Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Lee County Bill Passes The House. ONLY TWENTY MEMBERS WASHED TO VOTE THE MEASURE DOWN. If the senate regards the almost a nan im as vote of the ho ose of repre sentatives taken yesterday, there will soon be 41 counties in the State. The latest is Lee.' composed of portions of Darlington. Sumter and Kershaw conn ties, with Bi shop vii le as the county seat- The bill establishing this county has been passed. Prac-, tically the whole ' of the morning session was devoted the consid? eration of this bill yesterday. Mr. Bacot of Charleston was in the chair most of'the time during the discus sion LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIA? TIONS. When the house got ready for work the legislative appropriation bil! was called up sod took the right of way over everything, lt was be ing slowly proceeded with, when the debate was adjourned in order to give time for the preparation of amendments. Mr Timmermsn called for the county government bill, and Mr Skinner asked that the Lee county bill be taken up. He moved to dis? charge the special order on the coun? ty government bill for coe hour. There was some discussion over the master of taking up the Lee county bill. Mr Blythe thought that they . should consider the bi ii : the com mittee bad made a carefnl investi gation ; if it was left to the next house, that body woald have ta go ail over the matter again Mr. Meares objected to the bills' consideration. Both sides should have a fair show LEE COUNTY BILL The bill, the .?tie of which was as follows, was thea taken up : "To ere ste the coiuniy of Lee from portions of Kershaw, Darlington and Sumter counties, with boundaries as herein aiSter described, and to provide for the erection of court honse and jail, for the holding of courts and for the election of county officers." There were majority and minority reports Mr. Sturkie wanted the speeches limited to 15 minutes each. Mr Perrit* and Mr Stevenson were opposed to any limit. Finally one on each side was about to be allowed un limited time and the others were to be held down to five minutes, when Mr. Rogers protested against any limitation. After some farther dis? cussion the debate went ahead with oat a time limit on speeches. Mr. Meares moved to strike out the enacting words. Mr. Perritl opened the debate He did not propose to give any ex parte statements. He lived in the old county. He felt it was his doty to try to hold the balances of justice evenly. The new county advocates would say the old county people bad the right to appoint commissioners of election. There were only two pre cincts to be cut off from Darlington He gave the vetes of these two pre cincts The total "yes" votes lack ed only 14 of having the required two-thirds majority He believed in leaving all such things to the people ; he was at neither election The election at Ashland precinct was held in a small back room with two win dows and a door There were three new and two old county men in there There was some question about two or three votes, but that was all He argued that the election aud the count must have been perfectly fair The box was locked and sealed and given i?to the custody of a new county man. There was no question as to the vote at this box at that time ; they appeared to be satisfied. It was alleged that some of the old county people had tried to make the . costo dian of the box drunk in order to steal the box. When the custodian found the box gone, he went to a lawyer and the statement of the figures was inserted in a skeleton form. He did not propose to im? pugn the motives of any man. , When they came here tbey found af? fidavits on 'he other side. No copies had been served on thom. Affidavits there said that people wera not al? lowed to vote ; that was not evidence that they voted and tbeir votes were cot conoted. He complained of the short time allowed those on bis side of "be question to get up tbeir evidence The evidence before the committee corroborated what be bad said. He dido's believe they woald rooder a verdict on ex parte statements. Mr. Patton was going to vote for Lee county As a member of the oom mittee he wished to bave bis say be? t?re the heated part of the co ?ertai ti? men t began. He wished to tell the bouse how they could brash away pre? liminary qa?S-ion8. The attorney gen? eral bad advised the governor that be bad tbe right to order the election. M<*. Winkler wished to know if the opinion oame from Mr. Barber or from tbe assistant attorney general, who was the counsel for Salem ooooty. Mr. Patton said every opinion that came from that office, if the office was ran ?as he thought it wa?, had the sanction of the attorney general bim tftlf. Mr. Patton went OB to detail the facts as to the defeat of Salem ooo He eited the constitutional provis and said that the county of Lee io .00 seose