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/ tmmtim VOLUME XIII. ATLANTA. GA. TUESDAY. OCTOBER 21, 1913. NO. 8. J. C. SHIRLEY, MARIETTA STREET FURNITURE DEALER, NAMED BY I. W. FISHER IN PH AO AN CASE, LAUGHS AT ACCUSATIONS FISHER IS A LI HIS STORY IS A PIPE DREAM, U Informed by The Journal That He Is the Man Named by j Fisher as Having Had an Engagement to Meet Mary Pha- ' gan on the Day of Her Deaf h ih National Pencil Factory, I ' l Well Known Marietta Street Merchant Is Astonished and Amused s 4 T O. SHIRLEY, well known and highly respected furniture deal- j • er, of 809 Marietta street, the man named according to Bir- j miugham dispatches, by I. W. Fislier as the principal of his sen- ' national story about the Mary Phagan murder, treats the whole matter as a huge joke. Mr. Shirley learned Monday from The Journal that Fisher had named him as the man, who talked to him the morning of the murder, saying that he had an engagement with Mary Phagan about noon of the day at the factory and who later told him he had met Mary and played “hell.” After an exclamation of surprise that he should be the prin cipal of Fisher’s story, Mr. Shirley remarked: “Why the man is crazy—a-fit subject for any lunatic asylum,” Mr. Shirley declares that he knows Fisher quite well because the mysterious “witness” at one time lived in the house at 811 Marietta street, next to his furniture store, of which he was a cus tomer. I can t understand why the man should have picked me out to name as the principal of his story. “So far as I know he has absolutely no reason to entertain any malice against me. He must be just crazy.” “So I am the prominent merchant in the case,” laughed the furni ture dealer. “Why, I don't remember having seen Fisher since he left the house next door many months ago. “Then he purchased quite a bit of furniture from me and was pay- . ing for it on time. When they lived next door to the store Mrs. Fisher . took in boarders, some of whom remained after she had her trouble with her husband. “Fisher was not meeting the payments on the furniture, so Mrs. Fisher came to me and said that she would make the paymnts if I transferred the title of the furniture to her, so that he could not come and take it away from her. I did this and she paid the full price of the furniture. “This was my principal connection with the man, except that he i used to loaf around the store . I certainly can’t see why he de cided to name me. Fisher said in his narration that he and Mr. Shirley delivered furniture at the Coleman home and both met Mary Phagan that way. Mr. Shirley states that he knows Mrs. Coleman, Mary’s mother, having sold lier some small pieces of furniture, when both of them lived in East Point, but he doesn’t remember the girl at all. Frank Shirley, brother of the head of the furniture store, who also works there, states that he knew Mary Phagan and Mrs. Coleman, too. He never delivered a load of furniture to them, however, in com pany with Fisher, he says. THREATENS CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. While J. C. Shirley laughs at Fisher's accusations, his brother, Frank, is highly indignant at the man, and intimates that he will urge hs brother to bring criminal proceedings against Fisher on the ground of malicious libel. Frank Shirley states that he also knows Fisher, but not well. According to Birmingham dispatches, Fisher declares that he for merly worked for Mr. Shirley. The latter denies this most positively. He doesn’t remember, he says, ever having given the man even odd jobs about the place. Frank Shirley called attention to the statement of Fisher that the mysterious principal had been furnishing him money to keep away from Atlanta. i. “Well,” remarked Frank Shirley, “he must have envelopes or can celled checks or something to show for that.” .1. C. Shirley expressed confidently his belief that by Monday night Fisher’s story will be completely exploded, and so, he declared, he was not going to let. it worry him. “I have not been connected with the man inany of the ways he says,” said Mr. Shirley, “and I can account for his story in no way except that he is a lunatic, any my name came to his head when he was telling the- story.” / The furniture man named by Fisher is doing a thriving business on Marietta street, and enjoys the confidence and respect of the people of the neighborhood as well as people generally over the city with whom he has been associated. A number of neighbors spoke highly of him, declaring that he would be a wealthy man at this time had it not beeen for his kindness in extending unlimited credit to unfortunates. Mr. Shirley talked about Fisher freely when told by The Journal that he had been named, and he said that he was willing to repeat his statements to any one who care to talk to him, or to Fisher himself. GETS NEWS FROM JOURNAL. ’ The first intimation that he had been named by Fisher as the prin cipal of the story came to Mr. Shirley through The Journal. At 1 o’clock Monday afternoon, when a Journal reporter called on the furniture dealer, he had not been