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r : ' ^ZZZ-~' yOLOfE L, JCFMBEB lh ITEWBEBBY, SOUTH CABOLItfA* TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1912. TWIC1 A WX1X, |UI A Y1AJL I? "Stop This Dai Fooling Al SENATOR ON ACTION OF ELECTION PROBERS ? I T nr ? T?r V4TF*nrr TTMT WAS! "ALULAI/ X i.tiii/Aujuu ii.uj| ?i -??. , BEEN LOST,'* HE SATS. *White Men Will Not Tolerate Impudent Tinkering With Their * Sights," m Writes. I Charleston, Sept. 16.?The News and Courier, this morning carries the following story: Expressing an earnest desire of im? mediate action in the matter of invpctipmi-inp' the allesed frauds and ir # ? ' "w * regularities of the recent primary held * in South Carolina, and condemning what he deems the arbitrary action of Chairman W. F. Stevenson, of the investigating committee, appointed by the State Democratic executive committee, the Hon. J. D. Bivens, of Dor* Chester, a member of what has been termed the Blease faction of the investigating committee, gave out for publication last night a letter from Senator B. ft. Tillman to the Hon. John Gary Evans, chairman of the State Democratic executive committee, in .which Senator Tillman, marvelling at T ^ the forbearance and patience displayed by the Bleaseites at the delay 111 declaring the election or taking action of some kind, urges the State chairman to proceed with 'dispatch, lest the temper of the people of South Carolina be tried beyond endurance, snd Jest the method now being em 1 p1oyed send the Democratic party in this State to "the demnition bowwows." s Urges Speedy Action. f Mr. Bivens was in the city last night, and in an interview with a reporter for the News and Courier declared that as a member of the investigating 1 committee and as a citizen of the State, he desired a thorough investigation into the fraud charges, that the purity of elections in. this State may 1 be*preserved, but that the manner of * procedure as outlined by Chairman ^ Stevenson was physically impracticable and could not be accomplished I- within the time intervening before | the general election in November. Mr IJhrens's Plan. "My plan," said Mr Bivens, "was to have the committee as a whole sit as a court; go to Spartanburg or Anderson, or wherever there was the charges of greatest fraud, employ a stenoaranher, take testimony and affi i davits and proceed with the work. I Meanwhile the work in other counties ( misrht be-going on and that could be w ta?en up later. It strikes me as utterly rrross'ble take up the club rolls : roM lists of every precinct in the F"*4-*. and as for having th^ni pub- 1 l^hed in the newspapers, that seems t~. ?o to be out of the question. In CV'^leston, I believe, your city rolls r^nnirel more than eight ^?r?<7':*; in The News and Courier. The election is to be held in a ^rtrle mor* than six weeks?there's J" ro ponir.g that?and the work as outlined by Mr Stevenson could > scarcely be sotten under way well by that time." "We can't hold our meeting in Columbia tomorrow," continued Mr. Bivpr?<2 "hPMiKP thpre will nor hp a auo rum. I have a letter from Mr. W. B. V>~l?cn, Jr., cf Rock Hill, to the effect that he would be glad to proceed at one** but that he will nof .attend a L rr?eti~g except at the call of the chair| iman." Plan of Resolution. I Mr Bivens stated last night that as ' a member of the sub-committee apro'nted by Chairman Stevenson to in _ ves*igate the fraud charges in the k eartprn section of the State he is perfectly willing to proceed as best he mk hn, but that he regards the scheme W ?<; impracticable. He, with Messrs w?!son and Jeffries, was appointed - V 1 IT~" r* ? vdling And mut" ?Tillman the State . This action was taken at the meeting of a part of the committee, Messrs Stevenson, Butler and Wilson, in Charlotte on Monday of last week. Mr. Bivens regards this step as an arbitrary act on the part of the chairman, for, as he interprets it, the Manning resolution creating the commit tee contemplates action by the committee as a whole. General Demand for Action. As Mr Eivens views the situation there is a general demand for spee action, and bearing out this opinion he cites the letter from Sn. Tillman to Chairman Evans, a copy of which,, was mailed to him at Columbia, Sep tember 13, by Senator Tillman. Interest attaches to a number of statements made by Senator Tillman in reference to what he characterizes as the "dawdling and fooling about" of the committee, which he says will forever damn the committee in the estimation of all decent people. He also declares that "white men will not tolerate an; such impudefit tinkering with the peo pie's rights," and