tbe same as Salem thia legal quest iou the me ai bera of committee, with tbe single exoep of tbe gentleman from Spartanbt agreed with the attorney general. ' minority reported on the ground of count io the Darlington boxes. St ter's vote was unquestioned. The ss thing was true at? to Kershaw coot The ?ingle ??sue was as co Darlings two preoiocts-Ashland and Cypr There was an admission before committee that there was no coo: as to the Cypress box. Take Ashli box There were 196 votes return* the maoagers "tated that "yes" ceived 114 votes and "no" 82-wh was not quite two-thirds. The box Ashland was stolen The manag met the next day without a sin, scrap of paper before them and ranged a paper that was not a reta on which the figures were given above. This paper was stgoed bj t members-advocates of the old couu The new county maoager bad refus to sign. The whole issue center about the missing box. Ooe of the i pooents of the elcottoo had said t old couo fy had got ' about 60 votes The number of votes they claim, i cording to the affidavits, gave the c county exactly 61 votes, what :be m who had kept talley bad said. 0 hundred and thirty-four sworn affidav of men who bad voted for the m county were presented to the comm tee ; there were three other votes Oi of these voters had moved away fro the S ate. An affidavit of a mao wi saw tb* ballot certified it tb be for tl new county. Two were dead ; the votes-were also certified to. If the: votes were given the other side Li county is still carried by three vote The affidavits that these men bad n voted for Lee did not say tbe affidavi had beeo read to the signer*-three them coola not read. Io the other affidavits it was SWOT rhat thu notary reed the affidavits b fore the marks were affixed. As to tl registration it seemed the voting wt regular. The faot the two old count managers let these parties vote is tb best evidence of their right McKet zte and an old county manager wee home together-io diff?rent boggier It was generally admitted that Mt Keozie was generously druok. The matter should be settled nott and save a great deal of expense to 'ai parties. Mr. Winkler said seven members c the judiciary committee had not ap proved the majority report The elec tion was held on the 20th of July The whole question was as to Ashland1 vote. Oue manager, the doorkcepe and the clerk were new county mei and the two other maoagers were oh oounty men These were all in th room and they agreed oo the vote The vote was not theo challenged Mr. Stevenson said the counsel fo the new county was challenged at once Mr. Winkler said that a new county man said the box would be in Lyn oh' river before night Mr. McKenzie said he did not know the boi was gone anti! he went tt get it to take it to the court bouse. He put it in the piazza room Hu family was at home. No one slept in that room The return had been sign ed three days after the election. Tbe boz was the crucial point. The return bad not been challenged. Why, if the box contained votes io favor of the new county, would a^ new count? man say it would be io the bottom of the river before night ? He was willing to do what bad been done in the case of P*s Dee county yester day. \ Mr. Stevenson answered Mr. Wink ler's question Why would the new county man sign the return against the new county if be had stolen it ? Would not thia be nullifying the eiiec? of tbe destruction of tho box ? There was oo question as to the electioo at Cypress, yet the commissioners bad thrown ont the box. Was that the act of a parti? san board or not ? The maoagers have a mere general recollection of the vote Eaob man who voted recorded bis per? sonal exact knowledge io bis affidavit. Mr. Gadsden thought Mr. Patton had understated the position of tbe minority of the judiciary committee as to the constitutional question. It was a question as to "the same" new county. The provision applied, as he saw it, to an election and practi cally the same proposition The idea was to keep the people of a commu? nity from being stirred up more than once in four years If this were not so the people of a proposed county could leave off one little township and have no end of elections on practically the same question When one election is held ail see how each man votes. When the second elec? tion comes on the friends of the new county can carve out the "no" votes and win. The thing could finally be reduced to an absurdity. Four fifths of the county was the same as it was last year. Mr Rogers- Was not this a ques? tion that the governor shonld decide before he ordered an election ? Mr. Gadsden said that the general assembly had the rigbt to pass upon ali preliminaries to the forming of the new county Suppose they came here leaving out one plantation Would not the same principle apply ? Mr. Stevenson-Suppose they took away everything but that one planta tion, wouldn't your