The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-08-16
CITY COUNCIL MEETING,
ELECTRIC PUMPS ACCEPTED
FROM SUMTER LIGHTING
COMPANY.
City COuncilmcn Attend to Minor Mat
tcrs I'm Absence of MayOr-R. B.
Hare Present to Discuss Opening of

sion Tuesday afternoon, Mayor l.. ID.
Jennings being out of town. A num-
ber of matters of small impol tance
were discussed and acted on, the
matter Of most importance to the
city being the acceptance of the cleo
trio pumps from the Sumter Lighting
Company.
Council met at 5 o'clock and went
through the regular opening eXercis-
es. Mr.. E. III. Moses came before
council to request the acceptance Of
the electric pumps which had been
established at the water works plant
He stated that the pumps had been
here ever since the first of the year,
when the company had paid for them,
and that it was not their fault THAI
they had not been installed prior to
the time that they mad been put in.
lie said they had been kept out of
! their money for a long time and
that, by accident, they would lose
5000 on the sale anyway The COM
pany would like to get the money
and he would be glad to be relieved
Of responsibility which he had as
sumed. He stated that he had been
assisting in the installation of the
pumps and would be glad to do any
! thing he could to assist, if anything
happened to the pumps at any time.
This matter was later taken up
and discussed fully. Mr.. Worthing-
ton stated that so far as he could
see the pumps were working in good
order. He stated that one of the
| cylinders was cracked, but that an
other cylinder had been ordered by
Mr.. Moses. The pumps had not been
tested out for capacity yet, but this
was not Mr. Moses fault, as he had
! meter. The meter had been ordered
and would be here sometime soon
Mr.. Rowland expressed himself in fa-
vOr of accepting the pumps and Mr.
| Booth stated that he would be govern
ed by Mr.. Rowland's opinion, as Mr..
Rowland had been interested in the
work and knew more about it than
he did. 1t was then agreed to accept
the pumps, with the provision that Mr.
Moses would install the hinder when
it came and the company be held re-
sponsible if the pumps failed to come
up to capacity when they were test
| ed.
The matter of arc lights was dis
cussed and Mr.. Worthirston stated
that his count showed three short
from the hundred which were billed
by the electric company. The mat
! ter was left to Mr.. Moses and Mr..
Worthington to be adjusted.
The matter Of establishing electric
lights on Chestnut street was dis
cussed, but no action was taken.
Mr.. b. f. Estridge was present to
discuss the matter of opening Tele-
phone Street, but was informed that
the matter would be postponed until
it could be heard when all of the
members of council were present and
when all of the parties concerned
could come before council to state
their views on the matter. Mr.. r.
b. Hare later presented himself to
informed of the decision of council
already stated.
Chief of Police j. II. Sumter
brought up several matters which he
asked council to consider with the
idea Of legislatng so as to alleviate
present conditions. He stated thar
some of the industrial insurance
which was being worked in the city
was nothing short of highway rob-
berry. That it was among the ignor-
ant negroes. who did not know what
to do to help themselves He would
not say that all of the insurance was
robbery nor were all of the insur-
ance agents robbers, but measures
should be taken to protect the ne
groes. who had been robbed by un
scrupulous agents.
! The next matter was one concern
ing loan sharks. He asked that an
ordinance be passed prohibiting their
operations or making their license SO
high that they could not afford to op-
crate He cited one instance where
a negro borrowed five dollars and
/ paid one dollar a week for year
and still owed the original loan.
He stated that the formation OF
the street gang had been an cX
ample and the means of much gDod.
Most of the women aimed at mad been
run out of town and the police would
gradually relieve the town of the en-.
harrassmcnt OF any others who came
Wit him bor1prS