The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-07-08

of passion There was no excuse, he
said, for premeditated robberies, but
when a man got into quarrel and
drew a pistol and killed his antag'
onist he ought rot to be judged toe
severely.
There are good men in the pen.
he said, men of good fam.
llies as yours or mine. And there
are lot OF. people in the peEttentiary
who ought to be out, and lot who
are out who ought to be in.
"I am going to do something very
soon," he continued, (which will
cause me to be severely criticised in
Spartanburg county. But gentlemen
have you ever considered what ter.
rible thing life Imprisonment is?"
Gov. Blease said it had been in.
sinuated that he sold pardons. In
answer to that charge, he said, he
desired to say that with the exception
of Brigham of Florence, who had only
had three more months to sarve any
way, there was not man whom he
had released from the penitentiary
who had money enough to ouy &
mel suit of clothes after paying bis
railroad fare home.
And, he added, a rich ms.a went tc
the penitentiary not long ago, and he
is eoinp to stay there,
With regard to the charges OF
bribery made against him by Col
Thomas B. Fielder of Atlanta, Gov
IBlease said that if Tom Fielder would
produce a letter asking a. bribe OF
acknowledging the receipt o1 bribe
and any three men familiar with
Blease's handwriting would say the
writing of the letter was his, he
would resign the governors:lip in Ii
minutes.
On the other hand, he said, If he
could noG prove that Fielder had OF
fered a tribe to "a State Official, he
would not only>consent to -ssiSh the
governorship, but would move to the
Philippine Islands
Gov. Blease said he was not averse
to Felder's being given a change Of
venue If there was any doubt as to hii
being able to obtain justice in New
berry County.
Gov. Blease spoke at length about
standing by his friends. Ise said ns
loved his friends SO MUCK that r
wanted to be with them after death
no matter where they were. He de-
clared that his enemies need expect
nothing from him.
He had been told, he said, thai
this was not the proper spirit, ane
that he should consider TIE example
of the Savior, who said Of those wht
prosecuted Him: Father, forgive
them, for they know not what the,
do"
4 Gov. Blease said he had no for
giveness for his enemies because they
knew very we'll what they were DO
ing. -
He mentioned among his enemies
the newspapers. He said the engi
neer of a train could not stop hls
train to pay attention to the ours tha
ran out and .barked at the frain. Ane
neither, he said, could lie stop fo1
the snarling ours, the newspapers
He said he would like to cell them b!
another term, but it woald be un
parliamentary.
Chief among his newspaper enc
niles, he considers the Columbia State
and he said it was controlled by Gu
bans and they were foes to organ
lied government. One OF their an
cestors he said was exiled from Cubs
because he~was foe to organized
government.
Gov. Blease also paid his respects
to The Spartanburg Herald He as
serted that this newspaper was own
ed by The Columbia State, ana tina
the editor published nothing unit
he had telephoned to Columbia ane
had obtained permission.
The Herald, he said. published al
untrue story to the effect that ths
girls of. Winthrop college had asket
that their diplomas be presented tt
them by somebody else than Gosern
or Blease. This story was Ia e'
found to be untrue, he said, but 1ne
Herald lacked the manhood to come
out and admit it was untrue.
He was warmly applaGded and one
man shouted that he had stopped hi:
subscription to The Herald because
of it's unfair attitude towards Gov
ernor Blease. /
Gov. Blease made sighting re
marks about Northerners severa
times. He said that Of $50 voters
in a Newberry cotton mill 154 voted
for him.
1.-THE other Six" he said, "were
the Yankee BOSSES. "
While Speaking of the penitentiar1
he devoted soale attention to the
hosiery mill, which he proposed tc
abolish. He said that prisoners were
put to work in the hosiery mill who
knew nothing about making hosiery
but who were required to do just az
much work as skilled operatives. They
had to work ten hours day, he said
and were kept standing the entire
time.
A lawyer, he said, might be put