Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-03-05
tho rules of the Senate Of so serious a
character that, in the opinion of the corn-

L
RED HOT AGAINST TII.LMAa.
| I'm the case Of Senator Tillman the
record shows that the altercation was
commenced by tho charge he made
against Senator McLaurin. Such acharge
is inexcusable. except inconneotion with
resolution to Investigates. Senator Till
| man not only made the charge without
any avowal of a purpose to investigate,
but also disclaiming knowledge of evil
dence to establish the offepse, and this
he said afterthe charge had been spe-
cifically and unquaifedly denied by Soma
tor McLaurin,
"Such q charge, under any ciroum-
stances, wonld be resented by any man
worthy to be Senator, but made as it
was IN this instance, it's offensivepess
was greatly intensified. This feature OF
his offence, coupled with Che fact that he
also commenced theyencounter by quit
ting his seat some distance away from
Senator McLaurin and rushing violently
upon him, striking him in the face,
makes the case one of such exceptional
misbehavior that majority of the COM
mittee are of the opinion that this offence
was of much greater gravity thu 4 that of
Senator McLaurin.
"The penalty of o censure by the Sem
ate in the nature Of things must vary, In
actual severity in proportion to the pub
lic sense of the gravity of the offense of
which the offender has been adjudged
guilty. Therefore, Notwithstanding the
fact that, in the opinion of a majority of
the COMMITTEES, there is difference in
the gravity of the offenses undor consid-
GRAFTON, your committee are of the opin-
ion that public good and the dignity of
the Senate will be alike best promoted
and protected, SO far as this particular
case Is concerned, by imposing upon each
Senator by formal vote the censure of
the Senate for the offense by him com
mitted and therefore recommend the
| adoption of the resolution
WHY DEMOCRATS DISSENT.
At the conclusion of the reading of the
| majority report Senator Bailey, of Texas,
offered the following statement as repre-
senting the views of himself and fonr
ether Senator's:
eve dissent from so much of the re-
| port of the committee as asserts the
power of the Senate to suspend Sena-
tor and thus deprive State of it's vote,
| the Senator's as of different gravity; but
| we approve the resolution reported"
JETER, PRTTCHARD AND OTHERS.
The report of the minority of the COM
mittee was then read.
| In this statement the Senators signing
| it say that, while they accept the state
ment of the case as made in the principal
report, they do not agree with the ma
| jority of the committee as to the pun ish-
ment proposed by the majority. They
| then say
'"The junior Senator from South Caro-
lima is guilty of unparliamentary Ian
guage. The senior Senator from South
Carolina is guilty of physical violence.
Neither in the statutes of any State, nor
| in the common opinion of mankind, are
these two offenses the same. The slight
est form of punishment is reprimand of
censure. 1t. is the latter which the ma
jority proposes to infict ior two offouses
differing in character and gravity. The
minority of the committee are of the
opinion that this punishment is made
quate and that to ignore the differences
between the offenses is unjust. The
| minority of the committee is of the opin-
ion that suspension of the two offending
Senators from their Senatorial privileges
heretofore inflicted should now be for
mally adjpdged and continued for differ
ent periods"
FIVE TO TWENTY.
The report concludes by recommend
ing that Senator McLaurin be suspended
| from his functions as Senator for five
days, and that Senator Tillman be sus-
pended for twenty days.
| Senator Pritchard's addition to the
| above statement is in the following lam
guage: 81 concur in all the foregoing
views except as to the punishment of the
junior Senator from South Carolina. 1t
is my opinion that the punishment he
has already suffered is adequate to his
offense. l make no recommendation as
to the punishment to be imposed on the
senior Senator from South Carolina :
AN IMPORTANT OMISSION
| Senator Bacon called attention to what
he considered an important omission in
the narrative of the majority on the
occurrences of last Saturday. There was
no official record of the proceedings in
the secret legislative session, he said,
but some of the salient facts ought to
be brought out He said that the senior
Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Till
mani had expressed his desire, through
the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Black
burn) to make public acknowledgment
of his error and to apologize to the Sem
ate. The junior Senator from South
Carolina (Mr. McLaurin) had expressed
the same desire through him (Mr. Bacon).
He deemed it important that these facts
should be made part of the record.
SENATOR MCLAURIN.
Senator McLaurin, of South Carolina,
one of the offending Senators, said in
response to his name, which had been
restored to the roll: II refrain from yot-
ing fer obvious reasons"
| SENATOR TILLMAN's "BREAK."
When Senator Tillman's name was
called he rose deliberately. Every eye
in the chamber was fixed upon him. His
face was stern and set and he was pale
as sheet. Evidently he was laboring
under great emotion.
Among gentlemen" said he slowly
and his words were heard distinctly in
the uttermost parts of the chamber, "an
apology for an offense committed under
the heat of blood is usually considered
sufficient"
Then he resumed his seat amid gasps
of astonishment among Senators and
spectators.
Senator Burrows hastened to the desk
of the official stenographer and directed
that Senator Tillman's words be written
out at once.
At the conclusion of the roll-call, but
before the announcement of the vote,
Senator Kean, of New Jersey, who had
voted for the resolution, addressing the
\ president pro tenn, changed his vote Ia
the following statement:
Having heard the Senator from South
Carolina (Senator Tillman) again insult
the Senate l change my vote from aye to
no."
The resolution was adopted, 81 to IL.
AS soon as the vote was announced Sena-
tor Burrows demanded that the state
mcnt of Senator Gilman made during
the roll-call be read to the Senate.
Scarcely had the clerk concluded the
reading when Senator Tillman, address