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VOL. XXVII.
W. B. KENT DISBARRED
FROM PRACTICE IN
COURTS OF GEORGIA
PROCEEDINGS WHICH HAVE BEEN PENDING
FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS BROUGHT
TO CLOSE BY GEORGIA SUPREME COURT
—HISTORY OF FAMOUS CASE NEXT WEEK.
We give below a few clipplings
from the state press as to the de
cision of the Georgia Supreme
Court in the Kent case, the inci
dent having been published by
papers all over the state. Inas
much as none of the published
statements cover the facts in the
case, and in response to a popu
lar demand for reliable informa
tion, we will give next week a
complete statement of the case
as shown by the records of Mont
gomery superior court, for the
benefit of all parties interested.
(FROM SAVANNAH NEWS)
KENT LOSES FIGHT,
REMAINS DISBARRED
Montgomery County Man
Can’t Practice in
Georgia.
Atlanta, June 12. William B.
Kent, representative from Mont
gomery county, must remain de
barred from practice in the courts
of Georgia under a decision of
the Supreme Court rendered to
day, sustaining the finding of
Montgomery Superior Court.
Kent was prosecuted by five
prominent attorneys in that sec
tion of the state, J. B. Geiger, A.
C. Saffold, Eugene Talmadge, W.
M. Lewis and L. C. Underwood.
Kent was charged with having
hidden the original papers in a
suit in which he was counsel, for
a period of three months in order
to delay the trial. It also was
charged that he changed original
court records, in order to obtain
a more favorable judgment for
his client.
Kent formerly was a star play
er on the Georgia football team.
(FROM ATLANTA GEORGIAN)
Ruling Against Montgomery
County Attorney A.nd
Legislator Permanent.
William B. Kent, member of
the state legislature from Mont
gomery county and former foot
ball star at the University of
Georgia, today was permanently
disbarred by the supreme court
from the practice of law in Geor
gia.
The high court, in dismissing
Kent’s appeal in point of fact,
affirmed the decision of the su
perior court of Montgomery coun
ty which adjuged Kent guilty of
unprofessional tactics in hiding
papers from the Montgomery
county courts and arranging court
records to aid his clients.
Action for disbarment in Mont
gomery county was brought
against Kent by five of the most
prominent attorneys in that sec
tion of the state—J. B. Geiger,
A. C. Saffold, Eugene Talmadge,
W. M. Lewis and L. C. Under
wood. They had been associated
in a suit in which Kent hid papers
to delay trial.
An array of Montgomery county
attorneys appeared against Kent
in the supreme court. The legis
lator defended himself, aided only
by W. W. Bennett. The lawyers
who acted against Kent in the
supreme court were Eschol Gra
ham, F. H. Saffold, E. J. Giles
and W. C. Davis.
The record of the case shows
that Kent, while defending a cli
ent in suit involving money, de
liberately hid the original papers
i from the court for three months
to obtain. a delay of the trial.
Later, in the same case, it was
discovered he had been guilty of
changing the court records to ob
tain a more favorable judgment
for this same client.
•Kent, who, with Representa
tive Threat Mogre of Butts coun
ty and Sandy Beaver of Stone
Mountain, formed for two years
a star trio on the University of
Georgia football team, attracted
considerable attention in the state
legislature last summer in an at
tempt to establish a new county
created from a portion of Mont
gomery, to be known as Kent
county. The county was to be
named in honor of Kent’s father,
he said, but he usually grinned
when he was accused of trying
to name a county after himself.
(FROM MACON TELEGRAPH)
KENT LOSES.
Atlanta, Ga., June 12. Dis
barment of Representative Wil
liam B. Kent, of Mount Vernon,
Montgomery county, from the
practice of law, was in effect af
firmed by the supreme court to
■ day in dismissing his writ of er
ror in that tribunal.
Charges were preferred against
Representative Kent on the
ground that he canceled certain
papers in a suit in which he was
interested and in a trial before
Judge Ben Conyers, of Bruns
wick, his disbarment resulted.
He appealed to the ’supreme
court, and that action there in
dismissing the case leaves the
verdict in the lower court of ef
fect.
Representative Kent, was rep
resented by W. W. Bennett,
while Eschol Graham, F. H. Saf
fold, E. J. Giles and W. C. Davis
appeared against him.
Mr. Kent is one of the most
famous football players ever
turned out in the University of
Georgia. - He was admitted to be
one of the best all round athletes
in the history of that institution,
being as proficient in baseball
and other athletics as in foot
ball. Threatt Moore, now in the
legislature from Butts county,
and Hatten Lovejoy, present
representative from Troup were
other famous members of the
same football team with Repre
sentative Kent, who was captain
of the team.
