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0 < WALTBSBOM. ft. C. WBUTI^UAY, JULY IT. 191ft. HO. 4ft. f FELDER SAYS HE HAS PROOF THAT BLEASE; RECEIVED GRAFT AS SENATOR AND GOVERNOR ! BACK FROM ENCAMPMENT. H«*jnr»pd Hlflnoe* Delighted With Encampment Trip. Assisted by Famous Detective, and Dictagraph, Felder Lets Loose in Augusta a Tor rent of Testimony Showing Corrup tion in High Places. (Augusta Chronicle of July 14.) | was $5,000 for Saiu J. Xicholls, th# That session of tl\£ South Carol!-j man who was talking; $5,000 for na legislative Investigating commit- i his law partner, Sims and $5,000 tee, which closed temporarily at . for the governor of South Carolina least. In Augusta last night, will go ! for grar/tjng the pardon. Except down Id history as a revelation of . for the actual receipt of the "O. K. things now to this country. I Telegram” which wc.-i to announce Wm. J. Burns, when giving sworn. that the pardon had been granted, testimony to the commission Frl-I 10 * final *: ment “berated. “»e day night, said there wee in the "‘ftonth Carolina situation” an ex-'* position of conditions that would nulke the experience of San Francis co, and St. Louis tnd Atlantic City nlf pale to insignlficar.ce. The commission had been told, in sworn teetlmoi.-’, in Mr. Burns’ presence, that he had said in all his exper ience he had never delved into any cm# which presented so much and ■ach bold graft as he had found in ftoath Carolina, that he pitied “poor, graft-ridden South Carolina.” ▲ol In th£.<*. day’s testimony those who heard U—those who read it yeetarday—believed the revelations had gone as far as revelations coaid. B«t, Burns told the committee he preferred they would “welt for the records”' and now the records have come. They hear out the reason Burns kept to himself of exprees- iag that preference. The Spot Light of Publicity. Friday* Thomas B. Felder, It was the general consensus of opinion of ell the public whh heard the testimony, hud kept his promise. H* ng Protracted The local military company, Co. , 3rd. regiment 8. C. V’., returned {Tuesday morning from Anniston, Ala., where the encampment of 8. C. militia was held. This company P wa* away ten days, sod the mem- j bers report a most enjoyable trip. Meectag at Hi YlUc. White Hall, July 15. — Special: 'The boys are all well, and report Our protracted meeting will be- , no casuJlltlejl sb far a8 Colleton’, gin at Hendersonville July the list with Rev. S. J. McLeod from soldiers are coocerned. Jacksorc Hie Fia., existing la the t'apt. J. M. Moorer and Lleuten- services. ants H. R. I’adgett and C. T. Prof. McD. \\ earns, of Simpson- n eeveg were m command. vllle. is here at his best began what promises to be a most successful :iormal school of music at the Baptist church this morning. Af ter teaching here ten dt-ys he goe? to Smoalcs- Joel P. Padgett, assistant cwh- ier of The First National Bank, Is spending his vacation at his home at Smoaks. He will be away two weeks. Mr-jor E. L. Flshburne, of the secnod battalion also accompanied this company, returning at the same time . . - =r r STORY EVER TOLD ON . GOVERNOR OF ANY STATE IN UNION THE LEGISLATIVE COMNITTEE AT AUGUSTA UNCOVERS NASI Of CORRUPTION. WHICH IS LAID AT DOOR OF SOUTH ' * CAROLINA’S GOVERNOR. (Augusta Chronicle, July 13.) jtee was told ln.plaiu words whether Thomas B. Felder, the Atlanta 8 r » f t had been (Urectly placed up- attorney who waa employed in un- the governor of South Cerolina .. ... hut, when pressed on the point, ha covering the graft In connection wit* plalnl / and , hortiy ^ Col. aol Mrs. C. G Henderson Wt on Wednesday for a visit to :heir daughter, Mrs. Burgess, at Yorkville. The former will be back before Sale Day. case was made out cl the scheme to carry it tthrough. Two payments of $500 each had been made, . the traoe&ftions being so arranged thsf 1 the money had to pass through bank to Nlcbolls “on account.” The same Spartanburg Irwyer, in a conrtrsatlon of five hours dura tion in the Finch Hotel In $P*r;a!