The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-28
CAPITOL SURPRISED
DELAY IN WILLIAMS CASE IS UN-
 EXPECTED.
,t.,,teru os Pardon Board Refuse to Exprena Opinion on Unprecedenf- cd Action of Judge Weaver
 -I.axTvern are InteEeated.

The news of the respite gained by John Williams. the slayer of senator Hfpp, who was to have been hanged yesterday. and of his temporary & es cane from the gailows, came as sur prise to the officials at the State capi-
 THe struggle that has been carried on by the attorneys of the condemned man for the last week ot mas syarv 1norSs inmats of the building. and when the report that the Governor had refused to ln- terfere was received in Montgomery Thurgday evening, the execution or the death sentence was accepted by the, oc- cupants of the different offices as aii assured fact.
 When the information reached them yesterday morning that q delay had been granted in behalf 1.-the prisoner, it had the effect of a shock. The check of an apparently inevitable event un, der circumstances at once theatr'cai In just what light the course Of ac- tion pursued by Erie Pettus and +. E. St John, the counsel for the condemn . ed man was regarded py the dinerehs na capitol. it was difficult to ascertain. For an inferior court to check the Su- prame Court of the State of Alabama, after the Governor and the State Board of Pardons had declined to interfere. . was unprecedented In the annals of the State It was preposterous. unthinka- ble and yet 1t had happened. And the taken entirely unprepared, and could only wink and blink at the miracle.
 Board Is Heticent.
 Of the three members Of the Board of Pardons, none would give an expres- sion of opinion in regard to the action of Judge s. I. Weaver, in granting the harins on a petition of habeas cor pus which delayed the execution of the sentence Of tn court.
 Attorney General Wilson. when ap- preached. refused to make public statement He did not feel. under the eircumstances. that he should make til the courts had decided upon the matter.
 Secretary of State E. R. McDavid de- clared he had not investigated tne any kind of expression of opini0n in regard to the case.
 State Auditor J M Carmichael em- ment. As a member of the Board he expressed himself when the case came before the Board. Now that 1t was not before the Board, he refused to
 The proceedings of the Birmingham court in the case, however, were eag- erly watched by the lawyers of the city. Everywhere among legal circles originality of the plaan, its entire lack of precedent, aroused the greatest de- sire for information as to the pro- gress of the hearing in Judge Weaver's s court.
 Without Precedent. The general impression among law yers was that in acting without pre- cedent, the Birmingham judge had ex- ceeded his powers. Whether or not the inferior court has the right to permit proceedings which will delay an order of the highest State tribunal, is a mat ter which has yet to be decided, but 1t was freely doubted by Montgomery barristers whether the action of the lower court would be held valid
 One laweyr of the city. who is re- garded as one of the most deeply versed in criminal law in the State. last night made the following statement:
 "The hearing of the petition in the Williams case is entirely without pre- cedent in Alabama law No similar in- stance has ever occurred in the State. or If 1t has. it has never been pub iIshed. I do not believe any action taken by the lower court will hold In the eyes of the Supreme Court If the decision of Judge Weaver Is fa- vorable to the cause of Williams the State will probably take an appeal to the Supreme Court If it does not, and the Governor has resipted the case. tho execution will take place as soon as the decision of the judge has been given That is," he added after pause, ''unless the counsel for the prisoner should have something else up his slpaNe |"