that the"Bleasites have shown remarkable self-control." Senaton Tillman's Letter. The letter written by Senator Tillman to the Hon. John Gary Evans, chairman of the State Democratic committee, is as follows: Trenton, -S. C., September 12,1912. The Hon John Gary Evans, Spartanburg, S. C. ?Dear John: I have seen in the morning papers the protest of the three Blease members of the subcommittee appointed by the State committee. It is a sensible, judicious, patriotic utterance. If you do not exert your influence to hurry things up and stop this dawdling and fooling about, the whole committee will be forever damned in the estimation of all decent people. What is wbrse, the Democratic party will go to the demnition bow-wows. White men will not tolerate any such impudent tinkering with their rights. We had better have ten years of Blease t-han tn have the nporo brought har?V into our politics as the balance of power between our white people. Unless all signs fail, that is inevitable. Neither will the people of this State stand for counting Blease out without justification. Already valuable time has been lost, and the more delay bfore declaring the result of the primary the more angry the people be >r?,no anH thp mnrp rpariv vr?to fr?r an independent or for the devil before they will tamely submit to have their will nullified. It was all very well for white people to cheat negroes in 1876 and 1S78 and even into 1880, but whit mn will not tolerate having other white men cheat them. You are responsible in the eyes of the people a a. 1C orrvin rr r\ ^ LOr Luc uu&cixug mat 10 5^1115 uu uuw, and every day you are losing friends by it. There is absolutely no justification for the dawdling and delay thai has already ta*ken place. It seems to be the intention of the subcommittee to continue indefinitely. The Bleaseites have shown remarkable self-control. They are watching and the peo pie are watching too. 1 have enough faith in the people of South Carolina to believe that, while it will be a bitter dose to have Blease as governor, they had rather have him one hundred times than to have a Moses or a man like him. If the entire committee dc-es not meet with the Blease members of the committee Monday and begin to investigate where it is necessary, I see no earthly power that can prevent Blease from running independently in November and sweeping the State, for a great many .lones men do not stomach cheating or -my such high-handed proceedings as are going on. I do net like to have the appearance of meddling with t'iin~s do not concern me, but it is of vital importance to me and to every patriotic South Carolinian to save the primary. But it is of more vital concern to save the Democratic party, and as sure as you are living the unity of the Democratic party is very much in jeopardy pVhr v.fiv; V^rv r^spe^urv, * -i - - j iSisrred) B. R. T'Umart. i t i | says no charge here i to be Investigated COUNTY CHAIRMAN DOMINICK ON NEWBERRY ELECTION. Replies to Letter of Sub-Chairmas Park Wanting Newberry Primary Probed. The following correspondence be. -r t-> r-??i. ?e r* c,,k i I IWeen ?J. ?> .rclltv, Ui UI ccu n uuu, OUU- ; chairman of the sub-committee inves- I tigating the recent primary, and Fred.1 H. Dominick, county chairman tor; Newberry county, self-explanatory: | Mr. Pa a's Letter. b.-.ueaiber 12, 19 TJ. Dear Sir: As you have perhaps been advised the subcommittee appointed by the executive committee to investi-< A - i. I gate tne pnir.ai/ election 01 ai.-^usii 27 has been c so that Mr. T. B.I Butler, Mr. j. M. Gree:* ami myself are to take cfcnrge or the investigation in the western c:cii )n of tae State, in which your county is located. Our subcommittee met yesterday in j Spartanburg, and v/e wired you from! that place as follows: "Secure and hold all club rolls and poll lists in your county. Appoint subcommittees to make investigation. Write me at Gree lwood, S. C., the! names of subcommittees and what: I club rolls and poll lists are missing. I Letter follows." ? You can see at once that it will be entirely out of question for three men to make anything like a thorough in- | vestigation of twenty counties or more in the State without the aid and co-operation of the county executive committees, and fcr that reason we ( asked you to have subcommittees ap-1 pointed to carry on the investigation in your county. 