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i WANTS LIGHT ^ CaL FelJer Cils m Blent te Tin Here Ligkt HE RETURNS THE CHARGE Felder Says That When Bleaso Has Explained His Coarse in Senate mad Executive Office There Will be Some Further Queries As to His Conduct. The State has permission to print the following letter from Thomas B. Folder of Atlanta to the Charleston hfows and Courier, the same being called forth by an inquiry from the Charleston paper whether Felder had offered Towill Immunity from prosecution for $5,000. The Atlanta lawyer takes the occasion to propound a number of questions to Gov. Blease: Charleston News and Courier, Charleston, S. C. Dear Sirs: I received last night the following T. D.: "'Reported you offered Towill Immunity from prosecution for $5,000. please wire reply: "News and Courier." To which I replied: "Statement that I offered Towill or anybody else immunity from prosecution for 000 or any other prosecution for $5,000 or any other amount, a base and unmitigated lie.". I beg to confirm this answer and to say that the next report, I take it, will be to the effect tha tTowlll declined my ofTer on "advice of counsel," the advice coming from the general counsel of the plunderbund, Cole L. Hlease. On yesterday I mailed a communication to you for reproduction in the columns of your paper. Ab I recall, 1 stated in the article that I wouiu not further trespass upon your space until after the lapse of 30 days. Upon reflection, I feel that I should withdraw this proposition, so that I may give to the people of South Carolina through the columns of your paper some reasons why "His Fraudulency," Cole L. Mease, should approve the joint resolution creating a committee to investigate the conduct of the lute winding-up commission and the agents and attorneys thereof, together with the conduct of all other persons who have had relations with the winding up commission of the late South Carolina dispensary. The people of the State are entitled to know all the facts and the oni> jjuoMiuif wuy lor mem 10 acquire mis knowledge Is through the medium of this Investigating committee, but fearing that the governor might object to the investigating committee turning the searchlight upon the conduct of Attorney Rlease, and that this consideration might impel him to veto the joint resolution, by way 01 emulation of his example In having recourse to the public prints, as the proper means for ventilating theee matters, 1 wish to propound to him a few questions which, if they should fail to Impress him as being pertinent and relevant, will doubtless have a contrary effect upon the public mind. They are as follows: The Questions. 1. During your incumbency as a State senator, pleaee tell the people of South Carolina what vote you cast against and on what occasion youspoko in opposition to any measuve pending in that body, aimed at the regulation or abolishment of the old State dispensary as an institution, or Inimical to the interests of those who managed its affairs? 2. Why did you, as a senator, oppose all measures pending, in that body, having for their object and purpose the investigation of the conduct of the affairs of eaid institution nnd the honestly of the management thereof? 3. Why did you, as a member of the committee, created by joint resolntinn nhnro-ft/^ wlfh /-!?? ?* o# I ? vestigatlng the affairs of the said institution and the conduct of the officials thereof, use every artful means and cunning device to stifle the investigation and thwart the objects thereof. 4. Why did you, pending the sessions of the aforesaid committee, meet daily and nightly during the recesses of said committee with the dispensary officials, whose conduct was under investigation, and discuss with them and their friends who attended said caucuses ways and means for securing for them a whitewash? Is it not true that said caucuses were attended by divers liquor dealers, who participated in your deliberations; that at said caucuses the course to bo pursued by you as senator was agreed upon and followed by you to the letter? Senator for Grafters? F?. Is it not a fact that when the resolution was pending carrying an appropriation of $1f>,000 to lie used by the attorney general in the proseI cut ion of grafters, you opposed the passage of the same by your vote and influence; that in your opposition you spoke frequently against it and resorted to every parliamentary devire to compass the defeat of the same? If you should answer this question in the affirmative, then I would ask if the course you pursued In relation thereto was not tho result of an agreement that you made with the representatives of certain ljquor houses, who were on the ground resisting in every way possible the passage of said resolution? Did you not receive adequate compensation for your efforts in this behalf? 