Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, August 08, 1916, Image 1
gjje SMTanla crn i-W dels Sxmrmil VOLUME XVIII. FIVE MEN QUIZZED Bi POLICE DETECTIVES ON| INUBM MURDER CASE Witnesses Are Taken to Sep arate Rooms at Police Sta tion and Questioned for Evi dence ■" ■ ■— The third floor at police station Mon day morning was turned into a question box for an exhaustive probe of the (Wurm mystery. In five separate rooms, county policemen and city detectives grilled five separate witnesses whom they took into custody Monday morn ing. None of the five, have been arrested, there is no charge as yet against any of them. Yet the officers admit that through one of them or through one of the three negroes already arrested they hope to glean the information which will lead to the ultimate solution of the murder which has baffled them since young John Wurm's body was found in the waters of the Chattahoochee a week ago Sunday. The five witnesses closeted with de tectives at police station Monday were: Morris Kimberly, son of “Sherlock'’ Kimberly, employed as supervisor at the plant. Young Kimberly testified at the Crane hearing He was closely ques tioned then as to his movements on the afternoon and night that John l' urm disappeared. SOFT DRINK MAN Dick Smith, a youth employed at the Atlantic Steel company. Vaster Do-; gan. the negro arrested in connection with the mystery, says Dick Smith isi the man for whom he bought a soft I drink on the night Wurm disappeared. Warren Hudson. 23 years old. an em ploye of the steel company. A. N. Alkire. night watchman at the steel company, on duty the night Wurm disappeared. J. D. Lindsay, night master mechanic at the steel company. He testified that he saw Wurm leave the mechanical de partment. No one has testified to see ing him since then. The detectives admit they are also looking for other witnesses, including j several young boys who were near the steel company on the fatal night. The police are still holding Vaster Dogan. They seem to place great im-. portance in him as a witness “He is a second Jim Conley,” declared Chief Newport Lanford Monday, after I‘elective Bob Waggoner had grilled Dogan for about an hour. At 2 o'clock Monday afternoon the 1 detectives were still secretly grilling i their witnesses. Solicitor Eb T. Wil liams had joined the conference. Negroes Accused of Shooting Soldiers to Get a Hearing Today tßy Associated Press.! MONTGOMERY. Ala.. Aug. 7.—Cor- 1 {•oral Stronecker, of Company C. Sec ond regiment, who was seriously in lured wh»n the three soldiers were shot ioilowing the stoning of a street car in which they were r’ning last night, was resting well today at a local hospital. The negroes in jail on suspicion will l-e given a hearing this afternoon. For some time after the coming of the soldiers to Montgomery a strong provost guanf was kept in the section .of the fight. Last night a crowd of sol diers was ’awe.itinc a car to take them to camp and became involved in a quar- I tel. When the car started bricks were thrown into the car by negroes, strik- | Mtg several soldiers. The soldiers jumped off the car and after the negroes, and the three ehot were waylaid as they passed the house of Jim Gosha. After a company of militia went on guard there was no further trouble. Wilson Names George Norris Executive Head of Farm Loan Bank System WASHINGTON. Aug. 7.—George; Norris, of Philadelphia, was designated by President Wilson today as farm loan commissioner, executive head of the farm loan bank system created by the new rural credits act. Mr. Norris is one of the two Demo cratic member* of the farm loan board. His designation as commissioner was p-epared for announcement today at the first meeting of the board to organize and discuss preliminary plans. Secretary McAdoo, ex-officio member of the board, presides over its meetings, as he does over those of the federal reserve boar-’, but the law provides that the member appointed commissioner shall be executive head of the system Efforts to Settle Gar Strike in New Y ork Fails • B-- Fterr.) NEW Y’trtK. Aug. 7.—The efforts .f Mayo- Mitchell and of Public Service t’omi-sioner Strauss to settle the street railway strike in New York failed today After a protracted meeting the dlrectorr of the New York Railways company de cl’ned at this time to ratify the tentative agreement proposed by the two public officials as a basis for a settlement. Wilson or Hughes? The Semi-Weekly Journal / ™ mi mi • IIT 1 IT VI 117 1 J K •1 V Journal and The New York Thrice-a-Week World The Thnce-a-Week New York World | Five Papers E<«A Week-260 Papers a Year & comes th to Mail us your order for this combination at once. —We believe it to be absolutely the best p. Presidential campaign as well as all other big hap- value we have ever ottered. Address pF U STATE penings. The Semi-Weekly Journal, Circulation Dept., Atlanta, Ga. Use the Coupon. POTTLE WINS VOTEIIS ” OF CiNBLEfI COONH Makes Profound Impression! in Address at Court House at Metter (Special Dispatch to The Journal.) METTER, Ga.. Aug. 7.