00:00Grand Jury Will Probe Affidavits About Dictograph
00:02The Atlanta Constitution, June 12, 1913
00:06Investigation of charges and countercharges will begin at early date and will be exhaustive won.
00:12Lanford says Gentry will deny affidavit.
00:15Affidavit is made, declaring dictograph instrument was secured by Chief Lanford for use in Fagan case.
00:21Following close on the heels of the publication of the George M. Gentry affidavit,
00:25in which the young stenographer states that his typewritten report of the dictograph conversation was padded
00:31and says that he left town after he had discovered that he had fallen in with a crowd of crooks,
00:36comes the assurance that the Grand Jury will at once make a searching probe of the detective department
00:41in an effort to establish the truth regarding the many charges and countercharges
00:45that have been afloat since the dictograph sensation was sprung.
00:49Members of the Grand Jury take the position that if the Gentry affidavit is true,
00:54it constitutes a stinging indictment of the detective department,
00:57an indictment which should not be allowed to stand longer than it will take to uncover the facts.
01:03Records true, says Lanford.
01:05Chief of Detectives Lanford defends his department and his own personal connection
01:09with the sensation with the declaration that the dictograph reports, as published, were absolutely correct,
01:15and that reports to the contrary are not only false but will be proved untrue.
01:19Impaled by public sentiment the dictograph incident created,
01:23it is authentically stated that the Grand Jury probe will be made at a very early date
01:27and will be an exhaustive one.
01:29While contradicted by Gentry's affidavit and statements from the trio of dictograph victims,
01:35Mayor Woodward, Colonel Felder, and Charles Jones,
01:38G.C. February, Secretary to Chief Lanford,
01:41stoutly maintaused that the dictograph notes were accurate
01:44and that there were no discrepancies whatever in the published copies,
01:47probing Gentry's departure.
01:50Developments were many Wednesday as a result of the stenographer's testimony.
01:54Chief Lanford declared to reporters that he was investigating Gentry's departure from the city
01:58with a view to substantiating his theory that the youth was lured to Washington by Ed Miles,
02:04acting for people higher up.
02:06An affidavit setting forth the statement that Lanford obtained the dictograph instrument
02:10on the pretense of using it only to corroborate evidence in the Mary Fagan mystery
02:14has been attested to by L.O. Suries,
02:17who is attached to the Southern Bell Telephone Company
02:19and who is local representative of the dictograph concern.
02:23L.O. Suries makes affidavit.
02:25It follows.
02:26Georgia.
02:27Fulton County.
02:29Personally appeared before the undersigned,
02:31an officer authorized by Searles,
02:33who, first being duly and legally sworn,
02:36deposeth and sayeth
02:37that he is an employee of the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company
02:41and heretofore represented as agent the General Acoustics Company.
02:46Deponent further says on oath that on Wednesday, the 31st day of May, 1913,
02:52Newport Lanford, Chief of Detectives, called him over the phone,
02:55requesting that he install a dictograph in an important case
02:58and that it must be done by 10.30 on the same morning
03:01deponent thereupon at the office of Chief Lanford,
03:04who stated that he desired the dictograph
03:06to corroborate important evidence in the Fagan murder mystery,
03:09whereupon deponent consented to install the dictograph
03:12upon the understanding that his name would not be used
03:15in connection with said installation.
03:17Chief Lanford assured deponent that he would comply with said request.
03:22Deponent was directed to certain rooms in the Williams house,
03:25where the dictograph was installed under direction of
03:28one February and one Collier, who were understood by deponent
03:31to be representatives of Chief Lanford's office,
03:34the installation being completed about 1 p.m. on Wednesday,
03:37the 21st day of May, 1913.
03:40After the installation, deponent left the premises
03:43and was called to remove the instrument on the following day.
03:46The removal was made about 5.30 p.m. on Thursday,
03:50the 22nd day of May, 1913.
03:53Deponent further states on oath that at no time during the interview
03:57with Chief Lanford during the installation of said dictograph,
04:00or thereafter, was there any intimation that the instrument
04:03was to be used for corroborating evidence in the Fagan murder mystery.
04:07Deponent further states on oath that this affidavit
04:10was dictated by him personally and voluntarily,
04:13in order to clearly state his position in any controversy
04:16arising over his connection with said installation.
04:30This affidavit has inspired Colonel Felder to draw a parallel of extracts
04:34from one of his statements recently published
04:36and from a reply made by Chief Lanford.
04:38He accuses the detectives of having lied regarding the negotiations
04:42with Searles prior to the installation of the dictograph.
04:45The first extract is from a card addressed by Colonel Felder to Chief Lanford.
04:49It follows,
04:50You lied to Searles of the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company
04:54to induce him to install the so-called dictograph.
