Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

DEVOTED' T OIIC,M -- / -- e .* / -RALITICs, MOIAITY, EDUCATION AND 10 THE GENERAL INTEREST O.TUE COUNTRY OPICKENS, S. c. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1878. NO._27 0 Vil NiOSo7d SENTINEL 18 PUB&ISHED EVERY THURSDAY. BY D. P. BRADLEY C.00. Terms of Subseription. One Year 1.. ...........$1 60 Six Months..... .. . . . . . ... 76 Advertising Rates. Advertisements inserted at the rate of $1 00 er.square, of (9) nine lines, on LESs, for the Brot insertion, and 60 cents for each subse quent insertion. Contracts made for TIMBF., six or TWELVE months,'on favorable terms. Advertisements not having the number of insertions marked on them, will be published until forbid.and charged accordingly. These terms are so simple any child may understand them. / Nine lines Is a square A* one inch, In every instance we charge by the space occupied, as eight or ten lines can be made to occupy four or five squares, as the adertiser may wisir, and is charged by the space. W Advertisers will please state the num ber of squares they wish their advertiscmnts to make. '# Business men who advertise to be -benefitted, will bear in mind that the SENTINEL has a large and increasing cir culation, and Is taken by the very class of persons whose trade they desire. THE THIEVES' CARNVAL. AN ASTOUNDING CATALOGUE OF THE ROBBERIES UNDER CARPET-RULE IN BOUTH CAROLINA. TnE WHOLE STATE OoVERNMENT FED, IOUSED. CLOTHED, INTOXICATED AND REDUC.D TO CI VITZATION AT STATE EXPICNSE. General Dennis says that more than $12,000 of tlier-e certificates wer-e divided between Speaker Mos es, Clerk A. 0. Joneg, Niles G. Par ker, Timn Iurley, and himself. Your conit tee find that a large portion of the frandulent certificates -1isued to pay the difference between the legitimate amount due for fnr niture and the -amount to which it was raised have been paid. After a careful examination of the furniture in the State l1ouse by Gen Dennie, he affirms "that there Is not left there more ihan one half of what was purchased, and, very few of the clocks, whieh were of the finest qua lity, costing from $150 to $600 each; and that out of several mirrors,wh ich * cost $600 egeh, Only -one remained." Froni th~e report marked No. 78, "Exhibit A," to whiph we referred -in evidence of A. 0. Jones, it ap ~pears that B3enjanxin Byas, chairman ot the committee, reported in favor of the raised claim which defranded * the8State of at least $45,000, but un favorably on as much of it as referred to paying W. E. Rose a small irmount due him for boarding the uphiols * ters who wore sent from New York to plac9 and arrange the carpetings, * :rniture, &c. Gen. Dennis also testifies that "in the spring or summer of 1869, C. P. Leslie, Iand Oomnmissioucr, purCli ased a Jot of furniture from Mr. Der ry, ostensibly for his office, but in ~. reality for his residence;" says "be was in Gov. Scort's office after warde and heard an aliercation between him &nd Leslie, which wast caused by the bills being sent to Scott for payment Scott swore be would not pay them but did eventually do so, from som< fund or another." The bille of Mr B ilcox, made out in Mr. LeElie's nami prove that furniture wvas supplied b2 -the State to some of her' distinguish ed states:nen ag far back as 1869. It is no longer a mratter of sur priseto your committee that mem 4 bers who only received six dollar per diem could in a few weeks aftei their arrival in Columbia obtahi elegant furniture for their rooms Brussels carptets for their floors, amd recline on Oriental springs am * sponge mattrasses, while their con * stitripnts wore being hounded dom' -by the inexorablogix gatherer to pa, the lficoe of those luxuries. As a further illustration of the in pidinate greed of this horde of rob .ber#, we present the following, fl nothng,however smalf escaped( thi a argns.eved commwittee mien who e dexterionsly played the game of" dition, division and silence:" STATE OF SOUTU CAROLINA SENA 9 C 1871. TO9 60As. M. A L L r , r1. V Sept. 21, B< ok case, $ 200 0 a Sept. 21. Fitting closets, 340 0 n Nov. 21. Fitting up door . Iq_ frames, 100 0 o Dec. 8. Par. in cloak room $650 0 c Dec. 8. Par. in cloak room $650 0 M $2,000 0 - By reference to the evidence o Mr. Wing, a master mcQJhanic, it will be seen that the partiLioiS chiarg, ed for at $650 each wo'uld be worth now about.