The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-02-14
The State Bureau,
l4l7 q. Street, n. W.,

my profession brings me al staleu III
tervals TO the nations capital, for the
purpose of representing two clients,
who for the space of one and two long
weary years have knocked at the door
of tie national treasury for their share
of the French s%poliation claims, and
[ would not see them knock longer 10
vain." :.
The Judge entertained q number of
South CarOlinians who CHANGED in to
Day their respects to Senator Tillman,
entertained them with incidents and
elouuence for more than an hour, more
than two houis, which seemed but q
few minutes, for he is feeling good
these days and thetorch of AngIo,Sax-
on civilization as well as of Irish geni-
ality CLOVIS in his heart and in his voice
and features. He is upwards Of IS
years now, be ia hale and hearty and
mas some youth left in him, in his
bright eyes and the stateliness OF his
carriage. He ia still erect, his hair IL
grayish but no white aud he Is well
groomed. His face Is wrinkled on the
forehead, around the mouth, up
around the eyes, bnt these wrinkles do
not suggest age, not in years anyway;
rather do they suggest, each and every
one of them some rich experience,
rare incident, the fire and smoke and
blood of two terrible wars, and no
Spanish war, it you please, but real
wars. Stern combat, fiery, deadly, the
throe, deeds of daring and moments
of suspense, romance, hairbreadth es.
capes, The tragedy and the comedy of
strenuous service, at one time or anoth.
ter or all at once, to every conceivable
party, faction or utilization during
hose turbulent, soul-trying but most
picturesque days of Reconstruction in
South Carolina, all are written in these
wrinkles.
he does not sit when he talks, not
often: it matters not whether his audi
ence ia one or q thousand, his language
and his manner is that of an orator,
never q conversationalist. There is no
use to interrupt him when he starts.
He might condesend to froWn at you
when you attemp to Inject a remark or
seek to ask a question, but he moves
on in sonorous tones and magnificent
phrases to the end of his perfectly
rounded periods. And when now and
then he does pause as do the orators
for the eloqunce to take effect, you can
see the wrinkles gather around bis
mouth pointing back up to his ears.
The torch Is glowing in the judges
soul, His crisp but still supple lip are
parted, and he smiles.
But when will he again rekindle the
torch at the altar.
1T is my %expection," he said, to re-
turn to my native commonwealth
some time during the approaching
spring for the purpose Of delivering a
series of lectures in various q counties
for the benefit of the worn out, Distress
ed and INDECENT but grandly heroic SOL
diers of the Lost Cause. / will take
nothing for myself out Of the proceeds
of these lectures, but it ia my intention
10 propose that half of the proceeds go
to those noble patriots who hazarded
their lives, who bore the brunt of battle
during four years of t%ruculent fratrici.
dial strife and who have since borne
the brnnt of poverty and the strings Of
outrageous fortune, which resulted
from that by cruel but majestic holo-
caust, wrought by the dire hands of
defeat, those noble heroes whose arms
wefe defeated but whose spirits have
not been CONQUERED.
but the other half of the proceeds
of my lectures I shall offer to the glori-
Gus commonwealth of South Carolina
for the erection upon the capitol
grounds off monument in the COM
memorstion of the redemption of the
proud commonwealth from the rule of
the e~arpetbagger, the scalawag and the
negro. Long has it been q cherished
desire of mine to see upon that sacred
and illustrious spot under the shadow
of the tall, towering, impressive dome
of the proudest capitol of the proudest
State In this union of States some fit
ting memento to the heroes of those
days and to the event which masks the
restoration of Anglo.Saxon civiliza-
ton from the ruthless and degrading
heels of ~taitors, Williams, and prostitutus
of public virtue and pnblic honor"
Like all great men who have been
thorough stirring scenes and help to
stir them, who has likewise been stir
ed some little himself, the judge is an
historian. He is writing a history OF
the war, that gigantic struggle which
surpassed all previous conflicts among
the sops of men," This history,
which IL nearing completion, and adj
vanced sheets of which be will have
with him when he gives his lectures,
will recount" hesays, "the transpir'
alton of many events which no other
historian has ever recorded" He told
us some of these events the other day,
and uone present remember to have
read them anywhere in any story.
He told US a number of thrilling Incl
dents of this redemption in which be
figured. 1 wish 1 could report them
all Just as he told them. But q must
suffice. The scene is laid in old
| Winnsboro and it shows by what hero
ic men the State had to 90 redeemed
But I will let the judge tell it him
self. himself speak:
1t was the sixteenth day of June in
the year of our Lord 1872 that | ar.
rived in Winnsborn, one of the most
renowned municipalities that nestled
under the Southern sky. Chamberlain
was governor of South Carolina, the
Hon. Daniel H. Chamberlain from
Massachusetts. an alien and a stranger;
troops paraded the streets of our fail
capitol, and ballots were cast under