tics and died out when the whites were able to obtain protection from the police and courts."

We take the above from the statements of General Gordon and General Forrest because we believe that they will command the respect and full credence of the world. No organization of this kind, however worthy its purposes in its origin, could avoid gross abuses and receiving the odium for outrages by succeeding organizations. When the Kuklux Klan had served its proper ends it was disbanded, but bad men took advantage of its good name to perpetrate outrages for selfish purposes. It is certain that in South Carolina, as in Georgia, Tennessee, and other Southern States, many of the very best people were connected with the order, and for the very highest motives of patriotism.

FARMERS' MOVEMENTS

Progress of Farmers.-It is a peculiar double coincidence that there was a great uprising of farmers during the administrations of the first and the second John Peter

PRESIDENTS AND SECRETARY, STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY From left to right: Presidents B. F. Crayton, G. Washington Watts, Thomas O. Sanders; Thomas W. Holloway, Secretary and Treasurer.

Noble. The farmers' movement, at that time, resulted in the formation of the State Agricultural Society, which is still in a flourishing condition, and of many County Agricultural Societies, especially that of Darlington,* which are still full of life and usefulness. During the administration of the second Governor John Peter Richardson, who succeeded Lieutenant-Governor Sheppard, filling out the unexpired term of Governor Hugh S. Thompson, there came in 1886 the great Alliance Movement, which was taken charge of by Captain Tillman. One of its results was the establishment of Clemson College, which is proving a great benefit to the farmers. The movement led to the development of Tillman, who thus won the devoted support of the large majority of the people, who placed him first in the Governor's office and then in the Senate of the United States. No man ever encountered more intense opposition to his advancement in public life, and the sentiment of opposition is still alive, although he has been twice elected Governor and twice United States Senator by large majorities.

*A still older organization was founded in 1815, prior to this movement, at Pendleton, Anderson County, whose rolls contain the names of some of the State's most distinguished men, among them that of John C. Calhoun.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE DISPENSARY

The State and Whiskey.-The Dispensary law, which went into force July 1, 1893, was intended to regulate the sale of alcoholic and other intoxicating liquors. It has never been submitted squarely to the people for ap

B. R. TILLMAN

proval or disapproval, but came into existence in this way: In 1892 a vote was taken to ascertain the sense of the people on the question of Prohibition, and a majority of the voters favored it; but it was afterward found that this majority of the actual voters was a minority of the total white vote of the State. So the Legislature when it met in December following decided

not to pass a prohibitory law, but to put in the Dispensary law as a compromise with the Prohibitionists.

In 1894 the Supreme Court of the State declared the Dispensary law unconstitutional, and its operation was suspended until the election of judges for the Supreme

bench, when the law, by the decision of the new bench of judges, was declared constitutional. Since then the law has been sustained by the courts.

"Darlington War."-There have been many grave disturbances in the enforcement of the law, and a number of lives lost. The most serious trouble was at Darlington, on March 30, 1894, known as the "Darlington War.” A severe conflict occurred between the constables and citizens, and two citizens and one constable were killed. The militia of the State was called out to preserve order. Some companies promptly responded, others reluctantly came into service, and some flatly refused to obey the Governor's call and were disarmed and disbanded. The feature of the Dispensary law that seemed to be most intensely opposed was that which allowed the constables to enter and search, without warrant, all places where liquors were supposed to be concealed for unlawful purposes. On the subject of search warrants the American people are peculiarly sensitive. The "Writs of Assistance," which gave British officers the right to search private houses, was one of the prime causes of the Revolution, and called forth Lord Chatham's severest denunciation of the tyranny of the British crown, the fiery speeches of James Otis in Massachusetts, and the equally strong protests of patriots like Gadsden, of South Carolina. These revolutionary memories, together with the natural sensitiveness of our people, aroused the fiercest opposition to the execution of that feature of the law. The law has since been so modified as to prevent reckless searches without warrant.