Sunday, 2nd November 1913: Judges Of Municipal Court Named Saturday Afternoon Supplant Peace Justices, The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta Constitution,
Sunday, 2nd November 1913,
PAGE 3, COLUMN 1.
The four judges of the superior court of Fulton county last Saturday named the five
Atlantans who will sit as judges in the new municipal court established by
recent act of the legislature. The court will organize and begin active service
on January 1, 1914.
The
five men named to the new civil branch are L. F. McClelland, E. L. Thomas, J.
B. Ridley, T. O. Hathcock and Luther Rosser, Jr.
The
new court will take the place of the justice of peace courts in Fulton county,
and is designed to do away with the fee system in vogue in the justice courts.
A
chief justice of the court is to be named by Governor Slaton in the near future
from the list of men elected Saturday by the superior judges. The
L. F. McCLELLAND
salary of the chief justice
will be $3,500 per year, while the associate judges will receive $3,000.
Forty Candidate for Places.
Until
Saturday there were over forty candidates in the field for the five positions.
Practically every justice of peace in Atlanta sought a place on the new court
bench. Only one, J. B. Ridley, was named.
The
other four members of the court are all practicing attorneys of Atlanta having
been members of the Atlanta bar for years past.
L.
F. McClelland, one of the appointees, was born in Conyers, Ga., 38 years ago.
He was admitted to the Atlanta bar in 1898 and has been an active attorney ever
since.
E.
D. Thomas has been practicing law here for the last thirteen years. He is aged
32 and is well known among
LUTHER ROSSER. JR.
the
younger attorneys at the local bar.
T.
O. Hathcock has been a practicing attorney in Atlanta for twenty years and has
a wide circle of friends, who will be glad to hear of his appointment to the
municipal court bench.
Luther
Rosser, Jr., the son of the chief attorney in the Frank case, is practically a
newcomer to the Atlanta bar, but in the cases where he has been active he has
shown unusual ability.
May Test Legality.
The
new municipal court will probably be tested by suit after it organizes,
according to common report circulated Saturday. Justices of the peace whose
business will automatically be wiped out with the establishment of the new
court will probably band together and make an effort to prove that the
establishment of the new court is unconstitutional. None of the new appointees
to the court would discuss the matter.
The
new judges named from the list of applicants Saturday were all applicants for
the positions they secured.
J. B. RIDLEY.
The duties of the new court will be
in many ways similar to that of the present justice of the peace courts, but
bailiffs, clerks and court room attaches will be on salary under the new court
and all fees will be removed from service rendered through the new court
officers.
The act creating the new court is the
result of concerted action of the Atlanta Bar association through whose
committee the bill establishing the court was put through the legislature. The
new court is practically the same as the municipal court of New York, differing
from the metropolitan court only in the number of justices, manner of procedure
in civil suits and a few other minor details.
The court becomes legal on the first of
next year, the judges being sworn in on that date.
PAGE 21, COLUMN 5
Judge
Roan Saves Youth
From Sentencing Himself
To a Term in
Chaingang
One of Judge L. S. Roans last official
acts as a Fulton county superior court judge was the saving of a young lad on
Saturday from sentencing himself to the chaingang.
Davis Bonner, aged 16, recently was
arrested on a charge of burglary. He was indicted and faced a long chaingang
sentence. It developed during his stay in jail that the lad had sworn that he
was 18 years of age when in reality he was but 16.
When Judge Roan learned the fact
through a plea to the jurisdiction of the criminal court, filed by Attorney
Leonard Grossman, on behalf of the Associated Charities, the lad was bound over
to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, to be tried next Tuesday.
Solicitor Dorsey concurred in the plea
to the jurisdiction and recommended that the lad be bound over.
PAGE 38, COLUMN 5
LEO FRANK
APPEALS
TO SUPREME COURT
Judge Roan
Certifies to His
Remarks, Declaring His
Doubt of Prisoners Guilt
or Innocence.
The bill of exceptions presented by the
defense of Leo Frank in the appeal for a new trial to the supreme court was
signed by Judge L. S. Roan, the trial judge, yesterday afternoon at 4 oclock.
This will be the final step Judge Roan will take in the case, as he goes
immediately to the appellate bench.
The fight to be waged by the defense,
it is stated, will center around the remarks of Judge Roan when he announced
his decision denying a new trial, and in which he declared his doubt as to
Franks guilt or innocence. Over the vigorous protest of Solicitor Dorsey
Saturday morning he certified to the remarks, saying:
It is true I said this. I am compelled
to certify to my own words.
The phrase, But I, myself, do not have
to be convinced, was stricken from the remarks contained in the bill of
exceptions. This was done at the request of Judge Roan. Franks attorneys
worked hard through Friday night preparing the bill of exceptions.
The bill of exceptions, filed with the
clerk of supreme court, contains only a brief summary of grounds upon which the
appeal is being made, also the affidavits put in evidence at the new trial
hearing before Judge Roan. It is a brief document, running not over four pages.
The next steps of the defense will be
to put in hand of the printer the brief of evidence of the trial and the
grounds upon which the plea for new trial is based. This will require some
time, probably three weeks or more. Following which the appeal will go directly
to the supreme court.
It is predicted in court circles that
arguments will not be heard until next March. Following the arguments, it will
be several months before a decision is handed down.