The Yorkville Enquirer on Jan. 14, 1891 reported – “Mr. Hugh Brown has completed his store building and has stocked it with goods. This gives Filbert two stores and a shoe shop.”
Due to the lack of newspaper coverage, we cannot be certain a picnic was held in the Filbert community in 1902 and 1903. But certainly, since 1902 was an election year, it would seem unlikely that a picnic and stump meeting would not have taken place. That year several contenders for the Fifth District congressional seat

Image ca. 1912 – Courtesy of the YC Historical Society
were in the running — incumbent D. E. Finley, General J. W. Floyd, Dr. T. J. Strait, and W. Blackburn Wilson.
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on other picnics that took place in Western York County in 1902. One of these was held at Cain Springs (later Piedmont Springs) near Smyrna, drawing 300-500 people. Communities in both the eastern and western parts of York County sponsored picnics in 1903. Ogden, in one of the more populated communities on the eastern side, was attended by 350, and in the heart of Western York County, the tiny agricultural community of Blairsville attracted up to 300.

Thomas Jefferson Strait, M.D. – Congressman from SC
The Filbert picnic was back in the news in 1904 when 400-500 attended the popular stump meeting on August 13. That year’s attendance, however, paled in comparison to the following year when an estimated 1,000 showed up. Held on July 22, speakers that day included the Presbyterian light James H. Thornwell (of Thornwell Orphanage fame), Congressman David E. Finley of York, M. B. Jennings, and Thomas F. McDow, a prominent Yorkville attorney.
The number of attendees grew to amazing proportions in 1906 with Harry E. Neil at the helm. A crowd of 3,000 from all across the area converged on the picnic grounds for fun and to hear politicians stump. Main speakers were Congressman David E. Finley, Dr T. J. Strait, F. H. Hyatt, and Senator Ben “Pitchfork” Tilman — the old nemesis of The Yorkville Enquirer.
Tillman was the true attraction that July and spoke an hour and a half to a somewhat less enthusiastic crowd. Evidently, memories were too strong to treat the ex-governor any other way than with indifference. Perhaps there is something to the notion that Western York County voters may put a political faux pas behind them but never forget. This was certainly the case between Tillman and The Yorkville Enquirer.
Hard feelings between the people of York County and Tillman sprang from the governor’s dictatorial way of bringing about the Dispensary System that fostered corruption throughout the state. The editor of the Enquirer was open with his contempt for the Dispensary, to which Tillman replied with nasty accusations.
Hoping to curb the river-like flow of corn whiskey and pare down heavy drinking, the temperance movement in York County and across the state had grown into a strong, near rabid, prohibition crusade by 1890. In 1892 voters, especially conservatives in the Piedmont, approved a statewide referendum favoring Prohibition. Following the vote, the House approved a bill for Prohibition and sent it to the Senate for approval.
Governor Tillman, believing prohibition was impractical and that the state should make money on indulgence, submitted an amendment that would eliminate prohibition and establish a Dispensary System. In his own fashion, Tillman forced legislators to vote for the amendment. On July 1, 1893, the South Carolina Dispensary became the only legal source of alcohol.
Immediately, state-wide corruption began to bloom and, like the Prohibition of the 1920s, bootleggers seized the opportunity to reap profits. Bootleggers soon discovered that by adding sugar, their stills produced a higher yield at a faster pace. To plug the loss of revenues created by increasing bootleg whiskey, law officials developed Gestapo-like techniques of apprehending offenders. Without warrants and armed only with suspicion, private homes were invaded and men imprisoned with little evidence.
Prohibitionists had a glimmer of hope that alcohol sales would end when the state Supreme Court ruled the Dispensary was a monopoly. Tillman, however, was determined to protect the system and had a new bill passed by the legislature making the system virtually untouchable. Prohibitionists would come to call the Dispensary System a “great immoral institution,” and others recognized it as synonymous with graft and corruption.
Tillman, ever a coarse racist, closed his remarks arguing against compulsory education and educating African-Americans. “No, we white people in South Carolina are in the saddle. We are ruling and we intend to rule and there ain’t enough long nosed Yankees between Cape Cod and hell’s back gate to keep us from it.”
