The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-01-24

stcnographer. Mr. Murray Of the News
4 Courier came IN little while Ia
ter. After few minutes Of general
conversation Senator Tillman told us
he had decided to give out statement,
and began debating it to his stepo-
grapher The dictatiCI occupied per
| haps fifteen or twenty minutes. Dur
ing the time Of it Senator Tillman
stopped once or twice to weigh
sentence, but he finished it without
; interruption and without suggestion
from anyone present. After taking
the statement in shorthand, Mr.. Wyche
+ wrote it out on a typewriter and gave
it to Senator Tillman, who read it a.
loud to u.s. He mads, as | remember,
but one change in the draft, and
that was a minor one, in the phras
ing of a sentence He then told his
stenographer to give copies of it to the
ulnerant newspaper men.
After getting through with this Sc
nator Tillman drew long breath and
then laughed 81 feel that | have sim
ply discharged a duty" he said, "and
now l feel better. l am off the fence"
walked from the Dewey Hotel to
F. street in company with Mr.. Daniel
and Mr. Murray. They had been i'm
pressed, as l had been, with Senator
Tillman1s force in debating the state
ment, One of us remarked that while
Senator Till nan had had a severe i'll
ness it had not impaired the Vigor
of his intellect, and this was heartily
agreed to by the others. Senator Till
mans statement was filed in the tele-
graph office on F. street for transmits
sion to the South Carolina papers that
night. | know that Senator Tillman
gave out the statement against the
advice of Mrs. Tillman and some of
his closest friends, and certainly it
was dictated when nobody was present
except those mentioned above, and
N,.,nout ousgestlons OF any kind from
any of them.
(SignedD A. NJ. Carpenter
Washington, d. c. January II, 1913.
The South Carolina newspapers had
bounded Governor Blease 50 continu-
ously during the campaign, had been
so unfair in their opposition, that the
people of the State had lost absolute
ly all faith in their honesty, or truth
fulness. When the statement appear
ed in the newspapers Saturday morn
ing, received number Of telegramslI
asking if it was authentic. Many u
my friends had been misled by Cover
nor Blease to that point where they
doubted not only the newspapers, but
also doubted me.
The 4th charge of jealousy is so
ridiculous that l cannot bring myself
to consider it seriously. Ben Tillman
jealous of Cole Blease. 1t is unthink-
able and, we're | to answer it seriously
l would be convicted in the minds of I
all sensible people in South Carolina
of the next charge:
). Feebleness of mind. Whether my
mind is feeble or not the people will
Judge for themselves. I am willing
to leave it to any jury in, South Caro-.
lima, Bleaseites or others, whether Ben
Tillman is feeble-minded or Cole |
Bleasa is crazy.
The Bleaze circular issued On Au-
gust 25th, which he republishes in the
says-and he prints it in
capitals-"I have never seen the Fer
guson letter, and did not know what
was in it until l saw it in the news
papers, and when Gonzales says did
and that 'Blease will fight Tillman'
he wired what was wilfully untrue.
Notwithstanding Governor Blease's
denial klOw that he did fight in more
counties than one and that his trust
ed lieutenants were very. active in
his followers, many Of
them once my best friends, to vote
against me on the day of the primary.
News to this effect came to me i'om
all over the State, and the vote shows
t. have no doubt whatever that
the Ferguson letter caused me to lose
81 900 votes, while it gained me about
10000. This was what expected when
I gave it out, but I could not r2main
quiet after my confidence had been So
betrayed The midnight STAB" OF |
which he omplains-meaning tho late
ness in the campaign when the letter
vas given out-was attributable to my
vife's influence. She begged he to !
stand by my oft-repeated promise to |