The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-03
pARLINaroN,s PosIrToN.
The Mayor of the Town Defends the
Attitude of His People.

Darlington, :. C., via Florence, S. c.,
April 2.-As the position of the people of
Darlington has not been fully understood,
the News and Courier's special cores
pondent has gotten the following concise
statement from Mayor Dargan, chairman
of the advisory committee. Mayor Oar
gan said: The trouble in this matter is
that Gov. Tillman assumes that his con-
stables enjoy privileges, or nave privi-
Ieges that are not enjoyed by any other
citizen OF this state, or of the United
States, and not possessed by any Judge
on the bench, or even the President of
these United States, which is that by rea-
son of the fact that they are
state constables they can
with impunity, shoot down citizens
of the commonwealth and be exempt
from arrest under the law. know of no
law in the country that allows an officer
to commit murder and be exempt from
arrest Whether these constables are
guilty is not the question. The fact is
that they have shot to death two citizens
of the state of South Carolina, and
wounded several others AS soon as the
fact was known to me as the mayor of
this town, | undertook to have them APP
pretended believing it my duty to
do so. Such efforts to arrest es-
Gaping murderers were made as have
ever been done in this state, or any other
under civil government. Posses were
Immediately organized, as has been done
time and again, and pursuit commenced
as soon as possible. They were armed as
best they could be under the circum-
stances because they knew that they had
an organized body of desperate men,
armed with the most improved weapons,
to encounter. As matter Of fact, l had
no idea that those Constables would be
willingly arrested, or would be willing
to submit to the authority of the land, be-
cause Gov. Tillman has instructed
them to shoot down citizens when
ever they interfereG with them,
and he caused these instructions to be
published to the world, and do not ex-
pect thatour posse would even wish or de-
sire to arrest them, but that they would,
if caught up with, have to fight TO a fin
lSh. There was no great superior force
al first, and there was considerable un-
easiness on account of the citizens of our
town, who were sent in all directions,
and who were armed with only shot
guns, some with pistols and one or two
with rifles. Delay in getting a posse en-
abled the state constables to gain consid-
cradle time in getting ahead, and
night coming on, enabled them to es-
cape in the darkness, our men follow
ing them until they got beyond the
county lines and were Immediately called
in. If Gov. Tillman has made any at
tempt to arrest those men | am not aware
of it. II such a murder had been com
mitted by any one else, or by any other
persons than these state constables, l
suppose he would have issued q prOcla-
nation Offering reward for the appre-
hension Of the armed body of murderers
A great many offers of assistance have
come in from our friends all over
the state. To these | replied
that we needed no help, for
life and property were perfectly safe
as they have always been, but what we
did need was assistance to cut off the
escape of these men and bring them to
Justice There is no doubt that there was
nothing unusual in this As to all other
offers of help ! replied that we needed
none. wished to keep out foreigners,
as our people were excited. l had full
confidence in the officers of the town to
protect life and property as long as we
were alone. There has been no disorder
whatever or any posses or riotOus crowds
in this county since the deplorable affair
of Friday
The constables are now all in either
Charleston or Columb bia. Those who ar
rived at Charleston last night left their
arms in the woods. Ali is quiet. The
troops are going into camp. The inquest
has been postponed till Wednesday.
GAILLARD's EXPLANATION.
"Chief Constable Gaillard told me on
his arrival here that he was here await
ing orders, but that all the warrants
were served except one, and the work
was done, and he did not see any further
need of the presence of himself or his
constables Why he was sent here, / do
not know He certainly did not know,
and as an officer of the city gave him ali
the protection he asked, and would have
protected him if I had TO do it personally
We had a consultation and agreed upon
an hour for the raid. I directed
the chief of police to be present and the
raid was conducted in such quiet man
ner that hardly any one knew OF it. Our
people have done nothing that l know Of
except to obey the law and have violated
no authority whatever. After | heard
that the dispensaries at Florence and
had been broken into inn
mediately placed guard over the property
here, which has been abandoned as far as
can see by its officers, and ]
have protected it as far as it
lay in my power. Up to this
time it has not been molested. found
out that some of the constabIes were not
in the fight. | told Capt Thompson of
their whereabouts and requested him to
guard them and protect their lives for
lear our people WOulQ Jnluk lney nad
taken part in the fight at the
depot They made their escape, and
some of our people wished TO pursue
them but / urged them not to do so
as they were innocent, and should have
escaped The wounded man in the jail
I saw was protected, and ! told the sheriff
1 would protect him with my life. We
are not lynchers here, but when any body
of armed men come into our town and
shoot down innocent citizens, we fight
We will always try to protect the inno-
cent and punish the guilty"
TWO EDITORS INTERVIEWED.
Darlington, S. c., April 2. 6:20 p. m.-
The two editors OF the daily papers here
have been seen with regard to The situa-
tion, and this is what they say
Editor A. B. Williams. of the Greenville
News: In my judgment both sides are acting
sensibly, ana we are around the corner and
out Of the worst part Of an intensely danger