The herald and news. (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, February 16, 1906, Page FOUR, Image 4
E. H. AULL, EDITOR.
Entered at the Postoffice at New
krry, S. C., as 2nd class matter.
Friday, February 16, 1906.
SENATOR TILLMAN
BEFORE COMMITTEE
(Continued From First Page.)
came on by the legislative committee
and one thing and another was
brought out in connection with the
dispensary management, showing a
condition of mismanagement and cor
rnption, that was disgusting and dis
graceful, causes me to turn again and
say wherein has this board obeyed the
'law? I found from the testimony
that came out and I learned from gen
eral conversation that the require-.
ment in the dispensary law with ref
erence to signing requests that would
serve as a basis of settlement be
tween the county dispenser and the
town and county was not obeyed; I
found that these things' had been
thrown in the waste basket and I said
here is, a board ignoring the statutes
in regard to the purchase of liquor
and this other matter which would
leave things to run out at both ends.
Why this was done I could not an
swer and I have not been able to state
any intelligible reason in my own
mind why. If you will examine the
oath that these men took you will see'
that they swore to support and en
force the law. They broke it in the
first place in regard to purchasing
and in the second place in regard to
that particular point in the dispen
sary law which I regard as of vitali
importance, and I might mention one
or two other particulars in which they
kave disobeyed and failed to enforce
it.
I began to feel that these men, if
not corrupt, certainly were under sus
* picion. As to the condition in Spar
tanburg, I analyzed that and 1 found
that under the law the county board
of Spartanburg had been practically
appointed by the coutny delegation
from Spartanburg. The law was
" elrnged, I do not know how many
years ago, taking away from the
governor, where it had, been, this re-!
sponsibiity in regard to the adminis
tration of the law and putting it in
'the hands of the board to be electe'd
by the legislature. This certainly
was political machinery. I therefore
decided that it was time for me to
take a hand in South Carolina poli
tics once more. I went about in re
sponse to invitations and made speech
es at various places and I prepared
several paragraphs of those speeches
in typewritten copies and put them in
the papers. I was still unwilling to
charge dishonesty. Evidenc~e has beeni
produced that this same .board has.
bought from the glass works down
here bottles at an excessive price and
the same bottles or similar bottles:
which could be bought in North Caro
lina or in Georgia at lower prices;
and whiskey has been purchased at
excessive prices the very same or bet
ter whiskey is sold by the distiller or
manufacturers of Georgia at lower
yrices. This smoke was getting very
big and it seems to me stealing was
going on here. I had the courage to
say it and I. believe it and that is all
there is to it. Thati s the basis of it.
Now who has got it I do not know.
I will say in this connection I want~
this committee in response to speech
es that have been made and demand
one way or another that they probe
this thing to the very root. Go back
to the beginning and come on down,
or begin here and go back, whichever!
you choose; just so you travel the
road from end to end. Investigate
Governors Tillman, Evans, Ellerbe
and MeSweeney. I demand it so far
as I am concerned and I leave it to
you gentlemen to do as you please.
I have nothing to conceal or to be
afraid of from an investigation by
.any mortal, either alive or dead.
which could be brought out against.
me. I started to say that for years
and years, less frequently of late, in
the past very commonly so, 10 or 11
years ago there were accusations,
charges, insinuations, sneers, appear
ig~ in certain newspapers and utteredl
by certain people' that T had linedl my
pockets with rebates and had 2otten
rich. When I left the governor 's
ofice in '94 1 returned to my home in
edgfield. I had .occasion .to buy]
some land for the piurpose of getting
a home on the railroad. I was born
and reared ten miles from a depot or
a telegraph office. Having been elect
ed to the senate of the United States,
it was necessary that I should get in
touch with the world more intimately,
so I bought a plantation at Trenton
for which I paid cash. This buzzing
in the air, this slander and these lies.
I will say. going about the country.
notwithstanding the people had pass
ed on them by electing me, they were
passed on in the campaign of '94,
when I was practically elected to the
senate, these things caused some peo
ple to go to Edgefield and search the
records to see what I had, how much
property I possesed, and it was parad
ed in the press that Senator Tillman
had bought a plantation; my life was
invaded, my personal property was
not sacred. The probe of the enemies
of Ben Tillman went into my indi
vidual business and they would pub
lish facts necessitating at last my
friend, Mr. W. A. Clark, president of
the Carolina National bank, to come
out and state that he had loaned me
from his bank the full amount of the
purchase money, $6,000-because I
had entered public life poor and if
there is any credit to claim it. I am
poor yet.