interviewed either by investigators V in'the employ of the defense or by the city detectives., • The city authorities were given Mr. Shirley’s name and address on Sundax afternoon at the office of Attorney/tosser, but up to 1 o’clock Monday they had made no effort to communicate with him nor was he being “shadowed.” ^ THE JOURNAL’S REVELATIONS'. Sweeping investigations by* The Journal have brought to light every important fact in connection with I. W. Fisher and his sensational story about the Phagan murder. - Through its Birmingham correspond*- eht The Journal secured the name of the man mentioned by Fisher. Through interviews with Mrs* Fisher, the wife, with airs. Alf Stallings, his sister, who lives at 305 Houston street, and his brother, Marion •Fisher, of Rome, Fisher’s life history was secured. Probation Officer Coogler has added the man’s police record. The full story in all of its varied features, is, given below. WIFE SA YS MAN IS IRRESPONSIBLE; SISTER DOES NOT BELIEVE HIM Ira V# Fisher, who declares that Leo M. Frank is innocent of the murder of Mary Phagan, Sunday night was labelled as an irresponsible drunkard by his wife, Mrs. Annie Fisher, of 734 Marietta street, by his sister, Mrs. Alf Stallings of 305 Houston street, and by his sister’s hus band. Mrs. Fisher told The Journal that she believes her husband either is telling a false story with some deep-laid motive or is reciting the wild dream of a drunkard or a “dope fiend.” Fisher’s alleged statement that he left Atlanta immediately after the murder is denied by his wife. He lived with her until August 12, she said, when he left before papers that she filed the day before, ask ing divorce and alimony, could be served. She does not know, she said, whether she will push the divorce proceedings until after she has con sulted her lawyer. Her beliefs are shared by Mr. and Mrs. Stallings. "I can’t believe a word my brother says,” declared Mrs. Stallings. I would hardly believe him under oath.” “He has told me some of the wildest tales I ever heard,” said Mr. Stallings. “At the time I believed them, for he talked with a straight face, but since I’ve found them untrue.” Fisher, declared his wife, is a drunkard who at times is entirely ir- ( Continued on Page Two.) m n % THOS. E. WATSON ON TRIAL .AT AUGUSTA BEFDREU.S, JUDGE Georgia Editor Faces Indict ment Charging That He Sent' Obscene Matter Through the Mails in His Paper IT IS TO U. S. : V 5^ w. M, (aDC IT IS TO LAUGH! COLD WAVE SENDS COTTON UP NEARLY $2 A BALE SHERMAN TRUST LAW TO BE FOIMT BY PAGIFICS 9 (By Associated Press.) NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 20—The cold wave now' sweeting: the south put the price of cotton up almost $2 a bale soon after the market opened this morning. It was t evident that many t of the buying orders received by local brokers had accumulated over Sunday. On the first call there was a rush to buy and, amid more excitement than the market has seen for months, prices mounted swiftly. The opening was irregular, the trad ing months showing a gain of 34 to 48 points over Saturday’s close. They soon went to a level 36 to points up. before profit-taking by longs became heavy enough to cause a reaction. This wild rise brought out selling orders for both accounts, and the mar ket reacted 13 to 15 points. The down ward movement was not well main tained. as the detailed reports from the weather bureau made the situation over the belt look worse than did the weath er map. Fear that great damage would result to the crop in the Atlantics as the cold wave works eastward caused renerwed buying and put prices up to about the highest levels again. Fear of Damage Causes Big Rise in New York (By Associated Press.) NEW YORK, Oct. 20.—Apprehensions of serious damage to the crop caused a big advance in the cotton market this morning. The opening was 27 to 38 points higher on an excited general buy ing movement which carried December contracts up to 13.79 or $4.50 per bale above the low level of last week. Reports of weather conditions caused the rise. Heavy realizing checked the advance around the opening -figures and caused slight reactions, but the market was very nervous. Holds Body of Her Husband Two Weeks PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Oct. 20 — Fearful of being buried alive. «Andrew J. Turner, a wealthy cotton broker, ex acted a promise from his wife that she would not consign his body to the ground after death until a period of two weeks had elapsed. Mrs. Turner has kept her promise, although the family! doctor and the undertaker assured herj that there could be no chance of life lingering in her husband’s body. (By Associated Press.) SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 20.