The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-07-23


self in order to get some rest before
taking an early morning train for the
Chester meeting.
The following in regard to Governor
Blease's address is from the Columbia
correspondent of the News and Cour-
fer:
Columbia, July Ex-Governor Blease
tonight addressed a vast audience
from the north steps of the State
House, fully $500 people turning out
to hear him. The crowd covered every
step and nearby approaches and was
banked out nearly into the street.
Standing on the upper middle tier of
The steps and with his coat sleeves
pulled up, Governor Blease addressed
his remarks primarily to the "boys" of
Ward 5, the cotton mill ward. How
ever, in the audience were people from
every walk and vocation in life, some
of them drawn by curiosity, but the
most of them enthusiastic supporters
of the governor and cheering his every
word.
An hour before the meeting was
scheduled to commence the steps were
filed with the waiting throng and roar
after roar of cheers went up when
Governor Blease, surrounded by some
OF his close personal friends, arrived
and took his stand on the steps.
What He Talked About.
An attack on the local newspapers,
a denunciation of Lewis w. Parker,
the charge that Mr.. Parker was going
to try to vote his cotton mill help,
general attack on cotton mill mergers,
a severe lambasting of the hosiery 11l
at the penitentiary, charge that the
men from Greenville, who came to
his house Sunday, were drunk, and a
statement that the poor men paid prac-
tically all the taxes, constituted the i'm
portant parts of the governors speech
tonight
He spoke for about an hour, soft
drizzle of rain causing the crowd to
disperse and the governor concluded,
thanking the people for coming out. He
was presented with flowers from ad-
mirers when he concluded and receiv-
ed a great ovation, cheers of ''hurrah
for Blease" ascending from many
throats as the people dispersed.
The governor inveighed against cot
ton mill mergers and Mr.. Parker in
particular and charged that he had a
letter from a gentleman in Greenville
to the effect that Lewis w. Parker had
said in this and other gentlemens
presence few days ago, that two
weeks before the election he was go
ing to ordr his cotton mill superin-
tents to tell the cotton mill people how
to vote. The governor warned the
cotton mill people to be on their guard
and drew cheers by saying that he did
not believe they could De bought.
He offered a reward of 500 to the
first cotton mill operative who would
come and make affidavit that a person
offered to buy his vote, and Il will put
him on the chaingang," shouted the
governor amid more applause from his
audience. He told the cotton mill peo-
pie that the situation was in their
hands and if anyone tried tc influence
their votes to walk out of the mill and
'be white men. l will see that you
don't suffer-" he said
Attacking the hosiery mill at the
State penitentiary Governor Blease
called it "a tuberculosis incubator"
and repeated MS we'll known Sentl-
ments on this matter. He made an at
tack on Capt Graham, who has the
lease on the hosiery mill, and referred
to him as "a Yankee" He caught the
attention and sympathy of his audience
by picturing the suffering of mother
and father whose boy IS in prison and
he called for humane treatment for
,prisoners.
Says His Callers Were Drunk.
The governor tonight MADE answer
to the statement OF Two Greenyille
men that they had been ordered out of