The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-03-02
WHAT TOM FIELDER DID.
The Ono Man who Could Have Sc
cured the Evidence which Damned
the Old State Dispensary and who
Did Secure it--His Work Re-
viewed.

(From letter to the Yorkville En-
quirer by the Eon. j. S. Brice.)
''' If there was one liquor house
that swindled South Carolina out OF
more money than any other during
the reign Of the State dspensary, il
was the Richland Distilling Company
and at the time the Ansel commission
was removed by ''' the present
Governor. this same Fielder you speak
OF had a suit pending against them
for Ave hundred thousand dollars,
and they had offered to compromise
this suit for one hundred thousand
dollars In cash. Also II was the inten-
tion Of the commission to require any
dispensary official who had taken
money from the State to restore the
same.
Now as a citizen of South Carolina,
who loves his State and who has serv-
ed his State without asking for any
reward for his services, and knowing
the criminal trials Of the dispensary
officials were mere political battles,
had I remained on the commission 1
should have certainly attempted to
have had these parties make restitu-
tion, regardless of whether they were
ever tried in the Criminal Courts or
not.
From the establishment Of the
State dispensary system In July. 1898.
until its abolition in February, 1907,
a period Of nearly fourteen years.
there were charges OF rebate and
graft made on the hustings. in the
newspapers and on the floor of the
House and Senate in Columbia, but
these charges were always met with
scorn and derision, and even the hon
est yeomanry Of South Carolina at
tributed them to political prejudces.
The State Of South Carolina spent
thousands Of dollars through COM
mittee appointed on motion cf Cole
l.. Blease investigating the State dis
pensarY, and while Lyon and Chris
tensen Of that committee did faithful
work. they only succeeded In stirring
NJ some black slime on the surface
Of the reeking and rotten dispensary
caldron. and the State dispensary ad-
vocates, your friend Blease among
them. on the floor Of the Senate dared
and defied them to go into the Grim
inal Courts on any Of the evidence
they produced. 1t IL true. after they
made their report, every honest man
in the State believed the system was
rotten. and acting on this belief the
legislature abolished the system. but
everybody In South Carolina believed
II was impossible to ever prove In any
Criminal Court that any one con-
nected with the system was guilty Of
fraud and Of larceny. But In 1907,
when Thoa B. Fielder appeared on
the scene Of action and stripped him
self and went down into the black
and seething dispensary pit. ne came
back with his hands full Of positive
indisputable written evidence Of the
guilt Of the dispensary officials and Of
liquor houses. Fielder and Fielder
alone produced the evidence that
satisfied everybody. friend and foe, Of
the dispensary system that stealing,
and good stealing, lad been going on
to such an extent that It was reduced
TO a system. Tom Fielder Is no saint
and he Is no prohibitionist. He Is one
Of the attorneys for the Liquor Deal
ers' Association now. Che was not at
the time he was employed by the
commission), but he is the man who
furnished the evidence that forever
damned the State dispensary system
and the people of South Carolina owe
him debt of gratitude for his work
l know OF no lawyer i'm the State Of
South Carolina, and l know soma-
thing about the bar of this State, who
had the legal and detective ability
combined to do the work Fielder did
and l assert there is not lawyer in
the State could have done 1t. So If
by Felder's rake off" you mean the
fees the State commission paid him
under n written contract. assert he
didn't cost the state dollar, and
through his efforts mor ey was put in
the state treasury and his fees and
that money put i'm the State treasury
was money which would otherwise
have gone into the tills of corrupt
liquor houses that had been swindling
the STATE for years. aud that Thos Il.
Fielder fairly won and richly deserved
every cent he got. / know he has in
CURED the everlasting i'll will of those