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January io and he ofiered the names of the officers and directors from the license tax reports of the Richland Distilling company and the Carolina Glass works, two concerns in Colum bia with which the dispensary has considerable dealings. Of course, it is understood that Governor MCSweeney had no connec tion with The rumors of bids being made for jobs, while such may have been going on. The rumors may have been reported to him, but he could harlly have stopped the rumors or done anything. No one suggested that offers came directly or indirectly to him, although propositions may have been made by parties who were alleged to have pulls. Thursday Afternoon Session. Mr. William Ellio, Jr., stated that he heard his name had been mention ed a+ the morning session as a joke on Mr. Huseman. He wished it stated that he had never in his life represented a whiskey house or had any connection with any such firm. He had never in his life directly or indirectly represented in any way a liquor dealer. He had very carefully kept away from the dispensary, di rectly or indirectly, and had never made a fee in any way from the dis pensary. He was asked by Mr. Evans to be present and hear a certain state ment from Mr. Huseman. He was perfectly willing to answer any ques tions which he might be able to. He went on to say that he had repre sented Mr. H. H. Evans in a libel suit brought against a Barnwell news paper, but o'herwise he had never had any connection with any one connected with the dispensary, and this connection with the libel suit was absolutely as an attorney for Mr. Evans personally, and was in no wise connected with the dispensary. As sbon as Mr. Elliot had made his personal statement, a former mem ber of the state board, Dan M Miles, was called to the stand and explained how whiskeys were bought. The board would divide up according to its likes. Outside of one grade it bought the cheapest liquor if it came up to grade. He did not think his board advertised for bids. The prices were generally on thle bottles. As a rule the agents were on hand. They bought on a basis of quality accord ing to price and they tried to buy as cheap as possible. The board had no taster. The board ~bought by a majority vote. His board put 8o proof whiskey on the market to de feat the "blind tigers." This was an effort to compete with the tigers. His board bought case goods. They bought very little, if any, cheap case goods. He A - liquor (by the smell. His board uid $1.40 to $1.50 per gal ion for 1-X. His board tried to buy on a competitive basis and always tried to 'buy the cheapest and best liquor. They always knew from whom they bought by the sample bottle being marked on the outside. His vote was often in the minority on purchase. No offer at bribery was ever made to him. He though-r offers came to those who hinted at such things. He did suspect some thing wrong, but he had no reasons to stand on or to repeat. He was will ing to answer any direct questions. He thought Mr. Duothit rejected sev eral lots of whiskey. The board carried good stocks and purchased monthly, but he did not recollect the facts, as it was ten years ago. Mr. Dillingham said he had never been paid twice by any one for any expenses.. He reiterated that he had worked willingly for Governor Hey ward and had the highest regard for him. He went on to explain the Howard beer dispensary transaction. Smith Thomason told him he was to get halk the profits out of Howard beer dispensary. Thomason borrow ed $50 from him for the business and Thomnason and Howard were to di vide the profits, as told him. An affidavit was presented from D. M. Howard and in This he stated that he was to receive a salary as heer dispen ser of S3o, and he understoo~d Mr. Smith Thomnason was the real owner of the privilege and that Mr. D. M. Miles had nothing in the world to do with the privilege. Mr. Z. A. Searson. a former inspec:or and special attor nev. testified that he had been em ployed as an expert accountant. He relat2i his experience a; expert ac coumn -n and he entered into a volum noi story of how he had gone into the finances and especiall the loose method of handling the contraband room. He eulogized the bookkeeping methods and believed that the board follows rhe statute. He found some competent county boards aid found that some boards signed reports with out knowing what they were doing. After a while Mr. Searson's testimony became interesting and he explained