The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-11-11
FOOLISH CHARLESTON.
MANY of Her Business Mo-. vote for
Mckinley.

MANY of Her Business Mo-. vote for
Mckinley.
CHARLESTON, S. c.. Nov. L. Bryan
carried Charleston County by plu-
rality. but not by a majority of all the
votes cast. The figures, so far as tab.
ulated, give the regular National
Democratic electoral ticket l, 1856, while
the three other electoral tickets in the
field-the two straight Republican
tickets and the Palmer and Buckner
ticket-if their supporters had concen'
trated their forces on one set of names
would doubtless have given majority
against the Democratic standard bear
er. as aggregated, they make total
of I'LL votes against him, differ.
ence of 225 votes. The Palmer and
Buckner ticket ran behind the strong;
est of the two Republican electoral
tickets as well as behind the Bryan
ticket. It is evident, indeed. that
more of our former national Demo
Gratis voted directly for Mckinley than
was included in the number of those
who stopped at the Palmer and Buck
ner halfway house. Of the vote sc
far tabulated, the highest aggregate
of the old-time Republicans is un
doubtedly found in the sum-ef the
votes cast for Murray and Cohen, the
two Republican candidate for Congress
IS against Elliott, the Democratic can
didate, the number of which is SSl.
Take this number from the total OF
I'LL votes cast for the three opposing
electoral tickets, and we have 63O left,
which would seem to be the number
of our former Democratic citizens who
saw fit to vote directly for Major Nc
Kinley. This result is not strange,
considering the bitterness of the fight,
both open and avowed and secretly,
which has been made here against
Bryan. 1t only tends to illustrate the
fact that the balance of power having
been removed from the hands of the
colored. voter by the operation of the
new Constitution and election laws,
the white voters will naturally fill
apart and divide up between the two
great parties, as their opinions or in.
clinations may dictate. Nor do /
think this result by any means unde-
sirable. 1t seems to me that there
would be less rancor and bitterness
than has marked the course OF our
family jars in South Carolina.
In the meantime, it will be interest
ing to observe who here will come In
for the Federal patronage under the
regime of President Mckinley, If his
over. claimed election should indeed
be assured. It is more than probable
that of the 600 and upwards of former
Democrats who voted squarely and
fiatfootedly for Mckinley, there will
be some promising neophytes who will
appear at the front when the spoils OF
Office are ready TO be Labeled out.
Will DR.. Crum, of the Republican
Regulars, for instance, again receive
the appointment of Republican Pres
ident to the local postofIice, only to
be finally defeated by the retention of
our present model, polite and eco
nomic postmaster. Or will the new
aspirant and convert, who is spoken
of on the quiet as yet and who seized
opportunity by the forelock recently
to put himself on record by emphati-
cally denouncing Bryan and his asso-
ciates as anarchists" intervene and
carry off the place from both9 But
this is matter for the future.
Major McKinley's election is not as
sured up to the present writing, and as
time passes it become more doubtful
and uncertain hourly. Last nights
dispatches, as summed up in this morn
ing's News and Courier, apparently
gave everything to Mckinley and
were calculated to make the hearts OF
his stoutest supporters sink. For
hours last night the representative
crowds gathered in front of It's bulle'
tin canvas expressed their feelings as
it flashed the doctored news. With
rather dim and uncertain light be.
fore their eyes-the Mckinley contin-
gent, colored and white, coming out
strongest as it continued to give Nc
Kinley majorities, in the main; the
Palmer and Bucknerites emitting a
feeble sound once only, and that when
the venerable countenances of McKin-
ley's decoy ducks were thrown on the
canvas; and the Bryanites, who divid-
ed the crowd nearly equally with the
former Democrats and colored Repub-
Icans, giving full vent to their pleas
ure at long intervals, when some
piece of good news for their candidates
was vouchsafed to them by the one
sided canvas and its news venders. At
the clubs and other points in the city
only news of a similar character was
to be had, and the McKinleyites,
one and all, were wild with joy.
But, oh! what a difference in the
morning. 1t was early apparent TO
those who calmly compared the claims
of the Republicans, even with the dis.
patches upon which they were based,
that they had overdone the business.
The News and Courier had put North
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Nebras-
ka, Indiana and Missouri in the Nc
kinley column, and as one after an.
other of these in succession had to be
given up to the Democrats, the faces
and tunes of the people on Broad
street this forenoon underwent a sim
gular change. Those who had sung
hosannahs during the night began to
look anxious and doubtful, while the
Bryanites plucked up courage wonder
fully. When The Register arrived at
noon with Chairman Jones' declara-
tion, which had been carefully exclud-
ed by our morning daily, that the Re-
publicans were in charge of the
news avenues and were playing a
''bluff" game, many were found ready
IN holiava him And tho and is moi