Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-07-20
Irby,s Reply to Farley.

Afew days ago q communlcat1on
was published in the several daily
papers from Gen. Farley, abusing
mesfor supposed wrongs ] had done
him. I,cannot engage in apersonal
abusive controversy with Gen.
Farley, or anybody else. The pub
licsare not interested in such liter
ature, and therefore do not expect
me in this reply to engage in any
Esuch blackguardism. The public,
Ehowever, have a right to be inform
ed as to the truth or falsity of any
statement of alleged fact. that may
be contained in Gen. Farley's ar
tic1e.
There are only two statements
of moment in the letter as i read
it.A
First. that I dictated to my pri-
vate secretary an article, which ap.
peared the second week of March
lin the Augusta Chronicle. signed
aCraddock, . without the consent
or knowledge of the person who
uses that nom de plume.
Second, that / inspired an edi.
torial which was written by Mr..
W.T.. Crews, in the Laurenspille
Herald.
The, first charge is as ridiculous
asEit issfalse. The idea of a per-
son with Is thimble leful Of sense
forgingthe ame-of a newspaper
man: lis laughable in, the. extreme,
but I am willing that the public
should know The whole. truth about
that g aCraddock"Iletter.
/ ~ -
Mr. James H. Tillman,. q sonsof
Congressman Tillman, was, about
the date Of the ''Craddock" letter,
the correspondent of the Augusta
Chronicle in Washington, and
"Craadosk" washis nom de plume.
On Saturday, just one week after
the Inauguration of the President,
Maj. VIM. T. Gary, of Augusta,
and Mr.. James H. Tillman came
into my sitting room at the No
tionaI Hotel. Maj. Gary said to
Tillman that what he had told
him a few moments before ought
to be repeated to Irby. I asked
what it was, and Tillman told the
following tale:
That he had just left the Metro
politan Hotel, where he had had a
long conversation with Gen. II. i.
Farley, who had remained in
Washington since the inaugura-
tion. He said that Farley had
read him. a long abusive commu-
nication addressed to the Reform
ers of South Carolina, showing
that Tillman and Irby are unsafe,
unwise, extreme, dangerous lead.
ers; and that the Reform Move.
nents could not be perpetuated
without throwing them overheard
and putting more conservative
Headers in front. He asked Till
man to publish ii in the Augusta
Chronicle with his (Tillman's)
nom de plume, saying that the
piece would attract great attention,
create.a great sensation, and that,
at the proper time, he would come
out and assume it's authorship.
Tillman said he refused to publish
it unless he would allow the editor
of his paper to know the author.
He told Tillrnan that that was the
opening gun of the campaign next
year against Til'man's and Irby's
leadership of the Reform Move
ment. He further said that the
following slate had been arranged
and agreed upon: That Gen. But
Ter was to run for reelection to the
Senate, Shell was to be supported
by the Conservatives, or Ants,
and milder Reformers for Gov
ernor; and that he (Gen. Farley)
was to run for Congress in Shells
district. He said they would like
to get Talbert into the combina-
ton, but that it could not be ar
ranged unless George Tillman
would agree to let up on and sup
port. Talbert, and in that way, get
the Conservatives to support Tai
bert for reelection. Farley offered
Tillman place on the ticket as
Adjutant and Inspector General if
he would go to his father and make
the arrangements by which he
would not oppose but support Tai
bert's reelection. (At this time
every one in Washington knew
that the Governor and Col. Till
,oor r,,ara not az, cnoo 6Sno for,,o a