“We, the members of this board, investigating into certain alleged charges against the girls of the Asheville high school, find, after careful inquiry, that there is no truth in the charges, and that they are without the least semblance of fact.”
Such were the words of Mayor Gallatin Roberts last night, approved by Commissioners R.L. Fitzpatrick and R.J. Sherrill, at the conclusion of a two-day hearing into allegations that high school girls had visited the studio of George Massa and there had their pictures taken in the nude.
The findings of the board, fixing the responsibility for the starting point of the slander against the high school girls, will be announced some time next week, after the official court records in the case have been carefully gone over, the mayor stated.
A scathing denunciation of the Ku Klux Klan, as a force dangerous to the city of Asheville, was made at the opening of the afternoon session by J.J. Britt, one of the 14 attorneys representing the girls and their parents of the high school. It was in answer to Judge Carter’s charge of the previous day and in it, Mr. Britt held the klan as an organization whose sole expressed purpose and motive were hatred, and therefore without excuse for existence.
Attorney J. Scroop Styles, representing L.L. Froneberger, organizer and kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan; D.C.M. Beam, close personal friend of Mr. Froneberger, and City Solicitor O.K. Bennett, in a brief address to the court impunged the motives of the press, and The Asheville Citizen in particular, in having given the facts publicity.
J.W. HAYNES DEFENDS THE CITIZEN’S REPORTS
J.W. Haynes, one of the chief counsel for the high school girls, in his reply to Mr. Styles upheld the press and The Citizen in its stand in behalf of the high school and accorded The Citizen high praise for its efforts to get to the bottom of the matter and determine the responsible parties.
Mr. Styles then, finding an attack on the press received no sympathy, turned his attentions to Frank Hine, 19-year-old youth whom Mr. Fronenberger had sought to use to secure pictures from Massa’s studio, and requested that the board find him guilty of instigating the rumors.
Attorney Kingsland Van Winkle, replying, asked the difference between Mr. Froneberger, Dr. Beam, and young Hines, and why the matter should be made the butt of the whole thing. “The evidence clearly shows,” Mr. Van Winkle said, “that this thing(?) originated in the office of Mr. C.M. Beam on Armistice Day, and was continued when he turned the list of names on the pink slip of paper over to Mr. Froneberger.”
An attempt to clear City Solicitor O.K. Bennett of any alleged complicity in the instigation or circulation of the slander, by means of a signed statement from the board, commending him for his action in the case and hearing the city solicitor, fell through when Mayor Roberts refused to endorse such action as a board member.
Such action was urged by Commissioners Sherrill and Fitzpatrick immediately at the conclusion of the hearing, but Mayor Roberts would not assent, saying that a written statement containing the findings of the board, vindicating those innocent, and charging those, if any, found guilty, according to the evidence, would be made, and that there was no necessity of two statements on the matter.
Afterwards, Mr. Sherrill and Mr. Fitzpatrick said Mr. Bennett had taken no other action than that of a public officer. Mr. Sherrill said:
“I am satisfied with the conduct of Solicitor Bennett, and I believe he has acted within his province, heard all the evidence in the ??, although out of town at the time of the Massa trial, and the meeting in the mayor’s office.
“As to the real instigator of the dangerous statements, I will assist in making the verdict of the board, after the evidence has been reduced to writing and thoroughly gone over.
“I do not believe we need any organization here to enforce the laws, other than the duly constituted authorities, and when speaking with reference to the klan, I have said that, as a city official, I do not believe it would be proper for me to identify myself with the organization. I am not a member of the Ku Klux Klan.”
“I have been present throughout the entire affair,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said, and I believe Solicitor Bennett has done nothing he should not have done as an officer of the city.” The afternoon hearing, beginning at ?? o’clock, was not completed at ?? o’clock, and adjournment was taken by the board until &;30, when the ?? was completed.
At the afternoon session, Attorney ? W. Haynes and Kingsland van Winkle, with 12 other attorneys, counsels for the parents of the high school girls, continued to lead in the examination of witnesses, as on the previous day.
Mr. Bennett, who had changed lawyers overnight, took the stand as the first witness of the session. He was represented at the first day’s hearing by the law firm of Carter, Shuford and Hartshorne, with Judge Frank Carter acting.
Mr. Bennett had refused to take the stand on the first day, under advice of Judge Carter, and adjournment had been made with the matter under advisement by the board of whether Mr. Bennett should be forced to take the stand and testify.
He went forward readily yesterday afternoon, Attorney J. Schroop Styles announcing to the court that his client (Bennett) was ready to take the stand.
REPRESENTS BENNETT, FRONEBERGER AND BEAM
Mr. Styles, in entering his appearance, stated he represented “himself and others.” He would not give the names of the “others,” but it developed that he had been retained as counsel for L.L. Froneberger, organizer and kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan here: Dr. C.M. Beam, the original holder of the “pink slip,” and a personal friend of Mr. Froneberger; and City Solicitor O.K. Bennett.
