The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-02-11

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''Picket," the correspondent OF the
Charleston Ne,cs. under date of the 7th
instant. writes al follows Of the defeat of
the metropolitan police bill:
The lower house of the General AS
sembly has just accomplished the best
days work of the session in the defeat,
by the decisive vote of 60 to II, of tue
iniquitous metropolitan police scheme,
by which tho Radical soreheads OF
Charleston, borrowing trick from the
shrewder rascals Of the North, were to
retrieve in part their fallen fortunes; by
which, in fnct, the ours were trying to
become retrisvers Instead of the black
and-tau monerels that they uro. It was
u pretty device, veryl It was cogitated
last summer, with no end Of pains and
no little expense. About dozen cf the
unacclimated Charleston officials found
it convenient, last August, to take refuge
in New York; and, among the other
little games of that wicked metropolis,
they became familiar with the organiza-
ton and machinery of the New York b.
p. force This vas Just what they
wanted. If the ''rooral" Radicals Of
New York State had succeeded in sitting
the Democratic voice of New York city
since 1864, why shouldn't the RadicuI
majority in South Carolina do what they
pleased with the Conservatives Of
Charleston? They continued to inveAti-
gate the Al. =. business. Through tho
poiteness of Ben. Manierre und Hank
Smith, the two Republican commissions
ers. they were shown through the gorge.
oms Headquarters on Mulberry street;
then they wero kindly escurtcd by De.
tective Jim Irving through vurions q,les-
tlOnubio places of rusort III that vicinity,
including tho dewdrop inns Of Broad
Way, the segnr dlvuns Of Canal street,
and the diving bells of tho bowery, aud
it is even said that IL few of them, in
consequence OF pursuing their investiga-
tionH without an escort, were found one
Sunday morning, by sleepy old John
Williamson, Captain of tho Sixteenth
Precinct III Que Of the cells OF his sta
tion house in West Twentieth street
However, this gave them an opportu-
nifty for studying the practical work
ings of the metropolitan police sys-
tenn, and besides. it gave one Charleston
County official, whose name is omitted
on account of his we'll known modesty,
nn opportunity to perpetrate tho best
joke Of his life. He is reported to hive
said, leaning against Il white washed wall,
aud feeling despondently in his empty
pockets: ''Gentlemen, they say that
Heaven helps those who help thpm-
selves but, If [ ever get hold of them,
Heaven help those fellows VINO helped
themselves to my watch aud chain" In
fact, they found out all about the sys-
tenn as it existed in New York, and then
they took tho measure of Charleston,
and proceeded to make bill to fit In
due course of time. they drafted their
bill to their own complete satisfaction,
adopting precisely the title Of the New
York bill, passed April 25. 1864, ian Act
to establish metropolitan police dis
trict, and to provide for the government
OF the same, and then they rubbed their
hands, begun the parceling out of the
prospective patronage, and proceeded to
the erection OF various other chateau1
dEspagme. AS 70 getting the measure
through this winters session of the LIE.
gslnture, they never thought of any
difficulty in that direction, and perhap.
there would not have been if a certair
couple Of Chal lesion County officials hat
succeeded in getting the full amount o.
their claims cashed at the last division O
spoils by the County Treasurer. but they
ialiea 10 40 30. Ine consequences O.
this failure have been an injunction anC
a law suit in Charleston. and fata
scarcity of money in the lobby in Co
lumbia. The United Brethren, it mus
be understood, work for cash only
They will not accept promises to pay
even from the Governor. for they reason
and with some plausibility. that although
he is 4 good enough Governor now
still he may not be- Governor yer,
long, and then where would his promise
be?
The SoUTu CARoLISA ROAD. w,
hnve seldom considered propositio,
60 utterly without merit, and so hostil,
to the interests not only of Charleston
but Of the whole people of South Caro-
! lima, ns that which is now presented OIL
the part Of the Central Georgia Road, t.
, take charge and control Of our Soutl
| Carolina Road.
Thut this is hostile movement, al
who run may read. The whole object i
to destroy the South Carolina Road ns a
rival, aud by the control of its affairs, t,
divert the trade from Charleston, ant
) thus bniid up Savannah and Georgia in
terests. This is so plain as to be self
evident proposition. The bait is the
promise OF four per cent. dividend t,
It,. I