The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-04-08
A REPUBLICAN MEETING.
THE LILY-WHITES DOWN THE
KOALBLACKS.

THE LILY-WHITES DOWN THE
KOAL-BLACKS.
The Meeting Was Reminder of the
Days of Whittemore, Moses and
Scott-Bob Smalls, the Gullah
Statesman from Beaufort, and E.
N. Brayton, a White Man from
God-Knows-Where, the Orators Of
the Occasion.
The court house was we'll filed
with Clarendon's colored citizens last
Thursday to hear General Robert
Smalls, colored, of Beaufort anda.E.
NJ. Brayton, white, of Columbia.
Smalls represents what is known as
the Webster faction of the Republi-
can party, and Brayton represents
the Melton faction. Snalls is Of
the orthodox school and wants the
negroes to stand fast to Republican
principles and not be attracted away
by fanciful "isms" that sore-headed
politicians have concocted for their
own purposes. Brayton is endeaVor-
ing to make the Republican party
have the semblance of respectability
by taking from the Conservative fac
ton white men who are disgruntled
because they cannot get Office from
their own race, or who have been
driven from the sale Of whiskey by
the dispenssry law.
The chairman of the meeting was
R. a. White, but the man who did
the signalling for applause was R. A.
Stewart, in fact, he seemed to have
taken advantage of Whites political
innocence to convert Whites Web
ster meeting from a Webster to a
Brayton affair. The meeting was
composed OF Brayton's or Stewart
followers and Smal!s's following was
very small; Notwithstanding Smalls's
reputation as stalwart Republican
is household word in every section
in the State, and being colored man
it was little surprising that his voice
had so little effect, for there is not
the slightest doubt that Smalls spoke
sincerely and was trying to guide his
people right. He told them of his
connection with the constitutional
convention, and the fight be made to
preserve their franchise. He ex-
planned the requirements of the law
to entitle citizens to vote and e1-
pressed the belief that when the
registration was concluded there
would not be 5000 negroes in the
State registered. He told them that
the white men without regard to
faction favored the disfranchisement
of the negro; that the conservatives
were protesting to be their friends,
but they were not.
The Tillmanites were manly end
open with all OF this devilmeut.. Till
man told 10 openly and boldly that
be intended to have 4 constitutional
convention and it was to be for the
purpose of disfranchising the negro.
Conservatives professed to be opposed
to the convention and said it would
be an outrage to disfranchise the
negroes and please Ga'wd wen We
get to de conveushun | SEED rich
men as redoor G. Ba'arker Of Cha's-
ton, ,aud walk cross de. street to raise
me hat to unl, tinking be wos weno
friends, ca'as me know him eber since
we bin boys togedder, aud he say be
hate Tillman, bless uno souls ne
wos wurse agin de niger dan Till
man and my friends and fellow re-
publicans I found de conservatives
wos not de nigger friends, but dat
dey wunted we niggers votes to best
riIlman, didn't I stump Marion and
odder courties for Haskell and OBJ
course ! spected dem to be our friend,
but dey had no use for niger. De
Illlmauites hate niger like de deb
bil hate holy water and de Ants hate
EN- like de debbi! hate soda water, so
you see dey all two, all one"
General Smalls continued his
speech for nearly three hours, somt-
tunes he made some keen thrusts ut
silly whites" or the Braytou faction,
bu, as the house Was ''agln him and
Braytou's man Stewart did the sig
ualliziug very little applause puuct-
uruled the speakers remarks, not
even when he attempted to infect
little fire, such as 'de white man
lynch uiyger, but de niSser too coward
to lynch white man.
At the conclusion OF his rambling
gullan speech, Stewart rose to Intro
| duce the next speaker and as he rose
and shook out the tails of his Prince
Albert coat the audience broke out
into applause and it continued for
some time. He introduced MIR. Bray
ton who by the way is not bad
looking fellow. He has very respect
able appearance aud is q good
| speaker. Of course, be knew what
lie had to talk TO, and anything he
might say would be taken as d sweet
morsel by his black audience. He
was also fellow republican" and
| repeated it very often for fear that
his hearers would forget it, and
naturally that he should think they
might forget it, tor the reason that q
white man at a negro meeting pro-
| cIaiminlug himself "fellow republi-
can" in this country is a thing not
often seen and il appearance 1t re-
sembles u drop of milk in pan Of
coal tar. Bruytou fired his "fellow
republicans with his denancistions
nj The re,istrution law. and the con-