The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-03-20

Il
ready mentioned by the attorney gen
eral.
with reference to the trip to At
| tanta Evans said that he went on the
request Of Y b. Fielder. He said that
FIELDER wanted the names of the firms
that sold whislley to the State dispen-
sary. He declared that he did not
know when he went that Attorney
General Lyon was in Atlanta
Did the governor ever mention
the conference referred to in his spe-
cial message to you?"
| NO"
! Il asked the governor about the
! statement after it appeared in the
message and he told me tnat he was
| Informed that the conference was
| held" Evans said that he did not
| press the governor for a statement
| as to where he obtained his informa-
! tion.
Members Of the committee oues-
! toned Mr.. Evans as to his acauaint-
| ance with II. b. Fielder. He said
| that he had known the Atlanta at
| torney for many years
He charged that Fielder had on sew
! eral occasions tried to frame up
company to get the business Of the
State dispensary.
/ The witness gave a history Of his
| relations with Fielder.
Questioned as to the proposals of
! Fielder to form a whiskey company,
| Evans said that Fielder never "did let
up"
Tom came to see me in Newberry,
| think it was about 1904. He told
| me that he had purchased the Sid
| ney Lucas company Of Nashville"
! Mr.. Evans said that he introduced
| Fielder to a number of his friends in
| Newberry and that he tried to enter
tain him.
| Fielder asked me to get him some-
| thing to drink" said the witness,
and 1 told him 1 thought that / knew
where We could get a drink.
| Lead me to it, said Fielder to
| me.
! Il led him to it. / carried HIM
| around to Cole. Bleases office and in
! troduced him to Cole. Cole set his
1 whiskey out and We took a drink.
| This was the first time that Blease
met Fielder and every time / hear
about the row between them I Just
laugh"
| Evans said that Fielder first men,
toned his proposed company in At
| lanta and that he later came to New
| berry as referred to above.
| Referring to Felder's visit to New
berry, Evans said that he told Field
er that he was busy and that he did
not have time to talk over the propo-
sition, but that he would leave him
| IFelder) in charge of his (Evans')
! brother. Cole l.. Blease and several
others. Evans said that he did not
| explain to Blease and his other
friends the reason for Felder's visit.
Fielder" said the witness, gave me
the whole layout of a scheme where
by we both could get rich quick"
At this point, the witr ess said that
i "a bA
rise to Il question Of personal privi-
lege.
He mentioned the letter signed ct
b. already published, and said
that it would never have been brought
"out if it had not fell into some
hands He said that he was asked
if it was authentic and he replied that
it was.
The witness said that Fielder told
him in Atlanta that che Felder) was
too smart for anybody to ever tackle
him" when he was asked as to the
probability of the ct T." letters be-
ing secured by the attorney general
Of South Carolina.
He was asked by the committee as
to what he meant by certain hands,"
Mr.. Evans said that he lost the let
ters, and they got into somebody
else's hands. He said that the gov
ernor Of the State got hold Of one of
the letters signed "T. B." and that he
did not know that Blease had it.
He said that the governor now
had all Of the letters, alleged TO have
been written to him (Evans) by r.
+. Fielder. Upon request of the
committee, Mr. Evans said that he
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