The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-06-26
made by Mr.. Ashley according to the tes-
timony of four of Honea Paths best cit

tlWVuy VI 4ouL VI ooAoo oun D oe'' oio-
izens:
MIR. Ashley, you refer to Mr.. Gossett as
having Radical principles. Did you say
this, that if Tillman should be defeated,
you would 60 to the Radicals and stay with
them, and would carry 200 votes for | hem
at Honea Path ?
MIR. Ashley: "No, air, I give il the
Gu d-n lie.
A. scene of confusion followed. Cheers
for Earle, and Ashley, and the latter per.
sons maledictions united to create con-
siderable excitement.
N1r. Tlllman, in endeavoring to quiet
the uproar, said, II am almost tempted to
go home. tell you that if you cannot
restrain your passions, and treat each 9th
or respectfully, and let each man have
free speech and free Thought in South
Carolina, ne are on the eve of desperate
and unmitigated evil. appeal to you
for fair-play, decency and self-respect.
(Cries for Earle.
MIR. Earle continued his address az fol-
lows: Ms fellow citizens, that little in
cident has passed. You see what this at
tempt of arraying class against class
amounts to. You see the bad blood that
has been stirred up in this community
and elsewhere. When we went To Lau-
renH to speak the crowd insulted General
Bratton. This grand old man was scarce
ly permitted to speak. And when in the
Court House, the rain having broken up
the meeting, attempted to speak, I was
received with yells. When / desired to
discuss questions temperately and in a
dispassionate manner as South Carroll
nian to South Carolinians, was told,
"Ws don't want to hear you" What has
brought that about? 1t is the ambition
of Capt. Tillman and the groundless
charges that be has made. Let us show
you. We are Democrats. Each of us
who has the right to claim to be Dem
ocrat did as much as any other man to
redeem this State from Radical rule, be.
cause I believe that every Democrat in
1876 did his duty, and no man can do any
more than his duty Some excelled 9th
ers, but that is expected always in every
enterprise and undertaking, whether it be
political or otherwise. Each Democrat
in 1876 did his duty, and as have said
before to my fellQw.citizens of other
Counties, then there Vas no cry of farm.
er, lawyer or merchant, but we battled for
principle. Our State had been trodden
down to the earth. The strong arm of
the Federal government had been used to
keep the robbers in power, and it is true
that South Carolina rose up and said,
"thia thing must be stopped" We
worked together as men and we should
worH:: together in the same spirit now.
We Hhould contend for principle aud not
allow any prejudice to influence US. We
met together, as I have said, as one big
family. We organized our party, we had
our executive committee appointed, and
this committee had charge of the party.
Each man was agreed to it? What did
Capt. Tillman and Mr.. She'll do? They
met together after Captain Tillman had
sown the seeds of discord in this State,
after by insinuation and inuendo he had
poisoned the minds of good Democrats
against The government that had protect
ed them, they issued call, an Ingenious
ly written call, call which teaches others
to sneer, though possibly they did not
sneer themselves, call that was made up
of destinations, but no direct charges
against anybody. l came up from Co
lumbia to the meeting at this place as one
of the officers that had been honored by
this State with position, to meet Captain
Tillnlan. 1t had been circulated through.
out The State that Captain Tillman had
made grave charges of corruption against
the officers who had been elected. I came
here and faced him as man to man In
your presence "Where are the charges,
state them, specify them," and he said :
"I have none." But the seed had been
sown. He had Infatuated thatthe officers
were corrupt. Is that true? Listen 10
this. I will ask any honest man, any in.
telligent man here, whether the charge of
corruption had been made against the Of.
icera of the government; "Oh, it is pit
table," he said, ''in the short space Of ten
years that purity of motive, ardent patri-
otisnh, aud useful devotion to duty, which
made possible the redemption of the State
in 1876 should be succeeded by this po-
litical lepropsy which now permeates our
entire governmental system" Do you
say there is no corruption there, my fell
low.eitizens, when every political Office
from Governor down to coroner is infest.
ed with political lepropsy? What does
be nov say when faced and asked for the
PROOF, as man to man? 1t will not do to
say you and to one who has been honored
by the State and God knows has tried to do
his duty to have him say, ri did not mean
to say that" What did the people un-
derstand? Did they not have a right to
understand that this government stenched
in the nostrils of its people. want to
ask if Iugalls, of Kansas, ever said
anything worse than that. Has the hyena
from Kansas, that digs down into the
earth to bring to light all that he can
against the Southern people, ever malign-
ed us worse? I ask you, face to face, if
ingalls,, with his poisoned tongue, could
have omitted worse slander than that ?
stand here as son of South Carolina,
facing my fellow.Gtizens, whom respect,
because I respect all those who have a
right to the claim OF being brave men,
although you may disagree with me, and
ask you was not that slander? Where is
the proof of it9 If it is not true, it is
false. There is no mixture of truth and
fslsity in anything, and Lsay, speaking to
Capt. Tillman's polttral's saying and in
in a political sense, that what he said is
not true. Cheers for Earle and Tillman. J
And then he said again to those of you
who attended the meeting here, II have
just pointed out to you"-that is to ME
THAT question about the apportionment.
1 stand here weighing my words we'll, and
say that those men who in the legislature
in 1884 and 1885 swore to support the
Constitution which [ read, and which re.
quires them to hold census and reappor-
ton the representation, and they did not
do it. say they perjured themselves
and ere corrupt" Was there ever more
serious charge than that made against the
Senators who represented your State ?
Capt. Tillman says | 90 over the same
ground every time. I 60 from one Coun.
ty to another, and Propose to say itagain.
He told me, 81 will make you sick of that
matter of perjury before you get through" /"
/ think am making him sick oft, be.
cause in the last speech he did not refer
to it. Applause. Capt. Tillman aspirea
to the high position Of Governor, comes
hefore his fallow citizens and tells them.