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THE weather
• nn , a ht and Friday. Temper-
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VOL. XI. NO. 106.
|H ■ SB
SALARY AGT
MUNG IT
ILLEGAL
Tax Collector Stewart and Re
ceiver Armistead Declare New
Statute Unconstitutional.
WILL FILE DEMURRERS
TO THE COUNTY’S WRITS
Robbed of Fees. Assert Dis
senters. Charging Commis
sion Exceeds Its Powers.
D... -taring that the salary art of
1911. which becomes effective on seven
,uunt.' ''fficials on January 1. 1913. ex
;eeds a good margin the constitutional
limits plated upon the power of the
Fulton commission, the answers of
Tax Collector Stewart, Tax Receiver
Armistead and Ordinary Wilkinson to
the comity's mandamus proceedings
m ' in filed in superior court tomor
row'.
The answers, which were drawn by
J. D. Kilpatrick for the three dissent
ing officials, and will be supplemented
in ourt by demurrers to the county’s
writ, will attempt to show that all
thr-e officers, by virtue of holding a
sate as well as a county job, will be
discriminated against and practically
robbed of fees by the operation of the
new law.
It Is alleged that the tax receiver, for
instance, who is answerable o the state
■ omptroller general, as well as the
■ itinty authorities, will be forced under
the workings of the new law to turn
overall his fees state and county alike,
tn a common fee fund, out of which
salaries for officers, their deputies and
a county auditor are to be paid.
Term It Gratuity.
For Fulton County.
The three dissenters will hold this
■ ’ i'< unconstitutional and will so as
sert to the court on the grounds that
smh a proceeding would be nothing
more than the state levying taxes to
i'lvs.ia I'uli.m county with aa gratuity,
a thing expressly forbidden by the con
s'itution.
The classification phase of the act,
' pitas., that limits its operation to
i' one county in the state—Fulton—
attacked as contrary to the fun
luiiental law. It is maintained that
' nvl 1111 u"t applies only to Fulton,
u conflicts with the general law fixing
■ ~ for tax receivers, tax col
leiors and ordinaries on the statewide
"c-'is prohibiting the uniform applica
tion to the general laws.
Too Much Power.
For Commission Seen.
I hat it glves’the county commission
inure power than contemplated by the
1 'institution will be one of the main
1 nces of the dissenters' contentions.
,! h'ltl that under the new law’s pro
' i s the commission will be all pow.
f| Tiil. and in a position to dictate, not
the salaries of tlie deputies and
;| i-iants. which are stipulated
1 M’l oss,;,. but to enforce the appoint
ment <>f such deputies as it may see
fit.
1 arguments will be
" " k’bt to bear on the court to show
and sundry subjects are treat
u'ltcr-skelter in the body of the
dint are not even hinted at in the
title,
111 lu mt's action, which is set for
grew out of tile three offi
krilure to comply with the com
'"ii - demand for office expense
' ‘.’io s to r 1913. Writs of mandamus
procured against them.
workman caught
IN ELEVATOR SHAFT;
CRUSHED BY WEIGHT
‘ r Wells. 66 Capitol avenue, an
">'■ of the .Moore Electric Com
. !iiov,ly escaped being crushed
'■ "'th today by a heavy elevator
s He was at work in an elevator
’■ tie b sement of the Brittain
1 " ">' 9t .Mitchell street.
. ‘ ' "is helping to install a new
'dwis | n t| le basement when
"rk.nan, ignorant of Wells'
put the car in motion. The
'•'tne down on Wells, breaking
.■ . / ( b adly crushing him. His
'"■ui 1 the man in the car and
' !> "'ought It to a stop, just in
v "’ *>'e Wells’ life.
i' s taken to Grady hospital.
,1 " ' n "t considered serious.
I U". of 9 Inman street, was
f !" v today While at work on
jL, the new Louisville
1 ""'housf at Central
. . Hum. r street. He was
T ’*’ a dirt car and wagon.
The Atlanta Georgian
Read For Profit—GEORGIAN WANT ADS—Use For Results.
Stock Brokers Shiver
Over Prospect of Probe
Into Exchange Secrets
Pujo Money Trust Committee to
Air Operations of Wall
Street Board.
NEW YORK, Dec. s—Stock ex
change brokers here today experienced
a series of chills when it became known
that when the Pujo money trust com
mittee meets in Washington Monday it
will consider the matter of the secret
operations of the New York stock ex
change. Samuel Untermeyer has re
peatedly declared the Pujo committee
would give the stock exchange "an air
ing."
