The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-03
ALABAMA COURTS TRY NEW SYSTEM FOR NEXT TERM
Plan Is Expected To Less en Work Of Attorney
 Generals Office

Lessening the work of Attorney Gen eral Harwell G. Davis and expediting the progress of the cases on then ap- pearance before the state supreme court, two of Jefferson county's assistant sO- hcitors have been working for some time preparing briefs and bills of ex- ception for the numerous appeal cases from Jefferson county that are sched- uled to come before the high court when it convenes this fall.
 The coming term will mark the mi tial tryout of a new system in Ala I bama courts-that of having the wOrk of preparing bills of exception and briefs done by members of the county solicitors office. Assistant Solicitors Willard Drake and Herbert Etheridge have been in charge of the work at the local office.
 The new system provides for a cer- tain amount of the work being done at the office of the attorney general, as in the past, and a combination of the bills and briefs from the two offices will be presented to the supreme court. Principal object of the plan, it is said, is to simplify the work at the attorney generals office. Past years are said  amount of work performed at the state office because of having to care for all appeal cases from every county in the state.
 Preston Motor Case
 Probably the most important cases upon which the two assistant solicitors have been working are those in which violation of the blue sky law is in- volved. They are cases of the Preston Motors company and the Walker Con- sOlidated Petroleum company. COnsti- tutionality of the blue sky law will be determined by the supreme court, and Drake and Etheridge have spent many days in the preparation of what Is be- lieved to be an iron-clad case to prove the validity of the measure.
 When officials of these two compa- nies were arraigned in circuit court; Judge W. E. Fort questioned the law which they were charged with having violated. The case was promptly ap- pealed for final decision, and the court of appeals recently upheld those sec tions of the law under which the cases fell.
 Briefs in the cases nave been pre- pared by the solicitors in expectation of an appeal to the supreme court by officials of the two companies. Should such an appeal not be filed within l5 days after the appellate courts decision had been rendered, the men probably will be brought again before the crim- inal court of Jefferson county. Other Cases Pending
 The same officials also are awaiting trial in United States court on similar charges, and the legal procedure in state courts will not in any way interfere with the progress of the federal prose cutiOn, county officials say.
 Other important appeal cases that are being prepared by the solicitors are those of three alleged ax murder CTS, Pearl and 0dell Jackson and Fey ton Johnson, all negroes. They have been convicted in circuit court and sen fenced to hang, later filing notice of ap- peal Airs. Edna Marc, charged with the killing of Ralph Roberts, has filed a second appeal notice. Charlie Rat cliff and Allen Germany, negro, both of whom are charged with killing their wives, also have appealed their cases. Ratcliff was sentenced to life impris- Onment and the negro was given the death penalty.