Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-10-20
#istellaaeuus 8eading.
"A GHASTY JOKE"
Editor w. w. Balls Summing Up OF

bia state IN LeAlH6 loll uuiihS eAS
Tillman trial; and prefaced the daily
stenographic reports that were printed
by that paper, with sensible and COM
prehensiye summaries Of the proceed
ings. Following is his final summary
as published in the State Of last FRI
day:
The ghastly joke Is ended. The COL
lege of South Carolina justice has con-
ferred upon James H. Tillman Its hon.
orary degree. Who was nominally at
least a prisoner at the bar OF justice
Yesterday has his diploma now, testi-
fving to his services to South Carolina
in removing, to employ the words OF
Congressman George w. Croft, one
who was guilty Of more evil politically
than any other 10000 men In South
Carolina, and who, in the equally per,
tinent words Of P. H. Nelson, nateo
the ground that Ben Tlllman "aihs
on"
Viewing the whole subject with such
calmness as one can command, What
other result should have been expected!
If James H. Carlisle Of Spartanburg or
James Woodrow Of Columbia should
"wriggle his thumbs in his coat pock-
cts" i'm the presence Of an enemy and
be shot down with some rare weapon.
whose selection itself were PROOF OF
criminal ingenuity. who Is so foolish IN
South Carolina as to imagine that the
man who discharged that weapon
would be found guilty Of other than the
crime Of self-defence. During thirty
eight years that have passed In South
Carolina since the great war how many
white men Of prominence, how many
who could command few paltry DOL
lars. have been punished for crimes OF
violence? In Laurens county a white
ran of influence was actually and le-
eally executed in 1856. However, a
crime was laid at his door. He stole
a Niger" In Spartanburg 1t Is true
that a man of means, George Turner.
was hung ten years ago. but not until
after homicide had grown into habit
with him. But let us look about-hoW
many graves are filled with victims OF
this pestilence or murder; what has
been done here to destroy the germ
that first infected Cain, the slayer OF
his brother? By what methods Of rea-
soning known to logic had any man
the right to contemplate the possibility
of a verdict Of guilty In this trial at
Lexington?
You may answer that the case was
extremely aggravated. You may an
swer that It's circumstances gave II
place in the galleries Of horror unique
in isolation. You may marvel that the
element Of cowardice that stained 1t did
not arouse repulsion even In the minds
to whom the sight Of blood brings no
shudder. But from every city OF the
dead through the lengths and borders
of our state there are graves to pear
despairing witness that-murder Is not
a crime!
II Is true, and 1t Is a hopeful sign,
that the acquittal Of this man IN Lex
ington has demanded a higher price
from the accessories to 1t than mas
commonly been paid. 1t has not peen
frequent that men have been driven 70
turn their backs on honorable pasts
and spit upon the memories OF their
chosen political associates. Not often
has il been found necessary to accuse
the silent dead and try him upon an
exparte showing for every syllable that
he wrote or spoke. Not even In Soutn
Carolina has it been the custom to
summon the names Of the living poll
ticians to war against the sleeping VIC.
tim. No. not in the saddened pages OF
our states history has such a 1arce
been recorded on the title page OF JUS
tice. They have accused the dead edl-
tor of the high crime OF opposing sen
IL.
insinuation that he was not the polit1-
cal champion Of ex-Gov. Evans. TO
Jury including five mill hands they nave
announced Mr.. Gonzales as their enc
nv and traducer-this Gonzales VINO,
following the dictates Of his con-
science, deliberately earned the antago-
nism of the mill owners of South caro-
lima In championing what he conceived
to be the interests Of the operatives.
Oh, what irony Of fate that smooth,
tongued lawyers should have convinced
a mill hand jury that the man on trial
had slain their enemy-that same Con-
Zales whose last great political strug-
gle sprang from sympathy FOR their
little children, a struggle whose motive
those who opposed him honored! On
a thousand charges they tried n. u.
Gonzales, they went into his grave to
dishonor 1t and they gloated In their
work.
Here in Lexington the crawling
things Of earth have gathered 10 tes-
ttfy, not for Tillman. but against Con-
Zaies. I do not say that all the VIII
nesses were forsworn, not by any
means. but that perjury flouted It's
shame before the blanched face OF de-
cency as never before, even IN the
criminal courts of South Carolina, Is
only the literal statement or a gaunt
fact. Men on whose faces long prac-
tice had written the name Of liar. troop
ed to the stand. From the filth ana
slums of towns and cities, from the
haunts Of vice, where depravity sits en-
throned, they came to swear that the
slain editor had sought their compan,,
ionship, accepted their society and
even adopted their loathsome vernacu-
lar. No weapon has been left unusued
for the assassination Of the dead mans
good name, and in the sign OF perjury
victory has been wrested from Justice
am indulging in no extravagant
rhetoric. For seventeen days nave
sat in Lexington court house and seen
what I now denounce as farce, "ltn
the knowledge always clear before me
that the men who stood for decency
and Justice had every card stacked
against them. Because he def1ed them,
7 have seen Duncan Bellinger bounded
as no lawyer was ever bounded In
South Carolina court, and I have seen
them one by one stink awav from MIN.
Day by day, new methods Of appeal to
base passions and prejudices were
brought into play. The defense opened
its case on the morning of September
%. with the request that the newspa-
pers and particularly the Columbia
State be excluded from the hands OF the
Jury. On the morning of the l4th or
October it closed it's case by denounc-
ing an editorial of that date In the CO.
lunbia State. This was but one OF
thousand incidents Of brazen errontery
and qualification that disgraced the
trial. Legal ethics! Duty to clients!
If they have been illustrated in this
trial, God help the legal profession!
My mission in this matter has end
ed. 1 have been here working for this
newspaper during the trial primarily
to speak to the people of South Caro-
lima, the great jury, for the protection
OF the memory of my dead friend. In