Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-09-07

those by whom he is best known.
Mr.. Finley first became candidate
for congress in 1894. His opponent
was DR.. Strait. York county gave
him handsome majority, but he was
beaten in the district. In 1896 he was
again candidate. His opponents this
time were DR.. Strait and Mr.. W. D.
Trantham. York county increased her
majority, and as the result of the vote
in the balance of the district, there
was a second race between DR.. Strait
and Mr.. Finley. In the second race
DR.. Strait won again but by much
smaller majority. In the recent elec-
ton, York still further increased her
vote, and with the balance of the dis
trict Mr.. Finley leads. Another nota-
BILE circumstance in connection with
these three races is the fact that Mr..
Finley and DR.. Strait went into the
first as personal friends and came out
of it az such. The same condition of
affairs prevailed throughout the second
race, and as a significant outcome of
the campaign just closed, so far as DR..
Strait is concerned, it may be stated as
a fact that the two gentlemen are still
personal friends. Mr.. Finley went to
school to DR.. Strait in 1877, and the
friendship that commenced between
the two men then, has lasted ever since.
Mr.. Finley never has been a mud
thrower, and he is one of those men
who will not permit other men to
openly throw mud at him. In fair,
honorable way, however, he can give
and take the hardest of licks.
AS a lawyer also, Mr.. Finley has
q record of which his friends are proud.
It would not be much exaggeration to
say that since his admission to the bar,
large and small, he has handled near
ly 1000 cases. 1t is the universal
opinion that there is no abler lawyer
at the York bar. He is usually on one
side or the other of all Of the most
important cases litigated in this coun-
ty. He is fair fighter. Though al.
ways vigorous in the prosecution of
the interests of his clients and abso-
lutely fearless, he scorns questionable
advantage. But the idea I would con-
vey here is best illustrated in pecu-
liar fact. A large percentage of his
clientage today is composed of men
whom, at one time or another, he has
defeated in lawsuits. And still anoth-
er significant fact along this line, indi-
eating the soundness of Mr.. Finley's
legal judgment, is that in not more
than half a dozen cases has he ever
been defeated after having; as the rep
resentative of the plaintiff, advised
the institution of proceedings.
In all that pertains to the educa-
tional, moral and religious welfare Of
his people, Mr.. Finley also stands high.
He is a ruling elder in his church,
works in his Sunday school, and takes
q prominent part in church councils.
He is a trustee of the South Carolina
college and of Erskine college, and
one of the founders, trustee and a
liberal supporter of the orphanage at
Hickory Grove. His prominence in
matters of this kind is scarcely less
than it is in the political interests of
his county and district.
But it is not these things, probably,
alone, which makes Mr.. Finley so
dear to the people of York county.
There are certain personal Characters
tics that bring men close to him. He
is as true as steel to his friends. He
has a sincere love for his fellow-man.
He has been known to champion the
cause of a poor, decrepit old pauper
in which no one was interested, and
work as earnestly without the hope of
pay as for a princely reward. Men in
high station and in low station in life
alike call him their friend, Men who
disagree with him in politics-promi-
inent citizens who for one reason or
another are ordinarily not interested
in an election to vote-always 60 to
the polls when Mr.. Finley is candid
ate. 1t is a well-known fact that on
the day of the recent election, one
well-known citizen of Yorkville who
was in another part of the state on busi-
ness, came all the way to Yorkville-a
distance of 60 or 70 miles-for no
other purpose than to vote for MIR.
Finley, and this gentleman had to 60
back next day to the very point from
which he had come.
These are some of the reasons why
the people of York want Mr.. Finley
elected. l know, too, that as he is to
the people of York, so also will he be
to the people of the rest of the district.
To know him is to become his friend.
If he goes to congress, the Fifth con-
gressional district will be ably repre-
sented as whole, and every citizen in
it will feel that he has in Washington
a personal representative who will try
to secure for him whatever is right. l
only wish the Fifth congressional dis
trict knew Mr.. Finley as York county
knows him. A FRIEND.
Yorkville, S. c., September 2, 1898.