6. Is it not rue that between tne date of your election to the governorship and the date of your message in which you recommended the raising of the Joint committee you had several caucuses with your criminal associates whom you were under obligation to protect, when and where a conspiracy was hatched to thwart the efforts making for the punishment of your clients who had plundered the State, and is It not true that in order to efTectuate the object of this conspiracy it was agreed that you should do certain things, which you have since done? Coming from generalities to specifics, I will enumerate them: To Control the Bench? (a) Did you not agree that no special Judge should be appointed to preside over any of the courts of the State where the grafters were under indictment except of your own selection; that you could afford to take no chance of getting another judgo to try your clients like the cue who presided in Chester? (b) Did you not agree, in these caucuses, to pardon any citizen of South Cnrolina who might be convicted under pending or future indictments, and that you would Issue no requisitions for foreigners? (c) That you would dismiss the winding-up commission so that they could not, under authority reposed In that body by the act creating it, continue their investigations, and in dismissing these commissioners were you or not influenced by the turtnee consideration that they had issued a subpoena for one of your political lieutenants in the State: that he had ignored the same and they had issued a rule nisi requiring him to show cause why he should not be attached for contempt? (d) In these several caucuses, when the difficulty in obtaining the approval of the prison commission of your State to the course to he pursued was under discussion, did you not advise your confederates that you had at hand the means for overcoming this difficulty, to-wit: Ignoring iuv iirisou commissiont On Horseback. (e) Did you, or any of those wno were In caucus with you, suggest that on the theory that "the end justified the means," In effectuating the object of this conspiracy, you could with safety resort to any means, from character assassination to personal assassination; that after so long a time you "had the whip handle," or were "In the saddle," or some phrase of similar or substantial import? 7. What compensation did you re? celve from the liquor dealers and what "rake off" did you get from the dispensary officials when you were "senator at law?" The Campaign Fund. 8. While perhaps not so pertinent. T consider the following relevant: What cami>algn fund did you have at your command when you were a candidate for governor? How much was raised before the first primary and how much between the first and second primaries? What liquor houses or dealers, corporations or the agents of corporations, contributed this money? If you should answer (which I do not think you will, because it is the truth) that very large sums of money were raised, kindlv state whether or not It was used to debauch the electorate of your state. In conclusion: You honored the State of Georgia recently by paying her an official visit. What ex-dispensary officials and liquor dealers entertained you in the city of Atlanta and In the city of Augusta? What conferences, if any, did you have with them with reference to your future official conduct? Lastly, why don't you approve that joint resolution that you demanded? I understand that you say that the senators appointed on. the part of the senate as members of the committee are not satisfactory to you. Would you be willing to approve that resolution if the names of all the sena tors and all the members of the house should be put Into a hat or box and shaken up and the names for membership on the committee be drawn therefrom? When you have answered the above and foregoing, I have a few more ?iuestions to submit for your consideration. Yours very truly, T. R. Felder. Refused to Make Statement. H. H. Evans of Newberry, former chairman of the old State dispensary hoard, was in Columbia yesterday, but refused to make any comment on tho Felder-Bleaee controversy. nt said that later ho might have another btatement to give out. Further experiments. The further experiments to bo made with the ship will be confined to attacks on the armor belt and turrets. No effort will be made to raise the San Marcos. It would cost several hundred thousand dollars to float the ship nnd restore her to her original condition and sho is not worth it. Fireuitiu Are Willed. Four liromin are dead, two others are dying and several suffering from injuries, the result of the collapse of the roof of the Middleton Manufacturing Company building at Milwaukee, Friday. I WRONG RIGHTED Ai Old Veteran's Petition Toned Down and Bnadid as False. WANTS HIS PENSION A. S. Salley, Jr., State Historian, Writes an Article in Which lie Cites His Unbounded Faith in the Honor of the (Gallant Old Confederate Soldiers. Confederate veterans ought to be chary indeed about disputing claims made for pensions by others, more especially when their only reliance for such action is upon their memories, after the lapse of nearly half a century. So thinks Secretary A. S. Salley, Jr., of the State historical commission, who cites a recent nstance where the State board of pensions, guided wholly by the personal recollections of a member, disapproved an application for a pension, when examination of the records showed the applicant to have made a statement entirely truthful, even to have undervalued his own military service; for he did not mention in his papers the fact that he was captured and kept for several months In a Federal military prison. The applicant was Private J. W. Crook, now living near St. George, who claimed that he served in Company H, 11th South Carolina Volunteers. After his application had been disapproved, a member of the boaul who served in the 11th regiment having declared he remembered no such man in that command, Mr. Salley wrote to Washington for information and was advised that such a person had been a member of the company and regiment as stated in the application. In reference to the pension controversy, the following signed article has been given the press by Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr.: As the Confederate records of this I Oi l - mate are in my custody as secretary of the historical commission of South Carolina, and as I am engaged in working them into shape for practical use, I feel that I should have something to say in the matter of the controversy now going on in the newspapers over the condition of the pension rolls. It has been alleged that th?