The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-09-02
The LOrilner Case to Date.
Boston Transcript.

Inc special committee of the Uni
ted States senate which has been in
Vestigating the election of William Ior-
! inner has just concluded taking tes-
tmony for season. Later, in the
I fall, the hearings will begin once
more and the case ended as far as
the committee is concerned. The
burrows committee, which white
washed LOrimer, produced some sew
en- hundred pages Of printed testi-
mony; the Helm committee of the
Springfield Legislature some two
! hundred and fifty; the evidence be-
fore the present committee occupies
nearly three thousand pages Of the
same size. The record is encyclope-
die and the story which it tells is
marvelously intricate and contradic-
tory. What will be the end of the
mess? Will it be happy for Lorimer,
or happy for the honor Of the Uni
ted States senate?
In spite of the involutions Of the I.o-
rfmer case, in spite Of the fiat contra
dictions. and in spite Of the tremen-
dous influences working for Lori
mer's retention in the senate there is
no doubt in the minds Of most Of the
unprejudiced men in Washington
who have been following the hearings
| that Lorimer will be ousted. He can
not stay. 1t will make no, difference
| which way the committee reports,
for the senate ia already anti-Lori-
mer. and the people Of the country,
whose will the senate Is more accu-
rately expressing today than is its
wont, are also vigorously anti-Lori-
iner. Lorimer will go. Lorimer
| threatens that he will stand for re-
election If he is unseated. If he does,
and If he is again returned ,and If
it shall appear that he is returned dis
honestly. Lorimer will in a sense, be
| vindicated. But only technically so
for If there is one certain thing 1t is
that rightly or wrongly. the general
| belief is that Lorimer is not a proper
| United States Senator by proper
means.
If LOrimer were being tried before
court Of law. irstead Of before a
body of investigators. charged not
with the onus Of proving this or that,
| but with the duty of investigating,
discovering, ascertaining by any le-
| gitimate means all the facts bearing
on the case, the committee could not
run down channels Of evidence. which
would not be admitted in a court.
but which are exceedingly instructive
to the ordinary human being. For
| instance, probably no judge would
| have allowed Senator Kenyon to ques-
| ton the son of Holstlaw, the bribe-
| taker. as to the impression on the
| family of the senior of Holstlaw's con-
! fession. The witness frankly told his
| questioner exactly how the family
ieil ABOUT IL, ana the converse ton
| thus read into the record served as a
very human and enlightening side
| glimpse into the dark corners Of the
| imbroglio. This method Of course
has grave faults. the chief one being
! that, when every nook may be priel
! into, much time is wasted IL prying
| into hooks where nothing but inno-
| cent dust turks. On the whole, how
ever. the freedom Of the inquiry rom
artificial regulations has tended 70
make it fair and just to both sides.
The testimony so far taken may be
divided into two parts, in fact, the
| l.orimer case as reopened this sum-
| mer is composed of two fairly dis
| trict chapters Of the Hines section and
| the Illinois Legislature section. Each
has its enormous qualifications,
someties, it is true. overlapping; but
in the main the two parts are quite
separate.
The Hines story is the new part. 1t
is. briefly. that Hines was the chief
manipulator Of the election of Will
liam Lorimer from the Washington
end Of things and that after the
| election, he or his Immediate cronies
carelessly told several people of the
amounts Of money used in putting
the senator across" Testifying to
this are Funk Of the International
Harvester Company; Writ Cook, a
lumberman, and several other men
who heard or overheard the talks re-
ferred to. Testifying against this
is Hines himself and several witnesses
brought to Washington by Hines, ma
ny OF them financially interested with
him. 1t is one set OF mems words
against those of another There are