Newspaper Page Text
SECOND SECTION
The Atlanta Georgian.
SECOND SECTION
YOL. 1. NO. 134.
ATLANTA, GA., SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,1906.
T>T*Tfn?. On Trains FIVE CENTS.
JriUVBt in Atlfftata TWO CENTS.
MAYOR-ELECT
Scenes and Incidents From His Home Life.
Interesting Family of Atlanta*s Next Mayor.
"CAP” JOYNER
CLIO
, JOYiVER-
\ ONLY GRAND-7>
Yi DAUGHTER OF
)/ ATLANTA’S ,
//MAYOR-ELECT, J
( AND HER Arf
[tv diminutive u ;a
INS, NURSE n/Jr
CAP' 1 JOYNERS INTERESTING
STANDING - WCHAFKM/V.^RALPH, harrys.,
Fitting - mrs. Richard joyher, w.r joyner
HOLDING HIS GRAND-DAUGHTER CUO
■ ■ > —^ MRS. W.R.UOVNER l
X f You SuRE^ -
\\ / CAU6NT ME
/ V THIS 'TIME
J Boys >
hello
cap >
HovnS
CROPS,
f*EAIK.OAItS r '
ssgjj
The first Job young W'ulthnl Robert
son Joyner secured was in n nowspn-
per oillce. It ha* b»i*n a frequent re
mark among newspaia’V men that no
reporter ever went to the Are chief and
was turml down. It** linn always b*en
willing to give Information Insofar as
bln duty would allow—nn example
celver. He wound up the bu*inc»>* Alay
I, 187*.
Then began bln olllelal connection
\vl!b th° city government. ♦hlth has
never since been severed. In July,
1879, ho wan elected deputy city mar
shal. Two years later In* wan electd
Aral If has been the sort of advertising
that baa helped.
Some ••rlticisin wnn slung at him
during nl.s recent campaign for the
rural reveries
By EDWIN CAMP.
T O begin where all stories ahould
begin, hla name la Walthal Rob
ertson Joyner. To at leaat 149,990
of Atlanta'a 150,000 beauty aud chival
ry this story will for the flrat time tell
the real name of their next mayor. He
has for 45 yearfe signed his nanle M \V.
R. Joyner" and has been known as
"Cap." And so it will continue for
many years to come. "Your honor, Mr.
Mayor," will hardly supplant the "Cap."
To resume, Walthal Robertson Joy
ner, now entering on his twenty-sec
ond year as chief of Atlanta’s paid fire
department, will in a short time re
sign and leave headquarters to enter
upon what has always been to him the
ambition of his life—the mayoralty of
his city. His desire for public life
extends no further than this, he
achieved It without undergoing first
the disappointment of defeat, anti now
he Is about to become the first citizen
of Atlanta.
As such, the public is Interested in
the. personal Walthal Robertson Joy
ner and his family. For 20 years he
has to most citizens been a mere vision
in a red wagon skidding and carom
ing through the streets at a 2:10 gait,
to the clamorous clangor of a brazen
gong.
The other Sunday a trio of newspa
per men, chaperoning Artist Brewer-
ton and Photographer Kelson, made a
little informal visit up to Falroaks, the
summer home of Chief Joyner's fam
ily. It cun hardly be called Chief Joy
ner's home. He Just drops up for a
few hours Sundays during the sum
mer.
The newspaper men went with the
avowed intention of getting n story and
picture*; 'neath the grim determination
written over their features lurked a
foretaste of a gigantic, a Titanic, a
mastodonlc dish of fried chicken. The
cuisine nt Falroaks Is famed far and
wide.
Both story and chicken were got.
NOT MAYOR-ELECT JOYNER,
BUT FARMER JOYNER, BGOSH.
As the newspaper men left the trolley
car two miles this side of Marietta and
executed a hike up the road ubout a
quarter of a country mile, they saw
In the distance, not Chief Joyner nor
Mayor-elect Joyner, hut Farmer Joy
ner, of Cobb county, b'gosh. A won
drous hat, the major portion of whose
sweeping brim had been chewed off
by the late lamented Yaarub, and a
pair of overalls that looked as though
they had se*n active sendee in the
corn fields, lent the rustic touch to the
three-times president of the Interna
tional Association of Fire Chiefs, and
ns the newspaper men shouted, "Hey,
Rube,” he smiled guiltily.