The Dispensary System continued until February 1907, when the Legislature, under the recommendation of Governor Martin F. Ansel, shut down the system and gave counties the power to decide whether they wanted Prohibition or not. Within two years only six counties continued as wet — Aiken, Beaufort, Charleston, Florence, Georgetown, and Richland.
When 1,200-1,500 picnickers gathered on the picnic grounds on July 17, 1907, York County prohibitionists had reason to celebrate. At the picnic Constable Jenkins noticed a number of “private” bottles being passed around, but he was more concerned about the possibility of some “blind tiger” on the outskirts. [Bootleggers and whiskey joints were often called blind tigers. A blind tiger was also a location where you would lay down money for whiskey, leave, and return later to pick up the whiskey — the sale was blind.]
In 1908, attendance for the Filbert picnic hit an all-time high up to that point when a crowd of 2,000 came from every section of York County, some from Chester and Cherokee Counties, and more from Gaston and Mecklenburg Counties in North Carolina. The approaching primary brought a number of candidates for Congress and county offices to the stump. The crowd assembled to the music of the Yorkville Cornet Band, led by Sheriff Hugh Brown. Hosted by the Woodmen of the World (WOW), J. C. Wilborn served as picnic chairman that year and introduced W. P. Pollock of Chesterfield County, a candidate for the Fifth Congressional District.
Pollock opened his speech by praising the work of the Woodmen of the World and bragging that he had been a member for a number of years. Pollock pulled no punches when it came to his opponent, the 10-year incumbent David Finley, saying “The old man has enjoyed the honor and emoluments long enough and the Fifth District would not suffer one iota by his retirement.”
In an effort to outshine Pollock, Finley lavished compliments on the WOW and went one step further, reminding the audience that he had been one of six from Yorkville who had formed the first WOW camp in the county. Politically, Finley focused on his opponent’s lack of experience and pointed out that he had a 10-year record of being a good steward for the people and that was reason enough to re-elect him to Congress.
Another candidate seeking Finley’s seat was T. B. Butler of Cherokee County. Like the others, he was a Woodman and was of the opinion that no other organization had done more for the lives of people, other than the Christian church, than the Woodmen of the World. He put his audience in a good humor with “apt jokes, ancient and modern” before he presented his case for a seat in Congress. Butler said that Finley had held the seat for 10 years but that the office did not belong to him and the people had a perfect right to make a change.
Rev. J. L. Harley of the Anti-Saloon League was on the scene and warned that efforts were being made to make the county wet and put a dispensary in York. “I want to tell you people something,” began the minister. “Some of you may know it already, but I want to impress the fact upon you. I have been over a considerable portion of York County during the past three weeks in carrying out my work, and I know it to be a fact there is at work in this county an organization to fasten a county dispensary upon York County. You may be surprised at this, but it is a fact and you people will soon have to face the problems.”
The speakers that year filled two hours with a multiplicity of words and promises before an audience who gave only respectful attention with little or no applause. When dinnertime came, each family retreated to its own basket and was entertained for two hours with music from the band.
During the food break, picnic leaders discussed bringing the candidates back to the stump for another chance to garner votes. But the candidates had decided to work the crowd one-on-one, not telling voters where they stood until “after the gates were closed on August 6th.” Each of the candidates left the 1908 Filbert Picnic believing he had not only “stopped many holes, but materially strengthened his political fence.”
On the same day of the Filbert Picnic, a crowd of 1,000 gathered at Tirza [Tirzah] for a similar picnic, but unlike Filbert, it had some spontaneous entertainment. After a steady flow of corn whiskey, tempers flared into a shooting and rock fight.
Next part — attendance lags at the 1909 picnic ,and York County’s last public execution takes place with the hanging of a 16-year-old boy.
J.L. West – Author
This article and many others found on the pages of Roots and Recall, were written by author J.L. West, for the YC Magazine and have been reprinted on R&R, with full permission – not for distribution or reprint!
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