Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL XLV NO 9 NEWBERRY) S. C., IFPIDAY, JANUARY 31. 1908. TIEAWE.$.0AYA DISPEN~SARY AFFAIRS IN THE LEGISLATURE SENATOR BLEASE WINS FIGHT AGAINST ADMINISTRATION. Railro,ad Measures Considered-Pro hibition Bill In The House-Oth er Matters. Special to The Herald and News. Columbia. Jan. 30.-The feature of the legislative proceedings this week so far is the senate's refusal to pass the resolution asked for by Gov. An sel, on the suggestion of Attorney General Lyon. in regard to the status of the dispensary funds. Senator Blease. who opposed Gcv. Ansel last summer led the fight against this res olution in the senate, and he had the support of other senators. who made legai arguments against the measure. The governor on Tuesday sent in a special message suggesting the pas 'sage of a resolution declaring that in providing for the commission to wind up the state dispensary the general assembly did not intend to create a trust fund but that the commission is the agent of the State, and also ap proving the course the commission has pursued in looking into the claims against the dispensary. The house at once. upon explanation that the reso lution was desired to assist the attor ney general in proceedings pending in the federal court at Asheville, passed the resolution asked for by the gov ernor, but in the senate the objection. of Senator Blease to immediate -con sideration was under the rules suf ficient to carry it vore for one day -and on Wednesday the Newberry sen ator renewed the fight. The resolu tion was by consent amended so as to -ut out the 'endorsement of the com mission and then it was thought it would pass but the motion to table was carried by a vote of 19 to 1S. Fol lowing is the report of .Senator Blease'.; speech taken from the Co - umbia State: "Senator Blease was recognized by the chair and made a lengthy speech in opposition to the measure. He had before him a number of newspaper clippings and other papers and an nounced that he was prepared to make some very interesting showings and hoped the senators would pay special attention to the reading of tihe news paper cilppings. "He stated. however, before begin ning his argument against the resolu tion that he would be glad to have it go over as he felt that there were oth er mat ters of importance on the cal endar which siould be disposed of. and be warned the senate that no lit tie t'me wonld be co'nsumred in consid ering this resolution. This suggestion was not acceptable. and the senator from Newberry proceeded. "He said that 'he was opposed to resolution on a number of grounds. In the first place he considered it an :attempt to whitewash the disepnsary commission; there had been charges madie against the commission and it ill-'behoored the general assembly at t.his time to pass a resolution comn mending the commission in everything they had done; as for himself he was not willing to commend the commis sion and he thought that if the senate investigated matters some they would oppose this resolution. "He said that Governor Ansel 'had turned out of office the members of the former board of directors-Raw linson. Black and Wylie-and now the lea'islature is asked to set its seal of approval upon the members of the! State dispensary commission for do ing what the directors were condemn ed for doing. referring to the accep tance of the Clark-c pure-hase of liquor Tt was charged that the board had pur'?hased these licuors from Clarke Bros. & Co.- illegally and the general assembly passed a resolution asking the g'overnor to take some action. and as a result the governor turned the members of the 'board out of office. The commission later accepted these same goods which th.e lezislature hadI decided were purehased illegally and no0w it is .p)roposed to en iorse the ac tion of the commission. He declared that it was not right-that if the mis' Iia .1dc '' ila w 'i 2.1 li .:2 v 'el amii y :t :efud: the hands1t11 1 'f the e:mmisi1. were deposited in a t lun1 l1 a baik, of which 1r. Mur- i+ ray. clairnian of the colnussion, is a e, directo;r. Thiere had been other chiarg- t!I es against the commission and he t thought a mistake would be made in 1b passing such a resolution as is propos- a ed. He said that the adoption of this $ resolution would be nothing less than e, a slap in the face of Judge, Pritchard, e: and would undoubtedly be so con- it slreed by him. "He said that a governor, with a ti 