Falroaks Is the name of Chief Joy
ner's summer home and farm. It's two
hundred-odd acres make one of the
prettiest places in the state. The poet
In the party said that the little cot
tage was a pearl set In a sea of emer
ald, though he didn't explain why a
sen should have a setting.
I7p at Falroaks on this Sunday were
the entire Joyner family—Mrs. Joyner,
the mater famiiius; four sons, Richard,
"Little Cap,” Harry and Ralph; Mrs.
Rlchartl Joyner, and lout and least yet
greatest, the little grant!-daughter.
Clio, age six months.
Thl* was the story secured:
Walthal Robertson Joyner was born
June 30, 1854, from which It may be
computed that he is still a young man.
His father was Richard W. Joyner, who
In 1*52 built five miles from Marietta
on the Powder Springs road what was
known as the "white house,” because
of ttn impressive architecture and Its
color. The house has now fallen sadly
Into disrepair, but l hr beauty of its
lines remain. The property on which
It stands Is now owned by State Su
preme Court JuHlco Samuel C. At
kinson. The house Is occupied by J.
D. Polsston, n farmer.
HAS LIVED IN ATLANTA
SINCE OUTBREAK OF WAR
In 18*1, Just before the outbreak of
the civil war, the Joyner family moved
to Atlanta, young Walthul Robertson
being then 7 years of age. He has
lived In this city ever since.
Ills father opened a drug store at the
corner of ihe rnllrc ad and Peachtree
street, at the pluce now occupied by
Ptnktissohn's cigar store. The old Na
tional Hotel, of profound memory, wAs
at tha corner and Mr. Joyner's drug
store occupied a part of the ground
floor. When Sherman marched through
the drug store was hauled out Into the
middle of the street and was burned.
When he moved to Atlanta Mr. Joy
ner purchased two acres of land on
Peter.? street, and Halted the build
ing of a house which was finished Just
In time to be mude the headquarters
of General Sherman while In Atlanta.
General Sherman occupied the parlor
of the home and shmtly before trouble
came he informed Mrs# Joyner that he
feared a fight and urged her to leave
tb» city. Jlc put soldiers at her dispo
sition and the household furniture was
packed up and the family ”refugeed"
to Cuthbert. They 11%ed In the freight
car carrying their goods and were three
days on the road to Cuthbert. They
remained In Cuthbert till the surren
der, and then returned to Atlanta In
1867. after spending a year In Macon.
Joyner street of jhls city 1* named
for Chief Joyner's father.
bln duty would allow—nn
which othpjM in publh ojficc- do not
always follow. TIk averagt servant
of the people scents to think that the
fall wag? the dog and that the public
has no right to know its own business.
Maybe Chief Joyner got his tip, from
his nexvwpoper experience* even If that
wus confined to a few months in the
position of office b*-y on the Atlanta
New Era, a "radical” sheet, edited by
jjfotmifl Bard, who afterwaids got to be
postmaster of Atlanta. The Repub
licanism of the paper rt\nde It rather
unpopular and pretty soon young Joy-
net left to carry bundle.* fyr W. F.
Peck & Co., dry goods merchants at 7
Peachtree street, where the Peters
building now stands.
For eight years young Joyner
with Mr. Peck. A short time.after his
going with the firm. John II. James
built Atlanta’s first sky-scraper, a six
story structure at the corner of- White
hall and Hunter streets on the land
now occupied by fhe J. M. High build
ing. This was leased by the Pcck-
DeSaulles Co.. Mr. Peek having taken
In a partner Into his business. From
carrying bundles young Joyner rapidly
moved up the scale and he sold the
first piece of dry goods ever handled
at the Whitehall-Hunter street cor
ner, now the center of Atlanta’s shop
ping district. It was a calico dress.
HOPPING THE COUNTER
PROVED TOO IRKSOME.
