Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, November 08, 1912, HOME, Page 2, Image 2

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2 STATE GETS INTO cosmopolitan LITIGATION Intervention Petition to Take Over Management of Insur ance Company Is Filed. State authorities toda.' decided to take a hand in the affair.- of the Cos mopolitan Lift Insurance Company, and. if possible, obtain control of the company's management in the interest , of policyholders under the provisions of the new insurance act At the instigation of Insurance Com missioner W. A Wright, Attorney Gen eral T. S. Felder, who has held the possibility of state’s intervention under advisement for several days, went be fore Superior Judge Bell and asked for a rule requiring the company’s attor- j neys to show cause why the state should not assume the management I The formal intervention filed by the j state’s attorney simplifies the litigation over the aifalrs of the company now 1 under way in third division of superior court. If Judge Bell sustains the state’s demands and name- Insurance Commissioner Wright us receiver for the company under the new law, many j of t >• Stockholder suits now pending' will be withdrawn. Test of New La w. I Sm it an action on the pan of the court pt a -ag< s a l< ngtliy fight over the constitutionality of the insurance act, so; officers of the Cosmopolitan were authority today for the statement that the company will fight state Interven tion as consistently as it has fought the stockholders’ suits. “We arc all right." said Joel F Ar-1 ni.-.tead. general agent of the company! and defendant In the numerous suits. ’and we expect to show the people of Atlanta that «e are. Not only is the; standing of the Cosmopolitan attacked | In the.-, suits, but the majority of the So Hie rn companies organized in the same manner.” Coincident with the stale’s interven tion. and probably unknown to the -.ate authol fries, directors of the Cos- ; mopolitan met In the offices in the Third I National Bank building last night and ■ ratified a new contiact between the* company and Armlstead. which reiluCeo by 30 per cent the latter’s commissions of the sale of insurance as general agent. It was the contract existing be tween Armlstead and the company that has played a conspicuous part in all the litigation and finally caused the Aate to take a hand in the company’s af fairs. Claim Contract 0. K. Officers of the company said today that both Insurance Commission Wright and Deputy Commissioner Copeland had said that such a contract as ratified last night would bo accepta ble to the state. Janies L. Anderson, one of the attorneys for the company, said at noon that he had not been no tified that the state expected to inter vene. and declined to state, how action •in the part of the state would affect the court cases now being tried The original suit against the Cos ■mopolitan company was brought sev eral months ago by Dan G. Sudderth, a former stock salesman. Since the tiling of the Sudderth suit and its be ing placed on trial, numerous stock holders. dissatisfied with the compa ny’s affairs, have intervened on Sud derth asking the court for a receiver. It has been maintained that the com pany was not properly organized, has been lavish in its expenditures has a contract with Armlstead that w ill even tually wreck it if it is not now insolv ent. These charges the company’s attor neys in answer and demurrer have de nied in toto and have Introduced into court evidence to show that the com pany is solvent and that the contract between Armlstead and the company Is no different and dangerous to the com pany’s-welfare than the contracts made by other Insurance companies. COMMITTEE TO PLAN CIVIC IMPROVEMENT WILL ORGANIZE SOON ihe Xtlanta Improvement committee, appointed to consider the “city plan.” fostered by the Chainbei of Commerce >’ and the T't deration of Women’s Clubs, i win be organized at an early date, if' present plans are carried out. Xt the meeting of the board of direc I tors yesterday afternoon tie action of ' the city plan committee was approved by the directors and the committee was 1 instructed to confer with City Attorney t lames L. Mayson. with a view to draw - | mg an ordinance for adoption by conned. ; authorizing the mayor to appoint the \t- i lanta improvement committee, which will! include 100 representative citizens, the i park board, the nark Committee of coun cil and the county commissioners A resolution of thanks to I »r. .1 Hor ace McFarland, president of the Ameri can CiVic association, who visited Atlanta ' and furthered the movement for M "cite ■ plan," was voted by ti e directors SUES W. AND A. FOR $lO DAMAGES; TRAIN KILLED POSSUM DOG DALTON, GA , Nov 8 Alleging n-g' | gence on the part of an engineer . n the | Western and Atlantic road as tl-.r .ajsei of his ” 'possum and squirrel dog" being killed by a train on the road. I ■ Clem I ent, of Rocky Face, has brought suit I against the road fur $lO damages In or der to make his claim more forceful ti e plaintiff concludes his petition with < following “Maid dog was the n.othet of u tarn i\ j of progressive pups, wlik-h die. wtrtll by reason of lack of nourishment The suit tiled in ms' . i ■ ourt loe ■ • < a using ll' th inlet c- Graphic Unraveling of the McNaughton Poisoning Mystery HIS LIFE OR DEATH IN WOMAN’S TRIAL iT/ ’ ’ WWE r £h; u 8" ' rWWWL- (•a w wMOBI I o w*- ■ .'QroO . ■ il ■ *SIM ’e; -TT- i'WWW I ' Al ■ ,a ■ 1)1?.. w J. M NAUGHTON. 