The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-05-16
LIGHTNING PROHIBITION.
The Supreme Court Declares Such Is Law.
Columbia State.

Almost IN GQe GWlnklluB VI I'LL eyt
yesterday the liquor situation went
from one extreme to the other, from
free liquor to absolute prohibition
For the first time in history, perhaps
a State has been carried for the cause
of prohibition in less than three min
utes, and by an unprecedented acci
| dent the prohib:tionists of South Car
| olina have obtained their hearts con.
tent. By this accident Of the law
South Carolina is found to-day with a
| prohibition law forbidding the sale Of
liquor absolutely, and providing pen
alties for the violation Of the law,
which, if properly applied, will pro-
duce prohibition.
Up to IL o'clock yesterday the
liquor men were handling liquors in
their saloons without paying any Ii
cense and without any knowledge as to
whether there was in the distance any
road to the traffic or not. Eleven months
ago they were selling liquor under a
license law of over ten years standing.
Then came along the dispensary sys-
tenn fos the control of the liquor traffic,
and soon came with it the reign Of the
blind tiger system. This kept up un-
until three weeks ago. when another
great change came. The dispensary
law went a glimmering under the de-
cision of the Supreme Court. The
blind tiger died natural death and
departed from the soil of South Caro-
lima and the reign Of the free liquor
system began. The life Of this latter
system, as far as the law is concerned,
has been but aeeting. Now the final
extreme has been reached. The
changes have been numerous, sudden
and unexpected.
The law of the land, as declared by
the highest tribunal, provides that
there shall be no sale of liquor, and
that if any man sells liquor contrary
to that provision he shall be punished
just the same as if he had violated che
license law of 1880. As to who is go
ing to enforce this new and accidental
law remains to be seen. It appears
to be the duty of the sheriffs, trial
Justices and their constables and the
police Of the municipalities to enforce
the law, and no doubt it will be dome.
It is State law, too, and if Governor
Tillman took as much interest in it as
he did in his dispensary law he will
very likely have hand in this. The
indications are, however, that the real
enforcement Of the law will be left to
the prohibitionists, and the various
city and town governments in the
State. It is certainly q novel condi-
tion of affairs, and the people will not
yet have time to realize that they are
under the rule Of prohibition. The
liquor men all say that they cannot do
anything until they see what the de-
cision is, but they must obey the law
and close up their places.
All Of the saloons in Columbia re-
mained wide open up to the usual clos
ing hour last night, and there were no
elements of the new system Of prohi-
;bition to be observed, but the change
will come later. A member of the
State prohibition executive committee
stated yesterday that if no one else at
tempted to proceed against the saloon
keepers the prohibitionists would act
in a day or two.
The opinion Of all leading attorneys
is that the law, as it was declared by
the Supreme Court yesterday, means
that no liquor shall be sold within the
State; that the clause of the old IL
cense law which gives the right to is.
sue licenses has alone been knocked
out, and that all other clauses of this
license law stand. In consequence all
the penalties, etc., provided for selling
liquor without license apply now to
the sale of liquor in any manner.
This gives South Carolina the dis
tinction of having the only prohibition
law ever concocted, perhaps, which
has no regulations about bringing IL
quor into the State, no provision for
the sale of whiskey as medicine, and
all the other features usually embraced
in prohibition law.
1t is noticeable fact that Justice
Pope has concurred in the decision of
the court. The court, when it says
what it does in its decision, assumes
that the dispensary law of 1893 is as
dead as mackerel, and 80 considers
it.
Yesterday morning when the hour
of II chimed, the people who were e1-
pecting the announcement of the
courts decision in the Florence cases
began to get into the court room as
rapidly as possible. The justices en-.
tered promptly, and the Chief Justice
did not wait for the spectators to get
into the room before he said '"The
court will announce it's decision in the
two Florence liquor cases heard yester-
day, which decision will apply to both
cases, they being heard together. The
court thus promptly announces its de-
cision because the liberty of the citi-
zen is involved"
The Chief Justice then opened a
folded paper he had in his hand, and
read the decision as follows:
The State of South Carolina. In the
Supreme Court. April Term, 1894.
j. L. Barringer ct. al, vs.. The
City Council of Florence, ex parte,
J. Ellis Brunson.
These. two eases instituted in the
original jurisdiction of this court being
of a kindred nature, though not in
yolving. the same questions were heard
and will be considered together.
The first is a case asking for an in
junction to restrain the city council Of
Florence from granting licenses for
the sale of spirituous liquors, upon the
ground that there is now no law au-
thorizing the granting of such licen-
ses. and therefore that threatened
action of said city council in this res
pect is ultra vircs.
The second is case in which the
petitioner applies, under a writ of
habeas corpus, heretofore issued for
his discharge from custody, in which
he is held under warrant issued by
the mayor of the city of Florence, who
is invested by the charter of said city
with all the powers of a trial justice,