Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-17

; was present Wnen the letter was die
! tated, and did Tillman or this othe
man dictate 1t? Was 1t voluntary, sen
/ ator, or was 1t the result of over-per
/ suasion Of an enfeebled mind? If you
, memory Is feeble, and failing. and yo,
cannot recall, possibly your steno
: grapher, whoever he or she may hav
, been, may refresh 1t.
The next day after its publication
} addressed the following letter to tn
people of South Carolina:
To the People of South Carolina.
/ have received reliable information
that three kilograms, containing abou
the following, were received by P. H
MCGOWAN, correspondent Of the STATE
at Washington, D. c., signed by Will.
am E. Gonzales, August 23, 1922
i "Tillman wrote private letter to Fer.
guson, in Spartanburg, which is Sc.
we're arraignment. Blease knows con.
tents Of letter and Is sure to strike
Tillman with full force with his organ.
ization on Tuesday. If we could gel
whole letter published, Tillman's gains
on Jones side would counteract losses
sure to be sustained in present status
Keep Tillman from knowing source OF
information. Place facts before him
and beg for whole letter. TIME is
PRECIOUS.
(signed) WILLIAM E. GONZALES"
And another:
IF correspondent could get copy OF
letter, the matter in 1t could be sent
out from Spartanburg.
| (Signed) WILLIAM E. GONZALES"
And another:
"Tillman's letter must strengthen
Jones lines and cause Blease losses
Blease will fight Tillman, who will get
| many Jones votes.
| (Signed) WILLIAM E. GONZALES"
OF course, l cannot say these are the
exact words of the telegram, but ]
dare Gonzales to deny that he sent
kilograms containing statements SINH
lar to these, and he need not deny
them, but in order to be honorable (if
he CAM let him present the messages
that he sent (copies Of which suppose
he has on file, or which he can easily
have duplicated from the Washington
office, which delivered the kilograms to
McGowan) and let the people see
whether my information Is correct.
These three letters will show to the
public absolutely the cause Of Tillman
writing the vicious letter that he did
and that Jones' campaign has been and
Is up to now being absolutely handled
and controlled by WILLIAM E. CON-
ZALES, Notwithstanding the fact that
Jones denied on the stump that Con-
zales was supporting him, when i
charged him with 1t, but later said he
was glad for any newspaper to support
him.
GUSON LETTER, AND DID NOT
KNOW WHAT WAS IN 1T UNTIL
SAW 1T IN THE NEWSPAPERS, and
when Gonzales says l did, and that
"Blease will fight Tillman," he wired
what was wilfully untrue.
l have today been handed letter
written by Tillman, August 16, 1912, to
friend of his, in which he (Tillman)
says: The railroad attorneys In the
legislature have been too venal and
corrupt to protect the people against
the railroads" At another point In
his letter, he says: I'm the lawsuit
over my grandchildren, he (Jones) did
bow to public opinion and clamor rath-
er than to enunciate the law as 1t was
found on the statute books, which had
been recognized a hundred years or
more"
Thus it seems that Tillman has writ
ten many letters, and that he speaks
Of Jones-as chief justice Of the SUI
preme court-as having been influence
ed by public clamor" and having vio-
lated his oath as a justice and not de-
cided the case according to the recog-
niZed law.
am thoroughly satisfied that TILL
mans letter will not injure me, Tor
have received messages by telephone,
telegram and letter from every section
of the state and they all give me as
surances that this has done me no IN
jury, but, on the contrary, in many In
stances, am assured that 1t has
gained me strength and given furtner
assurances to the people Of their con-
fidence in my character and fidelity to
their interests.
publish this communication only
to show that Gonzales Is fighting for
dear life to elect Jones and was lead
ing MCGOWAN into deceiving Tillman
by lying on me; and, further, to show,
as 1 have shown throughout the entire
campaign, that Jones Is Gonzales can
didate. Why? Because he cannot con-
troll Blease.
The victory is ours. 1t will be re-
corded on Tuesday and my friends will
see that l am not Observation-Disclosures, l
am sure Of reelection.
Very respectfully,
(Signed) COLE L. BLEASE.
Columbia, s. c., August 20, 1917.
The Columbia State refused to
publish this address, either as news
item or as an advertisement saying
that the article contained more or
less accurate copies Of three private
kilograms, two sent by the edltor OF
the state on Friday evening, and one
on Saturday to the Washington cor
respondent Of the State
Columbia Record, August 26, 1917
| ION grounds that as 1t appears to be
article ;.s to private kilograms, same
was referred to counsel Of Record,
who advised against publication, not
knowing what consequences might De.
This statement was made by wyatt
Taylor, of the Columbia Record, IN
returning same to Hon. FREQ H.
Dominick, my campaign manager,
who offered it for publication. 1t was
also refused publication. either as a
news item or an advertisement, In
the Charleston News and Courier.
That 1 had never seen the Fergu-
son letter. and knew nothing OF lts
contents, Is shown by the following
affidavit Of Harrison Ferguson, TO
whom the Ferguson letter was writ
ten and sent by Tillman:
state OIL SOuln Sdl lOiiho, SoesS
Spartanburg.
Personally appears before me Har-
rison Ferguson. who, being duly
sworn, says: That during the cam
paign for governor Of South Caro-
lima, in the summer Of 1912, in which
John T. Duncan, Ira B. Jones and
Cole L. Blease were candidates. that
much was said and written in regard
to Senator Tillman's position; that
this deponent, on the 14th day OF
August, 1912, addressed communica-
ton to Senator Tillman, and that on
the 18th day of August 1912, this
deponent received from Senator TILL
man a reply to his communication;
that this deponent lives in the county
of Spartanburg, and that said COM
munication was received in the coun-
ty of Spartanburg, in the city of Spar
tanburg; that he did not communi-
cate either by word of mouth or by
writing, by himself or by any others,
the contents Of said communication
to Governor Cole L. Blease, and that
this deponent knows Of his own knowl-
edge that Governor Cole L. Blease did
not know the contents Of said COM
munication at the time of the closing
of the state campaign at Greenville,
South Carolina; and that deponent
TNlA III