USA > South Carolina > Spartanburg County > A history of Spartanburg county > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
The Grange and the Experimental Station In 1875 there were in South Carolina 342 Granges with more than 10,000 members. The Grange joined hands with the State Agricul- tural and Mechanical Society in 1877 in striving to carry out a pro- gram of State control of the railroads and the building up of an adequate department of agriculture in the State government.
At a joint meeting of the representatives of these two organiza- tions, in Bennettsville, August 10, 1885, B. R. Tillman made a speech and offered resolutions that were to become history. He demanded the establishment of experimental farms, the reorganization of the State Board of Agriculture, the establishment of farmers' institutes, and the making over of South Carolina College, with the inclusion of more farmers on its board. He characterized the Board of Agriculture that had been created as merely "a sop to Cerberus, a bribe to the farmers in the legislature." He cited the Federal Statute of 1862 which provided an appropriation of the proceeds from the Western lands "in order to promote the liberal and prac- tical education of the industrial classes." An immediate outcome was the establishment by the Assembly of experimental stations, one of which was located at Spartanburg.
Plans for an Inter- State Farmers' Encampment Meanwhile, at the National Grange meeting in Washington in 1885, J. N. Lipscomb of South Carolina had proposed to representatives from the adjoining States of Alabama. Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, that the five States organize an Inter-State Farmers' En- campment modeled on a famous one held annually at Williams' Grove, Pennsylvania. The plan was seconded warmly by all these States. Spartanburg was the place selected for the encampment, and the first meeting was scheduled for the week of August 12, 1887.
189
PLOWS AND PROGRESS
While plans were going forward for the farmers' encampment and a tract of thirty acres was acquired for it, Spartanburg was selected in July as the site for the "Up-Country Experimental Sta- tion" demanded by B. R. Tillman. The people of Spartanburg gave $2,000 and three hundred acres of land to secure it. Some of this land adjoined that set apart for the "Inter-State Farmers' En- campment," and the experimental station was placed under the direc- tion of John W. Wofford, at the time Master of the State Grange.
B. R. Tillman was quoted by the News and Courier, August 6, 1887, as pronouncing the Inter-State Farmers' Encampment "a ren- dezvous of all men who shut their eyes to the present and worship the past." He further characterized it as a scheme by which "pleas- ure-seekers are enticed from their homes by a fanfaronade;" and its promoters-"Bourbons, doctors, lawyers, politicians"-he said lacked the intelligence to manage a farmers' fair. Tillman declined an invitation to attend this 1887 Encampment. One of its pro- moters, Colonel T. J. Moore, who had distinguished himself by his intelligent experimentation in the cultivation of rice and tobacco, in stock-breeding, and in the principles of diversified agriculture, was derisively dubbed by Tillman "the Bee-keeper."
The First Inter- State Farmers' Encampment This first Inter-State Farmers' Encampment was, according to the Carolina Spartan, non- sectional and non-political; and, in spite of many handicaps, it was held a success by its promoters. Local poli- tics in North Carolina and Georgia engrossed the farmers of those States, so that fewer of them participated than was expected. Heavy rains hindered preparations, spoiled prospective exhibits, and kept away many who had planned to attend. There had not been time to get the experimental farm in operation. However, at the ap- pointed hour, 11 a. m. August 2, the band began to play, the horn was sounded, and exercises began as scheduled. The crowd was small. The second day was bright, and it was estimated that 6,000 people were on the grounds before noon. Charleston and the Low Country were well represented. Three hundred wagons were said to be on the grounds from Rutherford County, North Carolina. Spartans rejoiced at the sight of so many strange faces. There were orations, essays, baseball games, concerts, discussions. Wagons were "rattling in all day from North Carolina." The Charleston News and Courier, Augusta Chronicle, Columbia Register, Laurensville
190
A HISTORY OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY
Herald, Greenville Baptist Courier, Columbia Record, all had repre- sentatives in attendance, and all of them wrote favorable reports, making friendly excuses for inadequate preparations and other de- ficiencies.
