New-York tribune., 1896-11-17
SOTTH CAROLINA HOLD-TP.

One would suppose that the theory Of govern
ment by hodup had received its quictus. for a
time at least. in the overwhelming majority
against il at the late election. But In South
Carolina they either have lot heard Of the de-
cisiOn, or. if they have, do rot propose to abide
by il, The Sheriff of Fairfield County. In that
State having a judgment agains. railroad
company for S119 In favor Of farmer whose
horse had been killed. proceeded last Saturday
night 10 collect it of the company in accordance
with the hold-up theory of government That
IS. upon the arrival of passenger train at the
county seat he and his deputy presented pistol
at the head of the engineer and chained the
locomotive drivers to the track BY this sum
mary proceeding a southbound mail train for
Florida. loaded with passengers and a north
bound train from Columbia were blocked, and
all the mail and passenger connections missed
After a blockade of six hours the claim was set
tied and business resumed. or course the hold
up must have caused great Inconvenience. and,
perhaps in some cases pecuriary loss to innocent
persons who had nothing whatever 10 do either
with killing the farmers horse or keeping him
out of the payment of his judgment All the
same. they had 20 suffer and the United States
Government had to await the pleasure Of the
South Carolina Sheriff before It could move It's
mails.
But the farmer got his s110 and little cared
he or the Sheriff what happened TO anybody
else so long as he obtained satisfaction for his
claim There may be subsequent proceedings,
to be sure: the engineer may bring action against
the Sheriff for threatening him with pistol; the
passengers may sue the county for damages, and
possibly the Federal authorities may take some
Of fl,a viz 1nfio Of
Furnishing the obstruction of the United States
mails But. as matters now stand. the hold-up
process has been. TO all ntents and purposes,
successful. The local authorities of South Caro-
lima have interrupted the passage Of the mails
and Of citizens Of other States across their bor-
ders. wantonly and cruelty. simply TO enforce
Judgment for Sl19 against a railroad company
which must. in the very nature Of things. have
had other property within easy reach sufficient
to satisfy the claim. The Sheriff was undoubt-
edly a product of the Tillman political regime.
who preferred executing his Office by violence
and at pistol point to effecting his purpose by
peaccable measures and ordinary processes. He
has learned by heart the hold-up theories of
Tillman Altgeld and Bryan. and betercd his
instructions.
And vet this South Carolina Sheriff was only
doing in a comparatively small, local and insig-
nificant way precisely what the Senator'S from
the silver States have been doing on vastly
larger scae-doing with few mallbags AMI
small number of passengers on behalf of a South
Carolina farmer what Bryan and company pro-
posed to do with the entire Government and the
business interests Of the whole country on be-
half Of the owners Of silver mines. The Sheriff
held up one train; the other fellows undertook
TO hold up the whole country. The latter failed
in their enterprise Outside Of South Carolina
it Is now a pretty generally accepted conclusion
that government by hold-up Is failure. Per
haps they will by-and-by reach the same con
clusion in South Carolina.