(Interrupted by applause.)
They paraded my individual affairs.
I want to say without presuming to
criticise you gentlemen of the commit
tee, you know your own business and
you ought 0) be able to discharge
it intelligently without suggestion2
from me, when I saw from reports
that your members had gone about
trying to find out something about the
present financial status of the present
members of the board it was under
stood that you could not go into such
things as that. Why make these dis
criminations ? I had to endure it. Are
these men any better than I am ? If
public money has found its way into
officials' private pockets it is your
duty to investigate it and don't honey
fuggle but to go to the bottom in any
way possible. (Applause.)
Chairman Hay-Where is your au
thority for that, Senator Tillman?
Senator Tillman-I am giving cir
cumstantial evidence coupled with va
rious statements that have been
brought out in evidence and it is in
evitable I would say that no mani
would prostitute his office and diso
bey the law so brazenly and openly
in making purchases for the state at
these exorbitant rates over and above!
prices people in other states are pay-I
ing if there was not something in it
for them. That is the logic of the
situation. Circumstantial evidence is!
the strongest evidence when it will
old and it is very weak when it will
ot hold. Why would any man ob
ject to his private affairs being in
estigated if his character is involv
d ? I cannot see how any man can
refuse to have the fullest investiga
ion made in a financial way or in any
ther way if his name is involved. If
e owns~ any p)rop)ertyv he oughtl to be
ble to explain where lie got iP and
here the money came from. Here
is another corroborative stateient go
ng around, that one member of the
board resigned a $1,300 place to take!
ne at $400. I do not know whether
that is so or not. You, gentlemen,
an find out. if he did. it is a won
derful thing to do; in Washington
you always find them wanting a little
higher salaries, want more pay. I de
pend as far as I am going upon the
ircumstances which I have adduced.
showing the failure of this board to
obey the law in two very important
particulars and the evidence brought
out by this investigation, showing
that glass had been bought under De
uliar eireumstances. To describe it.
using a mild phrase, as to the whis
key that has been bought and these
other things, why should a public offi
eer engage in such transactions if
there was not something in it fo r
him? That is all there is to it. Let~
somebody answer that. (Senator
Tilman then went into a minute de
scription of the brands of whiskey
that had been bought under his ad
ministration, his trips to different
parts of the country, the manner of
manufacturing the different brands.
prices paid for same and the manner
in which purchased).
Mr. Lyon--Did you ever request
Governor Evans to mg~ke any pur
hase from the Mill Creek Distilling~
cmpany, at a higher price than the
Ross company offered. and ir so. what
was paid on it ?
A. I do not recolleet that I ever
id proablyv T did. T thmwght theI
man who stood by t-he dispensary in
its infancy ought, should, not be
thrown overboard because some recti
fier from Baltimore or elsewlhere
would come down liere and offer rot
gut to us at lower prices.
Mr. LvoiL-'So far as I am inform
ed, the committee has no other ques
tion to ask unless some individual
member has, or. the board of directors
who stand uider accusation as I un
derstand it. They may possibly de
sire to be heard ltrough their repre
sentatives. ff so, I suggest. that he
come on the stand and take my place,
in order that he may propound such
questions as he may desire. I make
the motion that the board of directors
or any particular member who may
be here he given anl opportunity to be
heard if they so desir,.
By Mr. BeUinger.
General Bellinger, who represents
Messrs. Boykin and Towill, proceed
ed to question Senator Tillman. as
follows:
Q. Your intention in offering your
self to the committee was to testify
as a witness?
A. I did not offer myself to the
committee except under this condi
tion: The newspapers were sneering
and using every imaginable argument
against the dispensary and suggested
that Senator Tillman ought to come
before the committee and tell what he
knows. I had been making speeches
and feeling then as now. I was will
ing to give any light I could. I did
not have as much information then as
now, but I was ready to appear before'
the committee whenever they wanted
me.
Q. That is the point I wish to em
phasize. At the time you offered
yourself to the committee you did not
have as much information as you
have now?
A. No.
Q. Your idea in coming before the
committee was to make a speech be
fore the committee, was it? Or to
testify to facts which you yourself
ner'e acquainted with?
A. I. did1 not feel like makiing a
peech. I have p.leuty of. op)portunli
ics to miake speeches.