The Second Inter- In 1888 things went much better. The week State Farmers' Encampment from August 6 through August 11 was de- voted to the Encampment. The experimental farm was ready for exhibition. A day was set apart for the annual meeting of the Agricultural and Mechanical Society ; two days were devoted to a Farmers' Institute; one day was given to the State Grange meeting; the members of the Farmers' Alliance were es- pecially invited to participate; three new buildings had been added to the big pavilion-a "State Exhibit Building." a "Machinery Hall," and a "Reception Hall." There were pens for poultry and cattle. Entertainment features included two lectures by Sam Jones, two cantatas by the Spartanburg Musical Association, a grand ball, a balloon ascension, baseball games every afternoon, and brass bands. The railroad operated trains between the city and the encampment every half-hour, and sold tickets at special rates. The hotels and livery stables also offered special rates. This encampment had an estimated attendance of 20,000.
The Last Encampment Charles Petty pointed out, April 18, 1888, that one of the consequences of the Clemson bequest would be the end of the Agricultural Encampment and the Experimental Farm in Spartanburg County. He was right; the encampment of 1889 was the last held. Thirty years later the Spartanburg Herald of May 11, 1919, printed entertaining reminiscences of it by J. H. Claffy, of Orangeburg, president of the State Farmers' Union. He referred to it as having been held "before Ben Tillman's reform movement had taken definite shape," and described the encamp- ment as "the occasion of a great rally of the farmers of the state." "Ben Tillman, farmer Ben, made a speech," Claffy recalled, "one of his first attempts to dynamite the air with his high explosive thoughts." Thirty or more military companies-each with its own distinctive uniforms - held a military encampment on the same grounds; and their parades, in spite of clumsy ignorance of ma- noeuvres displayed, were highly spectacular. One full evening was given to a display of fireworks. The attendance was estimated at
191
PLOWS AND PROGRESS
25,000 people, and numerous covered wagons were on the grounds, filled with apples, tobacco, and "corn likker."
Fairfield Park and In April 1890 the Encampment ground was a County Fair Association sold to the city for $2,250-the sum required to clear up the obligations of the company which had sponsored it. The undertaking was pronounced "a good investment all round." An article in the Spartan said, April 9, 1890:
From that first encampment our city began to move forward. It advertised our advantages. We may not have annual en- campments, but the city will hold the ground as a public park. . Fairs, agricultural meetings, political meetings, religious services may all be held here. It will be a grand rallying place for the people of our County on extra occasions. The Encampment proj- ect was by no means a failure.
This prediction was amply verified in subsequent history, for Fair- field Park, as the tract was named, was later the scene of many polit- ical rallies and military encampments, and in 1907 was leased to the County Fair Association. It has been the site of annual fairs ever since, except during the World War.
CHAPTER NINETEEN The Tillman Era
The Farmers' The decline of the Grange before a new organization Alliance of farmers had much to do with the abandonment of the Encampment. This new body was the Farmers' Alliance, a national secret organization, membership in which was strictly lim- ited to rural dwellers-farmers, country preachers, country doctors, and rural teachers. Lawyers, bankers, and merchants were regarded by the Alliance with distrust, and two important points in its program were aimed at them: cooperative buying and the settlement of dis- putes by arbitration within the organization.
The men who organized the Farmers' Alliance in Spartanburg County laid stress on its freedom from political connections or labor union affiliations. They claimed that it was an improvement on the Grange in that it attempted no coercion of its members. "Its object is to improve the conditions of the farmers . . by our system of union and cooperation," wrote J. W. Reid, first secretary of the Spartanburg County Alliance. This body was organized in the court- house, May 15, 1888, with nineteen sub-alliances, all organized within the preceding six weeks. The sub-alliances were located at Glenn Springs, Reidville, Becca, Wellford, Arlington, Holly Springs, Inman, Martinsville, Limestone, Cannon's Camp Ground, Cowpens, Rich Hill, Macedonia, Cherokee Springs, Pacolet, Walnut Grove, Cavins, Philadelphia, Zion Hill. The county Alliance was organized with 424 members, and the first officers were : Dr. S. T. D. Lancaster, president ; J. S. Hammond, vice president; J. W. Reid, secretary ; James Wood, treasurer ; R. V. Gowan, chaplain; W. McS. Zimmer- man, lecturer ; A. C. Black, doorkeeper ; Moses Foster, assistant door- keeper; E. S. Smith, sergeant at arms. At the State organization, in Florence, July 11, 1888, Chesterfield led the State with thirty sub- alliances; and Spartanburg, with twenty-four sub-alliances, tied with Marion for second place. J. W. Reid was elected to the office of State Secretary, and Dr. S. T. D. Lancaster was placed on the State execu- tive committee.
