Newspaper Page Text
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VOL. XXVIII.
Mr. Johnson Asks
For an Explanation
PEOPLE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY AROUSED OYER
SECRET PLANS TO DIVIDE REMNANT OF COUNTY
TO PAY POLITICAL DEBT. NEW METHODS USED.
Mr. Johnson Explains.
Atlanta, July 19, 1913.
Mr. H. B. Folsom, Editor,
Montgomery Monitor, Mt. Ver
non, Ga.
My dear Sir:
I note in your last issue of The
Monitor an item, or a portion of
the same as refers to the bill I
have introduced in the House of
Representatives relative to Treut
len County, with Soperton as the
County site, you stating “That
the first official act of mine was
to introduce a bill creating said
county from the remnants left of
Montgomery county,” stating
“that it is claimed by my friends
that this was one of my campaign
pledges while it was not publicly
stated by me during the cam
paign.”
Now, in justice to myself as
well as some of the citizens of
Mt. Vernon, Soperton and other
parts of Montgomery county, beg
to say that it was publicly stated
by myself and concurred in by a
number of the citizens of Mt.
V- rnon at Soperton on the day
of the picnic or rally at that place
during the campaign last sum
mer. Further, there was a pub
lic meeting held at Mt. Vernon
just prior to that at Soperton in
which a number of the citizens
of Mt. Vernon assured the people
of the territory to he effected,
that there would be no fight or
resistance on the part of Mt.
Vernon or any other section of
Montgomery County as far as
they could avert. I then agreed
to introduce and work for the
passage of such a Bill and intend
to keep my pledge so far as I am
able, believing it to be the only
honorable thing to do.
I trust that you will see fit to
give this space in youi next issue
for which please accept my
thanks in advance, I am
Yours very truly.
J. C. Johnson.
Must tell the People.
The above letter by Mr. J. C.
Johnson is published not only in
accordance with the request
therein contained, but by a ver
bal request made by Mr. Johnson
in person. In reply we would
gladly have spared the aged rep
resentative some exposures we
are compelled to make of his acts
and the remarkable attitude he
bears to the people of his native
county who sent him to the legis
lature.
A part of this letter was fully
fully answered in this paper of
the 10th inst, and Mr. Johnson’s
statemenc before the picnic at
Soperton fully explained. Our
words in regard to publicity of
the matter had reference to the
fact that Mr. Johnson had NOT
intimated in his PUBLISHED
platform that he would work for
a further division of Montgomery
county.
In the only published state
ment you made, Mr. Johnson, on
July 11, 1912, in this paper these
two paragraphs appear:
“I am running as a farmer
and an honest man, and need
no more solid platform. The
The record of my entire life
has been made in your midst.
My only absence from Mont
gomery county was occa
sioned bv several years of
service as a Confederate sol
dier.” * * *
“The eyes of Georgia have
been fixed upon your county, -
but not by any act of mine.
A matter of principle is in
volved in the selection of
your your representative,
and your vote must help to
build up public respect for
your county’s interest and
moral standing, or be thrown
away in senseless factional
ism and strife.”
Before we get through, Mr.
Johnson, Montgomery county
people will know just how near
you have lived up to your pub
lished statements. It is our plain
duty as the county paper to give
the actual facts in the matter,
notwithstading the fact that we
have often refrained from giving
publicity to things purely in the
interest of peace and harmony.
Had Gagged the “Ring.”
In your letter above you state,
“there was a public meeting held
in Mt. Vernon just prior to that
held at Soperton in which a num
ber of the citizens of Mt. Vernon
assured the people of the terri
tory to be effected that there
would be no fight or resistance on
the part of Mt. Vernon or any
other section of Montgomery
county so far as they could
avert.” As a matter of fact,
Mr. Johnson, NO SUCH PUBLIC
MEETING WAS EVER HELD
IN MT. VERNON. When SIX
men of Mt. Vernon met you in a
secret caucus in the presence of
a few men from Soperton, behind
closed doors and made a trade to
divide the remnant left of this
county to pay for your seat in
the legislature it was in no sense
a PUBLIC MEETING.
