00:00Felder says he will lay bare startling police graph plans. Atlanta, Georgian, Tuesday, June 3,
00:051913. Attorney ready to go before grand jury but has not been called. Hutchison summoned in the
00:11airing of the dictograph controversy. Investigation of reports that disorderly houses again are in
00:17operation begun. Foreman's move surprise. Dictograph row not taken up. A broad and exhaustive probe
00:24into vice conditions in Atlanta was the unexpected turn taken by the Fulton County grand jury when
00:29it convened Tuesday morning supposedly to take up the Felder Beavers-Lanford dictograph controversy
00:35with the attending charges of corruption and bribery of police officials. Foreman Beck himself
00:40conducted the inquisition. Witnesses who gave testimony at the morning session were asked for
00:46evidence pertaining to the existence of vice only that the grand jury will conduct a sweeping
00:51investigation of new red light districts which are reported to have sprung up despite the persistent
00:56warfare against such resorts by chief of police Beavers is almost certain. Mayor James G. Woodward,
01:03Colonel Thomas B. Felder, and Carl Hutchison, the lawyer who says he has a list of disorderly houses
01:08of holding forth by reason of police protection, were the men called to testify in the morning.
01:14The mayor was questioned closely as to his knowledge of existing vice conditions. He is said to have
01:20informed the grand jurors that his information was only hearsay. However, he gave out what he had heard
01:25in full. The mayor also pointed out the juryman possibilities for the existence of such practices.
01:31The examination of Mr. Woodward continued for more than an hour. Colonel Felder was before the grand
01:36jury for ten minutes. The attorney was not subpoenaed to appear at the hearing, but presented himself
01:42voluntarily. He is said to have outlined his own position in reference to the bribery charges and also
01:48the wholesale charges of corruption which have been made against the police. Felder offers evidence.
01:53In connection with the latter accusations, Mr. Felder declared to the investigating body that he
01:58would submit documentary evidence showing the existence of vice in Atlanta to prove his previous
02:03assertions. It is believed that Carl Hutchison, the young attorney in Felder's office, is counted upon
02:09to supply this evidence. Mr. Hutchison was called before the grand jury shortly before noon. While he did
02:15not carry in with him the list of resorts said to be operating now in the city which he has
02:19compiled,
02:20he declared that if this document were asked for by the jurymen, he would hand it over to them.
02:25That the grand jury was in possession of sufficient information to indict the keepers and proprietors
02:30of at least thirty houses of disreputable character was the announcement made by Mr. Hutchison
02:36when he emerged from the session chamber after he had been before the jurors for more than an hour,
02:41says he furnished proof. He said that he had furnished positive evidence that these resorts and houses
02:47of assignation existed, and that the policemen on the beats knew of their existence.
02:52But did you give them positive information that Chief Beavers and Chief Lanford knew of their
02:57existence? he was asked. I told them enough so that they must draw the conclusion that Beavers and
03:02Lanford could hardly help but know, he replied. The heads of departments always are responsible for
03:08the workings of the men under them. Added from the evening edition of the same paper editor,
03:13Colonel Thomas B. Felder appeared before the grand jury Tuesday morning at ten o'clock.
03:19Prepared, he said, to substantiate every charge he had made against the police department and its
03:24heads, and promising to open the eyes of the city to a condition of affairs that was startling in the
03:29extreme. I have not been served with a sub-peña to go before the grand jury, Colonel Felder said,
03:35but Mr. Hutchison has been, and I will be there in case I am called upon. The people of Atlanta
03:40have
03:40no idea how far reaching this thing will be. I will show the conditions as they are, and the men
03:45higher
03:45up will not escape. If the grand jury takes up this thing fully, it will be the most sensational
03:51probe that has ever been made into affairs in Atlanta. The announcement that the grand jury would
03:56take up the Felder Beavers-Lanford dictograph controversy with the attending charges of corruption
04:02and bribery was made late Monday afternoon, when Foreman L. H. Beck had the Assistant Solicitor
04:08General serve a number of subpoenas to those concerned. Mayor Woodward, Chief of Police Beavers,
04:14Chief Lanford, Charlie Jones, proprietor of the Rex Saloon, Carl Hutchison, City Detective John Black,
04:20and Mrs. Mina Formby were the persons summoned. Mrs. Formby and City. The fact that Mrs. Formby,
04:26a witness in the Fagan case, has been summoned, gave the meeting an air of mystery. It was stated
04:31on reliable information, however, that her testimony would have nothing to do with the Fagan case.
04:36It is understood that her name was one on the list that was to be furnished the police department by
04:41Carl Hutchison, in which the attorney alleged she was receiving police protection. It was also said
04:47that the woman was not out of the city, as hinted a few days ago, but had merely changed her
04:53address
04:53and given the new location to the solicitor. Whether the jury would take up charges of Chief
04:58Beavers and Chief Lanford, that Attorney Felder offered a bribe of $1,000 to Lanford's stenographer
05:04February, or the countercharges on the part of Colonel Felder and Attorney Hutchison, would not
05:10be discussed by the foreman. Chief Beavers, Chief Lanford, and G.C. February, Lanford's secretary,
05:16were served Tuesday morning. February's subpeña demanded that he bring the dictograph and
05:21documentary evidence he had taken in the affair, as Collier, Jr., had not been served, but Deputy
05:27Plenty Minor stated he would locate him during the morning. Before going into the grand jury room,
05:32Chief Beavers made the following statement.
05:35I want the truth of this whole affair to be known. If there is rottenness in the department,
05:40I certainly want to find out about it and get it out. I want the jury to hew close to
05:44the line and
05:44let the chips fall where they may. Can't locate Gentry. The dictograph stenographer George Gentry could not
05:50be located, and it was reported he had left the city. Colonel Felder said he knew of the young
05:55man's movements, however, and there was some probability of his being brought into the case
05:59in a new capacity. Foreman Beck would not discuss the grand jury meeting at all. He denied on several
06:05occasions that it was his intention to take up the matter until it was presented by the solicitor.
06:10The solicitor, however, knew absolutely nothing of the nature of the meeting until informed by his
06:15assistant late Monday afternoon. He said then that he did not know positively the grand jury would
06:20take the matter up, but intimated if it did, it would conduct its own investigation until such
06:26a time as it called upon him for advice. It is not probable the jury will be enabled to examine
06:31all the witnesses or the testimony in the case Tuesday, and it is likely several days will be
06:36taken before some decision can be arrived at. Attorney Hutchison and Colonel Felder have the names
06:41of several witnesses that they probably will ask the grand jury to summon before the investigation is
06:46concluded.
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