The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-02-08

| of horror was sent through the Full
| ton ueighbOrhoOd, near which | llveC
| by the announcement that a respect
able farmer, named Reuben Starke, hac
killed his wife and one or two chill
dren, attempting the destruction o
ali J, and then cut his own throat. The
attempt upon his own life was unsuc
ce>sful. The horrible tragedy made
deep impression upon my boyi>h mind.
| Whiskey was the cause of it. My
grandfather, as judge, pronounced
Sentence of death upon the murderer
and my father, as spiritual advisor
visited and prayed with the con
demned man in his cell. sheriff Will
herof Sumter carried out the sentence.
Liquor dispensaries can never afford
protection 10 the unprotected wives
and children of our homes. For God-
Esake, our honlesake, for humanity.sake,
fellow citizens. let us dispense with
these dispensaries of poverty, murder,
and eternal death. A dispensary to
sell for medical purposes upon the
affidavit of prohibitionist doctor is
all that We need and as much as we
ought to dare to ask for.
9. Let us labor and pray for the
repeal of this dispensation of legalized
iniGuity and the passage OF prohlbi-
tory law. Tie only tepable position
is the one I have always held-viz
that it is our duty as law makers to
prohibit citizens in the exercise of any
rights which are inimical to the gen
eral welfare of society. That person or
corporation is an enemy to the COM
mouweal,li that gives any facility to
crime or makes the road to poverty
disease and death any easier. The
State that "deas out death by the half
pint" to its citizen is guilty of murder.
3. I have no faith in its claims to
aba'e the liquor evil. I have come to
this conclusion after long and prayerful
reflection. The conclusion I come to
is that we will gain something by the
law, but We will lose as much or more
than we gain. We will. in a great
measure, get rid of the selling of fliquor
10 boys and notorious sots On the
Others hand the estate dispensary"
will be regarded as a much more res
pected place than bar-ro6m, and buy
ing LIQUOR from it will be regarded in
the same light as buying liquor from
drug store, and the consequece will
be that there will be q greatly
increased number of respectable"
people who will carry home their
''lilile brown jug" to have little on
hand "in case any of the children
should he bitten by copper-head"
WHY shouldn't they? Does not the
State say plainly to her citizens, You
will need a little occasionally? And.
is not the man who dispenses it bond
ed officer of the State?
4. So far as l am individually con-
cerned, would rather sink the last
cent of the profits of the State dispen-
>a,ies in the Gulf of Mexico than ac-
cept OF one mill of decreased taxation
through it's operation. Gods curse is
on the whole liquor business from be-
ginning to end, and upon all the profits
thence accruing, and this State will, we
are assured, he made to feel it. 1t will
be poorer for every cent it gets out
of the liquor business. God long ago
said, "Thou shalt not bring the the
hire Of whore or the wages of dog
into the house of the Lord thy God
for any VOW: forev both these are
an abominalion unto the Lord thy
God" Deut. %: l8. We honestly
believe that the best and only decent
thing for the Legislature of SouthCaro
lima to do is to take every cent of the
money to be derived from the sale of
LIQUOR, and, with and by the approval
of the Chief Executive 'of the State,
cast it into the Crater of Vesuvius
with the humiliattng confession, o!
have betrayed the innocent blood"
Even then | doubt wether Gods wrath
will be appeased any more than it was
towards Judas. The thing to do is to
"bring forth fruits meet for repent
ance"-go out of the business.
5. Let every church and benev-
olent society in the county pass reso:.
lutions against the establishment OF
any liquor-dispensary establishment
in this county, and if the citizens OF
any town persist in asking for this
death-dispensing, demoralizing in
stitution, transfer their trade to some
other centre. Will they do it?
They will If they have one particle of
the daring intrepidity of John the
Baptist about them.