The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1872-09-18
Card from Mr.. TOmlinson.
CHARLESTON s. c. Sent.
To tie Editors of tile Ners.

| GENTLEMEN: On returning tt
;; the city to-day, my attention i:
called TO your editorials Of Friday
and Of yesterday, in which yor
refer to charges made by F. l.
Cardozo and S. ". Melton against
me with reference to my alleged
connection with the passage ot
the phosphate bill ; and, lookin 9
upon at least one of these gentle.
men as having some character for
vcracity left, you may properly
demand that | shall meet the
charges. l had already been in,
formed, in a private letter from
Mr.. Corbin, Of the statements
made by Mr.. Cardozo and Mr..
Melton, at Yorkville, and was
awaiting an opportunity to notice
them publicly. By your kindly
in terference, l have that oppor-
tunity. 1 have not yet read Mr..
Melton's speech delivered in Char
lesion, but understand from others
that the statement made in that
speech is substantially the same
as that made at Yorkvllle.
Mr.. Cardozo is represented as
saying at Yorkville, "Mr. Tomlin-
son is no better than Moses, so far
as corruption goes, for if Moses
did issue fraudulent pay certifi-
Gates, Mr.. Tomlinson told me him.
self that he helped to buy up the
Senate to pass the phosphate bill
over the Governors veto. He
told me this at the time, and I
have no doubt that he told me
the truth"
I can only say that this state
ment is a bold, unblushing and
unqualified falschood. Will you
tell me how l am to prove that
Mr.. Cardozo tells an untruth when
he makes this statement ? be
might, with as much propriety,
say that | had tried to bribe him
to murder somebody; one asser-
tion would be just as reasonable
and as true as the other. But if
he repeats these assertions until
the crack Of doom, | do not. see
how / am to prove their untruth.
[ can only place my assertions
and character against his, and let
the public decide for themselves.
| may say, however, that in his
speech at Yorkville, previous to
making The above statement, Mr.
Cardozo said Of me that II had
been his friend for some years, and
was az honest and upright man"
Mr.. G. may think that uprightness
Of character is consistent with a
weakness for bribing Senators. l
do not.
Mr.. Melton is represented as
saying at Yorkville that he had
been told, (and would give his au-
thority if Mr.. Tomlinsou asked for
it, that he (Tomlinson) had Dor,
rowed the money, or endorsed q
note at the bank, to get the money
which was used for the purpose of
passing the phosphate bill through.
This is substantially the same
statement as that made by him in
bis Charleston speech. In reply,
l have to say that there is abso-
lutely not the shadow Of truth in
the statement. I am bound to be-
lieve, even against some reasons
for lack of faith in his perfect We
racity, that in this instance Mr..
Melton thinks he has foundation
for his charge, and l will be only
too glad to have his authority for
the assertion he has seen fit to
make.
Of course you do not ask me
now to prove that somebody did
not tell Mr.. Melton that l had
done the thing charged, although
the language Of your editorial Of
Friday would seem to imply that
it was my duty so to do.
l respectfully submit that there
is no parallel between the charges
made against myself and those
made against Mr.. Moses. 1t is
judicialIy proven that there have
been fraudulent issues of pay GER.
tifcates- the affidavit Of Treas
urer Parker in answer 10 Judge
Wizards order, in which tits shown
that Sill, 900 Of pay certificates:
for 1872, had been redeemed at
the Treasury, and that for s399,
900 the Treasurer's notes haC
been given, to say nothing of the
large amount not yet taken care
Of by the Treasurer-and yet yor
seem to place the charge of Smith
Jones or Brown that | have sto
len q horse or robbed a bank, ir
the same category with these
charges which are of judicial re
cord. In your desire to hold tn
scales even between the two rad
ical factions: l fear you lean q lit
tie to the other side.
In conclusion, allow me to say
that my connection with tn
phosphate bill was just this:
voted for it, because | thought
| for the interest Of Charleston an,
of the State to do so. [ urged tn
Governor not to veto it, TOR tn
.I r. raocnr