The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-10-30
Hearing of Charges Against
johnson Will Conclude TODAY
j. W. Hollis Second Hand Furniture Dealer Was STAR Wit
ness at Investigation This Mornng-Negro Women
Had Told Him, He Said, They Paid Judge
$25 Week to Keep Off Farm

/ because | stand in up there. can get
Judge Davis to appeal my cases and
go right on selling whiskey'." Wit
ness said he asked Daisy how she man
aged it, and she replied that she paid
Judge Johnson $25 week
| 'Ts this Daisy Tisdale here now"
witness was asked.
mo, sir, think she is dead"
Anymore cases like this?"
Eyes, sir. Sometime in 1911 or 1912
went down to Detella Andersons to
collect a bill. | knew Detella was
selling whiskey, and I was mighty
glad to get chance to go there so
could get me a drink. Detalla told
me she had to pay Judge Johnson $25
a week to keep off the county farm"
"Is she dead?" was asked witness.
mo, sir. I don't think she is dead,
but hear she has left here"
ANY other case, Mr.. Hollis?"
well, yes, sir, there is another case
of a woman named Fuller, who said
she had to pay Judge Johnson $25
week to keep off the county farm"
rs she dead?"
81 think she is living but has gone
from here" The members of the COM
mittee, Judge Johnson and spectators
had been kept laughing during Hollis
dark tale, but when he could not ac-
count for the last of his erstwhile
, friends, there was an uproar. Hollis
was asked if any of these women were
indicted about that time. He thought
not.
, Were you summoned before the
. grandsjury about that time, Mr.. Hol-
. lis?" witness was asked mo, sir, was
, always lucky that way. That's the rea-
son the niggers had so much conf
! dence in me-"
, Hollis was then turned over to
| Judge Johnson for cross-examination
Hollis, don't you know that Daisy
Tisdale never told you that?" the Judge
asked. "No, SIR" was the emphatic
, reply.
, Hollis, isn't it a common under
standing that you have solicited orders
, for whiskey, have eaten and slept with
, negroes" Johnson asked.
} mo, sir, and don't you try to make
me out liar hotly retorted witness.
The Judge then hurriedly asked wit
, ness if he did not know that it was a
| fact that all of the negro women men
, toned had been convicted and SEN
fenced to heavy fines. The Tisdale
woman may be dead, Detella Anderson
escaped from the city Jail and the Full
Ter woman was pardoned by Governor
, Brewer and went to Mobile.
Judge Johnson asked Hollis if it was
not fact that the court had incurred
! the enmity of secondhand furniture
dealers and loan sharks by the fight
, he has made on them. Hollis said he
| knew the Judge "lfad it in for them" :"
J. c. Smyie.
J. C. Smylie, a member of former
, grand jury, complained at the Judges
subsequent charge, in which he is sup
posed to have criticised the body for
doing what they understood in his
> charge to them he wanted them to do.
: namely: find indictments without fear
or favor, irrespective of personal posi-
| ton Or nearness to the court, of those
l against whom proof of illegal acts was
: shown. Witness had reference particu'
l larly to Davis, Magruder and Jones in
4 dictments. He felt that Judge John
I son had been unjust in his attitude
= towards that grand jury, but otherwise
i believed the Judge fearless and faith
l full Judge. Especially commended
| Judge Johnson in the Oliver Rodgers
r case.
i Tom Taylor, Mayor of Ellisville ant
a lawyer; DeBan Sharbrough, lawyer
e Laurel; Deputy Sheriff Jordan, Ellis
v vile; G. Montgomery, lawyer, Laurel
t. ]. H. Crawford, chief of police Laurel
8 Sheriff Dearman, Perry county; A. H
y McSwain, circuit clerk Perry county
d p G. Smith, lawyer and mayor o
e Richton; H. T. Hinton, constable, New
: Augusta. and ]. A. Boyd, justice of tn
. peace. Laurel, all testified to the fair
. ness, honesty and honorable charactel
. of Judge Johnson, saying, without ex
} ceptton, they knew nothing in his con
H|s Deserving censure. The c0Rptl