The press and standard. [volume] (Walterboro, S.C.) 1890-current, July 17, 1912, Image 1
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