SOUTH CAROLINA. 



719 



be obliged to make annual returns, as was the 

 law before 1870, and as guardians are required 

 to do. 



An act was passed requiring every cotton 

 buyer making purchases from an original seller 

 to 'keep a book in which shall be inserted the 

 number of bales bought by him, and the names 

 of the sellers ; the bales are to be numbered and 

 the numbers entered on the book. 



The militia law was amended ; the purpose of 

 the amending act is to reorganize the guard so 

 as to have 100 of the best companies make up 

 the enlisted militia and have the other compa- 

 nies nominally belonging, of which there are 

 about 150, ready for a call in an emergency. 



Other bills passed were : 



Keducing pilotage fees. 



Abolishing the office of fish commissioner. 



Chartering the South Carolina and Augusta Kail- 

 road. 



Providing for the appointment of a historical com- 

 mission of the State. 



Authorizing the Governor to locate positions for 

 monuments of State troops at Chickamauga and 

 Gettysburg. 



The bill for creating a new county, to be called 

 Greenwood, which finally failed in the Assembly 

 of 1893, was revived, but again failed of passage. 



Political. The campaign this year was un- 

 usually stormy. The contest was between the 

 Reform or Tillman Democrats and the Inde- 

 pendent or Conservative Democrats. Before the 

 meeting of the convention there was a lively 

 canvass between the two candidates for the office 

 of United States Senator and several guberna- 

 torial candidates. The convention was not held 

 till September, and during the summer Senator 

 Butler and Gov. Tillman, with J. G. Evans, 

 Comptroller Ellerbe, and Secretary Tindal and 

 others addressed mass meetings through the 

 State, the rival candidates speaking in opposi- 

 tion to one another. Senator Butler represented 

 the Conservatives, but the candidates mentioned 

 for Governor were all Tillman men. Dr. Samp- 

 son Pope was also a gubernatorial candidate. 

 The Farmers' Alliance threatened a bolt unless 

 the Reformers should come out squarely in favor 

 of Populist principles. 



The Reformers held a preliminary convention, 

 Aug. 15, and nominated J. G. Evans and W. H. 

 Timmerman for Governor and Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor. 



The Conservatives held a convention, Aug. 

 17, a few days before the regular State conven- 

 tion. The call was accompanied by a resolution 

 declaring that the party machinery was in con- 

 trol of third-party and Populist politicians who 

 had betrayed the masses of Democrats, and that 

 the party should be reorganized and wrested 

 from such control. It was decided in caucus to 

 make no nominations, by a vote of 120 to 104, 

 but the convention passed resolutions repudiat- 

 ing the Ocala platform as opposed to Democratic 

 principles, and demanding that no candidate be 

 nominated at the coming State convention who 

 should acknowledge allegiance to that platform 

 or to Populist principles, or who was not in ac- 

 cord with the national Democracy. 



The State nominating convention met at 

 Columbia, Sept. 19, with a large majority of the 

 Reform faction. A new constitution for the 



party was adopted, providing for a direct pri- 

 mary for every office. 



The resolutions approved the Ocala platform 

 as well as that of the Chicago National Conven- 

 tion ; demanded free coinage of silver at a ratio 

 of 16 to 1 ; and declared the dispensary law to be 

 the best solution of the liquor question. The 

 platform as first drawn denounced the President 

 for failing to fulfill the pledges of the party, and 

 for bribing Congress with patronage to carry out 

 his policy, but this was thrown out and no men- 

 tion was made in the platform of the national 

 Administration or the President. 



The ticket nominated was: For Governor, 

 John Gary Evans; Lieutenant-Governor, W. H. 

 Timmerman ; Treasurer, W. T. C. Bates ; Attor- 

 ney-General, 0. W. Buchanan ; Secretary of 

 State, D. H. Thompkins ; Comptroller, James 

 Norton ; Adjutant and Inspector General, John 

 Gary Watts : Superintendent of Education, W. 

 D. Mayfield ; Railroad Commissioners, W. D. 

 Evans,'H. R. Thomas, and J. C. Wilborn. 



The Charleston delegation announced in the 

 convention that they would not support the 

 nominees, because they were not on a true Demo- 

 cratic platform. The Conservatives thereupon 

 called another convention for Sept. 25, at which 

 they reaffirmed the platform of 1890. After the 

 caucus had been in session all night adjourn- 

 ment was reached without nominations. A 

 strong resolution in opposition to the scheme for 

 calling a constitutional convention was adopted. 



Dr. Sampson Pope announced himself as an 

 Independent Democratic candidate in an address 

 to the people, in which he explained that he 

 withdrew from the primaries to put himself in 

 position for the general election, and said further, 

 in reference to the Tillman party : " You can 

 have no peace until you destroy the power of 

 these people, and until you strike the dispensary 

 law from the statute book, for it is a vast polit- 

 ical machine, and has been used in some counties, 

 if not in all, as such, and I predict will be used 

 at the general election." 



The Prohibitionists held a State convention, 

 but made no nominations. A resolution was 

 adopted condemning license or sale of intoxicants 

 by the State except for medical, mechanical, or 

 sacramental purposes. 



The count of the election gave Evans, the Re- 

 form candidate for Governor. 89,507 votes, and 

 Pope, the Independent candidate, 17.278. The 

 Legislature stood on joint ballot : 183 Reform, 

 24 Independent Democrats, and 3 Republicans. 



There was a small majority in favor of the 

 constitutional convention 31,402 to 29,523. 



It was charged that there had been gross frauds 

 in the election, that votes for Pope had been 

 transferred to Evans, and the returns so ma- 

 nipulated as to give a majority for the constitu- 

 tional convention, which had in reality been 

 defeated. Protests were made to the State board 

 of canvassers, without result. Dr. Pope sent a 

 petition to the Legislature. 



Nov. 26 Senator Butler, who had made no con- 

 test before the board, filed a petition through his 

 attorneys to the State Supreme Court, asking for 

 an injunction against the Comptroller General 

 and State Treasurer, restraining them from pay- 

 ing out funds as salaries to the supervisors of 

 registration, alleging that the law under which 



