The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1876-04-26


under Governor Scott, took q sud,
den fit of honest indignation at the !
frequent aspersions upon his good
lhaiae by the democrctic press, and
requested of the house the, ilnme
diato appointment of q committee of
democrats to Investigate his offici; |
transactions. Tho committee was
duly appointed, and wont at once to
work. Tho short time allowed, to-
gether with the sreat difficulty Of
procuring evidence of any sort, pre-
vented anything like IN exhaustive
investigation, but the committee
found enough to prove beyond doubt
that Leslie defrauded the state of u
very large amount of money, and
was besides guilty of many acte of
gross official misconduct. No books
containing satisfactory entries could
be found, and recourse was hnd to
the deetls made to Leslie by tho scv-
oral parties from whom hc pur.
chased lands. On comparing the
amounts stated in these deods with
those charged to tho Commissioners
on the books Of tho state treasurer,
thoro WAS found to eXista discrepan
cy amounting in all to SS0,000 OF
this deficiency, S6S,000 arose during
tho administration of Leslie, md for
that sum he is, or should be, re-
sponsiblc to the state. Tho report
shows likewise many transactions
bearing the indelible impress Of
deliberate fraud. The most damag-
ing testimony given before the com
mittec is that of Mr.. james &.
Gibbcs, who swclrs that, in order
to be paid for land sold to the com
mission, he was forced to pay to
Leslie the sum of $1,000. Altogeth-
, er, the report, though necessarily
, limited in its scope. contains enough
to warrant II prosecution of Leslie in
the courts. That frauds, almost
without number, wcrc done in CON
ncction with tic Land Commission.
is too well known, too well proven.
to admit of any doubt. Indeed, II
, committee appointed by the leSis.
lature under Scott, known MS the
"Joint Special Financial Investigate
ing Committee" made " report in
1871, showing up the frauds that
had been committed under the cover
- Of buying lands for the state That
committee, composed of Wnittomore,
Hurley and othor leading radicals,
made report covering several
, = hundred pages, upon almost every
one Of which there Was evidence OF
5 some fraud upon the state. a large
= portion of the report Was occupied
with tho details of the fraudulent
transactions of the Land Commi:,
sion. and ample evidence was there
and o'thcrs iimijpSGccaatsSdi;; But ut lil;i life
. almost all the investigations" made
by tho legislature since 1868, the
work came to al end rs soon us the
committee reported. In tho state,
mcnts recently made by the commit,
tee appointed ut Lcslics special
request, there is ample evidence to
warrant the prosecution of the cx-
Land Commissioner in the courts.
: There no would have ample oppo! tn
nifty to establish his innocence. and
clear his character of tho aspersions
put upon it. But there has bocn SO
much sham Investigation, So much
sham prosecution, SO many sham
trials of public thieves. and there
arc 50 manly of the plundcrcrs now
free who ought to be in the pcni-
tcntmry, that there is little ground to
believe TINT Leslie will ever bo held
to answer for his crimes. Par,
kcr and Scott and Ncaglc and
klmpton, to say nothing of lesser
lights, such as defnulting county
officers, have all enjoyed the fullest
freedom from annoyance on account
Of their stcalinSs, und we have but
little idea that Leslie will ever be
, troubled.
The Conservative Traitors"
. Under this caption the Abbeville