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STATE GETS INTO
COSMOPOLITAN
LITIGATION
Intervention Petition to Take
Over Management of Insur
ance Company Is Filed.
State authorities today decided to
take a hand in the affairs of the Cos
mopolitan Life 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
(•oselbllity of state's Intervention undet
dvisement for several days, went be
fore Superior Judge Bel! and asked for
k n rule requiring the company's attor
r eys to show cause why' the state
fc rould not assume the management.
The formal intervention filed by the (
■ ate'a attorney simplifies the litigation
over the affairs of the company now
under way in third division of superior
court. If Judge Bell sustains the
state's demands and names Insurance
Commissioner Wright as receiver for
tire company under the new law, many
. of the stockholder suits now pending
will be withdrawn.
Test of New Law. „ .
Such an action on the jiftrt As the
court presages a lengthy fight over the
constitutionality of the insurance act,
for 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 are all right," said Joel F. Ar
niistead, general agent of the company
end defendant In .the numerous suits,
"and we expect to show the people of
Atlanta that we are. Not only Is the
standing of the Cosmopolitan attacked
in these suits, but the majority of the
Southern companies organized In the
-ame manner."
Coincident with the state's interven
tion, and probably unknown to the>
state authorities, directors of the Cos- j
mopolitan mot In the offices In the Third I
National Bank building last night and |
ratified a new contract between thc|
company and Armistead, which reduceu
by 80 per cent the latter's commissions
of the sale of insurance is general
agent. It was the contract existing be
tween Ar mislead and the company that
has played a conspicuous part In all the
litigation and finally caused the state
to talye a hand in the company's af
fairs.
Claim Contract O. K.
~ GtKceia of the company said today ■
that both Insurance Commiaslon '
V right and Deputy Commissioner ,
■ Copeland had said that such a contract
as ratified last night would be accepta
ble to the alate. James 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
on the part of the state would affect tile
court cases now being tried.
* The original suit against the Cos
mopolitan company was brought sev
eral months ago by Dan Gk Sudderth.
■ a former stock salesman. Since the
filing 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 lavi.sh in its expenditures, has u
contract with Armlstead that will even
tually wreck it if it is nut now insolv
ent.
These charges tlte 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 Armlstesd and the company Is
no different and dangerous to the com
pany s welfare than tlte contracts made
by other insurance companies.
COMMITTEE TO PLAN
CIVIC IMPROVEMENT
WILL ORGANIZE SOON
Ihe Atlanta Improvement committee,
appointed to consider the "city plan,"
fostered by the Chamber of Commerce
and the Federation of Woman's Clubs,
will be organized at an early date, if
present plans are curried out.
At the meeting of the board of direc
tors yesterday afternoon the action of
the city plan committee was approved
by the directors and the committee was
Instructed to confer with City Attorney
James L. Mayson, with a view to draw
ing an ordinance for adoption by council,
authorizing the mayor to appoint the Ah
Junta Improvement committee, which will
Include 100 representative citizens, the
park board, the park committee of coun
cil utnl the county commissioners
A resolution of thanks to Dr, J. Hor
ace McFarland, president of the Ameri
can Civic association, who visited Atlanta
and furthered the movement for a “city
plan," was voted by the directors.
SUES W. AND A. FOR
$lO DAMAGES; TRAIN
KILLED POSSUM DOG
DALTON, GA., Nov. 8. Alleging negli
gence on the i>art of an engineer on the
Western and Atlantic road as the cause
of his " posHiini and squirrel dog" lieing
killed by a train on the road. F. U. Clem
ent. of Rocky Face, has brought suit
against the road for $lO damages, hi or
der to make ills claim more forceful, the
plaintiff concludes bls petition with the
follow ing:
"Baid dog was the mother of a family
of progressive pups, which died after-
by reason of lack of nourishment."
lue suit filed In justice court here is
no little Interest
Graphic Unraveling of the McNaughton Poisoning Mystery
HIS LIFE OR DEATH IN WOMAN'S TRIAL
■A J.- ■T'i £•" '■ •’
A..?/ '
..Hi
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f r* A'tC' AiflNHkX
’ r jISW Bt i I
a. t 7 * r /
Fate of Doctor Sen
tenced to Hang For
Slaying Best Friend
Depends on Guilt or
Innocence of Alleged
Victim’s Widow.
