The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, 1922-09-06
"Cyclone Mack" Explains His Allegiance.
Of His Once Thought the Former Governor
an Unngated ScoundreI But When Circumstances Brought Him
Into Closer Contact Found Him to Be q Great Man.

, sockets of their heads and thelr
, breasts caved in, and tried to talk
! with them, but they were so nearly
gone they could only look up with
; their poor pitiful faces and grunt.
One beautiful Sunday morning af-
ter I had preached, I was about to
! leave when an old negro, his head
| ripening ior the cemetery and on the
crutches of decrepitude, came to me
and in voice trembling with weak
ness and age, he said, preacher man,
! I have been here thirty years in this
awful place. 1 am very near eter-
nifty. I was never in a court house
| in my life until I got into the trouble
that brought me here. My wife.
! three children and several grand
children are still living, and 1 don't
want to die here, but with my family
wrote sir, to the old boss (referring
to Governor AnseD and asked him
to have mercy on me, but he wouldn't
hear my cry" Then he looked me In
the eyes and said, 20 please jine me
in prayer that the good Lord will
give US a pardoning governor. l
promised to do so and went home
and told Rena about the old negro
and the awful condition of the peni-
tentiary, and we knelt together and
prayed that Featherstone might be
elected. We thought he was the
man who would have kind heart
who would help hundreds of those
poor people. So we prayed for
weeks that God would give US par
donins governor. I was in the Co.
lunlbia hospital when Blease was
elected and it almost broke my hear;
because looked upon him as.
demon and everything that was vile.
When I got out Of the hospital and
went back to the parsonage I said to
Rena, well, the Lord didn't hear
our prayers" She said. Yes, It is
awful that a man like Blease is gov
ernor," and I thought it a shame and
} a disgrace. zone thing, however,"
said Rena, II don't understand about
this man-his home county Newberry
has elected him for everything he has
aspired to. He has been in the leg
islature for years, state senator, and
mayor of Newberry, and now his
county has given him an overwhelm-
ing vote for governor. There must
be something good about this man."
In short time after his Inaugural
ter and told him the condition OF
the penitentiary, and begged him to
be merciful to those poor unfortun-
ate people and go down and ascer-
tain the condition for himself. Then
went to John Wharton, senator
from Laurens, who was friend of
Blease and begged him to intercede
for these prisoners. Listen, for the
first time in the history of South
Carolina the governor himself went
to the penitentiary' talked with the
prisoners and found out for himself
their condition. Yes, Governor Blease
found men that were lost, without
father, mother, brother, sister or
friend to intercede for them, lett
alone in the world behind stone walls
and iron bars. He found hundreds
dying with tuberculosis, scores were
serving long sentences for minor Of
fenses. He walked through the
knitting mill and found the windows
pulled down and covered with cob
webs and asked why il was SO poorly
ventilated. He received this answer,
Governor if we raise the windows
the wind will break the threads He
said (which is worth more-threads
|'or human beings? Get those windows
UP ands get some ventilation in this
place" In few days when he
asked the general assembly why it
was that so many people were dying
with tuberculosis in the penitentiary,
requested them to abolish the knit
ting mill. and clean4up the place in
general. you know what happened
eight men were set to work to ScOur,
fumigate and make steril the knit
ting mill. In q few days afterwards
l was present when some high
browed women were being shown
through. When they reached the
knitting mill the gentleman who was
escorting them said: Ladies does this
look like the awful place that it mas
been yictured by Blease and others? ?'
They rolled their eyes like dying