The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-07
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 "HE stranger in South Carolina for
 the first time is sure to ask Who's
 Coley?" On all sides he will hear conversations, some heated, in which ''Coloy' is most always the topic of conversation. He will hear a man swear that "Coley' is the best public official that ever walked in two shoes, and he will pro~ably hear the rejoinder that Cooley" Is just the opposite.
 "Coley" is Coleman Livingston Blease, governor of South Carolina, and today he is. not even excepting Tillman. the most talked of and criticised governor the old Palmetto state ever had, and she has had more than a few. Bease signs his name Cole L.; ne was baptized Coleman Liy
 lima, men and women and children, know him by no such title To them he has always been and always will be "Coley'' Blease, the first governor that Newberry, the home of chief justices, ever gave to the state of Calhoun and Hampton.
 A word now about "Coley," not the governor, but the Newberry criminal law yer and politician that everybody in the state knows. He is just turning 45 Tall and slender with a wealth of jet black hair that is beginning to be streaked with gray. As straight as an arrow, with out an ounce of fat on him. Not bony, just slim and tall. He parts his hair in way that is entirely "Coley's,' and woe be unto the barber who arranges the abundant locks of the Palmetto execu- tive otherwise. You have read of the great combers that sometimes playfully cross the bows of ocean liners. We'll, that's the way "Coley' parts his hair. The parting furrow is far down near to the left ear. That leaves plenty of room for the comber that rolls aft, in a great wave. the crest of which sweeps that part of the head where bald headed men first get notice of what is coming in later years Please finally got to the legislature, and as soon as lie did he began laying his
 
 cf senator from Newberry county. He made whirlWind campaign of the coun- ty and orated as he never orated before. He took a special fancy to the factory folks in the city of Newberry, and New berry has big factory population. The factory people liked the way that "Coley' jumped into people and things, and almost to a man they voted for him, and this, with a strong town and country vote, put "Coley'' in the senate. 1a From the moment that he took the oath l Of office as governor, Blease began to ag- tate and to defy any who dared oppose | any wish of his as governor He made no excuses and gave reasons for what he did | orly when the fancy struck him. His chance was the greatest that ever came to governor of South Carolina.
 | Newspapers and citizens of high stand- | ing had prophesied that he would be one of the most excitable and undplomatic of governors. They said that he would
 he an agitator and that he would array class against class All that Bease had to do to make himself the most popular CT governors, they admitted, was to sur | pi1Se ms enemies Dy uOlnS nonc oi tHOSe
 things. But Coley was not built that way. As he had oratcd so he acted. There was a new surprise every day or two from Columbia. ? 4f " | The governor took notion one day 1 that there was something the matter with
 the notary public situation in South Caro- l linn and so he issued q ''ukase" which left the old Palmetto state with hardly
 enough notaries to swear the true and legal ownership of a mule. Since then he | loa appointed some new ones and given
 some of the old ones new chance.
 The supreme court of South Carolina
 has always enjoyed the reputation as one of the cleanesi, most talented tribunals of justice in this country. | The most bitter of Blease's opponents
 never dreamed that he would dare lock
 horns with the supreme court. That s )wherc Coley surprised even his friends. He Gid that very thing. Some special judges were to be appointed to hold court in the
 circuits Tine designation of those judges