The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-10
NOTES GIVEN FOR FINES.
MIR. M'NIILI.AN MAKES THE STATE
MENT; MR.. OSBORNE DENIES 1T.


! bIerS Indicted at the Last Term OF
Court Were Settled in This Man
ner-He Charges That Some OmciaI
of the Superior Court Received the
Notes and Had Them Discounted.
4 Bank Cashier His AuthOrity-A
Flat Denial From Solicitor Gem
oraI OsbOrne-The solicitor Asks
for Proof
| Hon. r. II. Mcmillan one Of the repre-
| aentatives from Chatham county in the
| Legislature, and a member of the grand
| jury, which started the agitation for the
/ suppression Of public gambling, was
/ ported yesterday TO have said that some
solicitor general had, during the past year,
| taken notes in payment of fines inflicted
| for gambling. Mr.. Mcmillan denies, how
| ever, that he made this exact statement.
What l said,' Mr. Mcmillan told
! Morning News reporter, was that / had
been told by the cashier of one of the
! city banks that notes had been given and
accepted for the purpose indicated. This
gentleman told me that when O'Den,
| Hirsch and Henderson were indicted by
the grand jury, of which 1 was a mem.
| Der. pleaded guilty and were fined 81 600
each, they all gave notes for these amounts
and that these notes were discounted at
| mis- bank. l believe this to be true and
am willing to stand by il. as 1 have per-
| feet confidence in the truthfulness of the
| gentleman have quoted, but further than
that the notes were accepted and dis
| counted by some official of the courts.
| have knOtVlalrp /
were accepted or discounted by any solic-
| itor general"
| My statement simply was that these
| notes had been offered and accepted for
! the payment of fines, inflicted in the Su-
J perior Court, for the offense of keeping
| and maintaining a gaming house. In my
! opinion this practice is equivalent TO IL
| censing these resorts ard / can see no
| moral distinction | don't know what Of
iicer of the court accepted the notes, but
believe and so stated, and do now state
| that some one of these officers accepted
| them, and had them discounted. !" AS l
! have said do not know this of my own
knowledge, but l have it on the word of
one in whom 1 absolutely rely"
| When this statement of Mr. McMillan's
was brought to the attention of Solicitor
| General Osborne. he smiled You NAV
| say this in my behalf" he sad. This Oc-
currence happened during my absence
| from the city. and l have no personal
! knowledge whatever of the transaction
However, Notwithstanding Mr.. McAlillan's
belief, l am thoroughly satisfied that ne
! has either mistaken and misunderstood
| the gentleman in whom he has so much
! confidence, or else somebody has told
| wilful fa,sehood."
The fines are all collected by the clerk
of the Superior Court and his invariabie
rule is to require their payment in cash
| The solicitor general has nothing whatever
| TO do with the collection of fines or the
| enforcement of sentences"
Il think Mr.. Mcmillan owes il to the
community, if not to himself, to state the
name of the bank official who gave him
the information, in order that the mat
ter may be thoroughly sifted. II there has
been any variation from the rule practiced
in the courts during my absence, / would
! be glad to have information upon the
| matter. even though 1t might come from
| Mr.. Mcmillan and even though some politi-
| cal purpose might prompt him in giving
| it,"
| This denial from the solicitor general
would seem to put the burden of proving
their charges upon those who have made
them. The statement has previously been
denied by Clerk ]. K. p. Carr who stat
ed in the Morning News, at the begin
ming of the agitation, that no notes for
! fines had been accepted since Mr. Os-
hornes election to the office of
solicitor general Still the charges
come though the usual form
is varied by Mr.. Mcmillan, who
says it is quite possible that some miner
officer of the court may accept and dis
count the notes for his superiors in office,
! the notes discounted and the entire matter
| so arranged that no record of it will ap-
pear upon the minutes or other books of
the court.
Mr. Mcmillan said yesterday that while
he does not personally favor the bill MAX
/ ing the city officers elective by the incom-
! ing Board of Aldermen and is himself
! quite satisfied with The present arrange
! ment, he has not decided that he will o.
| pose the bin when II is Introduced on
! the other hand, should Il be favored by his
! colleagues from Chatham county in the
| House and by a majority Of the leaders of
/ the Liberal club, he will vote for it. 1t
| has been the policy of the present repre-
| sentatiVes to act together upon matters of
! local legislation and it is altogether proba-
BILE that he and they may pursue the same
! course in the future. He strongly inii-
mated indeed, that this would be the case
Notice OF intention 10 introduce his bill
was advertised in the Morning News of
| last Wednesday and has since, and even
before, that tine been a question of gen
cral public interest. 1t has been much
| talked of among the members of bo.h DO
| Gtical factions, in connection with TIE 9TH
| er bills that are said TO be ready for in
! ltOuuCtlOn at the coming session. IheSe,
! as has already been stated in the Morn
ing News, are heartily favored by Repre-
| sentative Mcmillan.
There viii be warm times on the floor
! of the House when these bills come up
on their passage. Both factions in local
poEtcs Will be literally represented, and
the Hobbies of the Kimba.l viii witness
again some of the happenings that have
| become so familiar Whenever a bit of legis-
| laton, emanating from and relating to the
county of Chatham, has been the matter
under consideration. Among some of the
leaders of the Citizens Club there seems
to be no great amount of dissatisfaction
| over the prospective passage of the bin
| making the city officers elective by the
| incoming board. These gentlemen say il
is the principle they have always advo-
Gated, and they have no objection to its
becoming a law And they say virtually
the same thing about the acts making the
judge, clerk and sheriff of the City Court
l.ala {xrZ f.rrt