Revelations made today of an in
vestigation conducted here confirm his
prediction. The investigation of this
financial institution is looked upon as a
serious matter by men thoughtful in
finance, and an inkling of what the com
mittee intends to bring out was easily
guessed when the line of information
suggested by its special representatives,
who have been here for several days,
became known. Thus far the data gath
ered tends to show that trading in the
exchange is mostly speculative.
ROME OWLS DEMAND
ACCOUNTING OF CASH
FROM LOCKER CLUB
ROME, GA., Dec. 5. —Sensational al
legations as to the conditions in the
Owls •club, and a demand for an ac
counting and a distribution of funds
among the members are made in a pe
tition filed in the superior court The
suit is an outcome of the recent cru
sade closing all the locker clubs in
Rome, and has caused quite a stir. Six
members are plaintiffs in the proceed
ings.
The indignant Owls claim that when
the club was closed the stock of whis
kies and beer was divided equally
among 229 members, but that there
should now be in the hands of the
treasurer $2,000, belonging equally to
its members in good standing, which
should be distributed upon demand of
the members. It is claimed that the
$2,000 is being frittered away in pay
ing idle people salaries and that the
money is spent without due authority
and wrongfully misapplied. Gross mis
management is charged also. Judge
Maddox will hear the petition Decem
ber 11.
13 OF 30 MEMBERS
OF COUNCIL NOT IN
ANY LOCKER CLUB
Thirteen members of the city council
are not members of any locker club.
Investigator Puckett, of the city at
torney’s office, has just completed a list
of the club members in council, for use
in the injunction trial of locker clubs
scheduled before Judge Pendleton to
morrow. The attorneys for the four
clubs which have secured temporary
injunctions against council's order clos
ing them —the Georgia Athletic, the
Southern, the Bees and the Knights of
the Mystic Ark clubs —secured a court
order for the names of the councilmen
who are members of clubs with locker
features. These attorneys want to
prove that there has been discrimina
tion in the granting of locker club per
mits.
The council men objected to giving
this information in court, on the
grounds that it was irrelevant. But
they finally consented, and it is now
known that seventeen are members of
the various clubs in the city.
COUNCILMAN SMITH
IN MOVE FOR MORE
PAY FOR POLICEMEN
Councilman Charles W. Smith an
nounced today that he would make a
fight before council to increase the
minimum salaries of policemen from
S6O to $75 per month. Councilman
Smith said he would also urge that
supernumeraries receive $75 per month
when they worked instead of the $45
now paid them.
“It is impossible for a man with a
family to live with any degree of com
fort in Atlanta on S6O per month," he
said. "Seventy-five dollars is almost
as absurd. We ask these officers to do
a man's work ami we ought to pay
them a man's wages They get a yearly
increase of $5 per month. It takes an
officer six years to get S9O per month.
“The high cost of living has made
S6O a month salaries obsolete for men
who are expected to do intelligent
work."
ILLINOIS LAWMAKER
WOULD STOP BLACKS
AND WHITES WEDDING
BELLEVILLE, ILL., Dec. s.—En
raged by the marriage of Jack Johnson,
the negro, and Lucille Cameron, white.
Charles A. Karch a member of the Il
linois state legislature, stated today he
would Introduce a bill at the coming
session to prohibit the intermarriage of
whites and blacks.
"The marriage of that negro to a
white girl in Chicago is a blemish on
the name of the state," said Karch: "Il
linois is one of the few states of the
Union which allow miscegenation, and
it is time to put a stop to it If this
girl's mother was powerless to prevent
a rash and terrible act. it is high time
tile law should intervene I believe the
white race should be kept free from
taint."
MMERSHAM
URGES CPEfi
THSLSFQR
TRUSTS
Says Barring of Public Forced
Him to Halt Fight on Shoe
Machinery Combine.
'NEWSPAPER PUBLICITY
AID TO PROSECUTIONS
i
Attorney General Also Asks for
Law to Permit Seizure
of Coffee.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 5.—A de
mand for legislation permitting news
paper men and the public generally to
he present during the taking of testi
mony in trust suits, which would assist
the department of justice to carry on
its litigation against the United States
Shoe .Machinery Company and the new
laws to aid the prosecution of the so
called coffee trust, were the nrbst im
portant measures advocated by Attor
ney General 'Wickersham in his annual
report, which was read in both houses
of congress today. In addition to this
legislation, announcement was made of
a second procedure against the Le
high Valley coal and railroad compa
nies at an early date.
