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2 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 of the stockholder suits now pending will be withdrawn.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 % •' IHf 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.