The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-04-27
District Attorney Melton as q Slave Of
Duty.

eaa.,;. n'euiy dramatic and exceedingly
enes.ive ,aa speech delivered by District At.
.ol4ey Melton in the United States Court
uroay wv naluay, was something more than !
pIIeseulation OF the evidence against the
aeSs'on ,a;s oihcers then on trial. Mr.. Mel.
,S tTn evident desire was to pose before
sno pueilc IS a political esthete whom
oc ot.ess oi circumstances had made a slave
uuty ihe people of South Carolina
,le reme aoer hlm in a different guise. and
aiuse oe pardoned if they fail to annre.
cla;e the moral beauty of the role he
seeks to play. M o'0 nc
Iif. Melton announced in the opening
oI MS address that his duty" was "too
Ess'oIe the supremacy Of law in South
Eal3iina and TO vindicate the purity Of
me oaiict'box." He said: "Surely the
,sinaicatlon of the law should cali for The
inquest endeavor. But the call is su.
P!eme when at once the law is to he vim.
gicated and the ballot is to be protected -
Ih's IS incontestably true; and il was
lrae = 1873 rs it is in 1882. In 1889 ne
ah oNlcer OF the United States Govern.
lnenl, Mr. Melton proclaims himself the
champion of the law and the defender of
'he freedom of elections; but in 1874
when Attorney General of South Caro-,
una, he was the champion of politica,
iraod and the defender of such comb.
nation OF crimes, at an election. as was
never known before in this State and
has never been known since. 'N
Moses was Governor in 1873. and Mr.
Helton was his Attorney General. In
Cc!o Jer OF that year the Charleston mn.
nicipal election was held, and when the
polls closed the announcement v,s nado
mat the Republican candidates for Nav.
or and Aldermen had been elected. +
rested with five Commissioners. appoint.
ea Dy Governor Moses, to make the off
ciel declaration of the result. The ynl.
ioily OF the election was at once u,,es-
tioned and an investigation had. In the
course OF that investigation il was proved
1nat negroes had been imported from the
Gea Islands outside Of the city, by hun.
dreds, to vote at the election, and that
rom the oath prescribed by law to be
taken by voters the words covering the
declaration that the person offering to
vote was resident OF Charleston had
oeen e2punged, so that any one from any
part OF the State might vote without
straining his conscience. In this mutt.
lated shape was the oath administered
IL was proved, too, that the Commission
ere OF Election, although appointed
thirty days before the election. did not
appoint the election officers or managers
for the several precincts, or designr. .e the
polling places, until the day before the
election. After dark on the ,lay pre.
ceulng the election the Commissioners
determined to have five additional poll
ing places, and of these polling places
no notice whatever was given to the pub.
nc until the day of election, and four
hours after the polls were opened. One
OF the polling places was shifted twice
on the day Of election. The work was
deity done. 1T the new polling places
the ballot. boxes were stuffed, before the
democrats knew of their whereabouts.
with ballots which had been carefully
folded the night before. More votes
were counted at the FIVE clandes.;ne polls
than the entire majority claimed for the
Republican candidates. None was loud
er in his denunciation of the rascality of
the conduct of the managers than E.W.
n. .Mackey, the standing candidate for
Congress from this District, whose cleo.
ton as Alderman was jeopardized by the
Vaccinations of Bowen, his inexorable
foe within the party" Where was Mr.
Melton then? Where was the Attorney
General of South Carolina ?. Was 6e
engaged in the endeavor ''to restore the
supremacy of law in South Carolina, and
to vindicate the purity of the ballot
box 2" Far from it! He was the coun.
sci for those who profited BY the fraud
and for whom the fraud was planned.
defending the conduct Of the election
with as much zeal and as much elouuence
as he displayed in the United States
Court last Friday. There were the same
rebukes of so.called "Bourbonism."
There was The same success in tickling
the ears of the negroes in the audience.
The doughty defender Of law and fair
elections did not find it inconsistent witt,
his sense of duty to himself aud the
State to be the apologist of mutilated
oath and the panegyrist of clandestine
polling places
But Mr.. Melton, on Friday, did not
conhne his remarks to truisms such as we
have quoted. The State be processes 10
love he rc'"s'.n'' as street walker, "a
debauched and bedraggled creature." If
this were true, it i'll became Mr.. Melton
to say it. His every instinct, he said,
was to resent IL" And he declared
that he fought "a government of corrup-
tlon," when it existed, with call the
strength" he had. 1t will SEEM to the
public that he doth protest overmuch.
South Carolina reached the lowest
depths of degradation while Moses was
Governor. Writing in 1873, Mr.. Pike in
The Prostrate State says: "The rule of
South Carolina should not be dignified
with the name of government. 1t is the
installation of huge system Of brigand.
age. The men who have had it i'm con-
troll, and who now have it in control, are
the picked rillaDs of the community.
They are the highwaymen of the State.
They are professional legislative robbers.
They are men who have studied and
practiced the art of legalized theft. They
are in no sense different from, or better
than, the men who fill the penitentiaries
of the world. The present
government of South Carolina is not
only corrupt and oppressive, it is insult
ing. 1t denies the exercise of the rights
of white communities, becauee they are
white. The city of Charleston il an ex-
ample, as we have before st;wn. The
black government of the Sac denies it
the right to superintend its own voting,
or to count its own votes.' Where was
Mr.. Melton then, and what was he doing
Mr.. Melton was elected Attorney General
at the same time that Moses was elected
Governor, and served as Attorney Gen
eral until April, 1876, when he resigned.
Was he blind aud deaf? He certainly
was dumb. Mr. Melton's official reports
as Attorney. General show that in 1873
he prosecuted two defaulting county
treasurers. and that the next year he
twn mora Ha xvaa ;,,et truot od