The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-05-11

oo i ouu saiu Nose, give me
any, sir" He left i the Office withou ~nien
saying more. The next day Scrugg
came to deponent and said Charley
where arc all thosec igars 2" Deponen
replied" All gone, sir" Scrugg
said The pieces OF boxes, too !?
Deponent replied, "Yes, they are al
gone" He then left deponent withou
any further remark. A day or tw,
afterwards Scruggs asked depo
nent II he had told CASTOR h.
had taken those cigars. Daponen
replied, mo sir" Deponent saw
that at the time he and Scrupg
went into the contraband room AM
%hlle he was taking the cigars out 0
the trunk, he remarked "Il have
this wine before | get through, :" and he
afterwards made similar remarl
about the wine in the office. Deponent
iurther says Mr.. Scruggs asked him g
uay or two ago If he knew anything
about the shoes, or had CASTOR saiC
ahJ lining to him ABOUT them.
Deponent further says that be
omitted to state above that the same
day the cigars and peaches were
carried into the office MIR. Mobley
asked the deponent where he got the
thlngs; Deponent replied: "In the
~" "onhu ROOM. he then ask cd
MN now he got them, as ne thought
ouuge 'aston was in charge of the
room Deponent replied that Mr..
Scruggs had hocus pocus kew. De-
Ponent further states that on the same
uay the cigars and peaches were taken
out OF the contraband room he went
9o"n TO the commissioners Office and
MIR. Blakeley asked him il he knew
anything about the missing cigars
from the contraband room. Deponent
replleG " Yes; that is what | have
come down to see You about" and then
went on and told him all about the cigars
ana peaches that at the next meeting
VI Inc board he reported to Mr.. Will
liams ana Mr.. Douthit what he has
sald above as to the taking OF cigars
ana peaches from contraband room and
mas also since that time reported il To
the Governor.
CHARLES j. LYNCH.
GASTON TELLS WHAT HE KNOWS.
Ex-Commissioner John Il. CASTOR, in
giving mis- testimony, admitted THAT he
SMOKED some OF the cigars, but after
wards he fastened the door with "a new
.; .och 10 prevent any further depreda.
tlons. He said:
Ihat some time in November last he
was appointed pro tenn. Commits
sloner, and continued to act as such
until MS retirement recently While
actlng L remember that large drum
hers trunk came to the Dispensarv
rom Charieston and was placed in the
contraband room. 1t contained iour
Jugs, one OF which came broken. with
"hlSkey, several bottles of wine, some
cans OF peaches, ten boxes of cigars, a
lew uecayed oranges and one pair of
shoes. Since the trunk came the
whlskey was dumped and bottled, and
Snc wine Is still in the Dispcnsary
some time after the trunk came
went to the room and found that tho
cigars mad been tampercd with. About
one -nalt to twO-thirds of the ciya.s
nad oeen taken out of the boxes with
Inc exception OF one, which was full.
tnen cmptied all the broken boxes
into four boxes and placed them with
Ihe bottles Of wine in another trunk.
soon after this went into the room
ana looked in the trunk into which
the TOUR boxes had been placed and
iouhd Them gone. On examination of
inc empty boxes again. found few
ln ooX which L took down to my
y oillce. Then called Watts, who had a
Key 10 the room, and Ben Harris, and
told them there must be sometbipp
wrong and some one must have had q
Key. Ihey both declare tn at no one had
a Key, and no one had been allowe d to 90
in Tue room. | Immediately notified
biakele about what had been done in
the room and asked him to look out !
ana aid me in finding who was going
into the room and interfering with con
traband stuff. | then ordered a new
lock put on the contraband room door.
ana then boltcd securely the other
loor inside, and since that time moth |
ing mas been missed up to the time | |
Ielt there. The pair of shoes in the |
trunk l sold for 81 the part of a box
1l cigars brought down to the Office | |
have paid for.
| made full report of this matter to |
The State Board of Control at its Ia + |
meeting, which is hereto appende. and |
N That the disposition of the trouble is |
stated. JOHN n GASTOM
nave matter | wish to call At
'entlon 10. | have had charge of the |
,ontraband room for some months.
'ook the keys and after attending to
he contraband business for some time
lound that took upa great deal OF nv
line, so gave the keys to Mr.. Watts. !
VINO ls perfectly reliable. visited the |
'oom every few days to see how mat
'ers stood. | missed occasionally a
'ooVo VI WHlsRey from the cases.
to Mr.. Watts, and he as
ured me that he had carried the KEYS
md no one had been allowed in the
'Oom.
About the time Of your last meet
ng large trunk came in with three
arge jugs, several bottles of wine, two
ANS OF peaches and ten boxes of cigars
nile In there one morning, Mr.. Garris
ola me that Mr.. Sciuggs said he
could have the trunk So I got the
hlngs out and let him have it. m,
ne things in another trunk. [ took
hree cigars for myself. | was in there
Don again and found about half OF the
'lgars or more taken out of every box.
put what was left in boxes, filling
hem up, and gave Mr.. Garris some
md put the rest in trunk. A few
lays after found the whole amount of
lgars had been taken except one piece
u box, which | now have in nv pos
esslon. hal . eince had new and
tr0ng lock put on the door, so I now
ock one door and bolt the other.
egret this very much, and am now
atished 1T will never occur again.
'ome one must have had false or
npiicate key. Nothing has been
Missed by me since that time"
"A reader of Harper's Weekly
writes from Virginia to say that as
JAMESTOWN Island has been offered for
ale, 1T ought to be bought by the