—Julius Kruttschnitt, chairman of the Southern Pacific board of directors, intimated last night that the retroattiveness of the Sherman, anti-trust law will be tested when tile government brings suit to wrest the Central Pacific from the con trol of the Southern Pacific railroad. The test will be the objective feature of the railroad's fight to retain its own ership of the Central Pacific, according to. Mr. Kruttschnitt, who arrived here yesterday with President William Sproule, Vice President E’ C. McCor mick, all of whom have been on an in spection trip over the Southern Pacific lines. “We are making no threats,” said Mr. Kruttschnitt, “but we will fight to re tain the Central Pacific if the govern ment brings suit. We are violating no law in holding the Central Pacific.” He said that^ his road always has been a big and important unit in the Southern Pacific system and both roads Were built by the same people. He de- nieed that there is any trust or illegal combination. Citizen$ Egged Mayor; Threaten to Ride Him Out of Town on Rail .J^ESPLAINES, fll., Oct. 20.—Enraged at an article written by Mayor W. M. Lawson, in which he attacked the United States army, 300 citizens, armed with sticks, bricks and stale eggs, broke up the city council meeting and waited for an hour outside the city hall, threat ening to ride the mayor on a rail. Two women, relatives of veterans of the Civil and Spanish-American wars, spat in the mayor’s face at the meet ing and he was hit by several eggs. In his article the mayor said: “A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soul less, murderous machine. No man can fall lower than a soldier. Keep the boys out of the army.” 17 SOLDIERS KILLED IN' WRECK' OF TROOP TRAIN MOBILE, Ala., Oct. 20.-*r-A total of seventeen bodies killed in the wreck of the special troop train on the Mobile and Ohio railroad near Buckatunna, Miss., Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock, when the engine’s tender* and express car and three wooden passenger coaches crashed through the Rube Burrows tres tle, sixty-four miles from this city, had arrived in Mobile up to 8:30 this morn ing and several more are reported to be still in the debris. A total of seventy-one injured are in the various Mobile hospitals and forty- three of the less seriously injured have been taken to the government hospital at Fort Morgan, Ala., across Mobile bay, on the steamer General Holabird, leaving here at 7 o’clock this morning. Of the seventeen bodies, twelve are badly mangled. The body of V. A. Steb- bens, attached to the band from Eighth company, at Barrancas, Fla., was cut in twain. LOOKS LIKE BALTLE FIELD. The scene at the morgue this morn ing resembled more a battle field than it did a death house, parts of the bodies being strewn about on the floors and stables. The correct and full names of some of the dead will not be obtainable until they are properly prepared. Those dead who are claimed by relatives will be turner over to them by the govern ment; and the others will be interred here In the‘national cemetery with mili tary honors. Perhaps the most touching feature of the relief train’s arrival was the dis covery that one of the injured, Corporal Frafik Chlewski, of the 170th company, had died en route from the scene of the accident. The corporal occupied a cot on a freight car with a number of the injured. STEWARD A HERO. Sergeant Beasley, hospital steward, who was with the company, was the hero of the occasion. Alone and unas sisted he attended the wounded, giving each one some attention before the ar rival of the relief train, which did not reach the scene before dark. Dr. Harry T. Inge, surgeon for the I Mobile ^.nd Ohio, said: “Every living | soldier on this train is obligated to , Beasley. He is a great and brave sol- ! dier.” (By Associated Press.) AUGUSTA, Ga.. Oct. 20.—Thomas E. Watson, lawyer, publicist and one-time presidential candidate of the People’s party, today was placed on trial be- i fore Fedreal Judge Rufus E. Foster, j in the United States district court here, on a charge of sending obscene matter j through the mails. Watson was arrested in the fall of 1912 on a federal warrant issued upon complaint of the postal auhorities, and was given a hearing at Augusta be fore United States Commissioner W. H. Goodwin. At the conclusion of this ex amination the Georgia editor was bound over to the federal grand jury, which returned the indictment against him on I November 12, 1912. The specific charge aaginst Watson is i that he published in th$ Jeffersonian, in ! July, 1911, and April and May of 1912, ; certain alleged questions which he j claimed were asked by Roman Catholic ! priests to persons in confessional', which questions, the indictment alleges, are obscene and filthy. These questions ap peared in a series of articles attacking the Roman Catholic church and espe cially the priesthood. That the case against Mr. Watson never would reach the jury was the pre diction early today of Judge S. G. Mc Lendon, leading, attorney for the de fense. He added, however, that should the government evince a desire to go into trial, he was prepared to follow a similar course. