The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-08-12
THURSDAY MORNING, AUG. 18th, 1875
Conveniently Absent.
Politicians generally manage to be

Conveniently Absent
Politicians generally manage to be abb
sent when there is any danger brewing
at home. Whenever any unpleasant
revelation is about to be made it is not
unfrequently the case that they manipu-
late their movements in such O manner
as to remain absent for sufficient length
of time to allow the public mind to for
get, or to afford them an excuse for not
attempting to deny or explain such rev.
Citations as may be unfavorable to them |;
but it is unprecedented in the history of
this State for the Governor to leave and
be absent from the State as Governor
Chamberlain has done for weeks during
time of so much public interest as the
recent trial of Ex-Trcasurer Parker and
the failure of Solomon's bank. This is
especially remarkable in Gov. Chamber
lain, as this trial involved the acts of
him who was Treasurer during the Gov
ernor's term as Attorney General, and
no sane man can believe that Governor
Chamberlain would have been absent at
this time, after all the charges of corrup-
tion that have been made against him in
connection with Parker, without some
more powerful motive than recreation, as
is alleged by his friends. Was it that
by some strange intuition he knew what
Capt. Ladd's testimony about the divis-
ion of those coupons would be, and did
not wish to be where he would be obliged
to either admit or deny the fact that
$4,000 of coupons were laid aside for
him in that division? BE this as it may,
he has not condcscended to notice this
matter, although the testimony has been
published and re-published. 1t was not
necessary for him to be present-could
have written or telegraphed denial.
Yet he is silent even when the papers
state that the jury acted on the ground
that the division stated in Ladd's testi-
mony did actually occur. Gov. Scott
went promptly into Court, and asked for
an opportunity to deny the statement
that he received $4,000 of these cou-
pons; but Ex-Comptroller General ]. l..
Neagle, Financial Agent II. II. Kimp-
ton and Gov. d. H. Chamberlain think
their regulations (?) arc a sufficient vim
dication of themselves without even a
denial.
But Gov. Chamberlain may have had
another reason for his absence at this
time. He may not have wished to be
present when such bare, bald and con-
temptible farce was to be played in the
name of trial at law. He did not wish
probably to be connected, directly or in
directly, with the release of Parkers Sc
curities, nor in the discontinuance of the
other suits against Parker, but preferred
to throw the blame for these outrages
upon public justice upon other shoulders.
He may have known that the verdict
against Parker would be barren victory,
and not intended to benefit the State one
single farthing, but to lose it thousands
of dollars in court and attorney expenses,
and simply to afford certain wordy rcpub-
licans an opportunity for letting forth n
little of their Buncombc oratory on the
success of "thc party" in reforming form
er abuses.
We may, however, do the Governor
injustice when we attribute his absence
entirely to the Parker case. lie vetoed
bill making the Carolina National Bank
and Trust Company Hardy Solomon's)
the depository of the State funds, on the
ground that the llttcr bank was not safe,
and yet he, as one Of the commission to
appoint banks as such repositories, fixed
upon this very bank for one. 1t may be
that Coming events cast their shadows
before them," and the impending failure
of this bank, and consequent heavy loss
to the State, were apparent to the pro-
phctic vision of our Governor, and that
he preferred being absent for recreation
to graphing with the financial pcrplcxi-
tics arising from this unfortunate selec-
ton Of depository for the State funds.