Tuesday, 29th June 1915: Soldiers Removed From Slaton’s Home, The Atlanta Journal

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### Former Governor and Wife Leave on Trip Planned Several Months Ago

Adjutant General J. Van Holt Nash, after a conference with Governor Harris late Monday afternoon, issued an order withdrawing the troops which have been on guard at Ex-Governor John M. Slaton's Peachtree Road home for the past week.

The soldiers were taken off duty because the Adjutant General and the Governor went on a trip which they had planned several months ago and which it had been their intention to begin Saturday afternoon immediately after Mr. Slaton retired from office. The trip was delayed for a day or two, on account of the disturbed conditions.

The ex-Governor and his wife left Atlanta on the 2:25 p.m. Southern Railway train for New York. They will spend a few days in that city and then will go to the Adirondack Mountains for a week or two. From the mountains, they will go to the Thousand Islands and later to the San Francisco Exposition. They will be away for about two months.

A large party of friends accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Slaton to the Terminal Station.

Just before he left Atlanta on Monday, former Governor Slaton spoke of the story published in a morning paper Monday relative to the state having expended $1,000 a day to protect him and his property. Mr. Slaton said: "It is the duty of the state to spend any amount that may be necessary to protect the life and property of any citizen, even to protect a criminal. If this were not so, Georgia would be in a sad way, indeed, and would lose thousands of dollars in business investments and incalculably more in prestige."

### Governor's Statement

Late Monday afternoon, Governor Harris gave out the following statement: "To the People of Georgia: I have thought it not improper to make a statement to the public concerning the manifestation of resentment recently shown toward my predecessor on account of the Frank Case.

"The action of the Governor in that case has become a matter of past history; nevertheless, the conditions which existed at the time of my entrance into office made it necessary, at the request of the Sheriff of Fulton County, reinforced by the opinion of the Adjutant General of the State, to continue the State Militia on guard for the time being within the limits over which martial law had been proclaimed. One of my first official acts on Saturday afternoon was an inquiry into the necessity for doing this.

"On Sunday morning, the Sheriff of the County, Mr. Mangum, requested me to keep the militia on guard for another twenty-four hours and I did so in compliance therewith and on the showing made by him of his reasons therefor. I have great confidence in his judgment, and I could not afford to take on myself to follow any other course.

"This is now, as I have said before, a matter of the past, and I hope there will be no further necessity for any such intervention in the future.

"I am sorry that the state of affairs arose which necessitated such action. Governor felt that conditions which necessitated their presence had been removed. However, the county police and a number of private guards will continue to protect the property night and day.

"Ex-Governor Slaton and Mrs. Slaton left Monday afternoon on the vacation, on the part of the State while I was in office. I think that protest, denunciation and other similar measures which express the people's feelings, if followed out in a decent and orderly way, cannot be controlled, but at the same time I am fixed in my belief that no one, however aggrieved he may feel himself to be, has the right to take the law into his own hands or force the state to stand guard against violent assaults upon the person or property of any of its citizens.

"I trust, therefore, that there will be an immediate cessation of all efforts at violent or riotous demonstrations over this matter. This is the first request I make of my people as their Governor, and I do sincerely hope that I will have their unanimous co-operation to the end that the honor and good name of the state may be preserved.

"N. E. HARRIS,

Governor."

"Executive Office."

"Atlanta, Ga., June 28, 1915."