The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-06-21

tive office I let Col. Neal have cane
mill and copper evaporator which cost
500, leaving it to him to determine the
price. He only paid me 500, and l,
therefore, did not feel that in accepting
the small gifts that | did that 1t was
an imposition on him. l never dreamed
that the articles were not charged to
his account and settled for. Since l
have discoverd that the State is the
loser l, of course, ain willing to pay for
each ard all of these things.
There is one other item Of which no
mention has yet been made that have
seen, though | have not followed the
testimony closely. He shipped me a
small lot of oats one time from some
where and would never send me any
bill, although l wrote for it twice.
l make these statements for your in
formation and satisfaction and leave it
to your own discretion as to what use
you will make Of them, I am
Yours respectfully
B. R. Tillman.
Mr.. Stevenson then wrote Senator
Tillman as follows:
Jheraw, S. c., May Both, 1899.
Hon. B. R. Tillman.
Dear Sil:-Your letter to hand. We
have not attempted or desire to give
undue prominence to circumstances re-
lative to prominent men in the State IN
this matter, but as there has been con-
siderable newspaper comment, the
opinion of the committee was that be-
fore We closed up we should give every
man against whom any immutation was
made chance to be heard. Hence l
wrote to all of those in that situation,
deemipg it but fair to them. If you
mean by saying that can make such
use of your letter as | see fit; that the
committee can use it as your statement
Of the matter in which your name is
mentioned, | will say for myself that it
will be just as satisfactory as a sworn
statement, provided Col. Neal does not
object, and surely he cannot do so.
The commissary account with you rau
all through your administration, but
the account is balanced up to the last
year. The book shows charged to you
in groceries, etc., largely horse feed, l
think, a balance Of about S57 for the
last year you were governor. This was
never published as an asset Of the peni-
tentiary. Neither was Gov. Evans &C.
count, which is about sl75, still open.
I will get you an itemized statement if
you desire it when we meet.
Nest truly.
W. F. Stevenson.
Senator Tillman's final letter reads
thus:
Trenton, May 81, 1899.
Hon. W. F. Stevenson, Cheraw.
Dear Sir:-I have your letter of May
Both. Whatever may have been
the committees intention or purpose,
several newspapers have criticized it
because of the apparent undue promi-
nence' given in the Investigation to
small matters involving prominent men.
OF course | can understand that the
committee is not responsible for the
action of the newspaper reporters, who
seize on these Insignificant matters for
exploitation. The committees report
when made up and published will dis
close it's attitude and show whether
there is anything political in the inves-
tigation. You are at perfect liberty to
use my statement written to you in any
way you please. I hardly think it
would require the sanction of an oath
to give any additional weight.
l repeat what I said about getting
hings from the penitentiary, and [
think you will find you are mistaken,
because I ana sure got nothing while
Col. Talbert was superintendent what
ever, and very little while Col. Neal
was in charge. l would be glad to have
an itemized copy of the account.
Yours truly,
B. R. Tillman.