The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1901-03-01
GOVERNOR M'SWEENBY
In CHARLESTON.
HE DISCUSSED THE ANDER ON SCAN.
DAL
II AbuaoR Fxiat the Guilty Peranns will
Surely be Punishea Ills Excrllency
Declares.
News and Courier. Feb. 81. |

=
ern Railway from Columbia. H.
came here to attend the meeting to
night Of the State commissioners "i
the Exposition. Private business.
brought him here in advance of to
meeting. He was seen last night ~
the Charleston Hotel and asked his
opinion of the Anderson stoclsal.
scandal. He said:
"The matter WAS first brought t.
my attention by an anonymous letter
from Anderson County. The lettr,
was evidently written by some ip-
norant person. 1t detailed horrure
among 80 called slaves. sent tb
letter to Solicitor Boggs, with i"
structlons that he take the matter Up
at once and make thorough invrs
tigation. This he is doing A few
days after this the editorial in the
Anderson Mail appeared. Now l
am not in a position to say whethe,
the editorial the letter caused th.
investigation. But a furth' L; inves
tigation is going to be NJ te and
believe the proper parties will be
punished. I do not know whethe
the crimes said to exist should reali,
be charged against the stockac g
owners of Anderson County. w.
must remember that there arc al
ways two sides to n question, ano
this undoubtedly has two sides. On,
opinions must now, therefore, be
drawn from ex-parte statements.
When the trial comes up those men
accused of imprisoning negroes un-
der warrants of false arrest will EN-.
ploy the best attorneys IN the Stat.
and the complexion of the case ma,
by entirely changed, 1 have ever.
reason to believe that Solicitor Boggs
is going to do his duty, and all the
other officers, for that matter. If the
Investigation, however, is not wha,
it should be I shall conduct an ill
vestigation myself, paying for it out
of the contingent fund. The matter
is a serious one and cannot be erie d
down. I look upon it pretty much
as [ do lynch:ng. l have Away.
used every power to protect man
from mob and will coutinne to d
this. The Legislature just clos, d
appropriated $4,000 for exp"nse
incurred in protecting negroes from
mobs, or, more politely, harm. an,
ready to give twice that amount f.
protect map's life. If the men j.
Anderson County are guilty of doiue
what is charged agninst them the,
should be hunted down ond punish
ed. l believe that some white met
work negroes pretty much as rnilroa
contractors work their mnl"a q,
horses. In Anderson the negroes
hove been imprisoned aud beat, MOI
because they we're uegrors, but he
cause they were gnorant. I believe
that if the thing is not stopped white
men will also be imprisoned.
"No more convicts. no wevar, will Q
leased to private parties after D 'cem-
ber 81, 1901. In cases of this XII d
where person would lease couvic'
or cOnvicts contract wonld be drawn
up between tho lessee and tho State.
The lessee would bind himself to
treat the convict or convicts humanel,.
But have known these contracts to
be broken. About two years ag"
Superintendent Neal, of the Psniten
tiary, reported to mo that crnvict,
who had been leased to someone IN
the upper part Of the State, had re-
turned to Columbia on account of bad
treatment. The convict was badly
bruised and manned.
II believe in exposing crime, but
there is such thing as giving too
much publicity to matters of this
kind. If the conditions are aired too
much before the investigation begins
prejudice may enter aud the situa
tion resolve itself, in the eyes Of many
to the view of a white man against a
negro. Too often in such cases JUS
tice is not DONE"
The Governor was accompanied to
the city by Phosphate Commissioner
s. w. Nance. Col. Vance is here for