1st. We want this subcommittee to secure every club roll in the county and compare the club rolls with the poll lists and ascertain what persons, | if any, have been allowed to vote. whose names are not on the club rolls. Wo wont vnu tn rnmnarp thp poll lists with each other and ascertain what persons, if any, have voted more than one time. 3rd. We'want you to ascertain what persons have voted who are not qualified to vote under the rules of the party, to wit, minors, foreigners, non- . residents, etc.,-obtaining affidavits as to facts. 4th. We want you to show all other irregularities or illegal practice in your county. For the purpose of this investigation the chairman of the subcommittee has authorized you to employ such clerical aid as may be necessary to carry on the work expeditiously, and we hope you will appoint such committees as will take immediate hold ">f the matter and make a thorough investigation, without regard to the ^ndidates interested in the several offices: In other wo^ls, it is our purpose to make an investigation absolutely non-partisan so far as we arp concerned. The investigation is made not for the benefit of individuals which are aspiring to office, but to satisfy the people of the State of South Carolina- about the conduct of the Democratic primary, and every ^a/3 An rrV?t t/\ Ka nrillinor f r\ guuu l/Clllun at w UC Hilling I.U | assist in the work. It is of the utmost importance to everybody interested that the subcommittees in each county take hold of this matter and make the investigation, and file their reports with me just as early, as it is possible to do so. The longer the report is delayed the longer of cource will the investigation be continued. We will be unable to make any report to the executive committee until we have se - - I cured tfte reports irom tnese several county executive committees. It is a work of course that none of us desire to engage in, but one which must be handled by someone, and ought to be handled as expeditiously as possible, and we hope your subcommittee will take hold of it at once and press it vigorously. We will be glad for you to write the undersigned at once outlining what you have done and what your subcom-1 -pittee rroposes to do, so that we may; - to ^ror'poj. it is important *'v.t tlic?e c.ub roll:, be turned over to ? your committee, and put where we can lay our hands upon them if necessary, and we call upon you as chairman to secure these poll lists and club rolls and advise at once what you have done. If any party in possession of a club roll refuses to turn it in we want to be advised about it so that we can proceed at once to bring suit, if necessary, for the same. Please advise your subcommittee of the plan of action as herein o'iciinea, and see that i: is cariied out, keeping me advisel as to its progress. Yjurs truly, J. B. Parky County Chairman Dominick's Reply. Newberry, S. C., Sept. 16, 1912. Mr. J. B. Park, Sub-Chairman of SubCommittee of State Democratic Executive Committee, Greenwood, S. C. Dear Sir: Upon my return home I am in receipt of your letter of September 12. asking: for certiin informa tion in regard to the first primaryelection in Newberry county. In reply to same, I will say that I am now serving my fourth term as county chairman of Newberry county and in my experience as euch, ahd during my connection with politics, I can not recall any fairer or squarer Alnntinn airoii Vinl/J in fVlO /"?/"?11 n + V onH C1CL11UU liUlU All CUV wuxavj, anu I resent, for the county, the imputations of any fraud or illegal practices cast upon the election in this county. \ As you and a great many other people throughout the State who are conversant with political affairs know, I had especial reasons to see that evorvthinir ir? thiR pnnntv wn<a rnnrhirtprt strictly in accordance with the constitution and rules of the Democratic party. On account of my alienee from the county for some time, the management of the county campaign was placed m the hands of the secre tary of the county executive committee, Mr. Frank R. Hunter, than whom there is no fairer man in the county of Newberry. The managers of election in this county, notwithstanding the fact that the rules provide they shall be elected or appointed by the executive committee, were left to each executive committeeman. . Thi executive committee in this county has a small majority in favor of Governor Blease, but, notwithstanding this fact, all managers of election were appointed upon the recommendation of the executive committeemen from the re-\ spective clubs, whether they were Jones or Blease men. I might say, by way of parenthesis, that at one of the largest clubs jn the county, which was one of the strongest anti-Blease clubs in tne county, Mr. JKugene s. Blease was the executive committeeman from that club, and the managers at that club consisted of one Blease man,. one Jones man and one man