Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1922-04-06
QFIELD SAYS
CONFESSION FALSE
Solicitor Wall Denies Any Knowledge
Of Coercian or Bribery

livery oenled any connection with or
KnoWledge of GEORGIAN or bribery of
Fairfield up to that time.
:, AS Fairfield has been confined in
the Ashburn Jail since that date and
practically in solitary confinement. the
reputation of an alleged confession.
sworn to before Judge Upton of the
lily. Court of Ashburn, is direct con-
trad1ction to the statement given out
by Col. Wall. Rumors had been afloat
Tor some time before the removal of
FAIRFIELD from Ben Hill County, that
he had repudiated his previously made
statements in regard to his own and
others completely with the various
crimes for which he and his alleged
associates had been indicted by Ben
It'll, Crisp, Coffee and Irwin county
grand juries At recent hearing be-
lore Judge Eve of the Triton Circuit
at Oc1lla, Col. Wall admitted on the
witness stand that Fairfield said in
= substance on March 5th in the Ben
illl County Jail, when interviewed by
MIN as to what the State could expect
Tor him to testify at the trial in Cor
dele, scheduled for the 9th of some
OF his alleged accomplisses Colonel,
DO you think it would be right for me
TO swear to anything which l was for
ced to swear or bribed so to do"
Fairfield thereafter in CorGele, is said
to have refused to testify on March E,
tor the State in the cases OF Bishop,
Thomas and Russell.
Col. Wallis statement to the press on
March 9Th was as follows:
i had no knowledge of Fairfield
having repudiated any confession.
shall continue the prosecution of all
the cases which were indicted in this
circuit, growing out of the A. B. & A.
strike and 1 shall continue the inves-
t1gation on behalf Of the government
in an effort to ascertain if Federal
laws have been violated and are being
violated in its prosecution and if I
find that they have 1 shall recommend
to those in authority that such steps
be taken as appears most effective to
apprehend and convict the guilty.
IF Fairfield was ever threatened or
attempted to be bribed by anyone it
was entirely without my knowledge.
Since he is indicted in several counties
for crimes ranging from misdemeanors
to capital felonies, the cases against
him will take their regular turn on the
docket of the criminal circuit. He has
been promised no immunity by any,
one in so far as I know. Tie was re-
moved from the jail of Ben Hill ccun-
ty to the Jail of Turner county at
Ashburn by order of Judge .. T. W.
er and for reasons which appeared suf-
ficient to him"
=. Col. Wall informs us that he will
Gut Fairfield On trial for murder on
er pril 18th in this county. having been
addicted jointly with others for the
murder of w. T. Reed, engineer of the
A. B. & A, who lost his life as re-
suit of gun shot wounds received dur
ing the shooting which occurred near
Smalls Sill on the night of July S,
1921.
Regulates Confession
Ashburn, Ga,
To whom it may concern and wher-
ever presented, this is a true state
ment in My Own Hand and not soil
cited, but made of My Own Free Will
and accord this 18th day of March in
the year of our Lord, 1922:
"The document held by Mr.. w. Fl
Fountain, Paid Gunman for the At
1anta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railway
Company, supposedly a statement
from me was procured through threats
against my own life and Promises of
Bribery and Protection from courts
and removal secretly from the vicinity
covered by said document which was
not my own but was a Matched up
affair and is not true in any sense and
furthermore was not sworn at the
time it was made and if it bears seal
of notary public or Justice of the
Peace or anyone else authorized to
deliver or administer an oath, such seal
is forgery and not lawful
I further declare and swear that
Mr.. J. B. Wall, Solicitor of the Cor
dele Circuit has Made Me Promises
of Protection from the Courts and al
so that Mr.. Dorminy, High Sheriff
of Ben Hill County, Made the Prom
ises also stating that HE could con-
troll the Court and the Honorable
Judge o. T. Cover, Judge of Cordele
Circuit during the January term OF
court in Ben Hill County, City of
Fitzgerald, Ga, did while in Court call
me to him and instruct me what to do
in certain respects regarding the cases.
further state that Mr.. Dorminy,
High Sheriff of Ben Hill County did
repeatedly turn me over to the Paid
Gunner of the Atlanta, Birmingham
e. Atlantic Railway Company, to carry
out wherever they chose and when
ever they chose, also and that on these
occasions there were from two to four
men all armed to the teeth with pistols
and shot guns, ali having a threaten
ing attitude toward man unprotected
in their hands, and I further state l
know nothing of the crimes of which
We are accused and of which the
said documentary statement held by
w. II. Fountain alleges I am an ac-
complete and an instigator, this being
nv own statement in my own hand,
and in lieu of the one FORCED and
trrthless, and written of My own tree
wifi and accord this 18th day OF
March in the year of Our Lord, 1877;
will now affix my signature,
o. C. FAIRFIELD
Sworn to and subscribed before me