* burg, just before going as a dele gate to the National Convention. * >id the story of his influence over Cole Blease, pictured Cole Bltase’j career and official disposition aa it has i*.t been pictured before. He detailed In plain Engliah the storm epithets and profanity allowed to swirl through Blesses executive of- whgu Nicholis went to Columbia to force Blease to either sign or veto the Spartanburg, Clheeawoou, Charlotte interurban railway tran- ehlae bill, which h*d bee • pasaeu by the general aseembly. * He said It was worth $10,000 a yet r to him to have that bill approved by the gov ernor, but the governor bad repeats iy to»u n.ai. aud others, the bui wo'AiiJje vetoed. He told of spend- I ifkys In the governcr’s office had said he would “lay Cole Blease‘i record bare to the bone” and’he did It. Yesterdry, and there we* but short session—Felder not oiVy had “made out his case" by the time the hearing closed; but he had completed that case. And, In It the nakedness exposed to the * light of publicity the previous dry spread to others than Blease.. The spot of illumination switched from Char leston and the “dashing Mr. Wil son" to Spartanburg, and the clever “Mr. Porter, attorroy from Chic ago.’’ A« record after record was made public from the witness stand, ea< h > unending one but served to magni fy,all that had gone before it bold ness, Where the testimony of the previous day had been drunk in, word by word; when spectators strained themselves forward to keep from losing a dot of it—7that of yeeterdr-; - was such as became plain ly evident, the audience was beyond its own control, and from hushed si lence it broke to such appians® it became nece^sr-y for the chairman to Admonish those in a full court room that the commission w ou l‘ l sit In prlvats iession ur*’.ess the undlence could exercise more con straint. No case ever tried in the an- n&Js of Richmond County has ever turned loose such a stream of rp- palltng infermatien as that which the Felder hearing has given to the world through the city court room doors. And the ec-s of all the United States were strained for It. All day, from the Lour set for the morning session— which was carried over until 3.30 o'clock with out doing anything—until the final occupant left the room Just before 7 o’clock in the evening, newspaper represer*tt-*ive8, telegraph officials, and even more acquaintances were bombarded with petitions from newt* xerting his “influence” to bring about an approval and fi.« ily, iu heated, sulphurous terms denun-l- Ing that he either veto or sign it. How, lr« final disgust he arose to j leave when the governor, with he* -1 w profanity called him back v i d '‘.»imfd the damned bill to get 1 rid of it.” A Girl’s Flea, • Dinuuvd for Cash. Finally, with TKomae Felder beck cn the stand, original Irtters were j read showing that the pardon prop- | ost'-ici*. in a w&y, extended into the fthese of Iowa. A girl’s brother , wa^ confined In the penitentiary and she was pleading for his pardod. In reply to which she got a letter i( r 4- .j'-xK, air »awy rs. ac cording to their letters—they were ,yon Lyot* of Dubuque, Iowa — forwarded the check and the “thing was still hung up” hut finally the white man, convicted of forgery iu (..s-hlaml ( ounty, w. o paroled An! so on it went in details which appear below, until the com- m.itee tiuahy adjour.* u, indefinite ly. The Trstimouy in Derail. Testimony Result*<1 In Aft*rwo«»*i. Despite the fact that a well-filled court room had waited three hours dOrlng the forenoon to beer more of the proceedings, only to be disap- poinred when Chairman Carlisle announced an adjournment until 3.30 this afternoon, there were even more people in p*tendance when the afternoon session opened. Just what was to develop was purely speculative, but there was on evidenced Interest in Just what Detective E. S. Reed would a'-Y when he got on the stand, and when he wculd b& called. 'ihere were no preliminaries when the session opened prior to Mr. Felder’s announcement of the first witness to be offered as— IM-tt ctivc A. S. KnoJ. As intensely interesting as Mr. it- so papers t-H over the country for developments. All attention was glv- \V J. Burns had been on the en by that medium, through which , ness stand the night before aM comes the greatest “light of public- did the auditors fairly drink in Ity" which Burns said was needed lb cases like this, to news of the South Carolina scandr- 1 ’’ That Searching IJttle liwtrument. „ , u ^ . Mr. Felder said, in his opening, 1 identity would come to liaht in duo, that the dictagraph would play an | course cf time—and it did; it important part in the hearing every word he said, even