-re are men drawing pensions who did not render service in the commands which they claim on their pension papers to have served in. In every case officers or men who are known to have served In those commands swear that the applicant did so serve. Therefore, if the claim is false the applicants have perjured themselves. I do not believe thai such is the case. No evidence but the memory of individuals sustains the charge. I have been engaged in historical study now for over twenty years and for over 12 years historical work has been my chief business occupation. My experience teaches me that the memory of man is a very treacherous thing and that the human mind rebels at accuracy. An old soldier can not possibly remember a man as being in his own company if that man was not in that company, but if the man was in the company and one of his former comrades does remember him then that feat of mem uvy its h mucn more reasonable reat of memory that that of the man who does not remember any such comrade, yet is willing; to assert that no such man was in his company or regiment. I have just done a little investigating on a case that came to my attention when the pension board met last week and the result of It is an excellent illustration of the frailty of the human recollection of such matters. A member of the pension board for whom I have a strong personal liking came into my office with an application for a pension from J. W. Crook of Dorchester county, and said to me; "Now, here is a man from Dorchester county who savs he was a member of Company H, Eleventh regiment, and I will swear that there was no such man in that company, for I was a member of that regiment and I don't remember any such man. Let's look on your rolls and see if his name is there." 1 replied: "My friend, these rolls were compiled from memory after the war by survivors of the various commands, and the people who handled them before I took charge of th'>m were untrained in such work and they are not to be relied upon." We looked on the roll of Company IT, Eleventh regiment, and. sure enough, Mr. Crook's name was not there. That convinced my friend of the pension tl,n? n- 1-?- -i luaiu nun iiii I nniK S C1U1IV) WUR false, but it did not convince me. I pointed out the fact that two men whose names were on the roll in my office had sworn that Mr. Crook had served in their company, but it seems that their sworn statements would not Ihj received against the roll in my office, which was compiled from memory some years after the war, and in which both the elements 01 clerical and typographical errors are to bo reckoned, as the application is marked: "Disapproved. Can't find name in historian's office." here is a special act on our statutes which gives me the authority to enter upon the roll of any company in my offb-c Mhe name of any man when two otii ers known to have been of that company make affidavits that such man was in their company. Therefore, if I want it understood, was not sufficient proof to me that Mr. Crook's claim was false and I wrote the following letter to the adjutant general, war department, Washington, who is the custodian of the Confederate records captured in Richmond and who has for years been engaged in making those records available tor use: "I have the honor to respectfully request information as to whether or not the name of J. W. Crook appears among the recordB of Company H, Eleventh regiment. South Carolina Volunteers, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, in your custody. ThiB man iB now drawing a nensinn from this State, said pension being based upon affidavits from two men known to have been of the above named company, but it is claimed that the pension is obtained fraudulently. Our records here are far from complete and I do not thin* such a charge should be sustained upon the showing made by them. A reply will be appreciated." To this the adjutant general replied March 17, indorsing the following on the back of my letter: "The records show that J. W. Crook, private. Company H, Eleventn South Carolina infantry, Confederate States army, enlisted June 11, 1863, at Cooeawhatchie: that he was captured near Town Creek February 20, 1865, and that he was released at Point Lookout, Maryland, June 26, 1865, on taking the oath of allegiance." Upon comparing that record with that given on the application for pension 1 found that Mr. Crook sta'ed that he had enlisted at Coosawhatchie, but he failed to make as good a show for himself as the official records in Washington made for him. I suppose, like all of the poor old heroes, his memory is bad, or he did not regard details as essential. These exhibits show that an injustice has been done Mr. Crook and the two old soldiers who ewore to his services and in almost every case where some man tries to put negative evidence dependable upon his recollection of something that happened over forty years ago against positive evidence, even though the latter be dependent the two men who swore to Mr. Crook's record had made their affidavits for me I would have entered Mr. Crook's name on my roll nnu then the pension board would have found it there and would not have had that ground for disapproving. I said that the absence of Mr. Crook's name from the compilation in my office, which I did not make myself, upon recollections extending back to the same time, the same sort of