'I , Fate of Doctor Sen tenced to Hang For ' Slaying Best Friend Depends on Guilt or Innocence of Alleged Victim’s Widow. | Tor two and a half long, dreary years j Dr. W. J. McNaughton has known no home save a narrow i'll In the Jal! of Chatham county, l or two years and a half his only prospect has been that of ending his days on the gallows. A jury of his home county ha# declared him guilty of the most revolting of all mur ders—the poisoning of a friend. The highest court of Georgia lias ruled that the sentence of death must be executed. The highest court of the tuition has re fused to come to his succor. Between McNaughton and the gal lows stands only the figure of “Little Joe" Brown, and Georgia's governor will not wipe away the shadow of tile i gibbet with pardon or commutation of ! sentence. But the governor will not let McNaughton hang until he is convinced that the whole truth in this remarkable tragedy is known. And he believes that this will not come to pass until Mrs. F. s. Flanders, widow of the man for whose death a jury has said McNaughton must pay with his life, is brought to trial on the ] charge w hich rests against her of be- I ing an accessory in the crime. Woman’s Trial Delayed. Time and time again her ease has ■ been called In the Emanuel county court Time and time again it has been ' postpone.”.. Until dir faces a jury, the death doom will hang over McNaughton** ’ cell. Until be guilt or innocence has ’ been established, the governor is de- I termined that the doctor shall not face | the hangman. The courts refuse to I move. \nd in the meantime McNaughton • must live, though every second of that I life means only to him that the next ! may bring him news that the gallows waits him or word that his good name j as been cleared. Georgia’s criminal history holds no stranger case than that of the Swains boro doctor. Few more bliarre are re corded in the nation's record. The mo. tiie for the crime if there was a crime Is the old motive. The ancient blood-stained triangle of two men and a woman Is the only cause suggested for Fred Flanders* death. But though th, • ; arc is that the woman was un faitbtT to the man to whom she had I; < dgi ior life, her loyalty to the , man .u us. <1 of robbing her of her I '• i ■ has bet ii constant, unwaver i inc Never in Dr. M Naughton's dark st.. .. onion s ,igg, ■ - tetl his | g' l ' So has continued strongly and i - I ' C I ■ vi till! of a .ms kTLAXTA GEORGIAN AND KEWS.FKIDAY, NOVEMBEK 8,19 i chain of circumstance or a sinister . plot. Mvstery in Relations The relations between the Flanders couple and McNaughton have never been explained. Fred Flanders was a • prosperous farmer of Emanuel county. His kin arc wealthy, numerous, prom inent in polities. McNaughton was a young, respected physician of Swains boro, the county seat of Emanuel. McNaughton was tile family physi cian of the Flanders couple, but he was more than that. Tie was the closr personal friend of Flanders. There is ( the charge that the relation was even more intimate with the wife. Tile doctor was a married man. Chll ’ dren had been born to the union. In 1908 Mrs. McNaughton died and then came the strangest, weirdest feature of the tragic story. Flanders and his wife abandoned their home on the farm and came to Swainsboro to live with the physician. For two years they occupied the same house, they ate at the same table, they | had the same friends. Firmer friends j were never known than the farmer and i the doctor. There had been gossip, though, in reference to McNaughton and Mrs. Flanders. The husband either did not hear it or refused to give it ear. On June 4. 