When Trade Was Made.
Public meetings are held in the
court house and the public has
some kind of notice to attend.
The people of Mt. Vernon, outside
of these men who met with you,
knew NOTHING of such a
scheme until quite l'ecently, and
your remarkable letter above will
result in finally letting the cat
out of the bag. It is fortunate
for you that this “public meet
ing” in the law office of Col. M.
B. Calhoun of this place was not
heard of until after the election,
: for instead of being elected by a
small majority you would have
been left at home by several
hundred votes. If you will come
to Mt. Vernon again and consult
these SIX men they will tell you
they were ACTING FOR THEM
SELVES and NOT for the people
of Mt. Vernon; and your ridicu
lous statement in your letter
above that they contracted with
you and your Soperton friends
that “there would be no fight or
resistance on the part of Mt.
Vernon OR ANY OTHER SEC
TION of Montgomery county so
far as could avert, ” comes
as perfectly astounding to several
hundred men who helped to put
you where you are. Your friends
here are wondering why you and
that “number of the citizens of
Mt. Vernon”—number SIX did
not create the county of Treutlen
and turn over the finished product
to the energetic business men of
Soperton, who are simply trying
to build a city at the expense of
the tax payers of this badly bur
dened county, and who are today
laughing in their sleeves at find
ing you and your SIX fellow
traders such an easy mark. You
had as much right to take away
the job from the legislature as
you had to SELL half the county
you are sent to represent, with
out a word from its tax payers.
Half Not Told.
But, as the Queen of Sheba
said when she beheld the glory
of Solomon, “the half has not
been told.” A few days ago Mr.
Johnson, before the House com
MT. VERNON, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JULY 24, 1913.
mittee on constitutional amend
mendments, when this matter
was called up out of its regular
order by a paid attorney for So
perton on the committee, you got
up and stated that you knew of
but one man opposed to the di
vision of the county—Wm. B.
Kent —now a citizen of another
county. After finding the stand
you had taken, and seeing by a
mere accident that you were will
ing to have the matter RUSHED
through without hearing from
the opposition, man> of the citi
zens of your county have signed
petitions against its division,
among them your own brother,
Hon. Peter Johnson, of your own
district.
Some Plain Facts.
If you are open to the PLAIN
TRUTH you can easily ascertain
; that hundreds of citizens of the
; territory which the Soperton peo
! pie are clamoring for are deci
dedly against the final disruption
of old Montgomery county, and
that almost every man in your
own end of the county has signed
petititions AGAINST its final
destruction as a county. You are
well aware, Mr. Johnson, that
outside of the fact that Soperton
business men are trying to build
up their town, and the further
fact that you are willing to carry
out your part of the scheme to
pay for your seat in the legisla
ture. the proposition to divide the
small strip of this county which
has already THREE TIMES
given up its territory,—first, to
help form Toombs county; sec-
I ond, to cut off the Normantown
district to Toombs county; third,
to form the ENTIRE county of
I Wheeler, —is preposterous in the
extreme.
The People Will Know.
Your plan of doing business
with a half dozen men behind
closed doors and expecting your
constituents to acquiesce in any
kind of a trade you may make
when all their rights are ignored,
might do all right enough in
Senegambia or some other Afri
can province, but you may rest
assured that the tax payers and
honest farmers of Montgomery
county, whose interests are at
stake will be heard from. And
you are further notified that
when the people are AROUSED
to the enormity of this scheme,
the whole state of Georgia will
be apprised of the real condition
of affairs here.
In all kindness and candor,
Mr. Johnson, we did all in our
power to help put you in the
Georgia legislature, and in com
mon with the humblest citizen
of your county, we have a right
to know how you are looking out
for our interests.
High Price for Seat.
A seat on the New York Stock
Exchange is worth anywhere
from SIOO,OOO to $200,000. If
you were to stay in the legisla
ture the balance of your life and
the sessions were to bold contin
ually, your services could not
possibly be worth the DAMAGE
you would do the small remnant
of old Montgomery to divide it
again into two small counties, the
weakest in the state, where taxes
must forever remain exorbitant.
