The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1894-09-05
SENATOR NJ. G. BUTLER
WiTHDRaWS HIS PLEDGE TO ABIDE
BY THE PRIMARY ELECTION.

BY HE PRIMARY ELK lCN.
Witch Means That the Members of the
Ssste Legislature are 20 be Fought For
in .he G encral Election IN November.
The Negro to Come II.
COLUMBIA. S. c., Aug. Ex-senator
Butler has withdrawn his chances for
the Senate from before the Democratic
primaries and he and his friends are
going tC make the fight in the Novem-
Der election. That was the startling
and unexpected news received IN Co.
lumbia yesterday and it will furnish a
sensation throughout South Carolina.
Many people will find it hard to believe,
but it is cold fact; fact which means
serious times for this turbulent little
State and her people; fact which ap'
pears to mean an appeal TO the negroes;
a fact which means bloodshed when
the negro again tries to loom up as the
balance Of power.
The die is cast and with it is cast the
political fortune of the man who fought
the negro harder than any other man
in 1876. Not only is the fortune of
General Butler at stake, but the for
tunes and lives of hundreds Of others
are involved.
General Buffers determination was
announced in the follow brief tele
gram to ID. II. Tompklns, Secretary Of
the State Democratic Executive Com
mittee, and came yesterday about
noon:
Washington, d. c., Aug. q.
81 hereby withdraw the paper l tiled
with yoa on the 10Th or 18th Of June,
announcing my candidacy.
IN. :. BUTLER"
When the newspapers first got hold
of General Buffers brief telegram yes
terdsy they were IN doubt. 1t was sub
ject to two cOnstructiOns-One that
Senator Butler had withdrawn from
the Senatorial race altogether and the
other that he would no longer submit
his claims to the primaries. So that
there Would be no doubt on the matter
the city editor of. The Register at once
telegraphed General Butler for an eX
PLANTATION Of his telegram to Colonel
Tompkins. The folio wing answe was
received:
washington, d. c., Aug. q, 1894.
"To w. w. Price. Correspondent Co.
lumbia Register:
'Rsplying to your telegraphic inquiry
just received, / beg to say in withdraw
ing the paper flied with Tompkins,
secretary Of the Democratic Executive
Committee, announcing my candidacy,
| am following 10 the footsteps of dis
tingulshed Reformers who are unWill-
ing to submit their claims to primary,
where everything from coroner up has
been cut, dried, packed and salted down
by the ring; where the result is slated
and known by the ring before vote
has been put in the ballot box.
IN. G. BUTLER"
A copy of the Tompkins telegram
was shown before General Buffers an-
swer was received, 70 Captain John G..
Capers, who was supposed to know just
what it meant, and in reply he said:
"The telegram must speak for itself.
Certain it is, however, that it places
General Butler entirely independent Of
the action of the primary on the 285h.
You will know a great deal before ten
days elapse, and you can rest assured
that Senator Butler IS still most act
i've factor in State and national poll
tics. The news of Senator Buffers first
telegram flew over the city rapidly and
was talked of on every corner and in
every business place. 1t caused hun
dreds Of comments and will cause hun
dreds more. The bitter element Of the
Conservatives rejoiced over it but il
produced no joy among that class of
men who believe in standing by the
Democratic party, no matter what its
woes or its tribulations.
The alleged cause for Senator But
ler's action appears to be the failure OF
the State Democratic Executive Com.
mittee to grant the separate box which
Senator Butler asked for. General
Buffers action, even with this, is
strange in view of the fact that In his
campaign speeches he made eloquent
appeals for white unity and suprema-
cy, at times urging this with tears in
his eyes. There was always something
peculiar, something apparently hidden,
something which appeared to convey
warning IN these appeals and this was
noticed.
Captain Capers, in his remarks, init
mates that the public will know few
things in the next ten days. The Till
mantle leaders believe that they know
the plans of the Butler men without
waiting ten days for them and sum
them up like this:
In six counties-Richland, Charles
ton, GEORGETOWN Sumter, Beaufort and
Edgefeld-t Butler men have legiS-
latlve tickets in the field in the Demo
cratic primary. They believe they can
win in the primary in these counties
and are Democrats, excepting that If
they win the R9formers will have to
vote for thier nominees il the regular
election. 1t the thirty remaining coun
ties there are no Butler candidates in.
the field before the primaries. 1t will
be in these counties that the Butler men
will put Independent Candidates for
the Legislature. With the members OF
the Legislature from the six counties
that are to stay Democratic and with
what few they hope to elect in indepen-
dent counties-there IS the politica Al
j ack- O lantern which the Butler men
are following.
The next hope of the Butler men is
that if they do not succeed in electing
a maj jority of the Legislature theywlll
find some ground for a contest IN the
United Statas Senate, using the pretext
of fraud, etc, as basis for the contest.
They presume that Buffers popularity
in the Senate and the hatred for Till
man will lead many Senator to Vote
against Tillman. 1t is a game in which
two desperate chances are being taken
by desperate men, but it is a game
which will be blocked. Tilimanite
leaders say that Senator Batter obtained
his seat in the Senate by contest and
that is what suggested the plan t. him
and nie friends This time -Repistpr