Wednesday, 17th September 1913: Beavers Passes Up Pleas That He Get In Sheriff’s Race, The Atlanta Journal

Reading Time: 7 minutes [1182 words]

Beset by Friends and

Enemies

to Try for County

Office,

Beavers Declares He's

Police

Chief Till He's Fired

SAID THAT WATERS

WILL

BE A FOURTH

CANDIDATE

Since Beavers Prefers

Vice

War to Sheriffship,

Mayo,

Wright and

Mangum Are

Now Only

Candidates

An effort on the part of some of the friends of Chief of Police

J. L. Beavers, who fear that his days in the office he now holds are

numbered, and some his enemies who want to stop the vice

crusade, to get the official to run for sheriff of Fulton county has

failed.

While admitting that a number of people had urged him to

become a candidate for sheriff at the coming election, Chief

Beavers declared to The Journal Wednesday that he was not even

considering the matter.

I will stay chief of police until they fire me, Chief Beavers

remarked, when a reporter asked for his position relative to an

effort to induce him to become a candidate for sheriff.

Friends of Chief Beavers, who fear that it is only a question

of time until he will be decapitated by the board of police

commissioners, have urged him to offer himself as a candidate for

the county job, for the reason that before the people they say that

he would easily be one of the strongest political figures in Atlanta,

and would be certain of election despite strenuous opposition.

If he remains in his present position a change in the

personnel of the board of police commissioners, which is likely at

any time, might result in the police chief's decapitation, they

declare.

Many of the men, who have been fighting Beavers, would

gladly work to secure him another office, simply in order that they

might be rid of the man who has conducted such strenuous vice

campaigns.

As a result the two factions jointly conceived the idea of

running him for sheriff, but the plan has been nipped in the bud

by Beavers himself.

I have never seriously considered it, he says, and as a

matter of fact paid little attention to those who spoke of the

matter to me.

IS WATERS A CANDIDATE?

The line-up in the race for sheriff is attracting much more

attention than any of the other coming campaigns.

W. M. Mayo, captain of police, who, it is said, would have

withdrawn from the race had Beavers agreed to enter it, has

already announced his candidacy, and is picking his ticket. So has

L. E. Wright, and Sheriff Wheeler Mangum's strong ticket, of

course, a big factor to be reckoned with.

Wednesday, however, a new name was whispered around. It

is that of Tull C. Waters, whose term as a member of the board of

county commissioners expires this year.

Waters is known to be seriously considering the idea, and a

definite announcement of his position is expected within a short

time.

Waters led a big ticket when he made the race for the

county commission, and has made an excellent record in the

position. Waters is a strong union man, and has been a leading

member and official of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

in Georgia for a number of years, and has a strong following not

only in this county but over the state.

As one of the executives of the Brotherhood he has been

instrumental in securing much state legislation favorable to the

working classes generally and especially to railroad employees.

It is hinted that his announcement may revolutionize the

line-up in the race for the important office.

JUDGE BROYLES TO

RUN

FOR COURT OF

APPEALS

Will Not Make

Formal An-

nouncement Until

April or

May, Though

City Recorder Nash R. Broyles will be a candidate for the

appellate court bench in the election the latter part of next

summer. This is a practical certainty.

Judge Broyles would not make positive announcement

Tuesday morning, however. He said that it was yet too early to

declare himself.

In all probability I will be a candidate, he said, I will not

make formal announcement until April or May, though.

Judge Broyles can oppose either Judge L. S. Roan or Judge R.

B. Russell in his race for the bench. He is given this option

because of the fact that Judge Roan, who has been appointed to

fill the vacancy left by the governor when he named Judge B. H.

Hill to the superior court bench, can occupy that position only

until next fall. He must then be re-elected.

Asked which of the incumbent judges he would be a

candidate against, Judge Broyles declared that he had not yet

made up his mind.

I have not given the matter much thought, remarked the

recorder. I will be governed by the advice of my friends over the

state when the time comes.

Judge Broyles was candidate for the same bench last year,

running against Judge J. R. Pottle. The result of the election was a

tie. Judge Broyles prevented complications which might have

followed this climax by withdrawing.

PAGE 4, COLUMN 5

Present Judges of

Superior

Court Will Probably

Recom-

mend Such in

Conference

A discussion of the judicial situation in the Atlanta circuit

among attorneys and members of the board of county

commissioners has developed the fact it is not improbable that

the judge of the Stone Mountain circuit will continue to sit in

Fulton county.

The entire matter rests with the present judges of the

superior court and as yet they have held no conference. The act

creating the fourth judge or the Atlanta circuit follows exactly the

language of the act creating the third judgeship, now held by

Judge George L. Bell.

While it has been generally conceded that the fourth judge,

Judge Benjamin H. Hill, now of the court of appeals, would sit

entirely on criminal cases, and that the judge of the Stone

Mountain circuit would be relieved of duty in this county, this is

not certain.

General Clifford L. Anderson, of the board of county

commissioners, has pointed out that there is nothing in the act

that prescribes what branch of the superior court work Judge Hill

will preside over and there is nothing in the act which

automatically discontinues the work of the Stone Mountain judge

in this circuit.

The county commissioners can notify the judge of the Stone

Mountain circuit, who after October 1 will be C. S. Reid, that his

services here are no longer needed, and this will cut off the

$2,000 extra salary, which this county has been paying the Stone

Mountain judge. Or the county commission can request him to

continue to devote a portion of his time to the work in this circuit

and continue his salary.

Judge Reid, like Judge L. S. Roan in the past, would have

several weeks a term which he could devote to this circuit, and

there is little doubt that he would accept the extra work if it is

offered him.

That the judges of the superior court, when they meet in

conference, will seriously consider recommending that the judge

of the Stone Mountain circuit continue to assist in the work here,

there is no doubt.

The civil docket of the superior court is just as congested as

the criminal docket, and attorneys say that it requires about ten

months to get a hearing for any new suit which does not contain a

motion. In other words, the courts are about ten months behind

with business.

Should the three old judges of this circuit desire the

assistance of another judge in the civil divisions, then it is said

that the new judge will hear civil business part of the time and

criminal business when the judge of the Stone Mountain circuit is

unable to preside in that division.

The county commissioners are expected to request the

judges of the superior court to decide the matter before the 1st of

October when Judge Hill will take his seat.