Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-11
AID TO BOOTLEGGERS
LAID TO POLICEMEN
BY PROBE WITNESS
Continued from Page -


which Hart told him when asking
| that he prosecute the case against
| Terry and Howell was exactly the
! same as the story which Hart told
| the police commission and the pres
! ent committee.
The attorney further declared that
| he visited the police station and
found that Terry and Howell had
| turned in only two cases of the Z Ia
cases of whisky which Hart alleged
they took from him. He said ne
| talked to Chief Poole about the mat
ter and that Chief Poole simply
| laughed and said that Hart was
"The trial by the police commits
| sion" said Mr.. Goodwin, was the
| biggest farce ever pulled off. All the
members of the commission seemeo
| to think it their duty to defend the
officers"
Mr.. Goodwin said Chief Poole ad-
mitted knowing that Terry was
| bootlegger at the time he was EN-
ployed as a detective. Hart and Dlck
| Messer, said the attorney, hao too pc,
| the same story of the raid MADE ny
| the detectives, both to him and TO
the nclice commission. He declared
that Dick Messer. to his (GoodWlnS)
| knowledge, was not a liquor peddler'
and perhaps he had Just gone over "
buy a bottle of whisky.
New Angle Develops
"That is the whole trouble" re-
marked Mr.. Chambers. TOO many
GOOD citizens are buying whisky from
these bootleggers. They make IL IN, u,
possible for us to enforce the law.
Mr.. Chambers questioned the W.
ness at considerable length. asking
| if # were not possible for Freeman
to have escaped with the WHISKY
which the officers failed to turn in,
He went into some detail as 10 Ine
location of the various automoplies
used, but was unable to make MT;
Goodwin admit that Freeman coulo
have ESCAPED with the whisky.
At this point in the investigation
| q new angle was developed when
Chairman Hatcher stated that the po-
| lice commission itself was being IN
vestigatcd. His statement TO 1 tnat
cation by MI. Goodwin that J. w.
| Maddox. chairman of the commission,
had been convicted in local court.
The first witness to testify Friday
morning before the committee was
a woman. Miss Clara L. Trenor,
| dressmaker.
Miss Trenor testified that from
February, 1914, to September, 1871,
she conducted a dressmaklng estap o.
| lishment at SO IL Whitehall street
that DR.. Hall had a dental once
|
| frequently in his office at night; that
| she watched it through peep-hole
| in the WALL and that she finally de-
cided to have the place raided.
She said she sought help from DR.,
John w. Ham, pastor of the Baptlst
Tabernacle, but that he was too busy,
so she finally went to Mrs; Hattie
| Barnett, a woman detective. She SAID
| she and Mrs. Barnett oberved the
| game several nights through the peep
| hole. Miss Trenor said she did not
know what kind of game 1t was
| apparatus stacked up in front of the
players, some high and some low"
| Arranged for Raid
| She said Mrs. Barnett telephoneo
Detective Chief Lamar Poole about
her the police had pulled the place
until they were sick of it. Satur-
| day night, February IA, Miss Trenor
said she arranged with Policeman
Buck, who was on the beat, to make
Buck and several other officers and
| the players taken to the police sta
| ton.
| When Mrs. Barnett and I went
day set for the trial. we found the
case had been settled said Mrs
Trenor. I'VE were told by Chief
| Poole that he had let them go after
| each put up S26, because Hall prom
| Used not to gamble any more, We
| they couldn' t convict them and
| the city needed the money, anyway.
| We went to Chief Beavers, but he
| didn't seem to know anything about
| it. He advised us to go to the grand
jury, so we went to Mr.. Boykin, and
| the grand jury indicted some Of
the men. and they plead guilty in
Judge .Calhoun's court. and were
| fined 500 each.''
Miss Trenor admitted under ques-
| tions that she had not told Chief
Poole what evidence she had. She
| claimed she never had chance to
| tell him. She was asked about the
| conversation she overheard among
| the gamblers and she told about APP
| pointments they would make for
games, stating that they seemed to
make the Rex pool room a hanging
out place, where they would get men
| for the games. She was asked if
| she could give the names of some
of the players. "The one I remem-
| Der best" she answered, yves a
| big old recruiting officer"
Detective what1ey Testifes
| After Miss Trenor had been eXcus-
| ed the committee retired for several
! minutes, returning and calling De-
| tective Roy E. Whatley to the stand.
Detective Whatley described in de-
tail the raid on DR.. Halls office. He
| said he just happened to be passing,
and the officers called on him for as
| sistance. He said he left the raid
| ing party after the arrests were
| made and did not accompany them to
headquarters, and had no part in
docketing the cases. He was dis
| missed.
Patrolman j B. Hightower said Miss
| Trenor had called him from the street
|
ing on in DR.. Halls office. He de-
clared that no one told him of the
peep hole in Miss Trenor's room and
| that no witnesses told him they
| would agree to testify that gambling
was going on. He said that when he
| entered the room nine or ten men
were sitting around the table and
| that he thought they had been gamb-
| ling, but did not catch them in the
act.
Questioned by Chairman Hatcher
and Mr.. Chambers, Patrolman High
necessary in order for charge of
gambling to be made. He said that
| person must be caught in the act
| of passing chips or money in order
to prove gam bling. He said he didn't
| remember the pint of whisky which
| Miss Trenor told about.
IF there was any liquor" he said,
| 1T was a mighty little"
Officer D. r. Sewell was the next
witness, He admitted that Mrs. Hat
| tie Barnett had told him she had seen
| the men gambling. Officer Sewell
said he had made the cases. and did
not think the evidence warranted a
charge of gambling. Mr.. Hatcher
said: why did you ignore the testi-
mony of Mrs. Barnett?"
| Il don't know" replied the Of
| fcer.
| Mr.. Hatcher then brought out that
| it was customary for officers to ac-
| cept the testimony of a reputable
| witness without personally seeing a
| crime committed.
| Isn't it true that you knew Mrs
Barnett and did not want to go into