(Copy.) D. E. Lyon. Lyon & Lyon. Geo. T. Lyon, City Attorney. Suite 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, First National Bank Building. Hon. Coleman L. Blease, Columbia, S. C. Dear Sir: I wish to again call your attention to the petition for pardon of Frank W. Bentley, which has been pending before you for a long time, and which you have not finally disposed of as far as I know, and also call your attention to the fact that I sent you in August last, at your request, draft for $25 to cover his expenses from Columbia to his home here, which you still have in your possession. This boy has now served about four years for the commission of, as we believe, a slight offense, which was committed under extenuating circumstances, and it seems to me has been more than punished for the act. The man whose name was forged has no ill feeling towards him and would like to see him released. I hope you can find justification in granting him a pardon in the very near future. Hoping to hear from you at an early date with a favorable reply, I am, Yours very truly, GTL-B. (Signed) GEO. T. LYON. State of South Carolina, County of Richland. Personally appeared W. F. Blackburn, who, being duly sworn, says that he is employed as stenographer in the Governor's office, South Carolina, by Governor Cole. L. Blease, and has been so employed since the 25th day of January, 1911; that a petition for the pardon or parole of one Frank W. Bentley was filed in the Governor's office in March, 1911, by Barrett Jones; that pardon was refused by Governor Blease on March 31, 1911; that subsequently, to wit, on May 25, 1911, Mr. George T. Lyon, attorney at law of the city of Dubuque, Iowa, communicated with Governor Blease in regard to a pardon or parole of said Bentley; that on August 11, 1911, Mr. Lyon was advised that the Governor had taken up for consideration the petition of said Bentley and wished to be advised, in the event favorable action be taken in the case, if he (Lyon) would pay Bentley's way to his home in Iowa; that on August 14, 1911, Mr. Lyon forwarded to the Governor a New York draft for $25, to be used for the purpose of paying Bentley's railroad fare from Columbia, S. C., to Dubuque, Iowa-all of said letters and information being upon file in the Governor's office, to my personal knowledge. This matter was held under consideration and investigation until May 14, 1912, when the Governor paroled said Frank W. Bentley, upon the condition that he leave the State of South Carolina within twenty-four hours and never return. The above-mentioned draft being made payable to Governor Blease, was indorsed by him, turned over to me, and Bentley met me at the Columbia union station, in the city of Columbia; I purchased a ticket from Columbia, S. C., to Dubuque, Iowa, for the sum of $24.55, giving in payment therefor the above-mentioned check; the ticket agent gave me the ticket and 45 cents in change; I turned over the said ticket and the said 45 cents to Bentley, went down on the platform, pointed out to him the train he should take, and he boarded it and left the city of Columbia. I also prepared and Bentley signed the following receipt: "Columbia, S. C., May 14, 1912. "Received of Hon. Cole. L. Blease, Governor of South Carolina, check No. 406,452, from the First National Bank of Dubuque, Iowa, on the National Park Bank, New York, for twenty-five dollars, dated August 14, 1911. "(Signed) F. W. BENTLEY." The original receipt is on file in the Governor's office. (Signed) W. F. BLACKBURN. Sworn to before me this 19th day of July, A. D. 1912. (Signed) G. C. DISMUKES, .(L. S.) Notary Public for South Carolina. PARDON OF RUDOLPH RABENS. The accusation is made that somebody told somebody else that as Governor, in consideration of the sum of $2,000 paid to me, I granted a pardon to one H. Rudolph Rabens, of Charleston. My reasons for granting this pardon are set forth on page 46 of the statement of Pardons, Paroles and Commutations, 19111912, as follows: "Rabens, Rudolph (white): Convicted at the February, 1907, term of Court of Oconee county, of receiving stolen goods, and sentenced to three years on the county chain gang. "Petition is signed by eight of the jurors who tried the case, by the Clerk of Court, County Treasurer, County Auditor, Judge of Probate and other officials of Oconee county, and by many of the leading citizens, including ex-Senator E. L. Herndon, Wm. J. Stribbling, W. O. White, Master; Jas. Seaborn, Boon B. Morse, R. T. Jaynes, M. C. Long, F. R. Lucas, Mayor George L. Wilson and many, many others. "And a petition from the county of Charleston, signed by the Rev. Dr. Wm. A. C. Mueller, A. W. Winters, A. J. W. Goss, Otto Tiederman, F. W. Wagener & Co., Wm. M. Byrd, and a hundred or more of the most prominent citizens of the city of Charleston, and personal letter from Dr. Mueller, begging that the boy might be allowed to come home in order that he might see his old mother, who was believed to be upon her death bed. "Upon this pardon was granted March 2, 1911." This pardon was especially asked for by Rev. Dr. Wm. A. C. Mueller, pastor of the St. Matthew's German Lutheran Church, of the city of Charleston. At the time the pardon was granted Rabens had served all but about thirty days of a three-year sentence. I released him that he might go home and see his old mother, who was believed to be upon her death bed. The accusation that Rabens gave $2,000 to save himself from imprisonment for thirty days, when he had already served nearly three years, is not only a wilful falsehood, but unreasonable. I submit herewith affidavits from Rabens and from Dr. Mueller denying this charge of Felder's. I leave