The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-07-09
''''The IrrepressibIe" Once More.

" IA 1AnSoClhteU IIcSS QeSpatCn, QatoQ
Charleston, S. c., June /, which says in
substance "that it is rcportcd,that 6. p.
Leslie, member Of the Legislature of
this State, has aIscondetl to avoid arrest.
He is chargeu with cmbczzling the funds
OF the Land Commission. Proceedings
have been tnken by or OH behalf of the
State authorities; bau has been frcl ,a
S440, ,00U'-in short, that I robbed the
State as Land Commissioners ont Of nn
amount Justifying my bail being fixed ut
that sum.
Gentlemen, if the authors of tho CAS-
sociatcd Press despatch" published n
lying communication nll over these
United States, they will be held strictly
responsible hereafter by me; if they told
| the truth, to wit: That have robbed the
State out of large sum of money. and
that have abscOnded from the State,
You should actively go to work in the
| matter and thoroughly investigate the
charge. have no right to assume that
the Attorney-Goncral will neglect his
| duty i'll this respect or his reported as
siSt0ntS, A. p. Altlrich, Major Robert AL
drich, Captain Alfred Aldrich, Col.
James Aldrich and Colonel Tom Counts,
President Tax Union Bnrnwcll County
Fosltlve uctlon on your part, promptly,
may recover large sum OF money to the
State, and may get mc in the pcnitcntiary
| and ont Of tho Legislature IL thing de-
sired just now by some Of the Demo-
cracy and by all of the respectable Repub-
llcans-1 mean those who are not cor
| rupt, never have been, and never expect
to be real good men, piouS, devout and
Cody.
The Edgcficld -idcrtiser, the Fairfield
Herald, the Beaufort Tribune, the Pickcns
Sentinel and the Barnwcll .Seatinel are Ill
and each of them possessed of Il large
amount of information that will 20
largely toward securing my conviction;
they were all very glad to hear was to
he arrested, very glad; they will proba-
bly, give your honorable body MI the
advice and information they possess,
| without any extra charge or expense to
the commonwealth. Brother Cnrflozo is
also possessed of some important infor-
nation, which he will no doubt willingly
divulge. Perhaps the Secretary of State,
| er-oGicio Land Commissioner, may throw
light upon the subject. Major Greene,
his travelling agent, may do the same.
There is the He'll Hole Swamp purchase,
and, also, tract known to the Daily
Ne,cS and Courier MS the "Leslio tract"
inhabited principally by "bems," nil in
Charleston County. This was clear
steal, it is said. That 1 did it, or was
largely concerned in it. everybody be-
lievcs it is so, which is all tie same
thing. Then there is the Lancaster pur-
chase and the Chesterfield purchase =
| purchases of the same kind, it is said, MS
bnd rs they can be. Here, too, it is reported
l took the whole thing, the 'noforious
Leslie" captured the ,rholc Of the steal,
robbed the poor old down-troddcn and
oppressed corporation, and he is still ut
ge-''abscondcd" You can lepcnd
upon it, the Aldrich fnlnily will ably Sc
cond your efforts to indict me- EX-
Judge \. Z. Aldrich told two response
bic gentlemen Of Barnwcll County, one
year ago, that he WAS close on nv track:
that tho papers were made out, and cx-
hibited package which he said was the
very things themselves to prove robbed
the Land Commission. He WAS going to
prosecute me right off, but he didn't.
just before the court house election he
said the same thing, and was again going
to prosecute me, but he d;tlrr. He was
| afraid it might have n bad effect ON the
election. Just think of it, gentlemen"
The records, books, papers, Advisory
| Eonrd, Attorney-General, nroat your verv
doors-go ahead. You have. sort o.
got your hand in and you may MS we'll
make clean sweep; keep politics out of
the matter if you can, but, Mt nny rate,
20 dheai; but while you are Mt it, probe
the whole Land Commission business to
the bottom; find out whether any Of the
Land Commission bonds were delivered
to mo, and if not, ,cho got them; find out
whether the proceeds Of any of the bonds
were paid over to me, and if not, uao not
them; find out whether ever purchased
any land for the Land Commission, and
if 1 did not, ,cho did; find out whc-
ther l ever sold any land for the
Land Commission, md if I didn't,
,oho did; find out whether I had the
handling of tho money paid for the land
and if had not, ,cho had; find ont whe-
thcr tho deeds made out in my name rs
Land Commissioner were delivered to
me, and if not, ,cho they ,oere deltuered TO-;
find ont whether in the whole business
Of the Land Commission was the '.head
and front of it, .'or whether was AMPLY
the clork Of 1thesAdvisory Board, doing
what they 'aise6S6d- me to do, and with
| M ,,ouyor "a do