'hackbone. having removed one set of o offieers for doing a thin- declared to ii be ille nl. would have removel an other set of men for Committing the same oilense. Senator Blease followed up his sig- S :l victory over the administration by a ie''Ution ea!'if* for all pa ,,er1s ad .I1 ":;e< ondonee l i .:r1 111 :th mat t ' t ; i: )tanc. 1 :he m mis- .8 si+n ot the (elebrat.'d larke Brose I -.V ' will be reea0 1':' 1 la.t s in ?:, :en:eral a":.a.:1b- ly '> .is re o ; it:1.a i1r:tl led that the worsa e jiot he:i theal State.board of control * for their action in purchain, a lar'O " t1. [t. wi.k , it was c'lain.o ilI gal lv. from Clarke Bros. & Co., of 1 Peoria, Ill.. and that subs. nuentlv tih" 1 ComI1lssit'n to wind up the dispen- tl sarv acce'ied the whis.key in ques- ' tiol, which had been pronounced unlfit. tl Senator Blease now wants to have tire correspondence a:bouf this matter ti placed before the senate. It was stat ed in the senate that the commission's action was taken because of the pro- P mise of the Clarke concern to give t what evidence it mi!rht have as to g.,aft in the State dispensary's con duct and Senator Blease said this was t bribery. Following is th resolution by Senator Blease: a u: "Be it resolved. by the senate of South Ciarolina. the house of repres entatives concurring: "-That the commission appointed to wind up the affairs of the State dis pensary be and they are hereby re quested to furnish to this general as -embly a report of all of their deal ingis with the Clarke purchase of whiskey and that they furnish copies of their correspondence with Messrs. Hull and Dudley of the Clarke conm pany. especia lly the correspon.:deuce and tranlsactions between the chair man of said board and Mr. Dudley.'' bi Prhibition is theC pending issue be fore tile house. Tihe Xash bill may be voted on today, as it was under dis o.nesion when the hour arrived yes-n terdav for the memorial exercises inE 'onor1 of the late MessrS. J. M. Epting.. of Lexingttoin. and W. F. McArthur of Cherokee. both of whom have died sh:ee the last sessioPn. Mr. Nash made 5, a strong argumenlt for prohibition e yesterday when his bill was brought a up. and he was support by Mr. D. I.. Smith, of Colleton: Mr. Morrell, of ~ m Another of Mr. Nash's bills, to es- - b( tablish the department of insurance Iar with a commissioner has been k-illed h<i by the house, the vote being 48 to 33. e Practically the same bill has 'been fa aain introduced. jre The bill of Mr. Hydrick, to require~ pc the existence of crops to make a mort- Ito age thereon va.lid, was passed by a ju vote of 57 to 45. This is intended lu o supplement the repeal of the lien law, for which the house has voted. Tihe bill of Mr. Gyles, of Aiken, to nermit an election in Aiken on the Pi dispensary in April passed the house,I after a discussion of the conditions in that county by members of the Aik en del'egation. Mr'. Croft wanted the Si election in August but the bill as drawn passed. being amended so as re to include Colleton also. to The senate has considered several rairoad measures this week. Senator Itr; Graydon' b 1ill to prohibit th e runnIinUe of doule hleaders was passed. by a fu vote of 19 to 10, and his bill to extend an the law as to contributory negligence s.n' was naseed, after being anmended so as to apply only to common car ier:s. The bill by Mr. Kershar;. which or passed the house last year. to estab- i lish a State board of examination fors< railroad telegraphi operators was kill- la~ ed by the senate, tihe vote being 15 1)0 to 14. th 11 ' f* o' l( j no r lIrmnlers. '.'(e resEnlltin:. ,t1s co:t:idet th" 'talte 11nd. solic"it I lrdler= i:1 this State. er lted( 1 t deal of discussion. It war im:ht on the ground thAt it was un ustitillonal and also that it was k entering wedge for a license svs ~.. It was however finally passed. v a vote of 21 to 11. being first nended so as to make the license .000 instead of .$1.000, as propos I by Mr. Appelt. and also so as to cem)t Marlboro and Lancaster from s provisions. The license is to be sued by the county treasurer, and eo prpose of the bill is to stop the rations of the whiskey drummers this State. DENOUNCED AS LIE. enator Blease On Floor of Senate Calls Attention to Inaccuracy of Augusta Chronicle. pecial to The Herald and News. ('oltunbia. Jan. 30.