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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. TUESDAY. MAY 20. 1912.
Pressure of Other Bills Will
Sidetrack Issue in Summer
Legislative Session.
I. Wylie Smith’s Own Story
+•* +•+ +•* +•+
Stirring Episodes in Long Flight
+•+ +•* -i-.* +•+ +•+
Career in Mexican Army Thrilling
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
The apprehension of Georgia bank
ers. recently in session in Savannah,
that their proposed banking reform
hill may fail of passage in the next
> Legislature because of the pressure
of other matter probably is well
founded.
The banking reform hill is volumi
nous and cannot get through the Leg
islature without mature deliberation,
both in committee and on the floor
It necessarily will be taken up section
by section and that means that it
. must be whipped out four times in
detail. Rather a long, rough and rug
ged road to travel, to be sure.
’ Like the general insurance legis
lation effected in the last General
Aa&embly, however, it is highly im
portant business, and Legislators will
decline to vote for it without knowing
exactly what each section provides.
The prospect ahead of the banking
hill has served to renew the talk of
providing a more satisfactory way
of disposing of purely local legisla
tion in the future. It is local legisla
tion invariably that ties* up the two
houses and serves to kill through in-
ittention many meritorious general
hills. Members will pass their im
mediate local legislation, if the rest
<>f the State’s legislation program
goes hang!
If local legislation might he disposed
of, particularly where there is no
opposition, through some simple leg
islative method, it easily would save
50 per cent of the General Assembly's
time. As it is now, a local measure
takes up almost If not quite as much
time as the average general measure,
yet It is a matter of a relatively
small importance in separate in
stances to the State at large.
It takes about as much time to
increase the number of county com
missioners in Dodge County, for in
stance, as it does to amend the game
laws, and yet who outside of Dodge
County cares a hoot whether that
county has three or five county com
missioners?
An effort will be made In the next
Legislature to simplify the process of
local legislation, and many people
will sincerely hope that the effort
may succeed.
Judge John T. Allen, of Baldwin
County. Senator-elect from the
twentieth district, passed through At
lanta to-day.
Judge Allen was in high spirits
and expressed himself as entirely sat
isfied with the status of his race for
the presidency of the next Senate.
“If the vote were to be taken to
morrow,” said he. “I am sure abso
lutely that I would be elected, and.
in the best of good nature, I really
believe I shall be the only candidate
before the Senate when the voting
takes place next month.”
Judge Allen has been described as
the one man in Georgia politics about
whom there is absolutely no “lost
motion,” and somehow the descrip
tion seems to fit him snugly.
He is one of the very best lawyers
in the State and one of Georgia’s
most astute statesmen.
The United States Supreme Court
is expected to hand down soon a de
cision in the famous Cureton case
from Georgia, that will interest the
prohibitionists of the State particu
larly.
The question involved is whether
the prohibition laws of Georgia shall
he construed similarly to the prohi
bition laws of Tennessee, the Su
preme Courts of the two States be
ing of exact opposite opinions as to
the point raised.
Cureton, a Chattanooga soft drink
dealer, owned a large distillery near
Rising Fawn, Ga. He received an or
der for whisky in his Chattanooga
house, and sent it to his Georgia dis
tillery to be filled. The whisky was
shipped from Rising Fawn, and Cure-
ton was arrested on a charge of sell
ing whisky, was tried and found
guilty, the Georgia Supreme Court
holding that the delivery at Rising
Fawn to the common carrier was the
consummation of a sale. Cureton ap
pealed to the United States Court,
claiming protection under the inter
state commerce laws.
If the United States Supreme
Court upholds the Georgia Supreme
Court, the prohibitionists will re
gard it as a victory. If, on the con
trary, the United States Courts take
the view as set up in the Tennessee
Supreme Court, the dry” people will
feel that they have lost a point.
The decision is expected shortly.
Representative Burwell. of Hancock
County, will be the oldest member
of the new Legislature in point of
continuous service. He has been a
member of the General Assembly
since 189k.
