The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1916-12-28

State-it was stated:
| II take 1T that no democrat would
want to take his nomination if q great
majority OF the electorate should hon
estly believe that he was taking taint-
cd nomination. have here affidayits
and letters from different parts of the
state, from men Of unquestioned intcg-
rlty, which set forth that money, whis-
Key, coercion and intimidation were
used in the primary election held on the
| 18th day OF this month, and in several
instances that names were placed on the
club rolls on the day of the primary,
and that boxes were opened before the
time provided by law so that a number
OF men might vote and that ballots were
fraudulently changed in order to bring
about Mr.. Manning's nomination for
governor, These afiidavits and letters
are here in the original and will be read
to the committee if it so desires: and
every mail brings additional evidence of
the same character"
Those affidavits were in YOUR commit.
tee room in the possession of those six
members, and this statement of Mr..
Rltchle's. which was adopted by the
other members of the committee which
formed the minority of six, offered this
proof to your committee, as is shown
by the facts, and your committee, or a
majority thereof, refused to receive it.
| repeat these affidavits and letters
and kilograms, to the number of more
than 400, were in the committee room
at the time, in possession of these six
committeeman, and were offered to your
committee, and refused to receive them
or to hear them read in your presence,
and you as state chairman ruled out all
references to them.
Notwithstanding the fact that even
the Columbia State says there were
charges of fraud, you say that nothing
was presented upon which the state
committee could take any action. Ger
talnly not. You and your crowd would
not have taken action against Manning
if our Savior had been present and said
there was fraud. OF course Mr. Blease
has never offered any evidence of fraud
because he has sense enough to know
that, no matter how strong case YOU
might make out, you and your crowd
would have. decided against him. Your
actions heretofore had shown that and
why should he go before your commit
tee when he knew that it would be a
whitewash, and that you all would hold
up your hands and holler "Oh yes, we
have investigated the matter and there
is no fraud"
You were afraid Of it and you lodged
it. So be a man and acknowledge it.
You say that you believe am honest
and mean to do what is right. thank
you and regret that / can not return
the compliment. You may be honest,
and you may mean to do what is right,
but your humble servant is convinced to
the contrary. AS matter Of fact, pre-
Ter to believe your Columbia State of
1886 in regard to you than your Colum-
bia State of today in regard to you, be-
cause | am convinced that the facts
show that the first judgment of the
Columbia State in regard to YOU was
the more nearly correct.
You say that if had informed my
self, that instead of blaming the com
mittee | would condemn Mr.. Blease.
No, sir When he found that he was
robbed, he sat silent and made no pro-
test or contest-did not open his mouth
and only when the reform convention
was called and he was requested to ad-
dress it, did he ever say yen or nay in
reference to the election
You say you hope will correct nv
statements There is nothing to cor
rect. Every one of them is true. Your
committee refused to investigate fraud
when the charges were made openly
and directly to you by six of your mem
bers, and this fact you can not dodge.
however you may attempt to do so.
| have no apologies to make to you or
anybody else There was fraud in the
primary, proof of which was offered
you as the head of the party in this
state, and you and your committee re-
ioSou w investigate IL. Manning ac-
cepted it, and took the office under such
a cloud as no other democrat has ever
taken an office in this state. That is
the truth, and your denial at this late
day, in the face of the positive evidence
as written by your own spokesman. the
Columbia State, will not convince any-
body to the contrary. You know that
if you had investigated those charges
of fraud, Manning's election must have
been declared illegal by your committee
II there was one spark of honesty. left