The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-02-01
The Legislative Elections.

1
competitors, by changes made at the
close of the first ballot. Capt. Griffith
is IL man of excellent standing. is cred
tied with good business capacity. and
by his courtesy and his broad minded
course in the Legislature has made
many friends. He will doubtless give
Il successful and satisfactory admins
trati0n of the pcnitcntiary.
The defeat of Superintendent Neal
il said quite often that the Ellcrbr
revelations in the state would defeat
him: and when his address came ont
the other day we were told that that
would defeat him. The truth is that
neither did; the causes lie back of
these publications. and his opponents
simply used them rs convenient pegs
to lang prior motives on. Long before
it seemed probable that there would be
amy exposure of Ellcrbc, ncrrSstatin:s
TN" mention of Col. Meals name in con
ncction with the local option matter,
we considered him far too Sunyuinr
about his prospects and entertained
much doubt of his Success He had
too many cncmirs-thnt WAS the ..,.s..
of his defeat.
Col. Neal managed MrI.alIrin's cam
paig and made enemies of Mel alirin' :
! enemies. lie managed Ellcrbc'S cam
palgn and made. enemies Of Ellcl,c'S :
enemies. Besides these. he had made
quite il lot of his own. They came to
the legislative session armed with
carefully sllarpcnc,l .laSgcrs.
In Il spirit of pleaS;lntry John l.. Me
Laurin eighteen months ago referred
t" his friend and campaign manager us
"tlic Mark Hanna OF South Carolina.
The phrase stuck and it did its wcarrr
Il lot Of harm. Col. Neal was active in
political work close to the throne of
power. and 'hc public, which has no
tolerance for things it can't see and is
very jealous of the high priests of po-
litical mysteries, got the notion in its
head that there. must be- something
very wrong going on behind the veil.
Finally, the idea obtained that Col.
Neal w;is ''nlallaying" Coy. Ellrrbr;
and I'LL of Ellcrhc's blunders were
WAS trying to keep Elltrle from max
ing Ills worst bluntrrS-hut lc couldn't t.
tell the public that.
SO that waS the WAY of it; and ii will
be Il hard matter now. we Opinc, to get
anybody to manage anybody else :
State campaigns. to consent to l,c called
'Mark Hanna and to he suspected Of
| l.
he.
| Col. Neal has made IL good suprrin-
tentlcnt and has done much to build up
the penitcntiary property. 1t Will be
Il satisfaction to him to know he was
not defeated on his record as an admin
istrator.
The notable feature of the election
for directors of the penitentiary was
the >urrrSs, ly IL higher vote than any
other candidate received, of Mr.. y. X.
Sanders of Sumter county. 1t is sig
niticAnt of the changed condition of
things. for Il Very few years ago Mr..
Sandcrs who Yesterday received all
but 2i of the lj'i votes east for lircc-
tors, waS with other "Strai yhtout'
members from his county deprived of
his seat i'll the house by IL factional
vote after bitter factional fight.
| If evidence We're needed To show
what great and In'rvaSivr power the
State tisprnS;lrv has become it would
have been afforded by the spectacle
witnessed in joint assembly yesterday
during the election of Il member of the
board OF control. \ contest for United
States Senator could not have so con
| vul>td the legislature us the election
OF one Of five members of an unsalarcd
board controlling the States whiskcy
business. There WAS Il factional fight
in the board of control, involving the
| control of that great liquor directorate.
and the chairman, Mr.. Haselden, had
/ set himself to defeat Mr.. DOuthit for
reelection. There were evidences that
Gov. Ellerbc also had his hand against
the Anderson member. The contest
was Il desperate one. The tlisIcns:lry
lobby invaded ia. hall of representa-
tivcS and pursued members in the
;i>lc>. We saw one lobbyist run after
Il member and catch him by his coat.
cargrrly appealing to him to change
his vote. The nuisance became so in
| t0lcrablc and the confusion >O great
that OH appeal to liz. chair the hall was
ordered cleared. But even then the
lobby did not retire. and was present
to applaud Il motion or Il vote which
told in its favor.
There waS Il misc0,nt of votes, an
astonishing Willingness to take advan-
tagc of tcchnicalitics in deciding the
result, and ultimately, after much con
fusion and delay. Il poll of the joint as
Sembly, which showed Mr.. Donthit's
| defeat. The state. of course. had no
candidate for such an office, and is not
to be understood as limiting its cc,isurc
to one side; but the whole performance
Ill.