Strong commendation of the recent
decisions of the supreme court in the
cases of the Standard Oil Company and
the American Tobacco Company was
also contained in the attorney general’s
report. He stated that in his opinion
no additional legislation to limit and
define the Sherman anti-trust act was
needed. With regard to criminal pros
ecution under this law, however. Mr.
Wickersham was of the opinion that
the government's suits against trust of
ficials during the past year were far
from encouraging.
Two Millions in
Fines Collected.
The attorney general reported that
there was collected and paid into the
treasury of the United States, as a
result of suits brought, or compro
mises effected during the fiscal year,
the sum of $2,018,933.99. besides $730,-
136.16 collected by the solicitor of the
treasury in compromise claims not in
suit, making an aggregate total of $2.-
749.070.15. During the past fiscal year,
says the report, 3,242 civil cases, to
which the United States was a party,
and 16.158 criminal prosecutions, were
disposed of in the circuit and district
courts, and 1.212 cases in the court of
claims.
Reviewing these figures and refer
ring to the efficicacy of the Sherman
law, the attorney general said:
"I am strongly of the opinion that
the advocacy of amendments to the
Sherman anti-trust law, which shall
particularize different acts as consti
tuting unlawful restraints of trade, has
Its origin not so much with those who
desire its enforcement as with those
who desire to secure a means of evad
ing it."
The offices performed by the com
merce court were highly commended by
Attorney General Wickersham. With
regard to this subject, he said:
“In my opinion the commerce court
has proved a far more satisfactory in
strument for the determination of legal
questions arising out of the orders of
the interstate commerce commission
than the former method by which such
. questions were passed upon in the va
-1 rious circuit courts throughout tlie
country.
"It is much more expeditious; it has
upheld tlie commission in a larger por
tion of cases than did either the circuit
courts or the supreme courts; and it
has granted temporary injunctions with
less freedom than the circuit courts did.
I believe it would be very injurious to
the interests of the public, as well as to
the due. convenient and expeditious ad
ministration of justice, to now return
to the old plan of distributing the liti
gation among the many district courts
of the United States.” -
Report on the
Atlanta Prison.
Regarding the Federal prison at At
lanta, the attorney general's report
"The number of prisoners in confine
ment on June 30. 1912, was 954. the
average daily population being 833. The
average dally population for the fiscal
year 1911 was 767.
"The cost of maintenance of the pen
itentiary was $171,211.11; tlie average
yearly cost of maintenance per man was
$2’15.4; the daily cost. $0,562. The daily
cost per prisoner for subsistence alone
was sn.lll The average yearly cost of
maintenance per man for 1911 was
s2ll II; the daily cost, $11.579; while the
daily cost for subsistence alone was
SO,IOB.
"The value of farm supplies raised
and used by the penitentiary during the
yeai was $9,341.37
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. DECEMBER 5, 1912.
Lincoln Memorial
To Cost $1,775,000:
Plans Are Chosen
WASHINGTON, Dee. s.—President
Taft today sent to congress tlie report
of the Lincoln memorial commission,
which last night decided to accept the
plans for a memorial, including the
erection of a marble structure costing
$1,775,000 in the national capitol.
Lefl to right, little Misses Mareelle Lyon. Gladys Hill and Ina Louise Harris, petitioning
Councilman J. J. Greer for a new building for the Davis Street school.
ATLANTA HIO OF
SLOT MIHNES
Beavers’ Men Make Thorough
Inspection and Find Ordi
nance Complied With.
The clock striking 12 for the hour of
noon today sounded the knell of the slot
gambling machines that have cost At
lanta between $200,000 and $500,000 a
year.
Within little more than a week after
The Georgian started its campaign to
rid the city of these fraudulent devices
that have robbed hundreds of the fool
ish of money they could ill spare, coun
cil has enacted an ordinance banishing
them and a vigilant chief of police stood
ready today to enforce the law.
The city has cut the Gordian knot of
technicalities and all of the proprietors
of places operating the machines have
reconciled themselves to the new stat
ute.
Chief Beavers notified Captain Mayo
to have his men Inspect every locker
club, near-beer saloon and pool room
as the clock struck 12 today to see if
tlie machines have been removed.
There was no opposition to the ordi
nance manifested and no machines
were found.
