in said Act, except as punishment for crime. The Const tu tion there referred to is one froi which I have before quoted, the prei ent organic law of that State Are the ?egistration laws of Sout Carolina costit ut ional ? Do they pre vent the plaintiff and those situate like him from exercising the right conferred upon and guaranteed t him ? A registration Saw is not pe se unconstitutional, bnt is the on referred to in the bill such as shouli be upheld by the Courts ? Does th State of South Carolina by this legis lation deprive the plaintiff of any o the privileges to which he is entitle* by the Constitution of the Unite? States and of that State ? Does i deprive him of his liberty by takin? from him a right by which he can pre serve that liberty? Does it dein him the equal protection of her lawi by enacting a system of registratioi which doe? not protect but destroyi his rights? If it does disfrauchis? him, are riot his liberty and hu property taken from him ? If it does prevent him from voting (it is showr that he is duly qualified) for dele gates to the Constitutional Conven? tion mentioned in the bill, which may so change the organic law ol the State as to affect his life, hie property, hi? liberty, his franchise, does it not do him a grievous wrong, and by what authority ? As perti? nent to this I quote the words of Mr. Justice S way ne in the Slaughter House cases : ' Life, liberty and property are forbiddec to be taken without due process of law, and equai protection of the laws is guaranteed to all Life is the gift of God, aud the right to preserve it is the most sacred of the rights of man. Liberty is freedom from all restraints but such as are justly imposed by law Beyond that line lies the domain of usurpation and tyranny Property is everywhere which has an exchangeable value, and the right of property includes the power to dis? pose of it according to the will of the owner Labor is property, and as such merits protection. The right to make it available is next in im? portance to the rights of life and liberty. It lies to a large extent at the foundation of most other forms of property, and of all solid indi? vidual and national property. 'Due process of law' is the application of the law as it exists in the fair and regular course of administrative pro? cedure. 'The equal protection of the laws' places all upon a footing of legal equality ssd gives the same ^^^H^^tic^oaJ^M^hepreserv^ JL J.J. "f life, liberty and proper!}' ai pursuit of happiness." It is not my intention at thi to 6tate in detail the require and effects of each section ol registration law, but simph result that I reach after a c scrutin}' of them all, aided as been by the exhaustive analy the same made by counsel, no warrant in the Constitution f certificate required by the ref tion law to be issued to the the production of which is rec at the polls or his vote is to I jected. This is not regist which is simply the entering c books or lists of voters of the i of those qualified uuder the C tution to vole, but it is an addi requirement to those mention* the organic law, not intended, constrained to believe, to faci the full, free and legal expressh those entitled to exercise the rig suffrage. Such requirement is reasonable, burdensome and hi ing and clearly it impedes abridges the right of the com tional voters of the State to their ballots. The additional req ment that the voter moving fron place to another in the 6ame cinct must surrender his old secure a new certificate is wit reason and vexatious, while mode prescribed for securing a newal thereof in case of loss, i cumbersome and peculiarly allin that it likely fulfils its object in terring the ordinary voter from i ing the effort. The registratio voters closes on the 1st day of ? preceding a generel election, w is held in November following V possible reason is there for this reasonable course ? During the months preceding an election, period voters generally devote to examination ol questions then t< determined, and to the placing their names on the voting lists w such lists are required-it is uti? impossible for any duly quali voter to have his name registej and necessarily results in depriv many of them of the right of frage. The only parties permittee register during th.e four months j ceding the election are those coming of age during the peri provided they furnish satisfact proof. The Constitution says t the citizen who shall have beer resident of the State for one y and of the county in which he off to vote for sixty days next preced? any election shall be entitled to v< at such election, and yet he is p hibited by this requirement from doing. He has completed his c year's residence after the first day July, but he cannot register becat th* books are closed, and he cant vote because his name is not up the books-and there is no provisi by which he can prove to the eh tion officers at the polls