Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-04-25

The CONCEALED WEAPON HABIT.

Need of Reform.
In his recent charge to the grand
| jury of Richalnd county, Judge Benet
discussed the concealed weapon evil
as follows:
"What is the cause, gentlemen, OF
this extraordinary number of homi.
cides? I am sure each of you can as
sign certainly as one cause the deplora.
bic custom of carrying pistols, Gus
tom carried to such an extent that our
state may be regarded as an armored
camp in times of peace. Our young
men and boys, black and white, rich
and poor, seem to think that their out
fit is not complete without a pistol |;
some of the older men show bad ex-
ample, and I regret to say, some public
officials have on occasions been found
armed in violation of the law. Pistols
are carried, not as protection at night
in some lonely road or in some remote
part of the country during the day or
in some dangerous neighborhood, but
at public meetings, on the streets, at
social gatherings, even at dances, even
at daily labor, and following the plow,
and I add also even at church and
prayermeeting; aud as for those gath
erings known as the negroes hot sup
pers, is there ever hot supper without
cold corpse? The negro will initiate
white man and initiates him more
successfully in his vices and crimes
than in his virtues.
"Mr. Foreman and gentleman, it
would be an interesting experiment il
the court were at this moment to search
the pockets all in the courthouse now
and see how many pistols will be
found, carried on the person concealed
even in the temple of Justice. Gentle
men, as surely as this lamentable habit
continues, so surely will 200 or 300 OF
our fellowcitizens annually fill untimely
graves, the victims of the pistol habit.
1t is fearful price to pay for the priv
ilege of carrying arms. 1t is not only
unlawful to carry arms concealed upon
the person, but. it unchristian, uncivil.
lied, and still more should the appeal
be made to the youth of the country
who carry pistols that it is unmanly
and cowardly, and altogether unneces'
sary in civilized community. 1t causes
our young men, no doubt, to hold hu-
man life very cheap, and it causes
them also to have false ideas of bravery
and true manliness, and it has infused
in the public mind wrong and vicious
views of the right of self-defense.
"Gentlemen of the grand jury, how
many corpses of men slain by the pis'
tol-carrying homicide have been
searched in vain for the pistol, and yet
the slayers have put up their plea oi
self:defence, and juries have acquitted
them on that plea, because forsooth the
defendant, the manslayer, testified that
when he shot his victim had put bis
hand TO his hippocket or was about to
place it there, and he was induced to
believe by that act that he had a pistol
and was about to draw it. He pre-.
sumed, in other words, that he was in
danger and acted, as he claimed, in
self defense. If that presumption is to
be regarded by petit jurors must we not
create another presumption in fact, to
meet it-that the man who carries a
pistol habitually must be presumed to
have murder in his heart and is dan.
gerous man to the peace of any COM
munity. When blood-guilty man is
set free by the verdict of a jury, then
the public, through the press, condemns
the jury, speaks of miscarriage of JUS
lice, that the jury system is u failure
and the like, not rehecting that the jury
is only carrying into effect the puhlic's
own mistaken view and idea of self.de-
frnse. Water does not rise above its
level. A petit jury is part of the peo-
pie, and it is not better or wiser than
the people from whom it is drawn by
lot. II is futile to lay the blame at the
door of the jury or the system of trial
by Jury. Let it lie also ut the door OF
all who are guilty of carrying pistols
concealed upon their persons. / would
not belittle the right of self-defense. 1t
is good right God given right; as
well as right recognized by the law OF
our land !; but it is woefully misunder
stood and most rashly and recklessly
exercised, until the blood of hundreds
of men cries aloud from hundreds of
graves for the vengeance courts have
denied them.
1.-TWO hundred and forty-three men
slaughtered in South Carolina last year,
and how many convicted? Ninety
nine. In other words, IA men with
their fellows blood on their hands 90
free, pronounced not guilty. There
may be few of these reported cases