In the constitution which South Carolina adopted in 1895, it was provided that “in case of any prisoner lawfully in the charge, custody or control of any officer, State, County or municipal, being seized and taken from said officer through his negligence, permission or connivance, by a mob or other unlawful assemblage of persons, and at their hands suffering bodily violence or death,” the said officer should be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon true bill found should be deposed from office pending trial, and upon conviction should forfeit his office, and, unless pardoned by the governor, should be ineligible to hold any office of trust or profit within the State. It was made the duty of the prosecuting attorney within whose circuit or county the offense might be committed to forthwith institute a prosecution against said officer, who should be tried in such county in the same circuit, other than the one in which the offense was committed, as the attorney-general might elect. The fees and mileage of all material witnesses both for the State and the defense were to be paid by the State treasurer. It was also provided that “in all cases of lynching when death ensues, the county where such lynching takes place shall, without regard to the conduct of the officers, be liable in exemplary damages of not less than $2,000 to the legal representatives of the person lynched,” and that “any county against which a judgment has been obtained for damages in any case of lynching shall have the right to recover the amount of said judgment from the parties engaged in said lynching in any court of competent jurisdiction.”[285]