The Grenada sentinel., 1907-01-05
COMPLIMENTS TOVARDAMAN
y Ne'lring Warden Henry In
Hot Style.
NJ HJNEYtD WORDS OR PHRASES USED
ages the Governor With 1uch
sO"sistency and Claims That
"aI uentieman Had the State
10 transport His Own Horses.

0h January lst the new penitentjar
,naudgement, as provided for by tn
laSC legislature, assumed cnntrol
opoh retirement, Warden j. J. Henr,
IuufeSSed the following letter to TN
BOARD or Control, in which he make
Souhe oirect charges against Goyerno
N@roaman and claims that The Gov
ethor many times failed to be con
SiStent:
10 TIRE HONORABLE BOARD OF Con
TRoL: In addition to my regular au6
prior report, and supplemental thereto
ueSire TO refer to the charges of in
competency and unfaithfulness that
nave been brought against me by his
eHcellency, James j. Vardaman,
chairman of the Board OF Control.
In this connection | wish to say that
after L had served under him from
January to November, and after he
had every opportunity to Judge of my
competency. the Governor considered
me worthy TO fill the responsible po-
Sltion which / then held, and now
hold, and cast his vote for me at the
election OF officers Of the penitentiary
IN November, 1904 1t may not be
Improper TO state that the Governor
was the first member OF the present
Board OF Control who voted to make
me warden for regular term.
Since that action on his part the
Governor decided t suited his purpose
to establish me as incompetent. !"
The apparent reason for this is that
did not recognize the Governor as the
whole board. In reply to the charge
of incOmpetency | will specify Two
business transactions, among many.
which show that the Governor hi nSelf
is SO very Incompetent that he is not
capable of Judging of the competency
of any one. rbe board will pardon
my reference tn these two particular
TRANSACTIONS which establish the
Governor s iEcJmpetency.
First. The honorable Board of Con-
troll at his request, allowed the Gov
ernor to manage the Oakley place for
the year 1906. Under his manage
ment the records show a net loss of
S4,215.20.
Second. The board followed the in
SiStence Of the Governor in the purch-
ase of mares for raising mules On the
Oakley place and in the spring of 1905
invested Sc, 140.6S in this venture.
The records show the net and sole re-
suit of this venture is one little mule.
The board will pardon the reminder
that / opposed both propositions.
In addition to this frequent attacks
on me in the newspapers the Governor
most wrongfully misrepresented me in
his message to the legislature. l quote
this extract from that state paper:
1.-The predecessor Of the present in
cumbent (warden) was discharged for
clearing his own land with state con-
victs, and the present incumbent
(that is me) recommended the leasing
of his friends land when he knew that
interests of the state demanded that
the convicts be concentrated upon the
states property"
This statement is directly in con-
fict with the facts as shown by the
records. The record Of the Board of
Control Minute Book 5, page 342)
which are signed by j. K. Vardaman,
chairman, show that this charge is
absolutely unfounded. 1t will be seen
by references TO this public record that
7 recommended that the board should
retain only from 1000 to 1,5O0 acres
of private land, without specifying
any ones lands, for the good reasons,
among others, that the state did not
then have sufficient cleared land of its
own to proftably employ all of the
conyicts / now state for the first
time that 1 then thought. and now
think, the retention OF the Sandy
Rayou place was advisable, because
the records showed, and now show,
that i'm addition to being the most
healthful, it was the most profitable
private place ever worked by the state,
and that it has been so ever since it
was first leased during Governor
stones administration.
Tn view of these facts, and the fur
tber fact that during the year 1903
the Sandy Bayou place had returned
a net profit of S17, 7,686.86, 1 was
amazed to see the Governor cast
his vote against this place, and in
favor of a place that had not been
profitable, but which the records show
had lost during the year 1908 the sum
Of s63.74, a difference against the
Sandy Bayou place of s17, 750.60. This
vote was cast in the face of the Oft
reneated assertion by his excellency
that he was actuated only by what he
considered to be the best interests Of
the state. In this vote he missed the
best interests Of the state by S17,-
no. go. Why this favoritiSm?
The Governor may still claim that
he voted solely for the best interests
of the state, and has never lost an
opportunity TO proclaim his honesty.
The facts speak for themselves.