1910, Handers died sud denly. Dr. McNaughton, his physician declared that his end was due to acute nephritis. Flanders was buried and McNaughton was at the grave's side, lie showed emotion which was taken as a token of sincere grief for a de parted and beloved friend. Relatives Are Suspicious. The story of acute nephritis was no' I questioned— except by the Flanders | family . They had heard the gossip I connecting the name of McNaughton with that of the dead man's wife. Though the husband had refused to listen, they had given heed. When their kinsman died suddenly their suspicions were aroused, and be fore the flowers had withered on the grave they had demanded an investiga tion. On June 7 the body was exhumed. An expert medical examination was de manded by the relatives. An autopsy was performed and Flanders' stomach was shipped to the state chemist for ’examination A coroner's jury had been impaneled and tin «i men await ed the verdict of the scientists On July 13 the chemist reported. Dis tinct traces of arsenic poison had been found The Flanders family was not slow to act. Warrants were sworn out and officers sent to the McNaughton home. Mrs. Flanders was found there She was placed under arrest. Mc- Naughton had disappearid. Hi had heard of the investigation and had dt - parted from Swainsboro. Filling was high then against the dot to’ It wa >penly stated that lie bad poisoned his friend in older to make the way clear f«> him to obtain lumpleti possession jof his w ife \ ilnntlii ’. wa » si.' i . o . < ni i state and in a day it brought results. Dr. McNaughton was traced to Augusta and immediately placed under arrest i and a subsequent report of the chemist showed that enough arsenic had been , discovered to kill several men. Feeling High Against Accused, Feeling against the physician' was i running too high in Emanuel for his safe return there. The. Flanders clan was up in arms. His death was de manded. Pending his trial in the supe rior court of Emanuel county he was held in the Chatham county jail. Mur der was charged. i The physician attempted to explain his flight. He declared that he knew the hatred the Flanders family bore i him. He knew their influence in Entan i uel. Mob violence, he believed, would ’ have imperilled him had he not fled ■ when he did. I Under a joint indictment, the doctor and Mrs. Handers were placed on trial October 17 at Swainsboro. Then for ■ the first time and the only time there seemed to be a difference between the ' pair accused of the poison..ig. Mrs. I Flandrs' counsel asked for a severance of the indictment. . They insisted on a i separate trial. Dr. McNaughton still feared the in fluence of the Flanders family. He did not believe he could get a fair trial in Emanuel county. His counsel urged a change of venue. His motion was de ' nied. He was forced to go to trial, w hile Mrs. Flanders' case was .allowed to wait, pending a verdict for or against the principal. At the trial, though he-made a spit ited defense, the chain of circumstances proved too strong. On October 19 he was- found guilty and sentenced to hang December 9. Begins Great Legal Battle. Then began his remarkable legal bat tle Ho first entered a motion for new trial. The motion was lost, but the ex ecution of the sentence was stayed. On December 15 ho learned that Mrs. Flanders had been released on bail of $2,000. “She should never have been arrested." was his laconic remark. In January of 1911 ho appealed his 1 cas’’ to the supreme court, but on July 13 the highest Georgia tribunal sus tained the McNaughton verdict of death 1 on the gallows. Ho still struggled desperately. He pleaded for a new hearing In the su preme court on August 15. It was re fused. Then he gave notice of appeal to the highest court of the nation. In January of this year his case sud denly was withdrawn from the United States supreme court tn order that he might make an extraordinary motion for new trial in the Emanuel superior court. The nature of this motion was anx iously atiaited. and on April 9 the phy - sician whs taken back to Swainsboro and tesentcnced. The date of the hanging was fixed for April 10. His ex trao dinary motion was then heard. It wn- ba-ed OJI affidavits made by Mis I'l indi rs and others that Flanders had II 'll till- hi* lill t•<L i D o IMA.It. in . not prescribed by his physician and that in this way he may have received the arsenic. Last Card of Defense. The defense then made another re markable proposition. The lawyers de clared they were ready to stand by the verdict if Mrs. brought to trial and sentence should be stayed until a verdict could be returned in this lease. Tiie motion was taken unde - I consideration. The court finally denied both mo tion and proposal, but counsel announc ed another appeal to the supreme court of Georgia. Once more the execution was stayed. On July 11. the supreme court sustained the judgment of the lower court and McNaughton was re manded to the Emanuel county tribunal for resentence. But the doctor did not. give up hope. ! While his friends fought for a commu ' tation of the sentence to life imprison ! ment, he calmly declared that he would l never hang, and his counsel announced | they would once more try the United States supreme court. j On October 22 he was once more ar raigned in Swainsboro, and heard the death sentence again passed. He had grown accustomed to it. He did not betray more