Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-02-16
TILLMAN AS A WITNESS
Father of the DiSpenSary Goes Before
Investigating Committee.
OPINIONS RATHER than EVIDENCE.

OPINIONS RATHER Than EVIDENCE.
Interesting Feature Of the Inquiry
Senior Senator Gets Applause From
the crowd-TelIs the Members of the
Committee That They Should Look
Into the Personal Affairs of Men Al
Ieaed to Have Grown Rich at the
Expense of the Dispensary.
The aisles and galleries Of the house
of representatives were crowded to
their utmost capacity when Senator
Tillman took the stand to testify before
the dispensary investigating committee
last Tuesday night. The senator was
on the stand for two hours, according
to the correspondent Of the Augusta
Chronicle, and though he Is not man
to waste words in coming to the point
his evidence disclosed nothing new,
Still what he had to say was received
with much interest and he was ap-
the tables on the attorneys questioning
him, these incidents causing laughter
in his favor. At times the hearing re-
sembled a typical Tillman campaign
meeting. The senator arranged a seat
for himself on top the speakers desk
so that he could see and be seen by the
entire house. When he mounted the
desk and sat down he was vigorously
applauded.
gard to any graft, rebate or improper
dealing on the part Of any dispensary
official or any record about the dis
pensary, Senator Tillman? was Mr..
Lyons first question.
I'm order to be able to have myself
set Alright and have the committee un-
derstand just what know and what
I don't know and what l believe upon
very strong evidence, I will have to
answer that question in my own way,
"As to knowing specifically Of any
instance Of my own knowledge that
any such thing has occurred, / answer
no. And as for the reason which have
Influenced me in saying what have
said in interviews and In speeches will
give the foundation for my opinion"
Here Senator Tillman began to read
a recent advertisement of the board for
bids.
Il have one other question" inter-
rupted Mr.. Lyon, while you were In
charge Of the dispensary, did you re-
ceive any money in rebates, graft or
in any improper way from the Mill
Creek Distilling Coz"
Il did not"
Did you receive 1t from any
source?" ......
NO"
Senator Tillman went on to explain
that he had twice volunteered to come
before the committee, and though he
was exceedingly busy in washington
and as a United States senator was
not within the jurisdiction of the COM
mittee he came because the commit
tee was ready for him. After reading
the advertisement, Senator Tillman
said:
Evidences Of Graft -.
81 have had no time to get up any
papers to produce the necessary basis
for a legal argument, ! am not q law
yer as you all know, but / will cal
your attention to this circular, and any
man here WHO chooses to examine the
facts under the dispensaFy law will see
that it required that purchases for the
state dispensary shall be made by
competitive bids and l say most en-
phaticaly that this method of purchas-
ing has not one element of competition
in it, and the law therefore as / under
stand it has been violated absolutely
and without regard to the oath of Of
flee or other consequences, by those
responsible servants of the people or OF
the Legislature, / should say, and not
the people, who have been placed IN
charge of this business involving a
million and a half or two million dol
iars.
"Why do l say that there Ia no COM
petition in the bidding? Let me say to
you that 'Oae-X' rye Is not to be bid
on for less than $1.50. What Is one-X-
rye? There Is no definition whatever
under this specification that would es-
tab,ish the test Of what one-X-rye Is
No man living can tell by this adyer-
tisement what kind of liquor he Is
bidding on, except the price and the
price is fixed with the kind Of brand
in any barrel which he might choose to
sell and send here one-X, two-x or
four-X and no man living, chemist or
nobody else, can detect the difference
and be able to prevent fraud on the
state" ,,
Board Violated the Law.
Accusing the board of also violating
the law in allowing discontinuance of
request blanks and criticising 1t for
the revelations about bottles and labels
and whisky, Senator Tillman shouted:
"This smoke has been getting very
big, and it seems to me stealing has
been going on here. l have the cour-
age to say it as believe it, and that
Is all there is to it, that Is the base of
It,
Now, who has got it I don't know.
I viii! say in this connection, want
to see this committee probe this thing
to the very root. Go back to the be-
ginning and come on down, or begin
here and go back, whichever you
choose Just so you travel In the road
from end to end, investigate Governors
Tillman, Evans, Ellerbe, and McSwee-
ney, 1 demand it. so far as am con-
cerned. I have nothing to conceal or
to be afraid of from an Investigation
by any mortal, either alive or dead,
which could be brought out against
me. (Applause,)
Accused Him Of Stealing,
Ten or twelve years ago there were
accusation, charges, insinuations,
sneers appearing In certain newspa-
pers, and uttered by certain people,
that l had lined my pockets with re-
bates and had gotten rich. When. l
left the governors office In 1894, l re-
turned to my home In Edgefeld. I had
occasion to buy some land for the pur-
pose of getting a home on the railroad.
l was born and reared ten miles from
a depot or a telegraph office. Having
been elected to the senate Of the Uni
ted States it was necessary that l
should get in touch with the world
more intimately, so l bought a planta-
ton at Trenton, for which / paid cash.
This buzzing in the air, these ISLANDERS
and these lies, will say, going about
the country, Notwithstanding the peo-
pie had passed on them by electing me
these things caused some people to
go to Edgefield and search the records
to see what l had The probe Of the
enemies of Ben Tillman went into my
individual business. My friend, w. A.
Clark, president of the Carolina Ma
tional bank came out and stated that
he had loaned me from his bank the
full amount of the purchase money,
$4,000, because / had entered public
life Door. and If there is any credit to