The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-06-30

ZION
Has the Crowd eth Him on the
Question Of Changing Coun-
ties.

\ . -,
| -Sumter,s commercial secretary, r..
I.sReardon, ran up against four OF
aIannings heavy weights and big gnaS
TAT the New Zion meeting lastl;Ss az.
! lday afternoon. and found the 5oss.
tp-cninent ManEingites -loaGee: TO the.
! ml.zz.e with hot shot for Sumter
I county which they preceded to fire.
into Mr. Reardo on and across the Sum :.
tier County line. Sunter's secretary,
4 howayer, held out long enough TO.
4 make a second speech in reply and
until reinforceu1ents came from lead
I ing Clarendon county citizens who IA
! vor voting intoi Sumter county, and
Iseveral Of whom poured sorae return
ihot shot into the Manning speakers.
THE fight from theron wassa Claren-
don county Kilkenny <caA scrap to a
finish. secretary Reardof, started
] something anyhow.
! by inYitation, Mr. eReardeli address
! ed a meeting at New Zion regarding
/ the annexation of New Zion school
/ district to Sumter county. Messrs r.
H. alderman, s. C. Davis, w, J.
W5denan and T. &C. Sprott and sew
-eral .others4of 5stne "old Guard OF
IClarendon We're on hand TO defend
#their county against the invasion by
fsumter's one little. talller.
Secretary Reardon was the frss
/ speaker. He was ftol1oEved by the four
IgentIemens above mentioned. The gist
LOT the arguments of the four Man
ninsifes was that Davis ID. Noise and
tE. /. Reardon were professional hot
lair artists and finn Hammers who We're
trying to t.rYt eyer something on, the
voters of Pinewoo1, Turpexille and
New Zion school districts, and the
! voters of those three sections were
warned to watch out for those two
Issick propositions and for the whole
sof< Sumter county. One of the speak
iers said that Sumter county couldn't
lsell IS SOC, 400 worth of hare surface
bonds for "a greater amount than S3
jce,afs Oh the. dollar He was finter-
!,rupted by Mr. Reardon who said that
the bonds fadspraetically been sold at
| par by@teiegraphi order from firm
up north.
| Several leading citizens Of New
I>Zion interrupted the Manning speak
ers with numbers OF very e;r1barrass-
a ing questions about what has be-
ccnle Of thousands of dollars worth OF
J vehicle taxes collected in that county
from some citizens while hundreds of
! other citizens paid no vehicle tax
! whatever. The Manning gentlemen
could not or would not answer this
question, one saying that Slle' would
tswearshe did not know. Then a cross
fire of questions ensued about why
] Newton and Tlirbeyille had been
! neglected for years and allowed to
tcontinue with dangerous and broken
4 down bridges, the poorest sof roads
imaginable. and why, now that they
I were talking of leaving Clarendon
countysf ae Manning business men and
politicians Were so awful loving.
/ These New Zionists were told that
/ Clarendon was just getting ready to
bnild a sand-clay road to New Zion
/ with part of Clarendon's 100000
1bondss which one of: the aIaIiningites
tsaid was better business Judgment
than Sumter county showed because
4 Clarendon county, was going to spend
Its entire 100000 building sandeclay
Iroads, whereas Sumter county was
trying to build hard surface, roads
and wouldn't have sufficient money to
tput it oyer.
/ Mr. Reardon replied to these and
! other misrepresentation. and quoted
official statistics. and gave authori-
ties for his arguments. He demand
1 cd proof of the. Manning gentlemen
j as to their statements about hard sur
faced roads costing isixty51thousand
dollars per mile IN sixt enfoot widths
but those gentlemen seemed to be
frnerely giving their personal opinions:
The speeches of the Manning citizens
l.appeared to fall fiat with a majority
iof the New .Zionists, who appeared
livery bitter towards the Manning Of
|.feials. and the rest OF Clarendon be-
lcause of thezneglect of New Zion and
Turbevillessections in road and bridge
ttmajntenanee.
! The Manning speakers admitted
THAT those two sections BE- been bad
ly treated apologiZed, md egua ran
lied better treatment if the voters will