The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-08-21
WATSON TELLS WHO HE Is.
Il Member of Family Prominent i'm
MethOdism and is Officer of Sever.
al Secret Orders.

Daily News.
nave tried to keep out # the
papers as much as possible with ,cf
erence tothe King Watson affair 4
the governors mansion, of whch
there has been SO much said. bu. the
governor has not seen tit to let M
on either Mr.. King or myself. and |
notice his statement in The Herald
and News of Newberry of Friday
August :. and l can not help but an
swer same.
| The question has been asked, .Who
Is -. NJ. watson " Olin Nj. Watson
is son Of the late O. A. Watson
VINO shed some of the best blood ever
spilled upon Virginia soil in defense
OF his country. Olin Nj. Watson is a
son of widow Watson, who lives on
buncombe street and who is a sister
| or capt. j. b. Humbert of Laurens
county; the late Emory Watson. who
was pastor of the Methodist confer
ehce was my uncle. f. O. Watson.
pastor Of Washington street church
| Columbia, S. c., is my cousin. G. p.
| watson, pastor of the First Metho-
dist church, Gaffney, S. c., is also my
! cousin. :.
| He has tried, or his friends. TO
make capital by making the lying
statement that l was not in good
standing in the lodges to which l be-
ng. am member in good stand
Ing with all dues paid of Walden
lodge, A. r. NJ, No. ia; am secretary
or said lodge. l am also sachem Of
Tallulah tribe, No. 33, 1. o. r. NJ.
with all dues paid up. l am also
worthy patron of the Order of Eastern
Star. l am also assistant chief hay
maker of Tallulah tribe, No. 33 1-2
l am also past noble grand of Noun
tain lodge, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.
The facts are these, as to what hap
| oened at the governors mansion: Mr..
j. n. King and myself, who had been
strong friends of Gov. Blease, went to
his mansion about 2 o'clock on Sun
day, found Mr.. Blease in his night
robe with Sam j. Nichols and an
other elderly gentleman in the room
and quart bottle Of whiskey on a
table with the contents mostly gone.
Neither Mr.. King nor myself were un-
| der the influence Of whiskey while in
the mansion; neither did We take a
drink while there, nor did we say
anthing that the governor could take
offense at. In fact, he ordered us out
Of the mansion because Mr.. King had
asked him for a respite of 80 days for
an old negro who had been sentenced
to be executed. This request seemed
to enrage him, and he ordered us out
OF the mansion. AS we went out Mrs.
Blease was standing at the front door
of the mansion. Mr.. King introduced
me to Mrs. Blease. She talked to us
several minutes and asked us to re-
turn at any time that we saw fit, she
not knowing that Mr.. Blease had or
dered us from the mansion. After
leaving the mansion l stopped. and
not being fully satisfied told Mr. King
l would go back and see what Cole
meant by the manner in which he
had talked to us, that l could not see
how he could insult us after We had
been such strong friends and support
ters Of him and he being a brother in
some Of the orders to which l be-
longed. l went back and told him /
would like to talk to him. Mr.. King
refused to go. He (Mr. Blease) asked
me what l wanted to talk about. /
told him that he had been little
should consider the respite for that
old negro and save us the expense of
carrying it up to the supreme court
until we could get a petition asking
him to commute the negros sentence
to life imprisonment in the peniten-
tiary but in very abrupt and en-
ragged manner he invited me to leave
the premises at once, which l did.
In his statement he claims that
| Judge Ira b. Jones went to The State
| Office with us when we made the
| statement of our treatment. This is
a lie out of the whole cloth; we did
not see Ira Is. Jones until we had
| gone up and written our statement Of
| the treatment we had received We
| did. however. after leaving The state
office meet Judge Jones on the street
| and had a short conference with him.
and saw him no more after that time