Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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m ct ? ono cmtljron IHB SUMTER WATCHMAN, Established April, 1850. "Be Just and Fear not-Let all the Ends thou Airas't at, be thy Country's, thy God's and Truth's." THE TKUE SO?THKON. Ketabllehed Jone 1366 Consolidated Aug. 2,1881. SUMTER, S. C., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1896. New Series-Vol. XVI. No. 1 Ck WiM)\u\\ at? ?wftran. Published E*ery TOeanesclay, -BY J>ff. Gk Osteen, SUMTER, S. C. TERMS : ?1 50 per annum-in advance. &DTUTI3KHSKT: One Square first insertion.$1 00 Every subsequent insertion. 50 Contracts for three months, or longer will be made at reduced rates. All communications which subserve private interests will be charged foras advertisements. Obituaries and tributes bf respect will be charged for. AD Outrage on Decency. Florence's City Attorney on Evans' Defiance. A Strong Communication Address? ed to th9 City Council, Who Express Confidence in Him and Condemn the Governor. Special to The State.. Florence, July 31.-City Attorney George G. Thompson to-day address ed the following letter to the city council, in view of the recent action of Governor Evans in defying arrest for breach of the peace here ?? -Florence, S. C , July 31 1S96. To the City Council : On last Friday, J. Gary Evan?, who holds the official position of governor of the State of South Caro? lina, and Joseph H. Earle, a judge of the circuit court of this State, each in his personal and private capacity, and exercising the right held by every citizen of this State, was ad? dressing in public within this city, a large number of citizens, each en? deavoring accordiug to his own methods, to secure the votes of the people of this county.. During the progress of this meeting these two political contestants became engaged ma personal combat. Hundreds of men were present ; some drew pistols, others made ready for their use, ex? citement ran high. One stray shot by any excited spectator would in all probability have precipitated a riot and many lives might have been sacrificed. The peace of the cityr was jeopardized and its laws vio? lated I was communicated with by the mayor and advised him that these parties could and should be arressted, without regard to their official posi? tions. Warrants were accordingly issued, charging them with fighting and breach of the peace. Joseph Ii. Earle rendered ready obedience, but J. Gary Evans resisted and defied the law. He told the chief of police to take the warrant back to the mayor ..with the contempt it deserves/' and that he "considered it an insult." He informed the mayor that he could not be arrested ; that the only way to1 reach him was by impeachment. He threatened to use the power of his office to protect him from the conse? quences of the broken law. He threatened to "take charge of the mayor and the town." or words to this effect.. We are left to conjec? ture as to precisely what J. Gary Evans meant by "taking charge of the town " As interpreted a: the time by several of his constables, (who were with him at the time of the at tempted arrest) it was an unworty and unlawful threat to resort lo the metropolitan police. J. Gary Evans was not arrested. He left the city, and has since boasted through the press that the town authorities apolo? gized for the attempted affront to "his excellency " I never advised that the governor could be arrested, but then advised, and still reiterate that J. Gary Evans could and should have been arrested, and that without regard to his official positon and without regard to conse? quences, even if it required every man in the city to accomplish it, and even if it entailed the severe penalty7 of metropolitan police ls his novel position, that he is above the law, sound fr<>ni point of law or reason ? From the standpoint of reason such a position, in the ex? pressive language of The News and Courier, is "simply monstrous," and coming from the person claiming the exemption, can only be accounted for on the theory of total ignorance of the first principles of republican government, or such a diseased imagination as approximates the con? dition our friends, the doctors, would call "dementia of egotism." Such an exemption could only arise under the common law or by statute, including the Constitution. The common law can hardly be appealed to, for no such office is known to it, fer it isa creation of the Constitution, it could arise from the common law ? on the theory of "kingly preroga- ? live inherited from the sovereigns ul ? England, and it seems that our gov I eruor rests his case on this theory, I for he informed the mayor that he could no more be arrested than the "king (sovereign) of England," or words to that effect, forgetting at the moment of this ridiculous assumption of "kindly prerogative," that the doctrine of the king cao do wrong" has no place among republican sim? plicity ; that in a monarch the sover? eignty resides in the person of the king, but in a republic this sovereign? ty abides in the people. The constitution which creates his office gives him no comfort in this re? markable assumption. Article 2, section 14, article 3, section 14, and article 13, section 2, exempt at cer? tain times electors on the day of election, members of both houses and volunteer militia forcep, from ar? rest-, but