Joe Hill Hall, of Bibb; Byron Bow
er, of Decatur; John M. Slaton, of
Fulton, and John N. Holder, of Jack-
son, all of whom ranked with Mr.
Burwell in point of continuous ser
vice, will be missing from the new
House, leaving Burwell the veteran
and the dean.
The gentleman from Hancock has
been in the Legislature almost from
the date of his twenty-first birthday.
The effort to increase heavily the
appropriation for Confederate pen
sions in the next Legislature, while
likely to arouse much sympathy,
probably will have a hard road to
travel.
There will be few’ if any members
who would not like to see the pen
sion increased, and. yet, there will
be many who will be unable to see
how it is to be done and meet the
other necessary expenses of the State
maddition.
It is very well known that Legisla
tures of late years have found it ex
tremely difficult to keep the State’s
outgo within its income, and one of
the heaviest items of annual expense
is the Confederate pension appro
priation.
if some statesman is able to show
the Legislature how the pensions may
be increased without greatly embar
rassing some of the departments, the
, pension^ probably will be increased,
•'811 right. Unless the Legislature is
shown that, however, the increase is
apt to be slight, if anything.
This is the second installment of
the story 0 f J. Wylie Smith, the
refugee president of the defunct
Commercial Loan and Discount
Company, who. after evading ex
tradition during two years of
service in the insurrecto army of
General Orozco, in Mexico, re
turned to Atlanta to stand trial
because he dying with tuberculo-
8 '® a phantom of his former self.
By J. WYLIE SMITH.
(Continued from Yesterday.)
I was given a room over the war
den’s office. I had credit at the
commissary. You have to furnish
your own bed clothing and buy any
food you get except etole, a sort of
gruel, bif stik—furnished to you raw
—and frijole, beans cooked in pure
water at every meal. Grease and
salt are unknown.
I retnember a hideous tragedy one
day as a result of the practice of
allowing the prisoners to cook their
own meals in tnelr cells. A peon,
held for murder, was found dead in
bed one morning, his charcoal pot
still giving off its fumes over him.
Soon I was allowed to go down
town without a guard. The discip
line in Mexican prisons is lax Once
when the prisoners were working on
the waterworks a number of them
stole 9way and got drunk. When
the' returned the only punishment
that was administered was that they
were not allowed to return to work
hut were forced to play. They suf
fered, though. They hated to give
up their wages. 1 knew a number
of them who preferred prison life to
freedom.
“Xeda en calles menos Americanos
y toras,” spoke a Mexican who was
reclining under the shade of a tree
in his yard as I passed down the
street on one of my daily strolls
from the prison.
His meaning was that nobody ever
comes out on the street between 12
o’clock and 2:30 but Americans and
bulls—a statement which has the
wejght of a proverb In Mexico. All
business houses are closed between
those hours. Indeed it was a hot
sultry day and I was regretting that
I had come out when suddenly 1 was
startled out of my laziness by a
sharp piercing bark.
My footsteps had aroused a bull
who was lying in the shade of a
shrub, not a Mexican bull but a Bos
ton bull terrier. He came towards
me belligerent but I spoke to him
kindly, so glad to see anything so
truly American. And as I walked
on that dog followed.
Truly only an American and a bull
were on the streets and later only an
American and a bull were together
at another place,. the presence of the
bull changing the trend of fate from
savage death to the greatest triumph
of my life.
But that was later. However, the
interesting and important things
which led up to it began to absorb
my attention. For the first time a
personal interest was aroused in me
in the revolutionary movement.
I had made the acquaintance of
about 75 revolutionary leaders who
were confined in the penitentiary.
Walking with General Rojas, the Tpost
prominent of them, one day our
conversation grew intimate.
"I would think that you revolu
tionists would be shot.” I said to him.
“Do you know why I am here?”
he asked. Before I could speak he
answered his own question.
“I said that General Orozco was
a damned rascal.
