Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-10-22

this newspaper. So much for the
charge of drunkenness at the camp in
Columbia.
AS to what took place about whip.
ping the Negroes, Colonel Tillman
loses sight of the fact that we gave
his own statement of that disgraceful
affair without erasing line. Whether
he was the guilty party in this instance
we have not undertaken to say; but
the whipping of those Negroes as
described by eye-witnesses in the mag
istrate's court, was shameful outrage
and there is no excuse for it. 1t was
not authorized by either civil or mill.
tary law. The whipping post is not
recognized in South Carolina, and the
inf1iction of this punishment was un-
lawful and brutal, whatever the lordly
lieutenant colonel may think about it.
We have no apologies to make for our
unqualified condemnation of such prac-
tices, whether sanctioned by military
commanders or inflicted by ignorant
mobs in obscure corners, and the higher
the intelligence of the men indicting
such degrading punishments in disre-
gard of human rights, the stronger will
be our condemnation at all times.
Colonel Tillman has secured afidavits
from the poor Negroes that their pun
ishment was deserved but this does
not alter the case in any way, for the
brutal act was crime against the state
which cannot be condoned by the hap.
less victims or mitigated by any sort
of special pleading. 1t will always
remain a shame and disgrace to the
participants, no matter who may hold
to the contrary. Colonel Tillman's
exercise of unlawful power cannot
abrogate the laws of the state, and as
a lawyer he knows that the men who
laid on the lash were violating the
rights of these Negroes, which, as an
officer, he should have protected. In
no instance has he even discounte-
nanced the act.
Because a statement is made on the
authority of others does not necessarily
involve our integrity, as Colonel Till
man seems to think. Our reporter
talked with members of his regiment,
and gave their statements as to his
conduct and position. For obvious
reasons their names were not given,
and the reporter has never exchanged
word with Lieutenant Gray in regard
to the regimental troubles, or in fact
on any other matter since he Joined
the army. 1t is violent and baseless
supposition on the part of Colonel
Tillman that the information came
from Lieutenant Gray, and shows the
tendency he has to assume the exist
ence of facts that dwell only in his
vivid imagination. n.-..A--------..-s'-''-- 49,
Finally, we wish to assure Colonel
Tillman that he cannot regret more
than we do the unenviable position in
which he has been placed. He is a
young man of talent, if he is lacking
in discretion; he has valuable quail
ties of head and heart, but sobriety is
not one of them he has the courage
of his convictions; but his convictions
are not always founded upon what is
due to others. No one would rejoice
more to hear of his amendment where
Deficiencies exist, and there is no rea-
son in the world of our saying aught
against him except where the public
veal is affected. One of his faults
lies in the fact that he jumps to con-
clusions, which leads him to suspect
others of malice and unkindness where
they do not exist. His assertion that
we were "formerly minister of the
gospel" while to us a creditable sup
position on bis part, shows that he is
loose in his statements and unreliable as
to facts, when he ought to have known
that there was not the shadow of
truth in the assertion, by which he un-
dertook to make a thrust that falls
harmless and without detriment to our
81; of tho hapeo