The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1893-05-11
MR.. DONALDSON REPLIES
TO GOVERNOR TILLMAN'S CHARGES
AGAINST HIM.

lie Is wIlIir That the Alliance Should
PAS, judgment Upon Himself and tho
Govornor-A Counter Attack On Till
man.
COLUMBIA, S. c.. May 6.-The follow
ing reply of Col. M. l.. Donaldson to
Governor Tillman's explanation Of the
blacklisting appears IN tho Cotton
Plant today:
GREENvILLE, S. c., May /, 1893.
MIR. EDITOR:-In replying to Cover
nor TilIman's confession to having
blacklisted me to President Cleveland,
and the reason he assigns for SO doing
l shall not attempt to "link" Mr.. Till
man as citizen, with Mr.. Tillman as
Governor, nor Vicc-verSa, but to deal
with him as man u man, recognizing
the fact. as the public will also, that if
his conduct in this matter. is shown to
be true and noble and manly, it will
only give lustre to the office which he
holds, and that on the contrary If his
course has been untrue, ignosle and
unmanly, his Office as Governor, will
not shield him from the contempt of
all right thinking meD.
Whea I first saw the reports in the
State had included my name in black
list TO Mr.. Cleveland, 1 in common
with the people generally gave but lit
tie credit to it. but receiving no state
ment from the Governor denying it |
wrote him a letter of inquiry. which
letter he saw fit to ignore. l shall take
up his public statements however, and
answer them seriatim.
lie disclaims any reference to my
private character, or any feeling of re-
sentiment, or desire to injure me and
yet he deliberately proceeds to charge
me with betrayal" Of the Alliance, and
''treastiery to the people and to the AL
lance" thus making deadly thrust at
my character and reputation. We read
OF one Joab of olden time, who while
jealousy, pursued faithful servant of
the king, one who was on a mission to
unite and harmoniZe the people. and
when he had overtaken him this Joab
while stroking the beard of his victim,
in great show Of friendship, thrust the
cold steel under his fifth rib. Perhaps
Gov. Tillman has yet TO learn that to
stab a mans character whether openly
as Joah did Annassa's person
or under cover of supposed secrecy in
a blacklist to the President means
Q0aJfG TO Jn6 VICTIM.
The first reason given by the Cover
nor to prevent further betrayal of the
Alliance" is that ! am repudiated by
the Democracy of Greenville County,
etc. So far as my failing to be elected
a delegate to the May convention is
concerned, / have the records 10 show,
for they are in the hands Of three as
honorable men as live in Greenvlle
County, that in a caucus Of reformers,
held just before the meeting Of the
County Convention, a ballot was taken
for delegates to the State Convention.
to be voted for in the open convention.
About oMe-half of the ballots cast for
me were not reported, AID still the
number of ballots counted for me made
an alternate, which according to a rule
of the caucus required that my name
be printed on the tickets to be used in
the, cnen convention, having failed
therefore by the counting out process
to keep me off the ticket, it was dis
covered in the convention, after large
number of them were distributed to
the msuspecting Members, that my
name was left eff the tickets. This
arouSipg suspicion in the minds of
some, All investigation was made and
the facts as above stated sworn to and
published by the Investigating COM
mittee. 1t was but natural therefore
(and certainly nothing could have been
more gratifying to me) that my friends
with whom had so long associated in
the work Of reform, seeing the perse.
cutiOn that was attempted towards me
should rally almost to man to my
support in the State Convention. Is it
not remarkable position for the Gov
ernor to put the members Of that con-
No cf.,fo l.
the influence of a few A)liancemen,
honorable and responsible position,
within their gift upon one so unwor-
thy as he would have me appecr2
If there was any "presumptioh" in
that convention as to my being OppOS-
ed to the nomination of Mr. Cleveland,
| was not aware of it then nor since,
till the Governor makes the bald state
ment, that such was the case. TO be
entirely frank he makes that statement
in the tace of indubitable proof to the
contrary, for my position toward Mr..
Cleveland was given to the press as
early as February. 1891, and was print
cd in the newspapers all over this
State, and in other States as well. and
know he READ my views, as then eX
pressed
Ihe Alllance gave no evidence OF
looking upon my preference for Mr..
Cleveland Bs a betrayal of them, either
at that time or since. Moreover the
convention voted down resolution to
instruct the delegates to Chicago, as
the records show. AS to the resOlu-
tions afterwards adopted, condemning
Mr.. Cleveland's former administration.
1t will be remembered by delegates,
who talked with me on the way to
Chicago, that thought the resolutions
as expressive Of the sense of the con-
ventlOn must have lis Bearing upon
their action. IWent to Chicago, not
as delegate, to vote in the convention
but to meet the Democratic National
Executive Committee, in order to Or
ganiZe with that committee for the
work Of the campaign. associated
with them "openly' | confess; most of
the committee | believe were support
ers of Mr.. Cleveland, and the results of
the convention indicated that there
were quite a number of voting dele
gates also, who were in favor of his
nomination. l felt then as | do now,
mat L as Tree white South Carolina