Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-07-21
Misesllansuus 8eaains.
FIGHT CIVIL WAR OVER AGAIN
Further Account of Williams Hey
burn Clash.

furtner ACCOUNT OF WIlams- HeJ
burn Clash.
The Washington Post contains the
following detailed account Of the Will
liams-H Hepburn clash:
The senate for two hours discussed
and then killed, a resolution reported
by its recent patronage committee
abolishing five places that somebody
thought were filled by superannuated
employees, who gave no adequate SER
| vice for the pay they received. The
discussion was heated at times, par
ticularly when Mr.. Hepburn under
took to fight the civil war over again
and aroused the anger and resentment
of John Sharp Williams.
A Characterization Of the Confeder-
acy as an Infamous cause" by Mr..
Hepburn brought bitter rebuke from
the Mississippian.
"As the son Of a man who gladly
gave his life to a cause that he thought
was right, am not willing to hear a
civilized man in this twentieth CEN
tury call 1t an Infamous cause" said
Mr.. Williams. But for the parlia-
mentary rules that restrain me,
would have few words to say about
the kind Of human being In whose
heart such thought can exist"
or the five places sought to be abol-
ished, one was held by Jim" Jones,
S2-year- old negro who had been JEFF
ferson Daviss bodyguard. He is on
the senate's pay roll as laborer, but
has not done any work for two years,
A colored messenger Is in the same
category. The three other cases were
those Of men who were regularly en-
ployed, one of them in an expert ca
pacity, who has been identified with
the senate for upward Of forty years.
II was in connection with Jim" Jones
case that John Sharp Williams sought
to reverse the action Of the day before
when the resolution was agreed pro
forma-
II do not know" said Mr. Williams,
that l have anything to urge In his
behalf except a sentiment. Among all
of the magnificent attributes Of the
human race I think Tom Carlyle was
right in saying that loyalty was the
greatest of them all-loyalty to a
country, to a state, to a cause, to a
leader, to man, loyalty to something.
1t is not peculiarly one of our virtues.
This old darky possessed in a very
high degree. He Is very old now, l
believe pretty nearly eighty years of
age.
They say that he has done no
work for about two years, or very lit
tie. 1 have no doubt that Is true. But,
Mr.. President, you do not always com :
pensate by present service for what
you are receiving. II character and
past services cannot help up superfiu-
ity to be credited to present service In
old age, sometimes the world would
be rather bad place to live In. Here
Is, for example, the senator from
Maine, (Mr. Frye,) and in my time /
have known many more. Who Is
there who would have called upon
Morgan or Pettus, Of Alabama, or the
senator from Maine, or anybody else,
to resign because they could not rem
der each day a present service for a
present emolument?
"Mr President, this old darky was
loyal as q slave to Jefferson Davis of
Mississippi That loyalty might have
been accounted for by the fact that 1t
may be 1t was the part OF policy OF the
slaves position. But when freedom
came he was loyal still, loyal to the
man who had been his master, who
had never said cross word to him
or laid upon him a blow. He follow
ed him voluntarily as his body guard.
He went with him to Fort Monroe. He
went into the cell there with him, and
when, old, emaciated, broken down by
four years Of nervous tension and pub
lie service. the old master was seized
and shackled, this old darky was
there.
q "a great many Of us in Mississippi
and throughout the south feel a debt
|of gratitude to this old darky. l can
not urge any logical reasons for what
I am asking upon the ground Of his
being able to render a quid pro quo.
to render efficient service. But, / re-
peat is 1t not true that there are 9TH
ers, and many others, In the same
fix? And II that be true. then I have
right, I think, to go out Of facts a
little bit and appeal to historical sem
timent."
Mr.. Penrose said he was In full SYM
pathy with Mr.. Williams. and intend
ed to vote for his motion.
1T seems to me-" said Mr.. Penrose,
that the proposition has got down
now to merely one Of the cheese-par-
ing variety. The senate roll is not the
only roll Of the government where
superannuated employees are retain
ed, and I take 1t that no one, whether
out of kindness Of heart or an appre-
citation of past services, would desire
to be brutal in the treatment Of su-
Darannuated emDlOyeeS"