is particular in each case to expressly provide that those exemp? tions shall not apply to "treason, felony or breach of the peace." Article 15, section 3, provides that "the governor and all other execu? tive and judicial officers shall be lia? ble to impeachment ; but judgment in such cases shall not extena further that removal from office. The per? sons convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial and punish? ment according to law." It is ob? vious that this section does not fix the time in which an indictment may lie to after conviction on impeach ment, but only intends to prevent a conviction on impeachment being plead in bar to an "indictment and trial and punishment according to law " Jf this contention were true, then the governor could not alune claim this immunity, but every other "executive and judicial officer" could claim like exemption Besides if the house saw fit to refuse to pre? fer charges of impeachment for any offense, or the offense was one for which impeachment would not lie, then his excellency, the governor, would of necessity escape ali pun? ishment, because the alleged pie requisite of conviction on irnpeach I ment could not be shown. Thus is shown the utter absurdity of such a contention. But it may be urged that if the governor could be arrested and put in jail there would be no one to exercise the functions of his office and the people would be without an executive head Article 4, section 9. of the Constitution pro? vides : "In case of the temporary disability of the governor, the lieu? tenant governor shall perform the duties of the governor." Tims it will be seen that in case his excel? lency should become temporarily dis abled by preferring to go to jail rather than pay a small fine of a few dollars, the people's government would not go to ruin for want of an executive head. It is no doubt true that the gov? ernor, in exercising the political functions of his office, is beyond the reach of the courts, but "in his per? son he is subject to judicial control, as other citizens.-Eighth American and English Encyclopaedia of Law (first edition), 140G, The warrant in this case was not against the governor, but against the person of J Gary Evans. if the contention of the governor were doubtful, I still maintain that he should have been arrested, as the only way to settle a disputed point of law of this kind is by resort to the courts, and the coutts could not settle it without obtaining jnrisdic tion of his person by arrest If such could by any possibility be the lav.-, then it should be judicially deter? mined, and give the people a chance of changing it to conform to republi? can institutions. Surrounded by his myrmidons, gathered about his person as rumors of his arrest reached them, John Gary Evans has outraged the laws he has sworn to see enforced : he has brought the government of this city into contempt in tfie eyes of ail brave and free people who have not learned to "bend the supple hinges of the knee," and until it is wiped out h blot rests upon her fair name forever. It has always been the boast of our people that "ali men are equal before the law that there are none too high to escape its punish? ment, and none too low to ferfeit its protection. If this precedent is al? lowed to stand, hereafter any humble citizen, arrested without apology and dragged before our tribunals, can justly complain that our boast is false, and throw in our teeth the ac cusation that "all men are not equal before the law." I submit both the soundness and justice of my advice to the consider? ation of the city council, to whom I am responsible Uespectfully, George G. Thompson, City Attorney. Upon receipt of this communica? tion, the city council adopted the fol? lowing resolutions : Resolved, by the city council of Florence in council assembled : 1. That we have absolute con!; | dence itt both the justice and legality j j of the advice of our city attorney on j the occasion o? the recent attempt to arrest John Gary Evans. 2. That the action of the gover? nor in escaping arrest by represent ing to the mayor that ho was not | subject to arrest, was unworthy of i the governor of this great State. 3 That we assure the mayor that i he will ever have our hearty co-ope? ration in every effort in his power to vindicate the laws of this city and bring all offenders to feel its force and without regard to their official position 4. That the communication of the city attorney, with these resolutions be given to the county and State press with requests of publication Very Embarrassing. Under the title, "Would Support McKinley, But.