Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-10-14

has accepted the call of the pastorate of the
First Dutch Reformed church OF Brooklyn,
New York., left here on Tuesday morning last
to enter upon the duties Of his new field.
... .a CIRCUIT COURT.
The Court of Common Pleas and General
Sessions for York county, his Honor Judge
r. j. Mackey presiding, convened at 10
o'clock A. NJ, on Monday last.
His Honor, on instructing the grand jury,
adverted to the fact that they had heretofore
been so fully instructed as to their powers
and duties, and understanding their duties so
we'll, formal charge was deemed unneces-
sary. There was, however; one point to which
he had not called the attention of the grand
jury, and that was a complaint which comes
from every portion of this circuit and from
every quarter of the State, viz: general
complaint of the practice Of buying cotton
and other agricultural produce by storekeep-
ers during the night time This practice of
country storekeepers leads to stealing, creates
state of unquietness, andimperils theprosper'
ity of the very class who depend upon agri'
cultural productions for their prosperity.
The keeping Of stores is not the source of
wealth to the people of South Carolina.
Though a lawful business and necessary to
supply the wants of the people-and store
keepers must and shall be protected in their
rights-yet they must be careful to so conduct
their business as not to imperil the rights of
others, and not to produce any condition of
disquietude among the people. In the judg-
ment of the Court, large number Of igno-
rant men-men without hats or shoes s-are
brought before this bar to answer for the
theft of farm produce, stolen to enrich some
store-keeper dressed in broad cloth, who
stands an Indifferent spectator to the proceed
ings but annually ships fifty or one hundred
bales of cotton, raised on one acre of ground !!
The ignorant negro suffers, and the white man,
who is the most guilty of the two, escapes.
Hereafter, and until higher authority decides
otherwise, it shall be the law on this judicial
circuit to make it indictable as public nui-
sance' for any store.keeper to so conduct his
store as to imperl the quiet of community I;
and the grand jury are instructed to indict
any man, no matter how high he may stand
in the community, who buys agricultural
products after night, even if he buys them
from a man of equal respectability who
may be known to have raised them. The
cupidity of store-keepers, the court feels
constrained to remark, is not the only cause
Of the cotton stealing so much complained Of
throughout the country. One great cause is
that the laboring class of South Carolina are
the poorest paid and the poorest fed of any
laborers on the face of the globe. Planters
should lend their aid as one corrective of the
evil complained of, by dealing more literally
with their laborers. From the scanty sup
plies and low wages received by the laborers,
the result is struggle between the Iaborers'
conscience and their appetites. The farmer
may argue that he offers his price for labor
and it is optional with the laborer to accept
it; that if the price is not satisfactory he can
go elsewhere. But as applied to the larger
number of the laborers Of the State, such ar
gumeut is unreasonable. They must work
for the support of themselves and the families
dependent upon them. They cannot "strike'
nor form combinations, as do the working
people of the North, but are dependent upon
the planters, without the power to obtain en-
ployment elsewhere. They would be COM
PEELED to remain here, even if their wages
were but fifty cents month. In these cir
cumstances they will endeavor to better their
condition dishonesty, which consigns them to
prison. The Court trusts that complainants
of the crime of cotton stealing will be more
liberal with their laborers in the matter of
rations, and also give their hands time by day
light to sell such produce as they may have
for sale. Ifotherwise, the Court will instruct
the jury not to convict the purchaser. 1t is
to the pecuniary interest of the planter to en-
deavor to prevent cotton stealing. 1t has the
tendency to lower the price of the cotton. The
cotton-stealer seldom realizes more than one
cent pound for the cotton he sells after
night, when he ought to have four or FIVE
cents, at the least. 1t has been shown in
numbers of instances that the cotton thief sold
his stealings for something to eat, which I'M
pels the Court to remark that in the future,
in the trial of such cases, ifit is made to ap-
pear that the thief was driven to the act by
starvation, the sentence shall not crush him.
The Court is ready to cooperate with the
people in closing every store in the county at
ter nightfall, ifthe owners are guilty of buy
ing cotton or other farm products improperly !;
but even that will not stop the practice unless
the laborers are better fed than at present.
Under the present system in this respect, labor
ers are halfstarved and employers are half
robbed.
A number of bills were given to the grand
Jury, when the cases of the State Us. j. B.
Hubbard were called. Hubbard, while act
ing in the capacity of United States Mar
shal and revenue detective, in March, 1874,
was charged with committing various excesses,
and the first case called was one in which w.
F. Massey was the prosecutor, the charge be-
ing false imprisonment Mr.. Massey was ex-
amined, but without proceeding further, the
Court instructed the jury to return verdict
of not guilty, as Hubbard was in the dis
charge of his duties and though he conducted
himself improperly, yet there was no law to
reach the case. The fact that Massey was on
the premises and had in charge the alleged
illicit whisky, was sufficiently presumptive to
,y.rront Hubbard in maxine the arrest