The people you left outside of
your little six x six caucus are
A Few Questions.
neither slaves nor fools.
In behalf of the people who
are asking for the light to be
turned on, we respectfully pro
pound a few questions:
When you found that you were
not strong enough to win in the
race for representative, without
pledging away HALF of your
county, why didn’t you come
down and give your friends a
chance to put up a stronger man ?
What argument CAN you ad
vance for cutting off all of Mont
gomery county territory except a
bare fourth, beyond the desire
of Soperton to have it, and your
desire to FAY the debt you owe
them for your seat in the general
assembly?
Can Six Men Do It?
When did SIX men in Ml. Ver
non, or the whole of Mt. Ver
non, acquire the right to divide
up the territory of the county and
pledge that NO other section of
the county should say anything
against the scheme?
Have you ever told your col
leagues in the legislature that
Montgomery county has been
cut THREE times already and
that, the territory you propose to
leave has only 135 square miles
of land roturned on the tax di
' gest?
With Montgomery county prac
tically wiped off the mapof Geor
gia, what NEED have we for a
representative in the legislature?
Will you stand up in the legis
lature and tell its law makers
who rely upon your statements
that the story of Mt. Vernon’s
“public meeting” and the unan
imous endorsement of the people
of this new county scheme is a
FAKE pure and simple?.
Has not the towns of Alston,
Uvalda, Sharpe’s Spur, Charlotte,
Ailey and Longpond . about as
GOOD a title to the land and
people of this county as Soperton
and Mt. Vernon, and the SAME
right to a voice in county matters?
New Life Insurance
Agency Opens Here.
The advertisement of the Com
mercial Life Insurance & Casual
ty Co. appears in this issue, rep
resented by the Fred C. Wallis
Agency of Savannah as general
agents, with Mr. T. D. Boothe
of Mt. Vernon as local agent.
Mr. Boothe recently moved to
Mt. Vernon, and his success here
in writing life insurance has been
remarkable. Although corning
as a stranger in our midst, he
has kept things humming in the
insurance field, and his connec-,
tion with the Commercial Life
will add to his increasing busi
ness. Read the agency’s adver
tisement. You don’t have to see
Mr. Boothe—he will see you good
and strong.
Mr. Ricks Paralyzed.
Mr. West Ricks of this place,
residing with his son-in-law, Mr.
R. S. McLendon, suffered a slight
stroke of paralysis on Sunday
night, 13th inst., but rallied from
its effects. On Sunday night
last, while visiting his daughter,
Mrs. Gillis, near here, he had a
second attack. His right side is
paralyzed and his condition is
critical. Mr. Ricks is in his 83d
year, and is one of our most
highly respected and best known
citizens, and many will hear
with regret of his illness.
Notice.
One of the oldest Cotton Com
mission Houses in Georgia wishes
to arrange with one or more in
fluential citizens of Montgomery
County to canvass the County in
its interest. Will be pleased to
hear from parties prepared to
take up the question. Good
chance for a live worker. Address
“Cotton,” P. 0. Box No. 406,
Savannah, Ga. ad
EXPERT ROAD Bt 11.10
SENT BY GOVERNMENT
Montgomery County to Have
j_ Road Built by a
Road Expert.
Our County Commissioners,
through Col. W. L. Wilson, have
made application to the Depart
ment of Public Roads of the De
partment of Agricultural for an
expert road builder, and Senator
Hoke Smith and Congressman
Hughes have made application
for an expert to come here, and
their requests have been com
plied with. Mr. C. R. Thomas,
Highway Engineer, recently
engaged in Mississippi, has ar
rived, and is having the county
road force construct a sand-day
road from Mt. Vernon to the
Toombs county line, via Me Gre
gor. We will give the matter
more extended notice as the
work progresses.
Col. Wilson Replies.
