The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1913-01-24
ANSWERS BLEASE'S
RECENT OUTBREAK
Tillman Declares He is Will
ing to Leave it to Any
South Carolina Jury
Whether "Ben Tillman is
Feeble Minded or Cole
Blease is Crazy"

DlcdSe is CTdZy.
Washington, Jan. Ex-senator Till
man has addressed the following mes
sage to the South Carolina legisla-
ture:
To the general Assembly of South
Carolina:
Gentlemen:
have just read Governor Blease's
message sent to your honorable body
yesterday, and have been informed
that both Houses did me the justice
to order publication in it's Journal
to be suspended until my reply could
go along with it. For this consider
alton, please accept my thanks.
What Governor Blease's motives
were are very evidence in the mes
sage. He desires to continue the bit
terness engendered last summer; and
wishes to be revenged on me; but
the primary object he has in view
is to keep the minds of the people
stirred UP and not allow the waters
to clear sufficiently to let them see
what sort of man he really is Cat
iline among the Romans, and Aaron
Burr among the Americans, are the
only other men 1 have ever read of
who were equal to Blease in bam-
boozling the people. He has per-
suaded thousands of good South Car
olinians, honorable, clean, patriotic
citizens, into believing that he is their
best friend and that Tillman's man.
tie has fallen on his shoulders. He is
past master in the arts of a dema-
gogue. He knows full we'll that when
the angry passions of the masses are
aroused, they lose their reason. He
desires to come to the Senate, as he
boasted he would do at Richmond in
December last, and feels it obligatory
on him to aggravate conditions in
South Carolina as much as possible.
Whether this is the right way to cleo
tioneer or not will be shown by the
result of the next Senatorial pri-
mary. If the South Carolina news
papers do not help him by abuse and
misrepresentation, he will never get
here.
His charges against me boiled down
are:
1st. With writing "secret letters
stabbing him in the back"
End. Hypocrisy.
Bird. With conspiring with w. E.
Gonzales.
4th. Jealousy.
5th. Feebleness of mind.
9th. Having lent myself, which
could only be expected of an imbecile,
to sign my name to an article dicta-
ted by someone else whom he desig-
mates as "a statesman without a job"
and "This astute big Ex"
l will take these charges up seria-
tim:
III ever a man wanted to be hands
off in political contest, | was that
man last summer. Time and again |
was importuned to take a hand and
to come out for law and order and
decency. But | steadfastly refused
| received hundreds of letters first
and last urging me with intense earn
estness to come out and announce
my preference as between the candi-
dates who were running for Govern
or. But | was unwilling to do so.
After Mr.. Sims wrote me and made
the appeal that I should answer GER
tain inquiries which he propounded
in defense of Tillmanism, wrote him
the letter | did. Immediately a
phrase in it was seized on by the
newspapers to proclaim that | had
come out for Judge Jones. The head
lines mainly were used to deceive
the people and misrepresent me. II
felt called on to take notice of this
and wrote the article of August 18th
which Governor Blease quotes.
Right here | desire to call attention
to the evidence going to show that
Governor Blease and certain of his
friends were in a conspiracy; the
friends to write me pretending to
be my friends, draw me out as to
my attitude towards him, and then
SHOW him the letters. Otherwise
how did he come into possession of
so many of my letters marked "per-
sonal and CONFIDENTIAL"
have the original letters at
Trenton to show that perhaps one
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