Fur two and a half long, dreary years
Dr. W. J. McNaughton has known no
home save a narrow cell in the jail of
Chatham county. For two years and a
half hfs only prospect has been that of
ending his days on the gallows. A jury
of his home county has declared him
guilty of the most revolting of all mur
ders- -the poisoning of a friend. The
highest court of Georgia has ruled that
the sentence of death must be executed.
The highest court of the nation has re
fused to come to hie 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 the
i gibbet with pardon or commutation of
; sentence. But the governor will not let
i McNaughton hang until he is convinced
' that the whole truth in this remarkable
I 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
I jury has said McNaughton must pay
; with his life, is brought to trial on the
charge which rests against her of be
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
postponed.
Until she faces a jury, the death
doom will hang over .McNaughton's
' cell. Until her guilt or innocence has
been established, the governor is de
termined that the doctor shall not face
the hangman. The courts refuse to
move.
And In the meantime McNaughton
must live, though every second of that
life means only to him that the next
may bring him news that the gallows
waits him or word that his good name
has been cleared.
Georgia's criminal history holds no
stranger ease- than that of the Swains
boro doctor. Few more blsarre are re
corded In the nation's record. The mo.
tlve 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
the charge is that the woman was un
faithful to the man to whom she had
I pledged her life, her loyalty to the
man accused of robbing her of her
helpmate has been constant, unwaver
ing. Never In Dr. McNaughton's dark
est hours has the woman augg< sted his
guilt. Hhe has contemn d strongly and
convincingly that he is tin victim of a
±HE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 8, 1912.
DEL. W J. M’NAUGHTON.
chain of circumstance or a sinister
plot.
Mystsry 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 are wealthy, numerous, prom
inent in politics. McNaughton was a
young, respected physician of Swains
boro, the county seat of Emanuel.
McNaughton was the family physi
cian of the Flanders couple, but he
was more than that. Tie was the close
personal friend of Flanders. There is
the charge, that the relation was even
more intimate with the wife.
The doctor was a married man. Chil
dren had been born to the union. In
1908 Mrs. McNaughton died and then
came the strangest, weirdest feature of
tlie tragic story. Flanders and ills 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
were never known than the farmer and
the doctor.
Timers had been gossip, though, tn
reference to McNaughton and Mrs.
Flanders. The husband either did not
hear it or refused to give it ear.
On June 4. 1910, Flanders 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.
He showed emotion which was taken
as a token of sincere grief for a de
parted mid beloved friend.
Relatives Are Suspicious.
The story of acute nephritis was not
questioned— except by the Flanders
family. They had heard the gossip
connecting tile 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 war 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 these men await
ed the verdict of the scientists.
On July 13 the chemist, 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.
Nhc was placed under arrest. Mc-
Naughton had disappeared. He had
heard of ths Investigation and hud de
parted from Swainsboro. Feeling was
high then against the doctor. It was
openly slated that he had poisoned his
friend in order to make the wn.v clear
so him to obtain complete possession
of Ids wife.
A dragnet wa spread uui tin- emir
state and in a'rlay.lt
Dr. M< Naughton w*s traced to Augusta
and immediately plae.ed under arrest
and a subsequent .ropojt of the chemist
showed that endughyfxrseniie had been
discovered to kill, s,ey>ral men.;;
Feeling High Against Accused,
Feeling against'thqri .physician was
running too high /lb J'imanuel for his
safe return thefc. The Flandet’s clan
was up in arms. HUf death wsis de
manded. Pending Jsti jtjtial in the supe
rior court of Emanuel icounty he was
held in tire Chatham, cojmty jail. Mur
der was charged. .
The physician to explain
his flight. He declared that lie knew
the hatred the Flanders family bore
him. He knew their influence in Eman
uel. Mob violence, he believed, would
have imperilled him had he not fled
when be did.
