Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-07-19
road he Was R,ease,s cousin a.

road, he was Blease's cousin ant
lived in the governors mansion.
says, "Blease, here's the situation
don't veto It; II you are either doint
this thing for one Of two things, yo'
are either trying to take shot a
Smyth or somebody has approaches
you representing the Southern rail
road. Now, those are the two thing
we have got confronting the road,
| and after I had talked to him half al
hour he saw which proposition wa
the stronger. So we went into ex
| ecutive session, you might call 1t, ant
oh, yes. he had his stenographer
he says, you don't mind my steno
grapher taking down everything W.
| say, do you?" I says. mo, he cal
take down every word Of 1t, II yoi
want it." You see, Blease thought
was going to get mad and fly off tn
handle and cuss him out. and n,
wanted to get 1t down so he coult
have a record of 1t to show II any.
body had anything to say. Well,
took 1t up section by section; said
II represent this company, and Il
there's anything Objectionable in this
convince you there's nothing obtec.
tionable, I'll bear you out, and II
can convince you there's nothing OBJ.
jectionable, you sign the bill" So we
took 1t up section by section; had
already prepared in my Office copies
Of every franchise ever given rail.
road in South Carolina, because I used
it in preparing this charter, and ne
took 1t up section by section; l said
"I want to show you the franchise oil
the c. and w. c. railway, and so on;
now. II they have 1t, how are we go.
Wi
I stayed there four days with him, and
took up each section, and Cole told
me every morning. "I'll let you know
in the morning whether I'll sign it,
then he said, 81 won't sign it." We
had an awful time about 1t; finally we
got through and, and I says, "Cole.
are you going to sign that" He
says, mo. I'm not going to sign It,
and I says, "I've gone through every
article in this bill with you, every
section, and you have agreed tenta-
lively with me it's all right; now,
when we are through with 1t, now are
you going to sign 1t or veto it?" He
says, IT can't sign It." I says, Il
want to tell you this"-his steno-
grapher was sitting right there, l
don't know whether he took 1t down
or mott want to tell you this, Cole;
people that fought you are giving me
hell for supporting you; always
thought you were honest and straight;
the minute I find out you are not
honest and straight, we part company;
II you don't sign this bill, I'll be
damned II don't raise hell" He says,
What does 1t mean to you, Sam, II
sign it?" "That doesn't matter a
damn, that don't make damn bit Of
Il IN n
sonal matter and you refused to sign
1t. that would be a different matter,
but you didn't put 1t up to me that
way: you put 1t up as matter OF
right and wrong" I says, What
does 1t mean to me personally
says, "It means about $4,000 a year,
that Is about what 1t means to me"
I says, but that's got nothing to do
with 1t. I Just want to tell you that
you are refusing to sign 1t for one OF
two reasons, which one I don't know;
you are either refusing to sign 1t be-
cause you don't like Lewis Parker or
Smyth or Smith. and you are trying
to fay them over the head, and In
so doing you are flaying the best
friends you ever had, you have lost
sight Of the fact that you can't beat
their brains out without beating our
brains out; you are either doing 1t for
that or you are being paid by the
Southern railway for not signing 1t;
that's the situation" And I got my
hat and walked out Of the office.
walked through his private office into
the general office; he says, Cole says,
Come back here a minute; come in"
he says, land bring this G. damned
railroad bill; I'm just going to sign 1t
to get rid Of the damned thing" He
signed 1t and people came out all over
the state cussing him, and that's the
only thing 1 ever done with him that
caused a good deal Of comment.
An Alleged Club Incident.
We have got a pretty nice club out
here, and several Of us go out there
pretty often and enjoy ourselves, but
they are against Blease, and they
know I'm for him, and so we never
talk politics in the club. Well, one day
a fellow blew in from North Carolina;
he came in-we insisted on his joining
us; of course he came over; he said,
Gentlemen, how's politics in South
Carolina?" "Well," We said, every
things sorter quiet" Say" he says,
81 hope you peope will beat that damn
rascal, Blease, down here" Well, we
said, we weren't taking any interest in
politics. He says, well you ought to
take interest in it," finally he says
Mr.. Porter: You do what you think
is right; I can understand how you
feel and your friends, of course, re-
spect your feelings and don't talk poll
tics in the club.
Mr. Nichols: That's It exactly. Like
client of mine, he's the head Of mill
here that I represent; he was talking
to me and he says, my mill pays you
about $4,000 a year retainer, and /
want to tell you, If you're going to
keep on for Blease like you are, we
can't afford to have that sort of man
representing u.s." said, II want to
ask you a question now: Did you en-
ploy me to represent your mill-he en-
ployed us purely on my account, and
knew that. I said did you en-
ploy me on account Of politics or be-
cause you thought I could represent
you properly?" He said, I'VE employ
ed you because we thought you could
do it better than anybody else" well.
then" said, whenever you get to
thinking differently get somebody
else" He says. well. can't do that"
says, We'll. then, don't come into
my Office politicing about it."
wen, lIllS lellOW lTOIn NOTln CdTO-
lima, Fox says. I'VE did everything we
could to beat Blease: we never discuss
politics in the club. Mr.. Nichols Is a
member Of the club and we know he's
for him and the balance Of us against
him; we always fought Blease before
and we were never able to beat him,
and the only way to beat him Is to
prove he's done something crooked
since he's been governor, and II you
know he has. we'd like to have 1t to
beat him with" He says, well, I'm
glad you mentioned that" He says. Il
know of my own personal knowledge
Of an instance where he has accepted
graft and big graft" Fox says, I'm
glad you mentioned that" He says,
You remember when 1t came out in
the paper that he was going to veto
that railroad bill says, YES" He
says. well, that meant possibly a mil
lion dollars to the road, and some at
torney in the state had influence with
him and he paid Blease s50.000 to sign
that bill" ! got up and looked at him,
and moved my chair back. I said.
You are just a damned dirty liar" I
said, I'm the only attorney in South
Carolina that ever mentioned that mat
ter to he governor, and If you say he
received one cent you are just a damn
ed, dirty liar" He knew he was lying
and knew it. He says, Il didn't mean
to say that l knew that, but I heard
that" I says. "No, you're lying when
you say that" said you were say