The daily gazette., 1877-09-04
HONEST JOHN q dpATTERs0N.
THE oFFENsE FOR WHICH HE HAS
BEEN INDICTED BY A REPUB-
Tnf .LICAN GRAND JURY.

BEEN INDICTED BY REPUB-
frot 'LToAN GRAND JURY.
Chdrleston ~. o. Ne,os ana Courier, Au0. 8O.,
AT o'clock, the jury. having re-as.
sembled, the following new bills were
submitted by the Attorney General:
State against JohnJ. Patterson, N. G.
Parker and Hiram 81. Kimpton,. for con-
spiracyto bribe members Of the, Legisla-
ture TO pass certain act, charging as
overt acts Of the conspiracy that Patter.
son, President of the Blue Ridge Railroad
deliyefef 70 Kimpton, an order on PARKER
as Treasurer, for, Blue Ridge lLsilroad
scrip TO be used for the expenses Of pass
ing, certain bills through the Legislature
and that Kimpton presented the order to
Parker. This'is the order or letter which
was photographed. ,.....ry Z.
The next Il toe State against John j.
Patterson, for bribery of members of the
Legislature to pass certain acts.
The next is yagainst r. K. Scott, John
j. Patterson, N. G.. Parker and +. S,
Jacobs, for conspiracy to cheat the State
(by means Of the money warranty
~ The nextis against the same parties
for conspiracyto cheat the State( by means
of the Leggett warranty - y 1870
The next is against John j. Patterson,
for hiring and counsellng N. G. Parker
to commit a breach of trust and larceny
in paying money on the money warrant,
for which a true bill has already been
found against Parker. fIFrIEEt ?
The Grand Jurv, having received
the indictments, retired, aud after a
brief absence returned with true bills
in all of the above cases. The witness
es in the Patterson bribery case are s.
j. Lee, Prince Rivers, J. B. Dennis
and Il. Beldot, and their testimony is
to the effect that on the 9th of Febru-
ary, 1879, Patterson paid out a large
sum to members of both houses of the
General Assembly to induce them to
to vote for certain bills, to wit. "a
bill to relieve the State of South Caro-
lima of all liability for its guarantee
Of the bonds of the Blue Bridge Rail
road Company by providing for the sc
curing and destruction of the same;"
"a bill relating to the financial agency
of the State of South Carolina in New
York" and "a bill relating to the
bonds of the State of South Carolina" :"
or the bribery fund so disbursed by
Patterson to secure the passage of thes
bills, $3, 900 was paid to Speaker 8. j.
Lee, $1,000 to Representative j. B,
Dennis, $500 to Prince Rivers, Repre-
sentative; and SIS 900 each to the then
Senators Leslie, Owens, Whittemore.
Swails, II. E. Hayne and w. B. Nasn.
Best les these amounts other unspeei
fed sums were paid to many other
members of both houses, whose names
are not given and who are declared 10
be as yet unknown. :" 20 .ss &c.
Another batch Of indictments will
be submitted to the Grand JurYto-
morrow, snc these will close the list
for the present, as Judge Kershaw W
leaves on Saturday to hold court else
where. q III ~ } h'-ft Ni%l AAAiJ
In view of the insinuations of the
Washington Republican, New York
Times and other such papers too much
prominence cannot be given to the
facts: That this Grand Jury was Or
ganized ia January, 1877 by Republic
can officials. and while Mr.. Chamber
lain was seated in the State House as
Governor: That under our State laws
the Grand Jury serves for q year, that
| the resolution under which the Investi
eating Committee was appointed was
introduced by arepublican Senator.
and that Republican 10 chairman
of the committee. that the attempt
made at the North to discredit the &C
tiou of the committee and that Grand
Jury as political prosecutions ignores
the fact that the offenses for which
the parties are indicted are stealing
and cheating the evidence of which
comes entirely from Republican wit
nesses, and is submitted to the decii
ion of Republican grand jury eigh'
| OF whom are colored. 1t might with
as much propriety be said that Bels
| nap was politically prosecuted.