Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-09-23

I ohh "
from 1t a yellow and worn bit Of paper
! I'VE shall demand" she began deci-
sively, that the first act Of your ad-
ministration Is to go before the grand
jury and ask for the indictment Of Tan
ner and Dan Boydston and Archie Cur
ry for the giving and the accepting OF
bribes on the county road contracts for
the last six years." ~
He looked silently at her. Hemmin-
ger shifted his hat nervously.
ii "The proof" Miss Vance went on,
"is here" She laid the yellow slip of
memoranda on the desk, 1t was COW
cred with careless entries, figures, alb
breviations. To Harlan It meant moth
ing. "This Is Boydston's writing
Boydston, the go-between."
| Those old yarns" Harlan murmur-
ed; then her dominance stilled him. He
looked again at the paper. you mean
this is-proof?" ~,
1 "This and Boydston's confession"
Confession"
It amounts to that. His admissions
to Hemminger, his fellow board MEM
Der. on the way the last deal-the Lind
strom Pocket deal-was put through.
He admitted he took money-he offered
Hemminger five hundred dollars to
keep silent on this"
She tapped the paper. Harlan star
ed at her incredulously. why, saw
Boydston coming from the bank not an
hour ago. There was conference Of
some sort. Father was there, and Tan
ner and Wiley Curran. There are ru-
mors that Tanner threw up the fight.
and wants to make an agreement with
Wiley and his league hackers to keep
their hands of the county committee
shipi"
"Boydston." she retorted quietly,
"has confessed, two weeks ago. He dare
not tell Tanner He has been begging.
threatening, pleading with Mr.. Hem
minger to keep silence, and to destroy
this"-she fingered the paper. Last
Tuesday a week ago this was placed in
my hands by a mistake. The silliest
thing q bribe- taker ever did, and only
q bungling old farmer Hike Boydston
could have done 1t. drove out to the
decks place to get petition that the
people have been circulating there to
divide their school district. That is the
place Boydston sold to Diecks when he
moved to town. Well, this German had
charge of this petition, and kept 1t in a
crack Of the chimney in Boydston's old
sitting room. When called for the
petition his wife-who can't read a
word of English-handed me an envel-
ope, which did not look at until i
came back to town. Then when / went
to file that petition didn't have 1t. In
stead, these slips of, memoranda. !
couldn't make any sense Of them. But
there were computations of money paid
and money divided. all in Boydston's
handwriting. I studied 1t and the dates,
and 1t struck me curiously that the
dates Of the transactions Tailed with
several county board meetings And
then 1t dawned on me like lightning
flash. I sent for Hemminger, and we
compared the notes with his recollec-
tions Of board transactions Why,
Boydston had actually put Thad's name
after one division Of three hundred dol
lars between himself and Curry! /
couldn't believe such idiocy. Then
Hemminger took the memoranda to
Boydston and demanded an explana-
ton, and Boydston collapsed In his
front parlor and admitted. it. He lost
his nerve completely--begged and wept
for Hemminger not to show the MEM
oranda-to allow him to settle some
way Of other; and, above all, not to tell
Tanner. Hemminger brought the notes
back to me. Ever since we've been
wondering discussing you!"
/ Harlan met her defiant gaze stead
lily. "Well?"
"The county crowd put you in. Boyd
ston, in his frenzy, declared it would do
us no good to publish the notes. He
said the new district attorney was
Tanners man! Said we couldn't get
1t to the grand jury without you."
The young man turned his serious
eyes on Hemminger. "Yes?"
Harlan" put in Janet, I'VE decided
to wait I consulted no one. was
afraid If we exposed 1t just before
election it would look like roorback
Of our people and would hurt Wiley
some way or other. You know to at
tack the best families this way-with
Tanners money and power and the
Mercury -Journal-well, we could not
prove the facts for weeks, and 1t would
look like mere politics on our part. But
you"-she watched him coolly-"I made
up my mind today wanted to know
what you'd do when you're elected"
"Do?" He stared at her with trace
Of anger. Janet, you ask what I'd DO?
Blow the lid off-send Boydston and
Curry to the pen! Tanner, too, If I
can get him!"
She looked off through the window at
the bank corner. 1T will be a tremen-
dous job, Harlan, you a new man
wholly without experience in office.
bucking q combination that no man
here ever dared to fight. The money
the influence, the best people"
He followed her glance out to the
country folk idling about the ancient
sidewalk of the First National. Earth
er down High street, under the leafless
naples he could see the tidy lawns,
the prosperous houses, and then his
home. The judge was slowly driving
in from lunch behind Old Dutch. So
long he watched, so imperturbably,
that she could not guess the struggle in
his mind Not of right or wrong; but
to grasp issues dimly limned beyond.
One fights for ones class, ones kind.
ones heritage Of thought and feeling;
basic greed, the instinct to survive,
vestigal promptings from feudal privil-
ege to protect and exculpate-all bat
tied in his subconsciousness for delay