718 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



lynching. The whole region was in a state of 

 turmoil. The dispensaries at Florence and Tim- 

 monsville were broken into, and the stock be- 

 longing to the State was in great part destroyed 

 or stolen. The Governor ordered 3 companies 

 of Columbia militia to go by special train to the 

 scene of the riot. Only one company tried to 

 obey the order, and it was prevented by a mob 

 that gathered in front of the armory. An order 

 for the Charleston militia to move was answered 

 by the brigadier general to the effect that no 

 company in that command would aid in sustain- 

 ing the dispensary law. Similar replies were re- 

 ceived from 6 other companies to whom orders 

 were sent. Others, however, to the number of 

 about 19, responded, making a force of about 475 

 men, who were in Darlington by April 1. Fear- 

 ing that there would be trouble in Columbia also, 

 the Governor called for volunteers to assemble 

 there and assist in preserving the peace, and about 

 300 of those who responded to the call were 

 brought to the capital by April 2. The Gov- 

 ernor declared the counties of Darlington and 

 Florence to be in a state of insurrection, placed 

 them under martial law, and took possession of 

 the railroad and telegraph lines, forbidding the 

 sending of any messages except those relating to 

 business, and ordering that no trains be run ex- 

 cept for the State. The telegraph companies re- 

 sisted ; the Western Union had to be served with 

 an injunction and forcible possession taken by 

 the military. Newspaper dispatches reported 

 that a ''blind tiger" office was opened and news 

 sent out. More troops were sent to Darlington, 

 and kept there till after the coroner's inquest. 

 The constables testified at the inquest. Two of 

 them were held for murder, and afterward, on 

 trial, were acquitted. By April 6 the troops were 

 withdrawn. The Governor reported that the 

 whole cost for the militia was $13,898.75. He 

 issued orders disarming all the companies that 

 had refused to obey his call, and one was dis- 

 missed from the service in disgrace. Others were 

 reorganized, and many new ones formed. 



Two weeks after the Darlington riot the Su- 

 preme Court of the State declared the act of 

 1892 unconstitutional, Justice Pope dissenting 

 from the opinion of the other 2 justices. This 

 was the signal for great demonstrations in some 

 of the towns. Charleston made bonfires and 

 had a procession headed by a wagon containing 

 a whisky barrel decorated with flowers. The dis- 

 pensaries were closed and the constabulary dis- 

 missed. The act of 1893 contained substantially 

 the same provisions as that of 1892, but it was 

 not brought before the court at that time. The 

 Governor says in his message : " But while I 

 obeyed what' I thought was the law under the 

 decision of the court, I resolved to thwart the 

 court if I could, and every effort was put forth 

 to prevent the act of 1893 from coming before 

 the court as it was then constituted. In the 

 nie;mtime we had a whisky deluge. During the 

 period from July 1, 1893,' when the dispensary 

 law went into effect . to April 21, 1894, when it- 

 was suspended, 277 United States retail licenses 

 were issued. In the time the dispensaries were 

 closed, April 21 to Aug. 1, 1,174 were issued." 



It was a question whether the court decision 

 should be construed as establishing prohibition 

 or allowing licenses, and a test case was brought 



before the Supreme Court in May. The decision 

 is stated as follows : 



(1) The repealing clauses of the dispensary act of 

 1892 are null and void. (2) These clauses being 

 void, the previous law forbidding the sale of spirit- 

 uous liquor without a license is in full force and ef- 

 fect. (3) Under the law, as it now stands, there is 

 no authority to grant license for the sale of spirituous 

 liquors, and hence such license would be absolutely 

 void. 



The Supreme Court was changed July 27 by 

 the retirement of Justice McGowan, whose suc- 

 cessor, Eugene B. Gary, had been elected in the 

 previous December. On the 23d of that month 

 the executive announced his intention to reopen 

 the dispensaries Aug. 1, under the act of 1893, 

 upon which the court had rendered no decision. 

 The dispensaries were so reopened, and cases 

 were brought before the court and argued in 

 September, and the decision was filed in Octo- 

 ber. Justices Pope and Gary declared the law 

 constitutional, Chief-Justice Mclver dissenting. 



There was some further trouble during the 

 year in the carrying out of the law ; in Black- 

 ville 2 men were killed, 1 of them a constable, 

 in a fight about the opening of packages in a 

 hunt for liquors. 



Legislative Session. The General Assem- 

 bly met Nov. 27, and adjourned Dec. 24. 



The message of the retiring Governor was 

 largely devoted to a defense of the dispensary 

 law and the methods of its enforcement. 



At the election of United- States Senator, 

 Dec. 11. the ex-Governor was the choice of the 

 Legislature. The vote stood: B. R. Tillman, 

 131 ; M. C. Butler, 21. 



Probably the most important measure passed 

 was that called the metropolitan police bill. Its 

 avowed purpose is to insure the better enforce- 

 ment of the dispensary law in towns and cities. 



There was a heated debate over this bill, one 

 Senator going so far as to say that if he 

 lived in a city he would advocate rebellion, and 

 that all freemen and good citizens should be on 

 that line; that Calhoun was for war in 1832 for 

 less cause ; and that the metropolitan police bill 

 would have the effect of bringing all good cit- 

 izens and liquor men together on the side of self- 

 government. 



A bill was passed perfecting the machinery of 

 the general incorporation law by allowing a cer- 

 tified copy of the charter issued by the Secre- 

 tary of State or the clerk of court to be proof 

 of the existence of the corporation without re- 

 quiring proof of the preliminary steps now neces- 

 sary to obtain a charter. 



Another amends the recording law in cases of 

 goods deposited with workmen for repair, by not 

 requiring a record of the agreement in order to 

 protect them from the debts of the person with 

 whom they are deposited. 



So-called "Scotch mortgages" are abolished. 



Provision was made for the election of dele- 

 gates to the coming constitutional convention. 



An act in the interest of the smaller railroads 

 forbids the owning and controlling of other roads 

 by competing lines. 



Another allows juries in murder cases to rec- 

 ommend a prisoner to mercy, and thus change 

 the sentence to imprisonment for life. 



Executors and administrators will hereafter 



