The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-01

| nlutOTy Of F1CC hEVUOhEs The trial of John W. Pace for the | crime of peonage will be remembered as one of the most sensational in the history of Alabama. It was the first case of it's kind in the State under the peonaee law, and 1t aroused an interest | of national scope.
 Pace. it will be recalled, was an ex- | tensive employer of convict labor. In addition to the labor he employed from the State prisons. he frequently secured | the services of prisoners from county | courts, and often made contracts with men under sentence of fine to pay their | fines for them in return for their value | in work. Frequently. in this latter connection, he forced men against their will. beyond the time of their con tracts. on the grounds that they had not lived up to their agreement in the qual- l ity or quantity of their service. These practices were found to be in violation of the Jaw enacted against peonage, law, by the way. which was the result of conditions in New Mexico years ago, and which was not passed with an expectation of having applica- tion to any other part of the country. Investigations by Henry Clay Dickey, a member of the United States secret Service Bureau. resulted in the pro- curement of sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial.
 When first accused of violation of the peonage law, Pace attacked the con stitutionality of the act. He had been. he declared, ignorant of its existence.
 and had believed himself acting within his legal rights. When the contest on the laws constitutionality was decided against him. he freely admitted his guilt. and threw himself on the mercy of the court There were in all eleven H. q; t. naN Ri nd of these he was sentenced to nve years term of Imprisonment. although. in view of his age, the sentence permit
 ted him to serve them concurrentiy.'
 Further than this, sentence was sus- pended, during good behavior At the same time as the Pace trial. Fletcher Turner was accused and tried on almost identical charges. and all though many thought at the time that the facts brought out by the evidence fully justified conviction, the jury was divided and refused to convict. To other charges of a similar bearing. Turner pleaded guilty and was assess ed fines.
 Cases Against Cosbys. Two other cases attracting consider
 able attention at the same time were
 those of the Cosby brothers, both of
 whom pleaded guilty to the charge Of
 holding persons to a condition of peon- age" Both of the brothers were sent to the penitentiary in Atlanta, with
 sentences of two years Tn each case. After serving several months of their
 terms however efforts were set op foot to secure their release, and 1t being considered that the ends of the prose
 cution had been gained by their con
 viction, on tke recommendation of
 Judge Jones, they were pardoned by
 President oosevelt The pardon met with general approval of the people of Alabama.
 Several months ago. the movement
 was set on foot which secured Faces pardon yesterday. Petitions. signed by large number of the neighbors of the convicted man. were raised, and a let
 ter was secured from ex-District Att
 torney Reese. recommending that Pace
 receive the clemency of the chief exe- cutive.
 In addition to these papers should be
 mentioned a letter from Secret Agent
 Dickey. whose work in securing evil
 dence in the eonage cases. resulted in
 Faces conviction. That official sent a strong letter to Judge Jones in which
 don. He stated that the latter was
 kind hearted man who thought he was
 doing what he had a right to do, as he had known nothing of the peonage statute prior to his arrest.
 Judge Jones Recommendations. In a strong letter to Attorney Gen erdl Moody. Judge Jones lent his voice to the plea for mercy, and this, added to the efforts that were made by Con-
 gressman Wiley in Washington brought the result which was announced yes terday. The letter of Judge Jones fol. lows:
 Montgomery. Ala, Feb. 24, 1906.
 Hon.. W. H. Moody.
 Attorney General,
 Washington, D. c.
 ,or The papers in support of the Psti.
 have been handed me by the District Attorney. with his favorable recom-
 mendation thereon, and a request from views
 After the court overruled Pace's
 demurrers. raising the constitutional
 the 24th of June, 1908. pleaded guilty to eleven indictments for holding
 eleven persons in condition of
 the right to take writ of error on the law questions presented, by his demur- rers, to the Circuit Court of Appeals. The mandate of the Circuit Court of
 court until last summer. as it waited
 on the decision of the Supreme Court
 in the Clyatt case Pace in the mean
 bond. When the mandate was pre-
 scented. the District Court here, on re- quest or Faces attorney and for req
 sons stated in the order. suspended the
 execution of the mandate, that Pace might apply for pardon.
 There were some other indictments
 against Pace These were for con. liberty. etc. and some of these in. dictments were based on the case of
 persons about whom Pace was indicted
 for peonagge; in the eleven indietments agencies of proof the formation of the
 conspiracy in the conspiracy indict-
 ments was laid in different conspira- were made the subject of separate in
 dictments, although they related to att
 tempts on the liberty of the same per
 sons. In this way the number of in--
 dictments was multiplied out of all
 proportion to the number of persons
 with whom Pace actually dealt. As
 Pace steadily denied his guilt of the
 refused to plead gu,ty to them. and as the main conspirators have already
 been convicted and punished by nm prisonment In the penitentiary or in Jail and fined. and as the sentences i'm posed upon Pace in the peonage cases were deemed sufficient punishment for all the offenses charged against him, and as the proof brought out on the main conspiracy trials did not tend to show much connection of Pace with the conspirators, I will leave the con
 spiracy indictments out of further
 Nature of Pace's Crime.
 Pace began life as a hlrer of county convicts. Being long in that business:
 he grew indifferent to the rights and liberty of his fellow w-man and rocked
 h. complied with it's forms, in getting
 control of labor, In some of these
 eleven peonage cases, he hired persons
 from ronstables and town marshals,
 xryb h., did lHRallN