whose political preference I do not know, not knowing now how he voted, these managers being appointed upon Mr. Blease's recommendation. After the votes were cast and the executive committee was called ur>or to tabulate the returns and announce the result, every one of tile boxes in fbe county was before the committee intact, none of them having been opened by the.secretary or by myself. A tabulating committee was appointed, consisting cf Mr. Joseph L. Keitt, refuted campaign manager of Judge Jones in this countv; Mr. T. 0. Stewart, who openly announced at t' time that he had been a candidate and was not a partisan for either side, and Mr. B. B. Leitzsey, a supporter of Gov. Blease. The committee made the tabu'ation. Two petitions were filed asking: for a recount of all the votes of the county, which were refused on account of the absence of any specific charses of any fraud or even irrpgr^ipritv. Appeal was taken from the action of the committee to th* State com:-nittee, and the action of the ^ourtv corammee anu my xuung m the matter were sustained without objpction, and by a unanimous vote, you being present at the time the appeal was brought before the committee. Tn order to have everything perfectly straight, and beyond any peradventnrp of doubt as to the fairness and correctness of the election, I as county chairman took the precaution before we adjourned our meeting to call the roll of all the clubs in the county and ask if there were any objections or cha'lerges to be madp to any box. The rcll call proceeded, and out of , ... Ji rJ\ ' *?> the 45 clubs in the county there wa? objection made as to only one box, in which the votes of five or six?I do not recall which?voters were questioned by Mr.'Keitt. I called on him, or any parties who had any charges to make of any irregularities or any fraud, to oiake those charges in the shape of' affidavits, so that any one who was slandered by such charges could have proper redress. Mr. Keitt said he had no formal charges to make, but asked that the live or six votes he mentioned be investigated, stating, however, that he did not and would not make any formal charges under affidavit. I do not recall his exact language, but this was the substance of it. Mr. W. H. Harderuan, who watf representing that box at the meeting, secured the floor and made his explanation of those votes, which was satisfactory to the executive committee. You say in the third paragraph of your letter that you want us to "ascertain what persons have voted who are not qualified to vote under the rules of the party, to wit, minors, foreigners, non-residents, etc., obtaining affidavits as to fafcts." I respectfully call your attention to the fact that at the last convention of the Democratic party in this State, the convention adopted amendmen-ts to the rules providing for properly challenging die qualified voters. There were tnre challenges, I think, in Newberry county out of 3,100 votes, which challenges, under the rules, were to be heard before the executive committee, but the challangers did not appear and, consequently vote* were counted along with the other votes, as t^e rule required. The only other irregularities, so far as I can learn, these being only informally brought to the attention of some of the individual members of the committee, were that two boxes in the county did not contain the poll lists. These two boxes, Longshore and] Chappells, would not affect the result in the ,slightest degree in the governor's race, and my information is th4t when it was found that these boxes would affect the result of a certain county race and elect a candidate who voted for Gov. Blease, if thrown out, no insistence was made by tne man who first investigated the matter, and the matter was not formally brought before the committee. As I understand, there -are no charges of fraud in connection with these two boxes, but if it is desired that the two boxes be brought before your sub-commi?cee, please advise me immediately. In regard to your fourth request, as to '"illegal practices in your county," JI will state that, so far as I am in formed, and to my best knowledge ana j belief, and, basing my statement upon :ny confidence in the character, honesty and integrity of the managers of election of Newberry county, I believe I cs.n say of my own knowledge, there were no "illegal practices" in my' county. I will stats for your further information that I am informed that at many of the important and largest boxes in this county, a certain candidate, to wit, Judge Ira B. JonGs, can? 1 ? didate for governor, naa reyiescuuitives who took a list of every person