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THE WEATHER
Forecast: Rain tonight or Wed
nesday. Temperatures: 8 a. m„ 43
degrees: 10 a. m., 43 degrees; 12 noon,
46 degrees: 2 p. m., 47 degrees.
VOL. XL NO. 128.
woodward;
BACKS UP
EXPERT’S
IDEAS
Mayor-Elect Will Insist on the!
Adoption of Some of Sands’
Reform Suggestions.
HEADS OF POLICE AND
PARK BOARDS ANGERED
I
Beavers Defends His Depart
ment-Report Supports The I
Georgian’s Stand.
■ lajoi-elect James G. Woodward to
' declared that the Sands probe re
el was full of excellent ideas for re
ns.and that besides urging a care
consideration of every item of it by
general council, he would insist
, .•>!! the adoption of a number of the
ugestions.
On the other hand, many of the offi
.i s in the city hall bitterly resented
e criticisms.
The report absolutely backs up The
: oigian’s charges of inefficiency on
i part of the construction department
ml points out that not only a more
sinesslike administration is needed,
’mt that the head of the department
should be appointed instead of elected
bj the people, thereby removing the
' partment from so much political in
iluence.
Other Reforms Urged
By Georgian Approved.
Teo Georgian’s editorial suggestions
-üb-Dolice stations and combining
ic duties of regular, policemen and in
jectors also tire concurred in. as well
- the plans to abate the smoke nui
-.mee and discontinue secret sessions
■ f the finance committee anti other of
ficial boejies.
Tlte time has come when we must
mjt into effect many such reforms, as
Exp t Sands recommends, or the peo
i will vote commission government,
, Iping out the whole present system,”
tit! Mayor-elect Woodward. "The sys
tem is inefficient, and everybody in
V anta who stops to think knows it.
There will be bitter opposition from
tie' men affected by these changes, You
■in bank on that. Each is a little czat
unto himself now. They can do as they
ease, for there is no one to direct
hem or see that they do their duty.
His criticisms of the construction
■partment are very true. That de
i tment has dotje poor work. There
i- no common sense in having the chiet
iected by the people; he ought to bt
appointed by the mayor or council.
Shows Mayor Is
Without Authority.
He shows that the mayor is without
.inhority. Look at the police depart- •
menu there’s proof of that statement. |
The chief of police ought to be directly
under the mayor. Police problems are
iuade the issues in mayoralty cam
paigns and when a man gets a majority
of the votes for mayor he ought to have
'•niv power over the department.
With the police commission in con
irol of it he virtually has hone.
“I agree with him about the water
department. Its organization is ridicu
lous.
"The council apropriales the funds to
operate the department. But council
• in'f where a single water main
aull be laid,
“Council elects a commission to run
Mie department. The people then elect
a general manager to run it. There
•ire the mayor and council, the board
and the general manager, differently
selected, and, then fore, conflicting ”
City Needs More Aid
From the County.
The mayor-elect said ho did not think
the suggestion to consolidate the city
and county governments hardly was
practical, because so much of the coun
ty lay outside the city. He did say that
there was great need for more co-opera
tion between the city and county gov
ernments, and especially was there a
general demand for more work by the
county convicts inside the city.
There are too many beautiful boule
vards running around our city. We
need more paved streets inside the city.
In front of the property that pays the
county taxes.” he said
t'hairman Carlos H. Mason, of the
police commission, is displeased with
the comments of the expert on the po
lice department.
“It is only one man’' opinion, he
said. “I might employ an expert who
Continued On Paqe Two.
RESOLVE===Thad You WIDD Save Tome and Money Iby Using GEORGIAN WANT ADS for Every Need in H9U
The Atlanta Georgian
Read For Profif-GEORGIAN WANT ADS-Use For Results
FITE HENEWS
MCI 01
mis
cw
Charges It Changed Recorded
Opinion in Contempt Case
and Calls Judge Falsifier.
JURIST CHALLENGES HILL
TO QUIT BENCH WITH HIM
Declares He Is Within Constitu
tional Rights in Terming the
Tribunal Incompetent.
Judge Augustus W. Fite, recently
fined for contempt of court, today re
newed his attack on the court es ap
peals which convicted him. charging
that it had changed in publication its
recorded opinion, and declaring that
Judge Benjamin Hill, who sat in his
[case, had uttered an untruth.
Judge Fite denounces Judge Hill so.
his attack on the man who prosecuted
the McCullough assault case which led
to the contempt action and challenges
the jurist to resign with him immedi
ately and let the people decide "who has
dragged the judicial robes through the
mire of personal venom, injustice and
slander.”