$25 each, but at that time the account was rendered it was worth about one third more. We also call attention to the evidence of several witnesses who testity that the Ateounts was raised by inserting the figure "3" in the item, "Fitting up closets," and the figure "6" in front of the two last amounts, thus inakin.i a gain of $1,500. We find that under the head of "Furniture" accounts were presented for m s, borees, buggies, carriage hire and horse feed. These accounts were passed upon and certificates issued accordingly. In this connection we refer to the evidence, of Mr. Pettingill, under the bead of "pay certificates,") Who was a dealer inl horses and mules, and who bays he sold them to differ ent members, and was paid in legis lative pay certiticates, naming Speak erl S. J. Lee and W. II. Jones, of G(If gown, as two of'such purchas. ers, and that he also received pay ceFtificates for "horse food, buggy hire*," &c. Mr. Gieufield says he did not sell any buggies or carriages directly to the State, but sold to the members and was paid for them with pay cer tificates. IIe remembers receiving a certificate, which proved to be traudulqnt, in payment for a car riage. At one time a ProPosition was made to him to sell a large por tiun of his stock of carrlages and buggies if lie would maike out his ac count against the State aind receive pay certificates in payment thereef, which he declined. We also refer' to the evideuce given by Salles RIan,~ dall, a committee clerk, who testified that a house of ill fame in the city of Columbia was supplied with furni ture at thme expense of the State. We also refer to the account of Mr. Ly Brand, a dealer in musical instru m'nms, designated as No. 37 by A. 0. Jones, as an evidence that whilst revoling in thleir Bacchanalian eports, the Muses were not neglec4ted. The soft melody of the melodeon was in voked toinspire what spirits would not. CARPEWfNO. Wec could nmot ascertain thme actual amount of carpeting pumrchased or need, but the bills rendered amnount ed to several thousand dollars -p)er annum. That some conception may be formed of this enormo\vs expcndi% ture, we refer to the evidence of Mr': pPurse, who measured -all the comn mittee rooms and offices in the State liouse and committee rooms outside, Sand testifies that it would require only 1,300 yards to carpet all of them. By refeorenice to the account of Stewart, SButphen & Co., de'signa ted as No. 73 by A. 0. Jones, and reported from Committee on COn!tin-~ Sgent Accounts, it will be found that during one ession alone they sold Sto the State 4,658 yards of car peting, Smore than 1,D00 yards being , finest IBrussels. Gen. Dennis and Sergeant at Arms Williams both testify that thie committee roomsfl were furnished Swith new cargets. every sesslonswhmich Swere carried away in the spring of the year. Gen. Dennis says lie knmo'we - that some of it was shipp)ed to Mas sachmusetts. o It would be an irksome task tc o numera all the accounts rondgee Dr repairs on oommittee rooms. It a suffiient to say that they amount-. d to thousands of dollars annually, 7hen it is a well known fact that fter the State Honse was fitted up ot a committee room was repaired. eo evidence of Robert Scriven and thers, who state that they were in onstant attendance and that no work 'as done, except placing the two rooden partitions. No transaction -as allowed to pass without paying 'ibut to the inordinate greed which liaracterized -Ahe majority of the iembers. "STATIONERY." Mr. Woodruff's evidence on this Abject is as Iblows: "During Mr. 