Thursday, 18th September 1913: Detective John Black Jailed In Birmingham, The Atlanta Journal
The Atlanta Journal,
Thursday, 18th September 1913,
PAGE 1, COLUMN 2.
Such Is Unofficial
Report Re-
ceived by Chief
Beavers,
Is Accused of
Fighting
Unofficial reports received by Chief of Police, James L.
Beavers, Thursday morning from Birmingham, Ala., confirm, it is
said, telegraphic dispatches from that city to the effect that
Detective John Black, of the Atlanta department, had been
arrested there with J. F. Hargrove, also of Atlanta, following a fight
between the two in the Exchange hotel Wednesday night. The
charge, that of disturbing the peace, will be aired in the recorder's
court Thursday afternoon.
According to the reports from the Alabama city, the arrest
was made at the insistence of the hotel management, who
summoned officers to quell the disturbance in a room occupied by
the two men. On entering, the officers are reported as having
found Black and Hargrove scrapping on the floor. The latter's face
was badly bruised and the Atlanta sleuth also showed evidences
of the fight, the report goes.
Black declined to make a statement when taken to the city
hall, but Hargrove was less reticent in discussing the reported
disturbance. Ihe is said to have admitted being under $100 bond
on the charge of selling cocaine in Atlanta and intended returning
there. In Birmingham he met Black, who placed him under arrest,
but was later released. They both went to the hotel he said, where
the trouble occurred. Black had gone to Birmingham to get
Hargrove who, Chief of Detectives Lanford declared, was resisting
extradition.
PAGE 1, COLUMN 3
DATE FOR FRANK'S
NEW TRIAL
HEARING
TO BE
POSTPONED
Convicted Man Will Not
Hang
This Year, as Motion
for
New Trial Will Be Put
Off
From October 4 to
December
JUDGE HILL AND NOT
JUDGE ROAN WILL
ACT
Crowded Conditions of
Solic-
itor's Work and
Rosser's
Plea for More Time to
Get
Motion Ready, Cause
Delay
That Leo M. Frank's motion for a new trial will not be heard
until December, and that then the judge to grant or deny the
famous prisoner another hearing will be Judge Benjamin H. Hill
instead of Judge L. S. Roan, the trial judge, are two important
factors in the case which became public Thursday.
Attorney Luther Z. Rosser, leading counsel for Frank, has
been working untiringly on the case, preparing his motion, but it
is said that the document will not be concluded possibly until only
a short time before the date set for the hearing of the motion,
October 4.
After he has been duly served with the defense's motion
Solicitor Dorsey will require at least a month to complete his
answer.
The congested condition of the criminal docket makes it
certain that the solicitor will be in court constantly during the
month of October, and will have little opportunity of working on
any except the cases which are brought before the court daily.
The number of jail felony cases now pending breaks all records
and it is essential that the solicitor devote his time to clearing the
jail just as soon as he can secure a judge to preside in the
criminal division. This will be October 1, when Judge Hill leaves his
place as chief justice of the court of appeals and commences his
work as a judge of the superior court of Fulton county.
Judge Roan on October 1 becomes a judge of the court of
appeals, and as such he will not hear, it is authoritatively said, the
motion for a new trial for Frank despite the fact that he was the
trial judge. The hearing of the motion will automatically fall upon
the shoulders of Judge Hill.
Although Attorney Rosser refuses to forecast the probable
time of the completion of his motion, attorneys generally state
that owing to the voluminous record of the Frank trial, that an
attorney would scarcely eb expected to complete such a motion
in the time that will have elapsed from the end of the Frank trial
to the date set for the hearing of the motion. However, regardless
of whether or not the defense asks for additional time in
preparing the motion it is certain that the solicitor will ask that the
hearing be postponed and under the circumstances there is little
probability that his plea for additional time will be denied by the
court.
WILL NOT HANG THIS
YEAR.
A court order will then be issued, staying indefinitely the day
of the execution of Frank, which has been set for October 10.
It is possible that the date of the hearing might be set for
some time during the latter part of November, but is more
probable that it will be extorted from her by the city detectives,
given an opportunity to devote his time to the other pressing
business of his office.
That the defense will charge that much of the evidence
introduced at the trial was procured through the third degree is
certain. Only Wednesday attorneys for the defense secured from
the solicitor the original affidavit made the detectives by Minola
McKnight, the Selig cook. It is remembered that the negress
repudiated the affidavit made the detectives by Minola McKnight,
the Selig cook. It is remembered that the negress repudiated the
affidavit on the witness stand, declaring that it was extorted from
her by city detectives.
A part of the affidavit, despite the charges of the defense
and its repudiation by its maker, was introduced in evidence and
this, it is said, the defense will charge was admitted illegally.
The court of appeals only recently in a decision written by
Judge Hill, who will be on the superior court bench when the
motion is tried declared that testimony secured through the third
degree was valueless in a court, and could legally be admitted.
PAGE 4, COLUMN 3
The Frank
Case
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