Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1879-10-02
wALHALLA, SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY OCTOBER . 1879


tho orow' on Sunday Us indicating any
thing, W. ,ro approaching fearful state of
morals in this country. We have heard
some attach blame to the railroad authori-
ties for tho running of the train, but we
think this is all wrong. The blame is else.
where. Many good men believe that there
is no more harm in running train to carry
people to clutch, than there is in running
private vehicles for the same purpose, the
only difference is, in the greatly increased
numbers that 90 on tho train. The rail-
road authorities in running the train only
answered public demaud aud offered the
accommodation at a low price, for which
surely tho public should not be ungratcfu!.
we cannot see how they can be held at ali
responsible for tho conduct of their passen-
gers. The blame cannot be shifted to the
railroad authorities, but must be borne by
the country at large. 70 prevent rccur-
renee of SO disgraccful frolic ou Sunday
would it not be advisable to hold camp
meetings entirely on week days?
From the Abboville Medium
Last Sunday special trains were run by
tho Greenvillo and Columbia Railroad to
the Sandy Springs camp meeting in Andcr.
| son County. The trains ran from Columbia,
Abbevile, Grccnrillc and Walhala and the
crowd collected ut the camp ground did not
number by any calculation less than five
| thousand. There was preaching in the
church and at the shed in the morning and
much feeling was manifested by the devout
worshippcrs who gathered about the altars.
| The disorder became so great throughout
| the camp that the afternoon services were
dispensed with and the meeting was cffectu
oily broken up for the day. After dinner
th' excursion party gathered at the railroad
crossing and for three hours awaited the
departure Of the train which was unavoidas
bly, delayed. 1t was three hours of mortal
agouy such as we hope never usun to cxpc-
| renee. Crowdlug upon the crossing the
| drunken, swearing, vulgar rabblc laid VIC
lent hands upon every passcr by aud out.
ragged all decency by their obsccni,y
| " h,tc and black, men and women, were
mixed up in almost inextricahle confusion,
AMI there was no esoapc or security from
the outrageous mob A negro with
whiskcy barrel mounted on pine
table at the side of the road sold cider at
five cents tin cup full and just under
cover of the bushes an mproviscd bar-room
was in full blast where the drunken bullies
got drunker still und on every side could be
| heard the most awful profanity and the
fouIcst songs. a negro man who had mar
| riod white woman was made the special
object of the mob's untcmpcrcd wrath and
was most mcrcilcssly handled. lie was
driven off the grounds, kicked, cufed aud
cursc.I ster by step, and was stlbbcd in the
back ana heaten over the head with pistol
It was miracle that he escaped death und
those who ussau 1tcd lin should be severely
punished aud taus, lit that there is still
God in Israel and law ~ the land. On the
train tho scene bcggarcd description and in
spite of the presence of ladic,n things were
said and done that men should b. ashamed
to say to cach other. The cars wee full
Of tobacco smoke aud stunk with mean
whiskcy. There was 10 respect shown to
the ladies aud such Internal dcsecration of
the day never before occurred in upper
Curolina.s We cannot in this place enumc-
rate tho half that was done, but We hope
that our civilization will never receive such
another fearful ,;',ock. The camp meeting
authorities canuot be blamed and the rail
road company only catered to u dcpravcd
public taste. The good people of all con
ditions should set about correcting the
morality which makes such occurrences
possible. Better homo training, a more
practical Christianity and stcrncr enforce
mcnt of the Law will 10 something to reform
the situation.
From the Anderson Intclligcnccr1
The excursion over the Greenvil!o and
Columbia Railroad to Sandy Springs on
last Sunday was the largcet of the season.
Trains were run from Columbia, Grcenvllc,
Abbevillc and Walhala at greatly reduced
rates of fare, and every car was crowded
The train from Columbia left that place
with forty-scven passengers, and at every
station on the line received additions 20 its
numbers. The train from Abbcvillc in
creased its load very considerably, and when
it reached Bcton the crowd from Green
vile awaiting it swclled the number to
Mtrtccn hundred. The whole train, cou-
slstiDg OF thirteen coaches, and 10 order to
avoid further crowdng and jamming at this
place, it passed through without making
any halt at all. \ second train came up
few minutes after the first one passed, but
as the only accommodations for passengers
wcro thrcs box cars, it was not at all
crowded, and several Of those who conteu
plated going, and had accordingly
bought tickets, had their money refunded
rather than put up with the sorry accom-
modations. Tho acoond train left this point
with eighty passengers, most of whom were
colorcd and was called to the assistance of
the first train, which stauldcd about Birds
Crossing. They arrived at tho grounds in
safety, however, about IL o'clock, or shortly