-," the Sumter Item of yesterday says : "A. good many democrats would know what to do in this crisis-if the other party were not unhappily the most corrupt and corrupting political organization on the face of the earth." -News and Courier. It is easy to see in what direction the News and courier would go did it dare follow its inclination. Tak? ing the above paragraph as an expres? sion of the opinion now entertained by the News and Courier, we should put that paper down as a supporter of McKinley and the republican plat? form, but it is deterred from going over bodily and openly to the repub? lican party. "If it were not the most corrupt and corrupting politi cal organization on the face of the earth ?" Since this is "unhappily" true the News and Courier dare not openly defy the public sentiment of the state and become a republican organ. We persume that the predicament in which the News and Courier finds itself at this juncture in its checkered political career, is, un? happily, most embarrassing The sympathetic may proceed to sympa? thize We do not know what the News and Courier is going to do about it, we believe that the News and Cour? ier will "stick to the party," but we do know that The Post finds itself in a most "embarrassing predicament " We freely confess that we cannot tell what our course will be. It is al? together a puziing state of things that confronts us and the way out of the difficulty is not clear. We believe, in the first place, that the passage of a free coinage ? act by congress and its approval by the president would be followed by by consequences most disastrous. We are firmly convinced that it would involve immediate financial ruin upon thousands and millions of people in every part? of the United States. A panic unparalleled, we think, would be at once precipitated. Every creditor would foreclose his mortagage or sefl his securities, all business operations would for a long period cease and the spread of pov? erty and want would know no limit. The destruction would alike fall upon the rich and poor, the strong and the weak, and the condron of labor, capital, and commerce in the United States would be as though it had been struck by some devastating cyclone prostrating everything in its path. Furthermore, we do not be live that this calamity would be fol owed by times of special prosperity We do not think that the free coinage of silver would prevent the "corner ing of money in the money centers," that it would give elasticity to our currency system or that any of abie to the demonetization of siKer. Even if silver coinage should result in a general rise in prices, the wage earner and the drawer of salaries would be the last to benefit by it and the large producer and manufacturer would for a long time rap the increase while the laborers suffered. It is indisputable that a rise in prices is never quickly followed by a rise in wages. li" hard times prevail, it is not be? cause there is a scarcity of money in the country. It because the money is unfairly distributed Tue evil can? not be eradicated by making more money Here we are confronted with objec I tions to Mc Kinley ism. There is a "plutocracy." A high tariff has created it Tariff legislation for the benefit of the classes, legislation which under the specious and swind? ling pretense of protection American labor abstracted dollars from the farmers and producers everywhere, and for which the Western free silver farmers and raine owners are largely responsible, has built up the colossal fortunes of the East, constructed the hidous money power" of which populists prate, arv.1 made possible the enormous trusts, which, in the i lurid language of Mr Bryan, "(jiu- I cify mankind ou a golden cross." ! It is difficult in view of this to sup- ! port McKinley Wo ic? r > i * -jk t that tree .silver no ? hope and no help li menaces all j business anil premises to assist only ! those who are directly interested in the mining of silver. Furthermore, free silver, could it be so abundant as to treble prices, would be dishonest. Even if the demonetization of silver in 1873 caused the appreciatiation of gold and so added to the burdens of debtors, that is no excuse for repudia? tion by debtors of the present day That is no reaaon why debts con? tracted since should be paid with fifty-three cent dollars. If gold is appreciating, the debtor is expected to hold this in view when he borrows The Item will discover by examin? ing the mortagage8 on record in Sumter county that none of the debts have been standing more than a few years. There is scarcely one that has been in existence for twenty three years-since 1873. The. Item will not deny the debts contracted since '73, under the gold standard, should be paid in gold, or dollars redeemable in gold. Were it a tena? ble proposition that the demonetiza? tion of silver has worked a hardship on debtors, it is nevertheless a dangerous experiment to attempt a restituion to them by resort to the coinage of a dollar admissably not worth as much as other dollars. The honesty of the people should not be, compromised by quasi repudiation, no matter what provocation to theft may have occured in the past. The Post is an independent demo? cratic newspaper. It has long since ceased to worship "party organiza? tions." If we conclude as Novem? ber approaches that it is better to ac? cept Bryan as the less of two evils we shall vote for him. On the other hand, if it becomes clear to us that tho. country can only escape fiuan ciV disaster and moral debasement by the election of McKinley, we shall support McKinley Our predicament is indeed embar? rassing It may possibly be relieved by the entrance of another candi? date.-Charleston Post. Forty-Two Killed. PHILADELPHIA, July 31.