The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1913-12-24

niston again to deliver an address be-
fore the campaign closes.
the Peerless corner building. the I'm
dine on Second avenue between Eight
zenith and Nineteenth streets, the place
near Third avenue and Twentieth street
called Dick Wrays place." that all
were equipped alike; that they inves-
tigated most carefully the place on the
| third floor of the Peerless corner that
the party went into the doorway on
Nineteenth street; that in there was a
taxicab office and a cigar stand: that
| there was an elevator and stairway;
| that the stairway was blocked by
| locked doors; that the elevator would
not respond to calls; that they had been
informed that In the taxicab office
We're push buttons to warn the occu-
pants of the third floor but that they
could find no push buttons but did
| find some wires; that they waited a
, long time and that Captain Eagan
finally stated he would knock the door
down unless the party was admitted:
that when Captain Eagan said this a
man in the taxieab office called some
one over the telephone; that he did not
| hear what was said, but that In about
two minutes the elevator descended and
negro boy operating the elevator took
the party to the third floor. that the
even know his own name; that no one
| else was visible: that the room was
| large and luXuriously furnished with
chairs and tables, which he was in
formed were craps tables and roulette
wheels and other gambling devices;
that the window furnishings were so
arranged that the room could be brill
| liantly lighted but no one could tell
| it from the outside; that the windows
were barricaded by heavy wire screens,
that there were three doors in the
stairway between the street and the
all locked: that the top door
was about two and a half inches
thick that it was made of three layers
of wood with two layers of sheet iron or
| some kind of metal in between and that
fine heavy wire screen was on the outside.
making the door impregnable to saw,
AK or any other instrument that there
We're bells or buzzers in the room, but
they could not succeed in getting any of
them to ring; that he understood 1t was
Bob Alexander's place; that at the north |
end of the room was a doorway which |
they could not succeed in opening and
that the police officers and sheriffs in
formed him this was the getaway |
which connected with the building adjoin- |
ing and which the occupants of the room |
used when raid was made: that in all |
of the other alleged gambling houses |
ments were found; that while the grand |
jury in session the question of not |
indicting Chief Bodeker was not preached |
by any man and that If any man had |
made that sort of proposition he would |
have found himself in pretty serious
| trouble.
Weatherly Questions Witness
Witness was taken by Captain White
and stated that he did his best to indct
everybody he thought should be indicted.
! Commissioner WeatherIy asked witness
| what conclusion he had come to in regard
| to the general enforcement of the law
| in Birmingham. Witness stated he had
| given much thought and personal nves-
tigation to the matter and that he was
inclined to the opinion that the police
department and the sheriffs office were
not as vigorous as they should be In
prosecuting the yagrancy conditions; that
he believed much of the criminal evil of
the city could be remedied by going after
these Migrants and that he considered
gamblers as Migrants; that when the
| grand jury first convened he believed
police not doing their full duty, but that
he believed the situation was now we'll
| in hand and that there was no better
man to keep in charge of the gambling
| squad than Captain Eagan.
Captain White again took witness, who
| state that Sheriff McAdory and Depu-
| ties Steel and Hartsfield, McDuff and
| others and Captain of Police Eagan and
! two plainclothes men accompanied the
| grand jury committee the trip. that
| an electrician was in the party but he
| could not find any bells or buzzers which
| worked at the Peerless corner. that he
| did not observe a general citizen be-
! fore becoming a member of the grand
| jury, any more gambling here than in
! any other city with the exception of three
| places, that two of these places were
fha nd TVxxr,,
| tieth street and on Twentieth street nea
| Second alley, that he is unable to state
| authoritatiyely concerning gambling con-
| dtions in other cities but understands
| there Is none in Atlanta, that he does not]
| know of place in Atlanta designated as
| a gambling house, that he has heard
gossip to the effect that Montgomery and
Mobile and Memphis and Chattanooga
are just as bad as Birmingham, and some
worse, and that anything goes in New
| Orleans"
Grand Jury's Trip
| Witness stated that when the grand
| jury committee started it's trip that night
| 1t went first to the saloon at Twenty
| second street and Second avenue, that
| the committee went into the negro sa-
| loon at the rear, that when it then went
| into the white saloon on the corner wit
! ness noticed man in police uniform
with what looked like police badge go
|
| remarked well, it's all Off There's the
| fellow giving the other places the tip"
| That witness then tried to get as close
as he could to hear what the man at
| the telephone was saying and that he
got just close enough to hear him tell
| the party at the other end of the line to
watch out that 1.-The sheriff and the grand
| jury were out" that he had told Chief
| Bodeker about this, that Chief Bodeker
! had told him who the man was. that he
had forgotten his name, but. that the
chief had said that the man was special
officer with a special badge, that the suit
| or police uniform he wore was as much
| his as the suit witness had on and that
| he (Bodeker) was spowerfess to take either
| away, that Bodeker made a note of in
| cident. and that If 1t was proper he would
| ask Bodeker to give the name. Chief Bod
exer stated that the man. in question was
| N. L. (Bud) Byars. who was a special
| officer employed by the Harris saloon
| at Twenty-second street and Second ave-
nue..
| Witness stated he did not think there
were more train robberies or railroad
robberies In and about Birmingham
than other cities; that such things
| drifteds from one town to another, and
| that they were worse at one place
| sometimes than another. He admitted
there had been two robberies on the
Alabama Great Southern between Bir-
,,,I ert,a ri 10 fol