how he discovered tampering with labels at Scotia. The goods weAe in the hands of a successor. The case was settled and according to instructions there was no criminal prosecution. On another occasion he told of how a dispenser had padded his reports by partly filled cases. He suggested that every box be examined by the inspectors. He knew That Dispenser Bishop allowed beer to be consumed in his back room. He found, Windham. of Sumter, short Si.,oo, bu) thought the error was in Columbia. He had the accounts made up here and found that $1,500 goods had been improperly charged him. The goods were shipped to Summerville instead of Sumter and charged in error. He noticed crown pullers in back doors at several places. He ra7her believed in liberal construction Of the dispen sary law to meet conditions. He rather ridiculed request books being strictly used, and saw no great harm allowing beer to be consumed on or near the premises. He thought these little things would regulate them selves if the larger infractions were stopped. He wanted to see reforma tion. He knew nothing about the Bryan Lawrence shortage. He has not roeen connected with the dispen sary since March, 1905. He did not hear of the Lawrence matter. The record, Mr. Lyon said, showed that Mr. Lawrence had never paid for any of the liquor gotten from the dispensary for the Isle of Palms. Mr. Searson said he annually set tled the Tiencken shortage and ac cepted a second mortgage in part of the final settlement. In the Terry shortage nothing he thought could be done. The suit was improperly brought. Then there was a case of the Argyle hotel privi lege. A check for $I,ooo given was turned down, but he finally got the money for the check. He collected all the Charleston shortages that could be kept alive. He brought suit against Toland, of Spartanburg, Bedenbaugh, of Prosperity, and Riv ers, of Hampton. These suits are all now pending for shortages. These suits were filed a year or two ago. He got a settlement in the Camden claim. where the bank, the Sco'tia matt r, the Tiencken case, The Ar gyle hotel company and other set tlements were made by him. He forced settlements in freight claims. He understood whiskey was vended at touristc hotel privileges. Mr. Searson is a remarkable talker, and his fluency of language and his comments greatly interested the corm mittee during his long examination. He appeared to have been a careful observer and to have done effective work. Capt. 3. H. Claffy, the superintendent of the dispensary. was next examined. He has charge of the liquor. There is a lot of liquor stored; in fact the storage capacity is overtaxed. There is considerable liquor there nowv that was there when he went in. They are mostly case goods. Most of it was medium grades. More goods are bought and stored than npeded i nhis opinion. He saw no need for such large stocks. He had no voice whatever in ordering whiskey. He had never had the storage room vacant, and it is almost always overcrowded. Wine on hand is very slow in selling. The people 'buy little wvine for some reason. They have just begun bottling hibher price liquors. The lower grades are put up plainer. Samples of recent bot tling were exhibited. The dispen sary is getting out a number of new brands. The state buys the goods as straight goods. a. state is now puting up in their better grades three ryes, :wo corns and two mal:s. The names adopted by the state for its bottling are: Carolina Belle. Caro ina's Pride, Private Stock, Standard \Malt, Monogram Rye. Columbia Club. ld Mountain Corn. Private Stock. Thse are all special grades. The !!(we'stary hai receivedl a corload( of; bes new labels. He hadu no idea io far these labels woulId go. These aes are not usedl on tte cheaper are used on the cheaper brand . He did not know how long the carload of labels would last. 1-e had not condemned any liquor at the dis pensary. The samples were ordered returned to the dispensary by 'Mr. Gaston. All of the new glass came from the Carolina Glass company of Columbia. By Mr. Blease: He knew nothing of the purchase .of December. 