The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-01-15

had occasioned the delay. The answer
he got was: Just agree TO give me
$4,000 worth OF the bonds after the bill
bee mes a law, and | will put it through
at once, the bill went through.
This was only one Of ffty similar trans
actions. Mr. Speaker Moses, before his
first :erm had closed, threw off ali reserve,
and it became nor"riOrs that "the ma
chine mad TO be oiled" every time an i'm
Portant bill was passed. His theory,
openly expressed, was that if a bill de
served to become law it was worth pay
ing for and if it was not worth paying for
II was not worth passing.
As time went by, however, the want
IF Mr.. Speaker Moses increased, and he
determined to find some new sources OF
revenue. To this end he secured the
passage Of law that gave him power to
issue what were called pay certificates, or
! Speakers warrants, drafts upon the
/ Treasury, which were made by him at
will, almost without question or supervi
| sion, and which the Treasurer of the
State was obliged to pay, even to the eX
cusion OF other claims So, at last, Mr.
| Moses was the director of IA money mill,
and could spend at his pleasure And as
| long as there was money in the Treasury
to meet the demands so made, the pay
certificates were as good as United States
notes. There was now 30 limit TO his
| generosity. His warrants could be had
| for the asking They were issued to buy
horses and mules for colored men who
had served the Speaker, to stock the
farms Of men living in remote parts OF
The State, who not only had no connection
with the Legislature, buE who had never
seen the State House.
AT this time the capital was literally
foo led with money, and prosperity seem
ed to be unbouuded. But the Treasury
could not hold out forever, and there
came a time when the Treasurer had TO
declare that he had no money to make
good the drafts Of Mr.. Noses. Then the
pay certificates deprecated. To make
up the difference, the Speaker, without
regard to law or consequences, made fresh
issues. But they lost value, and at last
deprecated to less chan ten cents on the
dollar 1t i estimated that OF these war
nts from 81 800, 600 to s., 100000 were
issued by Moses, the greater part of this
amount being squandered upon protilgate
and worthless favorites. Nevertheless,
by these expenditures, and by that power
over the simple minds of the masses OF
his party which had ever been chara ter
istic of him, the Speaker became, beyond
comparison, the most popular man in
South Carolina, and toward the cad of
his second term as Speaker, his friends
prevailed upon him to be a candidate for
the Governorship.
To the Governorship he was elected in
December, 1872, and after he entered
upon the duties of the office 1t was soon
evident that his gubernational career
would be even more prohlgate than had
been his course as Speaker. From the
time Of his election and during his whole
term Of office, his every official act was
for sale. His signature to ordinary acts
of legislation had to be paid for. 1t is
on record. testified to by the President of
the South Carolina Bank and Trust Com
pany, that valid claim of 800, 600 held
by that Institution against the State
could not be collected until So, 900 OF
the amount had been handed over to
Governor Moses.
Gov. Moses took the notion into his
head that he was not lodged magnifi
Gently enough. Hence he bought the
Preston mansion, considered the finest in
the South, and with the improvements
put upon it it is estimated to have cost
him between 100000 and $4,000
For this he was obliged to increase the
tariff of his charges He kept an army
of servants, staDletul of horses and the
finest equipnges in the South. Yet, sur
rounded by all these attractions, he is
known to have spent the night in the
squalor of the lowest haunt of Columbia,
dancing with half drunken colored wo-
men. His passion for new faces bordered
upon insanity In one day he was known
to spend 81, 900 upon a low creature whom
he had then met for the first time.
But Gov. Moses continued To look after
his political interests, and to proclaim
himself the particular friend OF the black
man. He testified his regard for the
colored race by pardoning almost every
negro convict in the State. During his
administration law was mockery. Fee
Ions knew that influence or money would J
buy their pardon from Moses. In the |
Charleston circuit alone, in one year,
there were 227 convictions and 81 par
dons. OF these . We're pardoned BY |
telegraph the day after the conviction.
Governor Moses desired to control ID |
political newspaper, and made arrange |
ments 10 buy the Columbia Union Her |
aid. He was to pay $l2, 900 for an in
terest, and in order to raise the money |
negro lad named Humbert
Treasurer of Orang~burg county. He
made draft for Sc, 900 on the contingent |
fund of the State, and sent it to Humbert,
and directed him to take the taxes to that
amount and pay them over to the propri
e1or Of the newspaper Humbert did so,
but when he presented the Governors
draft to the State Treasurer there was no
money to il, as the Governor had already
taken up the whole of the contingent
fund Humbert was subsequently arres-
ted on the charge of being a defaulter to
the State, and the Governor tried to per
suade him to plead guilty, pledging him
self to pardon him Immediately. Solici-
tor BUTTE, of the Charleston circuit, an
enemy of the Governor. heard of this
scheme and caused an Indictment to be
found against Moses for aiding, abetting,
and advising in the commission of fraud
md attempted grand larceny against the
State. A warrant was issued and the
Sheriff was sent to arrest the Governor,
put Moses called out a battalion of the
State militia, and so overawed the Sheriff
hat he quilted Columbia without trying
% execute the warrant The Warrant
vas subsequently quashed.
The term of office of Gov Moses ex-
bred in 1874 Weeks before, when,
lis money began to flow less freely and
lis means of obtaining it vanished, those
Who had called themselves his friends be
IAN to fall away from him. Even his
aithful black followers began to doubt
i'm, and he began to be called bad and
wicked man. To stem the feeling that
Eas rising he caused Ii he ANNOUNCED .