706 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



cation, and one drowned; and 6 who should 

 prior to May 1, 1875, have been left out of the 

 records as " escaped ; " making a total of 162 

 discharged, and leaving 322 in confinement on 

 the 31st of October, 1875. Of this number 

 318 are males; 4, females. 



The ports of Charleston, Hilton Head, and 

 Georgetown, and the whole seaboard of South 

 Carolina, were exempt in 1875 from epidem- 

 ic diseases and from yellow fever. This good 

 result, so far as it may depend on human 

 means, is attributed chiefly to the vigilant fore- 

 sight of the health-officers at the above-named 

 points. Having put themselves in direct com- 

 munication with Havana and Key West, where 

 the yellow fever manifested itself as early as 

 March, 1875, they rigidly enforced the quaran- 

 tine laws in the examination of vessels coming 

 from those, or other suspected, localities. 



Respecting the centennial celebration at Phil- 

 adelphia, in 1876, a Joint Special Committee 

 of four was appointed by the General Assem- 

 bly at the previous session, " to collect informa- 

 tion of the resources of the State for represen- 

 tation at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadel- 

 phia." 



In addition to this Legislative Committee, 

 Governor Chamberlain, in October, 1875, ap- 

 pointed a commission, consisting of nine prom- 

 inent citizens of the State, "to have in charge 

 the perfecting of such arrangements as they 

 may adopt for promoting and securing the 

 proper representation of South Carolina her 

 resources, history, and industries at the cen- 

 tennial celebration." 



In accordance with a concurrent resolution 

 the two Houses of the General Assembly met 

 in joint convention on December 16, 1875, and 

 elected the following persons to office : 



For Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 J. J. Wright, colored. 



For Circuit Judges First Circuit, W. J. 

 Whipper ; Second Circuit, P. L. Wiggins, the 

 present Solicitor of the same Circuit; Third 

 Circuit, Franklin J. Moses, Jr., ex-Governor 

 of South Carolina ; Fourth Circuit, J. P. Town- 

 send; Fifth Circuit, J. Carpenter; Sixth Cir- 

 cuit, Thomas J. McWey ; Seventh Circuit, L. 

 C. Northrop ; Eighth Circuit, T. J. Cooke. 



At the announcement of some among these 

 judicial elections by the Legislature, especially 

 of the two relating to the First and Third Cir- 

 cuits, a very great dissatisfaction manifested 

 itself among a large portion of the people, Re- 



gublicans as well as Democrats, throughout the 

 tate, and chiefly among the residents of the 

 two circuits concerned. They loudly expressed 

 their unwillingness to acquiesce in the elec- 

 tions made, and their determination not to 

 allow the judges-elect to occupy the judicial 

 seats of their circuits. 



On December 21, 1875, Governor Chamber- 

 lain formally refused to issue the usual com- 

 missions to F. J. Moses, Jr., and W. J. Whipper, 

 as Judges-elect for the Third and First Circuits 

 respectively, taking the ground that, as the 



terms of the present incumbents do not expire 

 till after the next general election in 1876, the 

 General Assembly had no right to elect their 

 successors. 



In approbation of this action of the Gov^- 

 ernor, the president of the Charleston Chamber 

 of Commerce, the presidents of five banks, and 

 seven among the leading commercial firms in 

 that city, on December 22d, signed an address 

 to him, saying : " We tender you, for the com- 

 munity of Charleston and the State, our thanks 

 for your action in refusing to sign the commis- 

 sions. We will do all we can to sustain you in 

 what you have done." 



On December 24th a call was signed by a 

 large number of the citizens of the town of 

 Sumter, in which F. J. Moses, Jr., was born 

 and grew up, inviting their fellow-citizens of 

 the county to assemble in public meeting on 

 sales-day in January, " to take action upon the 

 election of judges, and to uphold Governor 

 Chamberlain in his course in relation thereto." 



On December 26th a public meeting was held 

 at Charleston, which is in the First Circuit, for 

 the purpose of taking action against the judi- 

 cial elections by the Legislature for the First 

 and Third Circuits. The meeting had an un- 

 usually large attendance from within and out- 

 side the city, and was addressed by several 

 prominent citizens. A platform was read and 

 adopted by it as if with one voice, in which, 

 besides some resolutions approving the above- 

 stated action of the Governor, and promising 

 to stand by him in it, there are the two fol- 

 lowing : 



Itesolved, That as citizens of this State we protest 

 against the action of the General Assembly in elect- 

 ing as judges men so notoriously corrupt as W. J. 

 Whipper and F. J. Moses, Jr., and avow our deter- 

 mination to resist it to the end. 



2. That we protest against the continuance in office 

 of legislators so regardless of duty, and so reckless 

 of the character, the peace, and the prosperity of the 

 State, and we will use every effort to drive them from 

 power. 



These resolutions were formally approved 

 and indorsed by the bar of Orangeburg on 

 December 28th, when a number of its mem- 

 bers signed an address to the Governor, in- 

 forming him of their action. 



At the end of December, 1875, the Republi- 

 cans held a mass-meeting in Charleston, for 

 the purpose of sustaining the action of the 

 General Assembly in the judicial elections for 

 the First and Third Circuits. It is stated that 

 the bulk of the colored people of Charleston 

 did not attend this meeting. 



The judges-elect for those two circuits pro- 

 tested on their part against the action of the 

 Governor in refusing to sign their commissions, 

 and expressed their determination not to wait, 

 but to apply to the Supreme Court for protec- 

 tion against the Governor by a writ of manda- 

 mus. 



The State census taken in 1875, in compli- 

 ance with the law enacted at the previous ses- 

 sion for that purpose, was completed in No- 