These alliances differed from the Grange in their change in em- phasis. Interest shifted noticeably from reports on experiments with rice, tobacco, and corn, or on methods of fertilizing, to discussions on how to force down prices on implements, seeds, and fertilizers. 192
193
THE TILLMAN ERA
The Farmers' Alliance established itself in South Carolina without the aid of B. R. Tillman, who was organizing during the same period his "Farmers' Movement"; but by 1890 the sub-alliances were adopt- ing resolutions endorsing Tillman for governor, and the anti-Tillman- ite farmers were withdrawing their membership from the Alliance.
Editorial Policy of There was little spirit of class antagonism in Spar- Charles Petty tanburg County in 1888, and Charles Petty, whose editorial prestige was marked at this period, strove to check its early manifestations. For example, on May 2, he wrote in the Spartan: "It would show a better spirit on the part of certain people and news- papers in this State to rejoice over the prospects of a college for the farmers' boys rather than by ridicule or apathy to oppose it." When the Farmers' Alliance appeared in Spartanburg County, Petty was cautious in his comments, remarking merely that, to raise the average of crop production in Spartanburg County and elsewhere, "intelli- gent and persistent labor must be used. The average cannot be raised by Tillman Conventions, Agricultural Colleges, or universal reso- lutions passed in farmers' meetings." So lightly did Petty estimate Tillman's power that, August 1, 1888, he said: "Tillman has no fol- lowing and he is not a leader. Tillman ought to quit." On September 12, secure in the belief that Tillman's retirement was final, he wrote: "The little tussle that Tillman has had with the adminis- tration has done no harm, and all good Democrats will stand shoulder to shoulder for the nomination, and the welfare of the State."
A Split in Petty attempted to minimize the split in the county
County Politics Democratic ranks when, September 3, 1888, Dr. R. M. Smith threw down the gauntlet to what he called the "ring" and declared he had been "counted out," and the senator's office to which he had a right had been given to John W. Wofford two years before. N. F. Walker, former Chairman of the County Democratic Com- mittee, indignantly denied the implied charges. In October following, R. M. Smith shocked the Conservatives by winning an overwhelming victory at the polls.
Two years later, Smith was a dominant figure in county politics, and an ardent supporter of the Shell plan to nominate Tillman for governor by a farmers' caucus. A convention of farmers met in Columbia, March 27, 1890, on a call issued by G. W. Shell, President of the State Farmers' Association, to consider their grievances and make plans for the next election campaign. It was generally under-
194
A HISTORY OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY
stood that the purpose of the meeting was to nominate a Tillman ticket and so organize forces as to ensure its being accepted at the regular Democratic Convention. This plan the Conservatives re- garded as high-handed.
Spartanburg was the only county which sent a contested delega- tion to the Shell Convention, and the circumstances which attended the election of these delegations show the political situation in Spar- tanburg County in the spring of 1890. Upon receipt of the call to this meeting-popularly called the Shell Manifesto-J. W. Stribling, Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of Spartanburg County, complied with its request to call a mass meeting of farmers. At this meeting, called to order by Stribling, Dr. R. M. Smith stated the object of the meeting in a heated speech which dwelt on the in- justices suffered by farmers under the existing "ring rule." George Dean was made president and R. A. Lancaster secretary of the meet- ing. Recognition was refused opponents of the proposed Shell plan, and a delegation was nominated to attend the Columbia meeting and support the Shell program. J. W. Stribling protested what he re- garded as "steam-roller" tactics and withdrew, calling a second meeting, which proceeded to elect an uninstructed delegation. In actuality it was understood to be opposed to the Shell plan. The Smith delegation included : E. C. Allen, N. Bennett, George Dean, John Dewberry, James W. Foster, J. B. O. Landrum, M. P. Patton, Elias S. Smith, Moses Wood, and W. C. S. Wood. Members of the Stribling delegation were: J. H. Anderson, Moses Foster, J. B. O. Landrum, J. M. Lanham, S. E. Mason, T. J. Moore, J. W. Stribling, J. J. Vernon, N. F. Walker, John W. Wofford. One name appeared on both tickets-that of J. B. O. Landrum. Several new names ap- peared on the final ticket. In an editorial prophecy which proved false, Petty wrote, March 5, 1890: "Mr. Shell may assume the right to call the Convention to order, and then, imitating the redoubtable Senator Smith, the little Reed of Spartanburg, rule out all delegations not in sympathy with the object of the meeting as expressed by his call . . . any ticket thus nominated would be foreordained to over- whelming defeat in the regular Democratic Convention."
