The colored American., 1903-07-04
South Carolina Politics
Continued from page 1.


In the first place as a lawyer and as
United States District Attorney, Mr..
Capers has exhibited the highest ca
pacity as a prosecuting attorney for
the Government and has made a record
at least equal to any District Attor-
ney that State has ever had under any
administration. His experience as an
attorney in the Department of Justice,
at Washington for seven years has
made him a master of details, and his
office is in splendid condition, and its
work we'll in hand. In addition to that
Mr.. Capers is trained speaker and a
clear, fOrceful advocate and makes, in
all respects, an officer of whom the ad-
ministration can well be proud. Only
recently at the terms of Courts in
Charleston and Greenville there were
tried and convicted eleven well known
professional burglars, Safe-crackerS,
and post Office robbers whose head
quarters were proven to be New York,
eand who had been operating in South
Carolina and adjoining States, under a
regular organization, the members of
which in their work robbed the safes
in a number of pOst-offices in South
Carolina and took therefrom large
amounts OF money. Mr.. CaperS did not
fail to convict a single one of them,
and they are all now in the Atlanta
Penitentiary. In his work he was ably
assisted by his Assistant Attorney, Mr.
Ernest +. Cochran, a lifelong Repub-
ican and a lawyer of ability, and by
Post Office Inspectors Pulsipher and
Gregory, from the Secret Service
Brueau, of the Post Office Department
in Washington.
While Mr.. Capers is a tireless and
eloquent prosecuting officer, he is not
lacking in that Judgment which enables
him to dispose of cases often without
trio hnci Snfi icfa 70 +loI
Attorney Generals Office, and in which
the settlement of the case fully meets
the ends of justice.
In the matter of his political record
it should be borne in mind that for a
number of months after Mr.. Capers'
appointment as National Committee
man Senator McLaurin was in the Sen
ate. The Senator had practically bro
ken away from the Democratic party,
but he had not come out as a Republi-
can. President Mckinley had thought,
however, that Senator McLaurin'S in
dependent attitude in the State would
finally assist in enlarging and
strengthening the organization and
efforts of the Republican party in
South Carolina, and to that end Sena
tor McLaurin had been given practi
cally full control in patronage matters
in the State. For a number of months
afterwards, although Mr.. Capers was
National Committeeman, he had little
to do with debating the patronage un-
der the McLaurin regime, and a num-
ber of Democrats were appointed to
office. These men were not Tillman-
Democrats, however, and it is only fair
to say were men of very high character
and standing. Nevertheless, the COM
plaint was made by the old line Repub-
licanS that the men thus appointed
were not Republicans. Among the ap-
pointments referred to, for instance
could be cited the Post masters, at
Newberry, Greenwood. Walhalla, Alb
beville and two or three other places.
When Senator McLaurin retired, how
ever, patronage matters were turned
over in a large measure to Mr.. Capers,
as National Committeeman, and since
he has had control no Democrats have
been appointed, and it is safe to say
from the number of excellent Republi-
cans he has recommended for office
that the offices will continue to go, as
far as his recommendation carries
them to Republicans
One of the first illustrations of Mr..
Capers' thorough accord with the Par
ty, and its matchless leader President
Roosevelt, was the attitude he took in
connection with colored physicians
for the Pen sion Examination ROarSiS