argument make that plantation the 'same" county? Mr. Gadsden said he was not for ; laying down any iron clad role It was the general principle be was di C088?0g Mr Wilson wished to explain h position When he introduced tfc bill he reserved the right to vote f be pleased. F? had attended all th meetings of i e committee an heard all the arguments He ha reluctantly come to the conch sion that he must vote for the form; tion of this county. It was no eas matter to stand here and see bi county cut in two. The previous question was orderec The roll call was demanded on th vote. The house refused to strik out the enacting words by a vote c 20 to 83 The vote was clinched. The debate on the bill was the adjourned until 8:30 in order to al low amendments to be put in -Tb State There was considerable debate o tbe amendments to the general ap propriation bill as made in the Senate The House gene;.?Hy insisted on it appropriations notably those- to th South Carolina College and the Stat board of health, and in tts refusal t make any loan to the State Fair Repeated efforts were made to pass i county government bill but final ac tioo was avoided as often as it wai approached The Senate would not consent t< repeal the anti-free pass law, and i killed Mr. Mayfields dispensary bill refusing to do anythinng with th( law Senator Pettigrew's dispensary bill went tbe others. Glance at the Condition ol Things in the Lower House. Fin de session proceedings will be the order of the day in ihe house ol representatives for the next three days and nights, but there are IL sight absolutely none of the big fights over important matters that have tc be disposed of In fact, so far as the important bills are concerned, the bouse has about ended its work; every thing is out of the way save for the consideration of conference com? mittee reports and senate bills of no great importance. Practically no legislation of a gen? eral character has resulted from the session for the reason that many bills of consequence passing the house have been killed in the senate and vice versa. It looks as if the new county government bill will become an act,changing the system consider? ably, but whether it willi result in stopping the usual flood cf bills relat? ing to county government matters that come in every year remains to be seen Until the senate acts no one can say whether Lee county will be form? ed this year or not The house passed the bill by an overwhelming majority. The senate committee has given the bill majority reports also The house bas also passed the reso lotion allowing a new election for Pee Dee county. The Senate bas yet to act upon this The boose during the past week devoted much time to these new county matters, and they were most exhaustively discussed before final action was taken. The consideration of the county government bill and the senate anti liquor and liquor meas? ures consumed practically the entire attention of the house during^he past week. The supply and legislative appropriation bills were also disposed of. ' The house stuck to its determina tion to let everything relating to the liquor question severely alone It declined to have anything to do with any matter bearing upon the general subject of liquor, save the Verner bill exempting the counties of Pick ens, Oconee and York from the pro visions of the dispensary act That was a surprise, and a big fight was made against it. The house worked hard during the week, and the all-day sessions were exhausting to the members and em ployes None of them will be very sorry when it is all over and they can go borne. To day the house will perhsps take up its untouched bills and rush them through quickly The rest of the time will very likely be consumed by the consideration of reports of con ference aod free conference commit? tees and messages from the senate The elections of college trustees will come off to-morrow no doubt. To? morrow aleo the bids for the public printing will be opened by the com mittees on printing of the two houses, and they will report the lowest bid to the general assembly No doubt the usual number of con? current resolutions will be introduced and considered But so far as the work of the house is concerned, it is practically done, and the remainder of the session will doubtless witness many brief recess? es while the body is waiting on the senate. The heaviest work will now fall upon the engrossing department. It looks as if the department will be flooded with work in the next two nights The final adjournment reso lotion merely fixes Wednesday as the j time for the adjournment sine die. j That legislative day could be spread j over several calendar day8 if the i ' . 