The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-11-16
SAVE Is FROM OUR FRIENDS.


ments on the Phoenix riot, onoeI-
takes, we suppose for foreign con
sumption. to lay the responslolil'S
,,non the State administration, as
though the State officers can prevent
ON outraged community from giving
vent TO its indignation. Ihe
State administration has demon
srrated utter incapacity or brutal IN
difference 20 condition of things
which will excite the condemnation
of the world says this great news
paper.
M reasonable man will refuse to
admit that the affair at Phoenix was
fearful in the extreme, and the mad
deued crowd went too far; they re-
sorted to means that cannot be APP
proved of by law-abiding citizens
The action of these people places
them in very undesirable light De.
fore the world; at the same tllne' II
they had killed every negro IN 0reen,
wood and Edgefeld counties, ana
their white allies thrown IN, we can
NOT: see how the News and Courier
can place any blame upon the STATE
administration. Did Governor hi4er-
he sanction the rioting: Did ne, as
did Governor Tanner Of Illinois when
os,,co 70 ,rOtect those who
were being pursued:
1t is all very we'll to place on rec
ord a disapproval of .lawlessness ana
condemn it in strong words, but IL IS
not right, nor is it in the interest OF
the people of South Carolina Tor
newspaper published in the largest
city of the State to endeavor to put
the State administration IN posi-
tion of winking al, and acqulesclnS IN
Iawlessness. The News and Courier
knows full we'll that there are those
who will take advantage OF the trou-
BILE at Phoenix to further their po-
litical ends, and they are already be-
seechins the administration at Wash
incton to act. Efforts will be made
TO use the phoenix riot" as a means
to unseat Congressman Latimer ana
seat his Republican opponent, not
withstanding the fact that had there
been no trouble and every Repuol-
can at Phoenix had cast his vote, 1t
would not have affected the result.
Congress will be Republican by a
narrow majority and it only needs
the semblance of an excuse to unseat
Democrats. With this condition ex-
listing, our great State contemporary
of Charleston, to give vent to It's
preiudices against the head OF the
State administration, does the peo-
ple more harm than it does Governor
EIlerbe for whom that newspaper
takes advantage Of every incident to
crafty its spleen.
The shortsighted puff or crush
policy of the News and Courier can
not fail to injure, and we believe the
whining editorial which appeared IN
the paper last Saturday on the Phoe-
nix trouble viii be used at Washing
ton as a strong lever to unseat Con-
gresham Latimer and replace him
with a white Republican, whose
brother brought about the murder
of Ethridge and precipitated the riot
which resulted in the killing OF ne
groes who were following unscrupu-
lous and reckless leaders, and who,
when the trouble they brought on
came, fed and left their followers to
their fate.
We sincerely regret that drop OF
blood was she'd in any part OF South
Carolina, and it was far from e8pec-
tations that there would be any race
trouble in this State. We doubt
that the people who voted at Phoe-
nix expected trouble. but it came
and a good citizen was the victim.
1t was natural that the dead mans
friends would become angered and
that trouble would result. 1t is a
great pity that the murderer and his
accomplices could not have been
caught and tried in a court of law
for the murder of Ethridge, but the
day of perfection" is not at hand
and no community, whether 1t De IN
South Carolina or Ohio, will wait for
the slow machinery of the law with
its loopho!es Of escape under such
aggravating circumstances, which
brought on the Phoenix riot. ilar
the infuriated friends of the murdered
man went too far is beyond dispute,
but does the News and Courier think
the State administration, whether
with Governor Ellerbe, or any other
mar at its head could have prevent
ed what was done? Why undertake
to place our State in false position
before the world and thereby give
our political enemies capital to fur
ther their political ends?
Perhaps if some Of the News and
Courier's pets, say Chicco or Cantini,
were occupying the gubernatorlal
chair in Columbia instead Of running
blind tigers in Charleston, or if Fore
man Of the Grand Jury Willis, who
gave to the press the reason for
throwing out dispensary cases that
it was the law, and not the violators
we were trying was at the head Of
the State Administration, utter in
capacity or brutal Indifference to a
condition of things which will excite