Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-08-15
THE YELLOW STREAK.
Peculiarly cowardIy Nature of That
Aiken OUTRAGE.


A feeling akin to hopelessness fol-
lows the reading Of accounts Of the
affair between the Holsteins and
Spradleys, resulting In the death Of
Mrs. Ben Spradley, a woman who had
nothing to do with the family quarrel
and the mother of a five weeks old
baby.
Columbus Spradley was engaged to
a daughter and sister Of the Holsteins
and was about to marry her. The
match was Objectionable to the Hol-
stems and 80 they went to the house
Of his relative, seized and thrashed
young Holstein within an inch Of his
life, cruelty beat his kinsman and ter
rifed the feeble woman so that she
died.
In the south there are those afflicted
with foolish habit Of emphasizing
our "chivalry," our quickness to resent
wrongs and insults and eagerness to
protect our women. Here we have the
spectacle Of family Of people Of some
prominence in their county and neigh
borhood, a family that has been es-
tablished for generations In their
country family Of intelligence not
without pride Of position. When the
men Of two South Carolina CLANS"
meet on the court house square" or at
barbecue and shoot out" their diff
ferences it Is most deplorable, lives
are uselessly sacrificed and orphans
and widows made, but 1t is, at least,
an exhibition Of brute courage, proving
that the race Is not decadent in the
barbaric virtues. The exhibition and
the evidence are Of the opposite when
half dozen armed ruff1ans seize and
whip a defenseless man. Then the
proof Of yellow streak" in the pre-
ltentiously bold, bad men, and we have
the sickening spectacle Of South Caro-
linians as mere towards.
Traditionally, when a woman Of
South Carolina needs to be protected
or avenged, a father or brother or
friend Is quick to become her cham
pion, but that was not illustrated In
the outrage done against the Sprad-
leys. Before the Holsteins were ready
to do anything, deliberation and con-
spiracy were necessary, a plot to cap
ture young Spradley and disarm him.
so that the skins Of the Holstein clan
might not, perchance, suffer hurt was
arranged-and 1t was carried out cum
ningly and shrewdly. None Of the Hol-
stems took the chance Of looking down
the muZzle Of gun-they searched
young Spradley and, finding him un-
armed, they rubbed their pistols on
him, carried him to secret place and
whipped him, naked, with a buggy
trace And these were white men.
What will come Of It? Clever law
yers will display their fine talents to
convince the court and jury that the
whipping Of the husband and nephew
could not possibly have caused the
death Of the woman, the mother Of the
FIVE weeks old babe. But she Is dead.
The coroner's jury, their hearts wrung
by the woe that has been caused and
their anger hot at the shame Of the
deed, point straight to the guilty
but, when the trial takes place, much
will have been forgotten. The accused
have friends and kindred, and there
are votes to be polled in a primary.
There are lawyers in South Carolina
not learned in the law" but wonder
fully skilled in practice before the
pardonin~ -ower and, in these days. a
pardoning board is without duties to
perform.
The Holsteins and their associate Of
another name who are under arrest
have excellent chances Of escape.
Others have escaped-why not they
too?-Columbia State.