The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-03-27
The Tobacco Seizures Again.

A correspondent from Ahbeville:
writing under the signature Of "Sen-
ex." contributes an article to the Co.
iumbia Union, which is so silly in its
deductions, as we'll as malignant in
temper and design, that it merits per-
haps abrief notice at our hands. The
soubriiquet Of "Senex,"-au old man
is by 20 means an appropriate one, if
there be any truth in the scriptural
declaration, that "days should speak,
and multitude of years should teach
wisdom;" for q more complete muddle
of sense and nonsense, of assumed
facts and illogical differences, it has
not been often our lot to encounter.
!. The writer remarks with regard
to the seizures made by the Revenue
officers: "'' .'.'-'a' III"
aThey seized tobacco from nine
of the leading firms of AbbeVille.
Every oox of this tobacco was manu-
featured by T. W. Keen, of North
Carolina, and was sold to these mer-
chants by NJ. W: Barber, Mr. keen's
agent, it being shipped to him by rail,
and it could never have reached Alb
beville in the condition in which the
revenue officers found it." ' .
Gould never have reached Able,
vile in the condition in which the
revenue officers found it." Why most
sapient. censor? "Gentle shepherd
tell me, why?a Because it was
properly stamped when it was con-
signed to the railroad--and then, the
stamps could not have been remoV-
ed on the transit-ergo, the stamps
were removed in .Abbevil'e, and,
as the writer attempts elsewhere
to intimate, by the act, or at least
with the knowledge of these "nine
leading firms" Here is logic with a
vengeanee-such logic as would bring
home a charge Of criminality to the
door of any man, woman or child, that
some envious would-be informer might
seek to injure. The writer assuming
every fact which is essential to make
up the corpus delicti-the body of tho
offense-thatthe tobacco was properly
stamped when it left the manufac-
turer, and again when it reached its
destination ; and again that the stamps
were removed with the knowledge Of
the merchants. g.. a.... 3. .. ... o..
IT. The manufacture. was not to
blame. because; az
%Thirteen boxes in all were seized,
and in every instance the forty pound
internal revenue stamp had been
abstracted. This could not have been
done so uniformly. in nine separate
instances, in one town, without the
knowledge of some of these mer-
chants, and in exposing it for sale
in this condition, lies their offense,
and the manufacturer was in no wise
to blame" 49,
Here again the writer plays his old
trick Of assuming his facts, How
does he know that the stamps were
abstracted, or if abstrncted, that this
was done after the tobacco came into
the possession Of the Abbeville mer-
chants2 tits all assumption through
out. Does the writer not know that
among the merchants in whose pos
session was found unstamped tobacco
was the U. S. Commissioner and rev.
enue Collector himself whose charac-
ter, like that of the other merchants,
is above imputation. Will "Senex"
pretend to charge or to intimate that
hs- removed the stamps, or was privy
to a knowledge of their removal ?
We do not mean to Intimate that the
character Of that officer is better than
that of those other "nine leading g mer-
dbants;s'whose fair fame the writer
would seek to asperse; but We advert
to hisoficial character to give weight
to q statement which needs no en-
dorsement where the parties are
known. They are all honorable men
whose character for probity is the
best answer to any such baseless i'm
putations:
baIII. Again the writer duplicates
both the manufacturer and the mer-
chant in these revenue frauds:
s"sSection 7s Of the Act of July Goth,
1868, imposes o fine Of not less than
$500 and imprisonment for not less
than six months for selling tobacco
from packages in the above condition,
which has been one of the favorite
methods of fraud upon the revenue,
the stemp being returned to the man
:ufacturer and by him made to do
duty again. These officers state the
tobacco peddlers whom they have de-
'tected'ifi this State with the stamps
upon their persons, in their penitent
moments have informed them that
eesthe merchants understand that these
clamps have a commercial value"
gr.Whatever frauds may be commit
ted byimsnptactnrer or merchants inl
.1naking the same stamps do double
duty, we submit that the facts con-
1n1ected with the condition of the box