Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, September 27, 1912, EXTRA 1, Page 3, Image 3

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A Searching Character Study of James L. Beavers---Fear less Chief of Police and Conscientious Man ‘'SCARECROWS” WILL NOT HAMPER REFORM MOVEMENT, HE DECLARES day I. ; jMg&ft: 'ww jmHKR| ; . •S W/ t xjggF/ ’x) ' , < ' / 7 iMOBiEiIiBBK ' z wb/ / ~ i * «\ \ \ > \ \ Ibc / rg«L* ®r- ■■l I «x»p \ \ «B y s _L__ —«ke. #****«/ Wi|ih Mfawmi wo «W-' Jk t\ \ V*Whi” .-aim *" ., - 11 ; RBI i h" \ WWX I <alMyW TaKsKRBF : - • ~ - W\ u o' rw//«z- ■ « iMKw jr 4' - Jr. ' Wb' ■ ''mSHHp // 'w f 1 11 w Rk ' // / jX®*-’’ -W- - S wt / / /// / 'St’’lbi / /// •' -* / -ww / / — X •wjv-'iit X^BMMEBMWBWWBIBMM^WwiMhrO^M^WW^MWW ? ~ >w ifllk I in » c - ' iwk whkH»>a »/ - "’' -Jlkllwf ' . \ WWW; C R'* V / jfcs ISI ''■■;v ' ' W rwSh 1 #* / Jb \ vu*.. • • k jliC,?\ JM A Chief .Tarncs L. Beavers in a happy mood. * “I'll Guarantee There Will Be No Disorderly Houses, Public or Private, in Any Part of rhe City, ’ Asserts Vice War Leader; “It’s the Men Hurt Financially Who Are Howling."’ I : By DUDLEY GLASS. Nine years ago this f:i.t th< football •earns of Georgia ana Auburn were playing a great game. Tin sc< re was . *l“<l the battle half over, when a Geor gia man. s’tCndilig under his uwn goal | posts, marie a mugii.ficen'. run or aj touchdown. A crowd of 3.000 swarmedi upon the field breaking down th<> bar-; riers, cutting the ropes. Supporters of the rival colleges clashed in the field. A riot was imminent "Send for the police reserves!" shout ed somebody. 'Die message went In. Suddenly there dashed through the. gate a mounted policeman. His horse was flecked witli foam from the long gallop to the field. The officer was alone He rode into the 3.000 yelling fanat ics slowly, but deliberately. From side to side of the field he rode, the col legians giving way before his advance. H“ made no threats, displayed no tem per, hurt nobody. Rut in a few mo ments by force of his own splendid personality, by his own coolness and courage, he had absolutely cleared the field And he kept it clear. Scores of Congratulations. The officer was Policeman fames L. Reavers. Afterward he became Cap tain Beavers Now he Is the chief of police, and for three days his name has been the most frequently spoken in At lanta. The writer talked with Chief Beavers for an hour in his office at the police station. Or rather, he 'ried to talk, but there are two phones on the chiefs desk, and they rang insistently. Over the wire came message after message, all congratulations to the officer who had done what he considered right, without counting the cost. The mes sages had been coming for 48 hours. The chief had a word of thanks for each new found friend, but he looked weary of it all. In the outer office the secretary was writing telegrams to trail a fleeing ’hief. in the corridor a pair of plain clothes men were discussing a robber) of the night before and the best way to land the robber. Bevond the hall, in ’he dirty old police court. Recorder Broyles was tryjng an array of young Women, creatures of the streets and so tailed hotels, first catch in the dragnet cast by the police into the muddy wa ters of the underworld. Other girls were crying in the gloomy corridor. The chief’s campaign against vice had begun. "Nothing Behind My Move.’ They say on the street that thereis •oniething queer behind this move that it’s a smooth political game. The chiefs eyes snapped He flushed half angrily. "Do they say I’m a politician? Can they si.ow where I ever played poli tics?” he replied. “Get this straight— . there’s nothing behind my move but my , 'ov. n mind and my own conscience. 