Representative Kent*worked at
the last session of the legislature
to get through a bill creating the
new county of Kent, named in
honor of his father.
(FROM ATLANTA JOURNAL)
KENT’S DISBARMENT
STAYS UNDISTURBED
Supreme Court Dismisses
Writ of Error Filed By
Montgomery County
Lawyer.
So far as the supreme court of
Geogia is concerned the action of
the superior court of Montgom
ery county in disbarring from the
i practice of law W. B. Kent, mem
ber of the legislature from that
county, stands undisturbed.- The
higher court Wednesday morning
dismissed the writ of error upon
which the case was brought to
] its attention.
Representative Kent was dis
barred for alleged unprofessional
practice, it .being charged that
he held out records and doctored
documents in certain petty cases
pending before a justice of the
peace in Montgomery county.
Mr. Kent is well known
throughout Georgia. During his
college days he was one of the
star athletes of the University of
: Georgia, it having been declared
of him that he was the greatest
ball player developed by the uni
versity in the past generation.
MT. VERNON, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 1912.
1)R. J. H. IT ARTHUR
GOES TO REWARD
President of Mount Vernon
Bank—Was Leading-
Citizen.
Dr. J. Henry McArthur, one of
i Montgomery county’s best known
! citizens, died at his home at
Longpond Monday morning at an
early hour, after a continued ill
ness. Dr. McArthur was fifty
years of age, and a man of large
estates. He has been president
of the Mt. Vernon Bank since its
organization eleven years ago.
By honest endeavor, he had ac
cumulated wealth, having en
gaged in the timber and turpen
tine business for many years. He
farmed on a large scale, and the
I result of his efforts on this line
have been examples to the farm
ers of the county, having many
years ago adopted improved
forms of cultivation.
Dr. McArthur graduated from
the Augusta Medical College in
1884, and successfully praticed
his profession until some two
years ago, when ill health over
took him. He is survived by his
wife, a daughter of the late Dr.
J. E. Mobley, and a son and a
daughter, Miss Louise McArthur
and J. Herman McArthur. He
was a son of the late John W.
McArthur, and brother of Mes
srs. W. T. McArthur of Mc-
Gregor, F. F. McArthur of Long
pond and B. A. McArthur and
Mrs. Ada Peterson of Vidalia.
His step-mother, Mrs. John W.
McArthur, lives at Ailey.
While a man of a very unas
suming nature, Dr. McArthur
was a valuable citizen. As a mem
ber of the Bajtist church, he
contributed largely to the up
building of the Union Baptist
Institute, while many other
worthy institutions found him a
liberal helper.
The funeral service was con
ducted by Dr. J. G. Brewton of
the Baptict church, and remains
were laid to rest in Dead River
cemetery Tuesday afternoon, at
tended by a large number of ael
atives and friends. Many at
tended from Mt. Vernon.
General News Items
Told in Short Meter.
A passenger train of the Cen
tral of Georgia road ran into a
string of coal cars at Everett’s
on Friday last, and nineteen per
sons were badly injured.
S. D. Warfield, who recently
bought control of the Seaboard
Air Line road has come South to
make the road “wholly a South
ern road, operated by Southern
men in the interest of the South.”
I)r. W. J. McNaughton, sen
tenced to hang for the murder of
Fred Flanders in Emanuel coun
ty, has made his last plea for
life in an extraordinary motion
for a new trial before the State
Supreme Court.
Mrs. Harriet McFarland, a
lady weighing less than eighty
pounds, of Pittsburg, gave birth
to three boys on Monday.
John Wallace, a negro convict
heavily shackled, jumped into a
sewer m Atlanta Monday morn
ing. The tunnel is two miles in
length, and the man will hardly
get out alive.
(FROM VALDOSTA TIMES;
W. B. Kent Disbarred.
Atlanta, Ga., June 13. The
supreme court of Georgia has
permanently disbarred from the
practice of law in this state Wil
liam B. Kent, member of the
state legislature from Montgom
ery county, and formerly a foot
ball star at the University of
Georgia. The charge was that
he hid court papers to benefit his
clients.
It was specifically charged
that the suit involved money and
that Kent deliberately hid the
original papers and kept them
hid for fully three months.
ARRESTED ON WARRANT
OVER A YEAR OLD
Montgomery Man In Toils
On Several Charges In
Savannah.
