The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-10-21

the "fxedness" of several Of the
jurors, they made the bold and SEEM
ing desperate play. The class of men
on whom the defense mainly depend
ed for justification of Tillman's crime
would not dare show their faces as
witnesses in court in any State where
human life is held sacred and where
criminals fear the presence of stern
judge. What a travestry on justice
that representatives of the lowest
walks of life should be given credence
when they come into the temple, with
unclean hands, to testify in behalf Of
vice!
"Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adders' fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizards leg and owlet's wing,
For charm of powerful trouble,
Like hell-broth boil and bubble -
It's stencil reeks in the nostrils of
decent people.
One outrage upon decency is that
blacklegs, thieves and thugs have been
dragged from their haunts by the
defense and induced to cap their own
crimes With perjury. These creatures
swore with leprous lips that the dead
gentleman used to them coarse, BIAS
phemous language that his intimates
are as confident never passed his lips
as that water will not flow up hill.
Nature does not change and knowl-
edge Of his nature is all sufficient to
damn as liars those witnesses who,
common to the core, could not even
manufacture in months Of effort con-
versation with a man of modesty, deli
cacy and refinement without leaving
the brand of fraud stamped on their
words
And who were they, these vital
witnesses who heard Mr.. Gonzales
speak violent threats or saw him make
hostile motion against Tillman? Does
the public realize who they are? We
have not their records il their entirety
yet, but We know that one is keeper Of
dive, another a gambler who is said
to have killed one man andwho in his
home county is rated as utterly disre-
putable, another has been publicly
arraigned for theft, another is held by
his respectable neighbors to be of bad
morals and unworthy of belief on oath
he suggested to one man to kill an
enemy, promising to swear that the
victim made the attack. That is the
character of the alleged threat bearers
and eye-witnesses. There are some
others. We are in possession Of conclu
sive proof Of the perjury of three wit
nesses rated as important for the de-
fense-and we believe that never before
in South Carolina was there such flag
rant, wholesale false swearing.
It was on this streaked and striped
gang that reliance was palced to estab-
lish the plea Of self -defense-some of
these men swore to hearing Mr.. Con
zalss make threats; two of them to see
ing him shove his band down in his
pocket. Not one strata Of decency was
represented in that mud wall of de-
fense built to withstand the strength
of evidence-irresistible to honest
minds hurled against it by Senator
Talbird, Representative Bowling, DR..
Adams, Mr.. Lyles, Representative
Cause, Mrs. Melton, Mr.. Lide and, a
host in itself, the dying declaration Of
the man whose life was guided by the
star Of Truth.
The employment of such pariahs in
the courts-defling by contamination
the temple of justice-is fearful blow
at the one institution standing between
the people and anarchy.-The State,
Oct. Is.