it to the people of South Carolina if they prefer to believe Thomas B. Felder, a fugitive from the justice of the State of South Carolina, a man filled with venom and spite, a corruptionist and a coward, in preference to Dr. Mueller, a Christian minister, whose whole life has been one of devoted service to the Prince of Peace and Mercy, who has been and is now doing so much for the faith of the great Lutheran denominations of this State. Charleston, S. C., July 17, 1912, Whom It May Concern: In order that justice may be done, I was requested by many friends to make the following statement, which I cheerfully do, relative to the H. Rudolph Rabens pardon: During Governor Martin F. Ansel's administration I wrote a personal letter in behalf of the case, to which I received no reply, and also signed the petition, which was a laige one, and signed by men of prominence like F. W. Wagener & Co., and many others. Subsequently, when Cole. L. Blease became Governor of South Carolina, I wrote him a personal letter March 1, 1911, which appeared shortly afterwards in the News and Courier. On March 4, 1911, I received a letter from Governor Blease, which I quote verbatim : "The Governor is in receipt of your letter of the 1st instant, and has given it very careful consideration. In reply, he directed me to state that he has complied with your request. "Yours very truly, "ALEX ROWLAND, "Secretary." H. Rudolph Rabens had only twenty-eight days to serve when pardoned. Last Monday, July 15, his parents stated to me, as their pastor, that neither they, their son nor any of their friends paid or offered to pay one cent of money. I believe their and his statement. He had only twenty-eight more days to serve, and I consider it foolish to think that he paid $2,000 or any amount to keep from serving his sentence out. WM. A. MUELLER. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 17th day of July, 1912. J. D. HOLLING, Notary Public, South Carolina. (Seal.) The State of South Carolina, County of Charleston. Personally appeared before me H. Rudolph Rabens, who, being duly sworn, says: That in the News and Courier of July 13, 1912, there appeared a statement of one of the detectives of W. J. Burns that two thousand ($2,000) dollars had been paid to Governor Cole. L. Blease for his pardon. That, in justice to Governor Blease and himself, he desires to state that he had only twenty-eight (28) days to serve before the expiration of the term of his sentence. He further states that neither he nor his friends or relatives paid anything in any shape or form for the pardon extended him. H. RUDOLPH RABENS. Sworn to before me this 18th day of July, A. D. 1912. (Seal.) THE "T. B." Felder claims that the letters held by me, known as the "T. B.” letters, were forged during the years 1904 and 1905 by F. H. Krauss, at the time employed by Felder's law firm as a clerk. These are the letters that I spoke of early in the statement-the documents that are keeping Felder away from South Carolina. The letters I hold have been submitted to several gentlemen of Columbia, and to some who live in the State of Georgia, who are familiar with Felder's handwriting, and they have stated that they would go on the stand and swear that the letters were written by T. B. Felder. I have also two letters written by Felder -one from England and one from a point in the United States— to a woman, and the writing of these letters, compared with those of the "T. B." letters, shows that the letters I hold were written by Felder. Furthermore, I have testimony that the company referred to in the "T. B." letters, which was to control the liquor situation in South Carolina through H. H. Evans, was actually chartered in the State of Alabama. Why should Krauss write about a matter which he would naturally know nothing about and have no interest in? Besides, the subject of these letters was the same subject matter about which he wrote L. W. Boykin, John Ben Towill and H. H. Evans, who have made sworn testimony before this same committee, which committee did not even think it necessary to make Felder say why he was over here in Newberry, Columbia and Augusta talking about the formation of this conspiracy company. I do not know Krauss and never heard of him until a few days ago. If he did, in 1904 and 1905, forge these letters, he was a man of great prophetic power to foresee that six years afterwards I would need letters to show the rascality of Thomas B. Felder, Felder insists that these letters are forgeries, and that they were written by Krauss, notwithstanding the fact that, according to his own claims, he has never seen said letters. I shall be glad to convince him of their genuineness and shall do so without doubt if he will face a South Carolina jury. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE? I have endeavored to cover every insinuation and slander mentioned in the State. I am sure that you will recognize the fact that in all that mass of words, and owing to the fact that I have been very busy, it may be possible that some little piece of dirt, buried beneath an advertisement or hidden in a corner, has escaped my attention. If it has, I wish to say, and this statement covers as well those things to which I have already referred, that my hands are clean and I have at no time as a citizen or an official committed a dishonorable act. However, if there be one thing, however small, that I have overlooked, and any honest man in South Carolina desires information regarding it, I shall cheerfully give it. THE PROOF POSITIVE. Thus I have set forth what the lawyers call my "brief"-my denials of the attempted charges against me, the insults to the |