The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-06-13

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strung for the desperate fight all be-
lieved to be inevitaDle-a tight OF men
shut in, forced 10 fight until one side
or the other was eXterminated or
somebody surrendered. Under each
folder overcoat was Winchester
rifle, in some pocket of every mans
clothes loaded revolver.
-Four reporters sat at the head Of
table at the end Of the aisle. They
knew that right behind Speaker Mack
ey to his right two white men, chosen
and approved killers, Were stationed,
instructed to shoot him dead at the
first outbreak. Mackey knew it, too,
but he clear game-that Mackey, Radi
cal as he was; and he never moved or
finched or in any way departed from
the strict formalities of his asummed
Office, and now and then his :.
laugh pealed through the house as
something funny occurred. But the
reporters knew that the moment trou-
bic began a storm of bullets would
come Mackey's way, because Mackey,
as a white South Carolinian, of the
entire outfit was most hated of South
Carolinians, and the first thought Of
every man was to get "Mackey first"
And many men in the excitement
would shoot low.
A Shot for Miller.
Also many of the Radicals, espe-
cially among the "Forty Thieves"
deadliest and bitterest and most cour-
ageous of all, had it in for the re-
porter's table. Therefore the report
ers consulted among themselves as
they smoked, who they would s'get"
before they were got One of them
had pistol the like of which never
was seen before or since that time,
when the ingenuity and most of the
thought of men we're bent on devices
for killing somebody. It was a Sec
ton OF & Remington rifle sawed off
and fitted to a pistol stock, carrying
a ball assigned especially to Canary"
Miller; it was placed in a drawer of
the desk and trained on him pressed
into the bottom of the drawer during
the entire Of the night, and kept cock
ed, the calculation being that when
the fuss was opened the drawer would
be pulled out, trigger cooked and
"Canary'' dropped as he rose in his
place on the right-hand side toward
the rear. If two or three men hap
pened to be in the way it would be
all the better. That cartridge was
good for an elephant and all of our
fellows were clear. All this was be-
cause Canary rose every fifteen
minutes and conducted this colloquy:
"Mr. Speaker"
The Speaker: "The gentleman from
Beaufort"
*'Mr. Speaker, T rise to a point of or
der"
*'The gentleman from Beaufort will
state his point of ofder."
persons are on the floor of the
house who are not members of the
house."
'The point of order of the gentle
man from Beaufort is we'll taken. The
geant-at-arms will proceed to re-
move from the floor all members who
are not members
A Strenuous Time.
This was where the trouble was ex-
pected to occur. Orders were that
when the Radical sergeant-at-arms
put his hands on Democrat or allied
member the shooting VIC lid start. Ev-
cry time he was ordered, the fool SER
geant-at-arms would walk uD the aisle
toward somebody and robody knew
whtc. witL al extra d"icA or two, or
on some signal he actually would
touch a man. It was trying on the
nerves. An outbreak there would
mean not only present slaughter, but
civil war, because it had not been de-
cided whether Hayes or Tilden was
to be next president, and the nerves
and temper Of the country were at
strained tension, ready to be startled
to the fighting point by a less thing
than wholesale butchery in the State
house of one of the pivotal and dis
puted States.
By the special mercy of the AL
mighty the country was saved from