—Joe Pottle.; candidate for governor, opened the pres ent week of his campaign this morn-1 ing. with a speech to the voters of Can- < dler county, in the courthouse here. | , Judge R. N Hardeman, of the middle judicial circuit, a friend of Mr. Pottle's of many years standing, adjourned court for him to speak, and he was In troduced by Colonel W. H. Lanier, one i of the leading attorneys of this sec tion. Before Mr. Pottle oame here, it was generally thought thaj Candler county voters stood in the main divided between Governor Harris and Dr. Hardman, wltn Mr. Pottle running a strong third. Aft er his speech, however, leading citizens from all sections of the county told him they felt satisfied they would be able to line Candler up in the Pottle column. That Mr. Pottle made a profound im pression on his hearers cannot be denied. Candler county is one of the many new counties of the state but is making re markable progress in every way. Mr. Pottle came here this morning from Milledgeville, where he spenfl Sun day with his family. He is highly elated over the success of his campaign. Last week he spoke in Towns, in Lau rens. Dooly, Dodge. Morgan, Montgom ery. Wayne and Pierce counties, and in addition he stopped to shake hands with his friends in towns in Pulaski, Eman uel Toombs and Blakely counties. To night Mr. Pottle will speak at Stillmore, Emanuel county, and Tuesday at Mount Vernon in Montgomerv county. MATTERS DISQUALIFYING DORSEY. Discussing what he charges are mat ters which ab-jolutely disqualify Mr. Dorsey to be governor of Georgia Mr. . Pottle says: “When Mr. Dorsey, while solicitor general of the Atlanta circuit and hav ing taken an oath to represent the state in all cases where its interests were in , volved, became connected with a law suit to nullify an act of the legislature, protecting the Western and Atlantic railroad (State road), from being paral leled. he disqualified himself to repre sent the state in protecting Its best prop erty—a property valued at approximate ly sse.ooo.ooo. “Mr. Dorsey's law firm brought this law suit which had for its n -p' " destruction of the Western and Atlantic railroad, because if the Louisville and Nashville railroad, which employed Mr. Dorsey's firm, is permitted to parallel the Western and Atlantic that property will become almost valueless. Without any Western connections it would be helpless, for it cannot live on its local business between Chattanooga and At lanta. Everybody knows that to be true. “As strange as It may seem, we find 1 Mr. Dorsey while solicitor general and paid by the state to defend its interests, allied with a firm of lawyers in an at tack upon the law and the property of the state. I presume that Mr. Dorsey received his part of the fee, paid his firm by the L. & N. to bring this as sault on the state. At least, I have never heard that he had denied having received it. Thus, it appears that Mr. ; Dorsev has the money of the state in one pocket for protecting its interests, and the money of the Louisville and I Nashville railroad, in another pocket. 1 for fighting the state. Can any such course of action be reconciled? FEE FROM WIDOW NELMS. “Mr. Dorsey did an unprecedented thing when he accepted a 31,000 fee from the widow Nelms for his services in connection with the extradition of Mr. and Mrs. Victor E. Innes from Texas to Georgia. “The two daughters of the widow Nelms mysteriously disappeared and all the evidence at hand was such as te lead to the popular belief that the Inneses had obtained the property of one and , had made way with both of the girls. These people were arrested In Oregon and brought to San Antonio, Tex., for trial on a charge of murder. It being be lieved that that was the city in which the girls had met their end. At least that was the last place at which they were seen alive, and the Inneses were living there at the time. “Victor Innes was put on trial in San Antonia but the state was unable to con ’ vict him of murder for the reason that it was impossible tft produce the bodies or any portion of the bodies of the girls. The Texas law requiring that such proof of death must be supplied. “At the request of the widow Nelms, who was determined that the Inneses should not go scot-free. Mr. Dtfrsey, then ' the solicitor general of the Atlanta clr * cult, obtained an indictment charging them with larceny after trust, conclusive evidence being at hand that Innes had swindled o®«! of the girls out of large sums of money. "The Inneses resisted extradition to Georgia an dtook out a habeas corpus writ which finally got to the supreme court of the United States