'arker's term of office and part of 4r. Cardozo's, up to the time of ,ecific appropriations, pay certifi ,tes for 'stationery,' which included ibust everything, and for other ac iants, were issued to such an ex et that they sold on the streets for lrn ton to twenty cents on the dol 1a" The evidence shows that the wrage menbor never received over ,cdollars' worth of statio.ocry; but, hd>ills rendered and paid by the Sta) in one session amounted to tG8)00 for this comniodity alone. ck Jones, in his evidence, says: 'taonery' included refreshments, dry/oods, groceries, carpets, turni turchorses and carriages, and mis Cellpeous articles of 'morchandise, and ie naie used in the accounts wCrCenerally myths. Toffurther illustrate the trands comtied une(Cr thiS head, we retr to voiera in evideice of A. 0. JouedIsignated as N,s. 4J and 6J, ainouting in the 'aggregate to $3,666 Mr. Jnes t4yb: "It is asserted that these cco nts were lbr books and finj atiou y furnished the- mem bers." Att ntion is called to ac counts-inm 'red from 101 to 14, in& elusive wh e it will be seen that in Jantry one one firm furnished $6,68329 rth of "stationery," or mlore tlan 0 wvorth per' month to eachl neum r. In a'ddit iol to the abov0, hie z lon nts of M%essrs. Ur'van & M,cCarte and .Mr. St4ikes, well known deal , who reside i:, CJo lumbia, an ho furnished station ery to the onse0 and' Senate, are itemized, a from appearances, in clude most 4the. stationery actually used. Clerk W>druff says (and the vouchers pnle it) that during onte session eachenator received a copy of Webster'Unabridged Diction-. ary and a caudar inkatand which cost $25. TIhe accots of the W'esterni Un ion Telegra Company, together with Mr. Wdruff's evidence, wvill show that ev the private telegrams of the Senatc wero paid for by the State. Accordinge evidenco and ac counte, the nate often nzed $10 worth of page stamtps per day. Gold pens atl.0; inkstan)ds at $25; Webster's itionar'y and line t a tionery certdy offered our "states mnen" every :ility for an extensivo c arresponden . We cannt refrain from comn mnenting uponeG large ascounts of Mr. Isaac 8ncher, a well known jeweler of Ootnbia; and call espes cial attention the accounts dlesig nated its "Nor" and "BI 5" mer. tioned in Wo'uff's evidence,where jewelry was rnished to Senator Whbitiemore, zwell, Hayne, Rev. Wmi. Johnstand Representative Tim llurley. t also furnished~ fine gold' pens cost as high as $10 a pice and, jiing from the bills rendered, froifive to ten p)oket kniives to eachemnber during the The account$ Mr. Ilayden, (a jeweler of Chbttoa,)"dsignated A 1 by Woodruftearly demonstrate t he manner in inh hlk were rn.ised the amount being for five call bells $12 and raised to $112. by insert ing the figure one (1). We, quote from Mr. Woodruff"s diary in re ference to an account of Mr. Ilayw den for a watch for Senator Whitte. moie: "Wednesday, January 15, 1873, collected certificate for $945, and paid .ayday for Whittembre's watch. Gracious goodnepsl Whitte. more must have somewhere about ten thousfyid dollars this session. That ought to bo satisfactory. le is always, thongh, after one more." It has long been a mystery to the uninitiated where the matchless dia, inonds which flashed their rays of light in the balls of the capitol, the showy watch chains and expensive watches came from; but an inspec tion of Sultzbacher's accounts, and those of a similar nature, will reveal the startling tact that they were fur nished by an impoverished State. We submit a portion of Mr. Sulz bacher's account for repairing clocks, Nos. 25J and 261, and reforred to in A. 0. Jone's evidence, which will showy the amount to be several hun dred dollars. Mr. Glaze, another jeweler of Columbia, has several ac. counts, some of which are designated as Nos. 61,62 and 63 by A. 0. Jones. Instead of jewelry, we now have gorgeous military trappings for our legislative heroes, who belonged to a well equipped but badly organized militia. Ticse amounted to eomne thing over $2;100. I'i connection with these accounts suo evidence of P. Simikins, (under the head of "pay certiffiates,") who states that he pur chased some articles from Mr. Glaze, and 3t; acc'_-unt, as well as that ofS. J. Lee, %was setted with legislitivo pay cortificates. Afterward he and Lee were both sued, andO lie paid Mr. Glaze 6200, and Mr. Glaze still bolds the certificates as a claim a rainst the State. Ini the account of W. J. Whipper, ittorney at law, designased as 0 12, be charges the State the miodeet sum of $50 per day for 43 day's profos ional serviceji rendered the comnmit tee appointed to investigate the af rairs of the Bank of the State. This investigation resulted ini the ap1poinit ment of Represen,tative 0. 