Dismissed on an array of char
ges, chief of which was threat
ening to shoot J. J. Bush, a fel
low excursionist, during an al
tercation at the Union Station
Sunday night, J. W. Register of
Kibbee, Ga., found himself by no
means out of the toils yesterday.
Rather he was rearrested and is
now held on a warrant a year
old that charges him with cheat
ing and swindling by passing a
worthless check on Mikel Broth
ers.
Register was arrested at, that
time and arraigned before Re
corder Schwarz. Putting up a
plea of repentance and promising
to make good the check, he was
let oil’ and returned to his home.
Nothing more was heard from
him, it is said, until he was ar
rested Sunday. His failure to
make good will have to be ex
plained to the Recorder.- Savan
nah News.
Dr. J. Waldo Alexander
Dies Suddenly.
Dr. J. Waldo Alexander, a
prominent young physician of
Reidsville, son of Dr. O. L.
Alexander, died quite suddenly
there on Saturday morning last.
He had just cranked his car pre
paratory to taking his father to
ride and stepped in when he fell
unconscious, and died before
physicians could arrive. He was
only 24 years old, and married,
and a graduate of John Hopkin’s
Institute, Baltimore. He was a
nephew of Mrs. S. B. Morris of
Mt. Vernon, who attended the
funeral at Reidsville.
Bessie Metz, a 14-year-old or
! phan, tried to poisorl officers and
'patients of the Griffin hospital
i Monday by putting strychnine in
! the milk. She said it was done
! because the superintendent had
j reprimanded her.
Carl Eubanks of Oconee was
run over and killed by a freight
train there on Monday evening.
His body was knocked some dis
tance from the track.
Several newspaper men will go
to Baltimore from Georgia on the
special train leaving for the con
vention from Atlanta next Sunday
morning.
John 11. Gardner, who recently
moved from North Carolina to
Americus has been arrested and
j jailed on complaint made by his
19-year-old daughter.
Rev. W. S. Harden, in charge
of the Presbyterian church at
j Cordele, tells the men of his con
gregation to pu 11 off their coats
ias they enter the church during
j the heated term.
Mrs. Julia Clark of Denver,
I who was to give flying exhibi
tions at Springfield, 111., on Fri
! day, fell from her aeroplane into
a treetop Monday night and
was killed.
George Kelley, aged 20, com
mitted a criminal assault on his
grand-mother, aged 73, at Jeffer
jsonville, Ind., and then murder
ed her. Then he was surrounded
by a posse, he took poison and
died.
Urglerwood will be placed in
nomination at Baltimore by Hon.
W. B. Bankhead of Alabama,
and then seconded by Hon. J.
Randolph Anderson of Georgia.
Mr. Anderson was a classmate of
Mr. Underwood.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
CUTS A FIGURE IN
G. O. P. CONVENTION
MOUNT VERNON POSTOFFICE APPOINTMENT
IS CONSIDERED BY THE G. O. P. LEADERS
WHILE GEORGIA NEGRO DELEGATES ARE
WHIPPED INTO LINE BY TAFT FORCES.
As mentioned in our editorial
notes, old Montgomery county is
getting a big share of notoriety
this week. She may not make
the right kind of a noise, but it
is a loud one just the same. Our
readers have the right to know
what the outside world is saying
about us, and we give some ex
tracts from the daily press about
the big Republican convention in
Chicago. The Atlanta Journal
had this:
Signed For Roosevelt.
J. 11. Boone, who is postmaster
of Ilazlehurst, Jell' Davis county,
witnessed the signed statement
renouncing Taft. It is his pres
ent purpose to support Roosevelt
under certain conditions, but il
would be a mistake to list him as
a bolter right now. He is liable
to get back on the Taft reserva
tion at any time, lie wants a
winner first of all, and if he can
be shown that Taft is the mar*
be will stay ‘put’ for Taft all
right.
S. S. Mincey, a negro delegate
from the 12t,h district who also
signed the statement, declares
that he did so with the under
standing that it would not be used
unless all the delegates agreed
to bolt. He asserts this morning
that he is for Taft. Notwith
standing the claims and counter
claims, the charges and counter
charges, the situation In refer
ence to Georgia delegation is un
certain and unsettled. You can
hear all sorts of gossip and talk
about what the result will be.
The Georgia leaders are undoubt
edly scared. They do not know
what will happen. They profess
confidence in the regularity of
all the delegates, but they admit
privately that the negroes are
not to he relied upon.
The statement credited to the
Georgia delegates bore the signa
tures of three white men and two
negroes. The white men are
Glark Grier, whose wife is post
mistress at Dublin; J. H. Boone,
postmaster at Ilazlehurst; and .J.