1904. or whether it has been received yet or not. By Mr. Gaston: The board increas ed certain salaries without his request or recommendation. He recommend ed the increased pay for the foremen, and he told the board, when asked, that he had no objection to general increases of s-:'aries of all the help. The general help petitioned for in creases., and he had no objections, as he knew it cost very much to live in Columbia, but he had not recom mended it. Comptroller General A. W. Jones explained that his last apportionment of the dispensary school fund was in April. There is now no fund for dis tribution. He had no funds since April. Several superintenden'ts of ed ucation asked him if there would be further distributions. The fund could be used for school buildings. but the schools have had no funds since April from the dispensary. General Jones went over the distributions he has made since he has been in office. He presented the original license tax return of the Richland Distilling com pany on request. It showed as diec tors the following: N. M. Block, A. Block, I. W. Bernheim, S. J. Lana-han, and J. S. Farnum. Authorized capi tal stock $100,000, paid in $8o,ooo. Distillery located in Columbia. He did not know the residnece of the di rectors, and the return did not show who were stockholders. He was also asked to present the. license tax re turn of the Carolina Glass company, of Columbia. The officers are: John Jacob Seibels, president and treasurer; S. C. Norton, general manager; J. H. Williams, superintendent, and Thomas Taylor. Jr., secretary. Directors: John Jacob Seibels, Edwin G. Seilbels, B. W. Taylor, Benjamin F. Taylor, William S. Reamer and Thomas Tay lor, Jr. The paid up capital stock was $54,000. Authorized capital $6o, ooo. He -did not know 'the stock holders in either corporation and the returns did not show the stockholders of record. This concluded the after noon's testimony. The committee was in session over seven hours today. The Mixson Letters. Columbia, Aug. 2.-At the opening of the morning session of the dis pensary investigating commission today Representative Gaston sprung a. sensation the first dash out of the box by producing the letters of J W. Kelley & Co., to their state agent, Col. F. M. Mixson. Mr. Gaston prefaced the introduc tion by asserting that the letters showed that if there is anything wrong going on with the South Caro lina dispensary -the wrong-d'ing is in high places as well as among the county dispensary managements. "These letters show that the whiskey houses are debauching the state of South Carolina through 'its officers in the dispensary directorate." said Mr. Gaston, with a voice ringing with indignation. "They show that these Kelley people had reason to know before hand wha,t orders to expect of the beard, and while the nature of the conferences between - the repre sentatives of the firm and members of the board in distant cities is still veiled in secrecy enough is revealed to show that members of the board have flagrantly violated the laws of South Carolina regarding the manage ment of the dispensary." Mr. Gaston then proceeded to read extracts from these letters. These extracts make an interesting connect ed story of the campaign the Kelley people instituted. whereby they in-I creased their sales :o the South Caro lina dispensary from nothing to .oo cases at a clip, the stuff coming in first in the form of a roo-case or der and finally by the carload. Getting In Work. Here is the first of the extracts: Jan. ro.-See what you car' do with :he rnembers of :he board." "March 24.-Our Mr. W hite has rust seen our friend. See all dispen ers :n state you can and get them o order our Siler Springs and Deep WAN One million old plows, pl horse shoes, buggy tires an castings, S grates, in fact any kind. We old copper, I zinc, rubber shoes. Wool wax. Highest I S. S. Bir 0 The Right DI 0 For Medicines Gilder, Weeks SOUTH CAROLIP 1805-19 Four Schools: Arts, Law, System of Wide Election. Opens September BENJAMIN GLOV 0 The Right D $ For a Squa + Gilder, Weeks year. H g gade of wor.Hg h sta Csevatory advantagese in EMecic prvRemnarkable health record; only on Close personal attention to the health a pupil. High standard of scholarship. public occasions. CHARGES VERY adr24th Annual Sesion will begn Se FOR BARGAI] IN FURNIr ANID t J. COME FED , pounds of [w shares, wagon and d axles, old #toves and old iron of also want >rass, lead, coats and and bees )rice? paid. ge Co. Y, isC. rug Store That Cure & Hunter IA COLLEGE 05. 3ciences and Teachers. Expenses Moderate. 27th, 1905. ER, President. irug Store+ re Deal, i& Hunter ile College! Over 2oo boarding pupils last ndard of culture and social life. Advanced courses in Art and lights and other modern im Sdeath among pupils in 23 years. ud social dvelopmealik oevery [,OW. pt. 13th, 1905. For catalogue [)ES, A. M., PRESIDENT, Littleton, N. C. TUR E i GOODS !Y. S. 03