-The Augusta b1roniele of Wednesdav. in speakinu the resolution, referred to in an her column of The Herald and News, endorsing the work of the winding ci:immission and its efforts to have w liquor houses produce their books order to aid the commission in obing 'for graft. and saying that e funds of the commission are held the commission as the property of e State, and tha:t it was not intend t that the State should be sued rough the commission". said: "Tlie resolution passed the house ithout a dissenting voice. but its ssage was blocked in the senate by e objection of Senator Blease, of ewberry, the law partner of ex-Di etor Hub Evans. Mr. Blease saying at the commission itself should be vestigated as to certain charges "ainst it. The resolution went over ider the rules till tomorrow. Friends the reselation say it will pass the nate tomorrow by an overwhelming ajority. When it is passed its text ill probalbly be wired to Asheville.' This article appeared under the me of W. T. McCaw, manager ironiele Bureaa at Columbia. In the senate today senator Blease a1 the above extract from the Co nhia correzpondeuce of the Augusta 1roniele, and said: '"Now.- Mr. President, if I were eaking of this report off of this >or I would denounce it differently, heiie - I am reminded th:..t J can use mvsuch lancguaiie as I could in the nreh. So TF will say the report is absolute lie: that the only busi ~ss connection I ever h-ad with M-r. ~aus was attending to a law suit ~d ie p)aid me my fee. I have only id one other t ransaction in which was interested, and that is defend ghis urother-in-law, who is charg with murder, and Mr. Evans did t pay me a cent of that fee, but it ~s paid by his brother-in-law. I do ~t presenit Mr. Evans or any other an connee;ted now, or who has ever en connected with th~e dispensary, d do not represent any whiskey use in any manner or form whatso er, but I am' doing what I do here r the interest of th-e people I rep sent, and I can not see why this re rt was sent out, except to attempt do me a political and personal in ry. And it is, as I said, an abso te lie. '.' NASH BILL KTTJLJD. -ohibition Measure Dies in House Labor Contract Law Passes House. eial to The Herald and News. Columbia, Jan. 20.-The house of presentatives today, by a vote of 61 52, killed the Nash prohibition bill. The house pase the labor con it liw rec-ommnended by the judi try committee which is printed in 11 in another column of The Herald d Naws today. This bill will now to the senate. Thei Naeie Maniufaeturing Co., >re all next week who w'll show vou w to bake ''iseuits. brown top and ttom. in three minutes. Don't miss s ehance of seeing the g-reat cook SROFT ENDORSED. Resolution Unanimously Adopted by Aiken Board of Trade. At a me:ting of the Aiken board of t ra(i the following resolution en df)rsing Mr. T. G. Croft's actions hi the North, Augusta dispensary mat ter was unanimously adopted: "'That the thanks of the people of Aiken and the board of trade be ex tended to Hon. T. G. Croft for the eredita'ble position he has taken in 1 the defen., (f the people of Aiken crunty and in resenting tir.2 imper tinent interference of the petoi. .;"l eity of Augus.a in the affais f th people of iSouth Carolina.' CROFT DENIES ALLEGATIONS The di-. tehes froi, A nu-t 4 pub lished in the South Carolina papers on the dispensary in North Augusta caused Representative Croft to rise to a question of personal privileg2 and vi2orously to denounce certain reflections which he said had been easteupon him. Last week'when Mr. Lane of Marl boro had iassed a resolution con demning the action of the Aiken county hnard. in -etablishing the dispensary at North Augusta, as un democratie, Mr. 'Croft. who was out of the house at the time, had the resolution recalled later and taken from the record. In the course of his remarks Mr. :Croflt said that he had as attorney represented to the Aiken, found that the dispensary should be established and that cer eain ministers had state- that while \they were willing for a dispensary to be established at Hampton Ter race hotel they were not willing for it to 'be established in the town of North Augusta. It was this statement that caused a. dispatch to be sent out from Au zusta stating that the ministers of Augusta. were indignant and would send a conmmitteee to Columbia, at the same time charging that Mr. Croft was a representative of liquor interests. Mr. Croft~ said that he l?ad been grossly misrepresented in these dis patehes, and he would have liked very much to have faved this Au gusta committee, which at the last moment failed to turn up. He wish ed to say that