Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-07-17
wAiHALrA, SOUTH CAROLINA WEDNESDAY, JULY IT, 1912
DErECTrvEs CHARGE GRAFT.
s8ppO Received for Partioning RIA.
bens Is One Allegation.

$4,000 Received for Partloning Ra.
bens Is One Allegation.
augusta, Ca, July 12.-EVidence
taHsns by dictagraph and in personal
contact by one of w. J. Burns, de-
teattyes was submitted to the investi-
gaeing committee from South Caro-
lina@this afternoon, setting out that
GSyArnor' Cole Blease had received
$4,000 for pardoning Rudolph Ra-
ben8 of Charleston; $500 for block
ingSsrailroad legislation; 5000 for
ktAtng the first attempted dispensary
investigation, and that he gets his
shaI,e5of the blind tiger protection"
money from Charleston.
aWNJ. Burns, himself on the stand
tonight, said he would prefer that
theacommittee hear the records his
menswould have to submit in the
scassaE He was asked If the work he
hadsaone would show whether or not
"B1ease has been grating as Cover
noTs!and State Senator" The direct
question was applied TO him:
Is l)a you mean that the records
.willSshow whether or not he has been
grating as&Gopernnr and Senator?"
z Yes, quietly replied Burns.
.SEoNu uC
INllisre were several hundred people
in&the court room when the hearing
wassbegun. Some of the leading pol
iticians of South Carolina were on
hand yaHd the most intense interest
asss,shown In the testimony to be
furnished because OF Mr.. Felder's
statement to the effect that q tre-
mend0us sensation would probably
be developed.
Dictagraph Explained.
+ E.aE Reed, chief operator for De-
tecttxes Burns, made an experiment
'wiLhsthe dictagraph. He showed to
the committee how conversation in
"a: closed room some distance away
Scouldsbe heard plainly in the court
$ro ooma When Detective Burns ar
rived he was given an ovation.
sSs ol.SFelder took the stand shortly
ssafterl o'clock and went into the
history of his employment by the
5StateS0f South Carolina In the wind
Ing fpIof the old dispensary commits
si04'B affairs He charged graft on
(. the part of III. II. Evans, dispen-
sary Scommissioner, apd6his attorney
at that timS olemanI,. Rlease, now
20 9, 6 IS 81 Sous ths Carolina He said
that rebates were received by Evans
in Atlanta, and that on one occasion
ho was given $4,000 in 1000 bills
by whiskey dealer. Fielder said
Evans had confessed to his guilt and
had cried while begging him not to
send him to the penitcntiary.
Says Letter Was Forgery.
The famous letter which, it was
charged, Fielder had written to II. II.
Evans inviting him to go into a plan
to make some money in the disDen-
sary matter, was introduced in evi-
dence.
Fielder said that the letter was
forged by F. II. Crauss, a former
chief clerk in the law Offices OF Eel
der G. Rountree, in Atlanta, who was
an expert initiate" OF handwriting,
and who was several thousand dol
lars short with the firm when he was
discharged
Fielder read an affidavit from his
law partner, D. w. Rountree, set
ting forth that Crauss was a forger
and that he was an expert at imitat-
ing handwriting. Fielder said that
Crauss had been his enemy for
number OF years and that he went
to Newberry, s. c., and forged the
famous letter in that city. Fielder
said that Crauss was not prosecuted
because of his wife being a relative
of some Of Mr.. Rountree's family.