The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-10
SAY THEY WERE WARNED
 ID BUY FROM BURNETT
With Reading of Mayor Wards Charge of Corrupt Practices and Bur nett's Denial, Committee Gets
 Down To Work.

Mayor Ward were read, Mir Burnett
 rendered his reply, and witnesses for the prosecution were examined
 Here is the letter of the Mayor:
 Hon. B. II. Cooper. Chairman of In-
 -vestigaton Committees:
 Based upou affdavits handed to me as
 Mayor, l herewith charge that Alder
 man Burnett, who is president and gen. eral manager of the R. D. Burnett Cigar company, has, since his election as Al derman, on divers days and times, the exact dates have not been made ..nown to me, been guilty of malfeasance in of flee, official misconduct, and has cor
 ruptly used his official position as AL derman to induce trade for the business
 of the R. D. Burnett Cigar company.
 "'rhe particular instances to which am referred being in connection with the trade with Chris Calharas, Fuqua Bros,
 Fred krelhause, T. H. Harris X Co.,, H.
 ,.'. Eggler, R. A. Borck, and b. F. Gas sinus
 GEORGE B. WARD. Mayor"
 Burnett Submits Denial.
 Here is the reply as read by Attorney Tillman:
 Hon. B. H. Cooper, Chairman of the Investigating Committee:
 Dear Sir-Waiving all objections to
 the generality of the charges preferred
 against me before your honorable com
 mittee, l now deny as absolutely untrue that I have ever been guilty of mal- feasance in office, official misconduct or corruptly using my official position as Alderman of the city of Birmingham to
 induce trade for the business of the R. D. Burnett Cigar company, or otherwise. as charged against me by the Hon. George B. Ward, Mayor of said city
 AS will appear from the paper which he has filed or caused to be filed with your honorable committee, the charge is not made by him as upon his knowledge, but upon certain affdavits handed to him as Mayor, which affidavits I have not seen, and I make this unqualified denial of said charges without seeing said aff- of said charges without seeing said affi- davit in the hands of the Mayor imputes to me any malfeasance in office, official misconduct or corrupt use of my official position, such affidavit is absolutely un- true. "R. D. BURNETT
 Entire Committee Present. The investigation began at 7:30 o'clock with all the committee present, Chairman
 B. H. Cooper, Aldermen NJ. J. Gregg,
 D. R. Copeland. Citizens R. H. Kerr, w. P. G. Harding and R. II. Pearson. The attorneys representing the prosecu-
 ton were John c. Pugh and Walker Per cy while John P. Tillman represented R. D. Burnett City Attorney E. D. Smith was on hand to advise the committee. There was a large crowd of citizens in the council chamber to hear the proceed ings.
 The committe was sworn by Clerk Stal-
 ings to conduct the investigation accord ing to the evidence, and render an inn partial report. The witnesses were called,
 sworn and put under the rule, and there-
 upon Chairman Cooper asked the oppos-
 ng attorneys if they were ready. The i charges were read and MT. Tillman made the reply, as given above. 1 MT. Tilman prefaced his reading by the
 remark that Tt is useless to tell those i skilled in law that the charges are wholly ] too general, but we are willing to meet
 any that may be brought" 1 The first hitch came when MT. Tillman
 asked that MT. Patterson, a clerk for
 Burnett, be allowed to remain inside, i stating that he seemed involved as much
 as MT. Burnett, and would be needed by counsel. MT. Pueh objected and on a 1 vote MT. Patterson was put out Fruit Dealer Is First Witness. | Chris Catharos. an Italian fruit dealer. and proprietor of the Bright Star cafe,
 was the first witness called This is his testimony. which conforms with the aff- davit filed by the Mayor: Q.-Did you have an arrangement with | Dock Satterfield to have fruit stand on the corner of Second avenue and Twentieth street. north. known as the Dude corner, after the new building was finished?
 
 Q.-Did MT. satterfied promise to let you have it?
 A.-Yes, sir
 f Q.-What occurred that prevented you from getting the stand?
 A.-When the building was finished he
 was ready to open on Saturday and I had my fixings ready Friday evening and l filled up so as to be ready Saturday morning. The city inspector came there and asked me if I had a permit to put l that fruit stand there and I told him no. He told me there had been a petition | filed against q fruit stand on that cor l ner and that I would have to get per l init from the council before I c1rfld pro- i ceed.
 | Q-Then what did you do? | A.-AIr. Satterfield told me to move it | and he was going to fight for that stand | if it cost $500O and he would Jet me put my stuff back there.
 Q.-Then what happened? A-The morning after the council met l Mir Satterfield said, We beat the Jews | and you go ahead and put your stand there."
 Q-When did he tell you to stop? A.-That same day the city license col 1ector telephoned me and told me to come down there and get my license right away; if I didn't something would hap pen that I could not get that corner l told MT. Satterfield what the city license collector said and he told me. You go ahead and get the license I went and got the license and went back next morn- ing and told him I was going to have the fruit stand there and he told me not to do anything until he saw me; that he would see me in few hours After that
 ] saw MT. Patterson, MT. R. D. Bur
 netts salesman. talking, and he said m
 my hearing, 'I am sorry can't get
 it. After few minutes talk Mir Sat
 terfield came in and said: "I will tell
 you, Chris. R. D. Burnett is an alder
 man and has got whole lot of friends
 and can do me a whole lot of harm if don't let him have that fruit stand and