Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-27
BRAN FORCED To
TAKE HUMBLE
POSITION
Clerks in Coffin Factory at $50 a
Month-HiS Accuser in Even
Worse Luck.

Despairin= Of obtaining employment
at anything paying more than the
barest living wage, Thomas Bran.
who smiled" his way to liberty after
seventeen years I'm the Atlanta Fed
eral Prison. has taken place as ship
ping clark IN a coffin factory. for $50
a month.
Coincident with Bram's eTideavor 10
obtain work is the story Of his &C
cuser. Lester II. Monks. Harvard man.
scion Of one of Boston's oldest and
TO earn his daily bread as common
laborer somewhere in the Northwest
Ii is doubtful II any "down-and-
out" man who ever trod the streets
OF Atlanta searched harder for work
than Bran. one man offered him a
place as day lHborer TO shovel coal
Bran was for taking the place but
his friend, Harry NJ. Perkerson. said
no.
Il will support him myself before ]
win allow him do that sort Of work at
his age just because he has served
time in prison." said Mr. Perkerson,
Hopes To MAKE Good"
The weeks rolled by and promises
CT employment which looked bright,
faded. Bran discovered an opening
AT the coffin factory and insisted upon
taking the place. The remuneration is
less than the rate OF the average
boarding house in Atlanta. He gets
TO work at $50 O'Clock. has half an
hour for lunch and gets away by $50
or Z In the evening
Bran has the opportunity Of max
ing good In a position In which many
have failed, as the coffin company has
found difficulty in obtaining a compe-
tent man for shipping clerk
81 am going to make myself so valu
able that they viii have TO pay me
more" Bran said
He commenced work Monday morn
ing and Thursday night was taken
Ill., He was too sick 10 go TO work,
but only the remonstrance of a ply
sician kept him in bed Saturday
found him at work again.
Can Not Tend Bar.
one position has been offered to
Bran which he can not accept under
the conditions of his parole. This is
an offer from Harry Silverman to pu'
linn in charge ofShis rathskeller at
pay OF $50 per month and board. Mr.
Perkerson has taken this up with the
United States Department Of Justice
in the effort to have the parole
changed 80 that Bran may take the
place.
During his seventeen years inn
prisonment Bran was intrusted with
important work by the prison authori-
ties. He was regarded as the best
general utility man" among the num-
bered men. His health is unusually
good. His one days illness this week
is the first he has had in many years.
OF unusual strength. clear eye and
handsome appearance. it is hard to
TtdilLb lildN u man ike MN SHbulN
have trouble in finding work
Strihingly coincident are the words
of his accuser at the famous trial.
From Prince Rupert, h. c., April 4,
1912, Lester II. Monks wrote to a
friend in Boston; "A remark many
men have made to me | remember
well: Any man who really desires
employment can readily obtain it,
Well. If anybody says such thing
to you, please reply that l say, It's
not So"
Once Made $4,000 a Year.
Monks was making $4,000 a year
in the coal business when reverses
stranded him. He was a passenger
on the Inflated Herbert Fuller. his
family starting him to Buenos Ayres
on account of his health. 1t was he
who charged Bran with staying Cap
tain and Mrs. Charles l. Nash and