Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-04-15

George Burge will hang this COM
ing Friday, in the Fulton county Jail,
for the murder of his wife, Mrs. LOWE
Buree. in Atlanta in the spring of 1909.
On Tuesday morning the state supreme
court handed down it's decision in the ha-
beas corpus suit appealed by Judge Rob-
crit L. Rodgers in the name of Mrs. Mary
Z. Burge the condemned mans mother.
And Gov. Joseph NJ. Brown, informed
of the courts DEGREES, says that he will
not extend the respite which expires Fri
day. .-yJ
THAT ends the. Burge case" he says.
No application for extension of the res
pte had at that hour moon, Tuesday,
been filed with the governor. No petit
ton for executive clemency was on file
with the prison commission, though there
are several communications and round
robins there protesting against any pros
pective grant of clemency to Burge.
There is nothing between Burge and the
scaffold now but the ticking of the clock
through the iron-bound stiffness of the
corridor where he is confined. during The
daylight hours and during the long hours
of night
The shadow of the gallows falls across
the shoulders of the man whose lawyers
have put up such hard fight, appealing,
and appealing again, and shifting the
charge to another man, but all to no
avail
At some hour Friday morning the heavy
trigger will be pulled and the drop Will
fly open beneath his feet, sending George
Burge to eternity. rr. .a -...- ...
The attitude. taken by the state sill
preme court. in its approval of Judge
Ellis denial Of ,-the habeas corpus, is
against Burge on every point. The case
is entitled Mrs. Mary E., Burge VS.. c. w.
Mangum tsheriff Of Fulton county,. JUS
tice Atkinson writes the decision. All the
justices concur. ."
If the act of 1905, changing the terms of
the Fulton superior courts, lis conceded to
be a local bill, it was up to the general
assembly to determine the question of
preliminary advertisement
The act referred to was a general law.
and is not unconstitutional on the ground
that it is a special law for which pro-
vision has been made by an existing gen.
eral law Neither was ii unconstitutional
as amending the code.
While the constitution declares all SUI
perior courts on an equal basis, and pro-
vides for the holding of not. less than two
terms a year. the general assembly can
require any one of them to hold six ses-
sions a year.
The act of 1905 vas not violative of the
constitutional prohibition against refer
ring to more than one subject-matter
I'm acts of the general assembly, nor of
that against acts containing matter diff
ferent to that expressed in their titles.
The court concludes by holding that
there was no error committed by Judge
Ellis, of the Fulton superior court, in
denying the writ of habeas corpus
sought.
Burge was convicted on June 21 1902
of having murdered his wife. whose death
took place under what appeared to have
been very brutal circumstances. Judge
S. p. Gilbert, of the Chattahoochee CIR
cult presided.
Burge was then sentenced by Judge L.
s. Roam. of the Stone Mountain circuit,
to hang on a certain date.
Governor Brown respited him till GER
tain witness, who was by implication
charged with the murder, could be
brought here and heard. The witness was
brought to Atlanta by Solicitor Charley
Hill at this juncture, and routed the
Burge defense by his testimony.
Hayward & Thompson, the Atlanta law
firm, had represented Burge up to this
point. But after the disastrous witness
had been heard from, Judge Robert L.
Rodgers stepped in with his habeas cor
pus suit in he name of Mrs. Mary E.
Burge mother of he condemned man.