The judge declares that he was with
in his constitutional rights in criticis
ing the judges of the court of appeals
as Incompetent.
Judge Hill Not
Roiled by Attack.
Judge Hill, of the state court of ap- |
peals, did not seem at all upset or dis
turbed today’, after reading Judge Fite's
latest attack on the court over which
Judge Hill presides, and on the chief
judge in particular.
He declared that he would make no |
answer to Judge Fite, or notice, public
ly, in any way bis card.
"The record in the contempt hearing ;
has been published.” said Judge Hill.'
“It may be found in full in the South |
eastern Reporter of December 21. Ini
that written record appears exactly
what the court said and held—in it, i
however, does not appear some things.
Judge Fite says the court of appeals
said and held. All .persons wjro are in
terested in the truth of the record are
invited to read the same. Perversions
and willful misstatements of the record
need not necessarily mislead, as the rec
ord is there, in black and white, to
speak for itself. I have nothing to add
to it or take from it.”
“How about the suggestion that you
resign?” inquired a Georgian reporter.
"Oh, well.” smiled ids honor, broadly.
"I shall not discuss this last Fite out
break in any way. in any way. You
may saw, however, if you like, that 1
probably shall not resign!"
Declares Opinion
Has Been Changed.
Judge Kite's communication is as fol
lows:
'To the Editor of The Georgian:
I have just read the opinion of
the court of appeals in their con
tempt case against me, published in
The Southeastern Reporter, volume
76, No. 6, December, 1912. which is
quite different from the one deliv
ered on the trial.
I would have let tin ease rest
where it was when some-»pf the
good people of the Cherokee circuit
voluntarily paid the unjust line, if
the court of appeals had let it alone,
as they should have done.
But, not satisfied with what they
had already done, in the ease of
their own making, the court of ap
peals have since the trial so
changed, taken from and added to
the opinion then delivered and
which had evidently been previous
ly prepared, as to make it more
a self-laudatory and political har
angue and tirade of personal abuse
than a judicial opinion, and I will
not let it pass without a protest.
Judge Hill Began
Row. Says Fite.
Judge Hill began this unseemly
row by attacking me in the first
reversal of the McCullough case, as
set out in my answer to the rule,
and more, which, at my instance,
was stricken front the record of
that case, and of which the people
have not been informed, charging
in substance that I sentenced the
negro "instantly" and with intent
to deprive him of the right of poll
ing tile jury, which is untrue, libel
ous and slanderous; and he is now
trying to dodg' responsibility by
Continued on Page Two.
ATLANTA, GA.. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31. 1912.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••a
: TWO LOADS OF BRICK •
: START PARCELS POST :
• GARY, IND., Dee. 31.—Parcels •
• post troubles began here today •
• when a brick dealer dumped two •
• wagon loads of bricks into the •
• postoffice to be mailed out the first •
• thing Wednesday. The bricks ar. •
• samples. •
••••••••••••••••••see*****
PLOTTED HUSBAND’S DEATH
4 ''
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jlF ' v
Jin " IBWh
■ i ~ ? '-A
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11 ~ 's*ii A
It ■ ; if A
‘ - r'i wmF
ilT|l'' ''iliilliili ■ li., ■ ' |iU|!" -W ; ... Jul ' iijWjl'
v’ ■ r ' ‘
Mrs. Katherine King, who planned the death of her husband.
U.S.RAILROADS BREAK
BUSINESS RECORDS BY
MILLIONS IN OCTOBER
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31.—Railways
<>f the United States did more business
in October, 1912, than any other month
in their history, according to a re
port issued today by the bureau of rail
way economics.
Tile net operating revenue of 90 per
cent of the steam railway' mileage in
tiie United States —220.636 miles—as
reported to ihe interstate commerce
commission totaled $107,440,518. which
is greater by $14,870,125 than for Octo
ber. 1911. This represents an increase
per mile of line for the month of 14.4
per cent. Heavy freight traffic, which
always is greater in October, caused
the increase.
UNDERWOOD CONFERS
WITH WILSON TODAY
ON SPECIAL SESSION
TRENTON, N. J., Det. 31.—Impor
tant announcements concerning the ex
tra session of congress are expected as
a result of today's conference between
President-elect Wilson and Representa
tive Underwood, the majority leader in
the house.
The meeting took place at 2:30
o'clock, the morning being devoted by
Mr. Wilson to state business.
John Maynard Harlan, of Chicago,
son of the late Justice Harlan, of tin
United States supreme court, visited
the governor today. He is an old
friend.
CITY TREASURER 38 YEARS
ENDS LIFE; BOOKS BURNED
R. R. CHIEFS CHARGED
WITH MANSLAUGHTER
FOR DEATHS IN WRECK
BRIDGEPORT. CONN.. Dee. 31.
