The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-10-21
THE ADVERTISER.
LAURENs, $. c.. Oct. si, 1908.
From Friaay,s state.

lying 10 MS services TO SOutn CarOllna
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 Caro-.
lima, and who, in the equally pertinent
words of L. H. Nelson, "bated the
ground thst Ben Tillman walks on"
Viewing the whole subject with such
calmness as one can command, what
other results should have been ex-
pected? III James III. Carlisle of Spar
tanburg or James Woodrow of Column
bia should 'wriggle his thumbs in his
coat pockets" in the presence of an en-
envy and be shot down with some rare
weapon, whose selection itself were a
proof OF criminal ingenuity, who is so
foolish in South Carolina, as to imagine
that the man who discharged hat
weapon would be found guilty of other
than the crime of self-defense? During
Carolina since the Great Wa how
, many white men of prominence, how
many who could command a few paltry
dollars, have been punished for crimes
OF violence? In Laurens county a white
man of influence was actually and
legally executed in 1866. However,, a
crime was laid at his door. He ''stole
a niger" In S~partanburg 1t is true
that a man of means, George T. or,
"uo huiS . ySdto hSO u lOU 'bll
after homicide had grown into q habit
with him.. But let us look about-how
many graves are filed with victims of
this pestilence of 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 posi-
bllity OF q 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 it
place in the galleries of horror unique
In isolation. You may marvel that the
element of cowardice that stained it
did not arouse repulsion ever 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 bear despairlng witness that
MURDER is NOT A CRIME!
1t is true, and it is a hopeful sign,
that the acquittalsof this man in Lex
ington has demanded q higher price
from the accessories to 1t han has COM
monty been paid. 1t has not been fire.
quent that men have been driven to
turn their backs on honorable pasts
and spit upon the memories of their
chosen political associates. Not often
has 1t been found necessary to d :use
the silent dead and try him upon all ex
parte showing forl every syllable that
he wrote or spoke. Not even in South
Carolina has it been the custom to
summon the names of the living poll
ticlans to war against the sleeping VIC
tim. No, not in the saddened pages of
our States history has such a farce
been recorded on the title page of JUS
tice. They have accused the dead edi-
tor OF the high crime of opposing Sena-
tor Tillman. They have rung in the in
sinuation that he was mot the political
champion of ex-Gov. Evans. To q Jury
including five mill hands they have de-
nounced Mr.. Gonzales as their enemy
n traducer-this Gonzales who foi-
lowing the dictates of his conscience,
deliberately armed the antagonism of
the mill owners of South Carolina in
champloning what he conceived to be
the best interest of the operatives. Oh,
what irony of late that smooth-tongued
lawyers should have convinced q mill
hand jury that the man on trial had
slain their e~nemy--that same Gonzales
whose last great political struggle
sprang from a sympatIy for their little
children, q struggle whose motive
those who opposed him honored! On a
Thousand charges they tried N. G. Con
Zales, they vent into his grave to dis
honor it and they gloated in their work.
Here in Lexington the crawling
tnln@s or earth have gathered to testi-
~, not for Tillman, but against Con
Iales. do no. say that all the wit
nesses were forsworn, not by any means
nut that perjury fiouted it's shame
b fore the blanched face of decency as
never before even in the criminal
courts OF South Carolina is only the
literal statement Of q gaunt fact. Men
on whose faces long practice had writ
len the name of Liar trocped to the
st nd. From the filth and slums of
Towns and cities, from the haupts of
wee where depravity sits e%nthroned,
they came to swear that the slain edi-
Tor Dad sought their companionship.
accepted their society and ever adopted
tneir loathsome vernacular. No wea-
pom has BEEN left unused for tine assas-
slnat'on OF the dead mans good name,
and in the sign of perjury victory has
been wrested from justice.
l am indulging in no ]extravagant
rhetoric. For IL days L have sat in the
Lexington court house and seen wuat
L now as q farce, with the
knowledge always clear before me that
the men who stood for decency and ius-
tice had every card stacked against
Them. Because he defed the m / have
seen Duncan Bellinger bounded as no
lawyer was ever bounded in q South
Carolina court, and 1 have aeen them
one by one stink away from him. Day
by day, new methods of appeal to base
passions and %prejudices were brought
into play. The defense opened it's case
on the morning of September 20 with
the request that the newspapers and
Particularly The Columbia State be ex-
cmded from the hands of the Jury. On
the morning Of the 18th of October it
closed It's case by d%enouncipg an edito-
rial OF that date in the Columbia State!
This was but n OF n thousand Incl
dents OF brSzen effrontery and stultif-
cation that disgraced the trial. Legal
ethics! Duty to clients! II they nave
been illustrated In this trial, God help
the legal profession!
My mission In this matter has ended.
L have heen 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
cidentally | have been called upon to
write what has been unpleasant. Con.
zaies set the newspaper men of South
Carolina an example. He taught us
that TO follow duty In speaking the up-
reserved truth carried wi h It peril
even unto death. The record and re-
suit OF the trial teach us that the oh