The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-04-28
A rRabUCER OF CHARACTER UN-
EARTHEO.

An article recently appeared III the
Cotton Plant signed by one "John M.
Payne" and was reprinted by three other
papers in the State, viz, In the Columbia
Register, the Lawrensville Herald and
the Greenville Eue,sia,g Democrat, ar
raigning the late Coy. Orr for association
and connection with the Republican par
ty. The author of the article compares
Gov. Orr to Judas Iscariot and Benedict
Arnold, and speaks of "the assassination
of his country's liberty by James L..
Orr" e,4
The record of Gov. Orr needs NO de-
fense at our hands. His history may be
found in the history of our State. Every
student of history may judge for himself
whether James L. Orr was true to the
sacred trusts imposed upon. him by his
citizens, whether as an advocate
of their interests in the halls OF Congress
or as presiding officer of that body, or as
Chief Executive of South Carolina, or
while clothed in the Judicial ermine, or
while member OF the diplomatic corps,
representing the greatest and grandest
government on earth at the capital of one
of the most important and powerful en-
pires in the world. Judge Orr's record
can stand for itself-it Is Of the author OK
the production In question we wish to
speak.
"John NJ. Payne lives in Orangeburg
County. We wrote to friend there
making inquiries as to who that indi-
yidual was. The reply justified the rather
poor opinion we had formed Of the said
"John NJ. Payne. Our informant said
that the man in question was hard to To-
cate, il being difficult to find any one
knowing who he was and where he was.
After considerable investigation it was
found that "John M. Payne" spent q part
of his time in attending to little mill in
a remote part of the County. His neigh
bors knew bat little of his past life. He
came to South Carolina and to Orange
burg as a camp-follower and hummer OF
the infamous Sherman's army-an army
that destroyed our crops, burned our
homes, insultel our women-tells moth
ing of his former life and associations,
holds aloof from the people Of his neigh
borhood, is reputed to be an infdel or an
atheist, rides temperance as hobby and
fails to practice what he breaches and
gathers his ideas from the reading Of
northern and western ltcrature-an
aomalous character that seems to have
been transplanted to o sunny cline that
presents strange contrast to the dispo-
sition of the being. We submit that it is
unbecoming in a man like "John NJ.
Payne" or one of his, stripe, to criticise
or abuse the record of James L. Orr, or
any other, Of Cardinals honest sohs.
The whole drift of Payne's effusion is
an abortive and ssnseless effort to per-
suade somebody that the Junior James
L. Orr should be disqualified from being
leader Of the people because he is the
son of his father. Such proposition
stamps the author as more fool than
knaye.
The Senior James L. Orr lives in histo
ry. The Junior James L. Orr lives IN
the hearts of his countrymen. Their
characters cannot be sullied by maligners
and slander-mongers.
"Juhn NJ. Payne opens his article
thus: "Some years ago (that is to say in
the years of good stealing) I was in the
city of Columbia. etc, What was he
there for? Doesn't that sentence suggest
the keynote of his character