The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-03-20
OF THE OLD WINDING UP COM
MISSION AND ATTORNEY GEN.
ERAL LYON NOW GOING ON
TESTIMONY OF H. H. EVANS
The Testimony so far Shows no Rea.
son for the Wholesale Charges OF
Governor as to Graft on the Part of
the Old Commission.

The Committee appointed to inves
tigate the old winding-up commission
Attorney-General Lyon, the presen
Governor and all others that were il
any way connected with the old dis
pensary held its second session in Co.
lumbia last week. All of the old men
bers of the Winding-up Commission
have been examined and also sevefa
of the former directors. Farnum, "the
beer king" of Charleston has testified
Mr.. Farnum denied emphatically thai
he paid Attorney-General Lyon or any
body else anything except the $4,000
fine which he paid.
The testimony Of former Chairmn
Hub H. Evans is published in full be-
low:
The relation of T. B. Fielder, the
Atlanta attorney, to the State dispen-
sary was discussed at length by
H. H. Evans of Newberry
former chairman of the board of con-
troll of the dispensary, appearing be-
fore the legislative committee yester-
day Afternoon.
AS a kind OF a preface to his tes-
timony which consumed three hours,
Mr.. Evans said that if it were per-
missible that he would like to rise to
a question of personal privilege.
81 would like to rise to a question
of personal privilege" said Mr.. Ev-
ans, "for I do not wish to stab any
man in the back. was informed or
believed that T. B. Fielder of Allan
ia would be here today or was in Co.
lumbia. I would much prefer for Mr..
Fielder to be present to hear what !
have to say. I would prefer to face
him, but that is left to you gentle
men,"
Mr.. Evans was Informed that Mr..
Fielder was not in the city, and that
his testimony would be printed and
become public record. The witness
said that he would have to touch on
certain testimony given at the first
meeting Of the committee.
Statements Denied.
"There were several statements
made" said the witness, "at the first
meeting on this floor that are absolute
ly false"
He was requested by the committee
to make definite statement as to the
false testimony that had been pre-
sented. He said that John Gary Ev-
ans had misrepresented the facts
when he stated that Cole L. Blease
was a personal attorney of his (Ev-
ans); that W. F. Stevenson made a
false statement with reference to a
division Of graft in Atlanta and that
the statement that he was on the
verge of confessing to T. B. Fielder
in Atlanta was false.
The governor intimated in his spec
ial message that there was some sort
of an agreement between H. H. Evans
T. B. Fielder, Acknowledgement Lyon
and John Gary Evans, and that con-
ference was held in Atlanta.
No Conference Held
This insinuation or charge by the
governor was denied by H. H. Evans.
He said that no such conference was
ever held and that he had never met
Attorney General Lyon outside the
State except on one accession as al
ready mentioned by the attorney gen.
eral.
With reference to the trip to At
lanta Evans said that be went on the
request of T. B. Fielder. He said that
Fielder wanted the names of the firms
that sold whiskey 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?"
mo"
~ asked the governor about the
statement after it appeared in the
message and he told me that he was
informed that the conference was
held" Evans said that he did moi
press the governor for a statement
as to where he obtained his informa-
tion.
Alleged Frame.up
Members Of the committee ques.
toned Mr.. Evans as to his acquain-
tance with T. 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 a
company to get the business of the
State dispensary.
The witness gave history Of his
relations with Fielder.
Questioned as to the proposals OF
Fielder to form a whiskey company
Evans said that Fielder never "did lei
up"
"Tom came to see me in Newberry
I think it was about 1904. He told
me that he had purchased the Sid
ney Lucas company of Nashville" "