The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-05-13

shipped out; that thlS DflDo hau bee
offered by OF Atlanta firm, but aftc /
wards that tho firm stated to said OF
fetal that they could only pay 10 cent
then the official reported the rcprc
sentative Of this iirm are trying t.
bribc bin.
! also stated in said letter other re
ports connected with the dispcnsar,
management and the purchase 0
| liquors that Smackrd strongly Of cor
ruptiOn. | stated to YOU that | in
tended to publish these reports, thai
the people might know them and dc.
mand an investigation Of the whole
business. A few days after tho rcceip,
OF this letter you came to Spartan burg
and asked nc to suppress the publica.
tion. You know at the timo that
warned you against the suppression OF
anything crooked in the dispcnsary
| that came TO your know ledge, and told
you that you could not afford to cover
mp The !ottGnGcss Of anyone connected
with the dispcnsary because Of your
friendship for him. You replied that
tion, and tho official in question you
believed to be your enemy and was
working IN conjunction with others to
secure your defeat. | stated to you
that heard the representative Of this
firm would tell much more, but that he
was coerced or bulldozed, and was also
afraid OF publicity, fearing that it
might destroy his chances for future
business with the dispcnsary. | told
you further that | was not satisfied,
and that ! believed if they were as
surcd that by telling the truth and all
they knew would not 10 jure their pros
poets for business, that they would
make full statement OF all the facts.
WITH this Wow ! wrote y private let
ter to my friend. Hon. Clark Howcll.
editor Of the Atlanta Constitution mot
the liquor irm), an assuring letter,
sealed up. This letter was wriCtcn TO
Mr.. Howell, who was a friend to said
firm, with the hope OF stiilenng the
backbone OF this liquor man, and there
by securing all the facts. dent re-
member what ! did write. but [ can
tell you that am Il free and indcpcn-
dent American citizen, and can stand
by anything that | do or say. | wear
no mans collar and my hands are not
soil with any corruption, and what
wrote was with view to discovering
corruption that | might expose it
through the Headlight, and not to
wink at rascn!ity. The mistake made
was IN not publishing at the time the
rnmocS heard but you know your
personal appeal to me not to do so is
what deferred me. II necessary will
call on you to publish tho letter
wrote to you some time in February.
But TO show you that | was not bush
"hacklng amy man, upon learning that
the Atlanta firm stated that the offer
they made said official had been re-
jectcd, came to Columbia, saw the
accused party and stated to him the
report had heard, told him just what
had done, and that he seemed exon
Grated.
The Howell letter sent by MIR. |. O.
j. Wood, but that gentleman, instead
OF delivering it as addressed, turned
the letter over to said liquor firm, when
one Of its members broke the seal and
read the contents. He stated to Mr.
Wood that it was not necessary to de.
liver the letter, as he could give him
no information about the reported cor.
rupton. MIR. Wood left tho letter in
tho hands Of said firm. How it came
to 6e turned over to parties in Colum-
bia | do not know.
If you will see that letter you will
find that was simply working to un-
earth reported corruption in the dis
sary management and to assist Mr..
Wood in securing position. [ am not
mixed up in any rebate or other bust
ness connected with the dispensary,
for my hands arc clean and | defy any
one to prove otherwise.
remember in that letter telling Mr..
Howell that Col. Willie Jones and Hon.
ID. NJ. Miles were personal friends and
would stand by me. My reason for
writing this was that | intcndtd d that
MIR. Howell could use it to get tho de-
sired information from that Atlanta
liquor house, for could | convince them
thai their business would not suffer by
telling all they knew they would more
likely give the desired information.
also told two members Of the State
board the report that had reached my
ears. Como up Saturday and sec me.
Truly, your friend,
II. l.. CAN'T.
a STATEMENT FROM SCRUGGS.
Mr.. Scruggs acknowledges that he
did go to sec Mr.. CAN'T and pleaded
with him not to publish the reports he