Offenders will be brought before Re
corder Broyles, who has announced his
entire sympathy with the ordinance
which prescribes penalties of SIOO fine
or 30 days in the stockhde, or both.
WOODWARD TO URGE
CITY TO BUY LAND
AROUND RESERVOIRS
Mayor-elect James G. Woodward an
nounced today that he would urge
council in his inaugural address to pur
chase the land around the city water
reservoirs which is endangering the
city's water supply.
Because of th< surface closets on this
property the city health doctors have
condemned It as dangerous to the city's
water. The water board urged council
for an immediate appropriation to pur
chase it. This was impossible Backed
b\ M Woodward, the board expects to
secure the needed appropriation when
the budget is made up tn January.
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N?N "“Nr-x isl
Wee Suffragists Score in Fight for New School
GIRLS WISE POLITICIANS
-*jjj¥i> '
Councilman Greer Surrenders
When Ardent Campaigners
Swoop Down Upon Him.
Three pretty little Atlanta school
girls today are full-fledged, dyed-in
the-wool juvenile suffragists.
Not that they care to vote, or any
thing like that, but because they are
playing the game of politics from sheer
enthusiasm in an effort to obtain a
new school building for the Davis
Street school.
And they are bubbling over with joy,
too, for they have scored their first win.
The first plunge into the political
arena was made yesterday afternoon
when they "assailed’ Councilman J. J.
Greer, of the Fifth ward, and came out
with colors flying high. These girlish
politicians—little Misses Mareelle
Lyon, Ina Louise Harris and Gladys
Hill—all bright pupils of the Davis
Street school, swooped down on the
councilman, told him they “want him
to build them a new and up-to-date
school house,” and
Councilman Greer “Taken.”
The councilman capitulated. That's
why they’re so happy.
Little Miss Mareelle. who is the
daughter of Professor and Mrs A. A.
Lyon, is in the fifth grade. Miss Ina
Louise is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
E. C. Harris and is in the sixth grade,
while Miss Gladys, a member of the
second grade, is the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. A. W. Hill.
le was with an unbreakable detrml
nation to win that the three girls start
ed their personal campaign for a new
school, and they “fired the opening
guns" with such rfoufidence and clev
erness as would have done credit to
some of the old regulars-the ever
present "astute politicians,"
Children Into Campaign.
When the teachers in the Davis Street
school Monday determined to make a
fight for a new building, one that will
meet the demands of the school, and
urged the children to interest their
parents in the move, this trio of little
girls derided on a personal campaign.
They talked over the matter, just like
real politicians, and formed themselves
into a committee.
Councilman Greer was seated yester
day afternoon in liis office in the Em
pire building when three little girls
were announced. Taken by surprise, he
promptly admitted them. Tripping into
the office, the wee politicians swarmed
about the councilman, w ho dropped pen
and business, ami instantly was all at
tention
“My little ladies, what can I do foi
Continued on Paqe Two.
® RECEIVER FOR
COSMOPOLITAN
Big Life Insurance Company
Wins—Reaches Agreement
With the State.
No receiver for the Cosmopfltan Life
Insurance Company will be appointed
by Judge Bell, of the superior court,
to his announcement this
afternoon, and steps are being taken
for a reorganization of the company
under an agreement which will permit
it to continue in business.
Attorneys for the company an
nounced today that they had reached
an agreement with Comptroller Genera!
Wright whereby the company would he
permitted by him to continue opera
tions, provided it comply with such re
strictions specified by him under the
recently passed insurance laws.
Arguments in the long drawn out
case of Dan G. Sudderth and others
against the Cosmopolitan company
were concluded today. It had been ex
pected that Judge Bell would reserve
his decision as to the receivership
asked by Sudderth until the close of the
state’s more recent suit against the
company. But w hen the attorneys for
the company urged that they had been
In negotiations with the comptroller
general and might be permitted to re
organize the company, and that this
could not be done were there any fur
ther delay, the court announced that no
receivership would be appointed.
Attorneys in the ease will meet Judge
Bell tomorrow morning and take up the
question of the agreement with the
state, in order that the court may learn
how much time will be necessary to
conclude the negotiations.
ATHENS INSURANCE MAN
PROBABLY FATALLY SHOT
ATHENS, GA.. Dec. s.—Thad Bray,
an employee of the University of Geor
gia farm, shot and probably mortally
wounded 1,. O. Lowe this afternoon.
