Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-05-29
SOUTH CAROLINA NEWS.

The jury in the case of John B.
White, tried at Anderson for killing
John Marion Ashley at Honea Path on
March 8, returned a verdict OF not
guilty at $50 Friday afternoon. 1t took
forty minutes to reach an agreement.
The trial of the case has been In prog
ress for the past three days and has
excited the most intense interest. 1t
was orderly, no demonstration OF any
kind having been attempted. During
the entire trial Joshua w. Ashley re-
mained In close consultation with the
solicitor and the prosecutions attor-
ney, offering suggestions as to wit
nesses and otherwise taking a most
prominent part in the hearing.
August Kohn In the News and
Courier: Some Of these days, when
the dispensary investigation Is all
over and the records have been com"
pleted, it may be interesting to give
story of the trials and tribulations Of
the members Of the committee who
have been most active in the work.
The pistol practice that was threaten
ed here several days ago Is not the
first suggestion of the kind, and while
there is no attempt to make heroes
out of Messrs. Christensen and Lyon,
who have been doing the work that
excited the ire Of some people, some
of these days the story Of their
work-the real inside work-may be
told. 1t will then be related how
liquor firm after liquor firm simply
told the members Of the committee
who went to examine books and rec
ords, to go to the other place in polite
language. The dispensary owes some
liquor firms $4,000. 1t owes other
liquor houses $4,000, and 1t was
thought that to get this wad of
money the liquor houses, in order to
clear their skirts and get their money,
would willingly show their books and
records. But the cold reception
members of the committee met with
I'm many places where such claims
against the dispensary are outstand-
ing. Is quite remarkable. The
members of the committee cannot
understand why these firms should
have hesitated to let a duly appointed
and properly authorized committee
have a look at their books especially
when everything Is presumed to be
right, but some Of the liquor houses
calmly said they would rather lose all
they had on their books against the
state dispensary than open up their
books to outsiders, and others inti-
mated that they had charged up to
profit and loss what they had against
the dispensary, and were not worried
about their bills. They evidently ex-
pect either that the excitement will
settle down so that after a while they
can get their money, or that II the
state dispensary is killed, that they
will be able to come up and say that
their debts were contracted by the
duly elected officers Of the state and
they want their money and expect to
get 1t. Perhaps after a while people
will see why II is impossible to get at
things that were expected to be shown
up by the commmittee. Again, 1t Is
stated that some of the claims Of IL
quor houses that have been held up
by the subcommittee have been can
celled by the return of liquor by the
present state board. 1t Is said that
the committee was working hard on
q Cincinnati firm and expected to get
at the books when suddenly one
morning the committee was ADVISED
that 1t preferred to quit all negotia-
tions with the committee, as 1t had
been paid its claim against the state
about $l2,000-by the return of IL
quor. The liquor firm was, no doubt,
glad to get out of its troubles by
getting its liquor back. The new state
board was glad to get rid Of high
grade barrel goods that it could not
use. but the committee was left high
and dry in its search for information
and records, for when the liquor firm
got it's money or the equivalent In
liquor, 1t had no further need to deal
with the committee with regard to the
payment of its held-up claim. But
the committee will have some inter-
esting things to tell the people Of the
state, some things that no legislation
in the world will be able to cure unless
the right men are put into the offices
all along the line. from top to bottom.
1t Is a matter Of men and not matter
of laws, and this, without any refec-
ton on any one, simply an observa-
ton of the real condition.