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

up the r0ttenness OF anyone connected
{ with the dispensary because OF youl
friendship for him. You replied tha
you did not wish to hide any corrup
tion, and the official in question 20,
believed to be your enemy and wa
working in conjuncticp with others t.
t secure your defeat. ! stated to yol
that heard tho representative Of thit
firm would tell much more, but that he
was coerced or bulldozed, and was ulst
, afraid OF publicity, fearing that II
might destroy his chances for future
business with the dispensary. | tolc
\ you further that | was not ss,is6 cd
and that l believed II they were as
snred that By telling the truth and al
they know would not injure their pros.
poets for business, that they would
mako full statement OF all the facts
With this view / wrote a private let.
ter to my friend. Hon. Clark Howell,
editor OF the Atlanta Constitution mot
the liquor hrm), an assuring letter,
which was personal and private, and
scaled up. This letter was wriCten to
Mr.. Howell, who was friend to said
firm, with the hope OF stiffening the
back bone of this liquor man, and there
by securing all the facts / dcn't ro.
member what L did write, but | can
tell you that am q free and iudepen-
| oSho H"SilSop ClGlh6U, dUQ Can SJanu
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 rascality. The mistake made
was in not publishing ut the time tho
rumors | heard, but you know your
personal appeal to me not to do so is
what deferred me. II necessary l will
call on you to publish tho letter l
wrote to you some time In February.
But to show you that was not bush
Whacking any man, upon learning that
the Atlanta firm stated that tho offer
they made said official had been re-
jected, came to Columbia, saw the
| accused party and stated to him the
report had heard, told him Just what
L had done, and that he seemed exon
Grated.
The Howell letter I sent by Mr.. l. O.
j. Wood, but that gentleman, instead
OF delivering it as addressed, turned
the letter over to said liquor firm, when
ono OF its members broke the seal and
read the contents. He stated to Mr..
Wood that 1T was not necessary to de-
liver the letter, as he could give him
no information about the reported cor
ruption. Mr.. Wood left the letter in
the haods Of said firm. How it came
to be turned over to parties ia Colum-
bia do not know.
II you will see that letter you will
find that l was simply working to un-
earth reported corruption in the dis
sary management and to assist Mr..
Wood in securing a position. am not
mixed up In any rebate or other busi-
ness connected with the dispensary,
for honAc al At
one to provo 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 intendtd d that
Mr.. Howell could use 1t to get the de-
sired Information from that Atlanta
liquor house, for could convince them
that 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. Come up Saturday and see me.
Truly, your friend,
r. L. CAN'T.
a STATEMENT FROM SCRUGGs.
Mr.. Scruggs acknowledges that he
did go to see Mr.. CAN'T and pleaded
with him not to publish the reports he
had heard about Shipping Clerk QUITS,
for the board had investigated them
and had exonerated Mr.. QUITS. Mr.
Scruggs said he did this because the
dispensary had already just passed
through one period of great travail
(the rebate scandal and he didn't want
1T to have to pass through another.
He said he simply wanted to keep down
trouble, for the board had alr' ady set
tied the matter and the dispepsary
could not stand these constant scandals
In the newspapers, even though they
were proven to be without foundation.
He said he didn't want to hide corrup-
tion, but simply urged CAN'T not to
stir up this thing in the interest OF
peace.
THE SHIPPING CLERK.
Shipping Clerk QUITS WAS asked what
he had to say concerning the charges
made in the Dear Clerk" letter. He
referred the reporter to the board OF
control for furthur in ormation. 1t
was learned that Mr.. QUITS reported
the occurrence to the board and that
both he and Mr.. Bckart, of Atlanta,
made statements. The board exoner-
ated Mr.. QUITS, for they afterwards
reelected him. Mr.. CAN'T seems, too,
to have come to the conclusion that
nothing was wrong here, as he states
in his letter, after having made an in
vestigation. 1t seems to be admitted
that a proposition was made, else the
chipping clerk would have no occasion
to make report to the board.
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD.
Col. Willie Jones, in speaking of the
letter, said he could not help what Mr..
CAN'T might write-he could do as he
pleased about that, but that he had
never spoken to him (Jones) about
Blumenthal g. Bickart or any other
whiskey firm. The only man who had
ever talked to him on that line was
| Mr.. Bickart himself AS far as Mr..
Scruggs is concerned, Colonel Jones
said he voted for him and supported
him because he was the most compe-
tent man for the place he knew OF.
Last year there was business OF over
81 900, 600, and In all that only slight
mistake of so cents had been discov-
cred in Mr.. Scruggs' books. The stub
was all right, but In transcribing 1t to
the books the error occurred, He said
that he knew of no man who could
take the books of 80 vast business
and keep them as correctly and plainly
as they are now. Because OF his ability
to conduct the business Colonel Jones
says he "sticks" to him and he cannot
help what some people may think
about It,
WOOD MAKES STATEMENT.
Mr. T q I Wood who waa the