The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-07-06

such purpose / mover would have ac
cepted position under him, in the
first instance.
The letter which Mr. .McLaurin saw,
somebody has told him has been seer
In the possession of Mr.. Cooper, and
which he charges that I gave Mr.
Cooper at the request of Former Gov.
ernor Blease. is a letter / wrote the
editor OF the Anderson Tribune last
January, and which, had Mr.. McLaur-
in seen, he would probably have kept
silent as to letters he wrote Mr.. Ca
pers. of which / knew absolutely
nothing until the Columbia State
reached my home this morning.
never even knew before that Senator
McLaurin had ever suggested to any
body here that money might be se-
cured from Capers i'm Washington to
finance a bolt from the Democratic
party. I never knew before that SEN
ator McLaurin had taken me to Wash
ington to get me into another trap
there. / do know if that was his pur-
pose that he failed. because after I
heard that conference my resignation
as secretary went to Senator McIaur-
In the very day the official auditors
finished their check, and however
much Mr.. Capers may address Senator
McLaurin as MY Dear Mac" there is
absolutely no truth in any assertion
by anybody that took any part in
that conference except as an inno
cent onlooker, who did not even know
there was going to be conference.
and the records down here in the
State house will show that it was q
very few days afterwards that ceas
cd to draw a salary from the State
warehouse system. And my disap-
proval of that conference was the
cause of my resignation.
l have never given Mr.. Cooper
""s PoHticdi ietter at the request OF
Mr. Blease or any one else; nor have
ever furnished him with any letter
at all in any of his campaigns for
governor. From the inception of this
campaign / have seen him only once
or twice, when we have spoken in
passing. He has not mentioned his
race to me, nor have I mentioned the
to him, either directly or in
directly.
IL seems to be necessary that |
give brief recital OF the reasons
which actuated me in writing a letter
TO the editor of the Anderson Tribune
In January of this year, which seems
to have aroused the ire of Mr.. Nc
Laurin, and brought about the confess
sion as TO how he was trying to use
everybody connected with him, for his
own personal political ambition.
During the session of the general
assembly just passed there was a fist
icum between State official and
military officer, which was really
more amusing than serious. At the
request of Governor Manning. who,
urged It as war measure Of con-
Germ to the State at the particular
time. the newspapers did not publish
il and agreed not to mention it
because l was appealed to upon the
that ii might interfere
with the securing of funds necessary
to equip the home militia, which was
an organization for the protection OF
the homes of the State during the alb
sence of the National Guard at the
front. Rightly or wrongly yielded to
the appeal and said nothing about it.
Nobody had been seriously hurt, any
way. A bloody nose comprised about
the entire casualty list.
The Anderson Tribune heard of the
affair and undertook to take the news
paper correspondents of Columbia to
would have paid no attention to this,
except for the fact that / had been
noticing that The Tribune was pub
fishing a good deal of inspired stuff,
which was convinced was based up
on financial considerations, had
learned the inside of how its editor hal
secured the socalled endorsement
of Senator McIaurin for governor by
certain members of the Anderson del
egation. Even that did not affect me,
because | didn't care. But along with
all these other things I was constant
ly receiving information of Senator
McLaurin's assertions that while
was his secretary he had used me as
"A tool To get other peOple into fra ms