The morning news., 1899-03-02
Tile nLooDY pIsPENsARY LAW.

THE BLOODY DISPENsARY LAW.
Once more the South Carolina dispen-
sary law has been smeared with blood.
This time it is the blood of woman, shot
down In her own home, in the presence Of
her husband. The tragedy occurred In
the capital city of the state, and within
sight of the official residence of the Gov
ernor. 1t is charged that the raiding dep
uty who committed the deed, which the
coroner's jury calls "willful and malic-
ious' murder. was drunk. He was an Of
ficer Of "a great moral institution" design
ed for the purpose of preventing drunken.
ness; he is supposed to have gone to the
house in the interest Of law and sobriety,
20 search for contraband liquor; neverthe-
less the charge is that he went there
drunk with firearms. and seriously
wounded the defender Of the household
and killed the wife.
II is further stated that this killing
constable, Crawford by name. has been
involved in several other killing scEapes"
under dispensary auspices. He seems to
be a leader of that class which Senator
(then Governor) Tillman said he wanted
in the state whisky constabulary; "men
who knew how to shoot, and would do it,"
There is certainly no fault to be found
with Crawfords aim, or his readiness to
draw and fire.
Crawford's two victims-for he seriously
and probably fatally wounded the hus-
band as well as killed the wife-were well
thought of people in Columbia. The hus-
band was a salesman in one of the lead
ing stores of the city; a place where
law-breeker would not be harbored for
one instant. But neither the respecta-
bllity of Mr.. stuarts family nor the
sanctty of his home availed against the
firearms of the dispensary constables.
Armed with writs, based upon mere sus-
pieion furnished in all probability by ir-
responsible persons, the constables went
to search or KILL and they did the latter.
Most of the 'informations' upon which
searches are made are supplied by the
constab bles themselves. These persons, 1t
seems, are not appointed for their fitness,
but through political influence and be-
cause of their known desperate charac-
ter And they are under no sort of re-
stralnt, save an oath of office. There
was presented to the recent session of the
legislature proposition that they should
be bonded in the pitiful sum of $500 for a
faithful performance of their duties, but
the legislature rejected the proposition
The constables, therefore, are provided
,.,ift, ro,rfpo commissions 10 on apd searrb
when and where and whom they please,
with no sort of indemnity to protect the
helpless citizens against outrage and the
bullets from the pistols of drunken con-
stables.
Nor is that the only unfortunate feat
ure of the situation. Crawford will be
indicted for murder; but when his case
comes to trial it will be a case of the
state against the state. The state, for
the people, will assume the role of prose-
cutor, and the state, as the proprietor of
the dispensary and the backer of its
agents and constables, will defend the
prisoner And, on former occasions the
state as dispensary owner, has been
known to pardon red-handed murderers
and let them go scot free, because they
had shot and killed in support of the
commemorative whisky monopoly.
The South Carolina dispensaty has a
record made crimson with blood, and some
of it shed by the states best people. We
people of Georgia, while sympathizing
with our neighbors, thank heaven that we
are NOT under dispensary TYRANNY and
meantime take warning from the III for
tunes Of Carolina TO guard against that
tyranny.