-The offi? cial report, to the Pennsylvania officials state that 42 passengers were killed io the Atlantic City wreck. Tho number reported injured is 54. Ail the killed except the Heading engineer, were in the Pennsylvania Railroad company's cars. The investigation so far marie shows that, the Pennsylvania railroad train bad the righi of way, the red signal being turned against the Reading train and it remains in that position at the present time. Thc interlocking sys? tem is used at this point and as the wreck occurred there, the eigoal cannot be changed until the wreckage is re? moved. in addition to this the Penn? sylvania Railroad company officials bave the testimony of the engineer and the towerman, who is a Reading com? pany employee The Pennsylvania railroad being the junior company ; that is to say, they laid the tracks after the Reading road was built, had to bear all the expenses of the improve? ment and the expense of the building and maintenance of the tower. It also pays the salaries of the employees in the tower ; but the Reading company appoints them. ENGINEER FAUR BEARS BLAME. ATLANTIC CITY, X. J., July 31. As a result of the terrible collision on the meadows last evening the Reading railroad express from Philadelphia and the Bridgcton excursion train out of here, 47 people are dead and 44 lying ir; the hospital here more or less seri? ously hurt. Of the injured in the hos? pita!, several are expected to die. Be? sides those seriously enough hurt to be in thc hospital, a score or more of peo? ple were bruised and shaken up and went to the cottages. The fearful shook of the collison is illustrated in thc fact that of 47 dead, 42 were killed out? right. Of the dead, 42 have been identified and the bodies of three women, one man and a boy are lying at the undertaker shops awaiting claim? ants. The responsibility for thc accident is hard to place at this time, but the bur? don of it. seems to rest upon the dead engineer of the Heading train, Edward Farr, though an official investigation may clear his name. The coroner's jury viewed thc bodies th?6 morning and they were all taken away to-day except those unidentified. The Pennsylvania furnished a special train which took away to Bridgcton this afternoon 23 bodies. The bodies of the others of the identified dead were taken taken away on ethe* trains during the day. Coroner William McLaughlin has been the busiest man in all Atlantic City to-day. Immediately upon hear? ing of the accident last night. Mr. McLaughlin weat directly in the block tower and questioned Operator George F. Houser. Houser told him that he thought the cxeur.-ion train had time to cross the track of the [loading road before the .jxprc-'s got ;.herc, and he riot thc "?car" signal for >he West Jor- ? soy train. j When the "clear" signal is set on the Pennsylvania track this automati? cally sets the daoger signal on the Reading tracks, and viee vcrta. The daoger signal is still set to night on the Reading tracks. Pendiog an investigation, Mr. Houser was put under arrest by the coroner. The railroad officials of both companies will oot talk, and it is diffi? cult to defioitely locate the blame for the accident. Houser certainly set the danger sig nal for the Reading train when he gave the excursion the right of way. The question is, did he set the signal in time for Engineer Farr to see it,or did he become excited wheo he saw a collision imminent and set it too late for Farr to stop his train ? Farr was an expe? rienced engineer, and it seems incredi? ble that he would rush past a danger signal down to a crossing that was be iog approached by a train he could clearly see. Farr's body was pinned fast under his engine, with his face in plain view of the wreckage force all night. Not until this morning were the wreckers able to raise the wrecked engine and draw from beneath it the crushed body of the engineer. It was placed in a box and taken to Farr's home here. It was reported last night, when Mrs. Farr heard of her husband's death, she fell dead ; this was not so. She fell into a swoon, and to-night is lying in a seri? ous condition from the shock she got. NEGLECTED THE SIGNALS. CAMDEN, N. J., July 31.-Station Master Jobo Bodine, of the West Jer? sey and Seashore road- says he learned that Engineer Farr of the Reading traiD passed three signals, all against him before the train crashed into West Jersey excunion train. The first sig? nai was 2,000 feet away and is kuown as the distance signal, and finally the block signal at the crossing. Engineer Grines of the excursion train, told Bodine that he had stopped before reaching the crossicg and blew to get the operator to give him tbe clear signal. He got a clear signal and started. He could not see the Heading train but he saw a cloud of dust, indi? cating "tts approach. Farr had ample time to stop bis train, but made no effort. It is also rumored that there was some one in rhe cab talking to Farr at the time of the accident, but this could not be confirmed. The Ultimatum. Now that the intemperate criticisms, vituperations and abuse that have char? acterized the speeches of the State cam? paigners has culminated in a fight, we sincerely hope that the end has been reached along this line, andt hat the effect will be to lead the speakers to a higher plane of thought and words. It is true that we are biblically taught that if thy brother smite thee cn one cheek to turn the other, but weak hu? manity cannot measure up to this rule, and for ourselves we hold that when insulted a man should resent the insult and see himself righted ; be he Govern? or, Judge or any 0De else. If a man's official position will not admit of his resenting an insult then the same