Newspaper Page Text
the weather
Fc(eC a«t: Rain tonight or Friday.
Temperatures: 8 a. m„ 42 degrees:
in am., 47 degrees: 12 noon, 50 de
g,ees: 2 p. m„ 51 degrees.
VOL. XI. NO. 123.
PARK BOARD
HEAD RAPS
MISERLY’
COUNCIL
City Fathers Attacked for Fail
ure to Develop Beauty Spots
and Playgrounds.
REPORT gives high
PRAISE TO DAN CAREY
Mode! Bathing Beach at Lake
wood and More “Breathing
Places” Are Urged.
A criticism of the mayor and council
f or not giving the city park department
its share of income from increased tax
values and a word of praise for General
Manager Dan Carey are the striking
paragraphs in the report of the park
board completed today by President J.
O. Cochran.
The that "complete har-
JD ony” has existed between the com
missioners and the general manager in
the last year and that Mr. Carey was
permitted to run his department as he
thought best. It thus Is proved that
the old quarrels between board mem
bers and manager have been forgotten
and the hatchet Is burled at last.
"You have not treated this depart
ment liberally,” says President Coch
an. In his report. "You have not re
sponded to the people’s demand for
their to be improved. You con
tinue your policy of appropriating
money more grudgingly than a miser
spends his hoarded gold and continue
to look upon parks as useless luxuries.
Atlanta Far Behind
In Park Development.
"Atlanta is further behind in park
development than any other city of its
size in the country. The park depart
ment. of Memphis has more money in
its treasury at the end of the year than
we have all the year round.”
The board requests council to again
appropriate funds for building a new
cyclorama at Grant park, stating that
*15,000 was set aside for this purpose
this year, but taken away and applied
to other purposes outside the park de
ns rtment. It is shown that the roads
in Grant park are In poor condition be
cause of lack of funds and the need of a
argc trunk sewer to protect the park
is stressed. (
"The zoo Is in better condition than in
ears,” recites the report. “The herbtf
erous animals should have a wider
ange. A large appropriation is neces
sary.”
The roads in Piedmont park are in
bad shape and funds for improvement
are needed there. The swimming pool,
exceedingly popular last summer, needs
enlargement and additional equipment.
It is shown that 50,000 persons bathed
there last season.
Improvement of
Lakewood Urged.
Funds are urged for improving Lake
food. having an expert lay out perma
nent plans for its development, and for
converting the lake into one of the
finest inland bathing beaches in the
■untr . /
Mr. Cochran recommends the sale of
It- F. Maddox park, saying it is un
suited to park purposes, but he urges
that the proceeds be,devoted to the
’•urchase of another tract in the same
action, that the people there still may
have the playground to which they are
entitled.
file duty of trimming trees through
the city has been loaded on the
park department, says the report, but
she funds for this work have been In
sufficient. It lias been Impossible to
' io care of one-fourth of the shade
’r- ' s and a heavy loss follows. The
■’card asks an ordinance to require
Property owners to set out trees along
curb wherever a street Is widened,
oprovements of the small parks.
■ of which have been neglected, is
' • and the remarkable popularity’
Howell park, in West End, is shown
n "sample of the use of a finished
1 .'ground.
"iitlnuance of the policy of aequir-
- ■ ' many small park tracts as pos
ts urged, and the’council is rec
iniended to give as freely as possible
this purpose. Mr. Cochran stresses
need of tiiese small playgrounds.
' ‘’Hu Atlanta has enougli large parks
" ■"■commodate a citv of half-a-mlllion
l >-pple.
fw-lve playgrounds were operated
■nitlf the year and the board urges a
- r appropriation for tins work
•eng children in summer vacations.
