Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-24

with it, or anything else I have writ.
4 ten or signed.
The following statement has Jus
been handed me by Mr.. A. M. Car.
penter, Of Anderson, South Carolina
telling how the Ferguson letter came
to be given out and how the statement
which accompanied 1t was made W
for the press:
Carpenters Statement.
J About o'clock in the afternoon Of
August %, 1912, met Senator ant
Mrs. Tillman at the north entrance
, to the Capitol building. They haG
started for home, and had stopped
and were talking to Mr.. j. M. Baker
,one Of the officers Of the senate. Sen.
ator Tillman stopped me and said he
wanted to ask my advice. He stated
that at the beginning of the guberna-
torial campaign in South Carolina he
had declared he would take no part In
It, and had tried to follow that course
but that during the two or three weeks
just previous he had received number
of letters from people in the state
4 whom he thought to be his friends
Il and that he had replied to these letters
frankly. that in each case he had made
1t plain to his correspondent that be
Il was writing In confidence, but he had
II found that In some cases his conf
n dence had been betrayed, that the let
ters were being misrepresented, and
that he had been placed in the position
Of doing secretly, things he was afraid
to do openly. He said he had been plac-
ed In a false position before his friends
and his enemies, and that he felt that
he ought to give out a newspaper state
ment explaining his position fully.
i Mr., -, - .
him to give out the statement, and he
j said he would not do anything against
her wishes, but he felt very strongly
that he should make public statement
In justice to himself and to his friends
i in the state. We discussed the matter
for some little time, and Senator TILL
man finally said he would not decide
at the moment what he would do, but
invited Mr.. Baker and myself to come
/ to his rooms at the Dewey hotel that
4 night, when he woul2 have his mind
fully made up. ar2
I went to the Dewey hotel about
o'clock that night, and found In Sena-
tor Tillman's room, Mr.. Baker, Mr.. T..
H. Daniel. of the Spartanburg Herald
and Mr.. Wyche, Senator Tillman's ste
nographer. Mr.. Murray Of the News
and Courier came in little while Ia
ter. After a few minutes of general
conversation Senator Tillman told US
he had decided to give out statement,
and began debating 1t to his steno-
| grapher. The dictation occupied per-
i haps fifteen or twenty minutes. During
the time Of 1t Senator Tillman stopped
i once or twice to weigh a sentence, but
he finished 1t without interruption and
without suggestion from anyone pres
ent. After taking the statement in
shorthand, Mr.. Wyche wrote 1t out on
la typewriter and gave It to Senator
Tillman, who read 1t aloud to us. He
made, as / remember, but one change
In the draft, and that was minor one,
In the phrasing Of sentence. He then
told his stenographer to give copies OF
1t to the different newspaper men.
i After getting through with this Sen
ator Tillman drew long breath and
then laughed. II feel that have SIM
ply discharged a duty" he said, "and
now feel better. I am off the fence"
walked from the Dewey hotel to
F street in company with Mr.. Daniel
and Mr.. Murray. They had been i'm
pressed, as I had been with Senator
Tillman's force in debating the state
ment. One Of us remarked that while
Senator Tillman had had a severe ILL
sfness 1t had not impaired the v,gor OF
agreed to by the others. Senator Till
mans statement was filed in the tele-
graph office on F street for transmits
sion to the South Carolina papers that
night. I know that Senator Tillman
gave out the statement against the ad-
vice Of Mrs. Tillman and some Of his
closest friends, and certainly 1t was
dictated when nobody was present ex-
cept those mentioned above, and with
out suggestions of any kind from any
Of them.
(Signed) A. M. Carpenter.
Washington, D. c.
| January II, 1913.
i The South Carolina newspapers had
bounded Governor Blease so continu-
ously during the campaign, had been
so unfair in their opposition, that the
people Of the state had lost abso-
lutely all faith in their honesty or
truthfulness. When the statement
appeared in the newspapers Saturday
morning, received a number Of tele-
grams asking If 1t was authentic
Many of my friends had been misled
by Governor Blease to that point
where they doubted not only the news
papers, but also doubted me.
The 4th charge Of jealousy Is so RI
diculous that I cannot bring myself to
consider it seriously. Ben Tillman
Jealous Of Cole Blease! 1t Is unthink-
able and, were I to answer 1t seriously
/. I would be convicted in the minds OF
all sensible people in South Carolina
Of the next charge:
5. Feebleness of mind. Whether my
mind Is feeble or not the people will
Judge for themselves. / am willing to
leave 1t to any jury in South Carolina
Bleaseites or others, whether Ben Till
man is feeble minded or Cole Blease Is
crazy.
The Blease circular issued on August
/, 25th, which he republishes in the mes
sage, says-and he prints 1t in capitals
l-"I have never seen the Ferguson let
, ter, and did not know what was In 1t
until saw it in the newspapers, and
when Gonzales says I did, and that
Blease will fight Tillman' he wired
what was wilfully untrue
Notwithstanding Governor Blease's
denial l know that he did fight me In
more counties than one and that his
trusted lieutenants were very active IT
marshaling his followers, many OF
them once my best friends, to vote
against me on the day Of the primary
News to this effect came to me from
all over the state, and the vote shows
IT. have no doubt whatever that the
Ferguson letter caused me to lose 35,-
, 900 votes, while it gained me about 10,-
OOO This was what I expected when
!, gave il out but could not remain
quiet after my confidence had been sc
betrayed. The midnight stab" OF
which he complains-meaning the late
ness in the campaign when the letter
, was given out-was attributable to my
, wife's influence. She begged me tc
stand by my oft-repeated promise to
remain hands off.
was elected in spite Of him, and he
, was elected in spite Of me. I got more
votes than he did and feel that / am
better representative of the state thar
he will ever be; was better governor
than he has made; and have made q
better senator than he can possibly
make.
While what he says about the May
convention and the Southern railway
, LAWYERS may be true, he could not wrig-
, gle away from the fact that Ben Abney
. lives in the executive mansion, al
though it is the people IS house and moi
, hotel. l am informed that his salary
| a, c,,ootar fbop oil other Southern rail-