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Show How Tillman Lost His Eye I South Carolina Senator Relates Many Inter-1 Inter-1 esting Incidents in His Career. .lames I! Moran. In New York Tribune Tri-bune Oolng into a fence corner for a figure of speech it scarcely could be called a Mower Senator llenjaniln It Tillman said "1 gtew up as wild as a jtmBon weed in some respects " lie had been talking of his childhood Plrst, however, he told why Hyan had been made a part of his baptismal name Now and then he took oil one IhNslippeis and scratched tke soje of I his foot. I -'The Hyan In my name came from an old Whin captain whosered In the iP.evolutlonary war," he said. "Ho was a neighbor of my gtandf.ither and la lerrlblr man against the Tories. 'Theio were many Tories In South Carolina Car-olina Thej were a third of the popu- ilatlon, 1 guess Kjan was a teiror In ' alt that region My giandfathcr named j his -,on after llyan, and the son, my father, gave the name to me " 'And your fathei,J" 1 asked "He was a cotton planter, with Jl.HOti acres of land and about tlfty islaves At his death 1 wastwoyears old my mother took up his family .and business burdens. 1 was the 1 youngest of nine children, and two 'were dead ;he added to her ical and 'chattel property until she had several plantations, some ...fioo acres of land in all, and a hundred slaves The average aver-age value of slaves, old and trmntr, men and women, was, 1 should say, Jl.OdO j "My brother, a brilliant roan never could go to un auction without buying a Held hand or two. In fact, he. speculated specu-lated In them, getting them near our home and taxing them to Texas and Louisiana Holng a young fellow, and having just started out for himself, his credit was not established, and my mother endorsed his note. So stm came to owe W0.O0O, slaves Delng rather a drug on the market at that time and 1 was taken from chool that I might help her 1 rode about the country for a year, paying bills and cancelling notes Through her business genius and my activity we reduced her indebtedness to JT,0(Hi " Where did you go to school?" ' My first teacher was Ann Arthur, sister of Chester A Arthur, who be-camo be-camo president of the United States When 1 was thirteen years old I was sent thlrlv miles away to Hethanv academy, to (Jeorge (Jalphlu. a local teacher of line ability and wide renown. re-nown. 1 boarded with an old teacher who was very poor. 1 did not want to hurt his feelings by quitting his house or telling him the truth, but I didn't get enough to cat. My luncheon was a corn muftio and a bottle of sorghum molasses. I thought of tho hums, chickeu and good things at home, and was hungry, but not unhappy I worked hard, reading Virgil and Horace and getting into the (ireck reader and doing splendidly In mathematics mathe-matics At the end of tho year I went home to spend a .short vacation and to become a soldier, Then I lost an eye (lambetta, the French ttatesman plucked out one of his while a boy so that he wouldn't have to be a priest 1 might have been a colonel or a general gen-eral If I hadn't gone in swimming 1 went to a nullpond one day with a number of companions, and remained In the waUrfor three hours While walking home, in the hot sua 1 felt a pain Id my left eye, ! suppose 1 was tud down by hard work at school and by the want of wholestme and nutrl-tlju nutrl-tlju food. ,1jf eyo became woe, a physician was called. He sal i 1 had eryKVpas i suffers awfully, and - , V finally my inothei M-nt to Augusta, thirteen miles distant, for the doctor whom we always consulted in serious cases He contirmed the diagnosis of the other doctor Well, in ten days, perhaps, my eve buist Then It was found that I had a iibrold tumor, the growth of which had caused the Intense In-tense agony and destroyed mj eye "I was III a long time. The vvareame, to an end, but I had taken no part in It. 1 helped mj mother in the man-agfinent man-agfinent of hot niTalis. and then went to Florida Hut toy health was not good In that region, labor was dear and scarce, and I moved back to Carolina. Caro-lina. My mother gave each of hci children a farm and by her gift I came into the ownership of four hundred acres of land " "You were a planter until you were thirty-nine years old, and until then had taken no part in public matters?" "Yes, I was a farmer up to that time, and am a farmer now Indoined by a large, representative meeting of farmers lu lte'.H), I was nominated for governor by the democratic state convention, con-vention, getting 170 votes, against .10 for my competitor. 1 was re-elected governor in Ihol Called everything but a tool. I fought back, and got a reputation for violence I was misrepresented mis-represented and lied about so much that I grew vindictive In turn, and the battle went on In fury with no prisoners and political death to evry man caught " "It is said that when you became governor you plowed up the state' house yard and planted It in corn " "Yes, that Isoneof the lies which were started and which are going yet. There is not a scintilla of truth in the statement. The grounds of.tho state house had boeD used as a pisture for the cows of my predecessor. I ploughed them that Is a lact but 1 planted them in ttowers and nothing else I am a great lover'of Uowen- " "You weie responsible for tho law 1 which made the selling of liquor In South Carolina the business or the state. Has the undertaking been a moral and financial success'" I'll tell you about that ilrought face to face with prohibition, 1 was compelled to do .something Prohibition Prohibi-tion has never prohibited, and never will In a Georirla village, not far away, the dispensary system had been tried. I looked into the experiment and adopted It as a means of minimising minimis-ing the evils of bar-rooms and the custom cus-tom of treating It has been a moral success There arc no more bar-rooms In the state The state does the selling, sell-ing, makes the proQt, and thus takes from the liquor traffic tho greatest Incentive In-centive to lawlessness and crime. Llq-uor Llq-uor cannot be drunk on the premises, nnd no less than halt a pint can be bought by anybody Jo my judgment tho dispensary nystem Is tho best working out of tho whole Jnpjor problem. prob-lem. Prohibition makes lying, prejur-lug prejur-lug and lawbrcaklng common among tho people. That Is very bad of course and If saloons nre licensed the state becomes a partner of the dealers I Then why not restrict the trafllc aud take it over entlrtty and get revenue for the support of jails, penitentiaries and almshouses, all of which are made necessary through the use of liquor? The trouble in my stale Is that the dlspenwrles have fallen Into the hands of tbo enemies of the system, most of whom are thieves." "You dominated the constltulonal convention in 1S16 aud wore Die au. Uor of trie pwYktoj. USott rtnulfei - -pj an educational ipialillcatlon for uf fiageln South Carolina What has been the outcome of the law-' "If a man can't lead, or If he can't understand some part of the constitution, constitu-tion, or If ho doesn't-pay taxes on $!0) w 01 th of property he Is not a voter In my state. There are -UO.ooi) more negroes ne-groes In the state th.lu whites We wcro determined that the whites should rule the state. The provision In the constitution ol which you speak was written and adopted to disfranchise disfran-chise the negroes, and for 110 other purpose. I once told Senator Hoar that In 1S7G we shot negroes and stufl' ballot boxes. The statement shocked ' him, but It was true. I was the cap-1 tain of a company of rangers at that time and was in several race riots J j never killed a negro myself. I shot at one, but missed him Instead of kill Ing negroes and stufling ballot boxes Wii now take tho orderly way of a constitutional con-stitutional provision " "You have been described as a man. of impetuous temper'" "I know. 1 approach things directly and put what I say Into plain Knglish aud at times, perhaps, I do appear to be ferocious, and may be I am, but I am neither vindictive nor malicious. Anothci thing, anger Is bad for one's p;aceof mind and health It makes the Wood turgid, and If you My Oir the handle early in the morning, it spoils the whole day." |