It was then that the widow Nelms, this distressed, heart-broken woman, who had practically i beggared herself in her efforts to locals her daughters and to bring to justice those whom she believed to be responsi ble rfor their disappearance, went to Mr. Dorsey and asked his aid in getting them back to Georgia. “Mr. Dorsey, who now poses as the I great defender of women, very promptly J informed her that he would take the case !fcr *l.o*o. He exacted of this widow 3300 in cash and took a mortgage on her little remaining property for the re . maining 3300. This mortgage is on rec ord in the office of the clerk of the su l«erior court of Fulton county and can be seen by any person who cares to look for it. “Mr. Dorsey's action in accepting this fee was not only contrary to all prece dents of solicitor generals in this state, but was illegal. I dare say there is not a solicitor general in this state who has been in office for any length of time who has not gone into other states to repre- BRITISH SIGNAL HORN SHRIEKS WARNING IS SUBMARINE IS SEEN Undersea Craft Sighted Off Coast of Maine Is Believed: to Have Been Long-Expect ed Bremen (By Associated Brest.) MACHIASPORT. Me., Aug. 7.—Cap tain Small, of the Cross island coast guard station, reported today that his station had sighted a large submarine bound west. Its nationality could not be determined, but the captain said he had no. doubt It was an undersea craft. The submarine was coming to the surface when It was sighted and after running awash fifteen minutes again submerged. It was thought that the vessel might be the German submarine Bremen. So far as can be learned there are no United States submarines on the Maine coast. The lookout who sighted the subma rine later said that he picked the vessel up in clear weather five miles to the southeast. As the vessel came to the surface the lookout said he heard sev eral blasts from the signal horn at the lighthouse on Seal island, a British pos session. It is believed that the keeper of the lighthouse was signaling to the keeper at Gra*nd Manan light, also British owned. that a submarine had been sighted. Immediately after the whistle sounded the submarine submerged. A few min utes later a haze set in and it was im possible to see more than four miles off Cross island. Lowell W. Dunn, the lookout on Cross island, later reported that he had sight ed a second submarine considerably smaller than the first one. Cross island lies close to the Maine coast. If the vessel was the Bremen she was either off her course or had chosen to come in close to the enemy’s country in order to arrive sooner within the three-mile limit. Her course would bring her within the three-mile limit soon after she was sighted, and from then on she would have plenty of water to permit her to keep within the neutral ’.one. Naval Officers Think Boat Deutschland or Bremen WASHINGTON. Aug. I.—Navy of ficers said today no American subma rines were known to be anywhere in the vicinity of Cross island. They thought the boat sighted there might be the German merchant submersible Deutschland on her homeward voyage, or her sister ship, the Bremen, bound in for the United States. sent Georgia in the extradition of per sons charged with crime in this state. While solicitor general of the Ocmulgea circuit I made frequent trips into a num ber of staes to have criminals brought back here for trial, and neither I nor any other solicitor general that I know of. except Mr. Dorsey, ever accepted either a fee or expense money for this serv ice. We did it because It was our duty to do it. “The only defense which I have seen that Mr. Dorsey offers for accepting the widow Nelms’ money is in the shape of a letter, signed by Marshall Nelms, her son. in which it is said that he and his mother agreed with Mr. Dorsey on a sat isfactory sum for his expenses and time. Marshall Nelms was employed in the of fice of Mr. Dorsey and it is not it all remarkable that Dr. Dorsey was able to obtain this letter from him. “To perform the service necessary for the extradition of the Inneses, Mr. Dor sey had to make a trip to Washington and also to make an argument before the supreme court. Not over five days, at the most, should have been required for this trip and argument in the supreme court. Therefore even if it were legal it would seem that Mr. Dorsey exacted a pretty stiff fee from the widow Nelms for expenses and time. “But this isn’t the worst of it. Seven other separate Indictments, which he had drawn against the Inneses, after his arrangement for the fee with the widow Nelms, were thrown out by the court because of the fact that the so licitor. who was to prosecute the In neses. had accepted this money from the prosecutors. it turns out that In nes, popularly supposed to be the mur derer of the Nelms girls, could only be tried