’ '" absolutely necessary for the
*■ ' '"pinent of children," writes the
■'t'cmt. "that they be given ample
in which to play, it costs money
‘‘■'■p up playgrounds, but It also
- inoney to maintain jails for those
‘■ lv e not been taught obedience to
■ tlie mandates of society. T ■■
-'"iiri'ls put hlidren on their hou
'J' 1 teach them the prln'.tpd'S of
' ' democracy "
The Atlanta Georgian
Read For Profit--GEORGIAN WANT ADS-Use For Results
Santas From All Over
I World Send Gifts to
1 Residents of Atlanta
' 1,800 Packages From Foreign
Lands Opened By Local
Customs Officials.
Christmas spirit is not confined to
Atlanta, however much the Atlanta
man might have thought so from tie !
I evidence in hand at any time during!
I the last week. Over in Japan they I
I have an almond-eyed Santa Glaus; in'
I France, maybe, he wears high heels and
I a silk hat. But, all the same, lie exists,
and the custom office in the Atlanta
I Federal building is able to furnish
proof thereto.
The office workers under M. O. |
Markham, surveyor of customs, is busy
witli the Christmas consignments from
abroad. It is estimated that 1,600 or
1,800, maybe more, bundles containing
Christmas gifts have come to Atlanta
from foreign lands. Even Japan and
China are represented in the batch;
most of the packages are from England
and Germany, however.
There are no secrets from the cus
toms men, not even at Christmas. Each
of the gift packages is opened, its con
tents examined and appraised. In no
single instance has contraband matter
been found in the Christmas bundles.
CHRISTMAS RUSH AT
POSTOFFICE BREAKS
PREVIOUS RECORDS
Conscious that Atlanta's Christmas
spirit had budded into a record for hol
iday business accomplished in the post
office, Postmaster H. L. McKee released
this morning the 125 extra clerks who
were helping out during the rush, and
breathed in relief. The mail desks
were clean.
The postofflee handled an amount of
business during the last week almost
double that of last year’s for the same
time. That much is definitely esti
mated. No figures are obtainable yet,
the force having worked at break-neck
speed to attend the demands of the
public. Now, however, with a breath
ing spell, the tabulation of results will
be made.
The postmaster estimates that the
sale of stamps for Saturday, Monday
and Tuesday, with the few hours of
open windows Sunday and Christmas
day, will aggregate $25,000, or about'
SB,OOO for each working day.
SUPREME court to
RULE ON JUST WHAT
MAKES UP A FAMILY
NEW YORK, Dec. 26—“ What is fam
ily?"
That is the question that a special
term of the supreme court will have to
thresh out soon, when the action of
Mrs. Minnie C. Oberndorf seeks to com
pel her husband. William D. Oberndorf,
to pay her SI,OOO a year under an
agreement which they entered into
when they separated, comes up on ap
peal. In describing a family, Justice
Platzek, of the lower court handed
down the following definition:
“A husband and wife constitute a
family. A childless widow is included
in the term family. A deserted wife
without children is included in the term
family. Having a wife is having a
family.”
Oberndorf did pot agree with this
definition and is contesting.
* -
LANGFORD KNOCKS
OUT SAM M’VEY IN
THIRTEENTH ROUND
SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES,
Dec. 26. —In the fiercest battle seen
here in many years Sam Langford, the
Boston “Tar Baby.” this afternoon
knocked out Sam McVey, Ills negro
rival, in seeking the world’s champion
ship. After he had been declared the
winner Langford announced that he
would challenge Jack Johnson for the
heavyweight championship.
The end of the battle came in the
thirteenth round, after Langford had
given McVey a terrific beating. Tne
two negroes appeared evenly matched
for the first five rounds, but after that
Langford showed better condition and
easily landed the quietus in the thir
teenth.
ENTIRE MILITARY TO
BE REPRESENTED IN
INAUGURAL PARADE
WASHINGTON. Dee. 26. Majo:
General Leonard Wood, chief of staff f
the army and marshal of the inaugural
parade, today began work on tile for
mation of the big procession.
All branches of the military service
will be (‘presented, induing the entire
cadets from West Point and Annapolis,
and several hundred Indians from the
Carlisle training school. General Wood
sent telegrams to the governors of all
states, asking what state troops would
| be .'■ent here for the parade.
