Geo. W. Brooke refutes bribery charges made by John P. Lewis.

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GEO. W, BROOKE

REFUTES

Bribery Cfiarges

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JOHN P

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GENERAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
BEQUEST, 1930

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CartersYille, Ga., Jan. 17, 1911. To the Mayor, Aldermen and People of Car-
tersville:
Being reliably informed that Mr. J. P. Lewis stated upon the street of Cartersville that a few years ago I attempted to bribe him and his associate, Mr. J. W. Vaughan, while they were city officials, to favor a proposition I was then negotiating with the city, I am forced to give to yoo. the true facts pertaining to this proposal, which I now do, that you may conclude for yourselves whether I was offering to buy, or whether they were offering themselves for sale.
On the 13th inst. I addressed Mr. J. P. Lewis the following letter to which I have had no answer and will therefore give the public the correspondence as referred t' above, which Mr. Lewis has so distorted to make it appear to his own advantage.
The letter addressed to J. P. Lewis on the 13th inst. is as follows:
LETTER
Cartersville, Ga.t Jan. 13, 1911. Mr. J. P. Lewis
City.
Dear Sir It has come to my knowledge that you followed up your damaging testi mony against my good name and character, as given yesterday in the case of Akerman vs. myself, by publicly stating that you could go further in your evidence if neces-

sary by proving that some years ago I undertook to get your support, together with that of Mr. J. W. Vaughan, as members of the Water, Light and Bond f-ommission, of a proposition being pressed upon the city by myself and associates by agreeing to buy from yon the mill property, known as the Gartersville Milling Co., at a fancy fig ure much above what It was worth.
By making this statement I assume that you are willing that all the evidence, verbal and written, bearing upon the negotiations mentioned shall be made public. I desire to inform you that I hold in my possession evidence and correspondence which I am perfectly willing shad be furnished to the public, in order that the public may be able to draw its own conclusions. I prefer to ltd this with your consent and upon failure te 'hear from you will assume that you are perfectly willing that this -be published.
Very respectfully, GEO. W. BROOKE.
Concerning the proposal published below 1 wish to make the 'following explanation:
Mr. Albert Strickland at the time of this correspondence was interested in our Com pany and, together with myself, agrees upon, the following facts:
That S. J. Leverett, to whom the proposal is addressed, had no interest of any kind in the .proposition of furnishing the City of Carteraville with lights and power and no Intention of taking over the plant of the
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Cartersville Milling Co., nor had he made any request relative to sale or option on the Cartersville Milling Co. and equipmeki there to. He had no knowledge of it in any way, shape or form. The use of his name in this connection was at the suggestion of Mr. J. W. Vaughan, wio himself knew that Mr. Leverett had no interest in the matter em braced in the proposition. The suggestion was made by Mr. J. W. Vaughan when we asked for his proposal, which had, up to this time, been verbal, to be put in writing, that some outside party ought to be named as the party to whom the proposition should be ad dressed and Mr. Leverett being a friend of Mr. Strickland, he suggested his name, which was so used as appears in the proposal.
The construction of the proposition was that of J. W. Vaughan. The terms of the proposition were suggested by J. W. Vaughan, J. P. Lewis and J. W. Knight Tire proposition was written oat by J. W. Vaughan on his typewriter.
PROPOSAL.
Cartersville, Ga., Nov. 10th, 1908. S. J. Leverett, Esq., and Associates,
Nashville, Term. Dear Sirs: Relative to your request for sale and option on the mill property and equipments thereto: Not caring for this property to remain idle and unproductive any longer, we have been considering three propositions, in the last two months, to place it in profitable use.
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One an iron foundry and machine shops, manufacturing some specialty in iron pro ducts; one an overall and shirt plant, and another to lease it as it is for milling pur poses. We have now a proposition to lease it for five years, at a rental of $1,200.00 per year, with insurance and taxes to the amount of $600.00 to be paid by the lessee, and a participation of 10 per cent of the net profits to be given for wear and tear of the plant all, except the net profits, to be paid monthly. The lessee to put up $1,000.00 as a guarantee of good faith and successful operation, we reserving the right to dictate and control, in event of loss or failure to succeed.
As we have practically agreed to the latter proposition, and now in process of drawing up and arranging the details, our sale or option would have to be made sub ject to this lease.
We will sell the Cartersville Milling Co., including the lands, buildings, machinery and equipments as now stands for $15,000 cash, or good approved notes in lieu thereof.
Or we will give a six months' option thereon at the same price for cash bonus of $2,500.00; said cash option bonus of $2,500.00 to be deducted in event of sale from purchase price.
While some of my associates are con nected with the City Government, in way of operating the public utilities, and can not enter into any agreement or promise
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of securing a city contract or franchise* still if you or associates will offer the city an attractive and saving proposition I feel sure as a citizen, as well as all inter ested in this proposition, will do what they can to effect a deal whereby there will be mutual profit and saving for all.
This option or sale must not be con strued or given, without protection to my interest that is, some guarantee must be given that the purchase will be made, and the option not forfeited, if labor and effort is given to create a sentiment and the inter est you ask, in effecting the contract you dsire.
My associates (two of the shareholders) can do nothing less than to look after and represent the city's interest. And while I have their agreement to sell, they will leave the selling and option to myself and those not connected in a dual capacity.
If interested please let me hear from you at a very early date, as we are proceeding with the negotiations as outlined above.
Very truly yours, GARTERSVILLE MILLING CO.,
Jas. W. Knight, President.
At a glance the above document may ai> i>ear to be a guileless and innocent one, but seen in the light of the following comments is so plain that "He who runs may read."
Just prior to this time we approached Messrs. Vaughan and Lewis, as City Officials,
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in charge of this branch of the City Govern ment, to secure their support and endorse ment upon its merits, and its merits alone, of a proposition to furnish lights and power to the city, which we were then pressing. They offered their support, which they hafi always withheld up to this time, provided we would take over the Gartersville Milling property at a fancy figure as outlined in the document above. We did not need any milling property, even at a fair valuation which they admitted to be from $8,000 tf . .110,000, and we certainly did not need it at th,elr fancy figure of $15,000. So we were forced at this time to drop our negotiations with the city, the demands made being c< such a nature we could not and would not comply with them.
Should either or both Messrs. Vaughan and Lewis desire this matter thoroughly in vestigated before the City Council, we are willing to furnish all the data we have on the subject.
Yours respectfully, GEO. W. BROOKE.
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