The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-06-03

! of the road the Enquirer should veer,
they could use the circumstance to
their personal advantage.
after the campaign meeting at
Yorkville last summer, in company
with certain people interested in the
relief of the Glover storm sufferers,
the editor of the Enquirer called on
Governor Blease at the Shandon hotel.
The governor had not taken room of
his own, but was the guest of Attor-
ney General Peoples. The room had
been full of callers; but most Of them
had gone and the governor was trying
to get chance to wash his face and
hands preparatory to going to dinner.
He left off, however, and gave his at
tention to the Glover storm relief del
egation. In connection with what is
to follow, it is proper to say here that
he was perfectly sober, and although
the editor of the Enquirer remained
in the room for half an hour, the
only whiskey that he saw was less
than gill in half pint bottle that
was produced by some one present
at the suggestion of a gentleman in
the room. AS to what became OF this
liquor is probably nobody's business.
The governor continued to talk to his
visitors until negro boy came up to
summon him to dinner. He gave the
boy a coin, and one of the governors S
friends told the boy to go to the din
ing room and turn down four chairs.
The boy replied that that would not
be allowed; that everyone must go
to the dining room and take his turn,
whereupon Governor Blease remarked
that he did not care much whether ne
got anything to eat or not. Governor
EBlease's friend invited the editor OF
{ the Enquirer to dinner, and the gov
ernor seconded the invitation; but the
| invitation was not accepted for the
reason that the editor had a long re-
port to write of the meeting, and need
ed to get at it.
The next day there was a story on
IL 4.oo+ IN Tho offoof fb of Governor
Blease got so drunk Immediately af-
ter speaking that he could not go
down to dinner; that he was drunk on
the streets later, and that when the
hotel people went to clear up his room
later, they found a hundred or more
beer and whiskey bottles. Several OF
tho governors friends were told about
these things the night before and in
vited to investigate for themselves.
The rnattcr was thoroughly investigat-
ed, and it developed that Immediately
after the governor left, certain per-
sons whc can be named if necessary,
had collected all the empty bottles
they could find and placed them in
the room he had occupied.
Friends Of the governor came tc
the Enquirer Office at once with re
quest that the whole thing be exposed;
but the editor of the Enquirer
advised that it would be just
as we'll not to go into print;
that while the editor OF the Enquirer
knew personally that the stories OF
the governors drunkenness at the ho-
tel were false, and that the bottle col
lection scheme was a frame up, there
was no use to go in print with 1t for
/ the reason that the partisan enemies
of the governor would contrive to IN
sist that it was all true and that the
EEnouirer was merely trying to white
wash the same, while the governors
friends would not Relieve the story
anyway. And the thing was allowed
to go at that.
about this time the Columbia State
in pursuance of the policy of trying to
drive the Enquirer from the middle OF
the road, undertook to embarass us
by calling attention to the fact that
we had said some pretty hard things
about Governor Blease in the past, and
quoted some of them. With the cir
cumstances of the incident described
above, right there before our eyes,
and realizing how we may have been
deceived in the past, as other people
as careful as we try to be, were being
deceived by statements and circum-