1 necessity arose, but it is thought that I all who remain here can get away by ! Thursday morning's trains -State Damaging documentary evidence against Captain Carter is promised to be introduced at the court-martial in Savannah to-day. Spaniards in Cuba Ready to Surrender. Radical Wing of Autonomists Propose to Stop the War on Any Terms. # Habana, via Key West, Fla., Feb 12.-The radical wing of the Aotono mist party, formed of Senors Eliso Giberga, Arruro Ainblard. L^opol de Sola, Carlos Foot, Mioguel G-enor, Eiuarde Do!z and of hers, assembled io secret meeting to-day to dbcuss the sit? uation, which is considered very seri?os owing to toe continuance of the insur rectioo despite the faot that autonomy bas been granted.to Coba. Senor An toni Govin, colonial secrotary of the in? terior, did not take part in the delibera? tions, bat sent bis asseofc to the r?solu tioos adopted. The following propositions will be formally tendered co the iosnrgents : First The volunteers will be dis? solved and a Coban militia formed. Second. Toe iosurgeot colonels and generals will be recognized. Third Cuba will be called apon to pay ooly $ 100,000,0')0 oat of the $600.000.000 indebtedness of both wars. Fourth Cuba will pay $2.000.000 a year Fifth Coba will make her own treat? ies without interference by the Madrid govern ment. Sixth. Spanish products will bave 10 per cent margin of protection over similar products from other countries Seventh No exiles or deportations will be made, even in war time to Spain, Africa or to penal settlements whatever. Eighth. Sentences for rebellion shall be abolisher*. Ninth. Martial law canot be ordered by the captain general withoit the as? sent of both the house and senate if those bodies arc io session, or without the assent of a majority of the cabinet if they are not in session Tenth The archbishop of Santiago de Coba shall always be a native Cu? ban. Eleventh. The actual insurgent party shall have three seats in the. first cabi? net. ' Twelfth. Armistice of 15 days shall be granted for the discussion of the terras of peace. These terms are accepted by the au? tonomist party io full with the excep? tion of Senors Gal vez, Montero, Ziyos and Delonte. The aanexattion sentiment is growing stronger among the Spanish residents and if it were not for the strict censorship exercised this sentiment would be manifested through the newspapers Several mer? chants and planters-native Spaniards and members of the conservative party -opoo beiog interviewed declared the situation in Coba is terrible and if the war continues another year the island would disappear from among the pro docing countries of the world. One of them said : 'Only the firm band of the United States can save us from the abyss into which this most fertile island is sunk. Spain has been unable to subdue the insurgents, in spit? of Weyler'a oam paign to reconquer the island. All Spaniards ask with pain what had be? come of the arm? of 200.000 mco. Next summer. 35 000 soldiers will go to the hospitals aod 25.000 will return to Spain as useless and inside of six months we will have only 70,000 men in the island. Autonomy has not brought, neither will it bring peace to Cuba" A STORY ABOUT LINCOLN Wished to Go and Persuade McClellan Not to Surren? der. Lebanon, Ind , Feb 13 -President Lincoln's birthday was celebrated here last night, and among thc prominent guests at the banquet was Genera! Lew Wallace. During his address he re? ferred to thc dark days of the war wheo Gan. McClellan had been driven back to Harrison's Landing by Gen. Lee. At this lime Geo. Wallace said : "I was near Washington and weo6 there with a party to see the President. I noticed ?hat Mr. Lincoln's face was unusually sad I thought he was sick and was solicitous. I kindly asked him if ho was unwell, but be said he was well enough bur. that be was auxi<>u.?ly waning f->r the time to arrive when a boat would start for Harrison's Land? ing, that bu wanted to go and persuade Geh McClellan i.ot to surrender the army to Gen. L'e.'? Gen. Wa I Lee said he had never told this stoiy before except prirately to friends. A special from Bonham, Texa9. says that in an attempt to arrest. William G'een aod Bob Hunter near there, both men were killed and Officer Tom Al stesd 8nd Charlen Hill wrre so badly injured that they will likely die. Washington. Feb 10 -The official confirmation of the assassination of PreMdent Barrio- came t?? day ta the S.atf department in the following cable? gram from United* State? Minister Hun? ter ht Guatemala City, dated yesterday: "President Barrios was shot and in tan t killed last night at 8 o'clock walking with two military of- j firers, near the pah ce. The assassin, while attempting to escape, wax im? mediately killed by the president's New County Day in the Senate. Leo and Pee Dee Both Win After Warm Fights. Columbia Feb 14 -It was ncw couoty day io the senate to day, and as a result Lee will join the sisterhood of counties aod Pee Dee will have aootber opportunity to do fo. The principal fight was mace on thc