The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1877-09-20
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JOB WORK.
THE STATE PROSECUTIONS.

EON OhSIl.
- -
THE STATE PROSECUTIONS.
A Letter From Senator Butler. 10,
EDoEr1Erp, s. c., Sept. 13, 1877.
Captain James ~. Lipscomb,
ChappeTs Depot, s. e.;
MY DEAR SIR Your letter of the
10th instant was received last night
on my return from Aiken Court.
You enclose letter of Septem--
Der Q from Charleston to the New
York .Sttu, written, presume, by
the. correspondent of that paper
from Charleston. in which it it
made to appear that I advised the
discontinuanco Of the prosecutions
against the Radical ex-officials, with
sundry other charges which T can
not repeat in detail. You say that
the reading of this letter "produccd
q feeling Of horror and dread
throughout the State, and many of
your .(my) most devoted political
and personal friends arc deeply OK
ercised over it, and beg mo to
"brand it in the most public and
decided manner
I proceed to brand it by saying
that whoever says, or intimates, or
hints that I have advised tho
discontiuuunce Of tho said prosecr.'
tions is liar, and whoever believes
it is a simpleton.a &Now,'I T. think, tho
branding part has been done, and
for the publicity, I will have to
depend upon you.
This letter to tho ,Sn1a is written
as I am informed, by Il Radical cx-
official of South Carolina, now living
in Charleston, who got his position
by troachory, sustained himself
while there by duplicity, and having
been ousted on account of his imbe
cility and vcnality, now seeks to
make living by lying and slandor.
Tho lottcr which you enclose is u
specimen of his capacity in that line
and one copied in the Journul ot'
Commerce., of the 18th instant,
whorein he rofers to my having pu.-
chased q a"Stnte warrant" is another.
/ nevor before heard of such u papcr
asa estate warrant" such as he
describes, and tho statement is,
therefore, Il lie made out of tho whole
cloth.
1t is bad enough to DO villifiod
and traducod by Radical political
traders, but when ono who has
tried to do tho best he could for the
State and the restoration of good
government, and who feels that
while he does not pretend to have
been entirely unseltish, yet he made
somo personal sacrifices for the
public good, has to be- subjected to
tho suspicion of his gsfriends, who
ought to knO,c that such statements
are false, is somewhat discouraging.
I do not deny that I have exerted
myself earnestly to secure my seat
in the United States Senate. I have
felt that it was my duty to do so,
but I hove made no bargains to
secure my election, as you you know,
md shall make mono to get my seat.
My being seated may help tho State
in the estimation of some, but the
seating Of my competitor would no
doubt be regarded by all as public
calamity. If I am to succeed, I
must be allowed to do so'in my own
way, and not be turned aside by every
lying scribbler, who sees fit to slander
mo if not, I had BETTER abandon
the field, and let Corbin take tho
scat or some other Richmond enter
the field.
do not mean by this that I am
beyond or above criticism, but T do
mean to say that suspicious and
"droads,P based upon such
stuff as that contained in tho
enclosed letter to the ,S,m,
which, in every essential particular
ia false so far as it relates to mo,
is disgusting and absurd. I have
had nothing to do with the prosecu,.
tions Of the Radical ex-ot1icials. 1T
is not my business, and r have pur
posoly avoided all connection with
thema / have expressed my opinion
to members Of tho committee and
to General Conner, tho attorney
general, as to the manner Of con
Quoting those prosecutions, and shall
exercise that privilege again when
evor my judgment leads me to do SC
and those gentlemen are willing to