“All of us would be shot,” he con
tinued, “but Orozco has plans of his
own."
Orozco’s Plan.
•He is planning a new’ revolution.
On March he will resign as com
mander of the Federal forces in Chi-
huahau. He is confining his staff
here so he will have them ready when
he needs them.
■•The moment he insurges I will be
freed, and 1 will take you with me."
My interest in the plans of the
revolutionists immediately became
intense. I was having an easy time
hut things were getting monotonous.
I did not know how long I would be
held a prisoner nor how much chance
1 had of escaping extradition. My
fighting blood was up. Added to my
fear of being taken back to Atlanta
and being tried was the ire aroused
bv the treachery of my pursuers, like
Franke 1 was determined to outwit
them Then there is nothing in the
world like Anglo-Saxon freedom.
Then the strangest and most ro
mantic event in my whole experience
took place. I was the only Amer
ican in pristfn and something of a
curiosity. People often came to
look at me. and I desired to avoid
them as much as possible. But tne
warden came to me one day ana
said that two American women were
in Ills office to see me.
Puzzled but greatly interested 1
hurried down. 1 gazed at them, un
able to recognize either, but I care-
fullv noted that they uare hand
somely dressed. They said they were
Interested in my case because I was
an American and they wanted lo help
me When I told them 1 had no law -
ver thee said they would look after
that My clothes were washed in the
prison, but not starched. One of the
women arranged to have them
starched and laundered out in town.
They they left without giving an>
information about themselves.
\ few days later. January 26, 191-.
my extradition papers arrived ana
it locked like the jig was up. 1 was
absolutely ignorant of Mexican lav,
and I hardly expected any of my
new friends to come to my aid with
sufficient funds to hire a competent
attorney.
Help at Last—From a Woman.
As mysteriously as she had first
come to me one of the beautiful
woman returned. With her were two
fine looking Mexicans of the cientifleo
(aristocratic) class. They were law-
vers. .
Francisco Cardero was an ex-jus-
♦ ice of the Supreme Court and a s>up-
porter of Me -loro. Geillenno For
ms was cx-Lieutenant Governor and
o Diaz enthusiast. I learned later
thai they were among the highest
it gal authorities in the State.
Porras took active charge of my
rase and looked over the extradition
Papers. He said they were full of
flaws but that he aid not think I
could ge! justice in Chihuahua on ac-
, nunt of the opposition to his politics.
So he had the case transferred to
Jaurez and went there to prosecute it.
The woman came to me again and
I asked her why she had taken such
an interest in my jease.
"You are an American; so am I,”
she said. “You have a wife and chiid
to be saved (for I had told her of
my family): I have no one in the
world to care for.”
I found that she was a somewhat
notorious' woman in Chihuahua and 1
also learned from other sources than
herself that she had paid each of those
lawyers $40C in gold to defend me.
Her name was Vivian Sinclair.
They won the case through unseen
forces, at least to me.
On the night of January 30 the
people of Jaurez went to sleep under
the seemingly peaceful rule of Made-
ro. They awoke the next morning
at daybreak—Mexicans always begin
fighting at daybreak—to find a band
of revolutionists in possession of
everything. They looted the post-
office and the customs house, burning
all the papers in a bonfire In the
streets.
My extradition papers* were among
them.
I have often thought that Porras
knew what was going to happen and
1 was Just as grateful to him as
though he had won the case in court.
I heard just before I left Mexico
that he had been executed by Madero
Constitutionalists* near Porral, Chi
huahua. I have written for verifica
tion.
Only 85 strong the new insurrectos
started toward Chihuahua to storm
the jail. They arrived on February
2 and at daybreak the next morning
began storming the jail.
Such grit I have never seen, before
or since. Those Mexicans are slow
starting and they always stop at dark
they have absorbed the superstition
from the Yaqui Indian that the soul
leaves the body after dark. It is
hard to get them out of their houses
at night.
The Fight Begins.
