The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-19
SHALL bESSEMER BUY WATERWORKS? Lively Controversy Over the
 Question BABY BURNED ALIVE
Infant Child of J. T. Moses Caught in Fire When House Burns Down = General and
 Personal News

however, they were stopped by an order | of the mayor. The mayor, in turn,
 had been urged to take this action | by the majority faction of the city
 council, who have opposed the arbf- l tration of the waterworks question. | The matter had been placed in the hands of the four special police of | ficers by Chairman La Rue after con- | sultation with the mayor and the po- lice committed, Alderman Johnson, who is not a member of that committee, also concurring.
 | The meat of the whole question ap- pears to be the meaning of certain
 sections of the contract, the majority faction contendng that the contract obligates the city to buy if it enters | into the arbitration at all, while the minority faction (the division is five 1 to four against arbitration) believes that the city may buy or not buy, as seems best after the price has been ascertained by means of the arbitra- tion. The section relied upon by the minority in support of the arbitration is as follows:
 'In the event the city gives notice
 
 works, as provided for In this section, and shall fail to purchase and pay for it on the date when such purchase must be consummated, as hereinbefore fixed, then and in that event all rights of the city to purchase the waterworks shall cease and determine and the city shall not have the right either to again call for an appraisement of the value of the waterworks, or to buy it at the appraisement previously fixed. And if the company does not sell pursuant to such appraisement as herein pro- vided then it shall forfeit it's fran chise and all rights under this con- tract"
 John T. McEniry, prominent cit izen of Bessemer, said today: "The peo- pie have looked forward for years to this time as an opportunity for relief from a high priced and burdensome water contract, and I certainly think we should not let the opportunity go by without giving the people a chance to own this great property. Under the terms of the contract there is no doubt that the water system can be purchased for approximately the cost of duplica-
 tion, which could not be much over
 ssOO,oO0, and may fall considerably be- low that figure If the city council refuses to go into the matter now we shall have to pay the same exhorbi- tant rates for water for at least seight years longer and by that time the growth of the waterworlxs system may have been so great that the people will be afraid to take on so large an | enterprise. Let us go ahead now and get it in our own hands,"
 l Yesterday morning at Jonesboro, about 7:30 o'clock, the houses occu- pied by B. M. Ross and family and J. T. Moses and family were burned to
 the ground and baby burned to death. MT. Moses had gone to work and Mrs.
 Moses had gone to a neighbor's about a half block away, leaving two chill dren, aged and 6 years, at home | playing in the room where the baby was asleep. one, of the children se-
 cured a match and crawled up under
 the bed to find some marbles that had
 caught on fire. Frightened at the grow
 
 their mother, telling her that the baby
 was crying. Mrs Moses hastened home
 to find the room full of fire and the child smothered to death with smoke and flames. It was too late to save ] the baby, too late ev save anything l from the house. The horror struck
 mother stood by and saw the flames de- vour her baby and home. The father | of the burned child is employed at the | Woodward Iron companys furnace, to | which place he had gone to work only | to be notified less than an hour and a half later of the tragedy The flames
 quickly burned down the Moses home and spread to that of B. M. Ross. The contents were removed from the Ross
 Home, the only loss here will be main 1 ly the building. There was no way | to check the flames as Jonesboro has | no waterworks system. After the flames had died down G. w. Martin and James
 Horn went ints the charred remains of the Moses home and found the black ened and burned body of the infant l laying on the springs of a bed. The remains of theNchild were taken to the | undertaking establishment of Jacobs & Son in the automobile of J. D. Mar tin. The funeral will take place Tues day at 12 o'clock at Bucksville. The houses burned were owned by the Mar tin Investment company and were | lightly insured
 Tn the city court this smorning 15 cases
 were disposed of by Mayor l. A. Lewis
 These cases netted s45,50 cash from $545o assessed. Yesterday afternoon a crap game on Clarendon avenue between Twenty fifth and Twenty-sixth streets
 was raded by Deputies Edmundson, Par ker and Smithson and 10 negroes were arrested for gaming. Three of the ne- groes made bond, while the others were placed in the county jail
 Strict orders were issued by Mayor l. A. Lewis yesterday morning for the po- lice to put a stop to every gambling de- wise in the city and these orders will be put into effect at once. It was reported that all day Sunday men and boys were taking chances on candy, pipes, tobacco and cigars at a dozen places in the city, Sunday morning the Rt Rev. Bishop A. M. Beckwith visited Bessemer and the confirmation services were held at the morning hour, using as his theme "The Duty of Gods Messenger to Pre-
 pare the Way For the Coming Lord" Holy communion was held after the ser firmed Mrs. Ogden, J, E. Cowley. A. C.
 Babcock, Miss Minnie Jackson and Miss Florence Gager.
 Ivy Houston, three years of age, while ,,la vinfr m tha front norrh of his hotua