Eugene Peterson of Fort Gaines.
The negroes are J. C. Styles of
Dawson and S. S. Mincey of
Ailey, Montgomery county.
Along with the statement by
the Georgians was an interview
with Clark Grier, who was the
only one of the live whose names
are signed to the statement who
reached Chicago on yesterday.
There wes a slight discrepancy
between Grier’s interview and
the signed statement given out
by the Roosevelt folks. Grier
claimed that at least six Geor
gians had decided to holt Taft
and vote for Roosevelt, and the
statement boro the signature of
only five. The sixth man named
by Grier was A. N. Fluker, a ne
gro of Argyle, Clinch county.
Grier Gives Interview.
Clark Grier’s interview, which
was furnished to the press by the
Roosevelt publicity director is as
follows:
“There are 11 counties in my ■
congressional district,” said Mr.;
Grier, “and I have received from!
the various district chairmen a
statement that the sentiment in
my district is so overwhelmingly
for Col. Roosevelt that they de
clare that I should do all in my
power to assist in the nomination
of Col. Roosevelt. These direc
tions for Col. Roosevelt are not
only binding upon me, but also
upon S. S. Mincey, who is a del
egate with me. We will follow
them. Similar directions have
been given to J. H. Boone and
A. M. Fluker, from the Eleventh
congressional district, and to J.
Eugene Peterson and J. C. Styles
of the Third Congressional dis
trict.
“1 am going to vote for Col.
Roosevelt despite the fact that
Henry S. Jackson, who has been
the representate of Private Sec
retary Ililles in Georgia in Geor
gia, has declared to Harry Still
well Edwards of Macon and other
people in Georgia that he has in
iiis possession an order for the
j removal of my wife, Mrs. Grier,
as postmistress of my home town,
Dublin, and also desbite the fact
that we have just received notice
| that the long delayed appoint
l ment of Mr. Mcßae as postmaster
|at Mt. Vernon, in Mr. Mincey’s
county, has been made. This is
done to satisfy Mr. Mincey and
get his vote for Mr. Taft. Thev
have been delaying this appoint
ment on the ground that Collier’s
Weekly has been aiming such an
expose at the use of patronage in
the South that it would be unwise
to appoint Mr. Mcßae until after
the national convention. Since
they have learned that the Roose
! velt sentiment in Georgia could
I not be suppressed, however, they
are not so fearful about the es-
I'ectof Mr. Mcßae’s appointment.
Hence they make it now at the
eleventh hour. I am going to
vote for Mr. Roosevelt, even
though Mrs. Grier may be de
posed as postmistress, and Mr.
Mincey proposes to vote for Mr.
Roosevelt even though Mr. Mo-
Rue’s appointment be with
drawn.”
Going Home Rich.
A strong editorial l>y John
Temple Graves in the Atlanta
Georgia, says in part:
Somebody—ln fact, several
somebodies who are now no
bodies—are going home from this
convention rich. Let us consider,
then, the (S 8 negro votes, because
they are racial and distinct.
There is a very remerkable fact
outside of money in connection
with the (IS citizens of the negro
race. It is a fact which may be
swung into an enormous and con
trolling influence upon their bal
lots and upon the final issue.
For the first time in the his
tory of American political par
ties, the negro race through these
(>M delegates holds the balance of
power and can control the nomi
nation of a possible president of
the United States.
Don’t you see then that with
the eager ambitions and inspired
aspirations of a struggling race,
this condition may be swung by
the consummate political skill of
Roosevelt into an irresistible ap
peal to the negro to make history
for himself to make a president
and thereby to exercises more
control upon the presidential
power than the negro had hoped
to do in a half century.
Rut do not for one moment for
get that the money argument —
gold and glittering from SI,OOO
or $5,000 or even to SIO,OOO, will
be held straight arid shining
against the face of every dele
gate, white or black, who can be
secured in no other way.
The Big Republican
Convention Is On.
We go to press too early to give
much of the big G. O. P. conven
tion, now on in Chicago. In the
organization Tuesday, the Taft
forces won over the Roosevelt
crowd in electing Elihu Root
temporary chairman by a vote
of 558 to 502. The Georgia dele
gation gave Root 22 and Francis
E. McGovern, f Roosevelt’s
choice) six votes. The colored
Georgia delegates voted for
Root, thus standing by Taft.
The severe fight over the con
tested delegations came on yes
terday, but indications are that
Taft’s steam roller will do effect
ual flattening.
NO. 9.
