Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-09
BEAVERS W|DENS
WHITE SLAVE
INQUIRY
Girl Held as Victim Promises to
Make Startling Revelations at
Court Hearing

Hattie Smith, who SAYS she is a
white slave victim and who already
has made sensational disclosures Of
vice conditions in Atlanta, declared
Wednesday she had much more to
tell before her trial Wednesday aft
ernoon.
On the girls testimony the night
clerk of the Britain Hotel in West
Mitchell Street was subpenaed to ap-
pear at the trial and tell of condI-
lions Of which the girl had testified
She told detectives she was at the
hotel with a man, and that she regis
tered as his wife. An investigation
of the hotel register by Detective Hol-
ingsworth appeared TO verify her
story.
The manager of the Cumberland
Hotel, another place named in the
Smith girls story of vice conditions,
will be in court when the investiga-
ton is begun before Judge Broyles
at O'Clock. He already has made
an informal denial Of her charges.
Rarnhart Woman Defendant.
Lena Barnhart, whom Hattie
Smith brands as a procuress and on
whom she places the blame for her
own ruin. will be a defendant when
the case is called. Elijah Murray. a
negro beIIboy at the Cumberland, and
Clyde Cox also are involved in the
charges. Cox is out under bail
AS startling as were the revela-
lions made by the Smith girl on her
arrest Sunday night, she said that she
would give names and addresses and
would reveal more intimately the or
ganized system for fostering vice that
exists in Atlanta's underworld. She
said she had determined 20 tell
everything and that she would with
hold no information the detectives
desired. Some of the information she
declared she had obtained from &C
tual participation in the incidents OF
which she was TO tell and the re-
mainder from observation
Crusade Against Clubs.
Simultaneous with the vice probe,
Chief Beavers and Recorder Broyles
against the locker clubs Of the city
which may be found violating the law.
1t is the opinion of the two that the
presence Of young girls in the clubs,
where they are said to have the lib
erty Of drinking with their male COM
panions, can not but have bearing
on the vice question.
The practice of allowing girls OF
tender years to drink in the locker
clubs, l regard as the most serious
phase OF the whole locker club ques-
ton" said Recorder Broyles after a
conference with Chief Beavers We'd
nesday noon. The consultation was
the first step in a sweeping investisa-
ton of the clubs Of the city.
This conference follows the action
of Judge Broyles Tuesday afternoon
in the trial of Mrs. Lucy Ballue, who
accidentally shot A. c. Thompson, a
convict warden, in the parlors of the
Owls Club, when he directed police
investigation of that particular club.
Chief Beavers announces his pur-
pose to obey the orders of the court
to the letter. and the Owls Club is
expected to be put under fire at once.
Court Goes After Truth.
Judge Broyles sought to procure
evidence from A. c. Thompson, ask
ing him the direct question If he pos
sessed a private locker in the Owls
SUI peuIBluoo JeTooI STU il pue ONO
private stock of whisky, but his coun-
sci. Attorney George P. Whitman.
and Attorney William NJ. Smith,
counsel for Mrs. Ballue, both siren
uously objected
When they insisted that this had
no bearing on the wOunding Of
Thompson, the court remarked:
We'll we're after the truth in this
matter. We want to know something
of the conduct of these locker clubs"