on the original indictment and could only be given a sentence of seven years’ imprisonment, whereas liaA the other seven indictments been allowed to stand it would have been possible for him to have been given penalties aggregating about fifty years.” Mr. Pottle renewed his attacks on Mr. Dorsey for his alleged inconsistent and insincere position on the matter of ex ecutive clemency. He said that Mr. Dorsey, in his platform, declared against the granting of executive clemency in any case unless new and controlling evidence had been discovered, which if available at the time would have changed the verdict of the jury. He then read extracts from a number of letters written by Mr. Dorsey while solicitor general to the prison commlsj ston and the governor, urging pardon, paroles and commutations. “In none of these cases,” said Mr. Pottle, "was there any new evidence. Jr. one case, that of a notorious high-, wayman. who had been sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary, Mr. Dorsey asked the governor to pardon him, because he (Dorsey) entertained .some doubt as to the correctness of the jury's verdict, and for the reason that the highwayman belonged to one of the first families of Georgia and he i Dorsey) had attended college with the highwayman's first cousin.” Mr. Pottle then cited a number of other cases in which Mr. Dorsey had recommended clemency with no greater basis or justification. ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY. AUGUST 8, 1916. ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH! I " X * J?. - j iLI LEGISLATURE i If LsaU I GEORGIA -SSMk CHILD LiDOfl LEGISLITION ITTICIED OVERMAN Senator Asserts States, Not Congress, Have Power to * Act on Question (By Associated Press.) WASHINGTON, Aug. L —Proposed child labor legislation should be sub mitted to the states in the form of a constitutional amendment, declared Sen ator Overman in a speech in the senate today in opposition to the child labor bill. He said congress had no consti tutional authority to enact such a law. “For a hundred years or more it was almost universally considered that no legislation could be enacted which was not authorized by the constitution,” said Senator Overman. “Now with many it seems to be the theory that anything not forbidden by the constitution can be enacted. That clause of the consti tution which says all power not granted by the constitution is reserved to the people is regarded lightly, and is void of meaning. , “If this legislation is constitutional, Mr. President, there will be nothing left of the rights of states, but there will be an absolute absorption of the police powers of the forty-eight sovereign com monwealths, and there will be no barrier in the way of centralization of all power in Washington, to which goal we are now rapidly drifting.” Senator Overman declared that the ul timate purpose of the measure, under the guise of regulating commerce, was to regulate production in the manufac ture and the mills in the country. “It is indirectly to do what you cannot do directly,” he continued. “It is to put a state under duress and compel it to do that which some states have done in order to have uniformity. POWER OF STATES. "As congress has the exclusive power over interstate commerce, so the state has the exclusive power to control its own domestic and internal affairs, and it should be permitted to do so without question. “Let the powers enumerated in the constitution remain limited; the reserve power in the people remain undisturbed; let the integrity and autonomy of the states be upheld; encourage state pride. Centralization w-ould be a constant me nace to the liberties of the people, breed ing corruption and oppression. These reserved powers are in the people of the states. It Is theirs to hold, it is theirs to surrender; but when once surrendered it can never be regained. “J say, with a great judge who wrote It, that th*at government is the best which, while performing all its duties, interferes the least with the lawful pur suits of the people.” Senator Overman submitted statistics to support his contention that fewer Children were committed to jails and workhouses in North Carolina than in states where stringent child labor laws were enforced. Statistics for 1910, he said, showed that only 15 children in 100,000 between 14 and 16 years of age in North Carolina were committed to jails or workhouses as compared with SAVANNAH RECALL SILL MIL SOME UP FRIOAV Resolution Is Offered in House to Make This Measure a Special Order The Savannah recall bill, which has precipitated one ot the bitterest fights of the session of the legislature, prob ably will go to a vote in the house this week. Representative Shelby Myrick, of Chatham county, author of the house bill, introduced a resolution Monday morning to make the bill a special