The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-30
Sensational Turn in Question Theft. GEORGE A. MAYFIELD
 ARRESTED IN SELMA Followed the Confession of Several Negro Teachers.
  warrant of H. J. wiIlinsham is Basis of Young Mans Arrest, Charging Theft of Examination aues tiea.--Protest. His In
 nscence.

Superintendent of Education, emerged yesterday afternoon from his private office where he had been closeted for long-distance conversation with Secre- tary H. J. Willfngham. of the State Board of Teachers Examiners, and an- nounced that George A. Mayfield, an ex- press messenger, was under arrest in Selma in connection with the theft of examination questions, all members of the Department of Education relaxed their energies and felt that the end of the investigation had come.
 Mayheld Is a young white man. hardly more than twenty-two years of age, and has been iE the employ of the Southern Express Company for several months as express messenger. It was not until recent turn of the rigid in- vestigatfon of the examination leakage that susplcion turned in his direction.
 Sweating process followed sweating process immediately after the hordes of negro school teachers were arrested dur ing and subsequent to the semi-an- nual examinations in Montgomery, Selma and other cities, There was never a 1et-up in the diligent in- aniries and probing of the Department Of Education. In this work Secretary Willtngham was especially untiring. Having been forewarned that papers of the Board had been intercepted at 
 honey-comb the examinations all over the State. this official set to work with ruse and no mean amount of de- tective swill to lay hands on the per- petrator as we'll as a goodly portion of the parties who might partake of the stolen questions and rapidly sold ans wers thereto.
 Upwards of dozen negro men and women who were applicants in Mont gomery county, half dozen or more in Selma, some in Perry county and few others elsewhere were arrested ale most simultaneously upon the order of the Department of Education. This was the first step towards unravelIng the crime whose effects had spread fur meanor ever committed in Alabama.
 The number arrested were but a nominal proportion of those who had purchased the answers to the official questions. The best idea of the ex. tent of the frauds was obtained by counting the hundreds of applicants who have been rejected by the Exam tners because the cheating was evident on. the face of the papers submitted. These ufiwary negroes dfsregarded the new set of questions that had been swiftly substituted by Secretary Will lingham at the last minute for the original list or those which were known to have leaked out. By hand Ing in answers to the original in- stead of the substitute questions. they fell Into the trap.
 Following the wholesale arrest of suspicious applicants and the rejection of papers which have come in from various counties. came the arrest Tues day of the negro driver, Walker, of the Southern Express Company at Sel- ma, charegd with implication in the theft of papers. Hardly had the ex- citement from this development abatsd when detectives of the Southern Ex- press Company. cooperating with Sec retary Wtllingham, swooped down up- on young Mayield yesterday afternoon. as the man responsible for the theft of the questions.
 other Sources Eliminated.
 Not until the Department had elim- mated practically all other possible leaks of the questions, did it's officers look to the express companies as the last resort for rejecting the perpetra- tor. Ofncials of the Southern Express Company were notified several days ago that the finger of suspicion point ed to some employe of that corpora ton as the guilty party.
 Willing to do all in it's power to run down the leakage, the Southern Ex. press Company sent from Atlantn to Montgomery its general counsel, Rob- srt c. Allison. to institute an investi- gation. He had a conference with the local officials of the company, with Superintendent Gunnels, Secretary Will Iingham, and with Assistant Attorney General Thomas L. Martin. The re- suit was that Chief of Detectives Burns, from Nashville, was summoned to the scene. Detective Burns hurried ly stored his mind with the main facts. was furnished with confessions of negro applicants under arrest, some close to the very source of the leakage. and took the first train out of Mont gomery to Selma Monday.
 Secretary Willingham followed closely to Selma and Tuesday the ex- press driver, Walker. was arrested. A confession duplicating Mayfeld is said to have been given by the driver as well as by another negro named W. R. Mccord.
 If the State establishes its theory on the trial of the various parties ar rested, McCord will star as the head salesman or traffic manager of the questions and answers. Indeed, 1t IS alleged that he confessed to such an eminence when first placed under ar- rest in Montgomery. for he had come here, 1t is alleged. to establish local agency. He incidentally chose to take the examination here and while on the ground, did a fiattering business. As evidence of his prosperity, the papers or an even hO6 6AOOo hoNo DSSA rejected from this county alone by the State Board because of fraud on the face.
 Walker according to the States the ory was the go-between or the con- fidant of Mayfeld. He it was who is said to have been called into the awe some presence of Mayfeld in the Selma ohice of the Southern Express Com pany and after peering into the mug gle of a revolver, took an oath that he would never betray the secret then about to be revealed
 Where the Leak Came.
 Here the express messenger. who was doing substitute work in the local of- flee, is alleged to have broken open the sealed packages of the State direct ed to county superintendents by the questions for all grades and subjects. These were turned over to the negro for manifold copies and quick distribu- ton to the several counties. This was about June IT, as that was the date the department In Montgomery. From that time, the questions and guaran- teed correct answers must have been prepared and sold with remarkable eelerity over the State.
 One of the evidences of the quick sales of questions and answers was the unprecedented average of negroes who applied for first and second grade cer- tifcates. There was double and treble the number of applicants of these