LUCY HOKE SMITH GETS
HER $5,000 BROOCH BACK
WASHINGTON. Dee. 26. The $5,000
brooch 1 >st by M las Lucy Hokt
'Smith, daughter of Senator Hol."
I Smith, of Georgia, at a navy yard dance
| hist Saturday night, has been returned
Ito Mi-- Smith by a woman fri.rid who
'found i • ornament. It bad caught u
tin friend’s dress.
ATLANTA. GA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1912.
mill mins
PMECHIEF
IMIEO 81
imw
Advocates Giving City's Exec-i
utive More Power to Place
the Responsibility.
WOODWARD. TOO, FAVORS
EXTENDED AUTHORITY
Fight for Charter Reforms Sure
With New Administration.
Soon To Be Outlined.
Friends of Mayor-elect James- G.
Woodward were much interested to
learn of the announcement of Mayor
Courtland S. Winn today that he would
very probably urge some radical char
ter amendments in his farewell message
to council, outlining a program of mor<
authority for the mayor, including the
appointment of the chief of police.
“The mayor is now held responsible
. for an administration when his author
ity practically is limited to vetoing and
the signing of cheeks.
“Continue to hold him responsible for
an administration, but give him the au
thority to carry out his ideas.”
That is the essence of Mayor Winn’s
view of Atlanta’s charter faults ami ot
the reforms most needed.
Woodward Wants
Increased Powers.
Mayor-elect Woodward holds similar
. views. As Mayor Winn and Mayor
elect Woodward have been on opposite
sides politically, Mayor Winn’s declara
tion may’ have a significant effect in an
attempt to bring about this change. I
The appointment of the chief of po
lice would at least put the mordl regu
lation of the city directly up yto the
mayor, and through him in the hands
of the people.
With the police commission in charge
of the department, its control is de
clared by friends of the ' proposed
change to be too indirect. Council
elects the police commissioners for
terms of three years. As pach one is
elected for a separate term, such con
flicting situations arise as at present,
when the police department will be
controlled during the entire adminis
tration of tlie incoming mayor by com
missioners politically antagonistic to
him.
Mayor-elect Woodward is expected to
touch on these lines in his inaugural
message to council.
There is an assurance that the main
issue for charter reforms next year will
be more power for the mayor.
His salary is increased from $3,000
to $4.Q00 on January 1. But with a
majority of the council and a majority
of 'the police commission openly . op
posed to the new mayor, Ills authority
in municipal affairs will be muqh han
dicapped.
ASKS DIVORCE WHEN
HER HUSBAND BRINGS
HOME WOMAN FRIEND
Asserting that she had endured her
husband’s brutal treatment until lie
brought a young woman to her home
whom lie presented as the wife of an
old college chum when she was not,
Mrs. Emma Skeene today asked supe
rior court for divorce from W. A.
Skeene. y
Mrs. Skeene maintained that her
husband lias fits of ungovernable tem
per and on various occasions beat her
severely. She said that lie seldom came
home, spending much of time in the
company of other women.
i LABOR MAN KILLS
OFFICER OF UNION
IN ROW OVER CAR
CHICAGO. Di . 26.—Jaim-s Conway
a member of tlu Steamfitters union, j
well known in labo > tick -, was shot i
and killed today by Thomas Freer, sec
retary of the union. The shooting oc-■■
curled on the sixth floor of the Morti
mer building.
The men quarreled over the use of
the automobile owned by the union.
Freer was arrested. He said Conway
had attempted to draw a revolver and
lie shot In self-defense.
CHOSE TURKEY DINNER
RATHER THAN PARDONS
MACON. GA . Dee. 26 Fifteen ne
groes refused to accept <'hrlstma.s com
mutations of their senti-nces, which
meant a release from the city stoekmb
They preferred to remain In prison and
pa; take >r |>l" eleuiint i-h'lo dim,
"I’cpared by Superintendent Moseley.