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT IS DE FENSE. united States District Attorney Alex- j ander Akerman, of Macon, conducting the case for the government, apparently was of the opinion that the trial would end speedily, although he said that he intended to press vigorously the charge against Watson. Watson himself did not arrive until a few minutes before his case was called, having motored here from Thomson, Ga., where his home is. It was said by his attorneys that Watson hud decided to remain away until just before rthe trial opened, in order to avoid any pub lic demonstration, such as occurred at his preliminary hearing. In a statement early today Attorney McLendon said that it was the desire of the defense to avoid, if possible, any thing resembling a religious contro versy, and. to hold the case to its merits as a question of constitutional fight. It is the plan of the defenle to conduct its fight upon the ground that the articles published in Watson’s magazine, the Jeffersonian, were written by him as editor, and that his conviction on the charges as set out in the indictment woul^ be in violation of the provisions for the freedom of the press as set forth in the constitution of the United States. English Militant’s Appeal to Washington Wins Against Refusal of Board of N, Y, to Let Her Land WASHINGTON. Oct. 20.—Mis. Em meline Pankhurst, the militant British suffragist, is free to enter the United States. The Kills island board's order of deposition was reversed after Presi dent Wilson had conferred on the cele brated case with Secretary Wilson and a hearing had been concluded before Immigration Commissioner Caminetti. Secretary Wilson announced at the conclusion of his conference with the' president that Mrs. Pankhurst wuuld be admitted upon her own recognisance, j with the understanding that she would depart at the end of her lecture engage ments. No bond was exacted. Mr. Reeves, her attorney, declared Mrs. Pankhurst had engaged passage back to England on the steamer Majes tic, sailing from New York November 27. Attorney Frank S. O’Neil referred' to Mrs. Pankhurst’s pledge that she would: conduct herself in a lawful manner while in this country. "She has made that pledge to the American people, and she will keep it, ‘ declared the lawyer. Commissioner Caminetti asked if Mrs. Pankhurst intended to pre&ch militancy here. '"Emphatically no,” responded O’Neil. Secretary Wilson declared that he and the president had discussed the question briefly. TWO WILSONS AGREED. "We agreed," he said, "that Mrs. Pankhurst should be admitted on her own recognizance. My own reason is. and the president feels likewise, that there is naturally an element of doubt as to whether her acts constituted moral turpitude or were political in character. “Being admitted on her own recogniz ance, of course, if she violates any of cur laws, we have two remedies. Our courts may pass o nher acts or we may deport her. There being the ele ment of doubt as to whether moral) turpitude or political offense wap in volved, we decided that we have suf ficient safeguards and that there can be no harm In admitting her." The decision by the president and Secretary Wilson was communicated to Commissioner General Caminetti, who issued the formal order of release. President Wilson felt that the law had a flexible interpretation, so that’ it was largely a question of policy. Commissioner Camlnetti’s decision was in strict accordance fcvith the views of President Wilson and the secretary of labor. Mr. Caminetti filed a brief memorandum, recommending Mrs. Pank hurst’s admission on her own recog nizance. There was no demonstration at the immigration bureau when the decis ion was announced. ■ Dog Saves Man From Millionaire Sends Being Gored to Death Himself to Prison Squaws Adopt The Slit Skirt Mating Easy for Wildgoose Flock NEW YORK. Oct. 20.—Robert Wild- goos. the eleventh out of the flock of fourteen raised by Mr. and Mrs. Jo seph Wil'dgoos of New Brunswick, N. J., has married Miss Margaret De Hart of Franklin Park. There are three un married children in the Wildgooos fam ily but they are engaged to be mar ried. i« RINCON, Oct. 20.—Romance got an lawful jolt here at a recent l*ain dance | of the Mission Indians when the squaws appeared in slit skirts and harem gowns, and a late model talking ma chine provided the music in place of the war whbops of the bucks. The Indians of Rincon reservation seem to have become intoxicated with the “tango* ’and the “turkey trot,* to the huge disgust of the old bucks. Thought Robbery Schoolboy Lark CHICO. Cal., Oct. 20.—Robbers who held up their victim. A. L. Smith, a motion picture operator, in broad day light were enabled to escape because a dozen persons who witnessed the rob.^ bory thought it was a school boys’ lark. HOUSEHOLDERS PLY HOSE UPON THEIR OWN ROOFS WASHINGTON, Oct. 20.—Keen ■ in terest is being taken in the forthcoming reports of the government surgeons on the reported vaccine specific for tuber culosis discovered by Dr. Karl Von Rueke, of North Carolina. Past Assist ant Surgeon G. B. Crow, of the navy, and Past Assistant Surgeon A. M. Stimson. ot the public health service, made the-investigation and began work on their reports today. Their findings are being carefully guarded. Blind Cirl Telephone Operators Make Experts BALTIMORE, Md.. Oct. 20.