Just before the end of the session last night, Mr. Bennett, who first made the open charge involving the high school, in a statement to the board and the open court, announced that he had no apology to make for his conduct in the case of Massa or in the hearing, or for any previous statement he may have made.
He made this statement, he continued, because of the question of S.G. Bernard, in court at the afternoon session. Mr. Bernard’s question was:
“After hearing the new evidence in the case, and the testimony at this hearing, don’t you think you owe an apology to the high school?”
“I do not,” Mr. Bennett replied. “I think I have done my duty, and I have no apology to make for any action or statement of mine.”
“Then I’m through,” Mr. Bernard stated, taking his hat and coat and leaving the room.
BRITT DENOUNCES THE KU KLUX KLAN
In his denunciation of the Ku Klux Klan, Mr. Britt said, in part:
“Gentlemen, and your honors, I would like to say a few words in reference to an organization which seems to be existent in this city—the Ku Klux Klan.
“Judge Carter yesterday made reference to an ‘invisible influence,’ which was seeking to ‘stamp out this body of as patriotic men as move in the community.’
“Now, gentlemen, presumably, Judge Carter had reference to the Ku Klux Klan, and my few remarks are in reply to his of yesterday.
“I am not a member of the organization, am in no way associated with it, and have no sympathy for it.
“I do not doubt that the body contains many good men. Indeed, I cannot believe any body of our citizens can exist and be wholly bad.
“But gentlemen, I denounce the klan as an organization existing solely for the purpose of nurturing hatred, of which there is already too much in this world.
“What excuse for existing has this Ku Klux Klan?
“In the words of Col. Simmons himself, it is against the Catholics; it is against the Jews; it is against foreigners, and it is against negroes.
“In the name of Heaven, gentlemen, what is it for?
“No one believes more firmly than I that the negro must not have social equality. But he should be unmolested so long as he obeys the laws. He prays to the same God we pray to.
“I only hope that our Gentile race shall produce such as man as He who came from the Jewish race.
“And, gentlemen, it was incorporated in the constitution of this nation, in its inception, that all men should have the right to religious freedom—to worship his own God in his own way.
“Shall, then, the efforts of Washington and of Jefferson have been in vain?”
Mr. Britt continued at length, and concluded this the remark:
“I am responsible for my statements. I have no regrets for what I have said, and no intention whatever of retracting any of it.”
“PINK SLIP” KEPT IN SOLICITOR’S POCKET
Mr. Bennett took the stand, and told of his part in the affair. He said he was called into the mayor’s office, where he said he had his first intimation of the affair when it was discussed by those present—the mayor, Commissioner Fitzpatrick, Frank Hine, and L.L. Froneberger.
He stated that the mysterious “pink slip,” which could not be located by anyone, reposed in his pocket, and that no one could have it.
“The mayor can have it if he wants it,” he said, “but you (addressing Haynes) can’t have it.”
“We’ve nearly reached the end of the trial,” Mr. Haynes said. “We’ve found where the slip is, where it came from (Dr. Beam’s office) and whose hands it passed through (Mr. Froneberger’s).”
“Every influence except the offer of money,” Mr. Bennett said, “was brought to bear on me in the Massa trial. It was intimated that I would be dead politically.
“I say this now, and I don’t want the newspapers to stutter when I say it—so long as I am prosecutor for this city, I’ll prosecute any man, woman or dog in the city of Asheville, and I’m not running for office while prosecuting.”
R.M. Wells, judge of police court, testified concerning the trial. He said he thought Mr. Pennell and Mr. Bennett were both working to the same end, by different ways. His version of Mr. Bennett’s original statement in court was:
“A number of girls of high school age visited the studio.”
George Pennell, corporation counsel, and counsel for the defense in the Massa case, testified that Mr. Bennett’s statement was:
“I have been reliably informed that 50, 60, or more high school girls have gone to the studio and had their pictures made in the nude.
“In the argument which followed, the next day in court, after Mr. Bennett had denied saying ‘60’,” Mr. Pennell said, “John Anderson butted in.”
John Anderson’s testimony, taken at the first day’s hearing, was that Mr. Bennett had stated “50 or 60 high school girls” were involved.
Dr. C.M. Beam took the stand, and testified he first became interested in Massa’s studio when Lillian Callahan, an employe of the studio, and one of his patients, had told him Massa had imposed on her, and had put his arm around her.
He stated she told him voluntarily about the developing and printing of nude pictures in the studio, and that he then became interested, because he had three girls himself, and one of them in high school. He then asked her for a list of the high school girls who had gone to the studio. This she gave him, and he turned it over to Mr. Froneberger. He could not say it was on pink paper, and he explained to the court that he had a poor memory.
DR. BEAM AND FRONENBERGER FRIENDS
He had known Mr. Froneberger for about 18 years—the had been boys together—and he had only a short time before given Mr. Froneberger a recommendation as special officer, and this, he testified, was his reason for turning the list over to him.
“Do you belong to any secret organization of which Mr. Froneberger is a member?” Mr. van Winkle inquired.
“Why, I don’t think—” Dr. Beam began.