0. Puffer receiver, whereby thme State lost a arge amount of money by comnmis lions and other meane. For years large accounts, amiount.. ing to several hundred dollars annDus illy, have been paid for cleanmng the balls of the Senate and House of Re prescntativos, while hundreds of cons viots were in the city entirely idle. TLo illustato tho economy practiced now, we will state that not one dollar is paid out for such work, convict la b)or beihg utilized. WVe have exar'nined the accounts for fitting locks to tho desks of membors, and find that during one sossion the State was charged with 367 nowv locks where there are only 104 desks in the Scuato and JHouse, thuns giving more than two locks to oaob desk. We submit a few accounts for wood and coal. Upon a close calculation, we find that during oe sessionl more thamn 1,000 cordhs of wood and 1,320 tons of coal were charged for, and at the same time there was not a single wood-stovo in e at the State Hlouso. Srgeant Williams in his ovidence states that not a fourth of the wood and coal purchased was consumed at the State House. Hoe also says that Mr. Cr'ows furnished and delivered L.o any of the mernibers who asked for it this necessary commodit,y.. From the account of Mr. Mayrant it appears that he furnished Senators Whittemore, Maxwell and1( others withI wood. The bills renaored show that thou. saInds of dollarsa were spent annutiailly for stoves to heat tf,e Stato [louse iu committee roonias. Sergeanmt Wil llamatestilles tShat the committee rooms wore furnished with stovOb ..very .an, nomms that. whnm; he call-d for them, the members told him "it was none of his business." Mr. Palmer states that the stores in the House are worth $1,500 at this time, and that he does not find one-eigth of the stoves at the capitol which he' furnished. We will not attempt to give the amount of soap, hair brushes and towels furnished, but will simply state that the accounts amounted to thousands of dollarst Verily,. they should have been cleansed. We respectfully call your Mttention to the accounts designated as Nos. 811, 82, 82k. 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88 and 89, in evidence of A. 0. Jones, and C 7 and A 1 in the evidence of Afr. Woodriff', in which it is shown that btate officials, members of the House a4d Senate, clerks and attach ees'were furnished w ith most of the leading daily papers of the State and a large number of weekly country papers. In addition to the above the accounts, vouchers and evidence show that novels, law and other books were furnished to the men bers in order that they might while away their idle hours in improving their minds at the State's expense, I though thousands of their constitu.. I ents' children were unable to atter school for the want of books. In evi idence of the above we refer yon to accounts designated as A 2, W 5, and others of a similar kind, and the ev idence of A. 0. Jones. The accounts of W. K. Greetfield, Ilardy Solomon, M. J. Calnan, and others, show the amounts paid by the State for the use of so-called committOO rooms. These rooms were not only used during the sitting of the General Assembly, but were often,occupied during the-entire year at the extravagant price of 81 &per day rent for each room. Add to this the cost of furnishing, gas bills, re freshmentg, &c, and this of itself woold prove to the world that South Carolina was cursed with the most extravagant and corrupt class of leg islators known in ancient or modern times. We refer to accounts designated Nos. 2 to 5 respectively and No. 79 injcludcd in A. 0. Jones' evidence. It has been clearly demtonst rated that a sufficient sum has bieena paid in five years for rent of upper rooms in more'than one building to have pur chased the entire buitdtng. We call your attention to what seems to us a most palpable frand, designated as No.605 in evidence of A. 0. Jones. where R. K. Scott certifies that anI account for' room rent, amounting to $3,249.60, 'is justly due." Mr. 6 Jones in his evidence says that this ~ is an account of R. K. Scott for the ~ rent of a cottage for one year. It couldniot be sold for that amount to-day. Mr Greenfield says, in re ference to this matter that he rented tlo cottage in .rear of McKenzie's building to R. K. Scott, to be afted as a resort or caucus roonm during his1 eandidacy for the United Stafes Son ate, that he was paid by Gov. Scott, e and that ho has no knowledge of pay certificates being