Two Spartanburg Delegations at Farmers' Convention tion, which seated J. W. Stribling and J. W. Wofford of the "Conservative" delegation from Spartanburg and
Both the delegations presented themselves to the credentials committee of the Shell Conven-
195
THE TILLMAN ERA
eight from the other delegation as follows : James W. Foster, W. C. S. Wood, J. B. O. Landrum, M. P. Patton, H. L. Farley, R. M. Smith, L. E. Farley. The Convention proceeded to nominate a ticket for the fall election. The vote was close, and only sharp parliamentary practice enabled Shell to announce a majority in favor of making nominations. The Spartanburg delegation voted seven to three with the majority. An account of the proceedings appeared in the Spartan, April 9, 1890, with the editorial comment :
The Spartanburg County Convention is a fair sample of the management of the whole affair. Good and true men were ar- . bitrarily ruled out of the convention. Three-fourths of the farm- ers of our county would not approve of the plans pursued by the chairman who presided that day. . A man now living in Laurens County was wedged into the Spartanburg delegation. By such means was Tillman's nomination carried. Will the people, the farmers of the State, come up to his support? (If so) they will endorse questionable methods . . will de- clare that the unfair and arbitrary ruling in the Spartanburg Con- . vention was right. The farmers are not ready for such trickery even in politics. They are fair and honest, and believe in "toting fair."
Anti-Tillman Within a month a convention of anti-Tillman farmers Sentiment held a meeting in Columbia and issued a "Manifesto" protesting the Shell Convention as "factional, a spoilsman's machine." Twenty-one counties were represented at this meeting. Commenting on its proceedings, Petty wrote (April 30, 1890) :
Of course no one claims that the Shell Convention generally represented the farmers. It was never intended to represent any- thing or anybody except Tillman. You can get two meet- ings in every township, one of which will be for Tillman and the other against him. . The committee of twenty-one did noth- ing to crystallize the opposition to Tillman. Their platitudes will not draw the farmers. Tillman is a living, breathing, kicking reality that the farmers can see and touch and hear. They may not like him, for he is not the most admirable sort of man, but if nothing but platitudes and uncertainties are presented to them, they will rally round Tillman in the end and give him their sup- port.
Always Petty asserted his own allegiance to the Democratic party. Of Tillman's campaign he remarked : "He is not our choice for gov- ernor. There are a hundred farmers in the State we would nomi-
196
A HISTORY OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY
nate for that office before him, but we wish to put it on record that his manner of making a campaign is fair to all and in no way subversive of Democratic principle."
Tillman in Tillman used to great advantage the county-to-county Spartanburg campaign speakings, a gesture that emphasized "the sovereignty of the people." In the course of such a campaign, June 11, 1890, the candidates spoke in Spartanburg at the Encampment Grounds before a thousand or so people. The local authorities were painstakingly courteous. At the proper hour, decorated carriages and a decorated four-horse wagon carrying the Glendale Band were at the Merchants' Hotel to escort the candidates to the meeting place. In the first carriage rode Mayor Henneman, B. R. Tillman, County Chairman Ralph C. Carson, and E. B. Gary. Among the candidates was a Spartanburg citizen, Hugh L. Farley, who had at the March Convention seconded the nomination of Tillman for governor, and had himself accepted a place on the ticket as candidate for the office of adjutant general. The crowd was pro-Tillman, greeting its idol with noisy demonstration. The "ladies of Glendale" presented him with a large horseshoe of flowers at the conclusion of his two-hour speech.
Spartanburg was represented in the September Democratic Con- vention by a pro-Tillman delegation composed of Dr. S. T. D. Lan- caster, W. A. Parks, J. L. Ballenger, R. M. Jolly, J. W. Hawkins, T. O. Brown, J. W. Foster, E. T. Lawson, R. M. Smith ; alternates, L. P. Walker, B. F. Hammet, W. J. Shelton. At this convention Tillman was nominated by a vote of 269 to 40.
Under the leadership of A. C. Haskell, who issued the so-called Haskell Manifesto, September 30, the Antis bolted and held a con- vention October 9, 1890. This movement professed to follow the example of Wade Hampton's campaign of 1876; the red shirt was waved, and the old name revived-The Straightout Democracy. Spartanburg's representatives at the Haskell Convention were Ed- ward Bacon and Samuel McGowan, Jr. The Haskell partisans, although a small minority, were in many ways very influential through- out the State.