Under a joint indictment, the doctor
and Mrs. Flanders 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 poisoning. Mrs.
Flandrs' counsel asked for a severance
of the indictment. They insisted on a
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,
while Mrs. Flanders’ case was allowed
to wait, pending a verdict for or
against tile principal.
At the trial, though lie made a spir?
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. He first entered a motion for new
trial. The motion was lost, but the ex
ecution of the sentence was stayed.
On December 15 he learned that Mrs.
Flanders had been released on ball of
$2,000. "She should never have been
arrested. ’’ was hts laconic remark.
In January of 1911 he appealed his
ease to the supreme court, but on July
13 the highest Georgia tribunal sus
tained tile McNaughton verdict of death
on the gallows.
He still struggled desperately. He
pleaded for a new hearing in the su
preme court on August 15. It was re
fused. Theft 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
Slates supreme court In order that he
might make s i; extraordinary motion
for new trial In the Emanuel superior
court.
Tile nature of this motion was anx
iously awaited, and on April 9 the phy
sician was taken back to Swainsboro
and resentenced. The date of the
hanging was fixed for April 10. His ex
traordinary motion was then heard. It
wav based on affidavits made by Mrs.
Flanders and others that Flanders had
Inch in the habit of taking medfcluvh
not prescribed by bls physician and |
that in this way he jnay 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. Flanders were brought!
to trial arid sentence should be stayed !
until a verdict could be returned in this
case. The motion was taken unde’
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 tvould
never hang, and his counsel announced
they would once more try the United
States supreme court.
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
breakftist. November 22 was fixed as
the date of execution.
Widow Must Be Tried.
Then McNaughton’s friends began tb
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 pronunclamento that Mc-
Naughton never yvould hang until Mrs.
Flanders is tried.
And that trial still bangs 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 ,t;Q the story remains to by seen.
The fact remains that McNaughton is
supremely confident. He believes the
issue will be forced, that Mi’s. 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
I■ r
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
the crop is illustrated again in the state
ment that’ it could be made.to girdle the
Sartli at the equator -thirty-two times
with beautiful one-pound loaves.
For their bumper crop the farmers of
Kansas will receive the handsome total of
$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
single crop in a single state which by the
time it reaches the ultimate consumer will
be sold for considerably more than half
the cost of digging the big ditch.
BURNED WITH COTTAGE.
LAPORTE, IND., Nov. B.—Albert
Geehr was burned to death today at
English Lake, Ind. His charred body
was found In the ruins of his cottage.
The cottage was burned to the ground.
The ATLANTA
Today, Fri., Sat. Mats. 3, Nights. 8:15.
25c, 35c., 50c.
Direct from Seven Months' Sensational
Run at Lyceum Theater, New York
PAUL J. RAINEY'S AFRICAN HUNT
"Marvelous Motion Pictures"—New
York World.
Graphic and interesting descriptive
lectures.
SEATS SELLING TODAY.
MONDAY AND TUESDAY,
Matinee Tuesday.
Miss Nobody From Starland
With OLIVE VAIL
Nights 25c to $1.50 —Matinee 25c to sl.
ICRANO V«UDSVH.LE | NEXT |
Msthse Osi y LM, tesntags at 8:M WEEK
BERT LESLIE I LAURA CUERITE u
The King of Slang if he BreaSway Star nOßrj
JB£RT FITZSIBBON E,
•fWOttO-WIMCKISTIR - PONY BALLET DiXOV
AMMTRONC MANLLV-BFN BEYER A BRO ‘"“’J
TONIGHT FORSYTH TU MA™NEES* T ’ I
LITTLE Em BUHTING
AND HER EXCELLENT PLAYERS
“LtAH KLESHAIA“
Next Week "itterely IBury Ans"
I VDIC THIS Mats Tues.,
L> I IXIVz WEEK. Thurs., Sat.
The Girl rHE Taxi
One Big Scream From Curtain to
Curtain.
