Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-08-23
COOPER ON The JOB
Governor Cooper Resents Newspaper
Misrepresentation.
IN CLOSE TOUCH WITH MOB ACTIVITIES
Can Attend to Business in Greenville
as Well as in Columbia, and Did H.
BIames Newspapers for Interferenee
and Demands Apology.

IAN HtteHo 70 pusInesS iH SsS"'"S
as Well as in Columbia, and Did IL.
BIames Newspapers for Interfereres
and Demands Apology.
Taking official notice Of newspaper
charges in effect that South Carolina
had abdicated to mob violence, Gov
ernor Cooper returned to Columbia
Friday from Paris Mountain, where ne
has been spending the surnmer> and
gave out a statement taking the news
papers to task for their utterances.
The chief executive calls on the rews-
papers to present proof Of their
charges or make due apologies to the
state which they have slandered." HIS
statement is as follows:
Outraged at Charges. ~
when I read in certain daily papers
editorials which, In effect, charged that
the state had abdicated and surrendered
to the mob, and tl.at the governor OF
the state had done nothing in refer
ence to the threatened mob violence
and none Of these papers having COM
municated with me as to any action
taken or contemplated. felt outraged
These papers virtually charge that
mob of armed citizens has defied the
law and the law officers, has been
holding up citizens on the public high
way and searching trains and no steps
have been taken to prevent II. l as
sumo that some one connected with
these papers is in position to give
specific instances Of such acts OF vio-
lence. l have endeavored, and. am
now endeavoring, through the only
available channels to find out the truth
about these matters. I did not deem
| it advisable to publish In the dahy
press that an investigation would DC
made and the persons who violate the
law brought to trial; but since the
! newspapers are determined to have
newspaper trial, feel compelled to ask
for my day in court
"As governor of the state / call upon
every citizen and especially the news
papers to furnish me any informatioh
which will enable the proper officers
to ascertain who composed the person
mel - any mob or assemblage OF per-
sons in connection with the Brazeli
murder case II the newspapers VINO
have made the charge that the state
government has abdicated and sur
rendered to the mob are unable 20
make good the charges which they
made. | assume, Of course, that they
will make due apology to the state
which they have slandered. If they
can furnish the information desired,
they should have done so and given
the legal authorities an opportunity TO
act before charging. them with indtf-
ference and inactivity.
Too Much Publicity.
"It is not out Of place, in this con-
nection, to say that the chief difficulty
which the officers interested seem 70
have had in dealing with the threat OF
mob violence was the fact that the
newspapers published to the wCrld
every movement of the officers ana
thereby enabled those who would 90
violence to the law to have the ad-
vantage of advance information. Wpen
there seemed to be danger Of violence
to prisoners in legal custody my hrst
concern, naturally was to prevent any
act Of violence. The sheriff OF Lex
ington county, where this horrible
murder was committed, went to Sa-
vannah, Ga, where two of the pr1s-
oners were in custody and the fact OF
his departure was published In the
afternoon papers. When he left Sa-
vannah, ostensibly for Columbia, with
his prisoners in charge, this fact also
was given wide publicity. When his
prisoners were delivered to the sherin
of Charleston county and were secure
" guarded, the officers, as well as the
governor, were charged again with
surrendering to the mob because the
prisoners were not brought forthwifn
To Columbia, where the mob was sup
posed to be forming. "'#}T.
ITO have adopted this course would
probably have meant the shedding OF
blood and the unnecessary sacrifice or
human life. 1t is a well known fact
that the jail at Lexington Is insecure,
il there was not danger of violence
from without. These prisoners must
be incarcerated, therefore, elsewhere
than in Lexington until the time OF
trial 1 am unable to see where the
state government is failing In its duty
when it decides to hold prisoners IN
the Jail at Charleston, in preference to
placing them in the Jail or penitentiary
at Columbia. The penitentiary is not
detention house, but is prison
where persons are incarcerated after
conviction. 1t frequently happens, OF
course, that prisoners before trial are
placed in the pcnitentiary for safe
keeping. Usually the penitentiary Is
selected in order to remove the pris-
oners from the storm center. In this
case it would have been bringing them
into the place where the mob was sup
posed to be. There would be no OBJ
lection to such n course in the present
case, but there is no necessity for IT
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