The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-28
Stirring Speeches Made at Meeting of Citizens Held
 Last Night
THURSDAY IS DATE
 SET FOR HEARING
Solicitor Black Invited to Be Present. Many New Houses Are Being Erected in
 Bessemer


 l That on Thursday night at o'clock, in the courtroom of the city hall in this | city the police committee, with Dr. J. | S. Winters as chairman, and with the assistance of Mayor l. A. Lewis and City Attorney George Bumgardner, meet and investigate the charges pre- ferred by the recent Jefferson county grand jury. Further that Solicitor Hugo L. Black be notified of the time and place of the meeting and that he be asked to appear before the commit tee with the evidence that was intro- duced before the grand jury and that he furnish the committee with a com
 plete list of the witnesses that ap-
 ared before the grand jury and that
 they be summoned to appear before
 the committee at that time. Further,
 that the entire public be asked to at-
 tend the meeting and give all the as-
 sistance in their power,'
 The above was the resolution intro- duced by George Ross of this city and passed unanimously at the meeting held tonight in the city hall for the purpose of deciding on ways and means of go- HIS iiito du iilNCSti6dtiOD Ol tit cIdISeS brought against certain policemen of the city of Bessemer by the Jefferson county grand jury.
 The meeting was opened by Chairman of the Police Committee pr. J. S. Win ters, who in a few terse words outlined the charges that had been preferred against the members of the Bessemer po- lice force and the insinuations against the members of the board of aldermen of the city The other members of the police committee, Moss Crotwell. J. D. Milton, Jesse Edwards and George Ross. Mayor l. A. Lewis and City Attorney George Bumgardner were present.
 Reports on Black Conference
 Dr. Winters called on Mir. Bumgardner for report on his conference with So- licitor Black and Mir Bumgardner re- piled that he had made two trips to Bir- ming ham to see MT. Black, once by him self and once with MT Lewis. He stated that MT. Black at the time said that he was prepared to give the committee all the evidence necessary to prove the charges made in the report He said that 1t would not be a transcript of the pro- ceedings before the grand jury, but that he would give the names of the witnesses and would tell him what they could prove by the witnesses in case the investigations
 
 that the solicitor said that since the re- port was made there had developed much more evidence that he would be glad to place at the disposal of the committee
 Mayor Lewis followed MT. Bumgardner and stated that at the time of the meet ing with MT. Black he told the solicitor that he had not heard single citizen of Bessemer suggest that the meeting be held behind closed doors. He stated further that the people here had nothing to hide
 MT. Lewis created somewhat of a sensa- ton when he stated that MT Black had telephoned him this afternoon about 5:3O o'clock and asked him to announce to the members of the committee and to the citizens of Bessemer that the announce ment appearing in the Birmingham Age Herald Sunday morning. not in the Bes- sener department, but in the regular news section. coupling his name with the pro- posed investigation to be held in this city today, was wrong; that he had no inten- ton of coming out here and that he did not intend to come MT. Lewis stated that in justice to MT. Black, and to the Bes- semer correspondent he thought this an- nouncement should be made because MT. Black had been done a grave injustice in that numerous people were led to be- lieve that Mir Black was attempting to run Bessemer's public affairs.
 Dr. Winters stated that the people of Bessemer deserved to hear the investi- gation, that no whitewashing was con- templated We want the facts and want justice done." said pr. Winters. "and we want all the people of Bessemer to come up and testify before the committee as to any i'll that affects the police department or the city administration. We have been accused of dire things, gentlemen. and We want to see if we are guilty
 Ma tot od hot bo fhnyOhf fbol public should be invited to participate in the meeting and acting upon this sug- gestion Dr. Winters called on the specta- tors for remarks and out of the $50 people present no one answered.
 Ross Wanted to Be Present
 George Ross arose at this point and stated that he regretted that he was not present the time the investigation by the grand jury was held, for he would liked to have been there and looked the members of the grand jury in the face. They didn't look good to me" was the witty retort of the presiding officer.
 MT. Ross made the speech of the even- Ing and prefaced his remarks by saying that in his opinion there was nothing for the committee to investigate except the alleged use of the third degree methods' by the policemen, and the alleged public drunkenness of a patrolman." as all the Otner cnarSeS anu lnslHudt1OnS naQ been cleared up to the complete satisfaction of every one who cared to look into them 'T do not believe there is a man in Bes- semer with the backbone of jelly fish that believes these charges in the report of the grand jury and the blatherskite stuff that was sent out over the state in the newspapers. Notoriety is what some- one Is hunting, newspaper notoriety.
 '"The statement that appeared in The Birmingham Age-Herald to the effect that some of the officers of the Bessemer police force had been indicted for graft and extorting money from a negro was not true. Other insinuations in this article were the work of an evil and fertile mind that harbors no kind thought to the city of Bessemer." MT. Ross speech was received with a great deal of enthusiasm.
 City Attorney George Bumgardner | stated that he thought there were con- dltions existing in the city of Bessemer that warranted the closest investigation. I That he was willing to investigate the | matter from the office of the city attorney up to the mayor and all through every | department of the city administration. He l said that he thought Solicitor Black l deserved great deal of credit for his | zealousness and that the solicitor could 1 have gone much further
 The meeting was attended by about $50 | citJzens of Bessemer, who accorded the | proceedings their closest attention and l that they were impressed with the seri- | osness of the affair was shown by the | spcntau.e'y of applause thu. gre eted the l different talks made by the members.
 It was the will of the meeting that this ] committee proceed with the inre estigation before the representative citizens of Besse- Al IA