—Having learned w r hat the blind, when gifted in other ways, may do, the Maryland School for the Blind is specially train ing pupils for work, on telephone switchboards. Two y£ars ago'a girl successfully passed the severe tests and became an expert operator. .Now the school ras turned out five other well-trained girls, and the managers are convinced that they will be able to open this field of work to many others. The six sightless operators who are leading the way for other blind girls, are working with the regulation switch boards, but efforts are being made to evolve a new kind of board. With the present switchboards the girls by the keenness of their ears are almost able to detect at once ’ over which wire the call may come by the falling of the little drop. They aiway* slide their fingers along the board to locate the drop to be sure they have the right one. They plug the trunk wires in the right holes by a fine ac quired sense of location, although with this they can always make sure of it by the quick use of their fin gers. ADAMS, Mass., Oct. 20.—Earnest Schonfelder, a Cheshire farmer, was saved by his shepherd defg from being gored to death by an enraged bull. Schonfelder was chasing the bull out of a cornfield when the animal turned on him. The farmer was tossed fifteen feet and several of his ribs were bro ken. One of the horns pierced his left side. Schonfelder lay on the ground un conscious. The bull backed away from the body and bellowed loudly. Then it ran at the prostrate farmer, and the sharp horns were but a couple of feet from his body when “Taffy,” Schon- felder’s shepherd dog. dashed at the bull and sank his teeth into the bull’s nose. The dog hung on with a death grip until Schonfelder regained conscious ness and dragged himself under a barb ed wire fence to safety. The dog bit the bull so savagely that the bovine, bleeding freely, broke through the wire fence and escaped. AUBURN, N. Y., Oct. 20.—Thomas M. Osborne, a millionaire manufacturer, member of the farm implement “trust,” and president of the State* Prison Re form Commission, voluntarily becaipe a -“convict” in Auburn prison this w*eek for an indefinite term. By mingling among the convicts, eat ing their food, wearing their uniforms, marching in their ranks and submit ting to their discipline, Osborne wjll endeavor to gain a true insight of the “psychology of prisons.” Burglar Laughs At Modest Man Bridge Strangely Stopped in Fall MORAVIAN FALLS, N. C,. Cut. 20.— A big baptizing ceremony was in prog ress at Brown’s Ford, on the Yankin river, near here, and with the banks of the stream lined with spectators it was difficult for late arrivals to see what was going on. Nearly 100 young j people crowded onto the suspension ; foot bridge. All at once there was a crashing sound and the bridge floor dropped a distance of ten feet, then caught on the abutments and stopped 1 as suddenly as it had started, while j panic stricken occupants scrambled to jthe ends for safety. That the bridge stopped on its down* j ward plunge is regarded as little less I than a miracle. Dozens of children would probably have been drowned. SAN FRANCISCO. Cal., Oct. 20.— Modesty prevented A. L. Herron from chasing the thief of his trousers through the streets In his pajamas. Herron saw a burglar leap through tha window with his, Herron’s nether gar-: ments, snatched from a. chair beside the bed. The burglar refused a polite invitation to come back. Loss $38, be- : side—the pants. Hog Dies From Old Age; Law Suit Ends JONESBORO, Ark., Oct. 20.—After a. jury in the circuit court had driven twenty-five miles to determine the marks on a hog's ear and settle 'a suit j between Dan Keller and Joe Simmons, j it found the animal dead. The court i made the farmers shake hands and agree to be friends. They had quar- ■ reled five years over the ownership of J the hog, which finally died from old age. Man Battles Hawk In Speeding Auto NEW ORLEANS, La., Oct. 20.—At tracted, by the bright headlights of an automobile in which I>r. C. Bohne and Thomas L. Ross were riding, a big hawk swooped down on the car. It missed the lights and fell upon Ross, fastening its talons in his arms. # Dr. Bohne increased the speed of the car, hoping to shafle the bird off. Ross fought the bird, which was pecking furi ously at his face, until at last it was torn from its grip and dropped into the road. It rose and made again for the automobile, but missed it and flew away. Forty Heirs Seek $7,000,000 Estate BOSTON. Mass., Oct. 20.—Forty New i England relatives of Abel Stearns, a pioneer of California, who died forty years ago. are making claim to the $7,-! 000,000 estate left by his widow. Mrs. Arcadia Stearns Baker, when she died; at Los Angeles, Cal., last week. The property consists of thousands of acres of land outside of Los Angeles. ULTIMATUM HURLED AT SERVIANS BY AUSTRIANS YIENNA, Oct. 20.—Austria today sent* cn ultimatum to Servia, demanding the immediate and complete evacuation of the points in Albania occupied by Ser vian troops after the recent conflict* between them and the Albanian*