Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, March 30, 1911, Image 2
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.