Sunday, 2nd November 1913: Judges Of Municipal Court Named Saturday Afternoon Supplant Peace Justices, The Atlanta Constitution

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The

four judges of the superior court of Fulton county last Saturday named the five

Atlantans who will sit as judges in the new municipal court established by

recent act of the legislature. The court will organize and begin active service

on January 1, 1914.

The

five men named to the new civil branch are L. F. McClelland, E. L. Thomas, J.

B. Ridley, T. O. Hathcock and Luther Rosser, Jr.

The

new court will take the place of the justice of peace courts in Fulton county,

and is designed to do away with the fee system in vogue in the justice courts.

A

chief justice of the court is to be named by Governor Slaton in the near future

from the list of men elected Saturday by the superior judges. The

L. F. McCLELLAND

salary of the chief justice

will be $3,500 per year, while the associate judges will receive $3,000.

Forty Candidate for Places.

Until

Saturday there were over forty candidates in the field for the five positions.

Practically every justice of peace in Atlanta sought a place on the new court

bench. Only one, J. B. Ridley, was named.

The

other four members of the court are all practicing attorneys of Atlanta having

been members of the Atlanta bar for years past.

L.

F. McClelland, one of the appointees, was born in Conyers, Ga., 38 years ago.

He was admitted to the Atlanta bar in 1898 and has been an active attorney ever

since.

E.

D. Thomas has been practicing law here for the last thirteen years. He is aged

32 and is well known among

LUTHER ROSSER. JR.

the

younger attorneys at the local bar.

T.

O. Hathcock has been a practicing attorney in Atlanta for twenty years and has

a wide circle of friends, who will be glad to hear of his appointment to the

municipal court bench.

Luther

Rosser, Jr., the son of the chief attorney in the Frank case, is practically a

newcomer to the Atlanta bar, but in the cases where he has been active he has

shown unusual ability.

May Test Legality.

The

new municipal court will probably be tested by suit after it organizes,

according to common report circulated Saturday. Justices of the peace whose

business will automatically be wiped out with the establishment of the new

court will probably band together and make an effort to prove that the

establishment of the new court is unconstitutional. None of the new appointees

to the court would discuss the matter.

The

new judges named from the list of applicants Saturday were all applicants for

the positions they secured.

J. B. RIDLEY.

The duties of the new court will be

in many ways similar to that of the present justice of the peace courts, but

bailiffs, clerks and court room attaches will be on salary under the new court

and all fees will be removed from service rendered through the new court

officers.

The act creating the new court is the

result of concerted action of the Atlanta Bar association through whose

committee the bill establishing the court was put through the legislature. The

new court is practically the same as the municipal court of New York, differing

from the metropolitan court only in the number of justices, manner of procedure

in civil suits and a few other minor details.

The court becomes legal on the first of

next year, the judges being sworn in on that date.

PAGE 21, COLUMN 5

Judge

Roan Saves Youth

From Sentencing Himself

To a Term in

Chaingang

One of Judge L. S. Roans last official

acts as a Fulton county superior court judge was the saving of a young lad on

Saturday from sentencing himself to the chaingang.

Davis Bonner, aged 16, recently was

arrested on a charge of burglary. He was indicted and faced a long chaingang

sentence. It developed during his stay in jail that the lad had sworn that he

was 18 years of age when in reality he was but 16.

When Judge Roan learned the fact

through a plea to the jurisdiction of the criminal court, filed by Attorney

Leonard Grossman, on behalf of the Associated Charities, the lad was bound over

to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, to be tried next Tuesday.

Solicitor Dorsey concurred in the plea

to the jurisdiction and recommended that the lad be bound over.

PAGE 38, COLUMN 5

LEO FRANK

APPEALS

TO SUPREME COURT

Judge Roan

Certifies to His

Remarks, Declaring His

Doubt of Prisoners Guilt

or Innocence.

The bill of exceptions presented by the

defense of Leo Frank in the appeal for a new trial to the supreme court was

signed by Judge L. S. Roan, the trial judge, yesterday afternoon at 4 oclock.

This will be the final step Judge Roan will take in the case, as he goes

immediately to the appellate bench.

The fight to be waged by the defense,

it is stated, will center around the remarks of Judge Roan when he announced

his decision denying a new trial, and in which he declared his doubt as to

Franks guilt or innocence. Over the vigorous protest of Solicitor Dorsey

Saturday morning he certified to the remarks, saying:

It is true I said this. I am compelled

to certify to my own words.

The phrase, But I, myself, do not have

to be convinced, was stricken from the remarks contained in the bill of

exceptions. This was done at the request of Judge Roan. Franks attorneys

worked hard through Friday night preparing the bill of exceptions.

The bill of exceptions, filed with the

clerk of supreme court, contains only a brief summary of grounds upon which the

appeal is being made, also the affidavits put in evidence at the new trial

hearing before Judge Roan. It is a brief document, running not over four pages.

The next steps of the defense will be

to put in hand of the printer the brief of evidence of the trial and the

grounds upon which the plea for new trial is based. This will require some

time, probably three weeks or more. Following which the appeal will go directly

to the supreme court.

It is predicted in court circles that

arguments will not be heard until next March. Following the arguments, it will

be several months before a decision is handed down.