that he h qualified and legal voter. This < tire provision is most peculiar, wil out a precedent, and without defen even from the advocates of tho ia Why the books should be closed 1 months before the election and ke open for months after it is over, the uninformed wou'd be passii strange, and yet in the light of t recent history of this State, and t discussion of this cause, is easi understood That such requiremen are not only unreasonable but unco stitutional is shown by the followii cases: Morris vs Powell, 29 Amei can Law Kegister, 839 ; White v Commissioners of Multromah Count 13 Oregon, 317 ; Kinnees vs. Wei 144 Mass , 497 ; State vs. Wells, Wis , 308 ; Quin vs State, 25, Ind 485 ; Mccaffery vs. Gueer, 59 Pa 109 ; Green vs Shundy, 39, N. Y 418; Munroe vs. Collins, 17 Ohii 686 ; People vs. Conada, 73, N C 198 ; Cooley vs Const Lim. 753 Attorney General vs City of D< troit, 44 N. W. Rep't 38S. A careful examination of the regie tration enactment of the State c South Carolina-excluding the Ai of 1894-brings me to the concli sion that if a voter who was dui qualified and entitled to register i May and June, 1882, did not on ac count of absence, sickness, inad vertence to other causes registe when the booka were open in tba year, that he was not only prevente? from voting at the general electio; in November, 1882, but was and ha been prevented-under the law from voting at all elections held ii the State subsequent to said elec tion in 1882 This seems almost in credible, yet 1 think it is correct The statement is appalling, the out rage stupendous, the result close t< the borderland that divides outrage from crime. It is not necessary tc discuss it fuither-likely the leas! said about it the better Does the Act of 1804, the Conven tion Act. with its four sections re lating to registration cure tho delecte I have mentioned ami render valid the former unconstitutional laws 1 have alluded to ' In my opinion it does not These sections refer te the old law, in fact are to be con? sidered as part of it, as amendments thereto, and they contain all the had features thereof, including the certi ; ficates to be produced at the polls, j and the closing of the books many days before the election. They also add to the qualifications contained in the Constitution relative to the residence of the voter in the State and county. And they rnake no provision for the registering of voters between the closing of the books and the election, when t names have been omitted on acc< of absence, or oilier usually suffic reason Again, the applicant registration must make affid setting forth his full name, age ot patton and residence at the tim the general registration in 1882 at I he time thereafter when he came entitled to register, and ; give the place or places of his r dence since the time when he bec* entitled to register. This affid. must be supported by tha affidavil two respectable citizens who w each of the age of 21 years on 30th day of June, 1882, or at time the applicant became entit to register. Our most intellig voters would dread this ordeal, \ history of their movements for yei this statement of the different pla at which they have lived, this sec ing of two reputable affiants, v must have been 21 years of age 1882 or at the time the applic arrived at voting age. With w crushing force, then, must it str the weaker race, which is thus nu to suffer by the stronger, how d cult for them to thus write out I books of their lives, and have all 1 pages thereof attested by two v liesses, reputable tn the estimati of the registrar who is to judge the In my opinion the fact that th< still remains several days-prior the election-during which the pla \:r~ may apply for registration d( not, in the light of the allegations the bill, the proofs tendered and -? missions made prevent him from ai ing for, nor the Court from grand the relief prayed for. It was asked, in case any porti of the said registration laws shot; be found invalid, to eliminate t part so found and decree that t remaining section should stand, have not been able to make the sep ration, for I find it all so interwov as to render it impracticable, so i as results are concerned, and I ca not winnow when there is no grai In behalf of those so treated i interested in the welfare of thc country and desirous of seeing i laws enforced should protest, order that public sentiment slion no longer be dormant, but may 1 its activity rouse the community th has long suffered by such outrag? to a realization of their cause, and an appreciation of the beuefieial r suits to be secured by the abolisl ment of the system that has cause them If we may judge of what the ii tention of the Legislature was by tl inevitable result of its enactmen as we are assured we can, (Soo Hing vs. Crowley 112 U. S.. 703 Minnesota vs.. Barber, 136 ?. S 313,) then the ono object that cor trolled the minds of those wh formulated the