voting, apd they had ample opportunity to challenge any votes which may have been illegal, and if these challenges had been made they would j have been properly considred by the' county executive committee, and I believe the only reason challenges were not made was because there was not the slightest foundation for them. For these reasons I respectfully refuse to comply with your request, believing it useless to put this county executive committee, or the State executive committee, to the expense aud trouble of having this information got up for them, in the absence of any specific charges of fraud or irregularity. I a:ii unofficially informed that t-Vw nawcnonorc of til'S CCUlltV Will TC LUC lit ? O MU/|7\y? Q w ? ? . fuse to publish the lists without pay J lor it. The Jones p.iper of the county has so stated in an editorial, and the other paper will tak.'? Hie same position. . As I stated at ihe ccunty executive committee meeting, if a ay o.ie will ? ? ^3^-r. /-,o+Vi o fthort/a nominal- anv Ilia. KG U11UC1 uaui U. J manager of election or voter o? Newberry county, alleging fraud 0/ irrcg'5* uiarities, his affidavit will be r-eperlV considered, and the charge wiil h? CENSUS DEPARTMENT CITES SOME FIGURES \ ?? 165,769 WHITE MALES OF VOTING > AGE Df STATE IK 1910. Figures on South Carolina as Prepared by ?. Dana Durand, Director of Census. / To the Editor of The State: Enclosed find letter from E. Dana Durand, director of the bureau of the census, Washington, D. C., which I would appreciate if you would* publish on front or editorial page if con I venient. I would be glad for you to comment on same and show that the total number of white males 21 years of age and over for 1912 would be in- v / creased proportionately and would be about 174,700. ' W. Murchison. Dillon, September 13. % Washington, September 10," 1912. Mr. W. Murchison, Dillon, S. C. Dear Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of September 1, and, in response thfereto, I take pleasure in giving you below the total | number of white males 21 years of age and over in South Carolina, as returned at the censuses of 1890, 1900 and 1910, you will note that these figures include the foreign-born white , males who may, or may not, be voters, y ? but as their numbers are small, it would not materially ^affect the total. Total white males ?l years of age and over in South Carolina: Census. Number. 1910 i . .165,769 1900 ' '... 130,375 1890.. ...102,657 Very respectfully, E. Dana Durand, Director. thoroughly investigated. This has not been done. The boxes with the ballots, poll lists, etc., are under lock and key, in a vault, where they are held under the order of the committee, John Gary Evans, State chairman, in accordance with his first telegram, ordering same to be done. ' While personally I am not opposing any investigation, .no sub-committee will be appointed or any investigation ordered in this county, and I do not concede that you have any right to mA trt make finch investigation, in the absence of any specific charges. You and I both obtain our autho&ty and our commissions as officials in the Democratic party from the same source, to wit, the county conventions of the Democracy in the counties in which we respectively reside, ana i ao not conceive or concede, officially or otherwise, that you as a committee have any right to consider any matters or have any control over any matters before the county executive committee, except such as might properly come before you on appeal from the action of the county Democratic executive committee, as provided in the constitution and rules of/the Demonorfr Vnnra vprv trnlv: V/l aciv JJUrl JL VW* w * v-y y Fred. H. Dominick, County Chairman Newberry County. Notice Prosperity Circuit. The fourth quarterly conference of this charge will lje held Saturday, September 21, at Zion church. Preaching by presiding elder, Rev. W. P. Meadows, Saturday at 11 o'clock and Sunday at 11 o'clock. This is the last official meeting of the year and a full attendance of the members is urged. <t On account of this conflicting with regular appointments at New Hope and. Mt. Pleasant, there will be no Aer vices at these churches on fourth bunday, but deferred until the fifth Sunday, preaching at New Hope 11 a. m., and Mt. Pleasant 4 p. m., 29th inst Let everybody remember the orphanage work day, 28th inst*, and make a contribution to this worthy cause. e n O. V>. I iO. Prosperity, S. C., Sept. 16, 1912. Mrs. Mary J. Miller and her son, Walter, who have been visiting her sister, Mrs. J. R. McCollum, and other relatives in Newberry, left last Tuesday for their home in Tacoma,