Anti-Tillman Tillman's high-handed methods, the emotional resent- Efforts in the ment occasioned by the retirement of Wade Hampton County from the Senate, and other replacements in high offices led Tillman's foes to hope for his defeat in 1892. In the spring Spar-
197
THE TILLMAN ERA
tanburg Democrats elected an anti-Tillman delegation to attend the State Democratic Convention. The chairman of the County Con- vention that took this definitely anti-Tillman action was T. J. Moore, and the secretary was A. B. Woodruff. Other conservative leaders were Moses Foster, C. E. Smith, B. F. Hill, Thomas Dixon, John P. Fielder, and John W. Wofford. The delegation selected was refused seats at the convention.
On Saturday, August 11, 1892, the county-to-county campaign meeting of the "Democracy" was held in Spartanburg at Fairfield Park. On Friday night a preliminary rally of between five and six hundred Conservatives was held at the opera house. Their candidates were J. C. Sheppard, for Governor ; James L. Orr, for Lieutenant Governor; Lawrence Youmans, for Secretary of State. Speeches of denunciation against Tillmanism were made by L. P. Murphy, James L. Orr, and Lawrence Youmans. But Saturday was the big day, and by sunrise wagons and buggies were rolling in from all directions. Special trains brought many visitors. By 10 o'clock nearly 4,000 people were surging about the pavilion-which had 1,100 seats.
The candidates all spoke, but the crowd heeded only Tillman, who spoke characteristically, saying in part :
Two years ago Earle and Bratton spoke here and I thought I was in a camp-meeting. You Haskellites are beaten and you know it, both in and out of Spartanburg.
You have two newspapers in this county, and you have never seen anything good about me in any of them. . In May, when the farmers were busy planting cotton, the Antis captured the county by their hocus pocus tricks, but they can't do it at the primary. You little gang of Haskellites can howl and howl, but it won't do you any good. Why is it that people of the towns hurrah for Sheppard and fight me? It is because there is a prin- ciple back of me, and the people now rule, and because the Al- liance has formed stores which take away the trade and ill-gotten gains of town shop-keepers.
Tillman, bitterly opposed to Cleveland, who was a popular favorite in Spartanburg, sneeringly called this county "that Republican County of Spartanburg."
Newspaper The Spartan characterized "Tillmanism in 1892" as a
Opposition very different thing from what it had been in 1888, to Tillman charging that it now definitely stood for office-grab-
198
A HISTORY OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY
bing, a three-dollar poll tax, a constitutional convention, war on all professions and middle-men, and an attempt to array class against class-the rich against the poor, the tenant against the landowner, the hireling against the employer, the country against the town. In an editorial, August 31, 1892, Petty said :
Never in the history of a Democratic campaign has this county been so excited as it is today. Never have men yielded so to partisan politics. . . . The old county has come to a nice pass. If the shades of the good and true men who served her in the past could return they would hang their heads in shame when they viewed the bitterness, malignity, and class hatred engendered by the campaign of the last four years. . What is to be the end of all this hate and dishonest partisanship ?
The elections brought Tillman an overwhelming victory. He won in thirty-five counties. The vote in Spartanburg County for Tillman delegates was 3,695, and for Sheppard 2,638. Analysis of the vote by precints showed definitely a line of cleavage between town and country.
A Tillman Organ: About 1892 the Tillman forces of the State, to the Piedmont offset the handicap of having only one daily paper Headlight on their side, acquired the Columbia Register and employed as its editor T. Larry Gantt, then editor of the Banner, published in Athens, Georgia. Gantt had established a reputation as an advocate of the policies of the Farmers' Alliance, and he was to be Tillman's right-hand man in holding the farmers in line and in the launching of a State Dispensary system for selling liquor. Francis B. Simkins wrote: "Endowed with all the prejudices and doctrines of the agrarian agitators of his day, possessed of a spirited and direct style, violently partisan but never bitter, Gantt was the very man to arouse the farmers against the townsmen."
A severe illness forced Gantt to resign the editorship of the Reg- ister; and he was later induced to undertake the publication in Spar- tanburg of a pro-Tillman organ, the Piedmont Headlight, a weekly paper organized by Stanyarne Wilson, J. D. Leonard, Lamar Wil- liams, and others. Gantt took over the paper on a lease, stipulating that he was to have entire control of its policies ; and he gradually acquired ownership of the Headlight-the Lighthead, his opponents called it.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.