The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-12-20
Crime-At Gaffney and Elsewhere.
The State.

The State.
There should be no surprise at the
indignation and deep modification OF
the people of Gaffney at the shocking
tragedy in that town on Friday, result
ing in the death of Milan Bennett and
Abbott Dawson. There is no foretell-
ing what a jury will do there is no
showing what stories will be Matched,
how witnesses will be manufactured,
how far attempts to buy jurors will be
pushed-there is no knowing and 80
we have ceased to predict. But if there
is manhood in Cherokee the doing to
death of those two strangers will be
revenged by the State of South Caro-
lina's great arm infictingi the COM
mands of Justice.
What a spectacle do we present to
the world? And what do the men and
women of South Carolina think about
it? In this State, where the boast Is
so often shouted that "our women
shall be protected, " in this State where
a woman, however humble, is sup
posed to command a degree of respect
from men who call themselves chlval-
ric, two women are grossly insulted at
their hotel by one of the proprietors,
and their natural protectors, who pro-
tect, are shot to death. "Our women
must be protected !" But are their pro-
tectors to be murdered for playing the
man?
Yes, those women whose insulter
Bennett and Dawson upbraided are
ACTRESSES" And who are actresses ?
Often they are women who for the
bread they and their loved ones eat
must buffet against the toughest part
ofthe world, endure hardships perform
great tasks of labor and expose them
selves to the temptations that are ever
present. How little the world appre.
ciates the trials of those people! How
little il known of the drudgery of their
lives of their pitifully small wages; OF
their sacrafice for the sake of those at
home. Little is known of their good
works, but if one, surrounded by the
wolves of temptation, falls, hands are
held up in shocked amaZement-and
the profession 'is damned.
But, certainly in South Carolina, q
woman performing honest work and
maintaining a respectable demeanor is
entitled to immunity from gross insult
and, if insulted, the insulter is, de-
serving of chastisement and entitled
to no plea of self-defense if he Stays the
protector of the woman he offended.
But those actors were not armed. The
life Of George Hasty was never in dan
ger. When confronted by two men,
the spirit of q coward-already reveal
ed in previous conduct-prevailed and
the deadly weapon he carried in The
dining room Of his own hotel was
drawn and used-to South Cardinals
shame, unless the law has v~indication:
On the same day that two unarmed
strangers were ruthlessly done to death
in Gafney, the sheriff and deputy
sLeriffs Of Barnwell has difficulty in
saving from a mob a negro who was
accused of throwing bricks or threat
ening, to throw bricks at the wife of q
farmer who caught him stealing, or
accused him of stealing turkeys. The
stories are somewhat confIctine-the
negro maintains that he picked up the
bricks to scare another negro who at
tempted to bar his passage. At any
rate, the man was caught and while in
CQ6 DduuS Va poAASS"Oh Woo CIV
through the body by Arthur DE witt
Then a large number of lei defied
the sheriff and his representatives and
the negro was saved only by taking
HIM 10 Savannah. The governor has
ordered the sheriff to take action
against the members Of the Iawless
mob. They resisted their highest law
officer and only the. strenuous efforts
of the authorities prevented tn, ir do
ing murder. If the negro dies of his
wounds Arthur Dewitt will be tried
for his life, and, whatever the. verdict,
will be guilty of manslaughter:
The law officers should assert them
selves. With the whole power Of the
State behind them they should demand
that the dignity of their Office be re-
spected. and the men who spurn the au-
tnority of that Office, as did those men
of Barnwell, should be made to &C
knowledge the respect due to the law
Of the land. Every one of them should
be prosecuted; every DETER OF the
sheriff should be sent to prison.