Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-06-26
Tie CHARGE Of Perjury.

IS In our issue Of last week reference was
made by us to tho vote of Senator ID.
Biemann and A. Lay, Mcmber OF the
House, on tho census and rc-apportion-
mont bills. The mention was made by
way Of comment OH tho charge of per-
4 Jury preferred by Capt. Tillman against
certain Senators, for tho purpose of
A showing tho uttor absurdity of tho
charge, and wholly without any intcn-
ton on our part to cast tho slightest i'm
putation of perjury. corruption or dis
4 honesty OH either of tho gentlemen
named.
III order that our readers may under
stand more fully how Oconco's Repre-
scntatiycs voted in this matter we have
taken the trouble to consult tho Journals
of tho House and Senate for tho years
1884 and 1885, and find the following:
I Bill (Mousc) to provide for tho taking OF
tho census Of tho population, industry
and wealth of South Carolina OH or be-
! fore tho first day of June, 1885, passed
the House by vote of cighty-four, Mr..
A. Lay and DR.. o. NJ. Doyle voting in the
affirmative. But this bill was killed in
tho Senate by vote Of 10 to 10. The
Senators voting in the Affirmative on the
motion by Senator }. G. Maxwell, of
Abbevillc, to strike out the cnacting
clause of tho bill were Bcnbow, Bicmann,
{ Black, BUST, Byrd, Cokcr, Howell, Izlar,
Maxwell, Moody, ]. w. Moore, Munro,
Reynolds, Simmons, Smythc, Wallace,
Wingard, Woodward and Youmans, 10.
This was tho action of the session of
1884, and is one of the "ih,cc times" that
\ Capt. Tillman charges thcso nineteen
Senators with "damnablc perjury"
Again in 1885, a bill was introduced in
tho House to enable the Governor to
3 provide for an enumeration of the in
habitants of this State, for The purpose
of rc-apportioning the members of the
I House of Representatives among the
several counties of the State.
Mr.. S. Pope, of Ncwbcrry, moved to
strike out the cnacting words of the bill.
The question being put, 'Will the House
agree thereto - it was decided in the
negativc-ycas 8, nays so and both
Mossrs. Lay and Doyle voted in the mega
tive. This bill vas also killed in the
Senate by Il vote of 80 to fl, but on this
ballot iicmann voted in the negative ON
the motion of Senator Maxwell to strike
out the cnacing clause of the bill, while
j. a. Bell, of Aiken, changed his vote
from the negative in 1891, to the ailirma-
tive i'm 1888. And this is the second of the
"thrcc times" that Capt Tillman charges
the Senators with "lamnabc perjury"
Thus far it will be readily seen that
neither Doyle nor Lay can he affected by
this charge, and Senator Bicmann has
and last of tho "thrcc times" in
which these Senators "pcriurcdF' them
selves was in the adoption NSS3) of the
Joint resolution providing an amendment
of Section 3, Article II, of the ConStitu-
ton, relating to the enumeration of the
inhabitants Of the State. This rcSolu-
tion passed the Senate by Il vote of 2G
to 3, Senator Bicmann voting in the
Affirmative. This resolution passed the
House by Il vote Of III to |, u. II. Rice,
of Union, being the only member who
voted in the negative. by parity Of
reasoning il will readily be seen that if
the Senators were huIty of perjury in
proposing and passing this resolution,
so likewise were the members OF the
House, and that all the Legislature, OK
cept four members, were "pcriurcrs. and
corrupt" Who hclcvcs it? Ec..o
answers, Who? Capt. Tillman. when
pressed at Anderson by Col. Earle as to
the gravity of this charge, responded,
that he could "eXcusc" the farmers who
voted for this measure on the score of
economy. But if the overt act of voting
in favor of this resolution was crime
with respect to one man, it would be
equally so for another, regardless of the
motive prompting the act. We dare
say no sane man in South Carolina be-
licvcs tho charge to be true.