emotion than would he on having been instructed to eat eggs for breakfast. November 22 was fixed as the date of execution. Widow Must Be Tried. Then McNaughton’s friends began to work on the governor and the prison commission. They asked why the case of Mrs. Flanders had never been tried. They asserted that if this was done, McNaughton would be cleared. They insinuated that the political power of the Flanders family in Emanuel was blocking the trial. They declared they wanted McNaughton, an innocent man, to go to the gallows. Governor Brown listened. He then issued his pronunciamento that Mc- Naughton never would hang until Mrs. Flanders is tried. And that trial still hangs fire. Wheth er the executive order will force the trial of the widow, whether McNaugh ton is allowed to languish in jail for an indeterminate sentence, awaiting her hearing, whether a change of adminis tration finally will write the concluding chapter to the story remains to be seen. The fact remains that McNaughton is Supremely confident. He believes the issue will be forced, that Mrs. Flanders will be brought to trial, and when that is done he once more will take his po sition as a respected physician of Geor gai KANSAS PRODUCES ENOUGH WHEAT TO FEED GREAT NATION ; NEW YORK, Nov. B.—The state of Kansas alone will this year produce enough wheat to feed more than one sixth of the population of the United States for one year. The magnitude of crop is illustrated again in the state ment that it could be made to girdle the earth at the equator thirty-two times with beautiful one-pound loaves. For their bumper crop the of Kansas will receive the handsome total of i $85,000,000, and were the wheat all made into bread and sold at five cents a loaf the bake shops would get for it $320,000,- , 000. The building of the Panama canal has been looked upon as a stupendous ’ undertaking for any nation, yet here is a 1 single crop in a single state which by the timejt reaches the ultimate consumer will be sold for considerably more than half s the cost of digging the big ditch. BURNED WITH COTTAGE. . LAPORTE. IND., Nov. B.—Albert ' Geellr was burned to death today at English Lake, Ind. His charred body was found in the ruins of bis cottage. I The cottage was burned to the ground. I j —im The ATLANTA Today, Frl., Sat. Mata. 3, Nights, B:15. 23c, 35c., 50c. . Direct from Seven Months' Sensational Kun at Lyceum Theater, New York PAUL J. RAINEY’S AFRICAN HUNT “Marvelous Motion Pictures”—New York World. Graphic and interesting descriptive i l lectures. SEATS SELLING TODAY. | MONDAY AND TUESDAY. Matinee Tuesday. I 1 Miss Nobody From Starland With OLIVE VAIL ■ Nights 25e to $1.50 —Matinee 25c to sl. ICRANO VAUDEVILLE | HEXT | Msthse Dai , 2:3*. •EiT LESLIE f LAURA GUERITE „ TAa Wa* as Mam o>e Ar—Away Star fIAHEy BERT FITZGIBBON E. BEDFVM-WINCHf STEA FONT BALLET Di lay «mMTMN6M«IHtY BEMBEYf*ABM TO T% T FORSYTH 1 WATIN^ES* T ’ I LITTLE EMMA BUNTING AND HER EXCELLENT FLAYERS ••LEAH KLESHNA” Next “Merely Nery 4nw” LYRIC The Giri Taxi One Big Scream From Curtain tc Curtain. Next Week. THE WINNING WIDOW. LYRIC WE^ C ; Mats. Tues.. Thurs. and Saturday. The Merry Girly Show THE WINNING Wl DOW A Musical Comedy Worth While. U. S. LOANS COTS FOR CORN BOYS Secretary of War Gives Cham ber Permission to Use Bunks During Maize Show. In a telegram to Governor Brown, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson has given his consent to the use of the 700 government cots in the Fifth Regiment Armory, for the Georgia Corn club boys who will be in Atlanta for the corn show, December 3. 4, 5 and 6. This completely solves what prom ised for a time to be a distressing problem to the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in the matter of providing sleeping quarters for about 1,000 Corn club boys who will be here for the show. Secretary Stimson's telegram was sent in response to a telegram Gov ernor Brown, making the request, sent on November 5. Governor Brown’s ap peal was supplemented by telegraphic requests to the same end, sent the sec retary of war by Senator Hoke Smith, Congressman William Schley Howard, who wrote it from his sick bed; Clark Howell and Colonel Robert J. Lowry, and all of these have received replies in which the response to Governor Brown’s request was set forth as fol lows: No authority of law exists for loan to any organization or indi vidual of military supplies issued to a state as a charge against appro priations. If, however, it is de sired by the governor of Georgia to use the cots and blankets referred to, in the National Guard Armory at Atlanta, and have them under the control of the National Guard, authorities, the war department would interpose no objections. STIMSON. Secretary of War. Governor Brown was much gratified over the action of the secretary of war, and he will, of course, authorize