The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-04-04
REVIEW or GOVERNOR TrLLMAN's

1
him and has known him all MS me- sa'''
with elaboration and for puDncauo''
,,o, no is a coward, who failed 10 20
90 harrington. as was his duty from
sbeer cowardicc. Indeed, what mas oeen
| the character of his official conduct ouii'e
the past FIVE days?
ue son. spies. armed not only WIN
| pistols. but with rifles also, to Dariins'o"
| who were authorized. under the provisions
| NJ the dispensary law, to enter INC
-,,,.,o dwellings of citizens at their
,,easure and without warrants, TO rum
mage them from garnet to ceiiar III
search of contraband liquor. law au-
tbor,zing such an act is un-American'
tvrannical. insulting. and as odious ana
detestable as any law can possibly DE-
Regardless OF this, his spies, insteau vi
being instructed by him to enforce the
dispensary law with as much regard as
possible to the feelings and preJudlces
of the people, were told by him TO
enforce it according to its letter ana
spirit and to shoot citizens who offered
resistance to them. 1t was obvious that
such emissaries thus coached. and going
into the midst of an excited and embit-
tered population. would be as fire APP
preaching powder.
The riot which every reasonable man
| would have anticipated, occurred, ana
| two of Darlingtons well-known citizens
| the citizens were TO blame, or whether
the spies were to blame, yet the law
imperatively required that there should
he an Investigation into the facts, and
that all persons engaged in the RIOT
should be arprehended and brought be-
fore the tribunals of the country that
their parts in 1t might be inquired into
| II now appears from the statement Of
the Mayor of Darlington, that the parties
| who pursued the fleeing spies were parts
of the posse commitatus, summoned by
| him according TO law. and directed by
him to pursue the spies, arrest them, and
bring them before the tribunals of the
law. This had to be done or Darlington
had TO be placed in the category of
| bad lands that have no administration
of laws.
In this state OF facts Tillman publishes
a proclamation, declaring, in substance,
that the counties of Darlington and
| Florence are in state of open rebellion
against the authority of the State Of
South Carolina. and he called out all Of
the organized military force of the State
and orders all of it that will obey his
| commands to march upon Darlington and
occupy it as If it were part of the terri
tory of a country with which South
Carolina was at war.
That there was reason to apprehend
that the excited and outraged citizens
of Darlington would offer violence TO the
| persons of the spies if they caught them,
was true But was there anything ia
the facts Of the case to justify the
| extraordinary and positively ridiculous
war measures which this terrified Gov
ernor resorted to? Any one of the gal
liant Democratic Governors of South
Carolina or Virginia, who have occupied
! their Governors mansion since the war,
would have at once gone to Darlington
He would have summoned the best and
the leading citizens of the place around
his person and he would have reminded
| them that their own good name demand
ed that they should suppress every
manifestation of turbulence and dsor-
der, and, at the head of these gentlemen,
he would have sailed forth to the place
where turmoil was most apprehended, and
peace and order would have been the
immediate fruit of this frank and manly
course. But Tillman is not that sort of
man. and so we have seen what we
have seen.
1t is hardly necessary, after what we
have said. to remark upon the third ex-
traordinary feature of the case, his
seizure of the telegraph and railroads.
In the first place. the law under which
he made these seizures was passed by
South Cardinals mock carpet-bagger
and scalaway Legislature. when carpet
Dagger Scott was her Governor, as part
of the devilish plan which he conceived
to subject her to absolute negro military
rule. This fact should have made Till
man as cautious as possible in appeal
ing to II. But even with such an out
rageous law on the statute book no one
but a person terrified into a state OF
abject imbecility would have thought of
resorting TO 1t under the conditions that
existed. The principle of salus populi
suprema lex undoubtedly authorizes such
a proceeding in extreme cases. But the
cases must be extreme TO justify it
No trliing riot in two counties, which
can be obviously queled by a consider
ate and prompt use of the ordinary
methods OF the law, can Justify such al
arbitrary course of procedure which
smacks far more of the revolutionary
measures of Guatemala and Honduras
than of one OF the States Of the American
Union. Upon the whole, we say. as We
began that Tillman is a most objection
able and offensive product of American
politics.
| --- -
NO CHEATING IN THE PRIMARY.
Il IS not to be doubted that there Is
an uneasy and unrestful feeling amongs