The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-16

Atlantic City, N. J., November 15.- l Special. )-Dead after night of revelry in the boathouse of Council Basin, a lonely spot near the Inlet, pretty Helen Clark, daughter of we'll to-do Atlantic City people, was found early this morning with two young men dying beside her. Gas which had escaped from a tube attached to gas | stove had overcome them.
 l The two men, Arthur Pennry, Jr., aged ] IS, son of famous life guard, and i Walter Reynolds, also IS, were resus- citated and are now under arrest Miss Clark's parents charge that she was Iured to the boathouse and killed. The l two young men assert that she accom- l panied them willingly and that the 1 three had fallen victims to the gas to- gether.
 i The police incline to the story of the l boys, although Miss Clark, who was l only IS, had borne a spotless reputa-
 
 preachers and the churchmen will be 1 satisfied with MT. Maddox. He is man not only of ability and energy, but one i of clean and unquestionable reputation. 1 As citizen, as business man; as pres ident of the Chamber of Commerce, wherever he has taken part he has been 1 a success. That's about all anybody can ask.
 The time between now and the election 1 is short-just two weeks and a half-but ! it will be productive of some of the swift est municipal politics that has been played in this part of the county in recent years It will be a duel to the political ] death, for if he is now defeated it will mean the political passing of Jim wood ! ward. Jim knows it and he don't want i to pass.
 Statistical Omission.
 that the state legislature is primarily l responsible for the absence of important | statistical records in Georgia is again ap- 1 parent from the impotency oI certain l clause in the recent convict bill passed at the extra session of the general as | sembly.
 There was Incorporated in the new law l a provision that the clerk of the superior i court in each county should furnish the prison commission with a description and ] data about each person convicted in ms i court, together with a statement of the ! final disposition of each case. That IS 1 all the section stated, and no penalty was prescribed for failure to comply with 1t. The result is that less than half the ! clerks of superior courts throughout Geor- gia are responding. few of them send good reports, more send them in incomplete shape while more than half of them have, to the present time sent none at all. In i completeness will destroy whatever there 1 is of value in such a record as this, yet the legislature omitted the very provision l that would tend to make it complete There is no question about this fact that many superior court clerks, knowing that the law does not force them into compli- ! ance, will neglect to send in these reports l or will furnish them in such shape, as to make them almost worthless.
 This statement is based upon experience. ' Sever years ago the legislature enacted law requiring all corporations doing business within the state to register an- nually with the secretary of state. In order more completely to enforce the law a section was incorporated requiring the clerks of superior courts to send to the secretary of state list of all corpora tions chartered in their courts. No penal ty was attached to failure to furnish this list and the result was that less than half the clerks complied. Some of them
 
 retary of state that they would furnish the list provided he would pay for it. The | legislature had allowed no funds for this purpose, so he had to do without and get i his information as best he could. l There Is not a penalty, it is said, att 1 tached to the failure to keep in complete /, and proper shape any of the statistical or other records which the laws require. The result is that even those records for { which provision by law has been made. are glaringly incomplete and practically valueless.
 l Daughters of Confederacy. 1 One of the most discussed incidents in connection with the national convention ! of the United Daughters of the Con federacy here this week came out in con- nection with the report of Mrs. L. H. Raines of Savannah, ua., custodian of the Confederate crosses of honor with which the veterans are honored by the 1 daughters. It was discovered that a cer- tain Confederate veteran whose cross Is inscribed 'H H. M. of Pikevile," had given away his cross to Union army officer and that it bore the subsequent inscription HI H. M. to C. A. W. It these crosses of honor shall be the prop erty only of him to whom they are worth fly given, and the action of this veteran who is an inmate of the soldiers home of Maryland, was severely denounced by those who took part in the convention here. The cross has since been recovered from the Union officer and is again in pos session of I'll. H. M. of Pikeville" No final action was taken in the matter but it was left open for full and complete i1- vestigation. ..