Hopping the counter proved Irksome
to young Joyner and at the end of his
eighth year he left Peck and went on
the road for W. If. Patterson & Co.,
wholesale milliners. The senior mem
ber of that firm is the present council
man from the Eighth ward. For eigh
teen months Joyner was on the road,
traveling Georgia, South Carolina :tnd
Alabama, at the end of which time he
left and went with Jerry Lynch, the tai
lor. After two years with Lynch, he
went with C. W. Brunner & Co., mer
chants, who came from Havannah.
In a short time, the Brunner Com
pany failed and Joyner was made re-
been severed,
vas elected deputy
o year* later he was electd
city mui.Yiial and hfld the ollice two
terms.
in 1*71 he bad entered fhe volunteer
fire department, being a member of
hook ami laddci No. 1 for twelve years.
For tight years he was foreman of the
company and In 1*77 and 187* was chief
of the voluntftr department.
22 years old when first elected chief,
and immedbit*-|> became membei
the Fire Chiefs’ Association, being the
youngest, member that organization Ims
ever laid. Because of his ability in lire
fighting. Marshal .Joyner Wits In 1**3
elected chief of the paid fire depart
ment. which was organized in 'HI, but
declined it, refusing to qualify for the
position before the mayor.
BECAME PAID FIRE CHIEF
TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO.
Two years later, houVver, In 1885.
he made the race for chief and was
elected. Hr has held tile position ever
since.
Now here Is where one may apply
mathematics to the work of Chief Joy
ner has done.
When he took charge of the Atlanta
fire department there was a pink slip
pasted on every fire insurance ftolfcy
written here. That pink slip stated
that owing to the Inefficiency of the tire
department there was a 15 per centum
Increase In the premium.
.six months later that pink slip
gore, and It has never reappeared here.
Twelve months later, there was in
augurated a general reduction of 10 per
cent in all fire insurance premiums.
Twenty-four months later another
reduction of 10 per cent was effected.
Atlanta’s fire Insurance rates are
now as low as can be expected.
Although he has always attended
pretty strictly to his own buslnes of
fire chief, the mayor-elect has always
been at the forefront of any movement
for the advancement or welfare of At
lanta. He has always been one of the
leaders of the Atlanta fairs and Inst
vear was president of the association.
as one of the few Atlanta fairs that
have made money.
By the organization of the firemen’s
drum corps, he has advertised Atlanta
effectively In many paits of the union.
mayoralty because of his connection
with the Atlanta Baseball Association.
There are two reasons why he became
president of the .Atlanta Baseball An*
-o'latlon. One wa« that he has nl-
wnys been a lover of outdoor sports,
and has done nil he could to promote
them. Tne other was tliat he believed,
as do hundreds of*others, that n good
professional baseball Rani, up at the
top of the ladder, Is the best adver- !
t (semen t a town can have. He with j
other* Txnight the Atlanta baseball ’
franchise from Abner Powell, of New !
Orleans. In order that the club might *
be owned by Atlantans. They have
sppnt money In effort to put the team
at tlm top and have succeeded mighty
well, although they have not yet won a
pennant.
HIS HIGHEST REPUTATION
18 IN HI8 OWN CALLING.
Even if the old adage about the
prophet, his honor and his own coun
try can not be applied to Chief Joy
ner and the esteem In which he is held
by Atlantans, ft is true that his high-
est reputation Is among men of his;
own calling. Among the fire chiefs of I
the world he stands at the very top.
He* has achieved honors among them
that have been given no other man.
He has for three terms been president |
of the International Association of Fire '
Chiefs. No other man has ever served
more than two terms.
On the authority of Hon. Clark How- !
ell. It may ho stated that Chief Joyner
Is the only Georgian who has ever
been honored with the presidency of an
international association or convention.
Mr. Howell has looked it up and feels
certain that he Is right about It.
Chief Joyner has been a member of
the association for twenty-nine year*
and, as said in the foregoing, holds the
distinction of having been the youngest
member.
In 1887 he was first elected president
In 1904 he was again elected and In
1905 was re-elected. At the taet con
vention at Duluth he declined renomt-
natlon.
There is an Interesting story con
nected with his election In 1904. The
convention was held at Atlantic City,
and there were four avowed candidates
for ' the presidency. Edward Croker.
chief of the New York city department,
was seeking re-election, and Chief Can-
terbery, of Minneapolis; Chief Humph-
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