‘Angel of the Tower" Makes Prisoners" Christmas Happy
YULETIDE CHEER INVADES JAIL
-A c
Mil.
wJi \ ■ ••
Wits;- & k
-
■ ■ —"S.ffliwF
atlantans seek
WTM
Shop Mysteriously Vacated and
Many Men Fail to Get Their
Christmas Suits.
A number of Atlanta men were forced
to go without their new Christmas suit
of clothes as a result of the sudden and
mysterious evacuation of the Mike
Walsh tailor shop, on the first floor of
• the Candler building.
In fact, many who ordered suits from
' the Walsh shop, leaving a 50 per cent
deposit with their orders, today are
clamoring for their money, or a chance
‘ to prosecute the owner of the shop—but
they can find no trace of the owner or
i manager.
The tailor shop was opened about
■ November 1, and is said to have done a
good business. The store space was
• sub-rented by 1.. G. Thlgpln. of Chat
tanooga. from the Elyea-Austell com
pany. Two checks In payment of rent
to January 1 were given. Some who
ordered suits received them before the
shop was clrtsed some tlim between 11
o’clock last Saturday night and early
Monday morning.
Others received express packages to
day and yesterdaj from life National
Woolen Mills, of Chattanooga, contain
ing a whole ..r parts of suits. But
' others still are without any knowledge
’ of the whereabouts of either their
' money or the owner of the tailor shop.
' A man by the name of Thomas is sal ;
to have managed the shop. Thigpin is
’ said to have financed It. Patrons charge
ttia't they were informed the place wat
a branch of one of Mike Walsh’s Fifth
avenue tailoring shop in New York
The shop was often late Saturday
' night, and when patrons went there
■ early Monday morning for their Christ
mas suits, the door was lock-d. all of
the suits were removed, and a ‘for ent"
sign hung on the window.
Neither the Elyea-Austell conrpatty
nor the Candler building superintend-
. I ent lmv< hoard from Thomas nr Thi,-
I pht.
MAN GOING TO HIS
; CHRISTMAS DINNER
KILLED BY FALLING
, H. ('. Griftin. 55 years old, a salesman
of Hamilton. G.i.. died it ).■'• Grady
hospital last night as a result of frac-
I ture to the base.of his skull sustained
in an accident at Folsom’s hotel on Ma
rietta street yesterday
Griffin, in company with C F. Tur
nipseed, of 2SI Glenn eet. had «tar*-
i'. > th
tier. Just before . i aching the top of
tr. steps hading to the second-floor
dining room. Griffin slipped and f •!!.
i He .lied without n gaining eon.-.-ious
itess.
Tilt body i- b ag ■ <>> .. i
Col.- as to it-; disposition from his home
. : H •tniltoll.
/
Mis. Martha Culver Smith, ‘’the Angel of the Tower,” dis
tributing candy anti fruits Io the county prisoners.
Mountaineers Pleased as Chil
dren When Atlanta Woman
Distributes Delicacies.
In the long corridor of the Atlant*
Tower today a stoop-shouldered moun
taineer held a yellow orange and exam
ined it curiously. On his knee lay a I
little gauze bag tilled with cjiridv. rhe
mountain man seemed as pleased as a
child.
“1 shore would love to take this truck
home to my young ’uns before it gits I
plum’ sp’iled,” he said, regretfully. ' I
don’t reckon there ever was a orange
in Rattler C’ove. And store candy, too!
Them young 'uns shore would hanker
after that.”
He was one of the moonshiners who
shared in the Christmas gift given the
prisoners in the 'Power by the Second
Baptist Sunday school and delivered
personally by The Angel of the Tow
er” yesterday afternoon. And Ilk«- most
of tlic mountain men who had received
file little bags of candy and fruit, h«
had eaten non* of his “Christmas.”
Such things were to b< kept in one's
cel! anti looked at so. .> long tine In for*-
being eaten.
