The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-11-09
THE HERALD'S REPORT.

herg County Times there appears
over the signature "A Friend OF
George Hers statements which re-
fleet on The Bamberg Herald, and
which we will not allow to go un-
noticed. The article charges that
sensational accounts of the unfor-
tunate tragedy which occurred III
Ehrhardt in which Charles E. Kin
sew was killed, have been published
in the county papers and further re-
fers to the said reports as oelns
"sensationally false.
The Herald wishes it distinctly un-
derstood. all statements to the con-
trary Notwithstanding, that 1t mar
bors not the least i'll feeling toward
Mr.. George HERS. He has been a
friend of this newspaper for many
wears. and we have nothing to say as
to his guilt or innocence. The guilt
or innocence of the defendant mas
no place in this discussion. This
matter was brought up by his attor-
ney and what we have to say deals
with the attorney alone.
Friday morning one of the puo-
fishers of The Herald requested the
publisher of the Times to inform us
who the author of the article refer
red to was, and We were told that II
was handed to Mr.. Rowell by MT.
s. G. Mayfeld. In view of previous
events it was obvious that the state
ment should have emanated from Mr..
Mayfeld's office. The charge of Mr..
Mayfeld was evidently directed at
The Herald, although the name OF
this newspaper was not called.
AS to whether or not The Herald
pubhshed a "sensationally false re-
port of the matter we will leave the
public to decide. In case of this
kind. q newspaper which has regard
for the truth and accuracy OF its
statements cannot afford to print ru-
mors and hearsay, and we wish to
emphasize the fact that in our ac-
count of the unfortunate tragedy not
one rumor was repeated. The Herald
printed the complete testimony taken
at the inquest over the dead body OF
Mr.. Kinsey. No comment whatever
was printed. The testimony of the
coroner's inquest is public record,
filed in the office of the clerk OF
court. The Herald cited it's authori-
tv for its source of information. That
is more than any other newspaper
published in Bamberg county did.
The article further reads: '1f the
reader will stop to analyze the ar
ticles which have appeared in the
press, it will be seen at once the
cause which impelled these publica-
tions to print the articles. This IS
couched in carefully evasive Ian
guage, but the intention is clear to
impugn the motives of the press,
which of course includes The Herald,
in printing the account as We did.
AS regards The Herald, the writer OF
the article knows better than any
BODY else the untruth of the state
ment, for every opportunity was al
forded counsel to present Mr.. HERS S
side o. the matter.
IF there we're "sensationally false
reports of the killing in this news
paper. the reports were made by the
witnesses at the inquest, for the tes-
timony was printed without COM
ment. and only after We had made
several attempts to get Mr.. Mayheld
to give a statement as to the de.
fense's side of the matter. The read
er will bear in mind that the coro-
ner's duty is to take the testimony
of the witnesses without color, just
as it happened. This testimony is
obviously the best source of lnforma-
ton, because it is the sworn state
ments of witnesses. We do not pre-
tend to say that the testimony cover
ed the case; we don't know. We are
in the newspaper business and are
not detectives to hunt up testimony.
We do know that the testimony we
printed was sworn to, and that it was
duly recorded in the records of Bam-
berg county. Anything we might
have printed other than the testl-
mony or a statement of Mr.. HERS
would have been hearsay or rumor
and, lacking authenticity, would have
been manifestly unfair to one side or
the other. The province of this news
paper is to present the news and pre-
sent it fairly. The defense was given
every opportunity to print a state
ment, and was perfectly at liberty to
refute the testimony if so desired.