The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-10-12

| SClA lOI al ola : - uSy. L ne aiIGRatiUI
OF conspiracy is slanderous and false
and the allegation as to financial ir
responsibility is, as to some of us, a
least as false as can be, and it is a,
damaging as it Is false.
What ask, may 1t please you
Honor, Is that we shall not stand fo
days before this Court with a recort
IKE this, charging us with an offencC
with which, II we be guilty, I shoult
cot be heard to open my mouth in thi
Court and IL my colleagues ba gurt,
they should not administ the Offices
in the State OF South Carolina which
thew hold.
When read the bill of complain,
yesterday feeling the outrage that hac
been perpetrated upon us, feeling it as
kcenly as can express TO your Honor,
sent II telegram to his Excelenoy, the
| Governor, and the State commissioner
Tor authority to denounce the charges
as false and untrue, and | speak for my
colleagues as we'll as myself, that the
charges OF conspiracy between the
officers OF the State OF South Caro-
lima are absolutely and uuqualifedly
false.
] state to your Honor now, as | have
| always stated, that the officers OF the
State have endCavOred in every in
stance in these proceedings to obey
every order issued by this onorab e
Court, and II this man who makes the
charge against us of conspiracy and
financial irresponsiblity, to which he
| swears, If he has in his possession apv
proof | ask your Honor to force him to
produce it at once in open Court, or
hereafter stand the consequences of
false swearing. On behalf of myself
and the other gentlemen who stapd be-
fore this Court | ask permission to
make an Immediate return, at the
earliest possible moment. and that
your Honor will at once grant to us a
right to clear ourselves Of the charges
that reflect against all Of us AS officers
and as lrdividusi citizens of the State.
Now have naught to say which
trust the facts would not entirely sus-
tain, nor would | state ANYTHING upon
mere suspicion, but there is now pend-
ing proceeding in the United States
Court Of Georgia, instituted by the
same complainants as in this case, In
which 1T is sworn that there is con-
Spiraoy between the Governor of the
State OF South Carolina and the South
ern hallway to suppress what they say
is their legal business. | think they
magnify their Importance when they
suppose that the State of South Caro-
lima Is aiming all its guns at their rum
business in Atlanta. This bill cannot
with my consent stand upon this re.
cord. and together with the rule issued
thereon possibly be used in the hear
ing before Judge Newman, the Dis
trict Judge 10 Atlanta, upon hearing
there fixed for the 9th instant.
earnestly ask your Honor to hear our
testimony in open Court, and | am
ready to testify. and my assistant On
my left and the two gentlemen on my
right, who are parties to this bill,
stand ready to testify. We take this
bill to be insulting and absolutely un-
true, and the oath thereto is false.
We ask your Honor not to have us
forced to submit to these things.
Upon the conclusion Of the remarks
OF the Attorney General, Mr.. Gadsden,
of the firm OF Mordecai g. Gadsden,
said that upon the filing OF the amend
cd and supplemental bill OF Bluthen-
thai & Bickart against j. G. Long and
others yesterday afternoon he arrang-
ed for conference between himself
and the Attorney General late in the
afternoon at the Charleston Hotel.
That at the conference the question of
the charges OF conspiracy made in the
bill were fully discussed, and that the
Attorney General bad stated fully to
him the facts and circumstances con-
nected with the matter. That he had
convinced Mr.. Gadsden that there had
been, as matter Of fact, no precon-
sldered arrangement or combination
or agreement between the State
officials to seize the goods of Biuthen-
thai & Bickart, and that owing to the
close personal relation which existed
between Mr.. Gadsden and the ATTORNEY
General he was salts fled that such
statement made by the Attorney Cen
elal was In every particular correct,
and that at that interview last night
stated to the Attorney General that
upon his statement Of the facts he was
satisfied that the charges made in the
bill were incorrect and unfounded,
and that he would move the Court 10
strike from the bill the names of him
self, the Governor, the assistant At
torney General and Mr.. Vance, and
that he now begged to say that, hav-
ing been thoroughly satisfied by the
assurances of the Attorney General
that the charges in the bill were in
correct, the complainant asked leave
to withdraw the bill from the files OF
the Court.
The supplemental bill was with
drawn. Mr.. Barber then arose and
said that he wished to disclaim any
reelection on the attorneys, Messrs.
Mordecai 81 Gadsden, and the matter
ended. What the Attorney General
said was aimed at Mr.. Bickart.