Mrs. Martha L. Culver Smith is the j
"Angel of th-- Tower.” She lives at 7?
Washington street, and is an assistarp [
worker of the Atlanta Baptist associa
tion. All her rime i# given to carrying’
aid and good cheer to the unfortunate
of Atlanta. Iler meetings have been
attended by t* ns of thousands of men
and women: the fallen she has helped
to their feet number hundreds. She
has found time in the midst of her re
lief work to hold brief ty-rvires every
Sunday at the street car barns, hading
a prayer and a bit of praise among
these men who. I ;iv« no tiim for church
going, who know no Sunday.
Rut it hhs been among the moonshin
ers in the Tower that Mrs. Smith has
done her most effective work. They
are deeply religious men, most of these
offendc i s against the written law they
can not understand. They an* emo
tional, easily swayed to a frenzy of cn
tyueiasm. ami they miss th* .-pi Injean*’
autumn revivals of the circuit riders
• ven as they miss the blue haze of th*
• mountains and the tinkle of the cow
bells in the pasture# of the coves.
Every weeks for years Mrs. Smith
lias conducted services in tin Tower,
and every week some prison* r has told
her that she has led him into deciding
nr better lift*. Sh ha# brought thorn
books and magazines and tracts, has
written letters for them io the folks at
lullin’
Sae has be* ii known to theu4 as th**
■ \tigel of in*’ ’Low *r" for m;*ny.inonth. 1
m i she believe* i -at in no ti id of hr
work ias she dom #o mu* h real good.
SUTTON FREED St
PLEA DF SISTERS
Youth Appears at Tower With
the Announcement That He
Has Been Paroleci.
t'ti irj* ' 'Sutton, the youthful high
wayman t*-nt to the state prison
■ ightecn months ago, after rob
bing several Atlanta druggists, walked
into the Atlanta Tower today and an
nounced to old friends among the offi
cials that he had been paroled and was
jit. l 1 from the farm at Milledgeville.
Sutton was sent up for holding up
cevoral druggists at the point of a pis
tol while they were working late at
night in their stores. With him in the
rimes was .1 R. Knox, who was also
sent* ti* *-d. Sutton’s two sisters came
from Indianapolis to make an earnest
1 lea before t judge, hut they >ero
un tbl* i*. save him from the prison
| farm. They . pp a <d a short time ago
* before Governor Brown and begged
J that their brothei be pardoned on ac
count of his youth and the fact that he
h id bteii led astray by older nu n.
Sutton was one of th* quintet who
mad* a *n ciionri *•-• up■■ frrfin the
Towel while awaiting trial. They saw
ed out the bins of a window’ on the
fourth floor, let themselves down by a
r*me made of blankets, and made their
escape over the wall. All were cap
tured a few days later and brought
back. Among the escaped men was
John WJthrow, a murderer afterward
han-p ci in his home county.
DYNAMITE TRIAL AT
END; JL'RY WILL GET
NOTED CASE TODAY
INDIANAPOLIS. Do- jt;. The dyna
mite conspiracy <*«se will go to the jury
lids evening. This was made < • rtairi by
the anm uncement by Judge A. P., Ander
son w 1 * i ' < urt opened that he would in-
■ iru* i the jury before court adjourns to
day. Ills address will continue about an
hour, the judge said
Th* greatest *Towds sin*, the trial be
gun *urm*d oiti to hear District \t.i«*rnoy
Charles \\ Miller wind up his closing
.agum* nt today, and long before time f«*r
the e«»ur’ room doors to open the lobby
•f *l;e I*/- • h’dldim; wiu Ihied with
HOMt|
IDITION
2 CENTS EVERYWHERE
lUNIBYAND
PAL EK
WIFE AIDED,
SAYPOLICE
Alleged Burglar and Forger
Obtains Saw Mysteriously
and Wins Freedom.
—•—
•‘SMOOTHEST PEN ARTIST”
WAS WANTED IN ATLANTA
Alarm Sent Out. But Detectives
Fail to Find a Clew in the
Daring Escape.
