Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-08-16
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Mr.. Bruncr Writes Letter

The following letter. which i,
self explanatory, was received b,
Mr.. L. b. BrousSard:
Hon. Il. b. Broussard,
Abbcville, La.
My Dear Sir: know it IS vow
desire, as it is the desire of every fan
minded man, To hear both sides OF ever,
CONTROVERSY before reaching con
clusion. have been SO cruelty mis-
represented, not Intentionally perhaps
but because my side has not been
presented, that feel it my duty tc
present TO YOU in this personal letter the
true and exact facts.
My silence MP TO this time has been
due entirely 10 the advice of my friends,
and absolutely against my own Judge
ment in the premises, and no doubt
this silence has been constructed
against me.
II the beginning | want to say that as
Commissioner of Agriculture | have
direct or indirect supervision over all
branches of the Agricultural Depart
nent. 1t is my duty to take cognizance
OF complaints against any department.
and to do what | can to correct any
mistakes or misconduct Numerous
complaints were made to me about Mr
Dodson. Two If the compliments were
men who had been i'll Mr.. Dodson'.
department for a number of wears ant
were supposed to know what they were
talking about. They were men who's
honesty, integrity. and veracity where
unquestioned. They made many ant
serious charges against Mr.. Dodson''
conduct of his department. Coming
from the source they did, from these
men who had been for number OF year.
under Mr.. Dodson and i'll a position t
know what they were talking about,
very naturally believed them to be true
and on the strength of my honesty believed
my honest belief in these reports l dis
cussed the matter with some Of Ill,
friends, or supposed TO be friends, anc
had my infornants place the matter be
fore the Governor who assured me tha
thorough investigation of Mr. .Dodson' I
books, vouchers, etc, would be made
But before the investigation could b.
made Dodson made allidavits against
HE for SANDER. | went into the cas-
depending upon my infornants t
substantiate the charges tllay had made
to me- My first witness, the man whC
made the most charges, and the one
upon whom | naturally most depended
absolutely fell fiat, and instead of sab
Stimulating the charges he had made
not only to me, but to the Governo
and to my attorneys, made good wit
my attorneys was absolutely non plussed
dunbfounded. / saw that had beer
mislead, deceived, and as a result laC
done Mr.. Dodson an injury / nigh
have continued with the trail, had III,
other witness testify, tied the matter NJ
i'll the Supreme Court until October o.
later and left some doubt in the public
MIND as to the correctness or incorrect
ness of the charges made to me. But
deemed it my duty, the duty Of al
honorable man, to rectify, as speedily
as possible and i'll the dearest and mos
unequivocal way, the wrong | had un
Intentionally done. Hence | i'm
mediately had the case halted withou
putting another witness on the stand
and stated to the court that | desirec
10 plead guilty to giving currency t
reports that had been made to rEie il
my official capacity as Commissioner o
Agriculture and Immigration of tn,
State of Louisiana and which / haC
honestly believed to be true, the sui
sequent developments had shown then
not to be true, and l wanted to make
and did make, the amend honorable t,
Mr.. Dodson.
! Now, the above are the absolute fact