Bench warrants were issued by Judge
Case in the criminal superior court to
day at the instance of the state’s at
torney. Stiles Judson, for Henry J.
Horn, of Boston, vice president: Ben
jamin R. Pollock, general manager, and
Charles N Woodward, general super
intendent of the New Raven, officials
of the New Yolk. New Haven and
Hartford Railroad Company.
Tile men are charged witii man
slaughter in causing the death of pas
sengers who lost their lives in the
wreck of the Springfield-New York ex
press on the New Haven road, which
was derailed and wrecked while taking
tile short cross over at Westport bridge,
October 3 last.
More Officials Indicted.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. Dec. 31. -
Sweeping indictments of all the “men
higher up" in the C. H. and D. Railroad
Company were returned by the Marion
county grand jury today. The indict
ments were returned with a view to
bringing legal punishment upon the of
ficials for tolerating such conditions as
brought about the recent C., H. and D
wreck at Irvington, in which 16 lives
were sacrificed.
in addition to the officials, Engineer
Willis York and Brakeman t'arl Gross
were indicted. It is understood the in
dictments charge involuntarj man
slaughter,
JUDGE C. J. WELBORN RESIGNS.
The go’ ernor has received tile resig
nation of Judge i' J. Welborn, of the
county- court of Jeff Davis, to take ef
fect immediately.
BANK CLEARINGS OF
YEAR SHOW HEALTHY
INCREASE OVER 1911
Increase in the volume of Atlanta’s
business for 1912 over that of 1911 may
be measured by the comparative clear
ing house figures, which for 1912 show
an increase of .$38,810,833.85 over 1911’»
total. The increase is approximately
6 per cent.
(Tearings for the period of twelve
months whU.li ended at noon today
amounted to $691,941,254.29, at which
figure the records of the Atlanta Clear
ing House association for tlte year were
■ closed. For the twelve months of 1911,
tlte figures were $653,130,420.35.
The figures reveal that during the
last two months of the year clearings
were less than in the final months of
1911, the shortage in December amount
ing to nearly $3,000,000. However, in
every .other season of the year, except
the late fall, the 1912 figures are far and
away above those of the preceding year.
BUILDING PERMITS
ONLY $13,166 SHORT
OF $10,000,000 MARK
Bj the hour the city hall closes today
Atlanta may be in the $10,000,000 building
class. At I o’clock the books at the of
fice of Building Inspector Ed K. Hays
showedt hat $9,986,834 in building had
been done in 1912. This was short of the
$10,000,000 figure by $13,166, and the
building inspector hoped to issue $13,-
166 worth of permits by 5 o’clock, when
the office closes.
Ben R. Padgett. Jr., was a “Good
Samaritan’’ toriaj when lie appeared on
the horizon with applications for three
dwellings to cost $11,500 The figures at
that time were $24,666 short and the of
ficials in the offict were pulling hard
Thomas Nall, Griffin Official. Just Re
elected, Sends Bullet Through Head
a Few Hours After New Mayor De
manded Investigation of All Records.
Atlanta Auditors Reconstructing Financial Sys
tem From Few Remaining Papers—-Suicide
Loved by Thousands and Friends Declare Re
sentment. Not Dishonesty, Led to Tragedy.
By Staff Correspondent
11 It I FT'I \. G A.. Dee. 31.—Expert auditors from Atlanta today are
making a searching investigation behind closed doors in the city hall
here of what little remains of Griffin’s municipal records, and are es
tablishing a complete new city system, while Griffin itself discusses in
whispers Ihe most mysterious tragedy in the history of Spalding
county.
The disclosure that the city’s important, tax books and other
records for the past thirteen years were missing came like a. bolt on
December 14. the day following the funeral of Thomas Nall. 74 years
of age. ami for 38 years city clerk and treasurer of the city of Griffin.
.Xall was found dead on the morning of December 11 in his beau
tiful colonial home in Hill street, but a few hours after he had been
sworn in for a new term of two years by Captain -I. Henry Smith.
Griffin’s new mayor. Apoplexy was assigned as the cause of death,
and the Griffin daily paper and Atlanta papers carried stories to this
■ OF STRIKERS
ATTACKS POLICE
Officers Forced to Battle for
Their Lives 100.000 Gar
ment Workers Out.
•
NEU YORK, Dee. 31.—Thirty per
sons, many of them women, were in
jured today in the first serious rioting
of the garment workers strike. About
600 persons wore engaged in the rioting
which took place in Williamsburg at the
plant of Smith. Gray & Co.