the use of the cots and blankets for the Corn club boys under the restrictions indicated. It has been determined by the corn show committee to provide sleeping quarters during the coni show for all of the boys who will be here. Os 10,000 of these enrolled in the Georgia Corn clubs, there are probably 2,500 who have "come through”—who have com pleted* their work and made their re ports in accordance with the rules and requirements of the organization. It is estimated that at least 1,000 of these will come to Atlanta for the corn show, and the committee will endeavor to provide sleeping quarters for any in excess of the 700 tor whom cots will be set up in the Regimental Armory. AMERICAN EMBASSY IN RUSSIA ASKED TO FIND BALLOONISTS ST. PETERSBURG, Nov. B.—An ap peal was received by the American em bassy here today to locate and aid John Watts and A. T. Atherholt. the Ameri can aeronauts who are reported to have landed at Pskov, Russia, 170 miles from this city, over a week ago. The aeronauts were on the balloon Duesseldorf 11, which started as an un official entry in the international bal loon race from Stuttgart, Germany, two weeks ago. Watts and Atherholt sfcnt word that they had landed, but as nothing else was heard it was feared that they had been arrested or had b?en hurt. >' r JFsX □nbiiD —l! Fashionable Fall Furnishings “SIMPLEX” SHIRTS in the newest fall patterns. I'he short bosom combines negligee comfort with the dressy appearance $1.50 •‘GOTHAM” NEGLIGEE and PLEATED SHIRTS; all the newest patterns $1 to $2.50 "LION COLLARS in the newest shapes ..2 for 25c , BALBRIGGAN I NDERWEAR; medium and heavy weights, per garment 50c and $1 M OOL and MORSI ED GARMENTS; medium and heavy weights sl, $1,50 an d $2.50 "\ASSAR INION SUITS; medium and .heavy weight balbriggan $1.50 and $2 OUTING NIGHT SHIRTS AND PAJAMAS CARLTON Shoe and Clothing Co. 36 Whitehall Street JOHNSON FAGINC TERM IN PRISON Jack Johnson, Indicted in Chi cago for White Slavery, Is Held in $30,000 Bond. CHICAGO, Nov. B.—Jack Johnsor negro fighter, accused of violation ol the Mann act, appeared before Federal Judge K. M. Landis today and gave bond in the sum of $30,000. Johnson, without his attorney, asked the judge to reduce the bond. Judge Landis eyed the negro sharply. ‘Where is your attorney?” he asked. “I thought it was only a matter of bond and I would need no lawyer," Jack replied. "I told you over the telephone last night that the hearing would be held today.” said Judge Landis. "Yes; but I didn’t know there was ■any law in the matter,” said the pugi list. “I dislike to refuse reduction of your bond without your attorney present.’’ snapped the judge. Johnson telephoned for Attorney Ed ward S. Day, his counsel. District Attorney Wilkerson insisted that the surety furnished be unincum bered property covering the sum of $30,000. He refused to accept cash bone, on the ground that it might be for feited. He added also that care would be taken to ward against indemnifying the property owners against loss. Johnson was indicted on four counts by the grand jury yesterday and ar rested. Tiie penalty for the offense, with which he is charged is from one to ten years in the penitentiary. TRIAL OF DYNAMITE CASES TO CONSUME FIVE MONTHS TIME INDIANAPOLIS, IND., Nov. B.—Th,' government, in the trial of 45 union men for dynamite conspiracy, already has taken up six weeks of time in Federal court here in presenting less than half of its case. At last six weeks more will be used by the government in presenting tin balance of its case. This will make three months for the piesentation of one-half of this case. The presentation oi' the defense and the summing up of the case on both sides will take two months more, thus turning the case over to the jury about March 1, 1913. Practically all of the defendants ex pect to take the witness stand in thei: own defense. Thomas Burke, engineer, told of tiie dynamiting of a car of steel belonging to the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Com pany at Green Bay, Wis., Not ember 21. 1909. He told also of seeing Defendant William E. Reddin hanging around some non-union work he (Burke) wa-- doing for Heyl & Patterson at Milwau kee in 1910. He said the job wa: "pick eted” by the union men. BOOKING AGENT ACCUSED BY ACTORS IS DISCHARGED Producing a big bundle of contracts and other papers. Sam Massell. bead of the Massell Theatrical Booking agency, in the Austell building, showed to the sat isfaction of Recorder Broyles that his business is legitimate, and the case brought against him by "The Musical Sparks.” Charlie and Nettle Sparks, was dismissed. The two performers were in court arri explained how they had been booked by Massell and brought here from I'hila delphia to play small towns, but there was no evidence to show wrongdoing on the part of the booking agent.