The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-09
Mr.. CHARL TON TO HIS CRITICS
Continued from Eighth Page)

Office that man gets tired Of. 1t is not
a pleasant duty to be continually prosecut-
ing ones fellow creatures. AT the end or
his term he had been glad to lay it down
and get out.
Mr.. Osborne's third plank, he said, seems
to be that he has done his duty and prose-
cuted crime What of this? He was put
there to do his duty was sworn to do it,
paid to do il, and 1t was to his interest
TO do it. Why shouldn't he do IL? Why
should he claim reelection on this plat
form? 3
l. Mr.. Charlton then took up the keno mat
ter. Mr.. w. Hampton Wade, Tate of
the state of Alabama, but now of the state
of Georgia. he said, had said something
about keno raids at a recent political
meeting. The reports of the meeting stat
ed that there were cries Of Charlton"
and keno" AS to this, he said, he was
not only proud of the name of Charlton,
but particularly proud of its connection
with the name of keno. II am not afraid
of keno. I think I am ahead on this
game" said Mr.. Charlton, and the crowd
laughed.
Mr.. Charlton said that it was not true
that he had raided the keno players to-
wards the end of his term, had assessed
large sums against them and had then
spent six months in Europe. The circum-
stances of the keno raid were these: He
was sworn in as solicitor general Jan. 6,
1881. In December 1882, he was greatly
worried by the conditions existing here.
He was in receipt of numerous letters
from women, begging him to take steps
against the keno rooms and saying that
their husbands were spending the money
needed for their families in these places.
Merchants also complained that even their
cash boys were gambling their little mon
ey in these places.
There was man in the Mayors chair
at that time who was a man." said Mr..
Charlton. Capt. Jack F. Wheaton. 1
went to him and stated the situation. He
placed the police force at my disposal. 1
swore out warrants and placed them In
the hands. of the police. The keno rooms
were raided. A great many got away, but
each one of the twenty policemen ac-
counted for three men. The crowd was
taken to the barracks, and 1t was said
that South Broad street was strewn with
pistols the next morning. AT the bar
| racks the players begged to be let go. I
listened 90 them and stretched my au-
thority to the extent of letting them go.
The keepers were held. They were
brought before the court and fined large
sums They laughed at me and resumed
business. A second time the keepers
were arrested and fined. They continued
to laugh at me. Then serious affair
occurred in one of these keno rooms,
showing that the state of affairs was as
bad as ever. then indicted 160 of the
players. They were all fined. That put
an end to- the keno business and nothing
more was heard of public gambling dur
ing my term Of Office
Some of the best friends have in this
city to-day" said Mr.. Charlton, were
men whom caught in that keno raid.
made no discrimination between friends
and enemies, but treated all alike. 1 was
not brought up in that sort of school. l
did my duty as saw 1t, and 1 did 1t to
the best OF my ability. If there be any
thing in this to criticise, for Gods sake,
let II come
Mr.. Charlton said that the condition to
be considered was not so much one of
candidates II was the welfare of the
people. "If the community has reached
the condition that Mr.. Hartridge can be
| defeated on his platform, then the civili-
cation Of tho town is arraigned. If you
can afford TO see Mr.. Hartrldge defeated
on this platform, Gods knows what IS
going to happen to this town. The ques-
ton depends upon the voters. Every man
| must do his duty, rain or shine, blood
shed. or no bloodshed. If we lose this
fight It simply means that we must band
together 20 continue the struggle. IT is
sometimes better to fight and lose than not
| to fight at all. There is one man who
says that he can stop this evil and an
other man who says that he cannot stop
II. One man says he can cure the dis
ease and the other says he cannot. For
Gods sake, let us try the physician who
says he can"
Mr.. ]. r. Saussy, Jr., was called TO the
front. Mr.. Saussy said that when he raw
that MIR. Hartridge had raised the issue
and stated what he proposed to do he had
determined to get into the fight 1t was
true that he couldn't take care Of himself
very well. he said, but he could "holler."
1t was a duty which the people of this city
owed themselves to put a stop to this
stencil. He would doubtless be assailei
because he had not used his office as mag
istrate to this end. During the three years
that he had been magistrate, he said, hun
dreds of warrants against gamblers had
been turned In from the magistrates Of
fees, not one of which had been prosecuted
by the solicitor general save those which
came from particular office. He referred
20 the statement OF Magistrate Jones that
out of seventy-six warrants turned over by
him to the City Court only three had been
Investigated. Mr.. Saussy said that
though he did not know where the gam
bling houses were he could see the signs
and he was satisfied that II he had the
money to go that way he could easily find a
place to gamble. He referred to County
Detective Wetherhorn and said that all
knew he was 50 closely allied IN his inti-
mate relations with the gambling people
that he could not present them before the
public without being traitor TO his
friends.
Mr.. saussy told an anecdote of a fellow
who had broken up three or four churches
and finally landed in a Methodist Church
where he was making himself very off,
cious. At love feast OF the church one
old brother prayed that God would send
Brother Jones to hell Being asked by
the pastor what he meant by that, he re-
piled that Brother Jones had broken up
everything he ever had anything to do
with. and II he went to hell he might
break that up too. Mr.. Saussy said
that he alluded to lone of our friends who
wa eonce with US. I fear he is now in
hell" he said, "and l hope he viii break
that up