concurrent reso? lution authorizing the governor to order a new election to determine tnequeation of establishing Pee Dee county The result was a big victory for tbe new county By a vote of 23 to 13 the senate declared (hat tbe people shoold have, in view of the alleged frauds io the first election, a second change to vote on this new county question. Up to the time of the debate on this matter very little had been done except to give a number of bills a final read? ing A house concurrent resolution pass ed by (bat body yesterday moroiog and providing for tbe appointment of a committee of one senator aod two rep rescotatives to investigate what disposi? tion is made of liquor samples received by the State board of control, was re? ceived and on motion of Mr Mayfield indefinitely postponed There was not time for this investigation the present session. Mr. Mayfield said. The conference committee on the ap? propriation bili reported that it had agreed to the p?nate amendment placing the appropriation of the South Carolina college at $25,000 ; the committee fail? ed to agree on the amendment author? izing the loan of $2,400 to the State Agricultural and Mechanical society A committee of free conference was or? dered appointed for this last item. There was quite a wrangle ou which of tbe special orders should be takeo up first. Tbe chair ruled that the bill to establish Lee county took precedence and it was immediately taken under consideration. Mr Hay moved an in? definite postponement He did not propose, he said, to make aoy captious objections to the establishment of the new county. The two thirds vote for the new county bad been received in tbe counties of Sumter and Kersbawbot not io that portion of Darlington included in the proposed county. The senate com? mittee on privileges aod elec? tions had beard day after day argo meets pro aod con and bad unanimously reported unfavorab? ly co the bill. The matter rvas then taken up in the house and the bill gotten through that body He maintained that the senate could not pass such a measure as t h in which was in direct contravention of the constitu? tion. The two-thirds vote, for thc new county bad not been received in that portion of Darlington which it was pro? posed to incorporate in Lee county and hence the constitution had not been complied with. Mr. Meses asseverated that could he be persuaded for one moment that thin election was not carried fair and square he would be only too glad to vote against tbe establishment of Lse county. Sumter was a loser by tbe formation of this oounty, for over 300 square miles of her territory would be cut G ff. The speaker then lucidly reviewed the facts in the case and declared that no doubt could exist of the county having honestly won in the election Speaking of the oft repeated cbarges of fraud, Mr Moses said it wis time for a message to be sent to tbe people of South Carolina in no uncertain terms that fraud and cheating at thc ballot box must be stopped. From the Revolution to the War of Secession be did not believe there was cheating in an election. Now in some portions of the State not even & primary election could be held without the cbarges of fraud Mr. DuB?se of Darlington said he bad tried in vain to find some flaws io the facts to justify bim in voting against the formation of ihe county. There was nothing which would justify him io such a vote, and much as be disliked to e>ee Darlington county dismembered he should vote for the biii. Tbe bill theo passed its second reading by an abu us t unanimous vote. A concurrent resolution to require - tbe holding of a new election to deter mine the question of establishing a n?w county, to be known as Pee Dee, oat of portions of Marion caused a heated debate Mr Mower, as chairman of the com mitcec of privileges and electioos. moved au iddrfinite postponement of the concurrent resolution, and said he did so because that committee had carefully examined into tho facts of tbe j election, and while there were some : trifling irrepularitieg, tnere were none ! which in any way would have changed j the result. The vote was fiually taken on Mr. I Mower's motion to indefinitely post? pone the resolution. The senate re? fuged to do so by the following vote : Yeas 13 ; Nays 23 The senate met again last night aod ; remained in peseion until ll :20 o'clock. List year there was considerable j complaint of errors in the printed acts: of the general assembly and C^de j Commissioner Brenzeale wan censured i by some of the officials To insure j agaiust a repetition of such errors ? j joint committee of the hoube and .?cu- j ate to investigate aud report upon thc work of the code commissioner recom? mended in their report last night that tbe commifsiooer read the proofs of the enrolled acts which he gives to the public printer before the same is finally pot io permanent shape tor