The shooting took place in a hall in
front of Lowe’s oflloe on the fifth floor
of the Southern Mutual building.
Lowe is manager of the Cherokee
Life Insurance Company.
lin four shots lock effect in the
stomach and back. Insulting remarks
made by Low, about Bray's wife are
ild to be the cause of the shooting.
Brax gate himself up immediately after
the shooting.
HOHL
IDITION
2 CENTS EVERYWHERE
PROIESFOR
KINTOGOME
TO BURIAL
ENDS LIFE
Seab W. Higgins. Secretary to
John E. Murphy. Tired of
Life, Shoots Self.
LAST NOTE ON BACK OF
CHECK MADE TO SISTER
Illness and Gloomy Weather!
Believed to Have Caused
Fatal Melancholy.
j
Signing a check for S2O and writing a,
note on the back explaining that it was
to be forwarded to his sister in Savan
nah to pay her expenses to his funeral, .
Seab W. Higgins, private secretary to '
John E. Murphy. Atlanta capitalist, to
day shot himself in the abdomen in his
room In the Tallulah apartments in
Washington street, dying two hours
later at Grady hospital.
The sister, Mrs. H. S. Freeman, of
312 East Thirty-second ’street. Savan
nah. was notified immediately of the
tragedy. She is Higgins' only known !
relative.
Higgins', last words were that he
"was ti ed of life." In the note on the
check he made the same statement..
Beyond this he gave no explanation of
his deed.
Illness Only
Reason Known.
Higgins, who was 40 years old and
unmarried, is said to have suffered from
stomach trouble. Mr. Murphy and
I others Intimately acquainted with him
j say this Is the only possible known
reason why he should have taken h!s
life. It is thought that this ailment
may have caused him to lose sleep,
bringing on fatal despondency, and
that he reached the determination to
die when he awoke this morning and
looked out on the gloomy, murky day.
It was said Higgins was married and
divorced several years ago. but if this
be true, he never discussed it with his
friends. If he brooded over it he never
intimated to any one that he even was
worried.
Higgins died in the operating room <<t
Grady hospital just after the comple
tion of an operation. He never revived
from the anaesthetic. The operation
was commenced immediately after hs
was rushed to the hospital, the attend-,
ing physicians realizing this was tho
only possible chance to save him,
though it offered but slim hope.
Just before the anaesthetic was ad
ministered, Higgins, who was conscious,
told Mr. Murphy, who had hurried to
the hospital, that he was “tired of life.’’
and, as though he feared he had bun
gled the job. remarked;
"I wish 1 had shot myself through tha
head.”
"Higgins told me," said Mr. Murphy,
“that he had shot himself because ha
was tired of life. He would not give
any other reason.”
Mr. Murphy said that Higgins always
had been a cheerful, competent em
ploye" and he could think of no leason
for him to be so despondent as to desira
to end his life.
Employer Certain
Accounts Are Straight.
Mr. Murphy added that he was cer
tain Higgins' accounts all were straight
and that it was nothing in his work that
led him to his act
Higgins was undressed and in bed,
when lie shot himself. He had pulled ■
the l>A(i clothes close up about his neck; I
and held the revolver under the cover 1
in an - ffoit to muffle the report as '
much ,as possible.
Mrs. M. Martin, an aunt of Mrs. M.
Davenport, from whom Higgins rented
his room, was attracted by the shot, but i
thought it was the explosion of a tor-I
pedo <>n the street car tracks. A few
minutes later, however, Mrs. Martin
Hus passing the room and detected tha
odor of powder.
Instinctively divining the truth. Mrs.
Martin frantically tapped on the door,
but received no reply. Knowing that
Higgins had not gone to Mr. Murphy's !
office and that he still was in the room, '
she summoned Mis. Davenport and the !
negro janitor and had the door forced ;
open. Higgins was found in the bed •
apparently dying. He never spoke io jj
tlie women.
Dr. Herbert Reynolds was called and ,
gave the wounded man temporary at-4
tent ion, while the Grady ambulance was ’
on tlie way. As soon as It arrived Hig- S
gins was taken to the hospital and at ;
once placed on the operating table.
The only note found in the room w,u '
that written on the S2O check made out:
to Mrs. Freeman. In addition to ex-J
pl.lining that "he was tired of Ilf. .’J
Higgins requested that Mr. Murphy be j
notified. There was no word of regrets
for the deed. The note indicated thntj
Higgins had contemplated suicide for .*!
month.