Editor Montgomery Monitor:
I potiee in today’s papers
that Mr. W. B. Kent stated on
yesterday before the Senate Ju
diciary Committee, when they
were considering the bill intro
duced by his nephew, Mr. Kea,
to reinstate him to the practice
of law, that 1 had promised to
support this move, for his influ
ence in my behalf as a candidate
for the Legislature the next
time, from this county, I wish
to say is absolutely untrue. I
have never made any such state
ment, had never thought of such
an offer, and would not consider
such a proposition even if 1 was
certain that it would elect me!
without any opposition. 1 will
go further and say that Mr.
Thompson has never written
such a letter as this because he
and 1 have never discussed
Kent’s disbarment at any t ime.
This is just a repetition of his
old tricks, lb; could not show
the letter, and if he did ! am
satisfied that Thompson never
wrote it. While I have been
asked about the reinstatement of
Mr. Kent, and the merits of the
hill n ’ under consideration, I
have i. ver, at any time, lead
any one to believe that I would
favor any move that would put
him hack into the practice where
we would have the same acts to
contend with that we did before
his trial. As for my making the
race for the legislature, 1 have
not considered that at all, and if
I were to, it would take more
than his influence to elect me. I
hope that, no one in our county
will believe for a moment that I
would enter into any promise to
secure any part of his influence I
here. This July 22d, 1913.
W. L. Wilson.
•TTfVVTTTTTfTTTfTtVTTfTTTTTyfTfTTTfTTTTTTTTTTTTTfTfT
[ COMMERCIAL LIFE INSURANCE CO.
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£ the COMMERCIAL LIFE has steadily progressed, content
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t SAFETY—FIRST, LAST AND ALL THE TIME
► Financial Statement, Dec. 111, 1912, Shows:
t $6.49 in Available Assets for
l livery $l.o() of Liability to Policy
t Holders.
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r dence of the business and financial world, and are today giv
► ing this Company the benefit of their time and experience.
£ Naturally, it is taking its place as the foremost insurance
► Company of the South.
£ If you contemplate taking life insurance, you will do
£ yourself and family an injustice unless you let our agent ex
► plain our policies.
£ Mr. T. I). Boothe is our Local Agent for Mt. Vernon and
£ vicinity. When you see him, INSIST on his showing you our
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£ write us, and we will send him to see you.
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•AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA • AAAAAAaAAAAAAm.m.*AAAAAAAAa.
W. B. KENT IN
; THE LEGISLATURE
WOULD AGAIN PRACTICE LAW
Bill To Remove Disabilities
Calls Up Notorious
Case Again.
j W. B. Kent, who was disbarred
in 1910, is making an effort
through Senator Fred Kea of
Laurens to have the Legislature
remove his disabilities. A High
ly sensational hearing of the
matter was had before the Sen
ate Committee on the Judiciary
on Monday. Judge Eschol Gra
ham of Mcßae presented a peti
tion 'from the Oconee Bar As
sociation asking the general as
sembly to refuse to reinstate
Kent. In the 21 counts on which
Kent was convicted in Mont
gomery county of wilful miscon
duct were charges of defrauding
clients, altering court records,
abstracting and concealing court,
papers, procuring and using
fals- affidavits, and false swear
ing.
In his defense before the com
mittee Kent stated that the Bar
1 Association used 250 bottles of
beer at the barbecue when this
petition was drawn, that he
had a petition with 2,500 names
asking for his reinstatement,
that he would soon be judge of
the Oconee Circuit, denied that
he continued to practice law af
ter being disbarred. He made
j the startling statement that C.
F. Thompson had written him
“that W. L. Wilson a candidate
for the legislature next session,
would see to it that I was rein
stated to the bar if I would lend
him the Kent influence at the
next election.”
We quote above from report in
ihe Atlanta Constitution.
Meeting at Erick.
The meeting conducted at the
Presbyterian church at Erick by
l)r. A. L. Patterson of Black
shear came to a close Sunday
night. Rev. Chas. Montgomery
of this place is pastor of the
church at Erick, but was ably as
sisted by Dr. Patterson, who is
well known and beloved by the
people of this entire section. He
lms visited Mt. Vernon and other
points in this section, and is al
ways heard with interest. He is
a profound thinker and a man
endowed with real spiritual pow
er.
NO. 13.