more tm- pp- ■•,:«. wMr Rfcd. Friday Mr. Felder had announced thui Air. Reed’s South Carolina ind it did. Yesterday’s work of the commission was almost er*‘irely give over to hearing the records made by the dictagraph. Records which can’t be described in summary, but which hr.ve to bo read in full,« or heard in full, to grasp ttffelr enor mity. In a Washington hotel a lawyer of Spartanburg; who sc^d he was ' the ob« man of South Carolina who had sufficient influence with Cole Blease to command pardons and get them; told m story, which the dic- tbgraph recorded of a FI5,000 slash fund ifhluh w$a to be used to tray g pardon for a convict whom ( quite an intereeiing manner. Mr. Reed went through the usual form of identifying hirr.wlf to the committee, saying that he was a member of the Burns National De tective Agenc>; that he hud been in the buslt*:ss twenty-two years. He wiv assigned by Burns to work on the “South Carolina situation’’ that part of the State “West dt Co lumbia.” Bailie, who was known in Chr-rleeton as "Mr. Wlisou.” was assigned by the chief to the case in the portion of the State east of Columbia. “Under what rime did you op erate in South Carolina, Mr. Reed?” asked Colonel Felder. I operated in South Carollas, or * aa expert detective of 13 ye*f», -------- _ __ __ traialng had picked la the &oolh o» ^ S 0 "Hm Caroline penitentiary as the worae'H. Porter, attorney of Chlcs«o. crbntaal (h the institution. Of,——T~ n that fund, hjs pntUae of the diYihid* Coatinued on page^olx. A# OUJt DISGRACE AS SEEN BY OTHERS cords will show Cole L. Blease hie been graftir<j as governor and aa State senator. . . Mr. Felder was represented at the hearing by a brilliant array of counsel. The following well-known c/torneys of Georgia were seated with Mr. Felder: Burton Smith and Carl Hutcheson of Atlanta* Boy kin Wright, C. Henry Cohen, W. K. Miller end C. E. Dnnber, all of An gus's, i.nd W. H. Davis of Waynes boro. / CAMPAIGN AT BAMBERG. BLKAHK STANDS CONVICTED BEFORE THE BAR OF PUB LIC OPINION; SOUTH CAROLINA, HERSELF, IS NOW ON TRIAL. the old South Carolina Dispensary has more than made good his prom ise to “lay bare the record of Cole L. Blease to the very bone,” if he ever got on the witness stand. He told the legislative Inveetl- gatir*g committee of South Carolina —which U sluing in spaclat ses sion in the city court room in Au gusta—yesterday an unbroken story of official corruption, high graft ing, bickering with the State leg islature, regularly applied taxr’lon of hush money and successive slush funds in South Carolina-that could not be classed short of starting re velations. . innrirr*rr IT* The stor/ told of the official life of Coleman L. Blease, governor of South Cs.rolina, was one such as has rover been used tti picture the chief magistrate of any State in the urn- . . h mm. v.* M ion. Direct, forceful, even sensation. al in the extreme was some of the testimony, indeed, some of It was The reports of the Bamberg meet ing held Saturday ladlehte that It was characterised by a frenxied at- of such sensational character that thd committee declined to permit I Its public reading or public filing. Jonae, the investigating committee. Thoe. B. Felder and others. His remarks were vitriolic and shocking, and many of the audience were dis gusted. Applause for the Governor diminished aa he proceeded and at \ h * 1 V° u l d * **, the retirement there was but scant *[„. cheering. After speaking a few It is not our purpose to “dabble in South Carolina poli tics.” but political deeeucy ani proper conduct in public life are things that kaow no State lines; therefore, we feel free to say: South Carolina la al randy sufficiently humiliated by the fact that Cole L. Blease l» the governor of that State. Should he be re-elected In the face of bia record and In the face of the damning tee imopy thxt waa brought, out against him In Augusta yesterday, she will be donbty humlllat- •d. But the letter outcome Is Inconceivable; for. surely. no right-mirded South Carolinian, no man who values the proud herttf-ge of citisenship In that state of glorious history, can cast hie balllot to again place each a stigma upon her. For, It must be remembered South Cf”ollna, herself, is now on trial, and It remains to be seen whether or tot she is the sort of state that will longer tolerate a governor of the