04:57You lied to turn him in, promising him not to use his name.
05:01You disclosed it in an effort to give respectability to the conspiracy by publishing.
05:05The instrument used in dictographing Felder was installed by Searles,
05:09electrician of the Southern Bell Telephone Company.
05:12The extract from Lanford's answer is,
05:14He says I promised Searles that I would not use his name.
05:17Here again he lies.
05:19All I said to Searles while negotiating with him to install the dictograph
05:22was that I intended to use it in the interest of justice.
05:26Detectives want Gentry.
05:27That every effort will be made by the detective department to return Gentry to Atlanta
05:31was a statement made by Lanford.
05:33If any legal means can be found, he said,
05:36and the stenographer refuses to come back to Georgia,
05:38he will be brought back under charges of perjury.
05:41Chief Beavers, who is in Washington attending the annual convention of national police heads,
05:46has been wired by the detective chief to find Gentry and investigate his affidavit.
05:52No reply was received from him up to late last night.
05:55He was also asked to persuade Gentry to return with him to Atlanta.
05:58If Gentry had made this affidavit in Atlanta, Chief Lanford said,
06:02I would take instant action against him for perjury.
06:05We can do nothing with him as long as the deed was committed in Washington.
06:08He had better be glad, however, that he was that far away.
06:11That is, considering, of course, that he attested to the paper.
06:14I doubt its genuineness myself.
06:16I think it's a forgery.
06:17If Gentry comes back, he'll tell the truth and prove our assertions that the affidavit is false
06:22and that the dictograph records were absolutely correct.
06:25He will come shortly.
06:26I have detailed men to investigate the cause of his departure,
06:29and it is my theory that he was got out of the city by this Miles,
06:33who was acting under instructions of influence higher up.
06:37Believes in Gentry.
06:38I do not believe Gentry is the kind of man to swear to one affidavit
06:42and then make another contradicting his first.
06:44He impresses me as being a clean-cut, honest youth
06:47who will act according to the dictates of his conscience,
06:49matter not what be the circumstances.
06:52February stated to a reporter that he will swear to the accuracy
06:55of the published dictograph reports,
06:57and that if Gentry persists in his purported story,
07:01he will personally take action against the stenographer for alleged perjury.
07:04He says the affidavit is the result of a frame-up of the ring,
07:08who were affected by the dictograph incident.
07:11Gentry's affidavit bears out my contention that the entire matter was a frame-up
07:15on the part of Lanford and his hirelings, said Colonel Felder.
07:18It is complete vindication.
07:20Everyone now agrees with me that I was the innocent victim of a conspiracy.
07:25As far as I personally am concerned, the incident is closed.
07:29Gentry will return to Atlanta within the next ten days,
07:31and will something additional to say.
07:33It is reported that I possess the key to vault
07:36in which are contained Gentry's original notes.
07:38This is erroneous.
07:39They are safe in the hands of a responsible attorney.
07:42Grand jury probe needed.
07:44The grand jury will do Atlanta a real service
07:46by investigating this vile dictograph business.
07:49Mayor Woodward declared Wednesday afternoon.
07:52The sooner it is taken up and the deeper the grand jury goes into it,
07:55the better pleased I'll be.
07:56The whole business on its face looks like a plot against me.
07:59If I am guilty of anything, I want the grand jury to expose me.
08:03If I have been victimized, I feel that it is the duty of the grand jury to vindicate me.
08:08And if those who tried to frame up on me are guilty of unbecoming conduct,
08:11I think it is the duty of the grand jury to say so.
08:15I am satisfied that the people of Atlanta now know the truth.
08:19Gentry's affidavit has vindicated me,
08:21but it has placed the police department in a bad light in the eyes of the people of Atlanta.
08:25If the mayor of the city is not safe from underhand attacks
08:28such as this dictograph plot has been shown to be,
08:31God help our citizens.
08:33And right here let me say that the police commission can do a whole lot
08:37to restore public confidence by making an investigation of its own accord.
08:41George Gentry's mother, when seen by a Constitution reporter at her home last night,
08:46would not discuss the report that she had sworn to an affidavit,
08:50which stated that her son, shortly before his departure from the city,
08:54had told her of the dictograph padding,
08:55and had given as the reason for his flight the fear of being arrested on a rumored warrant.
09:01Mrs. Gentry said that she did not care to tell the date
09:04on which she expected the stenographer's return.
09:06She explained that it was his affair, not his family's,
09:09and that this was the reason why they were maintaining silence.
09:12She insisted that it was her son's death, not his 받tiveness.
09:12Cause she did not care to tell the picture.
09:12he did not care to be arrested.
09:13His death, his death, his death, his death, his death, his death,
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