New-York tribune., 1878-11-20
PRICE FOUR CENTS.
SOUTH CAROLINA TYRANNY.
POLICY OF PERSISTENT WRONG.

TRIBUNE in South Carolina writes that in his
opinion the election in Williamsburg County
was carried by the Democrats by fraud.
and that Mr.. Swais was driven away
to make the work easier. He also
says that threats have been made to prosecute
for perjury the Republican witnesses who are
now swearing to these frauds. This statement
is supplemented by a special dispatch from
Washington, which shows that the arrest and
persecution of witnesses has begun.
AN ELECTION BY FORCE AND FRAUD.
HOW DEMOCRATS CARRIED REPUBLICAN, COUNTY
Mr. swAns DRIVEN AWAY TO MAKE SUCCESS
EASIER UNITED STATES SUPERVISOR
THwARTED AND MALTREATED.
FROM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRTBUSE.l
KISGsTREE. S. c., Nov. 16.-A stranger might
lounge about this sleepy little village for week
and hear nothing said about the late election unless
he "felI up With travelling United States Commis
soner. or drew out the information from residents
by direct questions The white Democrats talk in
vague, general way that conveys no information OF
any account; and the readers OF Northern news
papers great deal more familiar with the details
of what has occurred here within the past month
than the cOlored people of Kngstree are. The main
facts that published in The TRIBUNE before the
election are not denied by anybody. The breaking
up of Republican meetings by Democrats, who ap-
peared in force and demanded division OF time,
the arrest of Mr.. Swails by DIR. Birds company OF
"red-shirts," the shooting Of the negro Hanna in
the disturbance which occurred after Swas was
brought to town, the ordering of Swas TO leave the
county and his light, the beating Of the Rev. Mr..
Pinckney, the colored Deputy-POstmaster, by Mr..
Kelley of this village, all occurred substantially as
reported in the North. II the object of all this was
to frighten the colored people and drive them away
from the polls, it did not succeed for have been
unable hear OF any instances of negroes remain
ing at home on election day. The concurrent test-
mony of white people and black is that the latter
turned ont as strongly as ever and II they did not
vote it was because the managers of election chal-
lenged them for being under age OF on some trivial
technical ground and refused to take their oaths as
evidence of their right to vote. How many such
cases there were do not know, but there were
some-not enough, however, to have given the
county to the Democrats
The white politicians say that many OF the ne
groes voted the Democratic ticket. lntelhgent
colored men, who were about the polls all day, say
that this is not So and that the Democratic majority
can be accounted for in no such way. My own
opinion is that the election in this county was
fraud, skifully covered up by the Democratic
managers. and that object in driving Mr.. Swails
away was to make the perpetration of that fraud
fortunately for the Republican party of this State.
very few of its members who have been prominent
in politics during the last eight years have
escaped being tarred with the same stick that be-
smeared almost every one who had any connection
with the Scott or Moses government. Mr.. swalls
has not escaped suspicion. he has been accused OK
| having proited by the land commission swlndle,
| and when Governor Hampton came here to make
speech, he charged him directly with having been
brbed in connection with some printing bill, and
produced ginal documents which seemed TO prove
the accusation. express opinion in regard to
these matters; | know nothing about them. Mr..
Swails may have made complete answer, but there
is at least one respectable white Republican in Kings
tree who has never heard a satisfactory exp!ana-
ii ,n and who does not believe that tho red-shirts
would have ventured to treat him a. they did but
for the encouragement Governor Hampton's serious
charges gave them.
Swalls once out Of the way, the chief obstacle 10
Democratic frauds In this county removed.
There was nobody left competent to take his place.
The law requires the Governor to appoint three
Supervisors of Election for each county, aud that
the minority party shall have at least one represen-
tative on each board. The Republican supervisor
for Williamsburg County was unknown TO many Of
the most prominent members of that party in Kings
tree. Fair play demands that ono of the three
managers at each polling place shall be Republi-
cam but not single Republican appointed by
the supervisors III this county. The entire machlD-
cry of the election was therefore, III the hands of
the Democrats They received the votes. counted
them aud declared the result and If they were dis
posed to cheat there was nobody TO interfere. 1
have tried to learn something about the character
of these Democratic managers, and make very
mlld assertion when say that thew were not men
of the higbes charace' Good, respectable citizens
might have been found to perform these duties but
such men were not selected.
The United States lw provides for the presence OF
a Federal Supervisor at eycrv poll when candidates
for Congress or Presidential Electors to lie voted
for and such an officer sent TO every box IN this
county, Here at Kingstree the United States
Supervisor, who was q cOOred man, was denied adj
mission to the room occupied by the election man
ayers and facilities given to HIM to witness
the voting He procured packing-boX, on which
he stood near the place where the voters came up
but was unable to see what was going on in the
room. About o'clock IN the evening crowd Ok
men and boys, under the lead OF DIR. Bird, of Gra-
hams Cross Roads, in the northern part OF the
county about fifteen miles from here, arrived on
the tram and came into town yelling and cheering
for the victory they had won. white gentleman,
who saw them coming from the station, told me-
that they acted as though they mad been drinking
very freely On arriving in front of the court
house, where the polls we've, they made charge,
pnlled away the box on which the United States
Supervisor was standing threw 1t into tho
middle of the street, and pushed the supervisor
down the steps, scattering his papers. He sonly
saved from serious injury by being caught by some
of the colored people who stood around. The ac-
count have given of this occurrence was obtained
from eye-wItnesses, and agrees substantially with
that given in The hagstrye Star, except that the
latter represented le men who overturned the SUI
nervsor to be voters when, in fact, they were men