The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1881-01-26
The Battle Fought and Won.
The Laurensville Herald on the Subject.

The result of the municipal cleo
tion on last Tuesday marked an iw-
portant epoch in tue history Of our
town Never was there greater iu-
terest manifested in auy previous elec
tion. Many of the friends Of pro-
hibi,ion were early at the polls and
worked with couucndable zeal. while
some Of those on the other side mali
ifcssed ar enthusiasm aud desperation
worthy better cause. The futile
and silly effort of casting double BAL
lots was resorrcd to by the "wets. ="
But it was Of no avail. The colored
voters, upon whom they had hthcrto
relied, renuuuced the rum.sellcr's bad
cause and voted on the side Of peace,
law and order, for which they deserve
great credit and while all the better
class Of the colored voters deserve
praise for the independent and mauly
manner in which they cast their saf
frage, We deem it but just to particu-
larize in favor of George Giles. Robert
Satterwhi,e and Henry Bailey, who
manifested zeal and activity at once
commendable and praisewor,hy. The
victory was complete, aud, we fondly
hope, permanent.
. In order to give our readers some
idea of the enormous amount of H.
quor sold iu this town during the
past license year. we appsnd the fol
lowing facts and figures: One bar
room proprietor sold fourteen thou-
sand dollars worth Of liquor during
said tiue, up to the 10th lust, aud
realized a net profit Of si:r thousand
fue Aundred dollars from the sales
thereof This is the business of only
one barroom. There are Seren in
the place. Estimating the other six
at ouly half said amount. which is
low, will give ! total of fifty sir
thousand dollars worth Of the use
less, impoverishiug, ruinous, death
causing stuff that has been bought
and drunk in our town during the
short period of less than one year :
Enormous, astounding, not to say dis
graceful. This. in a community of
churches, of boasted refinement, of in-
tell!geuee, Of religious aud literary
culture Is it not appalling? Aud
what has the poor slave Of the ipe,
briate's cup to show for this i1nprov-
ident, wreckless outlay Nothing,
literally nothing save poverty, rags,
| shame aud disgrace, with impaired
constitutions, mental and physical dis
ability. On the other hand compare
this picture with that Of the run
seller, and behold the contrast While
the for,uer has suffered in every way,
lost health aud property, or bis
scant, hard earnings, and in many
cases. even Self.respcct-the latter has
received handsome Income, and
grown comparatively rich by the
reckless extravaganza aud ruin of his
customer.
The books at the depot show that
tpo hundred bnrel$ gt' ochisky aud
one hundr5d und forigfour casks of
wine aud cases Of beer have been
shipped to this place, by rail, during
the past year. In addition to this,
not less than one hundred barrels
have been brought here from Green
vile and other places. But we will
take only the two hundred barrels of
whisky (witbout estimating the wine
and beer) shipped here BY rail, which,
averaging forty gallons to the barrel,
aggregate eight thousand gallons.
This amount sold by the drink, and
in small quantities, would of itself
amount to Che snug little sum of over
irtythousand dollars! The three
hundred barrels of whisky, which
have been sulped down the throats of
the. .liquor-kilIers, if placed cud against
end, would reach frou the depot to
the public square-a distance of more
than 800 yards; or by taking the
slaves Of these 300 barrels would
build a fence nearly mile in length.
But thanks 10 the determined will
of the voters OF our town We have
rid ourselves OF the blightiug Incubus
of the run shop for at least one year,
which has suggested these "dry"
thoughts:
We think Laurens is free.
We think this closing of the sa-
looms is the dawn Of a new era Of
prosperity for our town aud County.
We thiuk the gentlemen elected
will faithfully see that Laurcus is
kept thoroughly, perfectly, totally,
aud entirely dry.
We think our country friends can
now safely come to town without
dread Of their lives or danger Of a
row.
We think our ladies can walk the
streets without being greeted with
chorus of oaths aud drunken epithets.
We think our colored people sre
now more secure in the enjoyment
of all their rights than ever before.
We think the hearts Of mauy citi-
zens throughout our County beat
with a warner aud more hopeful
throb.
We think the prayers of many a
devoted wife, mother aud sister have
now been answered.