Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-06
A Distinction and a Difference.

The Yorkville Enquirer processes its
inability TO reconcile what we had to
say recently about the action of JUS
tice Gary in granting bail in the sum
of $4,000 to ]. ]. Jones. of Branch
Vile. who, according to the testi-
mony as it has been presented to the
public, shot down a fellow citizen de-
liberately with a revolver which he
was carrying upon his person in a
holster. the only eXtenuating circum-
stance, so far as the public has been
advised, being the fact that his victim
had gotten the better Of Jones in an
alteration in which they had been
engaged Just prior to the shooting,
with a protest which we recently reg
istered against certain criticisms
brought by the Spartanburg Journal
against the members Of the supreme
court of this state.
The Enquirer Is so clear minded
as a rule that we are persuaded that
it cannot have read carefully what
we said with regard to The Journal S
statements. 1t was not the fact that
The Journal had criticised our high
est court officers to which we ventur-
ed to object. No servant of the peo-
pie, however high, should be i'm
mune from cenSure justly admins
tered. Our reproof of the Spartan
burg newspaper was that the accusa-
ton which it had brought against the
justices of the supreme bench was un-
true.
To undertake to bring discredit
upon an august tribunal by all sorts
of petty filings unsubstantiated In
fact is one thing; to invite attention to
a defect in an important part Of our
- hi tn or
The people that san officer elevated
by them to high position has misused
the power with which he has been
entrusted, presenting fairly and
honestly the facts upon which the
criticism is based or the charge is
brought. is quite another.-News and
Courier.
This puts it up to us to make a
clean confession which leaves US in a
position where we regret that we said
anything. AS matter Of fact and
truth, The Enquirer was not conver-
SAINT with the merits Of the contro-
versy between The News and Courier
and the Spartanburg Journal. 1t was
only aware that there had been passes
between the two papers, and that the
issue was criticism of the supreme
court, the Journal having scored that
tribunal and the News and Courier
having rebuked it for so doing. The
matter came up incidentally in per-
sonal conversation between the editor
of The Enquirer and the editor of the
Journal in Spartanburg recently. The
editor of The Enquirer remembers
having stated to the editor of the
Journal that he was not conversant
with the matter at issue; but then and
there agreed with the editor of the
Journal that the granting of bail in the
Jones case did not look at all good.
That was the extent to which the edi-
tor of The Enquirer committed him.
self in the conversation. Subsequent
ly when there appeared In the News
and Courier an editorial that was in
such close accord with the agreement
described, it occurred to The Enquirer
to suggest that the Journal might use
this editorial to it's own advantage,
and the suggestion was made without
much regard as to how it might be
taken. We have no desire whatever to
butt into this little difference as be-
tween our contemporaries in Charles
ton and Spartanburg; but since we
have gone this far, we would like to
say this much by way of defining our
own position. We would not like to
be considered as holding that the su-
preme court is infallible; but at the
same time we believe that it is an
able, earnest and conscientious tri-
bunal. That it makes mistakes is
quite likely; but we cannot and will
not believe that it does wrong on pur-