The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-10-14
AT THE END OF ITS ROW.
THE STATE BOARD OF CONTROL
ABANDONS THE JOB.

I,Has No Power to Go Further With the
DIsnensary Investigation and Says 30
What Was Cleaned In CINCINNATI.
COLUMBIA, S. c., Oct. s. The State
board of control is still peging away
at its regular monthly routine bust
ness. Yesterday morning, however,
it found time TO receive the report ol
Messrs. Williams and Weston, who
were sent on during the recess to Gin
cinnati to look into matters bearing
on the rebate business. This report
was received and received some dis
cussion. The board practically de
cided at the morning session what II
would do so far as any further lnvestl
CATION is concerned, but took no OH
cial action, preferring, it is understood,
to await the arrival of Mr.. Allen.
During the morning, however, the
board decided to make public the re-
port presented by these gentlemen,
and it was turned over to the represen'
tatives of the press. ;,
In the afternoon the board brought
up the matter of the Investigation again
and took tinalaction in regard thereto
in the Eshape of the following resolu'
ton, which was adopted and at once
made public:
s.This board of control, on account
of the many rumors affecting the In
tegrity of the management of the busi-
ness of the State dispensary before the
present board took charge of its affairs,
deemed it proper to enter upon an In
yestipation of the truth of such ru-
mors so far as they affect employees OF
the institution. This investigation
has been made as thorough and as
searching as possible in view of the
limited extent of the power and au'
thority of this board.
During the investigation the board
has received statements, under oath,
of all persons and all officials who ap-
peared before it. A joint committee,
composed of one member of the board
and one member of the legislative ex-
amining committee, was sent to the
city of Atlanta and city of Cincinnati
to investigate the business transactions
between firms who have sold liquors
to the State and the officials OF the
State dispensary under the former act
of the legislature. The report of this
joint committee has been made. The
hearing before this borad was held with
open doors, and the testimony has
been published in the daily newspa-
pers for the information of the public.
It is the sense of this board that at the
proper time the general assembly shall
be fully apprised of the disadvantages
under which this investigation was
made, that they may take such steps
as may be deemed advisable.
1.-The evidence that has been taken
is, in the opinion of this board, INSULT
cient to show that any officer or EN-.
ploye of the State dispensary has re-
ceived rebates or commissions on sales
to the dispensary, or to trace any
money so received to the personal
possession of any such officer or en-
ploye. or to prove that any such otli'
Ger or employe has participated In
such rebates or commissions.
THE COMMITTEES REPORT.
Here is the report of the official COM
mittee sent to Cincinnati:
Columbia, S. G., Oct. 7, 1896:
To the State Board of Control:
We, your committee appointed at
your last meeting to 60 to Atlanta and
Cincinnati to collect evidence against
dispensary officials, if any there is,
tending to show that rebates were i'm
properly received, report:
That we went to Atlanta, Ga, and
there found that it was impossible to
recover damaging telegram said to
have been sent from there TO Commits
sioner Mixson by his son in July. IS,
as under the rules of the company,
which is that all matter over six
months old had been destroyed, if ever
in existence.
That we then proceeded to Cincin-
matt, and as result present herewith
statement from the PEBBLES and Live
Oak companies, who have been
charged with paying rebates, which
deserves but little comment at our
hands. The officers and employees of
those companies refused to discuss any
of these matters with us except through
their attorney; refused to allow a
stenographic report of our interview
with them, and refused to be bound by
any verbal statement they might
make.
Their written statement amounts to
little else than an advertisement for
themselves, and without charging any
body with wrong. doing, we respectful
ly suggest that the legislature is the
only power in this State with sufficient
authority to grapple with this matter
and expose damaging facts if any exist.
While in Cincinnati we approached
other parties who had had dealings
with the dispensary, but with unsatis-
factory results.
(Signed L. J. Williams,
Of the Board of Control.
(Signed) Francis 81. Weston,
Of the Legislative Committee.
THE WHISKEY MEMS LETTER.
The following letter is the principal
one of those referred to in the report
Cincinnati, Sept 25th, 1896.
Messrs. Williams and Weston, Com
mittee of Investigation, Columbia,
s. c.:
Gentlemen-As we have made you
assurance that we would investigate
all the matters you have made a
trip to Cincinnati to look into, we now
propose to put in writing the result of
our investigations, concerning the af-
fo;rs of tho fmo nndersione6 cnn nnanips