Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-03-24
Floyd Woodward,
Head OF ing
AssaiLsJ 4. BoyRir1

The latest and biggest sensation
recorded in Solicitor General John
A. Boykins crusade against Ate
lanta's alleged million dollar"
swindling syndicate developed Tues
| day when a voluminous letter, writ.
ten by Floyd Woodward. charged
with being the king" of the wire
tappers and bunco operators. charg.
ing the solicitor and other promi-
men Atlantians with connivance with
the ring" was read before the Full
ton county grand jury by Chief of
Police James L. Beavers.
| Chief Beavers, Chief of Detectives
Lamar Poole and other officials Of
the police department had been
! summoned to appear before the
grand jury by Solicitor Boykin. The
letter from Woodward who is q
fugitive from justice, charged both
with murder and participation in
the rings operations, covered forty
pages of typewriter space and di.
rectly accused Solicitor Boykin and
several other prominent Atlantians
with assisting the swindling syndic-
ate in it's work of Fleeing suckers"
| through fake horse-racing and stock
market schemes.
| The solicitor later in the day is
sued a vigorous statement claiming
that he had known of the existence :
of the Woodward letter, that it was
a deliberate frame-up between Wood
ward and the detective department
| 10 destroy him before the public and
| tnat he had summoned the police of
t1cials before the grand jury in or.
der to bring the letter to light.
The letter was addressed to Mrs,
Woodward and was dated February
| II. 1t alleged that Woodward had
paid Solicitor Boykin for protection,
that Woodward had contributed a
large sum to the solicitors election
campaign fund, that the solicitor
had frequently reduced the bonds
Of defendants involved in the gam
bling ring and later permitted them
to be forfeited and that the solicit
tor in various other ways was an
ally. to the syndicate.
The letter named Joseph o. Ewing,
a prominent Atlanta attorney, as
a confident of Boykin who aided
couraging and helping finance
sans souci hotel r. N. Berrien, an
Atlanta stock. broker. was accused
| IAOCSCNh
Tins. Chess Lagomarsino, a cigar
man, and two alleged dope fiends,
Bert Donaldson and Free Cooper
were 1a also me mentioned in the letter !,
the local board of police commis-
sioners, and who is one of several
Atlantians whom Solicitor Boykin
has charged with completely with
stated that he would ask the grand
jury to disqualify the solicitor in
view of the Woodward charges.
Solicitor Boykin's reply to the
charges was hed,hot denial of ev-
cry allegation. Attorney Ewing also
came out with a statement echoing
the solicitors declaration that the
Woodward letter was an elaborate
frame-up
According to the solicitor, Wood
ward is known to have been in At
lanta at about the time the letter
was written, although he is wants
ed' on several charges. City detec-
} tives, according to the solicitor, were
seen ettar to accompany woodward to the
attempt to arrest Woodward, said
i the solicitor, in supporting his charge
that the detective department Off
Gals. whom he has charged with
completely with woodward, assist
ed in connecting the letter.
When Solicitor Boykin came out of
the grand jury room Tuesday after
noon he looked very much haggard
} and worn. He was impatient with
the newspaper men when they asked
him for his comment concerning the
contents of the Floyd Woodward let.
, ter. They finally persuaded him to
stop long enough to answer some
| In the first place, Mr.. Boykin was
asked to state his position with re-
gard to the suggestion made by
Aldine Chambers to the grand jury
himself from any further participa-
ton in the bunco investigation, mas
much as he is now under charges
himself.
The solicitors reply to this ques-
81 certainly am not going to dis
testimony of this dirty crook and
so informed the grand jury"
Mr. Boykin was asked the question
whether a subpoena duces tecum
calling on Chief Beavers to produce
the Floyd Woodward letter was ini-
: tiated by him or by member or
l members of the grand jury who had
heard of the existence of the letter
from other sources than himself.
1 Initiated Subpoena
In answer to this question Mr..
} Boykin said:
81 initiated the subpoena"
J Continuing, Mr.. Boykin said:
| when l made my speech before
the chamber of commerce forum
: luncheon L made the statement that
| would not be surprised if an effort
should be made to assassinate me.
, did not mean that L expected an at
tempt to assassinate me physically,
but that anticipated an attempt to
assassinate me morally. In other
words, L meant to say that I would
not be surprised if an attempt should
be made to assassinate my char
acter.
1zox
been rumors going around to the eff.
feet that some sort of document
was in the hands of certain people
here in Atlanta, and that the contents
/; ture as to incriminate me or to cast
suspicion upon me. The document
was shown to various people for the
purpose of having them come to me
and tell me about it. The document
was talked about by various people
} for the same purpose.
''Manifestly the purpose of all this
was to brighten me and to stop my
exposure of conditions which l know
are existing.
GAS soon as I ran down definitely
the existence of the document, which
was nothing more nor less than. Floyd
Il WoodWard's letter, and as soon as l
definitely ascertained who had it,
| issued subpoenas requiring the letter
to be produced before the grand jury,
and [ issued subpoenas requiring all
the people VINO HdQ. READ II TO come
before the grand jury insofar as l
was able to learn the names of those
who had read it.
Attempt to Discredit Boykin
, "NSx that the letter has has been
it's contents disclosed, the workings
of the plot are plain. In the first
place, one of the objects is to pave
the way for Floyd Woodward to
come back to Atlanta and reinstate
himself. In the second place, it is
an effort by the crooks now in At
lanta to discredit me and run me out