injustice will be done, or gross historical mistakes and myths will be perpetuated. From the examples I have seen oi records obtained from the Confederate papers captured in Rlchmonu and now in Washington 1 am satl* nt-u urn; a pretty near complete set of records were captured, and all such questions as have been raised recently in regard to the truth or falsity of the claims of certain pensioners can be settled therefrom witu reasonable certainty, and I submit that it is unjust to the gallant oid soldiers of this State to reject their claims on the negative recollections of other old soldiers when the 01flcial records are extant to settle such questions. The old fellows had hardships enough during the four years of terrible war to immune them now in their old age. I don't believe that there are many men in South Carolina old enough to have been in the war who would engage in fraud for the pitifully small sum given as a pension, and I believe thai the number of bona fide Confederate soldiers who would swear to a lie id aid some one else to perpetrate a from charges of perjury and fraud fraud is smaller than one of those pensions. A. S. Salley, Jr. Columbia, S. C., March 21. 1911. GIRL KILLED 111 All'LE TEAM. Took Erigiit From an Engine and Kan Away in Columbia. The State says struck by a runaway team Wednesday in the western section of Columbia, Annie May Harris, a negro girl, 12 years of aae, was killed. Jule llohinson, a negro driver for the Palmetto Fertilizer company, left a two-horse team steading tin front Of the fertiliser millo charge of his son, Moses Robinson. The animals became frightened at a passing railway engine and ran away. The girl was in the road and the team ran over her. breaking her neck. The negroes were taken to the police station, hut Tuesday night the ] desk sergeant declared that they were not locked up. This probably means their release, as it was brought out i that the boy tried to stop the team and was not to blame, according to Coroner Walker. Postofflce Dynamiters. Bloodhounds from Lancaster were early taken to Gahanna, Ohio, Tuesday morning to attempt, to trace the , five robbers wljo early Tuesday dynamited the postofflre safe and secured a small amount of money and seventy-live dollars' worth of stamps. No trace of blood was seen Tuesday following the battle with a posse of citizens during v hich it was thought one of the robbers was wounded. WANTS A TRIAL "Bub" Ems Says He Desires to Be Confided or Vindicated WANTS HIS CASE CALLED Ex-Dispensary Chairman Declares Thomas B. Folder Hold Up His Trial as a "Lash" and That lie (Evans) 1 Vein and* That a Jury I'aMN on His Case. "Hub" Evans declared Thursday that Thomas B. Felder, the Atlanta attorney, had held up his own trial as a "lash," and that he is demanding trial. "I will take no nol proeslng of my case," added Evans. "1 want to be tried and convicted or vindicated, as the case may be." further declared the Newberry exchairman of the diBpenaary board. Evans declared also thAt he dia not ask for any immunity from anyone. It was stated a few days ago by Governor Blease that Evans had not sought Immunity from him, nor had he promised any immunity for the letter signed "T. B." As to the other letter, Evans said: "Well, if a mutual friend of ours found it and carried it to Cole, it's all right with me. I looked everywhere for the letter and could not find it." "Why didn't you give up these letters l>efore?" Evans was asked. "Well, I had turned over all my letters to my attorney, and the first letter published was one of them. I let the investigation go on. I told them nt the very jump that I wouio put nothing in their way. If they could find anything against me i wanted thein to do it. When 1 learned that Felder was holding m> trial as a lash I determined to give up the letters." Evans was standing in the outer office of the Governor when he made these remarks to several listeners He talked freely of the dispensary situation and reiterated much thnt had said in previous statements. He reiterated especially his remarks, quoted a few days ago, that if the dispensary houses were guilty of wrongdoing in State dispensary days they are now guilty of the same, as the county dispensaries are still buying from many of the same houses. "A perusal of the published lists will show this." added Evans. Evans Bald: "The county dispensaries are now buying the same liquor the State dispensary did, paying the same prices, and higher. You talk about a firm turning over $30,000 the other day. Well, then the county dispensaries pay back $100,000 for that." At the time also Evans said: "Felder did send for me to come to Atlanta. When we were in the room together I said to him: 'Open that door, you, and let the Attorney General hear everything I have f-ot .*? say.' This was in reference to a meeting Governor Mease referred to in asking for an investigation in his message to the General Assembly. "Hub" Evans came in today from Newberry and went direct to the Governor's office, after running up to a local hotel and putting his suit case up. He was in a jovial mood. In a few minutes John Hell Towlll entered the office. Governor Mease vufia^cu ?i me nme nna the visitors chatted in the outer office. It bo happened that Mose H. Mobley, now dispensary auditor, who was chief bookkeeper in State dispensary days, was in the office at the time. Evans wants to he tried, he said. He will not permit the case to be dropped. "If you were indicted for a crime wouldn't you like to he tried, so that, if innocent, you could be vindicated?" said Evans to those around him. PItOVKI) HE WASN'T AFIt.AIO. lfoy l>ies When Lone Cartridge in 1'istol Kires. "Watch me, I'm not afraid," cried Robert Harrison, aged 14, as lie placed a revolver to his head while playing policeman Monday. lie snapped the trigger as his playmates yelled and the only cartridge left in the magazine exploded. He died in a few minutes without speaking. The boy's playmates, including his smaller brother, were armed with toy pistols. Robert slipped '.nto the house and secured a 32-calibre revolver helnnt'irttr t? o !