YOO 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



ary hearing. A seventh man had turned State's 

 evidence and told the story of the planning of the 

 crime. 



On Feb. 12 an innocent negro was killed by a 

 band of eight or ten white men who were looking 

 for another negro who had been tried twice before 

 a white jury on a charge of arson : the first jury 

 could not agree, and the second acquitted him. 



On Jan. 27 a negro who had killed a constable was 

 lynched while trying to escape arrest in Florence 

 County, by a mob said to number 200 to 250. 



Three negroes were shot by a mob Oct. 25, at 

 Edgefield. They were believed to be the murder- 

 ers of Mrs. Atkinson, who was shot while driving 

 with her husband, who was probably the intended 

 victim. 



An election riot took place Xov. 8 at Phoenix, near 

 Greenwood. A Republican, R. R. Tolbert, who was 

 a candidate for Congress in the district, had made 

 arrangements to have a record kept of the votes of 

 those who were rejected either for registration or at 

 the polls. He had three forms of blanks prepared ; 

 the first was to be signed in autograph by every 

 rejected voter who could both read and write, the 

 second to be signed with a cross by every rejected 

 voter who could read but not write, and the third 

 to be signed by every rejected voter who could 

 neither read nor write. He arranged to have these 

 affidavits in the hands of a friend at each precinct, 

 to be signed by the rejected voters in the presence 

 of special witnesses and in the most public manner, 

 and either sworn to on the spot before a notary or 

 probated by the witness before the clerk of the 

 County Court. These affidavits he intended to pre- 

 sent in Congress as evidence that he would have 

 been elected if the ballots of these men, or those 

 who were qualified to vote, had not been rejected. 

 While his brother was taking these affidavits, Boaz 

 Etheridge, an election manager at a precinct two 

 miles away, demanded the box in which they were 

 kept. A quarrel and riot ensued in which Ether- 

 idge was killed, and T. P. Tolbert and all the ne- 

 groes who had been helping him were wounded. A 

 mob soon collected and surrounded Tolbert's house, 

 and when his father, who was collector of the port 

 of Charleston, drove up with his nephew he was 

 fired upon and both were wounded. The elder Tol- 

 bert set out that night for Charleston, but was ar- 

 rested at Chester. He was soon released, but was 

 again arrested at Columbia, charged with inciting 

 riot. He was committed to the Penitentiary, the 

 authorities giving as a reason for not bringing him 

 to court for examination that the First Regiment of 

 South Carolina Volunteers were just about to be 

 mustered out and might join a lynching party if 

 one were proposed. Later in the month he was ex- 

 amined and discharged, no evidence being found to 

 sustain the charge. R. R. Tolbert was obliged to 

 leave his home and remove his family. During the 

 early rioting several negroes are reported to have 

 been killed ; five more were tied to a log together 

 and shot to death ; and two more were found dead 

 in a pasture. Others were killed before the end of 

 the troubles, which lasted some days. Three white 

 men were shot from ambush and wounded. A party 

 of lynchers were dissuaded from going to kill P. P. 

 Tolbert only on the representation that he was mor- 

 tally wounded. The authorities at Washington 

 made inquiry into the attack upon the collector of 

 the port of Charleston, but as it appeared that he 

 was not at the time engaged in trie duties of his 

 Federal office, it was decided that there was no 

 ground for Government interference. 



Legislative Session. The annual session of 

 the Legislature extended from Jan. 11 to Feb. 16. 

 Lieut.-Gov. McSweeney presided in the Senate, and 

 Speaker Frank B. Gary in the House. 



John L. McLaurin, who was the choice of the 

 people for United States Senator at the primaries, 

 Aug. 31, 1897, was formally elected to the office. 

 Chief-Justice Mclver was re-elected, and the other 

 officials chosen were : 



John Pickens Derham, Comptroller General ; 

 Marion R. Cooper and J. 0. Haselden, Members 

 State Board of Control ; W. 0. Tatum and S. H. P. 

 Garris, Members Penitentiary Directory. 



The number of acts and resolutions passed was 

 206, the majority of which were of local interest 

 only. 



An act was passed requiring railroad companies 

 to furnish separate first-class coaches or separate 

 apartments divided by substantial partitions for 

 white and colored passengers, providing that equal 

 accommodations be supplied to all paying first-class 

 fare. The penalty for violating the provisions of 

 the act is a fine of $300 to $500. It does not apply 

 to nurses on trains, nor to narrow-gauge roads, or 

 to relief trains in case of accident, nor to through 

 vestibule trains, nor to officers or guards transport- 

 ing prisoners, nor to prisoners being so transported ; 

 and it is further required that a second-class car 

 shall be attached to each train in which any person 

 paying second-class fare may ride. Railroad com- 

 panies were made liable to penalty for not posting 

 schedules of rates. A lien on railroads for payment 

 for labor and materials used in their construction 

 was provided for. 



The powers of the Railroad Commission were ex- 

 tended over telegraph and express companies, 

 which are to pay a proportionate part of the sala- 

 ries of the commissioners. Charges between points 

 within the State are subject to regulation by the 

 commission. Telephone companies may not dis- 

 criminate unreasonably between their patrons in 

 different localities. 



An act to provide for taxation of telegraph, tele- 

 phone, freight, car and express companies, copart- 

 nerships and corporations doing business in the 

 State, provides that taxes shall be levied on that 

 proportion of the total value of shares plus the 

 mortgage indebtedness that the length of the line 

 bears to its total length. 



The insurance law was amended so that eom- 



Eanies and associations transacting business in the 

 tate must have at least $100.000 of surplus or 

 capital, or file with the Comptroller General the 

 certificates of securities worth at least that sum, 

 or, in the absence of such capital deposit, then to 

 deposit with the State Treasurer of South Caro- 

 lina valid securities aggregating $10,000, or a bond 

 for said amount made by a solvent surety coin-' 

 pany, which bond shall be conditioned to pay any 

 judgment entered up in any court of competent 

 jurisdiction in this State upon a policy of insurance 

 issued to any citizen of this State by any such com- 

 pany. 



An act for regulating the government of counties 

 changes the entire method in most of the counties; 

 in some of them the method is already in use. 



An act to regulate the rate of interest upon con- 

 tracts arising in the State for the use of money or 

 other commodity, provides that no greater interest 

 than 7 per cent/shall be charged either by way of 

 straight interest, discount or otherwise, except upon 

 written contracts, wherein, by express agreement, a 

 rate of int'erest not exceeding 8 per cent, may l>e 

 charged. 



To facilitate the settlement of estates, it was pro- 

 vided that executors or administrators may pa\ a 

 legacy, after two years from the time it becomes 

 due, to the judge of the probate court by whom the 

 letters testamentary were granted, if they show to 

 his satisfaction that they are unable to ascertain the 

 whereabouts of the legatee. The amount so paid 