“I object,” Mr. Styles, representing the witness said, “and advise my client not to answer.”
After some argument Mr. Haynes asked:
“What is the business of Mr. Froneberger?”
“Well, the papers say he is the organizer of the Ku Klux,” Dr. Beam replied.
Mr. Styles again objected, and the answer was stricken from the court record.
Mr. Froneberger, taking the stand, stated he has been a resident of Asheville since about July 1. Asked as to his business, he said:
“I am agent for the Provident Life Insurance company, and organizer of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”
He testified he had known Dr. Beam for 18 or 20 years. He said after Dr. Beam gave him the list, he had a conference in the latter’s office with Miss Callahan, and then secured nude pictures from the studio through a Mr. Powell, employed at a drug store. Mr. Powell had obtained the pictures through Frank Hines, and he then saw the boy.
FRONEBERGER TELLS OF HIS ACTIVE PART
He asked him about the nude pictures, showed him the list, and Hine said he “knew several of the them. He testified Hine told him that he (Hine) could secure pictures in the nude of the girls whose names were on the list.
“Someone, I cannot remember who,” Mr. Froneberger continued, “standing beside me, said he recognized several of the names on the list as those of high school girls.
“I went to Judge Walter E. Brock, (then presiding over Superior court here), and asked him if we could use the depositions of the girls whose pictures had been taken, showing him the pictures. The judge said, ‘That’s an outrage,’ and advised me to take the matter up with the city commissioners.”
He then told of the visit to the mayor’s office with young Hines.
Here court was adjourned until 7:30 o’clock, and when called Kyle Parker, Police Captain Luther and Mr. Fitzpatrick were called, as named. Their testimony bore out that of the previous witness.
Mayor Roberts took the stand and told of the meeting in his office.
“We looked at the pictures,” he said, “and some of them were of old women, but one was not more than more than 15 years of age, apparently, and virtually nude.
Someone asked young Hine about the studio and he replied that high school students had gone up, and that he was sure one of the nude pictures was of a high school girl.”
Mr. Styles took the stand, and testified that Mr. Bennett’s statement on the first day of the Massa trial was:
“I have certain information, but not in concrete form, that a number of girls of high school age had been in the studio, and had their pictures made in the nude.“
The entire news staff of The Asheville Citizen was subpoenaed. E.E. Stafford, managing editor, came to be sworn, and asked by whom he was subpoenaed, for what reason, and by which side. Mr. Styles, who had caused the subpoena to be issued, would not answer, but finally admitted that he was retained by Dr. Beam and others.
Mrs. Stafford was then sworn, and testified that The Citizen had endeavored to gather all the facts in the entire case, in order that the public might know the facts. He stated, as did other members of staff that several of the news staff had sought to obtain all the information possible regarding the whole matter.
Hearing of witnesses being concluded, Mayor Roberts said:
“I think every one will agree with me that there is no truth in the rumors, and that our high school girls are absolutely vindicated.
“If anyone wishes to say anything, we would be glad to hear him.”
J.L. Cantwell said: “I would like to commend Mr. Sherrill for his resolution. Had it been adopted at the start, it would have saved further publicity.”
Mr. Sherrill replied that he still thought nothing had been found in the hearing, on which responsibility for the instigation or circulation of the rumors could be fixed.
Mr. Styles then rose to remark that he is not a member of the Ku Klux Klan, is not defending it, but that he was defending L.L. Froneberger, organizer and kleagle of the klan; Dr. Beam, life-long friend of Mr. Froneberger, and Mr. Bennett.
Hine is the one who started this rumor, and we want you to exonerate Dr. Beam, Mr. Froneberger, and Mr. Bennett,” Mr. Styles said.
Mr. Van Winkle:
“I am attorney for Frank Hine. This scandal did not originate with Hine. The first mention of it was when Dr. Beam asked Miss Callahan for a list of the high school girls. He got it and delivered it the next morning to Mr. Froneberger. His excuse for delivering it to Froneberger, instead of to the captain of detectives, or chief of police, was that Fronenberger was ‘a good fellow.’
“Mr. Froneberger got the nude pictures from Mr. Powell. Then, he says, he saw Frank Hine, and then he took the matter up with Judge Brock. Then he had the conference with your honors.
“Mr. Bennett testified that what he said was that girls of high school age had their pictures taken, and that he got his information from Frank Hine.
“Who is Frank Hine? He is a young boy, who works in a soda fountain day after day—yet he was the man to be made the butt of the whole matter.
“Let us suppose Mr. Hine did state to Mr. Bennett what Mr. Bennett says he did. It was a privileged statement, if made.
“It was made in the presence of sworn officers of the law, and there is not one iota of evidence that he made it to any one else.
“There is no reason for fastening the implication on Hine. Where do they differ—Hine, Froneberger, Beam?
“With no malice or wrong motive did Hine make such a statement, if he did.
“And the evidence shows that the first mention of high school girls originated in the office of Dr. Beam on Armistice day.”
. . . .
From the Asheville Citizen, December 1, 1922
No comments:
Post a Comment