The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-01-18
ELLERBE'S DUPuCITY.
BREAKS a WRITTEN PLEDGE MADE
TO THREE GENTLEMEN.
EtiifOriat M Colmmbiu State.

lie nature Ol tlllS rultOrial state
mcnt is such that i, is best made over
my signature. Ii deals with my acts
as IL citizen as we'll rs i'm editor, and
cannot we'll be written except from the
personal andpOimt.
In the summer Of 1897 IL plan for the
settlement Of the liquor issue in Snut h
Carolina WAS suggested to me by IL
friend, to whuim !t !!n.! been ....:.:::::::::
Gated by Il prominent citizen, who must
tor the present remain unkn"wn. Ear
nest consideration convinced me that
it was not only the best solution of this
vcxing Issue. but the only one which
WAS at tt:in;lble. 1t provided for lncal
OptlOn by counties; II choice by ballot
of the people of each county between
tile disptIsary, prohibition and high
license systems. the elections to be-
held in all counties on the same day. IL
day distinct from the Democratic pri-
settlement reached to br of force. for Il
term of two or four years.
This plan submitted to several men
in pnlitics, among them Mr.. Frank a.
Weston and Col. w. y. Neal The
former at once accepted the plan as
practicable and desirable Col. Neal
had been a warm advocate of the dis
pcnsary. but he expressed Il willing
ness to make concessions in the promo
tiOn of peace among the people. and,
although at first prcferring IL settle
mcnt of their own devising, he pres
emily came to approve this local option
measure. We discussed the matter
several times in the summer and early
fall Of 1897, and Messrs. Neal and Wcs-
ton undertook to d1 what they could
to influence Governor I'll e.be 10 favor
this solution. About that time first
proposed the plan ctlitoriully.
Ii N;iS in tIt. l;ltttir mari nf Opf,har
think, that conference wis held be-
tween Senator McLaurir-wfu had
just returned from Mount Airy, n. e.,
where he had been recuuera!ing after
his physical breakdown during the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Ellcrbr, Col. Neal,
Mr.. Weston and myself, having for it's
object the adoption of some common
which should be urged in the Govern
0r's message. Various plans were dis
cusseu, the local option one, however,
meeting with more favor than any 9th :
er. All of us, except Governor Ellerbe
were substantially agreed upon it, and
after had explained it fully the Gov
criior said that it struck him more ia
vorably than any solution he had
heard, and asked me to write out for
him i'll detail my views for carrying ont
the piUpns;,l. as he wished to study the
matter carefully. With that the coll
ference broke up.
Not long ;lfterwarl-about Fair week
| tllink-Scnat0r Iillmun came to Co.
lumbia and visited Governor Ellcrbt..
He had hardly left the city when the
Governor, about 10 o'clock at night,
telephOned the reporters, summOlii,ig
them to the Executive mansion, nnd
there gave out an interview in which
he committed himself absolutely to the
maintenance of the dispensary system.
believed at the time that liElniar,, by
come secret hold he hnti on the Execu-
tive, had forced him to do this. Not
until after the interview had been
given out did any Ut ms-McLatlrin,
Neal. Weston OF myself-susptct that
he had had such a purpose. We we're
taken by surprise at this abrupt ending
of our project to take the question ont
OF politics and settle it tieiilncraticniIy
according to the principle of local self
government.
Of course, this ended nnr hope of in
fiuencing Governor Ellerbe to take the
leadership in the matter by prupusing
IN his forthcoming annual message u
fair and rational asliustmentO of the one
issue which remained to divide our
people. Being much disappointed at
the outcome, rather avoided Govern
OF Ellerbe after thnt.
A day Or two before the Legislative
session closed, however, received q
message from the Governor asking n,e
to call ut the Executive mansion that
night. did 80, aud we had two
hours talk. Governor Ellerbe was OBJ
viOllsly much distressed and alarmed
ut the several defeats he had sustained
in the Legislature, and sought to in-
duce me to pledge him the States sup
port for renOmiilatiUn. told him that
his dispensnry views stt,0l i'll the way;
that | would not AMI could not suplnrt
any man committed to the maintenance
ab0mi.able system. He pleaded pit
eOusl for support, which made the in
terview extremely unpleasant tn me !;
but held out, and left him between
10 and II O'Clock apparently almost
broken down.
When | was about to start early last
May for Tampa, with a view of taking
part in the Cubnn campaign, left in
structiOns that the State was not to
commit itself to any ca,mli,lat4. in the
primary campaign soon tO begin. For
it was impossible to tell in advance
who would be the competitors, and
what pledges they might make. and
feared lest the paper should be coim-
mitted in my absence to Il man or -
policy Inconsistent with it's reta,itl and
my convictiOns. My belief that the
wal WOttiti OO d otiOlt OItts tO U6 tIltUtl
in three months, caused me to antici-
pate a return to Columbia before the
primary election.
Returning from Cuba, I reached Key
West on the night after the first pri-
mary. and "n my way to Tamp;, on the
MascOtte two days later | read in II
jacksonville paper the figures of that
election. 1t was the first information
had that Mr.. Fcatherstune had been
q can,ii.iate. My disposition nt that
time was t" support him in the second
primary, as preferred prohibition to
the diapens,ry.
arrived i'm Columbia on theevcning
of September 8, kut, finding myself in
almost total Ignorance nf what had
happened in South Carolina aud the
world since about the middle uf June,
and being somewhat "tl;,zetl" by Il re-
turn tO civilization, | did no. ut once
resume my editorial work. intending to
study up week or two before attempt
ing it.
On September 2. however the Spar
tanbmrg Herald made an attack on the
lislens,iry system and called ON me to
join in the fight, and that night wrote
an editorial. which appeared next day.
in the State. giving INV ..ft.;trfv ,tsss.nt