The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-08-08
A SAMPLE OF "BLEASEISM"
EGGS THROWN AT CHARLESTON
MAYOR IN SPARTANBURG.
Howling Crowd Refuses to Permit
Speaker to Make Himself Heard.
Police Fail to Preserve Order.

Spartanburg Aug. 3.-Rotten eggs
were thrown, Blease men shouted and
the. police force failed to preserve any
semblance of order tonight in the-
atre filled with 1900 representative
voters of Spartanburg and 100 mill
operatives who had congregated in
the building to hear Mayor John P.
Grace, of Charleston, who attempted
to speak. After trying from $3.50
to II o'clock to get a hearing and
during this time speaking only about
Is minutes, the Charleston mayor
gave it up as hopeless task, and
the 100 mill operatives who had
howled him down congregated out
side of the building and continued
their rowdy tactics. Mayor Grace
quit trying with the statement that
he would see Blease tried, convicted
and put behind the bars of the State
penitentiary.
The. meeting opened at $3.50
o'clock. o. L. Johnson, mayor of the
city, some say, was out of town; 9TH
ers say he was not. At any rate, AL
derman o. w. Leonard, mayor pro
TEN, attempted to preside and made
failure. He managed somehow to
get through his introduction and
then Mayor Grace arose.
Cheers for Blease, Jeers for Grace.
"Hurrah for Coley," and 1--WE want
Blease," "Who are you?" go back
to Charleston" your eyes are too
close together" and the like resound-
ed from the gallery where perhaps a
hundred Blease supporters were con-
gregated. Mayor Grace, who was
suffering from a cold, several times
got start, only to be stopped on the
completion of sentence. He appeal
ed to the men who live within a
stones throw of Cowpens and Kings
Mountain, where their ancestors
fought for liberty, to accord him the
privilege of free speech, for which
their forefathers had died. Such a
plea, of course, had no effect on the
men in the gallery and the jeers con-
tinued.
Attacks Blease's Record.
After some time, Mayor Grace was
permitted to utter few sentences,
while some of the leaders of the
bowling down brigade were outside,
it is said. He assailed Blease's ref
erence to the constitution, when the
governor is said by Grace to have
said, ITO hell with the constitution.
He appealed to the mill hands on this
ground and pointed out that Ira B.
Jones sat on the supreme court
bench, which upheld decision CIV
ing one of their number verdict OF
$1,000 against Lewis w. Parker's
mill because the mill blacklisted him
and prevented him from securing
work.
Then the howlers down returned.
Bitterness was growing fast. The
would-be presiding officer asked every
citizen who would volunteer to be
sworn in as special officer to come
on the stage. Hundreds responded.
But the sheriff of the county appear
ed and in lieu of a police force said
he would keep order. He did for a
few minutes, but then pandemonium
again broke loose worse than ever.
This continued until Mayor Grace
stopped trying.
Rotten Eggs Thrown.
On one occasion, some one threw
an over-ripe egg on the stage. This
was quickly followed by another.
Mayor Grace dared the "nigger" who
threw it to come on the stage. He
then apologized to the several ne
groes in the gallery for referring to
the monster who threw the egg as a
member of their race.
Grace assailed Blease's record, but
only got him as far as the alleged
stolen essay in college before. he was
howled down. The Spartanburg po-
lice force came in for much bitter
criticism for the part it played. The
Charleston mayor reiterated that this
could never happen in his city, and
on more occasions than one advised
Mayor Pro TEN Leonard to resign.
He said the Spartanburg police were
worse than those in New York.
Several Fights.
Several fights occurred outside the
building. One young man soaked a
Bleaseite in the face and both were
arrested. The young man put up
bond and the friends of the other
contributed to his bond and then pa
raded him around the streets as a
hero, while the police department