1 j ; thought it over; I decided what was | the > is'ht thing to do. and I did it. There isn’t the shadow of anything i else in it. That’s straight." ’■They say the women driven out of , the district will open resorts right in , respectable neighborhoods, next door to ' private homes.” t'hif l Beavers snapped his fingers. “That’s a scarecrow," he returned. “That’s a bug-bear. It isn’t true. I'll guarantee it won’t be true. “The police department will see to it that these women do not open resorts, public or private, in the residence dis tricts or anywhere else. That’s always the cry when a step like this is made. And where does.it come from? I’ll tell you. It comes from the men who have money in the business. Where the Howi Comes From. “No wonder there has gone up a howl. Look at the money invested in the dis trict. Look at the losses the owners will sustain. That’s the answer." The chief turned to the phone to lis ten to another message of congratula tion and thank the man at the other ■ end of the wire. These interruptions had come every minute or two. “No: I can’t say there was any one especial incident that made me make up ; my mind,” he said, in reply to a ques tion. “I had been thinking it over for weeks I looked at It from all angles; I considered it from everybody’s stand point. But, after all. there was the law. And what right had I. as chief of po lice, to say to these women. ‘You can live and ply your trade in this street, but not in that; you must not come next door to my house, but you may • go to Manhattan avenue.’ 1 had no such right; no man had such right. “The hardest thing of all was actual i ly to take the step and write the order. ; I knew 1 was right, but it was hard to do it, with all the circumstances. But when 1 made up my mind I determined • to go ahead, without regard to its ef i feet’on my own affairs.” Not a Student of Sociology. ; Chief Beavers Isn’t a student of soci ology. he isn’t a reformer In the ac ’ cepted sense of the word; he isn’t a card-index chief. He Is a practical po ’ liceman, who has worn the uniform • since he was old enough to vote, tramp -1 ed his beat through sunshine and rain. fought with crooks and murderers; climbed from the beat to higher places; i dropped under'the influence of political bosses, and climbed again. Perhaps nobody knows the police force and its individuals better than the newspaper mon who have "covered” the police run i in the past 20 years. When the retire- iiiE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NFAVS ’ll / x. f' J \ \ ’’■' .-.J■ < / / \ ■ y G ® men! of Chief Jennings was forecast a : year or two ago and speculation as to his successor began, there was but one : man picked by the police reporters, pas: and present. "Beavers is the man,” they agreed, j “He may not land, for he isn't much of i a wire-puller. Rut he’s the right man | for the place.” James L. Beavers was born In Clay ton county, fifteen miles from Atlanta, in 1866, which makes him 46 years old. He is erect, fresh-looking, clear-eyed. In citizen’s clothes you would not take him for a police officer. There is none of the slang of the criminal tvorld In his conversation; none of the rough ness which comes to so many police men after years of association with lawbreakers. He is quiet, rather diffident in man ner; apparently embarrassed today by the notoriety he has received. He looked as though he would like to go fishing for a week or two until the newspapers and the public have for gotten him and turned the spotlight on somebody else. On the Force Since 1889. Jim Beavers camo to Atlanta when he was 21 and the next year, in 1889, found a place on the police force under Chief A. B. Connolly. He has worn the uniform since. He served ten years as patrolman, call officer, mounted po liceman, and then climbed to a ser geantcy. He was a sergeant for six years. When the Woodward adminis tration wont into office, the old fac tional warfare in the police board took a new turn and heads were lopped off freely. Sergeant Beavers went back to the ranks. There was no charge against him. It was just a “shake-up,” a frequent occurrence in the days be fore civil service rules protected the department. In about eighteen months Beavers was made a roundsman. Not long aft erward, in April, 1907, he jumped from roundsman to a captaincy. And then, when old Chief Jennings retired, the police board picked Captain Beavers as the right man to head the department, and he was elected chief. No other n an In the force could have been so acceptable to the rank and file of the department. His final step was made in August. 