The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1909-10-09
The Facts In the Case.

No doubt those Of our readers who
perused the blood and thunder ar
ticle Of. MT. Harley's published in
The Times and Democrat of last
Thursday thought we were guilty
Of a most heinous crime. unless they
recalled the innocent article pub
lished by us on September rs, which
called forth the reverend gentleman's 8
bitter diatrlbe. In order that our
readers may have their memories
refreshed so as they can judge OF
our great crime, we will republish
the articles that have so stirred the
indignation Of the reverend gentle
man. On Saturday, September 20,
we published the following under the
caption Hard on the Old Folks"
In q communication from Edge
field to The State, Mr.. W. P. Cal
houn tells Of a speech made there
by Rev. J. L. Harley, State Super
intendent of the Anti-Saloon
League, last Sunday afternoon.
He says, among other things, Mr..
Harley stated, with much vim,
.that down in Barnwell county
where he was born, his father,
deacon, ran a still, his uncle,
a deacon. a bar, and that the mem
bers of the church brought their
fruit and other things to the still
to be turned into brandy. That
even the little boys drank and
that sometimes when he was sent
to pen the calves he could not
tell whether he was going to the
fence or the fence was coming to
him. He thanked God that those
old days were gone and that now
We had gentlemen.
1t will be noticed, we gave the
source from where we got the ar
ticle, as we'll as the name of the
gentleman who wrote it. In COM
menting on the article we said we
thought Mr.. Harley was pretty heavy
on the old folks, even if what he
said about them was true. Our
comment shows that we did not ac-
cept the statement without some
doubt. We also said we did not
know that such a condition ever ex-
listed anywhere in South Carolina
among church people, as Mr.. Harley
says existed at his boyhood home
in Barnwell county.
We repeated the statement made by
Mr.. Calhoun, quoted above, that Mr..
Harley said when he was a boy he
tanked up so on brandy that when
he was sent to pen the calves ne
could not tell whether he was going
to the fence or the fence was COM
ing to him, and made the comment
that while we believe confession is
good for the soul, We doubt very
much If the parading of his youthful
deprarity by a man will help any
one to a better life.
The article which Mr.. Harley COM
plains of, and which he adroitly
tries to make thes public believe was
written by lis, was, as we stated
above, written by Mr.. w. P. Calhoun,
of Edgefeli, and published IN the
Columbia State nearly three weeks
ago. Just why the reverend gentle
man ignored it until some one here
!
sent him a copy of The Times and
Democrat containing an extract from
Nj. Calhouns article, IS one phase
os Mr. Harley's indignation that we
cannot understand. While we have
no desire to 'shirk responsibility for
republishing the extract from the ar
ticle we did, at the same time 1t
seems to us that Mr.. Harley should
seek redress first from the man who
wrote the article and who lives at
the place where his alleged speech Is
said to have been made, before tack
ling a newspaper published a hun
dred miles away from the scene of
the offence for publishing a very
small extract from the alleged Of
fensive article. That is what we
would do if we wanted to get at the
truth. While The Times and Demo-
crat has not as exalted an opinion
of the Rev. J. L. Harley as he evil
dently has of himself, we certainly
have no desire to do him an in
justice, and would have published
any denial he might have made or
Mr.. Calhoun's article concerning that
speech he is alleged to have made at
Edgefeld. We know nothing of the
facts stated by Mr.. Calhoun, but
we know him to be an honest, high
toned gentleman, and feel sure that
il he has done Mr.. Harley an inJus-
tice he will gladly correct the same
if his attention is called to the mat
ter.
After tbe Wranp Man.