The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-08-16
THE DISPENSARY
INVESTIGATION.
Public Sessions Held i'm
Spartanburg.
STARTLING FEATURES
The Dispensary Investigating Committee
Unearths an UnsavOry Condition of
Things in Spartanturg.

For four days last week the Dispen-
pensary investigating committee APP
pointed at the last session of the Leg
| islature to investigate the workings and
management Of the South Carolina Dis
pensary system, held its first public
| sessions at Spartanburg. The sessions
| were held in the court house and upon
| adjournment late Friday afternoon it
| was announced that the next meeting
of the committee would be in Columbia
within the next ten days or two weeks.
Later on Charleston Dispensary affairs
will be probed by this same committee
and many other towns and cities will
probably be visited for the same pur-
pose.
The Spartanburg investigation devel-
| oped a most disgusting state of dispen-
sary affairs as conducted in that city.
But Spartanburg may not be alone in
this respect. There has been graft"
and irregularities in the conduct of the
whiskey business in the big State Dis
pensary as well as the sub-di -dispensaries
of the State down through these ten or
twelve years, according to the testi
mony of some of the witnesses who APP
peared before the committee last week.
Most of the members of the general
committee were present at The Spar
tanburg meeting, including Chairman
Hay, Messrs Blease, Fraser, Lyon and
Christensen. For the most part the
sessions were conducted by Messrs
| onl ('l,,ic{opcn,,
of the subcommittee of the general
Investigating committee.
The proceedings attracted wide spread
! interest and attention, not only in Spar"
tanburg but throughout the State, and
the revelations brought out from day to
day were characterized as startling and
| sensational. The details of the nves-
tigation show that the subcommittee
has been at work and there is no dispo-
sition to ''smoothe things over" and if
the officers of the law do not go after
these alleged 'grafters" it will be no
| fault of the committee.
One of the most prominent, if not
| the most important witness put on the
stand, was County Supervisor ID. NJ
| Miles, former member and chairman of
| the State Board of Control, who could
not be induced to tell what he evidently
h'""s ''"~~. ~ - 4~'.""l WORKINGS of
| the State institution, located in Column
| bia. He suspected wrong doing, he
said, and decided TO get out, resigning
| his position to become candidate for
| Supervisor. AS Chairman of the Board
L of ('nntrpl ln n Stp n i,,ra
| ularities. This, however, was several
years ago and he does not know how
| things are conducted now
Some Of the other witnesses who tes-
tilted before the committee were Jesse
Mahaffey, former member of the legis-
lature, b. l.. Toland at one time State
Constable and Beer Dispenser, III. T.
Ferguson whiskey dispenser Mr.. Lam
drum chairman of the county board of
control, and others.
AT the first meeting Tuesday after
noon some of the conditions as to the
| management of the local dispensary
| business were brought out and showed
| that the County Board of Control has
| been in the habit of making all who
were elected or reelected Dispensers
pay a regular assessment and that the
| average price paid the chairman of the
boar rs $450.00. That Mr. Morris,
| dis vas asked for and contributed
| $25. fund to be paid to the Spar
tam rnal for its support of the
| Dislc in the fight against the p
| hibit.Dn movement Morris said tina.
| the Journal had agreed, as he under
| stood, to take up the Dispensary fight
for 100000 and that he was told his
part would he $500, which he paid.
| Later Mr.. Harmon and Mr.. Rciblng,
both dispensers, told him that the edi-
| tor of the Journal had gone up, that he
wanted $500.00 and he (Morris) must
| double his first subscription. This Nor
/ ris declined to do. There was a good
deal more testimony concerning the
| newspaper transaction. 1t seems that
$4,000 was agreed upon finally. Mr..
Henry has admitted cditorally that he
made a trade with these fellows but it
was in the nature of an advestising con-
tract. Mr.. Henry did not attend the
sessions of the investigation, although
he was invited to be present by Mr..
| Lyon of the subcommittee.
| Then there was abundant evidence
concerning free samples of whskey and
various kinds of presents that have
been received by the Spartanburg Dis
pensers from wholesale whiskey houses
from time to time; that the saleof GER
tain brands of whiskey was pushed;
that some of the dispensers drank ex-
cessively; that slack business methods
have been in vogue for many years and
so on and so forth
OF course a denial was entered by
some of those charged with alleged ir-
regularities and the lie was passed
around almost every day and sometimes
several times day. But there were
no personal encounters, and Messrs
Lyon and Christensen, ably assisted by
Chairman Hay, conducted the entire
session with consummatc skill and tact
| The impression seems to he quite