type of Blease. It can ecr^cely be said that the astounding testimony of Hon. Thomas B^ Felder—the Atlanta attorney who. in con nection with Hon?”J. Fraser Lyon, the able ai*l courtleous attorney general of South Carolina, who so vigorously prose cuted the dispensary graft cases in Carolina—revealing, z* it does, wholesale graft and bribery of the most shocking and braxen character, was needed to conip°l the conviction tha* Cole L. Birase Is ri m*T man for any office within the gift of the people of South Carolina; for. unfortunately. Blease. himself, had already furnished sufficient evidence as to his unfitness. But It ccn be said that Mr. Felder has more than mnde goed his promise to expose the almost unbelievable perso'*il and offic al conduct of the present chief executive of that state. " At his own expense, Mr. Felder employed the famous W. J. Burns detective srenry to furnish corroborative evidence cf Biease’s record, and wt’ii the aid of the dictagrrph, once more: that little instrument which helped the famous detective to send the McNamaras to prison for life and to uncover whole sale graft at Atlantic City. Sr a Francisco and Columbus. Ohio—Mr. Bums and his assistants have been able to reveal a trail of corruption tha f runs throughout South Carolina to the very doors of the state capltol. * Such a story as that carried in The Chronicle yesterday and today, aa the reuult of Mr. Felder’s testimony and that of the Burua detectives, given In Augusta Friday and Sat urday, waa never before printed about the chief executive of any state of this Union. And to think that this man still has the effrontery to go about the State of South Carolina, meeting in Joint debate an honorable man and aspirant for the governorship. and aakir^ the people of Carolina for the “endorsemsnt of a second term. It Is almost as unthinkable as to believe that the people of South Carolnla would dellberrtely vote to re-establish the old state dispensary, and rehabilitate Its fr.mous "board of control.” The regretable part of it all Is. no opportunity Is left, to bring about Blessejs imp each mer<’. The legislature dives not meet again until after the expiration of Blease’s present term—end there is no likelihood that he will ever have an other. Unfortunately, Bl<*» *. himself, is the only man who can crll the legislature in extra session; therefore, It Is equally u&Mkely that he ran ever be brought to trial.be fore the present general assembly The one remaining hope would be to reach him through the courts, either while he la governor or lc,ter; but, once again, the record of Soii'h Carolina’s courts Is not good convicting men who have any sort of political pull. It* fttaTe, no matter what the;r misdeeds. But at least one outcome might be reasonably hoped Either that an aroused and. outraged public sentiment drive Cole: Blease from the stump in the present campaign, or that Judge Jones, his opponent, will have the good taste to refuse to meet him in any further-joint debe’es. The latter owes’It to the respectable element of South Carolina who aoe supposing him tp tako this course at once.—The Chronicle. - ■ - *-* ; „ . to be used by the press, and from la reference to Its contents, couldf not be used and go through the [ malls. Felder opened the testimony with | the statement. ‘We are going to clean out the JOjgeat# sublet today”—-and his | A ♦art of the cleaning-up prooefs covered five hours. His story an exposition of minnts details of tbs “South Carolina situation” minutes ha shucked off his coat and for the flret time In the cam paign a coatless caadtdate faced the voters. Even the most urdsnt admirers,j>f the Governor admit that he went too far, aod that be did himself lr*.’ury by using the lan guage he did. Judge Jonas Is reported to have made friends by his speech, and to have cloasd amid applauas. There wars 100 persons present, a ai Got. from 1005 to date. He qobted Do* ^ tec live Wm. J. Burns who nacovsrsd ° f thmn being ladles. the bns Angeles and other dynamite cases—Id Mr. Borns’ presence— as declaring that the condition of af fairs which has existed la South (Carolina was worse than San Fran cisco, the? the Carolina experience was "infinitesimal as compared with t.hf- condltioD In graft-ridden South Carolina. ” Detail by detail he told of Hub Ev ans and Cole Blease f.oinp to At Ir.’Ua