Next Week. THE WINNING WIDOW.
LYRIC ne^ eek
Mats. Tues.. Thurs. and Saturday.
The Merry Girly Show
THE
WINNING WIDOW
A Musical Comedy Worth While.
U. S. LOANS COTS
FOR CORN BOYS
Secretary of War (Tives 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, foj 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 gratifies
over the action of the secretary of war,
and he will, of course, authorize the
use of the cots and blankets for the
Com clubr boys under the restrictions
indicated..
It lias been determined by the corn
show committee to provide sleeping
quarters during the corn 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 for whom cots will
be set up in the Regimental Armory.
AMERICAN EMBASSY
IN RUSSIA ASKED TO
FIND BALLOONISTS
ST. PETERSBURG, Nov. 8.-—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 sent
word that they had landed, but as
nothing else was heard it was feared
that they had been arrested or had
' been hurt.
—I 1 ' I
Fashionable Fall
Furnishings
“SIMPLEX SHIRTS in the newest fall patterns.
The 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
OOL and AS ORSTED GARMENTS; medium and
heavy weights sl, ,sl-50 and $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
MASKED BANDITS
RIFLE MIL CAR
Booty Secured in L. & n,
Hold-Up in Alabama Said To
Be Near $40,000.
MONTGOMERY, ALA., Nov. B—South
bound Louisville and Nashville passerger
train No. 7 was held up and the mail car
robbed by two masked bandits at Blount
Springs, Ala., today, according to report,
made to Postoffice Inspector Brannon
when the mail clerks, James M. Chamber,
lain and C. A. Hoover, of Nashville
reached hero today.
The robbers, it is reported, secure !
between $30,000 and $40,000 from regis
tered pouches.
After rifling the pouches and securing
a gold watch from Clerk Hoover and
about $5 in cash from Clerk Chamberlair
the robbers left the train at Boyles, six
miles north of Birmingham. They refused
to accept an Ingersoll watch worn' bv
Chamberlain.
According to the clerks the bandits
were evidently amateurs as they ove
looked many valuable articles, apparent!
looking only for money. It Is not known
exactly how much they secured. The
ripped open a registered pouch and a reg
istered package jacket, scattering the
contents on the floor. They left lying n
the floor several thousand dollars worth
of railroad stock coupons and seemed dis
gusted In finding no more cash.
The robbers are believed to have board
ed the train secretly at Blount Spring.
They made their presence known in th
mail car Immediately after the train pulled
out of the station. They at first asked
for something to eat. but quickly de
manded money and covered the clerks
with revolvers. Before leaving the tra®
they tied the clerks to a table in the ear
Authorities, at Birmingham and M< nt
gomery are at work on the case.
TRIAL OF DYNAMITE
CASES TO CONSUME
FIVE MONTHS TIME
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.. Nov. B.—Tl.
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 les
than half of its ease.
At last six weeks more will be used
by the government in presenting the
balance of its case. This will make
three months for the presentation of
one-half of this case.
The presentation of 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 aboul
March 1, 1913.
Practically all of the defendants ex
pect to take the w itness stand in thei.
own defense.
Thomas Burke, engineer, told of tii
dynamiting of a car of steel belonging
to the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Com
pany at Green Bay, Wis., November 21.
1909. He told also of seeing Defendant
William E. Reddin hanging arouii
some non-union work he (Burke) w:
doing for Heyl & Patterson at Milwau
kee in 1910. He said the job was "pick
eted” by the union men.
BOOKINGAGENTACCUSED
BY ACTORSJS DISCHARGED
Producing a big bundle of contracts and
other papers, Sam Massell, head of tlte
Massell Theatrical Booking agency, in
the Austell building, show’ed to the sat
isfaction of Recorder Broyles that his
.business is legitimate, and the case
brought against him by “The Musical
Sparks,” Charlie and Nettie Sparks, was
dismissed.
The two performers were in court and
explained how they had been booked bv
Massell and brought here from Phila
delphia to play small towns, but there
was no evidence to show wrongdoing
on the part of the booking agent.
