The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-05-25

ants on the other hand protested that
every letter had been brought that
they know Of as bearing on the deal
ings with the State dispensary. Mr..
Fielder especially desired that any
letter to or from Mr.. Blease and 9TH
ers mentioned should be produced.
Mr.. Schlosser admitted that he had
not looked up any Of these letters, but
had given orders and looked through
the files to find anything which they
thought bore on the matter.
"Bring all your letters and books,
said Col Fielder, land we will open
your claim. We want the letters writ
ten to your political agent in this
State.'
The letters from DR.. Byers were
not brought. It will be recalled that
DR.. Byers was mentioned before in
this investigation as a practicing ply
sician at Batesburg, who had gone out
Of this line of work into the whiskey
business in this State. The attorneys
for the State will endeavor to show
that he was the agent of Lanahan in
this State.
Letters to be Produced.
The letter matter was settled by an
agreement that the case be continued
after today'S hearing and that letters
from all persons named by the COM
mission be brought as follows: c. L..
Blease, ". A. Byers, Lewis ". Park
er, H. H. Evans, that is if there are
any letters from any of these persons;
check books to show checks issued to
persons in this State, receipts, private
letter files of Charles and Sam Lana
han. The three stenographerS, who
handle this firms mail, will also be
summoned to appear at the next sit
ting Of the commission in connection
with this claim.
After several entries had been ex-
amined and compared with prices at
which whiskey was sold to the State
IF South Carolina. the claim was set
up by Schlosser that only in export
sales were the prices less than made
in this State, as the $1.10 tax was
not charged on export whiskeys and
the purchasers were given the benefit
Of this.
The entries showed that in some
cases whiskey was billed at $l0.50 a
case and sold in this State at $40 per
case, but the discounts allowed in the
other cases brought the price down to
$40. In a few caseec the prices were
less for goods thai in this State, but
it was explained that these were
special concessions. From the evi-
dence submitted today the Lanahan
firm did not make overcharges on the
showing made by their books. 1t is
not known whether Col. Fielder or the
commission has any other evidence,
which shows that this firm had made
overcharges.
Mr.. Lanahan Questioned.
Col. Fielder adopted another line OF
questioning when Mr.. Lanahan took
the stand, endeavoring to bring out
that the difference between the firms
Hunters rye No. 3 was just enough
to make it possible for them to ship
into this State the inferior Drank at
the price charged for the better grade,
and thus be able to pay the large COM
missions.
Mr.. Lanahan upon being question
ed by Col. Fielder stated that so Tar
as he knew, no commissions were
paid for business in this State. 1t
was at this point that Col. Fielder in
troduced as evidence the former tes-
timony of Mr.. Clark, who was a
witness before the investigating COM
mittee. Mr.. Clark then testified:
"Well, I heard him say (referrlng
to Mr.. Sam Lanahan), on one ocea-
sion that the demands were such that
he could not comply with them and
he stated two reasons: He said that
they were required to pay So a case
to the board Of control for eevry
piece sold, and fifty cents a case to
the liquor dispensers; that he was un-
willing to do that; that he didn't
have more than profit in hi sgoods.
He stated also the amount they were
required to pay per barred. | do
not remember that amount. So many
dollars per barrel. I dod not remem-
ber tha, though, but I remember dis
tinctly that he said that on the case
goods they demanded So per case to
the board of central and fifty cents to