Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-12-12
CHAPTER VIII.
The RIOT In THE MASTERS HALL.

the secret clan into which Ben had
urged him to enter. Dr. Cameron de-
termined to press for relief from OPP
preston by an open appeal to the con-
science of the Nation.
He called a meeting Of conserva-
tive leaders in a Taxpayers Convention
at Columbia His position as a leader
had been made supreme by the In
dignities he had suffered. and he felt
sure of his ability to accomplish re-
suits. Every county in the state was
represented by It's best men In this
gathering at the Capital.
The day he undertook to present his
memorial to the legislature was one he
never forgot. The streets were crowd
ed with negroes who had come to
town to hear Lynch, the lieutenant
governor speak in a mass-meeting.
Negro policemen swung their clubs In
his face as he pressed through the in
solent throng up the street to the state
ly marble Capitol. At the door a black,
greasy trooper stopped him to parley.
Every decently dressed white man was
regarded a spy.
AS he passed inside the doors Of the
house Of representatives, the rush of
foul air staggered him. The reek OF
vile cigars and stale whisky, mingled
with the odor Of perspiring negroes,
was overwhelming. He paused and
gasped for breath.
The space behind the seats Of the
members was strewn with corks, brok-
en- glass, stale crusts, greasy pieces OF
paper, and picked bones. The hall was
packed with negroes, smoking, chew
ing, jabbering, perspiring.
A carpet-bagger at his elbow was ex-
planning to an old darky from down
east why his forty acres and a mule
hadn't come.
On the other side of him big negro
bawled:
Oats all right! De cullud man on
top!"
The doctor surveyed the hall in dis
may. At first not white member was
visible. The galleries were packed with
negroes. The Speaker presiding was
a negro, the Clerk a negro the door
keepers regroes, the little pages all
coa!-rlack negroes, the Chaplain ne
gro The negro party consisted Of one
hundred and one-ninety-fou blacks
and seven scallawags. who claimed to
he white. The remains Of Aryan CIV
ilisation were represented by twenty
three white men from the Scotch-Irish
hill counties.
The doctor had served three terms
as the member from Ulster in this hall
in the old DAYS. and its appearance now
was heyond any conceivable depth Of
degradation.
The ninety-four Africans, constitut-
ing almost it's solid membership, were
a motley crew. Every negro type was
there, from the genteel butler to the
clodhopper from the cotton and rice
fields. Some had on secondhand seedy
frock- coats their Old masters had given
them before the war, glossy and thread
bare. Old stovepipe hats, Of every
style in vogue since Noah came out of
the ark were placed conspicuously on
the desks or cooked on the backs of
the heads Of the honorable members.
Some wore the coarse clothes of the
field, stained with red mud.
Old Aleck, he noted, had red wool
en- comforter wound round his neck In
place Of a shirt or collar. He had tried
to go barefooted, but the Speaker had
issued a rule that members should
come shod. He was easing his feet by
placing his brogans under the desk
wearing only his red socks.
Each member had his name painted
in enormous gold letters on his desk
and had placed beside 1t sixty-dollar
French imported spittoon. Even the
congress Of the United States, under
the inspiration Of Oakes Ames and
Speaker Colfax. could only afford one
of domestic make. which cost dol
lar.
The uproar was deafening. From
four to six negroes were trying tc
speak at the same time. Alexis ma
iestic mouth with blue gums and pro-
jecting teeth led the chorus. as he am
bIed down the aisle his legs flying
their red-sock ensigns.
The Speaker singled him out-hi:
voice was something which simply
could not be ignored-rapped and yell
ed:
DE gemman from Ulster set down!
Aleck turned crestfallen and resum'
ed his seat, throwing his fiat feet II
their red woollens up on his desk anc
hiding his face behind their enormous
spread.
He had barely settled in his chair be-
fore a new idea flashed through nj:
head and up he jumped again:
"Mistah Speaker" he bawled.
"Orda da!" yelled another.
knock i'm in de head"
"Seddown, nigger!"
The Speaker pointed his gavel a
Aleck and threatened him laughingly
"Ef de gemman from Ulster doan Sc
down gwine call i'm ter orda!"
Uncle Aleck greeted this threat will
a wild guffaw, which the whole hous
about him Joined in heartily The!
laughed like so many hens cackling-
when one started the others would fol
low.
The most of them were munchinl
peanuts, and the crunch Of hulls unde
heavy feet added subnote to the con
fusion like the crackle of a prairi
fire.
The ambition of each negro seemed
TO be to speak at least a half-dozei
times on each question, saying tn
same thing every time.
No man was allowed to talk nv
minutes without an interruption whicl
brought on another and another unit
the speaker was drowned in storm
of contending yells. Their struggles t
get the floor with Rawlings, bellowings
and contortions, and the senseless ra
of the Speakers gavel, were some
thing appalling.
On this scene. through fetid Smok