The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1912-08-07
MAYOR JNO. p. GRACE
ARRAlGNS GOV. BLEASE
CONTINUED from Page Six.)

nave eNeT tolu IN puDllc or private,
stories which sicken even the strong
est man, such as the one habitually
characteristic Of Blease, and vet
Blease shouts in mock modesty that
L have said something so objection
able that nobody with any gentle
manly instincts whatever would make
such foul and filthy statement
What then must it have been when it
came from him, before it passed the
crucible Of a refined mind? But,
whatever 1t Is, it is a fact, an ex-
purgated fact, ali his denials to the
contrary notwith standing
Hampton Incident.
AS to his denial about the McDufie
Hampton incident this, as you know,
is only characteristic. did not
brand Wade Hampton's sons as a com
mon drunkard. He did. | simply
repeated what he said. Moreover, it
is like him to try even in this case to
raise false issue. What has Wade
Hampton got to do with it. He drags
in the memory of this most illustrious
man, who at the most critical mo-
ment of his career. he voted against
upon all occasions, even trying in his
sophistical way to make a virtue out
of what he did against General Hamp-
ton, at the same time putting the
blame upon Judge Jones' shoulders
for what that gentleman did
And in passing / will say that my
view Of Jones vote upon the Hamp-
ton question was far more honorable
and consistent than Blease's. This
has all been explained on the stump.
Jones voted necessarily with the great
reform movement of which he was
then a part. To do otherwi he
would have deserted caus But
Blease, with his usual shiftine. Ioted
for Hampton as long as his vu,1 was
not necessary, but when the trying
period came, deserted him, as the rec
ordS show.
BIease Said 1t.
But after ALL why drag in, as he
says, South Carolina's grand old
hero at all?" in the first place, in
mentioning the McDufie Hampton
incident, thereby dragging in the
name Of the grand old hero, remem-
Der that it was he who did it. 1t was
he who said that McDufie Hampton
had been elected by money furnished
by the Southern railway; not |.
knew absolutely nothing about it until
he told me, and nobody could have
been more shocked than / was when
to appeal very long to history to learn
that there is nothing in an honored
name. have been told and | love to
remember that
ut seems to me, whate'er we be,
'Tis only noble to be good
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood" :"
Even If it be true that the blood
of South Carolina's grand old hero
runs in the veins of McDuffie Hamp-
ton, does that give him any license to
disgrace that name? And all this
talk about Wade Hampton is worse
than tOmmyrot and a characteristic
evasion of the issue.
Moreover, and in short feel that
the public would only be bored if
went over that staff appointment of
which he makes so much repeating
his old lies.
The "T. b." Letter.
GAS to the II. b. letter, he says that
he Immediately locked it up in his
safe and soon thereafter transferred
it to the vault of the Palmetto Ma
tional Bank. / remember distinctly
when he showed me that letter and
that while / did not show ii to my
brother, who was present, we talked
it over with Blease in such a manner,
seemingly without any objection from
Blease, that my brother was aware of
its contents and he and myself ad-
vised Bleaso that it was not safe to
carry it around in his pocket and to
which Blease replied that he agreed
with US and that he would put it in
the vault, as he said he did, until he
needed 1T. But as to never consulting
me Is simply another absolute lie
have photograph of the letter in my
minds eye now; | remember the kind
of paper it was written on, the con-
tents, and | remember saying to
Blease that it would be easy to cor
roborate parts of the letter which re-
ferred to the organization of some
stock company under the laws of
some state which | now forget And
in furtherance of this statement
want to say and / think | am not di-
Vulging any secret that when the in
Vestigating committee hello a session
some time ago in Augusta, / had a
long talk with Senator Carlisle about
this very letter. | told him that
had no doubt that all that Fielder
said he was trying to prove was true;
in fact, a thousand times as much as
he could prove, but / personally held
some misgivings about Fielder and
that they arose from the very eXami-
nation of this letter in the governors
mansion, when Bleaso showed 1t to
me. That it looked to me like a
genuine letter and If not that it was
certainly a first-class fake.
Il have since seen Felder's eXplana-
tion of this letter, that it was a Skill
full forgery. and 1t may be as the