publica? tion. ^ A fl)od of discussion was let loose io the senate last Dight over the report of a coofereoce committee oo a bill tc pro? vide for the cancellation of fertilizer tags ? substitute bill was adopted by the senate for the noose measure The seoate representatives on ?he confer? ence committee recommended that the seoato recede from its amend? ments. Mr. Boist objected to the adop? tion of the report made by a committee inimical to the bill. This opened the door for a discussion of a eubject on which most senators go loaded to the muzzle, though they ai! protest they koow nothing of the questioo. After a debate ot fully an hour, io which nearly every senator had something to pay, the senate receded from its amend? ments. The Jim Crow car bill was taken op at 35 minutes to 9 and by previous agreement the vote was taken at 10 o'clock. HOUSE PROCEEDINGS There was something lively, spicy and interesting in the proceedings of the house of representatives yester? day and liquor samples were at the bottom of the little breeze that cre? ated for the time being a ripple on the calm surface of the fin de session legislative sea. M.r. Verner caJled to the attention of the house the re? ports that he had freely beard that dispensary sample liquor was being given away and that senators and representatives had been drinking such stuff. He followed it up with a concurrent resolution that created some lively and peculiarly interesting debate and was then passed, provid? ing for an immediate investigation of the reports. Then it went over lo the senate and that body put an end to it with all its possibilities. Dur? ing the day session the house gave the county government bill a final reading and then considered only senate bills-H number of them were killed No afternoon session was held -The State. . i - -i ? i - - Mr. Wesley Wants His Past Due Rent. Fifteen Thousand Dollars the Snm Claimed by Him for lt. As time goes on the situation of the agricultural ball case, with the effects which will follow the decision of the United States court, becomes more and more interesting to the public. It cow seems practically certain that the rela? tion cf landlord and tenant which has been established between Mr. E. B. Wesley on the one band, and the South Carolina dispensary on the other, will be of short duration, and that ere 30 days more shall pass the big gin mill will be moved to a section of. the city more io keeping wirb its nature than it now occupies. At least such was the conclusion reached yesterday morning when Mr. Wesley, called on the dispensary offi? cials and informed them that $15,000 must be "coughed op" for back reot. at once, or new quarters mast be selected and moved ivo wi'hiu the next 30 days. Mr. Lyles was acting under advice of bis client, who is now tuc pos? sessor of the building. The figure looked a tittle big to the dispensary people and they at once be? gan to look up nf>w quar? ters. The warehouse below the Union depot is being negotiated for and the probability is that ir will be secured. Those io charge of the dispensary are taking things, to all appearances, very philosophically, and are talking about the great amount of drayage which will be saved by the change. At the same time, it is said that they are now willing to pay $175 rent per mooth for the building, which at first was regarded by them as too steep. The amount charged for back rent is where tho ?hoe pinches most, and the matter of $15,000 will be referred to the caurts before it is paid.-The State. Net only is the tobacco market high, but current tendencies justify even greater advances in the near future. This is not as satisfactory a situation as ?could be desired, owing to the fact that a main factor io the situation is the partial failure of the last seed leaf crcp and aod deficiency io Kentucky tobac? cos. T?e f-ff-nf of this has. however, been inteofeibvd bp thr increased u?e of domestic tobao'?o in the pl*ea of the im porter! leaf of wbioh the Cuban war has out ?ff the supply. Not only ha? the immediate consumption of Havana ro? breen decrea*rd, but ir is now believed that more or less of a permanent cnange bas b'CQ inaugurated in the manufac? ture of cigars, and the even if Cuba is ?.nee more in position to supply it? QS Ual quota the ground gained by tbe do? menic variety wilt not be Furrendered Mrs. Arthur Levy, wife of a member of tbe firm of Hays, Goldberg & Co.. of New York, was killed io the elevatcr of the Holland House last night She faioted and falling to the floor of the elevator her head was crushed by com? ing in contact with the coiling of the spoor d story aa the elevator ascended. Newberry, Feb. 14.-The residence of Mr. Brooks Reeder at Garys, this county, was burned last night Miss Fannie Reeder, an insane sister, aged 5*2, was burned to death, her body being totally consumed. Estimated loss about $2,000.