The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-01-13


discredit while the president directed
the investigation. say this because
II Is hardly possible that a post office
inspector would set about getting pho.
tosraphic copies Of the letters Of q
United States senator and trying to
convict him Of lying II the orders did
not come from a high source.
Let us suppose for a moment thai
was guilty of falsehood in declar.
ing that I had not undertaken to pur.
chase any land. What did that have
TO DO with DORIS transparent and
open use Of the mails to induce men
10 send him money to purchase land
DORIS declaration that 1 had paid
the fees is an absolute falsehood, and
the post office inspectors, while they
searched the records for entries at
Coquille and noted that Reeder e.
Watkins had filed Several hundre
applications" nowhere mentioned
that any had been filed in my name
or for me. Therefore the falsehooJ
Is rroven on Dorr. and yet the presi-
dent declared:
The assault which Senator Tillman
made upon Mr.. Dorr was, according
10 the report Of the inspector, a wan
ton assault made to cover up Sena.
tor Tillman's own transactions.
No such statement was made by the
inspector. In fact, so earnestly intent
on convicting Senator Tillman is the
president, he actually commits HIM
self to this proposition. to wit: TILL
man voluntarily and without any
compulsion from any source and with
nothing to conceal brought up a mat
ter in the senate which he need not
have done to cover up transactions
which were absolutely unknown ID
anyone except himself and his cor
respondents. Reeder & Watkins. and
were entirely honorable and clean.
MY exposure closed out the swindlers.
Dorr. when his mail was not deliver
ed, retired from the land business and
became fruit grower, as reported
by the inspectors.
The swindlers had secured a good
many thousands Of dollars before the
exposure In the senate stopped people
rom being duped. and yet Tehodore
Roosevelt. who poses as the only re.
manning honest man in public life, in
the face Of these facts has felt called
upon to attack the character of a man
whose integrity has never before been
questioned, and whose official posi-
ton Is second only to his own.
In doing this he makes false dec.
iaration for the inspectors nowhere
say any such thing as above quoted
which can be proven by an examina.
ton Of their report.
Now, about the lying: NV letter q,
FEBRUARY Is, of which the presiden,
secured a Photographic copy, ante.
dates by four days my statement ir
the senate that I had not bought an,
land. or undertaken to buy any, and
the president considers this positive
proof Of falsehood. did not saw
had not considered the purchase O,
land; did not say I had not contem.
plated the purchase of land, because
had done both. In my conversation
with the encouragement in regard tc
the resolution which introduced, and
which he himself prepared after we
mad talked over the whole land stu.
alton. l distinctly remember telline
him that my interest in the matte,
had been first aroused by my desire
to purchase some of the timber land
and that my coming to him was due
TO the fact that I discovered upor
investigation that I could not buy II
through any agency whatsoever; thai
could not buy it even by q lawsuit
because ! was advised by very able
lawyers in the West, among them the
Hon. George Turner, Of Washington
that in attacking the holders of those
land grants no one would have an,
standing in the court except the
grantor, the government itself. (See
Nichols v. Southrn Oregon Co., Fed
eral Reporter, VOL 1856, p. 234.)
1 was perhaps disingenuous; but a
moments thought will convince any
honest-minded man that-as had
not signed any papers. had not paid
any money. had taken nobody's re-
cepit, the usual processes by which
one undertakes" to buy land-I was
speaking accurately and not falsely
Everything hinges on the meaning of