enactment I have bee considering was how best to abridg and destroy the greatest number <. votes of the citizens of African des cent, while at the same time inter fen rig with as few as possible of th votes of the white race. The fact i that with a candor that was as fran as it was amazing this was virtual! admitted during the argument of thi case. It is evident that the effect o this registration system is to feat fully impede the exercise of th right of suffrage by the colore? voters of the State of South Care lina. It to a great extent defeat their constitutional right to vote and it 6eems to be its leading, must be permitted to say its onl; object, the effort being to so Iegie late as to apparently respect cou stitutional requirements, but at th< same time ?tab to the death tin rights and immunities guarantee( bv them. Finding as I do that the registra tion laws of South Carolina are un constitutional and that their? enforce ? merit will deprive the plaintiff', s I citizen of the United States, of tin rights of a citizen of the same, i conclude that this Court has jurisdic tion of this case, and that the 6amt is not a proceeding against the State of South Carolina, prohibited by th( 11th amendment to the Constitutior of the United States : I find thal the bill does present a questior arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States and that the plaintiff has not a plain and adequate remedy at law, that the bill is sufficiently verified and not multifarious. Under these circum? stances it is the duty of the Circuit Court of the United States for the district of South Carolina to enter? tain this complaint-au instance in which duty mingles with inclination. I have noticed during the progress of this case a disposition to regard this Court as a foreign jurisdiction, much to my surprise and regret, This is as much a Court of the State of South Carolina as is the Circuit or Supreme Court of that State. The State of Soutli Carolina assisted in forming thc Constitution and making the laws by virtue ol' which this Court was organized and now con? venes This Court is and will be ' as careful and as jealous of the honor i and the interests of that State as ! any of" her citizens can be, and it ! hopes to merit their esteem hy being worthy of it. A distinguished jurist of that State is my associate on the circuit aud the Chief Justice of the United States is its presiding Jus? tice. Why such ^Court of the United States, conf^^? lu South Carolina, administer^BP|g iaws of the nation and of til ^should be regarded as wt, is wonderful in the extreme ami as strange as is tiie story relative to which it is ?bout to enter its decree. I will pass an order, as prayed for hy complainant, restraining and en? joining the defendant individually and as supervisor of registration from the peformance of any of the acts mentioned and complained of in the bill. NATHAN" GOFF, United States Circuit Judge. May 8, 1895. Judge Goff signed the following i order : United States of America, District of South Carolina, in the Circuit ? Court, Fourth District, Lawrence P. Mills, Complainant, vs. j W. Briggs Green, Respondent. Upon reading and filing the re turn of the respondent herein to the bill of the complaint, and upon hear- I ing the argument of all the counsel of the parties to this action : Now on motion of Obear & Doug? lass, attorneys for the complainants. It is ordered that the restraining order heretofore granted by this court bearing date the 16th day of April, 1895, enjoining and restrain? ing the said respondent from exercis? ing any duties, or performing any acts complained of in the said bill of the complaint, either individually or as supervisor of registration for the conn ty of Richland, State aforesaid, be, and the same is hereby con? tinued, subject to the fi >al determina* of the issues involved in this case or until the further order of this court Dated at C olumbia, S. C , this the 8th day of May.. 1895. ?ATEAN GOFF, Judge Circuit Court It Did the Business. Mr. J. H. Cobb, publisher of the Mirror, at Broctoo, N. Y., sajis: "For nearly two years the Mirror bas Deco publishing the advertisements of Chamberlain's Remedies. A few days ago the writer was suffering from a bowel trouble and resorted to an old rem? edy which did not prove rffieacious : finally be tried Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera and Diarrhoea Remedy and two dose9 did the business, checking it completely. For sale by Dr. A. J. China. H. G. Gateen & Co., make a specialty of paper, and cow have the finest and most complete selection of paper ever in Sumter They sell more paper for the same money than can be bought elsewhere. Store on Liberty street next to the Watchman and Southron office. All books used io the classes of the Sumter Institute and the Graded School, at Whole? sale Prices at H. G. Osteen & Co's., next to the Watchman and Southron