posi? tion should not admit of his giving one. An officer of the S?ate and especially a Governor or Judge when insulted on the stand occupies a very unenviable position, and whatever he dees, severe criticism follows. If he passes UDUOticed the insult he is branded by some as a coward ; if be resents it then it is said he is a breaker of che law that he is expected to uphold. And thus is he placed between the devil and the deep blue sea. It may be that the christian course to be pursued is chat when an honoiable man, incapable of uttering an untruth, is called a liar, to take no notice of ir, and console himself with the thought thai he has not lied, and his accus?e only injures himself. But can humanity be expected to attain to this degree of excellency ? We think not. Taking the matter practically the thing to Jo is for honorable men to de? sist from insulting each other, but if they insist on doing so let them be heid to accountability. This is the only thing that wili stop this vile practice. Io writing this we desire to be un? derstood as not passing upon the ques? tion as to who w2S right or wrong in the Evans-Eirle fight.-Ed ge field Chronicle. Job work done in the Watchman and South? ron office is always first class. A shoddy job is never turned out of this office. Get esti? mates here when a first class job is wanted. Highest cf all in Leavening Pow What The Editors Say. Duncan says Mixon said Evans said Tillman Siled his pockets out of the dis? pensary. And surely Duncan "is an honorable man." "So are they al!, all honorable men"-and Reformers. Johnston Monitor. Col. Mixon has stated that no liquor was bought from the Mill Creek Distil? ling Company after its agent offered him a rebate. This, however, does oot tell whether or not Governor Evans said Tillmaofilled his pockets with re? bate money. Unless Governor Evans can prove conclusively that he did not tell Col. Mixon that Senator Tillman had filled his pockets with money dishonestly ob? tained from rebates on dispensary whis? key, he will probably be dropped by his political creator with a thud that will jar all of his arrogance and conceit out of him.-Spartanborg Herald. The Populists seems to be hagging to their breasts the delusive hope that Vice President Sewall will retire in the interest of Mr. Watson and there will be Democratic and Populist fusion in all the States. The wish ?3 father to the thought, and will not be realized. The Democrats have placed their tick? et before the people of the country, and will vote for it as nominated. The Democrats place their nominees for President aod Vice President in the ! field on their own merits, and upon the I strength of the party's platform of j principles. The Populist party was not consulted in the selection of the ticket, and because the Populissts have uot been broad enough and patriotic ecough to endorse the whole ticket, as they should have done, is so reason why Democrats should repudiate one of their own nominees -Augusta Chron? icle. "Uncle George" Tillman made a particularly strong and interesting ad? dress at the laying of the corner stone of the cou-t bouse for the new county of Saluda. Among other things be said he believed the dispensary to be a machine for wholesale political corrup? tion and that tho Latin motto on the bottles should be translated : "Always ready for addition, division and al? ienee." Io the light of recent develop? ments it would seem that "Uncie George's" estimate was correct. The First Bale. i Special u ihe S;?:-. KlXGViLLLE, July 28.-The first bale of the new cotton crop was ginned here to-day by Edwin Trumble and will be forwarded to-morrow. This is the ear ! liest on record fer this county. Georgia's First Bale. SAVANNAH, Ga., July 28 -The first baie of Georgia cotton of the new crop was received here to-day by Gaudry, Crisp & Co., from Macon, Ga It was graded full middling and was sold at auction to Ex-Collector cf Customs T. F. Johnson at Ti cents per pound. It was shipped to-day by the steamer City of Augusta to New York, to be sold on the Cotton Exchange there. Col. Johnson had the bale banded in gold and marked, "First Georgia bale ; crop 1896 1S97 ; McKinley and Gold ; no 15 to 1 for us ; no fiat money : our greeting to the Empire State of the North, T. F. J., Savannah, Georgia " The bale weighed 510 pounds and was raised in Macon County. It tea:hed here seventeen days earlier than the first bale last season, and oee day earlier than in any previous season. General Colston Dead. RICHMOND, July 29.-Gen. Sleigh Colston died at Lee Camp soldiers' home this morning, aged Ti years. The deceased was a professor it the Virginia Military institute at tin1 breaking ont of the war, ai..] from there entered the Confederate service, and was in command of the depart? ment of Lynchburg when trie war ended. For some yeats after the war he was in the set vico of the Khedive of Egypt, and made an expedition into tho Soudan. Until incapaci? tated for work he held'a department position in Washington. Governor Evans appears to admit that ?Newbold, the detective, attends the campaign meetings by his request. The governor ought surely to esplaia the necessity for this most extraordin? ary proceeding-disgusting to a large majority of the white people of South Carolina. What does it really mean ? -Columbia Evening News. cr.-Latest U. S. Gov't Report