00:00Fane named in vice quiz as resort visitor, Atlanta, Georgian, Wednesday, June 4, 1913,
00:06police commissioner accused before grand jury of brawl and disorderly house.
00:10As a climax of revelations made before the grand jury in its probe of vice conditions in Atlanta,
00:16police commissioner William F. Fane was named as the central figure in a carousal said to have
00:20been held in a house on Ivy Street some months ago, according to evidence presented at the
00:25Wednesday afternoon session. Mr. Fane was also accused of brutally treating one of the women
00:30in the party. When the police answered the woman's screams and raided the place, it was said that
00:35Fane was arrested, but was immediately released by order of a man high up in police circles.
00:40This startling information was given the grand jury by a real estate operator and friend of Fane's who
00:45was summoned by the tribunal to give testimony. Whiskey for resorts. Before the witness left the
00:51hearing, it is declared that he laid bare one of the most sensational stories of vice ever brought
00:56to light in this city, that the grand jury will probably probe to the bottom of it, and that its
01:02veracity will be given the acid test before any action is taken is assured. Another witness at the
01:08afternoon hearing was J.E. Skaggs, agent for the Southern Express Company. Mr. Skaggs was asked to
01:14testify as to shipments of whiskey and other liquors into Atlanta to places of ill fame. Chief Beavers also
01:20was called before the grand jury during the afternoon session. The police official is declared
01:24to have told the jurors that to his knowledge Atlanta was better morally at this time than ever
01:29before. The chief will be called again later in the investigation. Chief Beavers cleared. Elimination of
01:35chief of police Beavers from all charges of graft and corruption in the police department made by
01:40Colonel Thomas B. Felder marked the second day's probe by the Fulton County grand jury. Colonel Felder
01:46made this distinction to Chief Beavers personally, and in so doing renewed his accusations against
01:51Chief of Detectives Newport A. Lanford. At the same time it was said evidence of corruption money
01:56being paid to the police had been given the grand jury. There was a dramatic situation in the ante-room
02:01to the grand jury room when Felder, Beavers, and Lanford confronted each other. Many hot words were
02:07flung back and forth. I want to say to you right here, declared Felder to the police chief, that I
02:12have
02:12never made one single charge of graft against you. I do accuse the other chief at the police station
02:17of protecting vice, and I have a superabundance of evidence to prove it. I will prove it. Bribery to
02:23be probed. Another unexpected turn in the investigation was revealed at the morning session when it became
02:29known that the grand jury will take up immediately the bribery charges made against Colonel Felder by the
02:34police department and counter-accusations growing out of their dictograph episode. Colonel Felder
02:41appeared before the tribunal at its morning session and demanded that the dictograph conspiracy be
02:46probed to bedrock. The attorney based his demand upon his own desire for exoneration of the sensational
02:53accusations. He declared to the jurymen that the charges were absolutely false and the result of
02:58an attempt to blacken his reputation, that justice to himself called for a speedy investigation, that
03:04participants in the affair be summoned and the matter settled. Mr. Felder declared that the
03:09investigation Thursday would follow his own charges that the police had altered the dictograph record
03:14alleged to have been taken of his conversation with Collier in February at the Williams house.
03:19The attorney has made the assertion that the record was elaborated by police officials from the chief
03:24of detective's office, and that in swearing to the truth of the conversation, perjury had been committed.
03:30Mr. Felder averred that strenuous prosecution of this phase of the controversy would be made.
03:36Call Collier and February. As a result of the attorney's demands, the grand jury issued summonses
03:42for A.S. Collier, Jr., author of The Dictograph Conspiracy, and G.C. February, Secretary to Detective
03:49Chief Lanford, who was alleged to have been offered bribe money by Felder to appear Thursday.
03:54Also to be heard on this subject at that time will be Chief Beavers and Chief Lanford.
03:59Documentary evidence will be introduced by the disputants and the matter of bribery decided upon
04:03by the grand jury before the vice investigation shall continue. At Wednesday morning's session,
04:09Colonel Felder was the only witness. Mr. Felder appeared before the grand jury with a large
04:14portfolio of papers pertaining to his allegations of corruption, Felder before jury an hour. He went
04:20over the situation thoroughly before the grand jury, taking more than an hour in which to present his
04:25case. While the evidence which he placed before the hearing was not revealed, Colonel Felder intimated
04:31that it included affidavits from persons who have paid corruption money to the police in
04:35substantiation of the Hutcheson list of resorts now in operation. Just preceding the opening of the
04:41morning session of the grand jury, Chief Beavers, Solicitor Dorsey, and Detective Chief Lanford were
04:47closeted in conference. It was at the beginning of this that Mr. Felder declared himself regarding his
04:52charges. The attorney intercepted Chief Beavers as he was entering the solicitor's private office.
04:58My accusations do not touch you, Chief, said Mr. Felder. I know that you are not mixed up in the
05:04shameful conditions which exist in Atlanta. My evidence points at another man, the other chief
05:09at the police station. I have the proof against him, and I am going to lay it bare at this
05:13investigation.
05:15Near Open Clash
05:16At this moment Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford, the other chief at the police station, entered the
05:21room. A silence pregnant with expectancy fell upon those present. Lanford walked directly over to
05:27where Felder was standing and took his seat. He was accompanied by Detective Black. An encounter
05:32seemed imminent. Friends of both men declared later that they were keyed up to a dangerous pitch.
05:37Then the situation was relieved by the sudden appearance of Solicitor Dorsey, and the conference
05:42between himself and the two chiefs was called. A great many of the women whose names appeared as
05:48conducting the houses in our midst, or hotel proprietors whom the young attorney alleged were paying for
05:53police protection, were served with subpenas as soon as Foreman L. H. Beck could arrange with the
05:59Solicitor's Office for the service. This list still is in the hands of the Foreman. On it also are the
06:05names of persons whom it is alleged will make affidavits, or testify, that the allegations of
06:11the attorney are true. These, it is understood, may be summoned during the day. Promises thorough probe.
06:17Foreman Beck, who is conducting the probe independently of the State's prosecuting attorney,
06:22intimated before going into the executive session Wednesday morning that the probe would be one
06:27of the most extensive a Fulton grand jury ever has conducted. He said the true conditions would be
06:33found out and the public acquainted with them at the proper time. He would not say whether the probe
06:38had progressed sufficiently to warrant returning indictments, but made it pretty plain that the jury
06:43would conclude its work when it completed the investigation, and that the indictments, if any,
06:48would be brought at the request of the Solicitor, who would be made acquainted with the conditions.
06:53More than likely, he said, we will embody the result of our investigation in the presentment,
06:59and return it to Judge W. D. Ellis, who charged us so specifically to investigate vice conditions,
07:05then if the people or the officers want to carry the matter further, it can take the customary course
07:10through the police or state officers. Chief Lanford, Chief Beavers, Detective Black,
07:14and February were among the first arrivals Wednesday. Chief Beavers was anxious to go before the jury
07:20and tell what he knew of the vice conditions. Conditions are better in Atlanta today than they
07:25have ever been, he said, and I am quite sure the grand jury will find it out. But if I
07:30am mistaken
07:30about it, I want to put my men to work. I am quite sure, however, it will be found the
07:34condition has
07:35been exaggerated. Of course, nothing will come of the charges of corruption in my department.
07:40Mrs. Nina Formby, the only witness wanted for the grand jury Tuesday, it is understood,
07:45was telephoned and told to remain away until Wednesday. The idea of her having left the city
07:50was ridiculed by the solicitor's office.
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