The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1915-09-24
"TAKE ES A SHOT"
AT SOUTH CAROLINA.

The following is from the Richmond
Evening Journal, newspaper that
has always made a fight on prohibi-
tion and more determined fight for
booze" Gives a history of the Great
Moral Institution from its infancy in
1890, to the present day.
South Carolina prohibitionists at
last have won victory out of which
Senator Tillman tricked them twenty
two years ago. In 1890, when the pres
ent senator first gained control and
practical possession, of the State, it
was about three-fourths "dry" under
local option. There were no saloons
except in the cities and larger towns
The prohibition issue was made and
an arrangement something like what
we had here in Virginia last yearswas
effected. At very exciting general
primary, separate box was placed
at each precinct in which to vote for
or against prohibition. Many of the
people were so engrossed in the Till
man fight that they neglected this ex-
ira box, but prohibition won by ma
jority of 10000. Senator Tillman,
then governor, practically ignored the
prohibitionists. He was king and
could do as he liked and he whipped
them to heel. He became infatuated
with the dispensary idea, which has
been adopted by the city of Athens,
Ga. He created and established the
State dispensary with supply and ex-
ecutive headquarters at the capital of
the State and branches in every i'm
portant town and city. Some of the
prohibitionists became so enthusiastic
over that Tillman scheme that they
actually accepted employment as dis
pensers. Men who had worked and
voted for prohibition, including few
clergymen, took jobs to sell whiskey
over the counter lin packages from a
half pint up, and, on pretext of fight
ing the blind tigers, catered carefully
to local tastes for intoxicants. The
pay depended on the sales. ( 4
"The dispensary began in riot aud
strife and b]oodshed, attended,
proclamations to martial llaw, yy
of part of the militia and mobiliza-
tion of all the rest, with raids and In
vasions and searches of private dwell
mgs by armed ruffians commissioned
as dispensary constables. On one oc-
casion, at least, the bed room of a
prominent gentlewoman of Charles
ton was invaded and explored by these
Tillman agents in pretended search
for Illicit diquor. Beginning thus, the
State dispensary wound up as State
institution, in AN orgy of corruption
and scandal as bad as any that de-
veloped under carpet bag, scallawag
cornfield negro rule in the Recon-
struction period. 1t was proved that
the State not only "killed and perse-
cuted citizens to establish for herself
"a monopoly of the liquor business, but
that she had swindled and poisoned
her enforced customers. The whiskey
sold from the State dispensary to the
local dispensary and by them to con-
sumers, at high prices, had been wa
tered freely and doctored with con-
centrated lye to give it 'age' and
'beed.' The profits were enormous and
a large part of them was stolen. Men
are living in South Carolina today at
ease enjoying fortunes fished from
State and people through the whiskey
business.
"The State dispensary was abolished
and counties and citizens were left to
decide, by local option, whether they
should have dispensaries. Six coun-
ties of the forty-five voted for and
established official saloons, the profits
going into. the local treasures. The
counties which voted for prohibition
proceeded to ignore the law. They
had blind tigers on a scale never
known elsewhere, men who imported
from other States, liquor by the car
load and kept their goods in ware
houses. Broken down tin-horn gam
blers and petty merchants made
money hand over fist and blossomed
c''t with the finest automobiles money
could buy. There was strong sus-
picion in some counties that local Off.
cials and blind tigers formed secret
political rings for mutual protection
and advantage and divided profits.
Anyhow officers of the law on small
salaries became affluent and financial
ly comfortable suddenly and mysteri-
ously. In Charleston, the dispensaries
and blind tigers operated peacefully
and comfortably cheek by fowl the
blind tigers practically open saloons,
supplying the night mixed drink trade,
the dispensaries attending to the
original package end. The State dis
pensary had supplied anything called
for from the finest champagne, clarets
and liquors to the commonest and hot
test corn whiskey, and the local dis
pensaries followed the example.
Grand juries, in Charleston at least,
refused to indict even when officials
made bluffs at arresting and prose-
cutting.