The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-03-06

would nave the ease against Bilbo
nplIc rrps-rd that they would pass the
bills to pay the Burns Dcfccticr Agen.
.cy, confirm all my appointments ard do
many other things mentioned ct 'h"
timc. ali Of which was fatty rejected
ly me, stating that ! never hny" and
uc,rr win traffic in any Legislation.
nur truGic in in amy casc pending in
any criminal court,
Again, you say in your letter that
after the pnssaE" Of the r"aplntion con
graduating GDrr on being cT0ncrated,
a rcsolution was drawn in a spirit Of
Iryitv to rxGncrntr Hnbba ard BiIbO,
and that when | heard Of II ] became
very unrnsy. In reply 70 this want
70 SAY TINT ! never had any uncnHIn"sa
nbnut the Legislature Of the State Of
NJsniaaippi passing Il resolution exon.
Grating Bilho and Hobbs,
Hobbs himself confessed on the wit.
nrsp stand under oath that he left Jack.
MN and went one hundred miles to SO.
ierIt u brihr from u private rtiiZ"n ana
djd earnestly anIicit the SAID bribc and
that he fniicd TO get II and got on III"
trnjn and vent back the second tim"
aud solicited 4 brihc. He also admitted
under oath TINT he went to N~icksburg
and soliritcd q bride and he also ad
mittr1 TINT be- tried to get the party
whom he was soliciting to put it in The
form Of . note, md while such men
as Middleton, sheriff Of this county
who is Il gentleman from the crown Of
his head to the sole Of his feet, re-
listening nt the conversation urged him
to Int it in the form Of n note, 20 If
ANYTHING should get ont nhout II TINT
1t could be- called II legitimate transar
tion, mud when Hobbs testified further
IN the w]itnras stnnd under cross exam
juatign that II Cnstlemnn had Jet him
have The $1,000 and taken his note for
il that Ne would have changed his vote
from no to aye on the new county bill,
Di4rrEnrding all the testimony that was
offered by the state and take his "
statement for It. | again repeat, !
have never been unrusy about a Missls-
sippi Legislature passing any resolution
oxourrnting him or his partner in crime.
You further state in your letter that
Mr.. Davis, former rommlsRarv clerk at
purchmnn Farm, was before the legis
lntivr committee and said that he kept
a record Of MI weights Of the cotton
raised and ginncd on the place, and
that the books in which these weights
bnd been kept Ind disappeared soon
after some Of the Governor 5 detectives
appeared Mt pnrchmnn. In reply to this
| Just refer you TO the testimony Of Mr..
Davis himself, taken before Mr.. Nicely
Powers, Il special commissioner, nt
pnrchman Farm, where he testified that
he had no such papers, and that h" had
sent all the books and papers pertaining
to the subject to Mr., Yrrgrr, at JuCk.
son, and exhibited Mr., Ycrgcr's letter
requesting them; and ! also refer you
to Mr.. Ycrgcr' = written statement to
me that the books had been turned
ovpr to your committee. And also let.
ter from Mr.. Nahors to me that they
never Ind the books, and that they
never we're turned over to them.
| now want to say that | began the
pcnitcntiary investigation and found
that the pcnitrntinry was yielding NJ
rrvcnuc to the State, / turned this
matter up, and some of the parties re.
sponsiblc for it have been convicted
and sent to the pcnitcntiary. I have
been fought at every turn Of the road
in this matter, not only by the crooks
who were turned up and convicted, and
their immediate friends, but by your be
loved Lieutenant Governor, who is do,
ing all within his power to cmbarrass
the administration,
] find that the circulation of prcju.
dicial statements, like that published in
your paper, is misleading and ralcuIat.
cd to destroy public confidence in the
administration and in me and render
me powerlcss to cope with strong infu.
enccs that have been robbing the State.
The Burns Detective Agency rendered
honest and faithful service to the State
of Mississippi, and with their aid ]
stopped this leakage in penitentiary af.
fairs, and instead Of the p~cnitentiary
being a burden to the state it is yield.
ing u revenue of ovcr 800 900 per an.
mum.
1t is true that n grcnt many members
of the Legislature have helped me and
aided me materially in bringing about
these results. Some members of the
Legislature have not aided me. but have
criticised and bclittlcd my work and
are doing all within their power to pre-,
vent me from being successful in the
fight. They have tried to render me
powerless TO have any funds with
which to fight. They have hobnobbcd
with the parties who are being sued
by the State, and it looks as though
they are trying to find something to
prevent the State from recovering. But
I hope you will take an honest, con.
view Of this yourself, and
If you think that the people Of the
of Mississippi who are paying
taxes have had Il good thing done
for them when this stealing and graft
stopped, and that the Governor