order Friday. The resolution was referred to the rules committee. It is confidently expected by Repre sentative Myrick that his colleague from Chatham county, Representative Herman Shuptrine. who is a member of the rules committee, will induce the committee to place the Savannah re call bill on the calendar. COMMITTEE IS NAMED. Up to Wednesday all special orders fixed by the committee must be sub mitted to the house and be approved by a three-fourths vote. But after Wednesday the rules committee will be in supreme command of the calendar of the house, under a standing rule which places the calendar in the hands of the committee during the last seven days. Should the house pass the Savannah recall bill, Senator Lawrence, of Savan nah, will undertake, to pass the house bill as a substitute’for the senate bill which was laid on the table last week. The house at the morning session Monday passed a bill appropriating SIOO,OOO to build a new dormitory and administration building at the state normal school at Athens. A resolution was Introduced in the house by Representative Taylor, of Mon roe, leader of the fight in the house to repeal the tax equalization law, to make the senate bill repealing the law a special order. The resolution was re ferred to the rules committee. 279 in Massachusetts, 199 in Rhode Is land and 122 in Missouri. Senator Fletcher announced he would not vote for the bill because he was con vinced the states should deal with the question. Florida had good child labor laws, he said, and he did not want them interfered with by federal inspectors. Senator Bryan, of Florida, deno-unced the bill as dishonest legislation, saying the effort to deal with hours of labor in |he states indirectly through control of commerce was a tacit confession of the lack of control of conditions of labor and an improper assumption of the rights of the states. Messages urging the passage of th? bill were received by Senator Kern from Charles W. Eliot, Rabbi Stephen Wise and Dr. Lyman Abbott and were read in» to the record. ‘Tn view' of the coming election,’’ Dr. Eliot write, “I think it would be unwise to postpone the passage of the bill until December. The Democratic party needs the suport in November of the numerous Republicans and Progressives who are interested in its passage.” SENATE DEFERS ACTION DN NOTE Os FELDER S Privilege Resolution of Sen ator Minter Is Indefinite ly Postponed The state senate Monday afternoon just prior to adjournment voted to in definitely postpone action on a privilege resolution by Senator Minter, of the Twenty-fourth, requesting that Senator Pickett, of the Forty-first, file with the senate the alleged insulting note delivered to him Thursday by a page for Thomas B- Felder, “that such action thereon may be taken as seems befit ting the dignity of this body." Introducting the resolution, Senator ,Minter stated that the action of Mr. Felder during the debate on the Sa vannah recall bill came under the head of contempt, but that as the time before adjournment sine die was so short it would not be practicable for the body to take such action. ”l" do think, however,” said Senator Minter, “that this body should go on record as taking some action in tne matter and it is for that reason that I have introduced the resolution before you.” Senator Boykin, of the Seventeenth, speaking in opposition to the resolu tion, declared that the senate should lef the matter drop inasmuch as the senate had gone on record la®t Friday as emphatically denying that the stab bing of Mr. Felder had anything to do with the Savannah recall* bill debate and because the senator from the Forty frrst was “too noble a man to allow himself to be dragged into the slime of insult." The _ attack of Mr. Felder, he concluded, was beneath any senator’s notice. The motion to indefinitely postpone was made by Senator Pickett, of the Eleventh. The vete was 16 to 8, a bare quorum voting. PRECIPITATED BY WALKER. The introduction of the resolution was precipitated by a point of personal priv ilege which Senator Walker, of the Twentieth, made during the morning. He explained to the senate that his in terest in the matter was not personal in the least, but that he thought that senate should take cognizance of any attempt from the outside to molest any member of its body. , He stated that he had in fact pre pared a motion requesting Senator Ros coe Pickett to produce the note which it -is claimed Thomas B. Felder sent to him during the session Thursday, but that on a request from Senator Pickett himself, who stated that the matter was one personal to him and one which he wanted to deal with as such, he put the motion in his desk and took no further action on it. The press reports stating that he would introduce such a resolution Mon day has compelled him to make the per- (Continued on