The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1881-11-03
MisceIIameous.
g
THE RISE AND FALL OF
MOSES.
y. Y. Times, Oct. 5th.


answer to the charge of obtaining
money on false pretenses, a man
! who has held many Offices in his
; day, from Judge to Governor Of a
! great State, and who is now a
! beggar and penniless vagabond.
There was time when be had
control Of almost unlimited
wealth, rolled in luxury, and
! sported with wantons and liber-
j tines with the profuseness Of an
Eastern Prince. To day he has
hardly friend in the world, and,
broken, gray, and seedy, he ekes
out slender subsistence by his
wits. If q novelist were to weave
into a romance the main incidents
of the career of Franklin J. Moses,
formerly Governor Of South Caro-
lima, people would say that his
story was sensational but some
vi hat improbable. The life of
Moses furnishes capital example
of the ease with which bold and
reckless man may seize on power
and pelf in times Of political un-
settlement and revolution. The
period of reconstruction 10 the
South was Moses opportunity.
His fall was the natural conse-
quence of his ill.spent life, not of
the end of the era 10 which he
hourished.
1t was said of Moses long ago
by one who knew him we'll, that
she was a noble-hearted man, with
a paralysis on the moral side
Exactly what constitutes a noble.
hearted man, however, is not
easily determined. As long as
Moses had money he scattered it
like chaf. But chat which he
tossed about him with prodigal
hands was not bis own, and the
creatures who lived on his bounty
never gave him credit for genuine
generosity. So when the day
came to bim when be, like one OF
old. would fain have filled bis
belly with the husks the swine
did eat,' his fine weather friend
had all forsaken him and fed
The man who made the streets OF
the capital of South Carolina re-
splendent with costly equipsges.
jewels, and gay attire was at last
brought down so low that be stole
an overcoat from an Office into
which be had gone on a pretended
errand of business. Where were
his boon companions, the men
whom he had enriched, the fav-
orites Of his brief aud brilliant t
career, when be was 50 reduced
and humiliated ?
Born Of good old Southern
family of Jewish descent, gifted
with many rare personal and men.
tai qualities, Moses might have
made for himself a name Of which
South Carolina would have been
proud. The rapidity with which
be ran the whole gamut of ordlna
ry ambition proved bis native
geniue. At the close of the war
although be had thrown himself
heart and soul, into the Confede
rate cause, he saw, as but te"
others did, that the leader of the
newly enfranchised freedmen wa:
sure OF power; and he took VI
their cause with an enthusiasm
| that seemed almost real. His sa
gacity and audacity were reward
ed. Speaker of the Assembly, b'
engaged in q career of corruption
bribery and robbery which has
had no parallel. in this country
He made no bones Of his rascal.
intentions. If be wanted money
horses, or any specie Of property
he demanded these Of the mel
who sued for his influence in tn
passage of bills in which the,
) were interested. He procured th
enactment of law which CAV
him, as Speaker, unlimited powe
to draw upon the State Treasury
and from that day his warrant
taking precedence OF all other de
mands, were plentiful as the leave
of the forest. He owned o none
mill.
Having issued nearly two MI
lions of dollars in pay certificates
as Speaker, it was obvious tha
Governor Moses would rule tb
State with all the profigacy an
extravaganza that he had show
in his less influential position