Show THE TRAGEDY Lieutenant Governor James H is a son of the late Congressman George GeorgeD D TIlman of South Carolina and a nephew of at Senator B R It The acrid feeling between hint him and Mr Gao Gon Gonzales zales which culminated in the tragedy traced j dates back to Grove Grovet second administration when Mr Gonzales was seeking an appointment as consul at a South American port says a Charleston special in the New York World At that time Tillman Tiliman was the Washington corre correspondent correspondent of an afternoon paper in this state and in an article the candidacy of Gonzales he made state statements ments which offended the latter Gonzales publicly denounced the story as a He lie The two men met Jn in a hotel in ii Washington a day or two later Inter and anda a personal encounter was narrowly averted This incident engendered bad blood and when Tillman several years afterward ap no applied plied piled for membership in a social dub club in Columbia the black ball of proved fatal to his aspirations There Thereupon Thereupon upon Tillman commissioned a friend to call on Gonzales and ask him if he would accept a challenge to fight a duel The editor tersely replied Tell him to send it if he wants to know what Ill do But Tillman never did When the Sean Soan war began Tillman then practicing law in S C was made a lieutenant colonel of the First South Carolina regiment The regiment encamped at Jacksonville Stories of drinking were circulated and caustic comments thereon appeared in ia inthe the editorial columns of Mr Gonzales newspaper Tillman was at odds with his colonel Joseph K Alston and induced the main mem members bern bers of his regiment to sign a petition re requesting requesting questing the secretary of war to have the regiment mustered out of service While the matter was being considered at Wash Washington ington Colonel Alston lied and Tiliman succeeded hint him Thereupon he made strenuous efforts to have the petition which he had circulated withdrawn and the regiment retained in service He was not successful His action in this was construed as confirmation of the charge that his hatred for Colonel Cobol Alston Aiston and his desire to humiliate him was the motive for Tor fomenting dissatisfaction among the men and inciting them to ap appeal appeal peal to the authorities in ia Washington to have the regiment mustered mastered out outA outA A few weeks prior to this Tillman cre created created a sensation in Columbia by appear appearing appearing ing unexpectedly in that town and in Ia a wild harangue to the members of the Second South Carolina regiment en encamped encamped camped there urged them to disregard the wishes of their officers and petition the war department to disband the real regi regiment mont ment Tillman would have been arrested by Lieutenant Colonel Thomson who was in command of the regiment had not left heft the city as soon as he learned 1 that the officers were looking for him The story of the trouble printed in the newspapers of the state indicated that Tillman Tiliman was intoxicated at the time and in no condition to be held accountable for his actions wherefore Colonel Thomson did not disturb himself further about the tastIer matter When Tillman Tiliman was elected lieutenant governor of South Carolina Gonzales said editorially that the majority of voters did not know his Tillmans character Thereafter Gonzales made it his to enlighten them What Is commonly referred to as the sword incident is an unhappy chapter in Tillmans career He raised tov hr sub subscription a fund to buy a sword for Ma Major Major jor Micah Jenkins a South Carolinian and anda a gallant officer of the Rough Riders Rider and invited President Roosevelt to pre are present sent the sword to Major Jenkins when he be should visit the exposition here last spring The president accepted the fart invitation tation tationA A few weeks later the president withdrew with withdrew drew an invitation extended to Senator Tillman to be present at the Prince Hen Henry Henry ry dinner at the White House because the senate had suspended hint him temporarily ily to decide what punishment should be meted out to him for engaging in is a fisticuff fisticuff cuff in the senate chamber with Senator McLaurin Th The lieutenant governor regarded this action of the president as an Insult to his Uncle Ben and wired the chief executive that he would also with withdraw withdraw draw the invitation which he had sent to him to present a sword to MaJor Maior Jen Jenkins Jenkins kins This insulting message to the pres president president ident raised a tremendous row The ex en exposition position company formally repudiated the utterances of Lieutenant Governor Till Tillman Tillman man embodied in Ia the telegram and Gov Governor G wired the president that Tillman was alone responsible for his un unmanly unmanly manly action Tillman was roundly de do denounced in the newspapers of the state and a movement was begun to procure funds to buy another sword for Major Jenkins and have the president present It ItI I as originally planned Editor Gonzales took a conspicuous part partin in this the beginning ef the undoing of 7 The funds fOnda w re obtained a handsome sword bot bought and the president who hind had Ignored the lieutenant governors message graciously consented to present it to Major Jenkins lenkins If Till TiU Tillman man maii felt the stinging aging rebuke thus admin administered to him he concealed it jauntily The merciless indictment of Lieutenant Governor by Editor Gonzales in inthe Inthe the State newspaper during the campaign that summer unquestionably defeated him himi i in the race for the gubernatorial chair He was branded as a altar liar and docu documentary evidence was submitted to prove it TUman never mahe effective re rei reply i ply Throughout the the State frequently referred to Tulman as a scoundrel blackguard drunkard and criminal candidate The State was supported in its fierce and pitiless at attacks attacks tacks on Tillman by ten out of the eleven daily newspapers in the state and every weekly newspaper of Influence |