"Hoodlum" Borglum

Gutzon Borglum, famed sculptor (TIME, Mar. 2), hurried along a stony path, mallet in hand. At his heels skulked one J. C. Tucker, accessory. Wrath was printed upon the Borglum countenance, sympathy upon that of Tucker. At the end of the path, they came to a small hut--the studio wherein, for many months, Sculptor Borglum has worked with plans, models of the relief of Generals Jackson, Lee and their armies which is to be chiseled into the rock at Stone Mountain, Atlanta, as a memorial to the arms of the South (TIME, Aug. 13, 1923; May 26, Mar. 2). The two entered the hut. Almost instantly, sounds of hammering could be heard within. After a short time, sculptor and assistant emerged, made off.

Other feet approached the hut.Into view came certain breathless gentlemen of the law with yellow papers in their hands. They knew that the Stone Mountain Memorial Association had that morning held a meeting, canceled Borglum's contract, ousted him because he "had done no work, was antagonistic, glory-seeking, hard to deal with and under delusions of grandeur." The papers they carried were orders restraining Borglum from removing or damaging any of his models. They tried the door of the hut; it was locked. They peered through the window. Representatives of the press who came up at that moment peered over their shoulders. In the dim light, on the floor of the quiet interior, they beheld unmistakable fragments--the torn limbs, the broken heads of Generals Lee, Jackson and their gallant soldiers, bits of plaster, pieces of stone. They had come too late.*

When members of the Memorial Association heard that Borglum had smashed his models, they declared that it was "the act of a hoodlum, a vandal." They filed suit against him for $50,000, issued a warrant for his arrest, charged him with committing a malicious mischief. The constables of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia were furnished descriptions of mustachioed, baldheaded, large-eared Borglum and Accessory Tucker. The hunt began, continued for two days. Excited loafers from the depot declared that a man of Borglum's kind had boarded a train for Cincinnati; a garage keeper in the town of Grayson, Georgia, telephoned that such a fellow had procured some gasoline from him and driven off hastily in a muddy motor. These reports were shown to be inaccurate when Borglum himself stepped off a train at Greensboro, N. C, was arrested. Declared he:

"I'll rot in jail forever before I will give the key of my design to that committee."

Two hours later, by means of a writ of habeas corpus, he got his release, started for Manhattan. Tucker had vanished.

Borglum's friends spoke loud for him. Said William J. Robinson, Manhattan art dealer, friend of Borglum: "This is largely a Ku Klux Klan matter. Borglum attacked Dr. Evans, so called Imperial Wizard, very bitterly, and said the latter was sowing hate and discord in the world while he, Borglum, was working to unite peoples. . . . Borglum was not trying to be tactful. . . . Well, Gutzon isn't diplomatic. He's a steam engine in pants. He's a genius. ... If he never does another stroke of work on Stone Mountain, he has to his credit something greater than the Egyptian pyramids."

Said Borglum: "Am I a plumber to be hired by a committee? I am not. . . They say that I have loafed on the job, don't they? There is not a corpuscle of my blood that loafs."

Said Mrs. Borglum: "It was his exclusive property and had been copyrighted by him. Mr. Borglum had a perfect legal right to destroy his own property."