The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-05-22
MAYOR REPLIES TO GOVERNOR
EXECUTIVE GETS LIGHT FROM
GRACE As TO ACCURACY OF
CHIEFS LIST.
Charleston Executive Says That He
Has Stated only Truth in His Letters
60 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Seeming Mis-
leading Statements I'm Report.



ton here. The governor says the
statement Chief Cantwen sent him as
20 places closed here. Is erroneous
and misleading" The governor men
tions two instances that cause him TO
draw this conclusion. Mayor Grace
has replied fully on the points raised
by governor.
The following Is the Mayors letter
70 Gov. Manning:
May 15. 1915.
Honorable Richard I. Manning, Gov
ernor. Columbia. s. c.
Dear Sir; I am just I'm receipt OF
your letter Of May IL. and hasten to
answer a.. The chief of police is In my
Office and hears what l say; having
summoned him as soon Es read your
letter. He expresses as much surprise
as now express TO you. that you
should In the slightest question the
good faith with which we are dealing
with this situation within the lines
have In any manner led you to believe
that we would deal with H.
have been exceedingly careful. I'm
my negotiation with you In this mat
ter. never to over-state either what we
actually intended to do; and what /
have especially sought TO avoid Is any
semblance OF hypocrisy or make-Le-
iieve.
The report of the chief OF police
was handed to you I'm person by me
only because. as you know. was prac
tically summoned To Columbia sud
denly and unexpectedly. had IN
tended forwarding II to you with let =
ter OF transmittal-not. however, as a
report" but as a reply to your inqui-
ries. II had been on my desk for sew
eral days. as I explained to you, un-
attended to because OF the absorbing
business OF our city contention which
intervened. II was called forth by
letters and kilograms to me from you
(Which In turn communicated to the
report" on what I was doing. I
have put aside great deal OF techni-
cal dignity which -adheres to my Of
hca. under which might have insist
ed that nothing requires me in law or
courtesy. as mayor OF Charleston, to
report To you" In order to preserve
at least an appearance OF decorum on
the record. l have adopted the word
reply" rather than your word "re-
port" as you will find in my telegram
OF April 90. OF course. have more
or less surrendered the dignity of my
ONCE for the sole purpose OF avoiding
the much greater indignity and hu-
initiation that otherwise was to be
heaped upon our city by constabulary
invasion. which event have feared
was impending above and beyond ev-
cry development In this matter.
You are correct In assuming that |
received this report In good faith"
etc. I transmitted II to you in good
faith and I am convinced that the
chief OF police submitted 1t to me in
good faith. or course. 1 am not per-
sonally a spy as To whether or not Ii
quor In being sold In Charleston.
Neither In he. His Office Is also one
OF some dignity. in view OF which it
has been the custom to act only
through agents employed for detailed
work In detective matters. unless
whore n case In OF such criminal grav-
ity as TO demand his personal atten-
ton. Frankly. ] must tell you that do
not believe II was ever contemplated
that n chief OF police should be held
categorically responsible TO such an
extent as TO impute. on his part, bad
faith whenever he fails To- define with
precision the status OF every man ac-
cused OF being In. or the exact time OF
his going out of. the liquor business.
lie advises me. however. that upon
the report OF his officers. and by a
comparison with the "hne" list. made
up from the records. the two parties
you mentioned indeed, went out of
business only since the policy of raid
ing began. They paid or were sched-
uled To pay fines up To- the time when
our raids begun. The fact that L.
Williams died some months ago" as
you said. only proves the tenacity with
which the liquor business persisted in
Charleston; for can tell you that on
March n summons was issued call
ing him into court for violating tho Ii
quOr law. although he had died on
February 2. The place which he ran