Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1914-01-16

This cotton was shipped abroad and
1t is impossible to tell at this writing
what the buyer obtained for the cot
ton on the market.
From all the buyers who purchased
cotton from the State during the years
1908 to 1912, inclusive. with the ex-
ception of the one buyer above re-
ferred to, we were furnished all in
formation pertaining to the cotton
upon application, and as result OF
| it we could check that against the
amount that was paid In to the State
Treasury, and in nearly every instance
we found that a portion of the funds
had been embezzled. But since this
| firm above referred to has declined to
| furnish the information desired by the
State, it is impossible to tell how
much, If any, of the funds arising
from the sale of this cotton has been
embeZzled, and this cotton was worth
more than all other products COM
bined. This firm has not only declin-
ed to furnish this information to the
Governor, but has refused to furnish
it to the grand jury of Kinds County,
after having been subpoenaed, yet at
the same time always publishing they
were ready and willing to furnish it.
Again, on November 20, 1912, the
State took out insurance on cotton in
the hands of the State with the Hart
ford Insurance Company. policies COW
ering a period of two months, and this
cotton was sold on November 81, two
days later, to Boyce q Co., and on
January 81, 1912, the State paid ST.
111.50 premium on these policies and
the policies are not on file in the trus-
tees office. / cite this instance to
show that the State paid out $1,111.50
in insurance premiums in this partic-
ular instance when the cotton be-
longed to the State only two days aft
er being insured. And in great many
instances considerable bills of insur-
ance had been paid and the experts
have obtained these bills of insurance
and sometimes found that they were
fraudulent.
might go on and multiply instance
after instance that would prolong this
message over many pages by citing
specific details wherein the State lost
the money, but / deem the above suf
ficient to show you that the money
has been lost and that to very great
extent / have acquainted myself with
the manner in which it was lost. And
if you desire greater details | will be
glad to furnish them.
Regarding the sales Of cotton, un-
dertook to trace all the cotton pur
chased by Boyce & Co. After l was
unable to obtain the facts from them,
found that great deal of this cot
ton was shipped on through bills OF
ladi1g from Parchman Plantation and
consigned to themselves at Liverpool
or Manchester, England. A small
amount of this cotton was diverted In
transit at New Orleans and shipped to
New England. / took into my conf
dence some men who were experts on
the subject of handling cotton ship
ments and was advised that it would
be impossible to trace this cotton and
obtain the weights, grade, staple and
price at which it was sold, but being
of the opinion that the State has lost
such enormous sums in this way and
believing that 1t was possible to trace.
it, l went to Manchester and Liver
pool, in England, in September, 1912,
and engaged the assistance of some
parties there who were experts, who
gave me advice about how it could
be cleaned on this side, and for the
information of your body desire to
state / paid my own expenses on the
trip, drew no salary while absent, but
paid the Lieutenant-Gov salary
out of my own funds while he was
serving in my stead. Soon after the
legislative session of 1912 had adj
journed, | saw that it would be impos-
sible to obtain all the facts in this in
vestigatiOn, entering into all its ram
ifications, without the assistance of
some powerful agency. There was a
bright young lawyer who had been
visiting me at the Mansion and who
lived in the North and who desired to
remain in the South for some time on
account of i'll health, and who under
took to assist me in this regard and
rendered much and valuable service to
the State for about fourteen months.
l paid him no salary, but he worked
for the State as matter Of accommo-
dation to me, and I paid him in all
during the fourteen months $2,S00.00,
which was given in amounts in pay
ment of his actual expenses, which
expenses | knew had been incurred.
IN other words, he worked for the
State fourteen months as matter or
accommodation to me and did faith
full and efficient work and thought
it but proper and honest that the State
should pay this much on his actual
expenses. refer to Mr.. |. H. Sample,
and desire to thank him for the
faithful and efficient services he rem
dered.
Desiring to engage the services Of
some powerful agency that could OBJ
tain the facts both here and abroad,
after considerable negotiations by let
ter, succeeded in employing the
Burns National Detective Agency,
through their Mr.. Dan S. Lehon, of
New Orleans. A copy of all the cor
respondence between the Burns agen-
cy and myself pertaining to this en-
ployment which discloses the contract
perfectly between me as the Governor
and the agency, is hereto attached and
marked Exhibit "A, and that orig
inal correspondence is on file In the