he represented no liquor interests, that he had appeared befo:e the 'board without even ac cepti:ng a fee, although he would have been justified in taking one for his legal work, and any statement to the contrary could be nothing but a adliberate lie. The Auznsta interests had. shown them selves decidedly lacking in courtesy. to say the least, in the statements they have sent out to prejudice the zeneral assembly. Mr. Croft th m read statements form the :Aiken papers, avhich he said ha.d been written by a prohibi tionist, which substantiate his posi tion and he presented affidavits along the same~ line. Afterwards the house.passed a res olution endorsing the statement made by the Aiken representative and ex onerating him.. GOV. GLBNN "MAR.K'' MAN. Roanoke. Va.. Jan. 27.--Much -ex eilent nt was create-d in a hotel at Bluefield last night when a man from Ohio offered to bet $1,000 to $10 that (Tov. Glenn of North 'Carolina would he,~ assassinated before next Christ mas hecanse of the stand he has ta ken in thes (fiht against the rail oadsL-. There were no takers. Tire man claims that he had no informa tion tha.t would lead him to believe that a plot had been laid to kill Gov. Glenn. Gov. Glenn has been notified of the man's -bet that the executi,vei swould .not Sive till next' Christmas. NOT A CANDIDATE FOR SENATE Atlanta. fla.. Jan. 2.-Gov. Hoke Smth issued a formal statement late t'rv. announeing that he would not : a cand:(date for- the Unitedi Statas se -te to succeed Senator A. S. Clav. His statement also de.lar?d ihat he would run for a second term for ovrnor in order to finish the work whi.he pledg-ed in his platfor.m. 1PRITCHARD REFUSES TO NAME RECEIVER DENIES PETITION OF FLEISCH MANN & CO. The Question of Jurisdiction the On ly Matter Considered In Dis pensary Matter. -Columbia State. Asheville, N. C., -Jan. 29.-Judge Pritchard in the United States circuit court today denied the petition of Fleischmann & Co. of New York and refused to appoint a receiver for the South Carolina dispensary fund of $800,000, against which there are al leged to be claims aggregating $600, 000. The judge made his announcement during the afternoon session, after at torneys for the dispensary commis sion had presented their bill in an swer to the sensational charges made in the Fleischmann petition, which was filed in this court a short time ago. The answer alleges tha. the claim of Fleischmann & Co. is unjust and invalid and that there was collusion and conspiracy between the plaintiff an anotier firm to defraud the State and that the State was cheated out I of a large sum of money in each of the claims made by the plaintiff; it also alleges that Fleischmann & Co. sold to the State a concoction with a mere trace of whiskey. The answer declared false the al legation by Fleischmann & Co. that the commissioners were wrongfully withholding the money for their own individual interests. The answer de nied as false and malicious the al legation in the complainr which re ferred to a conspiracy between Attor ney General Lyon and the dispensary commission and demanded proof. Affidavits Read and Filed. At the conclusion of the reading of the bill, a number of affidavits. on be half of the defendants, were read and filed. Shortly after the court convened for the afternoon session Jud:;e Pritchard announced from the bench that lie would not appoint a receiver for the dispensary. as he felt that the funds are now. fully pre'teeted. He directed the attorneys to confine their argu mients to the question as to -sheiher this court could assume jurisdiction, the point being whethe.r t.r not this is a suit against the State. Mr. D. L. Rountree of At.lanta, for the commis sion, consumed the remainder of the Iaft'rnooni session in argzamenit t4 es tablish the fact t'ha' the Stat~e is an indiepensable party to th'e suit. Ben.re the liill ofI the dlefen1dauts was read. Attorney General Lyon of South Carolina resplied to the alle gations made by Fleischmnann & Co., relative to the transfer of funds from the jurisdiction of the court, saying that the State of South Carolina was not running away, that the allega tion was false. He read a concurrent resolution adopted by the house of representatives of South Carolina yes terday. In the course of the resolu tion it was stated that the legislatuire of South Carolina, in creating the dis pensary comission did not consent to suits against the State for claims as a result of the dispensary muddle. Lyon