The Orangeburg democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, 1879-01-10
TUE, DEMOCRATIC DEFENSE.
THE VIEWS OF AN INDEPENDENT JOUR.
NAL ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA CASE


That one story is good until anoth-
er is told, and not much longer, is il
lustrated to some extent in the matter
of the South Carolina election. Upon
n very fimsy foundation Of fact, erect
ed by partizan correspondents, Mr..
Blaine built up his wholesale charges
OF the disfranchisement of the negroes
by fraud and the conseq uent capture
Of two or three Congressional Dis
tricts by the South Carolina Demo
Gratis. The whole thing had shaky
appearance, by reason Of the discred-
liable character of the few witnesses
whose names were given by the COR
respondents sent down South "to
write up" the outrages for partizan
journals. We have wondered that so
little has been elected from the other
side-the accused party-in refer
erence 10 matters of such grave i'm
port. Through the enterprise Of the
New York Herald this default exists
no longer. That journal printed re-
Gently four columns Of reports from
Democratic sources, covering the
whole groundipretty fully ifnot in due
detail. That these, too, are partizan
pictures Of the election goes without
saying, but. they have the merit Of
being accompanied by responsible
names, and they are worth notice as q
part Of the record of the Democratic
case now under consideration by the
Teller committee.
The alleged Charleston frauds are
considered by Mr.. O'Connor, the
Democratic Representative elect from
that District. He makes very clear
that, so far from abridging the rights
of the negro voter by their rearange-
ment Of the polls, the Democrats in
fact facilitated the work Of voting for
all and greatly diminished the oppor-
tunity for fraud. Misrepresentation
is. pointed out that Mackey, his Re-
publican on onent, was SIN sfact
81 lest
against which Mackey's charges lie.
From Rainey's district, from which
Richardson was returned elected, the
reports are more conclusive and sat
isfactory. Tue Republican Circuit
Judge in a very dispasslonate letter
comedies the fair defeat Of the candi-
date of his party, gives good reasons
why. he and many other Republicans
worked and voted against him, and
bears testimony TO the fact that there
was an honest election, fair count
and no violence. This witness lives
in Marlboro County, but evidence to
the same effect is published from the
Circuit Judge residentin Sumter (the
only county in which violence is said
to have occurred,) and from Horny,
Georgetown and Marion. 1t seems
that Rainey did not even make can
vass of these counties, failed to send
tickets to others, and it was generally
understood among the colored people
that he had taken his lamily.to Con-
necticut and expected TO make that
State his future home.
From Smalls' district no report is
made. Perhaps one is yet to come,
for further explanation Of the large
Democratic majority IS needed, not
withstanding the notorious bad char
acter of the Republican candidates.
The true character of this defence
is scarcely given with sufficient
clearness in this summary. A great
deal, lies in the specifications OF Re-
publican disaffection and the causes
thereof. When the colored people
had such cause for deserting their
party the presumption that Demo
cratic triumph was secured by intimi-
dation and fraud is, TO say the least,
violent and unnecessary, Giving
them credit for even less than aver
age intelligence, it must be supposed
that Wade Hampton's fair and eco
nomical Administrations Of the State
government must have shown them
chat Democratic rule was not the ter
rible thing chat, cndcr the teaching
OF the carpettbaggers," their fancy
had painted. From the day of Apo
mattox until now the negro was
never so protected from violence as
under that administration. His yani-
fy waa npypr an fpI hy Do)itirol occo