Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-01-20
TiIlman's Acts in The senate.

.
is that Tillman upon his return here
In the fall introduced resolution in
the Senate calling on the attorney
general to show cause why the Uni
ted States government had not
brought suit against the Southern
Oregon Company to make them sell
that land at $3.50 an acre. Mr. Lee.
acting or pretending to act as the
agent of Tillman, Just a few days
before had written to Reeder e
Watkins that they should be sure to
reserve the best quarter sections for
Tillman, declaring that I'VE intend
to be OF more value than any of the
! others in this natter, Says Lee in
the same letter:
I'm case Senator Tillman
gets In on this deal with some
good land in the eight quar-
ters we want, / am satisfied that
he can be Of great help in getting
matters started from Washing
ton, and cause the government
to get busy and do something
along the line you desire. He
will set up such howl that 1t
will be impossible to do other
WISE" rs
That is what Lee, Tillman's agent,
wrote. Tillman declared in his
speech to-day that he was not respon-
sible for what Mr.. Lee said and that
he never knew OF the letter until the
President submitted 1t. But Till
man did set up the howl. He
conferred with the attorney general,
and he pressed his resolution 81 the
Senate. He, however, wrote Reeder
& Watkins, telling them that his ac-
ton In the Senate had nothing what
ever to do with his personal inter-
est in the matter, but that he was
doing 80 to "make It easy for others
as well as myself to obtain some OF
the land"
The President in his statement
given out puts the words "as we'll as
myself" In italics, and charges Till
man with using his influence as q
Senator to get the government to
press suit which would enable him
to get some of the land. 1t Is clear
that Tiliman meant the emphasis on
the words "fOr Others" To read the
letter fairly one must inevitably ac-
quit Tillman of telling Reeder e.
Watkins in that sentence that he was
pressing the suit SO as to get some
thing out of 1t himself. But in the
same letter he does say something
which the President does not refer
to which looks a little queer. He
says in that letter:
81 will be glad for you to hold
in reserve eight of the best quar-
ter sections Of which you have
definite information, and will
in the meantime press the inves-
tigation and other work here,
which will facilitate the final
purchase and in effect obviate
tho nnpnScitv n
any case in the courts at ALL"
The Second Charge.
The next charge which the Presi-
dent makes against Tillman is that
Tillman falsifed when in the Senate
on February 10, 1908, he declared:
81 have not bought any land any
to buy any" The President claims
that the telegram to Reeder & Wat
kins shows that Tillman had under
taken" to buy land in the. West.
The truth is, Reeder & Watkins
had no land to sell. All they ever
offered for sale was lawsuit. If
the lawsuit succeeded, then Tillman,
If he closed with them, was to get his
eight, or nine, quarter sections of the
land upon the payment Of $3.50 an
acre. Tillman could not, therefore,
have undertaken to buy any land
from Reeder & Watkins. In his
statement in the Senate he declared
that he had made inquiries about the
land, but he. said nothing about his
correspondence with Reeder G. Wat
kins, nor about his having asked the
Marshfield firm to reserve him nine
quarter sections. In his speech to-
day Tillman said that he did not
fhinly hin,cn1f VIC ,,tn In,
recital of his personal affairs in the
Senate. and that therefore he did not
say anything about how far he had
gone in his Inquiries.
He further said in his speech that
Attorney General Bonaparte knew
that he was trying to get some of the
land, and, furthermore, that the post
office inspectors whom he asked the
postmaster general to send out to
Oregon to investigate one concern
under the management Of a man
named Dorr knew about his efforts
to get some Of the land.
The President makes much of the
report of the post office inspectors. 1t
was Tillman who asked that they be
sent out, and instead of finding any
thing fraudulent in Dorr, they found
that Tillman had been trying to get
ooHic vi tHc ldlu, anu IHdl lie was Ill
communication with Reeder & Wat
kins, the same men who were acting
for Dorr thing which he in effect
denied in the Senate, or seemed to
deny. But Tillman says that he told
the post office inspectors before they
went what he had done. Tillman
accused Dorr of taking peoples $21
and giving nothing in return.
After Tillman telegraphed to Rec
der &c Watkins, asking them to re-
serve the land for him, Reeder e.