Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, December 05, 1912, HOME, Image 1

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THE weather • nn , a ht and Friday. Temper- R;,n ton i g 62 degrees; 10 a. m., ,tures: a- ~ noorli 55 degrees: 2 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. / - : A\ / ' / W. xW'-s \ \ /v, /• % JBSS&&' * w 1 I. \ ww |« ST If b. , ■ ■ • \ \ 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.