Clinging to the tops of houses and
hiding behind fences they began a
most vicious and effective attack.
They picked off every guard who
showed himself on that wall. I was
where I could get a good view and
every now and then I would see a
Federal plug an Insurrecto who was
lying flat on a house roof like stick
ing a sharp stick in the back of a
toad. One after another were wrig
gling to death after such shots. There
were 700 men defending the jail and
defeat for the insurrectos was immi
nent when a guard had his head split
by a bullet that came tijrough a loop
hole. The soldier rolled down a flight
of steps and landed some twenty
feet away at the feet of the Warden,
his ghastly face turned upward.
“Stop the fighting." shrieked the
Warden, and he turned to General
Rojas for help.
"They want me,” replied General
Rojas. “Free tne and the firing will
stop in five minutes.”
The Warden would not consent, but
the fighting continued so fierce he
consented to allow Rojas to see the
Governor with a guard of five men.
The visit to the Governor was a
mere formality. He refused the par
don. But on the return to the jail
Rojas, walking a few paces in front
of his guard, turned a corner ahead
of them at the corner of Calle Uiber-
stad and Calle Tercera and took to
his heels.
"Halt." shouted the guard, and they
raised their guns.
But they were covered by a band
of insurrectos before they could shoot.
My heart jumped with joy when
the news reached the prison. I felt
that I soon would be able to Join him.
But my blood was chilled the next
day by that most horrible of all
features of warfare—the shooting of
a traitor.
General Orozco came down from
Jaurez next day. He wanted Rojas
free, but to make a show of enforcing
authority he ordered the five guards
shot as traitors, the finding of the
courtmartial being that they had pur
posely allowed Rojas to escape. No
one knows what cruelty a Mexican
can resort to.
Roja3 was as good as his word. The
firing stopped before his guard re
turned to the jail. Eagerly did I ob
serve and seek information as to the
skirmishes and maneuvers around
Chihuahua. The story of Rojas' first
victory was typically Mexican.
Captain Mendoza had led the at
tack on the jail. He was the most
unusual looking man 1 have ever seen
and as we were closely associated to
gether thereafter I became very much
interested in his odd personality. He
was six feet four inches in height
but he lost two inches of his size
in a stoop in his shoulders. His hair
and eye lashes were raven black and
his eyes were a greenish gray that
shined with an uncanniness. But the
oddest thing about him was his
mustache, which was a brilliant red.
He was ns active as a cat and the
most wicked man I have ever seen.
When Rojas escaped his plan was
to attack the Jail and free us all.
But Mendoza had retreated out from
the city. The reason Mexican revolu
tions last so long Is that an army
never will follow up a victory.
Out from Chihuahua Mendoza, with
about 25 men. was capturea bv Col
onel Sevrin, of Madero's forces. When
Rojas heard of it he declared that
Mendoza had freed him and that he
was going to the rescue.
With only 260 men. while Sevrin
had 100, Rojas began a ruse. Ap
proaching Sevrin after it was too
dark for him to tell the number of the
revolutionists. Rojas went into camp
in plain view, it is the custom to
have a camp fire for every ten men.
Rojas built about 200 fires. He had
his men blow bugles over a long
line.
The strategy was successful. Under
a flag of truce Rojas sent an ulti
matum to Sevrin at daybreak next
morning that he must surrender Men
doza or be annihilated. Sevrin sur
rendered Mendoza. And Mendoza be
came a colonel under Rojas, the two
marching toward Jaurez gathering
men as they went. R really was like
Napoleon's return from Elba.
Mexico Buys Field
Guns From French
PARIS, May 20.—The Mexican Gov
ernment has ordered twelve batteries
of field Runs and one hundred mi
trailleuses from ?"rench manufactur
ers.
Gen. Mondragon, the Mexican War
Minister, is quoted as saying that he
chose French makes because the Bul
garians proved iheir superiority over
the Krupp guns used by the Turks.
!**H*+r*I-
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