Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-05-19
Mr. y. A. Cook Tears. tho Mask off
x Scrlbe.1 Va

ole published in tho Oconoe News Of the
i 9Th instant, mdor heading, Much
! Trayolod Man." and signed Scribo,"
wo AFRO not surprised that tho people
want an explanation. 1t is said that
'ieyl communications corrupt good
mannors." That communication would
corrupt tho mannors oP JIadcs. 1t is n
dirty conglomoration of high green gram
marianism and pcdantic expressions, re-
curing three interpreters to untanglc,
80 that an ordinary man could under
stand what tho " Much Travelled Man"
wants to say. A good part of it is lot
of straight-out. squaro-cut, unadultcr-
atcd, positive falso statements, any ono
of which is thrco times rs big and four
times as black rs that for which an
avcnging God struck old Ananias and
Sapphira doad. Now if this low down
sneak who wrote it don't like what wo
say hc knows whcro wo live. Wo have
been told that tho first !ottor of his
name is J. a. Johns.
! Who is j. A. Johns anyhow? What
record has he made for himself in Oconoo
county? Perhaps he has been an uin,i,,-
iSt,'Ut0r of an estate of dcccascd person
who was really deceased. Do tho records
1T Walhalla show anything of tho kind?
].ot us sec. Did his brother, John B.
:ohns, die, leaving widow and an
infant child? Did j. A. Johns attempt
to make :. .'cut'' on tho share of tho
widow and her infant daughter in tho
estate of his father, james Johnsp Did
ho resort to Irregular and fictitious forms
OF law for The purpose of hiding these
"cuts?' Did he succeed in dccciving the
| Courts into aiding him in carrying out
| his schemes? Hear what tho Supreme
Court Of South Carolina says:
"lho Circuit Judge does not pretend
| to VindicatN the conduct of tho aCmins
TRAITOR James a. Johns, nor to uphold
ms settlement with Nj. Janc Roberts as
fair and just. This cannot be success
| 1uliy donC. The facts as stated above, if
| they do not shock our sense of fair deal
ing and good faith, certainly do show Il
| NAL administration and msmana gem cnt
! OF high trust AT varicncc with the fun
damcntal rules of law by which fidu-
ciary must be controlled in tho perform
ancc Of duty. And whilst both referee
| and Judge concur in cXoncrating James
a. Johns from fraud, IL is evident from
the testimony that it is charity to tho
administrator to discharge him from
actual or positive fraud. But from the
charge of constructive fraud arising from
neglect of duty and mismanagcmcnt of
| ms trust, he cannot escape. Whcthcr
| lHlcnIl0naIy or not, he has, under the
pretended forms Of judicial proceedings,
so administered his trust us to derive
/ very great profit to himself and to inilict
serious injury upon tlc estate of John b.
Johns. Under no circumstances will the
law sanction this, but will readily grant
relief to the losing party.
Talking the most indulgcnt ricw of the
conduct Of This administration in the
light OF the then surrounding circum-
stances, we ave unable to discover facts
| juStifying the extraordinary course Of
| this administrations"
Did the year Of grace 1893 witness any
Improvement in his conduct in life? Was
his upriEhtncss then proven better?
What weight did he attach to his .cSti-
monN i'll the supplementary proceeding
in the case of John ID. Werner VS.. w. i.
Parker, heard on the 18th Of November,
lH!H Did he swear: 81 paid w. +. Par
kcr 900 during tho present year. |
th'nk there were three payments. The
first payment, 5000, was made in the
spring, about complaining time. Tho
next was probably month or two later,
along about July. | paid him 5000 or
HNOG then. The last payment was made
a short time before Capt. Parker went
Nc"t-pr"bably two or three weeks
payments wcrc for four hundred acre
tract OF land in tho forks OF the railroad
near Scnrca.'
When witnesses wcro afterwards
brought in trial against j. A. Johns to
annul the decd TO the land on the ground
OF fraud, did he give up the land rather
The "much-travclcd man, "Scribc,"
"faNpaycr' and "Em Dec" who pre-
SumrS now to traducc the characters of
honest men?
We have been Il citizen of this vicinity
twenty-five years and no man can truth
fully say that we have ever treated him
dishonesty or unfairly. Now it seems
a Il 1,,- ,,.l,.
hcrctoforc pretended to be Il friend, but
he shows himself Il wolf in shccp's
clothhE' an ovcr-Gr0wn stalk of dc
pravity, gone to seed Sncaking around,
hiding under a fictitious name abusing
his bcttciS, calling them pups, pugs,
beasts, robbers, Nc., just simply because
they make him pay his pro rata share of
the taxes as other people do.
j. y. JOhnS'S .," assessment is no
hl9hcf IMAM otl peoples, and we can
see no reason why hlS property should
be exempt from taxation any more than
other mems property. Instead of his
assessment being too high, il any error
has been committed it is in his favor.
lie has Il fine lot Of timber that We un-
dcrStand he has been offered one dollar
Il tree for and would not take il. His
land OF course is like everybody clsc's
land. He has SOmo poor land which is
not worth more than two or three dol
ial" per acre; DllL lie has other lands
which arc worth thirty dollars per acre.
He ais" has corn mill, wheat mill, cot
tom GIn and thrcshcr, and al the ncccs-
S;ry machinery, &c, to rnn il, worth
several hundred dollars. None Of this
was mentioned by him on his tax return.
Hllli he boasts OF giving in his property
und,f oath. We have also been told
that there is a thousand dollars worth of
machinery on Il steamboat in the TupalOo
river, Il few miles above this place, and
that ho owns a share in that, amounting
10 several hundred dollars. This was
not mentioned on his tax returns either
But probably the Auditor can enter his
machinery on the books at any time in
the future. so we think that he should
shnL his fly trap and be still awhile.
Ills property is not assessed for taxes
as high according to its value as other
peoples property
lie told me that he had been selling
com to his renters at one dollar n bushcl !
al time when corn would hardly bring
fifty cents. IL see rs TO me ho ought to
bo able I" pay his taxes at this lick. 40
wonder he THINKS the poor people arc |
not able to pay theirs. lie seems to |
thint the citizens of our county, who are |
honest enough TO he willing to pay their |
pro rata share Of the taxes. arc " gumD |
heads THANK God for this kind Of |
"gump hcadS.' We wish our county
was full of thrm. Thcy are too hume.
rouS 10 suit the whmS of two or three |
certain men who arc kicking up all this
cheap racket, and we arc glad of it. |
We own about six hundred acres of land |