Q. You will please answer my~
(uestion. senator.
A. .1 had no puriipose to make a
speech, because I would not have an
adience and I caninot talk veryx well
o empty benches.
Q. WVas it your desire to appear
efore the committee and testify as to
facts?
A. I certainly would not state
aything that were not facts or as I
elieve them to be.
Q. 'Your intention iln coming be
ore the committee was for what pur
A. To make a siuggestioni and that
hey might get ut the truth.
Q. IDid yout not 0on sever'al ocea
~ios5 at various p)laces inl this state
ad perhaps in Washington once or
w 'ice state that there was collusion
ad fraud and( you could prove\' it?
A. WVhat t stated was in tihe p)a
>ers.
Q. That you could prloveC it
A. To prove it from circumstan
tial evidence which I. have adduced.
Q. Did you make this statement,
that there was collusion and fraud
nd you could prove it ?
A. I have got a very bad memory
s to the exact phrase. 1 have been en
aged from 12 to 16 hours a day since
ongress met and I have not got this!
atter in shape in the few moments
f consideration as I would glance
hrough the papers at night and see
what was going on and I had no pur
pose in saying anything about the sit-I
ation down here until some gentle
men of the legislature dragged my
ame in.
Q. You wanted to comae here to
'indicate yourself?
A. I have got nothing to vindi
.ate. What do you mean by v'indi
eating my position?
Q. When you charged the dispeni
sary board, the present managers of
that board, with fraud and stated that
the dispensary -system was good and
the only thing to do was to turn out
the present thieves, that is the posi
tion you desired to come down here
nd sustain yourself on?
A. I did not desire to come here
t all. If somebody had not asked
that I should come. and you are the
very mani. T helieve, who did it. But
for that. I would b,e in Washington
Q. Don't you think. representing
as I do, some of the members of the
.ard he T ased. thisc.ommittee
Come an
Dainty Turnove>
Collai
c. & Q.
to bring you here that you should try
to prove what you said you could
prove?
A. So far as I ani concerned. I did
not think anything about it. I stand
wn my record. stand on my character.
tand oin what I am and what I have .
done.
Q. You have said that you were
harged by many people in this ]
state with lining your pockets with
ebates and commissions when you
ere managing this dispensary?
A. You know that to be so.
Q. I know this was so. You were
o charged.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And a great mainiy people in the
4ate believed that?
A. Yes. I believed they did. Do
vou want to know my reason?
Q. No use to give that now.
A. Xou do not want jmy oini~on~
Q. You can give it.
A. .1 look at it fr.om this stand
oint: There is no doubt if I h]ad
)eenl corrupt and wanted to make
noney out of my position as governor
ii buying whiskey, 1 could have done1
it.' There is no use to dispute that
roposition. It is too self-evident
that those men who were my enemies
av I could do it if I so willed and
they reasoned i.t he could, he has, and
then the inevitable corollary follow
d. that they believed I had stolen
eause if they had been in my place
they would have stolen. (Applause.)
Q. Senator, will you please give
s niow~ the evidence upon which you
)ased your conclIusion that those
bomn vou charged with stealing had
dolen ? I want to test y-our circum-j
iatial evidence. Have von given
s thle facts upionl which youn base
our oni* lus4ionh15tI tIhai this iatingernent
d (islonesi, the presenlt mnanageniellt.
hch youi have placed before this
~ommittee? ?
A. Let me suggest. .1 am suggesting
:o the committee and not you. You
ire not the man.
Q. You say this is unot a request
o comp)etitive bids? (Mr. Belling
r exhibits the circular which the sen- I
ator had previously read.)(
A. I do.
Q. What would be?
A. A bid or advertisement which
ould specify in terms that you could
recognize and prove when you receiv
d it whether or not it had come up to
~pecifications.
Q. How would you prove that fact.'
Leaving out the chemical purity andi
the standard test of 100?
A. I1 would go to the government
ond warehouse and I would buy it
nut of the warehouse.
.Q. Did you do that. with Hubbel?
A. No, and I have told you why.
Q. If you di.d not do that when
you had charge of the dispensary,
~xhy do you say these men should do
o iow?
A. Because they have had the op)
portuity with cash to do it and I
hid not. I had to buy on credit.
Q. When you managed the dispen
av the law did not require any comi
petit ive bid ?
A. No. didl noi require anlybi
ing at all.
