The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-08-08
A Sunday Law Case.

A Sunday Law case.
In recent issue Of the Chicago
Herald We find the following special
from Dresden, Tenn. >.
"W. B. Capps, a quiet, orderly citi-
zen of this county, is being made the
victim of what appears to be case OF
against him being that he performed
sUmc work on the first day of the
week Mr.. Capps was arrested June
8, 1898, and at his trial before the
Circuit Court of Weakly County,
June 27, 1893, he was fined $40 and
costs, amounting in all to s5l.80.
His case was appealed to the supreme
Court Of Tennessee, which affirmed
the Judgment of the lower Court, May
"a, iS94, at Jackson, fixing the costs
at s58. 65, making as grand total the
sum of $110.45, to be served out at
the paltry rate Of % cents day:
This will necessitate the confinement
of the prisoner 442 days, or one year
and nearly three months.
''Mr. Capps has wife twenty-four
years of age and four children, the
eldest being only six years old, and
one of them sick at the time Of its
fathers Imprisonment. His family IS
loft all alone quarter Of a mile from
any house. He is poor man and un-
able to support his family during his
confinement. He does not deny work
ing on Sunday, but did so because he
had rested the day before, according
to the Bible because he recognized
his God-given right to labor SIX days
in the week, beginning on the first, as
did his Creator and because, in ac-
ceding to the demands Of the State to
rest on Sunday he would be denying
his Lord. Hence he refuses to pay
the fine and costs, regarding them
unjust, since the State is attempting
to enforce upon him dogma Of relig-
ion with which it can Of right have
nothing to do. Therefore, he has
gone to Jail, though a physician stated
that he could never live in that un-
healthy place the time required by the
enormity of the States assessment. "
The New Orleans imes-Democrat
regards this as case OF religious per-
secution, and compares the Tennessee
laws to the old blue laws Of Connecti-
cut. It calls for a public subscription
to pay the fine Of the imprisoned man,
and thus states the case:
eff farmer, who is Seventh Day
Adventist, and who performs his re-
ligious exercises on the seventh day
Of the week, making Saturday, not
Sunday, his 'sday of rest''-:if such
citizen as this is to be fined and I'M
prisoned for cutting his hay or wheat,
without a shadow Of offense to his
neighbors, on the first day Of the
week, it is very plain that the religi-
Gus freedom of which we are wont to
boast with considerable degree of
effusiveness in this country, is very
much of myth. 1t 10 not religious
freedom at all it is the freedom or
license of majority Of the population
to tyrannize over minority, because
the religious views and practices OF
the minority do not conform to the
religious views and practices OF the
majority.
"And this is religious persecution,
at the end of the nineteenth century,
as surely as ever religious persecution
mos nraoticed either in New England
at the end of the eighteenth century,
or in Spain at the end of the fifteenth
century. Tennessee should make haste
to change its laws regulating the day
of rest :" they are not in keeping
either with the civilized conditions OF
this part of the world or of this ad-
vanoed age in the worlds history.
We cannot agree with our New "
leans contemporary. Leaving out the
question of religion entirely, the State
has the right to appoint a day OF rest,
and in the interests Of public morals
and public order tits proper exer-
else Of it's police power to punish-eyery
violator of the Sunday laws. Ii we
allowed farmers to work in their fields
ou Sunday because they had religi.
ously observed Saturday as a day Of
rest, blacksmiths, mechanics, saloon
keepers and merchants would soon
claim the same right, and there would
be no end of disorder in our cities and
towns. Suppose the good people; OF
Atlanta should wake up some Sunday
morning and find number OF Seventh
Day Adventists keeping open retail
stores and hammering away on new
buildings in the course Of erection I
The entire crowd would be arrested
and fined, and very properly. We
might pity the offenders and let them
off lightly for the first offense, but the
community would not stand such con-
duct. We punish the Mormons when
they violate our marriage laws, no
matter how conscientious they may
be, and we cannot allow the violators
of our Sunday laws to escape.
The question of religious persecu-
ton in the Tennessee case is over
shadowed by the question of public
order. If Seventh Day Adventist
wants to rest on Saturday he can do
so, but as good citizen he is bound
to obey our Sunday laws as well as our
other laws. Our Jewish fellow citi-
zens take the right view Of the situa-
tion. They observe their Sabbath,
but they do not then try to interfere
with ours. As law and order loving
people the Jews furnish an example
in all countries that is worthy OF the
highest commendation.-Atlanta Con-
ctifufian