A mob of men and women surround
ed the building and were hurling stories
and othe: missiles when a detachment
of police arrived and tried to disperse
the crowd. The strikers turned upon
the police, attacking them with unex
pected fury.
The officers bad to tight for their
lives, and many of them nearly’ had
theii uniforms torn off. After half an
hour’s fighting the strikers were so ex
hausted that, the police were able to
clear the streets.
WIRELESS STRETCHES
ACROSS OCEAN FROM
PARIS TO WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31.—The long
arm of the wireless has reached from
the Eiffel tower. Paris, to the giant
government wireless station at Arling
ton, a distance of 4,000 miles, according
to a report of Commander C. H. Bul
lard to Secretary of the Navy Moyer
today.
Naval officers consider this the most
important accomplishment wire
less since Its invention. The commu
nication between Washington and' Par.
is was established in the quiet hours of
early morning, when the Arlington op
erator received the time signal sent out
from the Eiffer tower every fifteen min
utes. At midnight tonight every bit of
power In the navy station wit* In
turned on in an endeavor to dash the
official birth of the New Year east to
Paris, south to Colon and west to San
Francisco.
WILSONS ARE INVITED
TO CHICAGO ARABIAN
NIGHTS CHARITY BALL
CHICAGO, tier. 81. President-elect
Woodrow Wilson, Mrs. Wilson ami Miss
Wilsou have been Invited to attend the
Arabian Nights charity ball, to be held in
Chicago January 10.
The president-elect is scheduled to
speak in Chicago January 11. and those
In charge of the bah extended an invi
tation in the hope that It might lie pos
slble to change bis plans and arrive a
day earlier. A special box has been or
dered decorated and reserved, pending the
answer from the New Jersey governor.
RAIN IS FORECAST. .
The new year will have a baptism
of rain. The weather map portends
nothing else but showers uli the first
day of I‘Jl3, and the promise of rain
tonight and probably Wednesday has
been posted.
HOME
IJPITION
2 CENTS EVERYWHERE
effect.
Today it made public, for the
first time, the startling fact that it
was a pistol ball through the brain,
directed by his own hand, and not
apoplexy, that ended the life of
the aged official.
“Uncle Tom” Nail, as hr was famil
iarly known to thousands of warm per
sonal friends and supporters, had been
accorded flic distinction of being the
shrewdest and most popular politician
In Spalding county, and the series of
sensations brought on by his tragic
death has stirred the whole county.
This Is the second time Griffin’s city
records have been destroyed. Thirteen
years ago all of the records were lost in
a fire that destroyed a cotton ware
house In which Treasurer Nall had his
office. Griffin had no city hall then,
and Nall kept the books and papers in
his private office.
At a recent meeting of the city coun
cil,' E. P. Bridges, an insurance man.
was elected to succeed Treasurer Nall,
but will not take charge of the office
until the auditors make their report and
establish the now system rendered nec
essary by the destruction of the old
records.
Will Never Know
How Accounts Stand.
Owing to the disappearance of the
important tax books’and license books,
city officials say they have little hope
of an audit and are satisfied it will
never be known Just how the city stands
—whether it has lost anything at all
through the mystery of the books oi
■ just how much has been lost. The
i missing records represent thousands of
dollars in taxes and licenses. Their de
struction removes all trace of back and
; unpaid taxes prior to the year 1911
The most important book for 1911—the
■ tax digest book—is also missing, but
tlu auditors have been able to make a
: partial cheek and approximate balance
• for that year.
Evidence has been obtained by’ the
. city council finance committee showing
f that at least some of the books and
. records were burned by tile aged clerk
L and treasurer the day before he blew
. ottl his brains. But why he did Illis is
t the puzzle that city officials and the
auditors are trying in vain to solve.
There are two answers to tills ques
, tion. they say—a possible shortage that
i the aged man wished to carry with him
las a sei ret to his grave or else a re
fs'mmetit at having his books examined
land a new system inaugurated after he
I had conducted the .affairs of his offici-
I honestly and successfully all of these
years.
’ Many of the officials hold to the lat
( let theory, believing his strange deter
, initiation was superinduced by an ab
normal mental eorfdition. They say they
ar satisfied there was no shortage in
hi- accounts', and that the only possible
1 loss to the city will come from unpaid
taxes of past years, w hich were record
ed on ti< missing records.
Call for Audit
Followed by Suicide.
In doing so, he. asked for an audit of
all city departments, that the new ad
ministration might know the exaet
i status of city affairs.
, Following his address, the new may
or swore in the other city officers.
i among them aged Thomas Nall. But
, a few weeks before Nall had been
chosen by his townspeople without op-