Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-08-29

heard from. Then came Sharon, Smyr-
ma and Coatess Tavern, and after that
the others in rapid succession. Blacks
burg and Rock Hill were the last to come
lby telegraph, and it was fully two hour 8
after the results from these boxes bad
been put in the tabulated statement be-
fore the count was completed.
Messrs. John M. Hope and II. A. D.
Neely, two expert accountants, who read
columns Of figures and put down the cor
rect results with as much facility as q
school boy can add two and two, came in
az soon as the returns were In shape to
require their attention, and added up the
totals. Each went over the work several
times, and verified the others work be-
yond the possibility Of serious mistake.
So It continued on until an early hour in
the morning, and along with the first
streaks of day Messrs. ]. E. Bankhead,
J. A. Maloney, ]. r. Logan, ]. s. Sandi-
fer and other gentlemen who had stuck 1t
out all night, started out for their respec-
tive sections with bundles Of papers for
the impatient people along their routes.
The interest Of the people in the returns
was intense. There Yves great crowd at
THE ENQUIRER Office, Others at the
courthouse and still others strung along
between. They manifested keen inter-
est in every box as # came in, and the
messenger between THE ENQUIRER and
/ the telegraph Office whose; business OF
course was only to get the, figures into
the hands Of the printer, was so frequent
ly waylaid by curious individuals that
out of self defence he had to assume a
rudeness which, however it may have
tstruck others, was unpleasant to himself.
Eat last, however, the people began to
realize that the headquarters for the news
twas at THE EsqUIRER Office, that every
tbody was welcome there, and there was
tno more trouble.
After the returns began to grow inter-
testing and the telegraph Office had been
CLOSED to the public, quite number OF
interested. and excited gentlemen went
Ito send good tidings to their friends
|tthroughout the county and state. They
met with surprise. "The Office belongs
to THE ENQUIRER tonight" was the in
formation impaired by Manager Beard.
"What?" was the reioinder, "THE EN-
auIRER does not own the whole Yves.
tern Union Telegraph company, does
itW "Yes, so for as the offices in
York county Is concerned 1t does.
It has chartered the whole business,
and if you have anything to send you
will have to see The ENQUIRER people,"
It looked hard and appeared selfish /;
but there was no news here Of any import
tance except such as had been gathered
for or at the expense Of THE ENQUIRER.
The ENQUIRER was paying the operators
80 much an hour each to keep them at
their post, and It had no intention Of Civ
ing out to other newspapers for nothing
that which had cost It a good round sum.
The fine work Of Manager Beard isde-
serving Of especial mention. That Mr..
Beard is one of the best operators in the
state is we'll known. Not; only that he
knows his business. He had complete
authority over the other operators, and ne
took special pains to see to it that those
who were not especially expert did not get
things mixed. Along about 10 O'Clock, he
discovered that one of the operators along
the O. r. & C. was trying to assemble the
returns for another paper. The operator
had already given away, several boxes
before Mr.. Beard made the discovery.
But there followed some sharp talk that
resulted in a quietus to the fresh young
mans enterprise. Somehow or other the
operator did not seem to appreciate the
fact that news is commodity that had a
commercial value and that is protected by
property rights. He knows better now.
With the exception of the instance just
mentioned, there was no other trouble.
The printers were engaged in putting the
figures in the table as rapidly as possible.
Except the last form, everything had
long been in readiness for the press, and
as soon as the tabulated statement was
verified and corrected, the interesting
news was ready for the people Of the
county and state. THE ENQUIRER
proved, as it had proved time and again
before, that it was equal to almost any
emergency.