MONTGOMERY, ALA.. Dec. 26. Ben
Brumby, alleged forger, mice of Mari
etta, Ga.. received a Ciiristmas present
yesterday. It was a sharp, new saw.
and Montgomery officials think It was
Brumby’s wife who brought it to her
prisoner husband. It sawed out the
bars of a room on the second floor of
the jail and Brumby made his exit ut
midnight, taking with him George
Jones, of Butler county, held for grand
larceny.
Brumby, well known in Atlanta and
wanted there for forgery,* Is being hunt
ed today by state officials and the chair
of Pinkerton detective offices retained
to protect banks from penmanship ex
perts and nitroglycerin artists. The
i Pinkertons also are searching earnestly
for Mrs. Brumby, believing her respon
sible for her husband’s escape. Sh<
was with him when he was arrested
here, but left for Memphis last Friday.
Rhe returned yesterday and paid >
Christmas call oh her husband In the
Jail.
Then she disappeared and at mid
night Brumby went out of the window
climbed down an electric cable and
scaled the high walls surrounding th.'
.Pt 11 yard.
Sleuths Think
Wife Also Is Clever.
The detectives believe Mrs. Brumby
is as clever a worker as her husband.
She was in Atlanta with him when he
cashed the forged check which led tn
his arrest, and was at his side when he «
was run down and captured.
Officers say she is a Memphis woman
and are busily looking up her persona’
I history today In the hopi ot gaining a
clew to her movements.
I A reward of SSO has been offered for
the capture of each of the escaped
j prisoners.
Brumby, black sheep of one of Ma
I I’i' t fa’s proudest families, was forced to
i spend his Christmas day In the Mont
i gomery Jail tor lack of any friend win
: ing to put up $5,000 bond for him while
his habeas corpus writ was being con
sidered by’ the supreme court. Mr
Br umby had been invited to spend tb<
holidays In Atlanta, to explain why he
had broken Into the offices of Smith
Hammond & Smith, helped himself to
blank checks and pen and ink and
forged the names gs Alex W. Smith and
Theodore Hammond to large-sized
checks, one of which he cashed.
Brumby Objected
To Coming Here.
But Mr. Brumby preferred celebrat
ing the season In Montgomery’, and se
cured a writ of habeas corpus rather
than return to Georgia with the detec
, tive who came to escort him home. Lo
cal authorities placed him in jail while
the Justices studied his plea, but Brutn
. by grew impatient at the law’s delays
, and settled the questions under dispute
, by leaving while the discussion of tech
nicalities still were under way.
"Tire smoothest pen artist In Amer
ica," is the description given Brumby
by Pinkerton detectives, who have for
i years regarded him as one of their
chief- excuses tot being in the bank
ers' protective •business. So clever war
his imitation of the signature of Mr
Smith, the Atlanta lawyer, that Mr
Smith hesitated a long time before say
ing positively tile writing was not his
own
Last at Home at
War Hero Reception.
The ent lance of the Atlanta offices
took place on the nigiit* of December
' 6. and the Smith check was cashed a
1 day or two later. When Brumby was
arrested in Montgo nery by a detective
of tile Atlanta Pinkerton agency, De
tective Hollingsworth, of the Atlanta
city force, came to lake him back to
, Georgia, and was hulked by the writ ot
habeas corpus.
Binjamin Brumby Is a scion of a
'noted family’ in Marietta. From boy-
I hood he was considered the “black
I sheep” of the family , and he drifted
'away from t'obb county and went East
I His last appearance in Marietta oC
, I ( itrred shortly after the Spanish-Amer
| icon war. when Lieutenant Brumby’
■ | flag lieutenant of Admiral Dewey's ship
J, was given a reception nt his home city
• | Beu Brumby, his cousin, was amon\
I tn-- guests. He dis ipr.e.yri-d shortly aft-
• i ward and hue uut been seen ut hom«