The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-10-11


attended by serious results, though
the Recorder in this instance is ac-
quilted of any bad motive whatever,
He assumed that the demand of the
Aldermen placed him jim the clear.
When these gentlemen voted to al
low the carnival to come inside, with
the understanding that all gambling
devices must be closed, had full con-
fidence in them that they would assist
me in seeing that THIS provision was
carried out. Little did / expect the
extreme measures to3which they re-
sorted in order to cancel this part of
the agreement to which they were
parties. IJ
The Aldermen sayl knew "the res
olution repeating the ordinance had
not been entered upon the minutes
but simply written upon separate
sheet of paper, and had not been
signed by the officer presiding at the
meeting. Second, that the ordinance
would not be repealed, and that the
Recorder had been notified not to
record the resolution ;ithat it was only
passed for the occasion, and that it
was not the intention of the Alder
men to repeal the ordnance" The
writer says further that "the Mayor
studiously conceals the fact that the
Recrder had notified him on Thurs
day before his letter of Friday that
he, the Recorder, had notice that the
ordinance would not be repealed" !"
Yes; the Recorder did tell me on
Thursday that Mr.. Biddle had told
him they would "vacate" the minutes
of that meeting. But that did not wipe
out the fact Of their desperate effort
to repeal the law, neither did it lead
me to believe they would undertake
to eliminate those minutes except in a
legal and proper manner. Certainly
the minutes of this meeting had not
been signed, as they never are until
the following meeting, when they are
read and approved, and then signed
by the presiding officer. This fact is
we'll known in all parliamentary
usage.
The Aldermen then seek to make
an adverse impression by the insinu-
alton regarding my complimentary
passes. Yes, / was presented six
passes. | had refused them time and
again-told sthe manager | did not
want them; had no use for them.
Finally he was so insistent and said
if | did not want them to take them
anyway, and give them to somebody.
The Chief of Police standing by, said,
"Why, yes, Mr.. Armitage, take them,
and give them to the boys" took
the passes and three of them were
used Thursday afternoon, only by
some children to go to the snake
show and old plantation. This was
all the use that was made of them,
and as for myself, l did not enter a
single one of the shows, notwithstand-
ing was on the ground quite fire..
quently to see that the gambling con,
cessions were kept closed.
The Aldermen want to know why
the immoral and obscene shows were
not closed. We had hard enough job tC
close what we did. If the shows were
as immoral as they say they were,
had no evidence of it at the time.
would, gladly, have closed the whole
thing and would have done so, | be
lieve, if the other members Of thu
board had seen fit to stand with me
| do not claim to have all power, an(
because | cannot do all that | woult
like to do, | will not excuse mysel
from doing that which l can by say
ing that other things just as bad arr
allowed, therefore, | will just let tn,
whole thing run wide open.
In regard to the loss of the $5000t
to the library, will only say that
felt, and still feel, would be unwill
ing to barter the moral welfare ant
virtues of the town for even as wor
thy cause as the public library.
am not much disposed to make an!
compromises with evil. | have nj
fear but that the people of Greenevill,
and Greene county will support me il
this conviction.
The Aldermen make sport of MI
over the statement in my formel
article, that the Town had jurisdic
ton of offenses committed within
one mile of the corporate limits
They say this statement was made by
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