The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-14


| advantage they had had before being
/ moved from their positions the night be-
| fore The twenty men were marched
10 the DraytOn street door and given a Do
. sition there, and the police were formed
! around them in hollow square
I with the Myers men in the center. Lieut..
! Reilly started TO notify Janitor Donovan TO
! open the DraytOn street door. He had
] hardly turned the corner OF the building
] before the Duncan men, with Mcbride and
I his 40 al their head, charged the police.
/ They broke right through the ranks and in
| among the Myers workers. striking right
/ and left The latter defended themselves,
and the police hammered right and left
I They were in no good humor. anyway
Z after the extra work they have had to do
I around the court house for the last several
days, and they dubbed the partisans with
a right good will. They were so jammed
IN by the struggling mass of humanity on
all sides, however. that they could not
accomplish very much. This was the
state of affairs when Lieut.. Reilly hurried
back. He Immediately ordered the aIcove
cleared About The time this was accom-
plished the DraytOn street door was open
ed by Janitor Donovan. and the Duncan
men, who had thrOwn their opponents to
one side by virtue Of superior numbers
and greater determination rushed in. OF
the first 81 in line only two were
/ Myers men, and these were all that got
into the tax collectors office during the
morning
The Myers men were loud in their pro-
tests at what they called Lieut. Reilly's
bad faith. To a Marning News reporter
Lieut.. Reilly said he did not agree to put
the Myers men in line inside the court
house before admitting anyone else He
had no authority to make any such ar
rangement What he did agree TO do was
to give them the same position they had
when they were removed by the order of
uyo1 r1-a
giving them the first places in line He did
not foresee and could not prevent the
melee which occurred just before the
opening Of the door.
Col. GarraTd. when seen by a Morning
News reporter. confirmed the statement
already made as to his conference with
Mayor McDonough. The mayor made no
promises and no guarantees, he said, but
merely told him he would be satisfied
with any equitable agreement that might
be entered into between himself and IAent.
Reilly.
Il wish to state" said Col. Garrard,
that all charges Of craftsmanship or un-
fairness against Mayor McDonough in
this connection are unjust. / found him
entirely just and reasonable. His action in
ordering the crowd removed from the
court house was entirely proper. / am
satisfied from what learned at the court
house that had the police not interfered
last night there would have been a riot
OF very serious proportions I thought the
agreement which / made with Lieut.
Reilly was an entirely equitable one, and
in fact a matter of Justice. as the men
had been deprived Of their places which
they had taken the night before and
which they had perfect right to take as
citizens. / expected the agreement to be
carried out. My understanding was that
the twenty men were to be given posi-
tions inside the court house, though Lieut..
Reilly does not seem to understand it
that way"
A conference was held at Mayor Nc
Donough's Office at o'clock between the
Mayor, Mr.. Myers, Col Garrard and Mr.
Adams. Chief Green, Assistant Chief
Reilly and Sergt. Ixillourhy were called
in and interviewed. Mayor McDonough
stated to Morning News reporter after
the conference that 1t was held for the
purpose of clearing away certain mis-
taken impressions upon the minds of Mr.
Myers and Col. Garrard. Il think I
showed them conclusively that they had
wrong impression as to certain occur
rences," said the mayor.
Mayor McDonough was asked as to his
reasons for ordering the court house
cleared the night before.
Il went by the court house shortly af-
ter 10 O'clock" he said, land saw the
crowd there. It was quiet and orderly
l was reliably informed that the Duncan
man were rallying to attack them. and
was well satisfied as l could be that If
the crowd was allowed to remain there
would be three or four dead men in that
neighborhood before morning. On my ar
rival home 1 telephoned the police bar
racks to have the crowd around the court
house removed and the sidewalks kept
clear"
The Duncan men thought they owned
the earth with a barbed wire fence around
IL until about 80 o'clock yesterday, when
il began to be noised around the court
house that the tax collectors Office was to
be kept open for the payment of taxes I'M
til o'clock. There was an expression of
deep disgust on their faces when the
report was confirmed. The Myers people
had received notice of the order first
and had kept a large crowd of negroes in
line all morning in anticipation of it,
They were not disappointed. The result
was they carried away with them
goodly number of tax receipts at night
for the first time this week.
The correspondence between Capt Nc
| Gowan and the controller general is as
follows:
Atlanta Ga, Dec. 10. 1S94-Capt, James
]. MCGOWAN. Savannah: Keep office open
for receiving taxes until six o'clock until
| registration closes.
William A. Wright
| Controller General
To this Capt. MCGOWAN replied
| Savannah, Ga, Dec. 13, 1S94-Hon. w.
| A. Wright, Comptroller General Atlanta,
! Ga: Please withdraw your telegraphic
/ order of to-day. My office is overworked
/ and hundreds Of property taxpayers, I'M
/ able to get through the crowd of poll tax
| payers that has jammed the court house
/ for days, have sent me their taxes by
mail, and must have time to check them
/ over and make out their receipts The
! scenes around this office are unprecedent-
| ed and disgraceful, and the orderly col
| lection of taxes has been seriously inter
cred with At this wiring there has been
$1.25 cents collected for state and county
taxes for this day. 1 do hope you will
let me use my discretion in the matter.
and observe the hours fixed by me, which
for years past has given satisfaction to
all parties. James. ]. MCGOWAN
Tax Collector
The controller general at once wired
| back this reply:
Atlanta, Ga, Dec. 10. 1S94-Capt. James
| j. MCGOWAN, T. c., Savannah-Regret 7
| can't withdraw instructions wired this
| morning. This emergency demands that
! YOUR office should he kent Onap oil da,- -,