Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1906-02-21
been going on here had the cour-
age to cay il, as I lpe ieve It, and that
is all there is TO it, That is the basis

| K
age to say it. as fpeSieve It, and that
il all there is 70 it,. THAT il the basit
OF it. Now who 8 y it I do no,
know. l will say in Il 9 connection
want to see this oomml It e probe this
thing to the very root. Go back to
the beginning and cone down, o,
begin here and go baci whichever
you choose /; just 80 You travel the
road from end to end Investigate
Governors Tillman, Evans, Ellerbe
and McSweeney. deman 4 it 80 far
as / am concerned. have nothing
to conceal or to be afraid of from al
investigation by any morta, eithe'
alive or dead, which could heib ough,
out against me !" (Applause.)
"Ten or eleven years ago here
were accusations, charges, insin Ia.
tions, sneers, appearing in Tin
newspapers, and uttered by certa y
people that l lined my pockets w.t.
rebates and had gotten rich. When
I left the Governors office in '9f
returned to my home in Edgefeld.
/ had some occasion to buy some
land for the purpsse of getting a
home on the railroad. / was born
and raised ten miles from depot or
a telegraph Office. Having been
elected to the Senate of the United
States it was necessary that should
get in touch with the world more
intimately, 80 l bought plantation
at Trenton, for which 1 paid cash.
This buzzing in the air, these SLAM
ders and these lies will say going
about the country, Notwithstanding
the people had passed on them by
electing me 10 the Senate, these
things caused some people to go to
Edgefield and search the records to
see what / had. The probe of the
enemies of Ben Tllman went into
my individual business. My friend,
w. A. Clark. president of the Caro-
lima National Bank, came out and
stated that he had loaned me from
his bank the full amount of, the pur-
chase money, $4,000, because
had entered public life poor, and if
there is any credit to claim, l am
poor yet. (Applause.) I want to
say without presuming to criticise
you gentlemen, you know your own
business and you ought to be able to
discharge it intelligently without
suggestions from me. When 1 saw
from the newspapers that your mem
bers had gone about trying to find
out something about the present tinan-
cial status of the present members
of the board, it was understood that
you could not 60 into such things as
that. Why make this disorimina.
tion had to endure it. Are
the Sc men better than 1? If public
money has found its way into Off.
cial's private pockets, it is your duty
to investigate it and not honey-fug-
gle, but go to the bottom in any way
possible" (Applause.)
Chairman Hay : "Where is your
authority for that, Senator Tillman P''
Senator Tillman: 81 am giving
circumstantial evidence, coupled with
various statements that have been
brought out in evidence, and conclu
sions are inevitable that no man
would prostitute his office and DISC
hey the law 80 brazenly and openly
in making purchases for the State at
these exhorbitant, over and above
prices people in other States are pay
ing if there was not something in it
for him. This is the logic of the
situation. Circumstantial evidence
is the strongest evidence when it
will hold, and it is very weak when
it will not hold. Why would any
man object to his private affairs be-
ing investigated if his character is
involved? / cannot see how any
man can refuse to have the fullest
investigation made in a financial
way, or in any other way if his honor
is involved. If he owns property he
ought to be able to explain where he