and Lester Clash. Just befr.re Judge Pritehard an nounced his daeision there was a sharp colloquy between Attorney General Lyon of South Carolina and George B. Lester of New York and Alf. S. Barnard. who .represent Fleischmann & Co. Mr. Barnard asked for time to prepare answers to lie dffidavits of the commissioni. He stated thiat the commission had invited creditors to come to Colum bia to prove their claims. But at the sar.e time it was known that some 50 or (30 warrants were ready in the of fi"e of the attorney 2'eneral on which the representatives of the creditors wuld b)e a :reted, and instareed the e:: / th re'presenitative for Ull mi 1 -> '.. who had been arrested, e'1 ret(d Vi t h fraudl and r'e'uir'ed to h'" I :v honid. Judge Pritehard remar'ked that if he took juri sdiction lie would appoint a ma'ata' to sii: all c.harges of fraud to the bottom. The attorney general in reply to Mr. Barnard said: "Of course we hear this cry from those who have de frauded the State. Naturally." When I can catch any of these fellows in South Carolina, I will arrest them. I have no. warrant, however, for the Fleisehmann representatives and I will agree that they shail coma to South Carolina to prove their claims and depart unmolested." He added, however, that there was a warrant for the representatives of the Anheu ser-Busch concern. 'IIr. Mordecai responded that Mr. Farnum, the man referred to, had left the State on business. But he woald return and meet all charges. Mr. Stevenson, counsel for the com mission, stated there was ) intention of inveighling men of South Carolina for the purpose of prosecution. No Receivership. Judge Pritchard then announced that no receiver would be appointed and argument on jurisdiction was then he.an 'by 'Mr. Rountree. Among' the out-of-town attorneys here interested in litigation now or before Jud,e Pritchard are Attorney General J. Fraser Lyon of South Carolina. W. F. Stevenson of Cherar, former speaker of the house of the 'South Carolina legislature; B. L. Ab ney of Columbia, Mr. Rountree of At lanta. Mr. A. L. Gaston of Chester, Mr. W. T. Ayeoek of Columbia, T. Moultrie '_ordecai of Charleston and Mr. Geo. B. Lester. Dr. W. J. Mur ray. chairman of the State dispen sary commission, is also here. NEXT PRESIDENT IS "BILL." So it Was Whispered in the Nation al Capitol.-Bryan and Taft Present. A special from Washington to the Columbia State says: "The next president of the United States is nonw in the .dpitol," was whispered about today. "Who?" "Well, his name is Bil!." There were two Bills on the house - side--Bill Taft and Bill -Bryan. They did not meet, but ihey were both jollying and being jollied. Mr. Bryan spent a few moments in the press gal'lery where the correspond ents had a little seance with him. He said he' would not go upon the floor because the lobbies were ample for. his purposes. "Have you seen that commlitte'e from New York who came down to ask you :not to. run for the nomina Ition?~" some one asked. Mr. Bryan lau.thed.. .'"I have been siting up late at ni'-hts, and 'knowing that the Wall street mag'nates are accustomed to. :ret up early I arose this morning at I7 o 'clock and hurriedly dressed so as to be ready to receive that commit tee but they have not shown up." The idea of any conference for th3 purpose of asking Bryan to withdraw seems to be unanimously hooted at today. A prominent Democrat told me he did not believe there was 'a man to be found aliout Washington 'who could 'be dragged to'Mr. Bryan with a yoke of steers to tell him that he should withdraw. The Neraskan is triumphant and dominant. He diied ' t'onight with Senator Newlands and a numbar, of senators and politics was tailked, but no one 'here now h'as any serious no tion of the Denver eohvention 's eon sidering any one else- than Bryan. There is talk of Harmon or Gray for second place. SERIOUS FIRE AT HAMPTON. Hampton, Jan. 27.-One cf th'a most disastrous fires that has 'ever visited~ Hampton occurred last night between 10 and 11 o'cloek, totally destroying the tbuilding, presses and nearly all of the material of th'e Ha.mnion County Guardian, .own'ed by 'Ex-Governor Myles B. MeSwee nev. the omeies of Robert R. Sizer &'co.. owned by Senator W. S. L.h t wo small stores and two small 'dwellings, on ILae avenue, the principal street. 'The loss is estima ted at $10,000. About half of this is covered 'by insurance. 'The fire originated in one of th'e small build ings, and its origin is unknown.