>?? - was asleep. Tlifi other children wore afraid of the pistol, and in an effort to reassure them Robert placed it to his head and fired, with fatal results. Maiden of 70 Sues Bachelor of 71. Ola Osmund, a bachelor of 74, is cited to tell a Jury in Minneapolis, Minn., why he refused to marry Miss Anna Olson, aged 70, following a complaint which she has filed against him. She seeks damages in the sum of $.7,000. A Curiosity Tlicy do say that one of the attractions that Columbia will offer the editors at their annual meeting will be a pre-emptied penitentiary. HORRORS OF PLAGUE THE FANTASY OF THE ORIENTALS HELP SCOURGE. Missionary Describes Ravages of Disease and Crude Superstitions Drought Out to Combat It. ^ Oriental fantasy that evolves weird cures in the face of the mystery of ^^B sickness, holiday migration and sheer ignorance are given as causes for the spread of the plague in China by ^^B Rev. Charles A. I^onard, a Haptist ^B missionary of Louisville, Ky.. with headquarters at Laichow Fu. China, ^ in a letter which he has written to friends here. Mr. Leonard's letter, posted February 8. at the height of the plague's spread throughout Manchuria and northern China, reviews the progreee. of the deadly disease, then sets forth a proclamation by a Chinese official in which is contained imperial advice for balking the malady. Here is one of the choice recipe? for avoiding lethal sickness at piague time in that part of the Orient: "After the opening of spring, boil turnip juice and any kind of creeping bean vine. It is recommended that all the family, lnrge and small* drink it when it is warm. Thus theplague will l>e avoided." Here is rule No. 3 of the official list of preventives: "Take one piece of horse bono, wrap it in red cloth, put In small bag and wear it on the side of the body, men on the left and women on theright." It is to be supposed from the tone of receipt No. T> that the plague has no chance at all. It follows: "1'se of the thunder pill. Ingredients: Take rhubarb, gold leaf flakes, cinihar and alum in about equal quantity, all ground fine and made into pi lis. Take with water. Doee, one-fifth of an ounce." During the reign of Kien-Lnn (thie. was in 1850), the plague devil was driven out by thunder pills into hiding in Kiangsn and Chow-Fu, during the Chu Pu s magistracy. ah who gave the prescription were able to avoid the plague and those who lived by it were beyond numbering. Mr. Leonard mentions these recipes. among others, apparently in qualification of his declaration that "officials are bound down by heathen religion, superstitltions and customs until they are wholly unprepareu. spiritually and intellectually, to cope with such a crisis as is now on." Mr. Leonard's assertion of the seriousness of the plague and the pitifully inadequate measures resorted to aB a means of checking it might bee taken to indicate danger to Europeans and Americans in north China and Manchuria. The missionary goes on to tell, however, that all missions which are surrounded by walls havo set up a rigorous quarantine and that danger to Occidentals has been reduced to a minimum. Mr. Leonard in his letter says that the plague began its ravages In northwestern Manchuria. The germs took up their abode in the fur of a small animal, much like the marmot. Tne disease was passed on to the Chinese and Russians. Just at this stage of its development there came the extensive traveling from working place to htm IniMilont in v? *?IV > II 1 uroc new venr, and by this moans the plague spread with remarkable celerity. The letter describe? deplorable conditions. It tells of hundreds of corpses piled in indescribable confusion in innumerable towns and cities. The plague's deadliness is apparently pictured in the statement that all hospitals were quarantined against it. WILL PIKKCK ANYTHING. Maxim Says 1'nited States ControlsWonderful K\plosives. That the United States government controls a brand new explosive which will prove the envy of every nation in the world, is an assertion of Hudson Maxim, the inventor, of Boston, Mass. "This new explosion," said Maxim, "will prove a revelation in warfare and will do almost everything except, perhaps, blow the whole crust. mi iiic earin. i ne value or ttiis explosive is in the fact that it will send a projectile through any armor, and the explosion will not take place until after this projectile has passed through. Hitherto, with all explosives, no matter how powerful, the explosion has taken place simultaneously with the concussion when the projectile has struck the armor plate, but now, by means of this new explosive, the projectile can he sent through the armor into a ship. Then an explosion will follow which will rend the ship asunder. Caught by a Train. Early Mack, colored, was run over and killed by a train at Mayesville on Saturday night. Mack tried to pass between cars of the train, when the train moved, catching him, mashed the life out of him. He was discovered shortly after being missed, and the cars being moved to release him, he fell out dead. The average hoy thinks better ot the cuff on his sleeve than of the one his teacher gives him.