1911. just a little more than a year ago. Chief Beavers is a member of Wal lace Presbyterian church, and his aged father is an elder in Druid Hills Pres byterian church. It has been a God fearing, religious Georgia family for generations. “No, I don't get to church very oft en,” the chief said, smilingly. “I wish I could, but a policeman’s life is irreg ular. But I try to do what’s right, and when a man's duty lies as straight ahead as mine did, there's nothing else for him to do and be square with him self and ills oath. 1 believe I did right, and I’m ready to take full re sponsibility.” . ! Cl ief Beavers in deep thought. JAPAN DEVASTATED BY GREAT TYPHOON: 300 LIVES ARE LOST I TOKIO, Sept. 26. More than 300 lives have been lost in a terrific ty phoon which swept the southern coast of Japan and cut this city off from the world from Sunday until last evening. Wire communication with points east of Tokio was only restored today, and the full extent of the disaster is un known. The torpedo boat destroyers Fubuk! and Tachibana were driven on the rock on the northern coast of Yokaichi, and two other naval boats were blown ashore. The entire crew of one of the destroyers was lost. Hundreds of naval coasting boats, fishing smacks and other small craft that ply between the numerous islands on the south coast and the mainland were sunk. Thousands of buildings were blown down or washed away by streams which were swollen out. of their banks by the cloudburst which accompanied the typhoon. At Nagoya, capital of the prefecture of Aichi, part of the city was destroyed and twenty persons were killed. Thou, sands there are homeless. The island of Shlkou was swept by the storm and tremendous damage done there. A score of-fishing villages were devastated. It Is estimated that the damage will aggregate $5,000,000. The government is taking relief meas ures and Is sending supplies to the storm sufferers. THIRD GIRL IN FAMILY KILLS HERSELF FOR LOVE SEDALIA, MO., Sept, 26. The third daughter of Frank Dunton to kill her self because of unrequited love died here from poison. She was Minnie, sixteen years old. When her sister, Daisy, seventeen, ended her life in 1903 the father killed her admirer, for which : he is serving a 28-year term in prison. 1 An older sister killed h> rs-ls in St. Louis several years ago fur love. MAN LOST TEN YEARS FOUND,‘WILD,’ IN HILLS 1 POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y„ Sept. 26. - ■ Ragged and covered with hair and . barking like a fox, Arthur Britton, who I has been missing for ten years was ■ found in the Pawling mountains near , heie. GIRL FOR WHOM TWO NAVY OFFICERS WERE NEAR DISGRACE WEDS CHICAGO, Sept. 26.—Miss Dorothy Hester, of Evanston, for whose sake two naval officers faced disgrace and scandal, yesterday became the. bride of Harold L Dahl, a Civilian. After the ceremony at the girl’s Evanston home the couple left for Ixts Angeles, where Dahl is employed. Miss Hester figured ns the cause of a quarrel that culminated at a ball given at the navy yard in Boston in 1910, in which Dr. A H. Robnett, an assistant surgeon In the navy; G. P. Ault, a navy paymaster, and Dr. Edward Spencer Cowles camo to blows. The girl was engaged to marry Dr Robnett. She charged that Dr. Cowles had stolen a photograph of her and refused to re turn it. The quarrel at the ball was over this charge. Both the naval men afterward faced courtmartial, were convicted and re duced five marks. The sentence was afterward altered, however, Dr. Rob nett being reduced two grades and sen tence against Ault being revoked. MEET IN 15 YEARS. FIND THEY WILL WED SISTERS DULUTH, MINN.. Sept. 26. Meet ing today for the first time in fifteen years and learning that they are en gaged to two sisters is the experience of J. Mayer, of New York, and U. B. Smith, of Chicago, traveling salesmen. The men met in a hotel by chance and -began to talk over old times in Elkhart. Ind., where they separated aft. er leaving school. Mr Smith volun teered the information that he was be trothed and Mr Mayer said he was, too. It soon developed that they were to marry sisters at Elkhart. “Let's make a double wedding,” sug gested Mr Mayer. “All right,” said Mr. Smith. WILL WED CALIFORNIA'S $22,000,000.00 HEIRESS WILKES-B XKKE. PA., Sept. 26 In ! stead of returning to the study of law at Fordham college. John J. Brennan, of this [city, went West to become the husband of 'California's richest heiress and guardian of her $22,000,001) estate. He has married Miss Arcadia Bandina Scott, of Santa Monica. Calif. When very young Miss Scott was adopt ed by Mrs Arcadia Bandina Baker, with whom she lived. When the aunt died last week her vast estate became the property of the niece. <■ Chief Beavers in a characteristic pose. 3 DIE IN» ON SOUTHERN Eight Seriously Injured When Car of Fast Train Overturns Near Rome. ROME, GA., Sept. 2«.