Page 6, CoL 2.) NUMBER 88. RUSSIANS PRESSING OFFENSIVE AGAINST TEUTONS IN GALICIA Czars - Troops Are Nearing Lemberg and the Entire Austrian Front Is Rapidly Being Outflanked (By Associated Press.) WASHINGTON, Aug. 7. —General Brussiloff is pressing his offensive against the Teutonic allies in northern Galicia where the passage of the River Sereth was recently forced by the Rus sians along a wide front sbuth of Brody. Petrograd today reports further advances with the capture of strongly fortified positions along the Sereth and the Gra berka. The Russian forward push in this sector is not only bringing them closer to Lemberg but is pointed out by mili tary critics as likely seriously to en danger the entire Austrian front along the Stripa. to the south, which is rapid ly being outflanked. Heavy fighting continues on the west ern front in the Verdun region. Ac cording to Paris, however, the Germans have been entirely unsuccessful in their efforts to regain ground lost in General Nivelle’s vigorous offensive last week. An attack on the Thiaumont wood is declared to have been checked by the French section barrier, while an assault in the Vaux-Chapitre woods was broken up by the artillery and machine guns. In the Somme region today’s Paris statement reports only artillery activity' which, however, was intense near Chaul nes, north of the river. British reports of the fighting east of the Suez canal, in Egypt, show a crushing defeat for the Turks, w’ho are said to have lost fully one-fourth of their effectives, which numbered some 14,000 men. The British took more than 3,100 prisoners. They are pursuing the Turks who al- x ready have been driven 18 miles into the desert. In the German East Africa the British have driven the Germans beyond the Central Railway line thus pressing them into a comparatively narrow area on the other side of which Portuguese forces from the neighboring colony of Portu guese East Africa are operating. Lon don dispatches report Premier Louis Botha, of the Union of South Africa, on the scene in anticipation that the operation of depriving the Germans of their last remaining colonial possession will soon be accomplished. Further Successes Are Claimed for Russians (By Associated Press.) PETROGRAD, Aug: 7.—(Via London.) Further successes for the Russians along the Sereth and Graberka rivers in northern Galicia south of Brody, were announced by the war office today. The Russians captured strongly fortified po sitions in the region of the villages of Zvyjin, Kostiniec and Reniuv. The statement follows: “A squadron of seven enemy aero- I planes bombarded several points in the region east of the Stokhod river, caus ing but little damage. “At some places along the Stokhod the enemy took the offensive, but every where was repelled. Our offensive con tinues in the region of the Graberka and Sereth rivers. Our troops captured strongly fortified positions of the en emy In the vicinity of the villages of Zvyjin, Kostiniec and Reniuv. Fierce bayonet encounters took place <n tho woods in this region. The enemy made counter attacks. Engagements are pro ceeding under difficulties owing to un interrupted rains having reduced the soil almost to a morass. “On Riven Koroplec the enemy launched several energetic attacks in the region of Velesnuk. AU were re pelled and the enemy suffered severe losses. “On the River Tchernoitcheremoch. south of Vorokhta, the enemy succeeded in forcing back our cavalry outposts a little distance.” Russians Pressing on In Northern Galicia (By Associated Press.) LONDON, Aug. 7.j—Tn northern Gali cia the Russians have struck another hard blow at the Teutonic allies and occupied along the Sereth and Graberki. rivers, south of Brody, six villages and the entire ridge on which they are lo cated. Furious fighting marked the engage ment. the Russians being forced in the villages to drive their adversaries from house to house. The Austro-Germans. at last reports, were bombarding vio lently their lost positions. In the fighting the Russians cap tured a regimental commander and 1-10 other officers and more than 5,500 men and also took numerous machine guns _ and bomb throwers. Berlin admits that the Russians nave gained the left bank of the Sereth river, but asserts that the Russians have been driven from positions along the Stokhod river, south of -Zarecze. and that Jn the Carpathians the Ger mans are still operating successfully. VICTORY' OVER'TURKS. in Asiatic Turkey the Russians re port the capture at various places of new Turkish positions. In the Kial kit-Cha river basin positions protected by five lines of trenches were wrested from the Turks, while south of Erzln gan and west of the village of Ognut additional trenches and two heights were captured. In the region of Mush and Bitlis, the Turks have assumed (Continued on Page 6, Col. 1.)