The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, 1922-09-06

Oh lHelf lOlS SuSS ana answered., 40,
no, this is perfectly clean and saEi-
tary." 1 spoke up and said you
ought to have seen it before Governor
Blease cleaned it up.
want to get back to me old negro
who begged me to zine" him in
prayer for a pardoning governor. In
a few days I wrote the letter to Gov
,ernor Blease, he went down to the
penitentiary, examined it, talked with
the prisoners, and pardoned thirty OF
them. I picked up the paper which
had the announcement and found my
old negro in the list. Rushing into
the house 1 called, "Rena, look here,
Blease has pardoned my negro and
several others" She looked at me and
said, Baxter, probably God heard
our prayers in electing Blease."
If the general assembly had not
ignored Blease when he asked them
TO abolish that knitting mill he would
not have pardoned one half Of those
he did pardon, but the state was max
ing money leasing the convicts and
northern mill owners were coming
wealth out of cheap labor, SO they ig-
'nored him. Blease used the pardon
ing power to force a needed reform,
and conscious of his rectitude Of pur-
pose when he was maligned and his
motives impugned he went farther
than he would have done. otherwise {.
That is all there is to it.
Right here is where found myself
feeling kindly toward Governor
Biease and very often I would find
myself defending him. At that time
I was a little one-horse preacher on
a hard scrabble circuit and one of
the poorest excuses for a speaker that
ever stood before a congregation. ]
spluttered and splattered worse than
a secondhand Victrola with a broken
record. I was holding a meeting at
a cotton mill church near the town
Of Newberry and Eugene Blease, who
was eX-mayor, now a member Of the
legislature and Cannon Blease who is
sheriff of Newberry county came out
and took me to their home, enter
tanned me and lavished kindness upoI
me, their only motive being to assist
a poor fellow who was trying TO make
dreamed that the day would come
when / would go from ocean to ocean
and preach in some of the most in
fluential churches in America. For
the last eleven years the Blease fam
lily and l have been close friends. In
my assocition with Eugene, Cannon
and Cole 1 have found them to be the
truest men it has been my privilege to
meet. They can stand for the as
sesslnents of friendship as we'll as for
the dividends.
Walking down the railroad track
near Newberry one morning I met an
old man and tried to find out all
could about Cole Blease from him.
asked him what kind Of fellow he
was and the old man looked at me
and said. son he would take the
shoes off his feet to help a needy per-
SON" How true I have found that
statement to be. In the greatest finan-
cial distress I was ever in. the dark
est tunnel l ever passed through Cole
l.. .Elease came to my rescue and
helped build a bridge over which
could march. emancipated and free
No man could say anything about
Cole L. Blease tha. would knock the
NdfliSI OIL Tie DdCh uOOl VI LILY
faith in him. l have associated with
him, have been in his home almost
every month for eleven years, have
done business with him, have sat in
his room talking with him until
o'clock in the morning. and I have yet
20 see the first thing in his life that
IS cot ..:mpatible with a gentleman
He was one of the greatest legisla-
tors that ever stood on the floor of
the general assembly and " ould have
made this state one Of its greatest
governors had he not been handi-
'apHCd b| pin-headed, peanut
brain set Of three karat, partisan leg
islators, and bounded, misrepresent-
ed and maligned him through preju-
dice,l newspapers. l don't see how I.
::lan with his temperament and Kind
heart has lived under the awful
,i,:::2. SANDER and lies hcaped upon
AIM fC" several years as corporation