Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-15

n attorneys generally ia Georgia
fully understood that to make iast-
minute applications for rcsrites and
clemency in capital cases, after dclib-
eTately diSr"garded opportunity 10 APP
pear before the Prison Comm ssiOn,
actually pTciroiCed their cases in the
executive eye and raised inevitably a
presumption of questionable methods
H. the executive mind, there doubt
less would be- less Of That sort Of
thing in the state
That Governor Slaton feels very
strongly and deeply the injustice to
bin frequently involved in these last
minute appeals, is not doubted in the
least by those who talk with him up
on that subject from time to time.
Recently ar attorney appeared be-
fore the Governor in behalf Of a
client condemned to death and asked
a respite, Notwithstanding the fact
that the criminal concerned haG been
under sentence of death for two
months and his sentence affirmed and
two meetings Of the Prison Board
had been lightly passed by without
any word as To Ci"mcngE being ut
tered. And ii Is matter of record in
Georgia that one criminal was respit
ed seven times by the questionable
process of permitting Prison Board
meetings to pass and then appealing
to the Governor frantically at the last
minute,
When an attorney deliberately per-
mits meeting after meeting of the
Prison Board to pass without ac-
tion. and then rushes to the Governor
within few days of the proposed eN-
eCution with a petition for a respite,
the Governor not unnaturally thinks
he is being tTihed With-or worse.
There may he occasional extreme
cases in which these last minute APP
peals have merit. but as a rule the
Governor views them with suspicion
and merely as attempts to gain
little further delay in execution.
Occasionally a lawyer informs the
Governor that he was "in ignorance Of
the rule" and what the Governor then
says to that lawyer never makes him
feel at all comfortable,
The Governor earnestly requests all
parties having clemency matters in
mind to obtain from the Prison Com
mission the rules governing the dis
position of the same. He has stated
his very firm determination in the flu
ture to adhere strictly to those rules,
and not to vary from them save in the
gravest emergencies.
The Nashville Herald Predicts that
Congressman Randall Walker will
be re- elected to Congress without OPP
position" but that hardly seems pos
sible with Senator w. l.. Converse, of
Lowndes. actually in the race as an
avowed and open candidate, and with
Grover Edmondson, of Brooks, and
4 H..ff. t,,tf no
candidates, and some other men
toned"
If all run who say they win in the
Eleventh, the race bids fair to be
rather badly mixed. Still, they don't
always all run who are mentioned"
1t is accepted as a fact generally.
however, that Senator Converse is
in the race to stay, and that he VIII
be big factor that must be reckoned
with, moreover!
DIR. T. J. Benson, Of Wilkerson Coun-
ty Wednesday set a most excellent eX-
ample to other Confederate Veterans in
Georgia. when he tackled an Identified
ton tag of silver on to the flag he lost
at Gettysburg, and which in after years
was returned to the State to be kept on
permanent display in the Capitol.
Or Benson was the color bearer of the
Forty eighth Georgia Infantry at the
battle of Gettysburg, and it was in the
thick of that fight that he lost the col
ors. Later, at a big reunion at Chatta-
uooga. he met the Union soldier who
picked up the colors after the battle. and
this was the man who returned them,
Wednesday DIR. Benson tackled ON to the
flag a silver plate bearing this inscrip-
ton, ''E j. Benson. Color Bearer.
Gettysburg. July g 1863 After the
battle this flag fell into the hands of
the Fifty ninth New York
In this connection. it might he stated
that unless SOME steps are taken to pre-
serve the Confederate flags now on dis
play in the Capitol they will be com
pletely destroyed by the moths and dirt
within the next few years Already
they are fast falling into decay 1t has