snd framing up a deal with Bluentha! A Blckert. a wholesale li quor house, for a system of reba-’ee, which were to go to Blease and members of the dispercary board of control, of which Hub Evans w;is chairman. He described the transaction between the liquor house c- f 'that time, snd Blease and Evans, in which Monroe Bick- ert paid over into the bands of Ev ans aud Blease $4,()<10 or^h graft ir* one lump; of the election cor ruption fund raised by the blind tigers of Charleston to buy Blesse’s election; of $500 in one lump which Senator Blease bad taken from the railroads for blocking legislation Governor Blease has issued a strtement characterising the testi mony recently taken at Augusta as tissues of mlsreprrasnutloas and wilful lies, and speaks of Detect!vw Burro os a cheap “hireling”. Ho claims that these exposures have done him no (jjary and that Aio will present proof at the proper time, rebutting these charges. At St. Georgs yesterday he seed the same form of dsounclatloa as formerly and did not attempt any., defense of his character. The dlspeDvary investigating com mittee has been called to meet Thursday at Columbia, by request of Attorney Nichols, In order that his side of the matter may be heard. ruptlon fund which Blease tried to have raised, but in which Blease tried to have raised, but in which he failed because Nick Block of Mr- con wouldn’t stand for so large a sum. Of his career as governor he could be told of pardons sold by the governor coj. Hill and particularly of $3,000 which Blease chc-rged for pardoning Ru-| dolph Habeas, whq was convicted in*' Oconee County of being a go-be tween for yeggmen. Yet. with this unbroken.story brought up to date by Thomas B. Felder there still remains a raft of what he sr.ys is conclusive docu mentary evidence to be submitted. Reams of typewritten matter have yet been unlntreduced, which Is to be offered as the evidence collect* ed by the Burns Detective Agency in personal contact and by th® use of that now f;. ned if trument. the dictagraph William J. Burns, the eh-ef de tective of the force which has earn ed International ’ fame, has on the stand, r-Td. in the matter in reference to placing his office in the primary, county chairman and several hers who have discussed the mat ter have cor«?luded that there no objection to having prevent his claim and the county chairman, M. P. How ell, therefore, agreed to call this meeting. A fall attendance of the committee is urged. CLOVER HILL TEAM COMING. This Three Games Arranged for Week With Ouudeatoe for that for; will forward, conviction-carrying. but very quiet raanr*‘r, he threw more weight than anything tl«*» did la alt that had transpired during the day. His testimony came In the night session, and lasted _ hardly more than twenty minutes. but those were the weighty minutes of the er*'ire proceedings He told the committee, In’ unvarnished term*, that South Carolina has been through a period of horror; that the time has come when offlctala in { high positions must / be ehown up for the gohd of the country as a whole; that the light of publicity 1 . needs to be tqrned or* South Caro- j linn, and that publicity will do more good than “putting a thousand men la the penitentiary.’’ Berne plainly preferred that the records gathered by his men be get ten la evidence before the $omaK- Tbe Walterboro team will cross bats Thuradr-y, Friday and Saturday of this week In a series of games with the Charleston Clover Hill b-arn. This team has a good repu tation to sustain, but the Walterbo-' m boys feel they will be able to deliver the goods. The gatpes will be c^led at 4.30 o’clock, and a 1,06,1 large crowd of f&ns are expected to a straight- present. * COMING COUNTY EVENTS July 18, T1 airplay—County H. 8. Convention. Opens, July IP, Friday—-Farmer*’ InMitue at Walterboro. July 90, Saturday Senster- Isi Campaign Speaking. July SS, Executive Notice Is published elsewhere io v this issue of a call for a meeting of the county executive committee to which the railroad war-’ed killed; of |j e held Tuesday, July 23rd, for thft $250 which he got for killing the purpose of atloetag Col. J. W. first effort to have the old dlspen- HW, the preaenf highway commis sary Investigated, this being paid a tener, to appear before the eom- by liquor houses; of £• $25,000 cer- m ]ttee end present hie side of ■9f