. You had theC entirye ma nigement
A. 'Yes. sir: and the c-omptrerei
eneal end the attorney geiarn12
Q. Th- mjDinu infrinsie valuej
ISee . ..
Everytl
in NEC
rs,
7 and Cuff Sets,
Lace Stole
S. MOW
STATE
(CONDI
The Exchange Bank
December
"ommenced business September, 1905.~
I44' RESOURCES.
,oans andl~iscounts ......$ 79,304 12
Purniture and fixtures......... 3,251 75
)ue from Banks................. 11,616 89
)verdrafts.............. ... ....... 462 63
,ash and cash items............ 23,505 44
$118,140 83
We beg that you give our statement y
pectfully solicit your business.
We are prepared to offer you every fa
ustify. Remember, too, we pay 4 per c
ompounded semi-annually, January and
J. D. DAVENPORT, President.
R. C. CARLISLE, Vice-President.
BEG. D. Di
itill in the market, and headque
New crop Florida Cabbage,
Seed Irish Potatoes, Hams,
Evaporated Peaches, Appi
Plum Pudding, Postum,
Grape Nuts, Shreaded
Cream of Wheat, H
Loose Buckwheat, ,
Fresh line of Chc
Olives and Pic:
Coffee from:
-Ground fre
High gr
Garde
Aif
We are making a special run
-larness. Call and see me beft
Phone 110.
The Pacific Mutu
Comr
Its peculiar LEGAL organizat
..ife Insurance Company in Am
>ld. It gives the Greatest Guar
>f any Insurance Company at le
-ates are LESS than any other
section.
The following are the RATE
>atinlg plan:
Whole 20 Paymeni
Age Life Life
20 $14.65 $22.60
21 15.00 22.95
22 15.35 23.30
23 15.70 23.70
24 16.05 24.10
25 16.45 24.55
26 16.85 25.00
27 17.80 25.4.5
28 17.75 25 90
29 18.25 26.40
30 18.75 26.95
31 19.25 27.50
32 .19 80 28.05
33 20.40 28.60
34 21.05 29.20
3521.70 . 29.85
36 22.40 30.50
37 23.15 31.20
38 23.90 31.95
39 24.75 32.70 -
40 25.60 , 8.
41 26.53o 34.33
42 27.55 35.25
CALL T SE E US.
ROBERT
GENERAL AGENT FOF
Newberry. So
ing New
'KWEAR
s and
Windsor Ties.
'ER C0.
MENT
'NSED)
of Newberry, S. C.
30, 1905.
ixty per cent of Capital Stock ealled for.
, IL'A2LITIES.
Capital Stock paid in..........$ 31,330 N
Profits less expenses paid.... 2,045 92
Deposits, viz:
Banks...............$ 1,4 7 03
Individual......... 83,307 88-$ 84,764 91
$118,140 -8
our careful consideration, and we re
cility which your business and balance
ent. interest in our savings department,
July. We take deposits from $1.00 up.
M. L. SPEARtAN, Cashier.
GEO. B. CROMER, Atty.
MVN PORT
trters for good things to eat.
es and Apricots,
Quaker Oats,
.Wheat,
ecker's Buck Wheat and
Junkey Tablets,
colate Candies, Jellies,
kles,
20c. to 35c. per lb., and
e of charge by Electric Mill,
ade Teas,
n Seeds of all kinds,
ull line of Fancy Toilet Soaps.
on Buggies and Wagons and~
>re buying elsewhere.
al Life Insurance
>any.
ion makes it the STRONGEST
erica. It is neafly 40 years
antees written in the Policies
~ss cost. Its non-participating
company doing business in this
S per $1,000 on non-partici
Whole 20 Payment
Age Life Life
43 $28.60 $36820
44 29.70 37.20
4.5 30.90 38.25
46 32.15 39.2k
47 33.50 405
48 34 95 41.75
49 36 50 43.10
50 38.15 44.50
.51 39.90 46.00
52 41.75 47.60
53 43.75 49.30
54 45.85 51.15
55 48.10 533.10
56 . 50.50 55 20
57 53.10 57.45
58 - 56.85 5.9.8S
59 58.30 62 45
6061.95 6.25
61 65.30 ~ 08.16
.462 - 68.92 71.45
66 73.80 74.95
64 78.35 78.76
65 81.50 . 83.20
OFFICE OVER POST OFFICE.
NORRIS,
SOUTH CAROLINA,
uth Carolina.