Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-11-25
Telephone Call Was a Local
0ne-Motive of Perpetra-
tor Not KnoWn-ReWaFd
Offered by Dorsey

The identity of the man who per-
petrated the most sensational hoax
Atlanta has ever known by telephon-
ing the auditorium Sunday night that
President Wilson was dead and hav-
ing the message delivered to Vice
President Thomas r. Marshall in the
middle of his address, had not been
learned by the authorities by noon
Monday.
Nor did they have any clue to his
identity. Although a reward. of 500
had been offered by the state, al
though city detectives and the tele-
phone company were making an in
vestigation, although federal authori-
ties were considering the case, Moth
ing had come to light to solve the
mystery.
Moreover, should the perpetrator OF
the hoax be discovered, there is some
doubt, according to legal authorities,
that he can be prosecuted. United
States District Attorney Hooper
Alexander, while declaring that the
trick was indefensible, said that, In
his opinion, unless some conspiracy
against the government could be
proven, he did not see how the lie
had broken any federal statute. There
was also doubt, it was stated, that
the hoax was a violation Of any state
or city law.
Regardless of this, no stone was
being left unturned to uncover the
mans identity and the entire city,
through kilograms to washington
from it's various civic organizations
and from individuals, depiored the
happening.
Various theories were advanced to
explain the hoax
It was thoroughly established by
the Associated Press and other, news
agencies that President Wilson was
not dead and that the message did
not originate from any news agency.
It was also declared by ]. Epps
Brown, president of he telephone
company, that the company had no
record of a long-distance call from
washington Sunday night either for
Mr.. Marshall or for anyone else.
This, narrowed the possibilities
down to the theory that the cali
was a local call by someone In At
lanta, and Mr.. Brown stated that, al
though efforts had been made, 1t was
impossible to trace such a local call.
Almost as great a mystery as the
identity of the perpetrator or the
hoax was the motive for his deed.
That some one deliberately broke
up the meeting through sheer malice
was one theory; but there did nor
seem any reason for such an acf,
since tn meeting was not, in Its
strictest sense, political, and Mr..
Marshall is not known to have an5a
enemies either locally or nationally.
Misunderstand Considered
Another theory that the rumor
was deliberately started for the pur-
pose of causing a nationwide dis
turbance, did not seem to hold water
since a less favorable time for this
could not have been picked than Sun
day night, when all stock exchanges
were closed, when business was
stopped and when it was most easy
to throttle such a rumor before 1t
could be flashed around the world
That some one might have done 1t
under the delusion that he was
staging a practical joke was admit
ted, but the police declare If this
was true the man who could see
joke in Such cruel trick must be
either mentally unbalanced or carry
ing large load of blind-tiger
whisky.
1t was also suggested that the man