The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-10-01
BLEASE POINTS OFT ERROR,
Justice Woods Expresses Regret at
Nistake-Will COrrect-Does Not
Change Opinion.

Columbia, Sept. 26.-CQpies of let
ters which passed between Governor
Blease and Associate Justice Woods
in re the opinion in the Anderson mag
istrates cases follows:
September Il, 1912.
Hon. C. A. Woods, Associate Jus
tice, Supreme Court of South Caro-
lima, Marion, South Carolina.-Sir: l
notice in an opinion rendered by you
for the supreme court, in re appoint
ment of certain magistrates for the
counties of Spartanburg and Anderson
that you state, in the case Of Lyon VS..
Bowden and Kirby, ct al, ''and the gov
ernor failed to submit the appoint
ments at either session" This could
not have been an oversight because it
is inserted in your handwriting in the
typewriter opinion.
81 beg to callto your attention that
this statement is erroneous, on the
contrary, by reference to the Journal
of the senate of South Carlina, 1912,
page 1872, it will be found that l sent
message No. 81, to the said senate on
the 18th day of February, 1912, IN
which l furnished list Of all appoint
ments made by me, including the coun-
ty of Spartanburg-the first name on
the list being w. R. Tanner-tho
eighth name being S. S. .Tiner-the
ninth name being T. o. Fowler and the
twenty-frst rame being j. N. BoWden.
The clerk of the senate, however, only
published in the Senate Journal the
names of those who we're confirmed,
and failed to published the names in
The Journal of those who were not
confirmed. The senate having refused
to confirm the nominations or appoint
ments of the other magistrates, the
clerk did this, I presume, upon the
motion found at the top of page 1888,
of said Journal, which reads:
con motion of Mr.. Hardin, the seal
of secrecy was removed from the pro-
ceedings of the executive session, so
far as the same relates to appoint
ments made by the governor and con-
frmed by the senate, and the same
were ordered published in the Jour
nal:
I'm the same message, under the
head of Aiken County, the original
message contains the appointment OF
L. N. C. Oliveros for master, vice W. n.
Jordan, deceased. In the printed
Journal, this is left out because he
was not confirmed at that time.
Under the head of Beaufort Coun-
ty' township commissioners were in
the original message, but in the. Jour-
ral were cut out, they not having been
confirmed.
'And other counties, including An
derson, appointments which were set
out in the original message sent in by
me, but were not confirmed, are left
out of the printed Journal. The ori-
ginal message, which is now in the
hands of the clerk of the senate, or
which should be in his hands, Gan ex-
act and corrected copy being on file
in this Office shows that these ap-
pointmentS were sent to the senate by
me. The senate refused to confirm
them, and I am satisfied that the SEN
ator from Spartanburg, and other SEN
ators, will confirm my statement and
say that these appointments were sent
in and that the senate refused to con-
firm them.
''Now, can not see, Judge, why you
should put in your judicial record, as
a reflection upon me-the chief execu-
tive of the State-a statement which
is absolutely false. 1 care nothing for
the law as you have decided it in the
magistrate matter; it makes absolutely
no difference to me-and l told some
of the attorneys in these magistrate
matters that as soon as the senate re-
fused to confirm, they were no longer
magistrates-my construction of the
law being that when the vacancies oc-
Cured, l had the right to appoint, and
when the senate met and refused to
confirm my appointees that they were
no longer magistrates, and that others
would have to be appointed to ill the
vacancies. Therefore, you have held
just what I thought was the law in the
Anderson matter, but 1 can not allow
your decision to go unchallenged when
you accuse me Of having neglected to
perform duty, as chief executive