The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-07
vARDAMAN CHARGED
 WITH TAKING PASSES Mississippi Politicians Waiting Eagerly for His Answer FAC-SIMILE PUBLISHED yardaman Says Pass Was Not Issued at His Request, Although He May
 Have Ridden on It-Hender-
 son Supports Statement

Jackson, Miss, February 6.-(Spe-
 cial. 1.-The absorbing topic politically
 in Mississippi just now is the answer of Gov. James K. Vardaman to the
 charges made against him that he had
 been the beneficiary of free passes" from the railroads while he was gov-
 ernor, the same being a violation of
 law.
 A Jackson newspaper printed last
 Sunday what purported to be fac-sim- lie of trip pass issued in the first
 few weeks of his administration by
 the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad com
 pany, March 21. 1901. to U. K. Varda- :
 man. T. R. Henderson. J. H. McGehee,
 C. c. Miller. w. A. Martin, John Y. Mur-
 ray, IT,, and o. l.. Mckay" On the re-
 verse side was what purported to be Varda mans signature and the check
 mark of the conductor.
 In the tissue" just from the press,
 Governor Vardaman comments on the
 fact that there is an absence of a con-
 ductor's check punch and the failure
 to detatch the coupon. and says: ''I have no recollection of ever seeing this transportation before it appeared in the newspaper. 1 have no recollection of signing my name to any sort Of mass or l. n. N. Y that reason l am exceedingly anxious to have the original pass from which the photograph was made which appeared in the Common Cause organ Sunday I want to examine that signature I shall take care of it. I will give security if thcy desire for the return to them. I will have cut made of it and as have promised in former number of the issue, I will publish it in it's columns. I do not question the fact now that trans porta ton was issued by the G. & g. l. R. R. to the directors of the Soldiers home, upon which. my name appears, and I may have ridden upon it.
 But do know It was not issued at my request, nor was it received by me or handled by me; and l did not then
 nor do I now know save what these gen tlemen in their letters. tell me. whether 1t was donated by the railroad to the Soldiers home, or paid for out of the appropriation for the maintenance of the home." Dr. T. R. Henderson. president of the Bank of Commerce of Greenwood Miss,
 writes as follows:- :--and Dr. Henderson is
 no supporter of Vardaman, having all
 ways opposed him. and states among other things:
 ..rhe pass was not issued on any re-
 quest of yours. and since you say you
 have no recollection of it. I imagine that
 in passing with the crowd no violation of
 the law occurred to you as 1t did not to
 mo, or to any one else so far as 1 heard
 mentioned at the time or for several years after.''
 Hon. T. M. Henry, insurance commis-
 sIoner. who was auditor of the state at
 the time and chief champion of the Sol- diers home at Beauvor. which the trus- tees were visiting, says that his recol- lection and Dr. Henderson's agree sub stantially about the matter and says that: "Other transportation may hare been gotten in the same way, but if so it was
 donation to the home rather than as q favor to individual members of the board of directors. If the transportation was
 secured by the board of directors it was presumably by me as secretary