Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1911-01-11

Hon. Thos. h. Rainsford
miles. An amendment was asked
and allowed reducing the amount of
territory taken from Edgefeld and
the report of the surveyors showed
the new county contained 400 square
miles and Edgefeld SOL, and that
Aiken Contained a great deal more
than 500 square miles.
A New Ellentea Row.
When the report was NSled with
the governor the position was taken
by Col. D. S. Henderson,, Senator
Croft and Mr.. Gyles, that the
boundary line of the proposed new
county passed through the incorpo-,
rated limits Of the town of Ellenton.
The situation as to Ellenton is this:
In 1874 the Aiken Barnwell county
line was established. In 1880, six
years later, the town of Ellenton
was: incorporated. The act Of off in
corporation reads: And its linn
Its shall extend oRe-halff mile,
iia sthe direction Of the cardinal
points, from the depot of the Port
Royal a. Augusta Raj lway CONF mpanyi
las a center, and form a square. y 2lss ,s
::s Is was contended that the Scorpo-
rate limits Of I'll snto on ere R partly
|,in Ilsssgr Il partly in'
{ Aiken county. The new county.
advocates answered this by saying
that even though this be SO the con
stitutional inhibition was hereafter
no county line shall be SO estab-
lished as to pass through any in
corporated city or town Of this
State" Section IA, article,T.
Act Not Retroactive.
It was argued that the Aiken
Barnwel county line was establish
ed in 1874 and that as Ellenton was
incorporated in 1880, and assuming
that it's corporate limits did extend
over the line into Barnwell that the
proposed new county line was not
SO established as to pass through
the incorporate limits of Ellenton,
that all that the new county people
did was to adopt the Aiken-Bar-
well county line, and if it passed
through the incorporate limits of
Ellenton that this was the situation
or status not created or brought
about by the new county people, but,
on the contrary it existed for 80
years, and that therefore In the
sense of. the constitution the new
county people were not establishing
county line as to cut the incorpo-
rate limits of the town Of Ellenton.
This matter was argued at length
before Gov. Ansel and pending his
decision upon the matter the ques-
ton was raised as to what really
were the incorporate limits of the
town of Ellenton. Upon this ques-
ton the governor had a hearing on
the 29th of December.
A Close Shave Was This.
Upon a reading of the description
of the incorporate limits it will be
seen that square is to be formed.
The opponents of the new county
argued that the square would be
formed by drawing the four radial
lines and then erecting perpendicu-
lars at their termini, thus forming
large square with an area of one
square mile embraced within it.
The advocates of the new county
argued that one would form the
square by drawing the radial lines
one-half mile in length and joining
the same, thus forming a square of
one-half square mile. In support
of their decision the new county
advocates showed that the title Of
the act forming the town of Ellen
ton was "An act to incorporate the
town of Ellenton in Aiken county"
And the body of the act throughout
showed that the legislative intent
was to locate the town wholly with
in Aiken county. 1t was argued
that by subsequent legislation the
general assembly had recognized
Ellenton as being within Aiken
county. The supreme court in the
case of Croxton VS.. Treusdel, Is S.
c., 42s, refers to said facts as dem
onstrating the legislative intent to
locate the town wholly in Aiken
county.
Tho oovernor. after hearing these