The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-01-21
THE
LAURENs. 3. c.. Jan. 21, 1908.
The Peoples Friend Stricken.

~ IL hNo DOSh ON'
years to know Mr.. N. G.. Gonzales and
for part of that time to be in daily as
ISOLATION with him. 1t is hard to rea-
lie that a man so gentle, so kindly, so
clean in his living, has been shot down.
Few men knew him well. Those who
did know him and who were worthy OF
his respect we're his friends. In late
years the lines of political opinion of
the writer and of the States editor
drifted widely apart. Sometimes we
have clashed in expression and have
given each other "hard knocks" News
paper editors, if they are worth their
salt, must differ, but if they are not
gross fools they do differ without cross
ing q line hat divides argument from
insult. So it was that we have been
able to look to n. G. Gonzales always as
u friend, as q f~avorite older brother
in the order of newspaper men. We
could "give and take,'' we had to in
controversy, it was part of the game,
but the blow that fell upon Mr.. Con
zales fell upon one to whom we have
felt close and loyal in the bonds Of our
calling. With all our differences and
disputes, we remember now only that
the brave chief of our clan is stricken
and in our deep sorrow we are proud to
take IL stand in the ranks of his
friends.
Mr.. Gonzales believed in personal
journalism" His creed called upon
him. to denounce meanness, vice and
wrong, not in the abstract, but in the
persons of the doors. In discussing
public men he thought Of them as pub
counted nothing with him, it was their
relationship to his policy and that
policy was simply a high conception of
the good of his people. Right and left
year after year he struck out and many
q head went down under his vigorous
blows. Of course sometimes the
wrong man suffered. No editor who
frequently writes of men can fail of en-
ror. But the error was the exception.
His ~discernment of sham and fraud and
trickery n dishOnor was keen n so
for the II years Of The States life he
has stood guard and earned the hate
and inspired the fear of the vile in
South Carolina. Not infrequently he
has made enemies of true and honest
men but it was the iegions of the low
and base who shrank ava from him
and bit their thumbs at him from afar.
Twas q dangerous place that N. C.
Gonzales made for himself, dangerous
all the time. There were always
many who would have been glad to
strike. Clear-headed gentleman that
he was, Gonzales knew all this. But he
took the chances.
Their are doubtless many who ignore
the reasons that impelled Mr.. Gonzales
to attack Col. Tillman's record and
they rush to the conclusion that Till
man is eXcusable because harsh things
were said of him. During the campaign
THE ADVERTISER did not regard it ne
cessary to ventilate the charges made
against Col, Tillman. We do not make
them now. The time has come when
the State of South Carolina must deal
with Tillman. But suppose, suppose
merely for the arguments sake, the
charges true, is it not well for Carolina
That she had a brave newspaper with a
splendidly able and fearless editor to
press them and press them again until
the people were warned? If q bad man
comes to the surface and the honor and
safety of the state is imperiled, what
guardian, what protection have the
great people who make the state unless
1t be an unterrifed press? When, then,
a man like N. G.. Gonzales is the enemy
OF one, he is the sturdy friend of thou
sands and tens of thousands. This is
written at a moment when Mr.. Con-
Zales' life trembles in the balance. May
1t please the good God to spare him
spare him for the sake of his dear ones,
his young wife, the days of whose
brldehood are scarcely past, and his
devoted sister and brothers-but more
than oil, may God spare him to the
teeming thousands of South Carolinians
VINO so sorely and so constantly need an
honest man and a gallant man at the
head OF a great newspaper to lash their
enemies n covering impotence! If he
depart, who will take his place? Where
Is another to "take the chances?" To
day by day and night by night invite
and dare the blows of those who cannot
bear the light? If he be taken, it is tie
people of all Carolina and especially
the. poor and the weak who most need a
defender, who have lost a never falter-
ing friend.
Mr.. Gonzales is dead. His death is a
personal loss to the editor Of this pa
per. 1t is such a loss though to the
people of South Carolina as they will
only know as the years go by, that
they will feel only as the need for him
comes and there is none, none to fill it,
OF the poor instrument of his taking
oil, what matters it? A great man in
the fullness and blossom of glorious
manhood of mind and body and soul
has been struck down! There is no SEN
timent known to the human heart that
the poor weak, lost ruined wretch car
arouse save that I'm which loathing
mingles with pity. What NAV befal