The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-03-13

TO the 1acts are concerned nothing MOI
&c can be said. The prcsentment tel
d the whole story, and no husty invest
y Satlon OF an outsider can add anythin
l. valuable or reliable. There are rumor
r OF all sorts, but rumOrs are larvel
e false.
Il This morning the special term of Tn
o court of general sessions called b
Judge w. G. Benct to receive the re
c port of the grand jury began at /,
i o'clock The jury was not ready, am,
L IL was noon before the presentmen
was read. The court room was packed
i Inc man Hoor was occupied by whit,
people, and the little gallery wa.
crowded with negroes. Interest wa,
g most intense, for not a word of the
papers contents had been divulpcd
) The foreman, Mr.. II. a. Sullivan
handed up the paper, which was read
when the reading was completed, il
was time for dinner recess. On re-
, convening, Judge Bcnet addressed the
grand jury
MIR. Foreman and Gentlemen of
inc Jury: Your lcsentment affords
me profound satisfaction. You have
aohe your duty, not only ably and fear
lessly, but lairly. am struck with
the statement that you have refrancd
from reading the newspapers, some of
which have published sensational
stories, and that you have refraincd
rom seeing or hearing any comments
lhat would prejudice you in your in
vestlgatlon. 1t will surprise you, there
lo'e, to know how much excitement
! lherc has been all over the State and
the country. Sensational newspapers
at the North have forgotten that the
investigation was ordered and was
being conducted. They conveyed the
ldca that the newspapers had discov.
cred the scandal through their own
efforts.
Your work and the work of the
court is not referred to in these arti-
clcs. 1T does say that happily some
local efforts are beng made but the
reader would infer that these efforts
are due TO the newspapers. Little is
found in these accounts beyond what
was taken from the records of the
court, and that little is false. These
newspapers would rather be sensational
than just.
In ordering this investigation this
court was only doing its PLAN duty,
quietly, unostcntatlously, but earnest
~. 1t Is peculiarly the work of this |
court, but the court will do Its duty,
ana does not propose to be lnterfered |
with by political busybodies in or out
OF Congress. When the charge was |
made three weeks ago the court had no |
idea OF doing more than showing You |
grand jurors your duty, and it had no |
doubt you would perform it. 1t had |
no thought nor expectation that the
charge of the court would be heard |
beyond the four walls of this court |
room.
Through the journalistic enter
prise of your local paper, The Daily
Mail nctuatcd by the purcst and most
praiscworthy motives, the charge was
published. 1t was done not after the
manner of what is called, IN newspaper
slang, yellow journalism but simply
County might see that the lniquitous
system would be thoroughly looked into
and put an end to; for The encourage
mcnt OF the aw.abding and terror
to evil docrs that 1t might be seen
and known of all people of this county,
white and black, that the strong arm
OF the law would be stretched out TO
protect the humblesI negro against op-
preston and wrong.
Other newspapers throughout the
State acted III the same way, not as
scnsat'on-mongcIs, but as good citizens
and champions of righteous cause.
There were no flaming headlines, no
startling scarcheads. But the pubica-
ton was accompanied with strong |
wolds OF condemnation of Tie nhu- |
man treatment OF tho negro, and with |
equally stlong words of commentator |
OF the charge of the court.
I" 1t was to he expected that news
papers III other States would take no.
ticc of a matter of so much public in
tcrcst-nrr had we any desire to hide
this ugly thing from the eyes Of our
sister States. Newspapers were only
doing their duty in giving it the utmost
publicity and IN condemning 1T in scath-
ing terms.
"It gives me pleasure to say that,
with few exceptions, the great journals
IN all parts of the country did their
duty in this regard; but some news
papers, and notably ono, went far be-
yond the proper limits of journalistic
criticism. l refer especially to The
North American, Philadelphia news
paper.
1t seems that that paper sc1t a
staff reporter to this county, and while
we have no desire to discourage the
sending of special correspondents fro m
Philadelphia to Anderson County for
the purpose of finding out the exact
truth, let them tell the truth let them
treat serious subject like this with
all fairness and candor. Facts when
distorted are more mischicvous than
falschoods. | do not say that the
special correspondent of The North
American deliberately wrote what was
not true, but do say that bis account
was greatly exaggerated, far too highly
coiored, essentially misleading and
grossly unjust.
+" 1t is foolish to talk of the necessity
Of interfering by Congress and Fed
eral courts. They ignore the fact tina,
the court and the grand jury have
brought the matter into public attcn-
ton and were busy investigating it,
We are able to deal with this matter
without any outside help. We do moi
wish to wash our dirty linen in the
Federal lallndrV There Ia no pOlitjc,