—Three dead, eight seriously injured and others who were badly shaken up when the Chi cago-Jacksonville express of the South ern railway was wrecked two miles north of Plainville and twelve miles from Rome late last night were brought to Rome today. The Injured were placed in a hospital here, while the bodies of the dead were prepared for burial. The three killed were: J. B. Mitchell, of Brooklyn, N. Y„ a government engineer, en route from Guild, Tenn., near Chattanooga, to Au gusta, Ga. James and Maggie Scott, negroes, of Rome. The most seriously Injured 1s Does Bearden, of Rome. Others sertously hurt are Edward Heron, of Chicago; A. F. Sanders, of Elk City, lowa, and five Rome negroes—Essie, Ella and James Scott, 1.. W. Taylor and George Rucker. The Scott negroes killed were parents of the three injured. Combination Car Overturned. All of the dead and seriously injured were riding in the combination smoker and negro coach. This car left the rails and overturned. Mitchell was thrown through a window and the car fell on him. His body was mangled be yond recognition. A relief train was rushed from Rome to the scene of the wreck with a half dozen physicians on board. A wreck ing train was also sent from here to clear the track, which was blocked for several hours. The relief train returned to Rome with the dead and injured about 3 o'clock. A defective truck and spreading rails are said to have caused the wreck. The train was making good speed, as it was not scheduled to stop until It reached Rome. Eight cars left the rails, but only the combination coach I overturned. Why pay 30 tc 40 cents per pound for a high-grad« Baki-ig Powder when by using MM ' [bamng powderi i mmtiw you can obtain the highest of the high-grade Baking ' Powders at only 20 cents per pound ? Sold by all good Grocers* Insist on having it* W AMNESTY DEFER ~ TO GEN.OROZCO But It Is Revoked Again When He Fails to Accept at Once. Madero Disappointed. MEXICO CITY. Sept Ma— Tt was an nounced today that President Madero yesterday offered to grant amnesty to General Orozco, the rebal leader, if he would surrender. How.tw, Ovoooo failed to accept the offer at once end It has been oanoelled. and bo will bo tried as a traitor if captured. The after will stand to M« followers If they will de sert him, however. The government olalmo to have direct information that Oronoo han been awaiting only tide offer to c*H afß hU revolt, though he had prevlouoty de clared that he would yield only w<>en Madero Is driven from Mexico. The offer of amnesty has had the op posite effect from that Intended. Revolutionary sympathisers here have notifled the farces in the field that this indicates a weakening of the govern ment and that If the various revolte continue Madero will be driven from office. Madero offered amnesty on Ms own initiative and against the advice of his supporters He had hoped that the of fer would be accepted a» a pledge of his desire to rule by kindness rather than the sword and Is disappointed by the rebels’ attitude. Mexican federal troops have over whelmingly defeated the main forces of the rebels In the state of Guerrero. The battle was fought at Tiangulsten gu and. according to advices received here today, more than 300 rebels were killed and wounded. The textile strike in the state of Mex. Ico is daily becoming more serious. Two large mills have been burned. A dispatch from Hermosillo today re ported that the band of rebels led by Scobosa had been defeated decisively and that the rebels have scattered in every direction. Condition# in north ern Mexico appear to be much im proved. Bridges are being repaired and trains are being run regularly on the INaeozari line southward. No disturb ances are reported along the border. 3