issued in payment thereof. Tho, .vroucher designiated b)y Wood.. ruff'as No. 26 is for rent of the resi, dence of John J. Pattersou, for the usc of Senators Whittomore, Owens and othere, who revelled ini stately mansions, enjoying their gains stolen1 from an impoverished people,,. while their poor dupes in their lowly cabins were sufferin)g for the necessaries of life. TH,E~ IRLL OF RASCALS. Th~le private bills of State officers Senators and members of the [louse, referred to in the evidence of Wood% ruff and Jones, include the names of th~ose who were the recipient of sup plies, a nid are as follows: Lieuiitenant Governor RIansier, Lieutenant Governor Gleaves; Sena tors C.l'. Le.!ie. L W imbhh 1I'-autr more, H. J. Ma*well, . D. Ji*yner Y. J. P. Owens, W. . Jen*a, -. M. Allen, J. Hollingshead, Robrt Smalls, W. B. Xash, 8. A. Swails, Goo. F. McIntyre, E. S. J. Hayes, Jas. A. Greon, John Lee, J. E. Green; .ueproentutives Jas. A. owley, Tim Horley, Joseph D. Boston, John B Dennis, 0. 11. Spetry, S. J. P. Simps kius, P. R. Rivers, W. M. Thomas, W. H. Jones, F. J. Msos, Benj Bya, Nelon Davies. a For further information we refer o various bills of this claSs 'designa :ed by Woodruff as Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 15, 21, 24, 5, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 30, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47,48, 53, 78, 110, 115, 118 and .118, a 12i a 2, A 14 W 4 W &, II 2, II 5, p 9, [1 10, II 15; also-to Noo. 21 and 54 'I ovidenco of A 0 Jones To enumerte the bills designated )y Mr Joiies in his evidonOe as liny ths" and l9quoer accounta" would Fill hundredR of pai.es. A few are nsorted to illustrate this manner of obbing the treasury. The originals ire submitted in his evidence, n m. jered as follows: N0. 1. A. Washburne $ 700 0o0 No. 48. James Stubnbim' 895 10 .4o, 68. A. L. Stingum 8,584 19k No. 81. William Hall 1,000 0 No. 89. Simeon P. !Sinplos 600 0 No. 88. J. 8- J. Oilman 4.,160 0C No. 118. 8. Goodman 1,978 40 No. 120. R. W. Johnsoln 8,021 2& No. 121. 8. J. Brown 8,752 1 No. 122. J. Crosswell 985 T No. 13. R. 0. Burkell 600 00 Making an aggregate of $20,308 88' Mr. Jones says tLeso "myths were pushed through under cover of "and others," and that "the 'umber was io great It would have been foofish iess in him to have made inquiries :oncerning thom." He also ays If ie bad placed qpy impediffient,in the way of certificates beiirg iwed t#e ay this class of ctAit. be ta'ld lave lost his position, and tha. a o'nve instances the oIIm snppl'ies fu-. iished was the paper on whieb the Lecount was made out. Sergeans NVilliams testified that vonochers' and ccounts were made out in the imes f fictious peonsJ1 for large amnounts' >assed upon of the Committee oft 30ntingent Acegpnts, anid pay cier ificates drawn for theta~ and deity red to dift'erent meriabers. He re, ognized ND.1I referred to M evI'... once of A. 0. bones a one of thaE lssa. It calls for $1,125, and he hinks it was given to W. H. Jones, member from Georgetown. A arge number of accounts were made ut in the name of John Williams, ergeantsat--Arms, among them Noe. 3 and 91, amounting to *5,482.02, iso 92 to 11, inclusive, amounting to 15,030.08. W hen Mr. W illiams wai being exa mined, he said: "I know nothing of most of these accounts. I allowed ry name be used to assist frhe mneta er's from- timo to time. Blowley, )ennis, Thomas and others were fre ~uently benefiTied by the neeo of my amo. Tbc State received no con,. doration whatever for the certiflfs ates issued in theo payment of these ccountis. I did not know my namer vas used so.often, not' for such larger mounts, until now. I am sure It vas arranged by introducing a leg slative claim in my n)ame- and ad.. ling the wores'and others' to it, there. >y getting it passed without Creating may suspicion that it was a fraud. I 'emember the $8,b00 account; that was for the Committee on Contingent Accounts. I think they took $600' upiece. Thbey.promised-me $500, but oever gaveo it to me." Your committee cannot undertaker to enumerate all the accounts subwd mitted with this report, but, wHf a'e' fer yon to a few rendered by Misee Kinard and W. D. Love & o., deak ae in dry goods, and to those of' Mosrs. St ratss & B3rotheor, D. .Ip.. (cONcLUDED~ ON FoURTH PAGES]