Sunday, 14th September 1913: Three Judgeships Announced Judge B. H. Hill Appointed To New Atlanta Judgeship, The Atlanta Journal

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Journal's Prediction of

Week

Ago Fulfilled in

Appointments

by Governor by Which

Three

Courts Are Shifted

JUDGE ROAN

SUCCEEDS

TO COURT OF

APPEALS

Charles S. Reed Takes

Judge

Roan's Place on Stone

Mountain Circuit,

George M.

Napier Is Solicitor

General

Governor John M. Slaton yesterday announced appointments

incident to the new Atlanta judgeship exactly as The Journal

exclusively predicted last Wednesday.

His appointments are as follows:

To the fourth division of the Fulton superior court, Judge

Benjamin Harvey Hill, chief justice of the state court of appeals.

To succeed Judge Hill on the court of appeals, Judge L. S.

Roan, of the Stone Mountain circuit.

To succeed Judge Roan on the Stone Mountain circuit,

Charles S. Reid, solicitor general of the circuit.

To succeed Mr. Reid as solicitor general, George M. Napier,

of the Atlanta bar.

EFFECTIVE IN OCTOBER.

The appointments will not become effective until cases now

pending before the court of appeals have been disposed of. The

governor said Judge Hill expected the court to finish by October 6,

on which date the new docket will be taken up, and if the judge's

expectations are correct the appointments will go into effect on

October 6, although, if necessary, they will wait a few days for the

court to finish.

The reason for waiting, as will be obvious to lawyers, is that

it was considered proper for court of appeals cases, having been

heard by the full court, to be decided by the fall court, instead of

by two judges"which would happen if Judge Hil should leave the

court now.

Also, several motions are pending before Judge Roan which

he is desirous of disposing of before he leaves, and Solicitor Reid

also has a number of matters to wind up.

Most important of all Judge Roan's pending motions is the

motion of Leo M. Frank's attorneys for a new trial, which is set for

a hearing on October 4. There is a possibility, however, that this

hearing might be postponed, in which event the appointments

would not wait and it would therefore devolve on Judge Hill to rule

on the motion.

As above said, The Journal's exclusive story last Wednesday

predicted the judgeship appointments exactly. The Journal did not

undertake to predict the governor's selection of a solicitor to

succeed Mr. Reid, as there were several in the race and at that

time the result seemed more or less up in the air.

THE NEW JUDGESHIP.

Several years ago it became necessary for the legislature to

pass a special act authorizing the judge of the Stone Mountain

circuit to preside regularly over the criminal division of the Fulton

superior court, and Judge Roan has performed this duty, he being

judge for the Stone Mountain circuit at the time the act was

passed and continuously ever since. He served without extra

salary for a number of years, but for the last few years Fulton

county has been supplementing his Stone Mountain circuit salary

of $3,000 per year with an extra of $2,000 per year, thereby

putting him on the same salary basis as the regular presiding

judges of the other divisions of the Fulton superior court.

SALARY IS $5,000.

The new judgeship carries the same salary"$5,000 per year

"but the court of appeals, to which high bench Judge Roan is now

commissioned, pays only $4,000 per year. Thus, Judge Roan goes

to a higher court on a smaller salary, while Judge Hill comes to a

lower court on a higher salary.

Judge Hill is the son and namesake of Benjamin Harvey Hill,

one of the greatest orators and statesmen that Georgia has ever

produced, whose marble image stands in a lobby of the state

capitol at the foot of the stairway leading up to the state's high

courts.

Judge Hill has been chief justice of the court of appeals since

it was created in 1907. He served as solicitor general of the Fulton

superior court for eight years, being succeeded by his brilliant

brother, Charles D. Hill. He served four years as United States

district attorney in the northern district of Georgia, under

President Cleveland.

Solicitor-General Reid has served the Stone Mountain circuit

for several years, and proven his ability as one of the best

criminal lawyers in the state. His home is at Palmetto, Ga.

George M. Napier, who succeeds Mr. Reid, is a member of

the law firm of Napier, Wright & Cox, one of the leading firms at

the Atlanta bar. He is a past grand master of the grand lodge of

Georgia Masons. His home is at Decatur, Ga.