The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-11
The POLICE KEPT ORDER
But The Myers Men Think They Got The
Worst End Of II.

] mat he acted UnQer OrQer1 OF the
Assistant Chief Of PoIice-How the
/ Crowd Was Handled at the Court
House The Presence of the Police
Makes Things Easier for the Tax Col
/ lector-The Charges Against Regis
trar Buttimer-To-day's Registration.
The advantage Of having the police in
/ control Of the court house corridor during
/ the hours in which the tax collectors Of
fee is open was weIl-nlustrated yesterday.
While there was considerable friction
among the partisans and charges OF I'M
fair methods, good order was preserved
inside the court house and the work of the
tax collectors Office was greatly faciIi-
tated.
Capt. MCGOWAN stopped receiving taxes
for the day at o'clock. Satur-
day he continued receiving until o'clock.
yet the number of poll tax receipts issued
was exactly the same. 2l1 for each day.
Janitor Donovan was the first person on
deck at the court house yesterday morn
ing. He kept the doors locked and admitted
no one but county officials and employees
who had business in the building. Treas
urer Waring Russell was the first official
to arrive. Capt MCGOWAN came in early
as did Capt. Dillon and several other Of
ficials. The crowd gathered outside on the
sidewalks early. and was disposed to be
boisterous, showing one another for places
of vantage in front Of the doors.
The first sensation Of the day was when
some Of the Duncan men reported that
Mr.. Russell had opened the windows of
his Office and was receiving papers from
outside, supposed TO be connected with
the registration. Janitor Donovan no.
titled MIR. Russell that this could not
be allowed and that partisans of the
other side would be allowed the same priv
ilege if he persisted Mr.. Russell prompt
ly closed his window on this notice.
Assistant Chief Of Police Reilly arrived
about $50 O'Clock with a squad of nine
men and took charge of the corridor. He
put some of his men on the inside and
stationed the others on the outside
Lieut. Reilly had a conference with Capt
MCGOWAN and informed him of a plan
which he had outlined to insure order in
the corridor. 1t was to open only one
door-that at the Drayton street entrance
and let the crowd in one at time
forming a line as they entered, and only
oiibN blAt man at a. tune AiOIn the line 10
enter the tax collectors office Capt
MCGOWAN concurred in the plan, and
Lieut.. Reilly proceeded to put il into exc
cutiOn. He notified the crowd that none
of the doors except the Drayton street
door would be opened before 8 o'clock and
that the line would be formed from the
latter door. The crowd a the Bull street
entrance either did not understand or
thought it knew a better plan. Anyway,
a large crowd remained al the Bull street
entrance until after the Drayton street
door had been opened. This was where
the Myers men were euchered. The Dun
can men were largely in the majority at
the Drayton street entrance and the ma
jority of those who went in first were
Duncan men,. When the balance of the
crowd discovered that the Drayton street
door was open there was a grand rush
for IT, and some lively scrambling to get
to the door followed. The police had
some trouble in preserving order and
came near having to use their clubs sew
eral times. One incident of the scramble
was the shutting out of Dick AlcKenna,
the treasurer of the Duncan committee
McKenna was not among the first at the
door, having remained too long at the
Bull street entrance. The Myers men
were on to him and had a scheme laid to
keep him out of the court house. When
he started to enter a Myers worker
named Mccormick seized him and held
him back. He managed to hand the money
to Walter T. Sullivan, another member of
the committee, who ran around the court
house pursued by several Myers men. He
got to the Bull street door just as il was
opened by Janitor Donovan and dashed in
with the money. His appearance was
greeted with shouts by the Duncan men,
who had begun to realize that without a
supply of the needful their success in OBJ
tanning places in line would be fruitless.
The money was slipped to a Duncan
worker at the head of the line, who dis
trbuted it to the proper parties. This in
cident was the occasion of a great deal of
kicking on the part of the Myers men,
who claimed that the act of JanitOr DON
ovan in opening the door at the time
he did was one of partisanship entirely i'm
proper on the part of an official in the
discharge of his duties. There were other
charges of partisanship made by the
Myers men against Mr. Donovan. They
held him responsible for the closing of the
doors and the opening of the Drayton
street door first, which, they charged.
was done in the interest of the Duncan
workers Their idea in making these
charges was that the janitor had charge
of the corridor and that Lieut.. Reilly
acted under his direction.
Mr.. Donovan denied emphatically the
charges of partisanship.
"They are false" he said. 81 kept the
doors closed, admitting only county Of
fcials and employees, until the arrival of
Lieut. Reilly with his squad when I
turned the whole matter over to him.
had nothing to do with the opening of the
Drayton street door. At o'clock l opened
the other three doors by the direction of
Lieut.. Reilly. The Bull street door was
the first one opened and half dozen men
rushed in. 1 did not notice Mr.. Sullivan,
but he may have been in the crowd"
The Myers men were not inclined to ac-
cept Mr.. Donovans statement of the
affair and at the suggestion of several of
them Lieut.. Reilly was seen. He stated
his arrangements for preserving order at
the court house substantially as already
given in the Morning News.
Il took fun charge of the corridor after
my arrival" he said land Mr.. Donovan
only acted under my directions. I stated
my plan to Capt MCGOWAN and he agreed
with me that ii was the best means of pre-
serving order. I went to each entrance
and announced to the crowd that the Dray-
ton street door would be opened first and
that the other doors would remain closed
| until o'clock. / put one man at the door
of the tax collectors Office and with myself
and two other men stood at the Drayton