office, Liberty Street. Postage stamps always on band at H. G Osteen & Co's. Stationery Store. Typewriter supplies at H. G. Osteen & Co's , Liberty street. The On!iv m* Great and tho*"?ughly re? liable building-?:; medicine, nerve tonic, v:.. iizer and Blood Purifier Before the people today, and which stands preeminently above all other medicines, is HOOD'S Sarsaparilla It has won its hold upon the hearts of the people by its own absolute intrinsic merit. It is not what we say, but what Hood's Sarsaparilla does that tells the story: - Hood's Cures Even when all other prepar? ations and prescriptions fail. " I have been afflicted for over twenty years with a very sore limb caused by bad blood. I began taking Hood's Sarsaparilla and have been getting bet-e~ ever s ir. ce and can truly say that i" is the best medicine that I have ever seen." AKSK.VA HITCHING, White Pond, Eolith Carolina. Cet HOOD'S ! Krtrt'l'c D;ll-s :,re ta<:e!w.mild, effee ! llUO.l b rills t.jve. A IT Wnvrgists. 25o. SUMTER TINSHOP. HAVING PURCHASED the tools and outfit of the shop formerly of E. Cardarelli, 1 will conduct the Tin business in its different branches at the same stand, OB Republican Street near Graham's Stables. Urders for Roofing, Guttering and general Repair Work will have prompt attention. I have good workmen employed, and guarantee satisfaction. Feb. 20. H. A. HOYT, Agent. THE Sumter Institute For Worn ene npHE T WE S T V-S KY KNf H~~ CU LLEGI JL ate year of the Institute will begin September lim lsi'4 With its full corps of efficient teachers arni bigh standard of schol? arship, it offers ad VAT. tages for educating young ladies, equal to any (Allege tor wo? men tn this Sta-.e. We iutemi that it shall grow iu efficiency a< it grows in years, and thus command the continued favor of its patrons, and commend itself to the favor of all who have daughters to educate. Entire expenses for tbs year from $150 to $'-00. For particulars applv to . FRANK WILSON, President, Sumter, S. C. Toilet Soaps, Perfumery and ?ill Kinds of Druggist's Sundries Usually Kept iu a -Fairst Class .Oir?as; Store. Tobacco, Snuff and Cigars, Garden Seeds, &c, also Faints, Oils, Tarnishes, Glass, Putty, &c, Dye Stuffs. Physician's Prescriptions carefully compounded, and orders answered with care and dispatch. The public will find my stock of Medicines complete, warranted genuine, and of best quality. Call and see for yourselves. Night Calls Promptly Attended To. Paint Your Roofs. Now is the time to Paint your Roofs, and DIXON'S .GRA? PHITE PAINT is the sort to use. One painting has been known to last fifteen vears. We sell the Paint, or contract to put it on, guaranteeing satis faction either way. If you want a book on this subject let us know. MACHINERY OF ALL KINDS. Belting. Oils and General Machinery Supplies. Sanitary Plumb? ing in ail its branches. THE SUMTER MACHINERY ANO SUPPLY HOUSE. H. B BLOOM, Manager. East Liberty St., Sumter, S. C. March i. John R* Hainsworth, AGENT FOR THE South and North American Lloyds, New York and Chicago Lloyds. I CAN INSURE all classes of property at greatly reduced rates from the prevailing Fire Insurance Rates with equal responsibility on the part of the Company. Office at Haynsworth & Haynsworth's Law office. Feb 6 Sumter, S. C. The Great Corn Planter. TO FARRIERS ONLY The above Plaoter will plant accurately any number of grains in a place, at any distance desired. Ooe man and one horse can open the furrow, put down th? guano and drop and cover corn, 12 acres in one day and do it to perfection. Sold by Geo. Epperson, Sumter, S. C. Office at Geo. F. Epperson's Livery Stables. The Best Shoes ?| ||f | ? A 11 ft I fl ? r Wjt ?m?r '^fBm. Over One Million People wear the ''In w- L- Doug'as $3 and Shoes. 2 PK ^BapBia^g \^BA AH our shoes are equally satisfactory. C m? . ^m^?SmwSt?Sv^i \'9n They give the best value for the money. rr ESK* .'< IB^" "^^A i They equal custom shoes in style and flt. r> tSifr ' ?mSm 1 vB^fc Their wearing; qualities are unsurpassed. ? mW??-. N2??- jfla^ J \?9H The prices art; uniform-stamped on sole. I? iu vSSHifc. From $1 to $3 saved over other makes. ^ H^RP^T V^^t If your dealer cannot guppiy you we can. ??m?C JWEPV S5,S4,S3.50 (.'ordovan.French ?5 S?^ ^m^-<r^\Jmmmm^ Enamelled Calf and Kangaroo. F??P mt* itf?M^ ^^^? S3.50 Police Shoes. 3 soles. .?B?L ^HIHBHHP^' $2.50 and SS! Workingmen'! SlF*?a25&^ $2 4 $1.75 Bcyi Schwl Shoes SP ^^^^^2=^ Ladies" S3, $2.50. $2 and SUS. mz?rr _ ~? ^?T^^i??^ l^^ftk. I? your dealer cannot supper MfTCT h .I" ^L7S|^ ^niir^^^>Pi W.L.Douglas, ^gBHBHB^M^B?B *r TUT II ^?3SW Brockton, Man. FOR SALE BY J.RYTTENBERG& SONS. TTo 3L? SJ? The Excelsior Liniment. The Great Pain Alleviator, ' (Jures Rheumatism, Neuralgia, Toothache, Headache, Cuts, Sores Bruises, Burns. Sprains, ami Lameness, Cold in the head, kc. * Try it, only 25 cents at the Drug Stores. jJggr^For sale here by Drs. China and DeLorme. April S.