Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-11-06

Irby said he did not have Tillman il
the back part of his head, and did not
know that Tillman wanted to make q
speech. The convention refused tc
postpone the suffrage plan, and Tillmar
got the floor and commenced his great
speech in reply to Irby. The speech
consumed upwards of two hours. The
first part of it was devoted to an ex
haustive review Of the condition of af:
fairs existing in this State during re-
construction times. There were copious
extracts from the official Investigations
of the great saturnalia of crime, de-
bauchery and robbery that existed il
the State under Radical rule. Before
the reading of the extracts was con
cluded, Wigg jumped up and said al
the guilty parties were white men
"I'll give you plenty of nigs after
awhile" said Till1nan, and he did. Be.
fore he got through, he showed up
thoroughly the very dark record Of
Whipper and Smalls.
The purpose Of this mass of facts
and figures, explained Senator Till.
man, is to justify ourselves before the
world for what this convention is about
to do. That government, while large.
ly composed Of native and carpetbag
whites, was based on black votes and
sustained by them, and the purpose OF
this body is to eliminate those votes as
far as the 14th and 18th amendments
will allow.
Next, Senator Tillman began to re-
ply 10 Senator Irby. Senator lrby had
charged that Governor Evans had fled
the State in a grave political emer.
gency. On one occasion of moment,
when the existence of this convention
was threatened by the fierce opposi'
ton to its being called, Senator lrby
was no where to be found.
Irby jumped up and explained that
at the time mentioned he was de-
tanned at home by family reasons.
When Evans had turned up after all
effort. to locate him by telegraph or
letter had failed, he explained that he
had been to see his girl.
Tillman charged Patton with hypoc-
risy. Patton jumped up and pointing
his finger in the senator's face, de-
manded that he either make good his
words or retract. Tillman told how
Patton had kept the wires hot during
the last campaign asking Governor
Evans to remove the Republican man
ayers of election in Richland county,
for fear he could not get to the con-
vention if they were allowed to hold
Office.
MCGOWAN charged Tillman with
breach of faith in repudiating the ac-
ton of the Tillman-Hemphill-Ba -Barnwell
conference.
Bob Smalls made sweeping denial
of the charges against himself and
others, and implored Tillman that
while be was applying the lash to his
white colleagues, "For Gods sake
spare the six poor Negroes who sit
here in a miserable minority, and try
to refrain from offending anybody"
FRIDAY.
The discussion of section 1 Of the
suffrage plan was continued all day and
far into the night. The last subsection
of the section was adopted by a vote
of 81 to 81, and the whole section was
adopted as follows:
Section 4. The qualification for suf-
frage will be as follows:
o. Residence in the State for two
years, in the county one year, in the
election district in which the elector
offers to vote four months, and the
six months before any elec-
ton of any poll tax then due and pay
able: Provided, however, That minis
listers in charge of an organized church
and teachers of public schools shall be
entitled to vote on six months resi-
dence in the State, if otherwise quail
fed.
b. Registration, which shall provide
for the enrolment of every elector once
in 10 years, and also an enrolment
during each and every year of every
elector not previously registered under
the provisions of this article.
c. Up to January /, 1898, all male
persons of voting age applying for reg
istration who can read any section in
this constitution or understand and
explain it when read to them by the
registration officer, shall be entitled to
register and become electors. A sepa-
rate record of all persons registered
before January l, 1898, sworn to by the
registration officer shall be filed, one
COPY with the clerk Of court and one
in the office of the secretary of state,
on or before February l, 1898, and
such persons shall remain during life
qualified electors, unless disqualified
by the other provisions of this article.
The certificate of the clerk of court
or secretary of state shall be sufficient
evidence to establish the right of said
citizens to any future registration and
the franchise under the limitations
herein imposed.
d. Any person who shall apply for
registration after January l, 1898, if
otherwise qualified. shall be registered :
Provided that he can both read and
write any section of this constitution
or can show that he owns and has
paid all taxes collectable during the
previous year on property in this State