Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-01
CHAIRMAN LEWIS EXPLAINS

When the subcommittee appointed
by the state Democratic executive
committee met in Spartanburg last
week to compare notes on the investi-
cation Of the alleged frauds and irreg-
ularities in the primary election, Mr..
w. B. Wilson, Jr., chairman Of one Of
the committees, submitted a re-
port Of progress, and in that report
took occasion to represent that the
chairman Of the York county Demo-
cratic executive committee had refus-
ed to cooperate with the work. The
report was published in the Columbia
State and attracted some little local
interest among people who wondered
what ground there could be for Mr..
Wilson's assertion. Evidently consid-
ering the statement as somewhat OF a
reflection upon himself, Chairman
Lewis has seen proper to write letter
to Hon. John Gary Evans state chair
man, which letter Is reproduced from
the Rock Hill Record Of yesterday
as follows:
Dear Sir: I noticed in the State Of
yesterday a report Of the meeting Of
the subcommittee that Mr.. w. B. Will
son in his report for York county
stated that the county chairman had
refused to act, and that he (Mr. Will
SOM had been informed that there
were North Carolinians who voted at
one box.
This report is very meagre, and I
do not know whether 1t correctly
states what Mr.. Wilson reported to the
committee or not. II he Is correctly
reported, the report does me an injus-
tice; and, II he is incorrectly reported,
it does both of us an injustice, and
necessitates my making a statement Of
my connection with the investigation
in York county.
After Mr.. Wilson had returned
from the meeting Of the state commit
tee in Columbia after the first prima-
ry, he called me over the phone from
Rock Hill, and stated that he desired
me, as county chairman, to get all of
the club rolls from the various pre-
cincts in the county, and to compare
the poll lists with the club rolls to see
If any person had voted whose name
was not on the club list; and, further,
to have the poll lists copied and ar
ranged alphabetically, and then COM
pare the poll lists with each other to
determine II there had been any dupli-
cate voting at the various polling pre-
cincts told him that this involved
didn't expect me to do 1t. He stated
he did not, but that I could employ
men to assist me. I then asked him
who proposed to pay these men. He
stated that Mr.. Stevenson would pay
them. :.
"I then replied that while I had
seen in the papers something about
Mr.. Stevenson promising to pay these
bills, he had not informed me that he
would be responsible for them. and 1
didn't expect to be personally respon-
sible for the employment Of these men.
and. II employed some one to do this
work. they would certainly look to
me for their pay, and I was unwilling
to assume the responsibility for that
pay. I told him further that II he
would employ the men and be respon-
sible to them for their pay that would
be very glad to supervise the work
here, but that could not be respon-
sible for the payment Of the help. He
then stated that he would employ the
men in Rock Hill and requested me to
furnish him with the poll lists and
have the club rolls turned over to him.
He further stated that he would fin
ish the work in a day or two and have
the poll lists returned to me.
when he came to Yorkville on the
18th of September to attend the Sec
ond meeting of the county executive
committee, I delivered to him all the
poll lists in the county, and requested
each executive committeeman to turn
over to him or mail to him his club
roll, and I also turned over to Mr..
Wilson the club roll Of Yorkville club
No. 2, of which 7 am president. Before
this Mr.. Wilson had come to Yorkville
with party or gentlemen, with view
to undertaking to compare the club
rolls and the poll lists, and In this
work for quite part of one afternoon
I assisted him. Mr.. Wilson, pre-
sumo, employed the men to do the
work which he had mapped out, and
evidently 1t took them considerably
longer to do the work than he antici-
pated. for the reason that he has not
returned to me even yet the poll lists
which I delivered to him on the 18th
Of September and which he promised
to return to me in a day or two. The
alleged report that I refused to act Is
not a correct statement of the facts,
as think the above statement clearly
shows. and, instead Of Mr.. Wilson re-
porting that the county chairman had
refused to act. I think 1t would have
been better for him to have reported
what his investigation disclosed.
"I desire to add further that the
county executive committee was not
inactive, in that when we met to can
vass the returns Of the first primary.
Mr.. J. s. Brice requested in behalf OF
Judge Jones a recount Of the entire
vote Of the county. This was prompt
ly accorded him. and I stated In the
that If any one present desir-
ed to take upon himself the RESPONSE
blity Of acting for Governor Blease in
this recount that he was at perfect
liberty to do so, and invited any one
to overlook the recount as 1t was had.
The recount changed the face Of the
returns by increasing Governor
Please's majority by few votes. In
q addition to this the executive commit