Court Wants to Hear More About Accusations Rev. J.A. Sharpe Made in Sunday's Sermon, June 21, 1922

Lawyer Objects to Examination Unless in Public. . . Tells Court That Rev. Sharpe Must Be Examined in Open Court or Not at All

Charlotte, N.C., June 21 (By Associated Press)—“I will not permit my client to be examined in private. He will be examined out in the open, or he will not be examined at all,” declared Attorney J.F. Newell this morning in police court, when the presiding judge, J. Lawrence Jones, was listening to arguments as to whether the hearing in the ad testificandum papers served on Reverend J.A. Sharpe, local Methodist pastor, should be public or private.

Judge Jones informed Rev. Sharpe’s attorney that the hearing would be held today and that it would be private.

Reverend Sharpe was served with ad testificandum papers, in order to give Municipal court officials the benefit of information he said in a sermon Sunday night he possessed to the effect that bootlegging and immorality are unchecked in Charlotte and are being condoned by the city administration and police officers.

From the front page of The Fayetteville Observer, June 21, 1922