The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-11-27

Der or early in October when CLAMP
ton Day" arrived in Laurens, for l
remember that the air was crisp, the
sky clear and the roads dusty.
l had a red-shirt, so did my cousin,
who was still younger, but it was a
keen disappointment to me that I
could not ride in the procession and,
besides, my shirt was of turkey-red
calico and the grown men wore red
flannel The calico was cheaper and
the village stores had sold out Of red
flannel anyhow, so my grandmother
Il vigorous woman under sixty, and
Il Democrat mainly because she was
still ga rcbcl,' not merely mrccon-
structcd but militant in politics, in-
sisted that the calico would have to
answer
We children had more or less in
telligent idea Of politics even then;
we had been "raiscd' on it, but we
had come to have sort of hopeless
ness of the Democrats winning. I
could remember two elections and my
father coming home in the night time
to say, "The Radicals have counted
us out" and we would settle down
to get along as best we could for an
other two years, while the negro "hep
men," as the other negroes called the
negro militia pnraded in triumph
through the streets, under the protect
ing eye Of the radical constabulary,
or "Yankee' garrison. But some
times, | recall once in particular, be-
fore '7G, my father did not come home
until late at night and the terror that
he was in Jail was very real one to
me-for he was leader among the
county Democrats and The women Of
The family never knew when he would
be the next to be arrested, and the
idea had not been lost on me. True,
since the "riot' five or six years be-
fore, when number Of negroes and
Nolney Powell, Il young carpet bag
ecr from Ohio, had been killed, the
negroes had not been insolcnt, but the
dread of more trouble every day and
every hour was present.
The Cry of tho Campaign.
Throughout the summer OF '7G the
cry Of "TIurrah for Hampton!" had
constantly grown more familiar in
IIaurcns until the form and figure of
Hampton, whom we youn" ones had
never seen, seemed to be riding among
lis all the time. ETc:5T'lcrc crc could
see white men riding, but the rcd
shirt was not familiar until CLAMP
ton Day' and after. Nearly every
night the homes of the leaders in the
village we're filled with men who had
ridden from the banks of Sauda on
one side and Enorcc on the other, and
many came from the other sides Of the
rivers, Abbcvlle and Union and
Spartanburg and other counties; and
they came from the "Trianglc' and
" "Sardis' and Scurflctown and Pow
cr's Shop and Cross Hill and Island
Ford, Tip Top, Tumblin" Shoals,
Hickory Tavern, Clinton and Martin s
Depot, (rural mail delivery has rob-
bed the country Of most Of these
names now,) and the plough boy in
coppcras brccchcs, and cotton shirts
rode up to the house Of the lawyer or
The doctor or the merchant in The
village and around to the stable, ..put
up' his own horse or mule, and
spent the night and received the best
that was to he had; for "Laurcns
Court House." as the village then
was known, was headquarters for the
riders.
For everybody rode. Ones mind
turning back to that summer and fall
of '76 is filled first with the picture
of an eightecn-year-old boy on a mule
or young Veteran, possibly one
armed or one-legged Veteran, mount
cd--such one as DR.. John Smith,
" Pc%-lc".' they called him Cod rest
his gallant soul. but strong and virile,
and galloping always. Then one sees
the riders multiply, and there are two
and four and eight and sixtccn-thcre
are riders, riders cverywherc-thc
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