The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1912-02-21
BLACKMJRN'S VERSION
BLEisE's sTENOGRAPHER ON
CHANGES IN LETTER.
Says Cashier Matthews Was Shown
and He Read the Letter as Used
by tie Governor.

Mr.. ". F. Blackburn, stenogra-
! pher to Governor Blease. hancei 10
reporter copies Of a letter which ne
lad addressed to Mr. ]. ?. Matthews,
as follows:
Mr.. J. P. Matthews, Cashier, Palmet-
to National Bank, Column bia, S. c..
Dear Sir: Ny attention has been
called to letter from you bearing
date February 9, in which you state:
yesterday when the letter was
presented to me to be signed my at
tention was called to the fact that
there had been some repetition in the
wording of the original draft and to
the fact that the letter had been re-
written.
II was very busy at the time, and
on being assured that the letter was
in all respects substantially the sac1e,
l signed the letter without comparing
it with the original draft except for
the first paragraph. I now find that
in copying the letter certain changes
had been made which makes the
sense different from what l intended,
and somewhat misleading.
And in which you further state:
''In reading the letters over you
will notice that other mistakes have
been made. In other words, in at
tempting to revise the wording OF the
letter it has been very much confus-
ed and the meaning completely
twisted"
In reply thereto I beg leave to
state that your letter of February
is just as you dictated it in the gov
ernor's Office to me, with the excep-
tions which were called to your at
tent:on. when I presented to YOU let
ter No. 2. Letter no 2. as | desig-
nate it here to identify it, was writ
ten ont by me: carried to the Pal
metto National bank and handed you
by me at your desk: showed you
both letters, the one you signed in
The governors Office, No. |. and let
ter No. ,, pointing out the changes
which had been made and compared
the first paragraph with you. You
continued reading letter No. 2, and
after you finished reading the entire
letter, you signed it and tore Up your
copy Of letter No. and threw It in
the waste basket under your desk;
handed the original letter, No. ?,
back to me and asked me for a copy
thereof, which I gave you. then
left the bank.
An examination of the original let
ter will show two pencil marks made
on the margin thereof, indicating the
places where the changes were made.
\ further examination OF the original
letter, No. 2, will show that you init
ialed page one on the margin, sign
ing, 81. P. NJ" clearly showing that
you did read the letter and in order
to protect yourself from any chances,
as a business man, you initiated the
first page, and on the bottom Of the
letter (the second page) signed ~.
P. Matthews, Cashier, Palmetto Ma
tional Bank of Columbia, S. c."
Your statement that the letter was
twisted by me is absolutely mislead-
ing and really amusing. The idea of
man, the cashier Of a bank with
capital stock of s250,000, surplus
and profit of 100000 and deposits
of s2,500,OO0 approximately sign
ing a paper involving 100000
transaction without reading it over,
and without knowing what he was
signing, simply doing so at the re-
quest of an humble tenographer,
working for small salary, is absurd.
IF this be true, Mr.. Matthews, it is
time for your board of directors and
the depositors of your bank to begin
tc investigate what other papers or
transactions might have taken place
with your signature, without consld-
Grafton or without reading. To be
frank, Mr.. Matthews, I have no OBJ
lection to you playing "twittle dunn
and twittle dee" with the governor
and the State treasurer, trying to
hold the friendship and influence of
both for your bank, making one
statement when you are in the pres
ence Of one and another when you
are in the presence of the other;
neither do I object to your playing
with the State treasurer that little
game Of tickle me, Robert, tickle
ME do: you tickle me, Robert, and
III tickle YOU" in order to hold the
deposits of the State for your bank
ing institution; but I do seriously
object, my friend, Mr. Matthews, to
You enGeavoring to make me appear
that I twisted your letter OF that
made a false statement to you in Or
der to get you to sign letter when
if is not true: but, in order to save
yourself in a transaction. which from
vour two letters, one is forced to
:udge that you have been playing
double. No, Mr. Matthews. you read
20 ], .ter over very cA:e!nily, vou
initialed it, in order to show you
caution, as al good business men do.
md now, Mr.. Matthews, don't play
The baby act and try to throw the
blame off On poor humble stenog-
rapher who has to work hard for his
| little salary and who has nothing to
make his living out of except his
brain and his good name for faithful
aess and honesty. while you are en-
renched with your many thousands
II dollars in handsome paying pos
;tion, wealthy, influential anl inde-
Hendent.
assure you that you have done
nc a grave Injustice and I am salts
hed that when you take the second
thought your manliness will prompt
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