The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-27
Way0y- Elect r. ?. O'BYien
 AnsheYs Attack Or HundIey
Claims Men Who Are Now Opposing Him Are On Record As Having Formerly Given Hearty Endorsement
 To His Confirmation

In reply to the recent communication published in The Age-Herald and signed by a number of well-known Birmingham lawyers, setting forth their opposition to Judge Oscar R. Hundleys confirmation, Capt. Frank P. O'Brien, Mayor-elect of Birmingham, has submitted the follow ing:
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 As an introduction to the following article to your readers, desire to offer, first the following telegram from Walker Percy, Esq.,:
 Birmingham, Ala, March 29 1907. The President:
 I have known Oscar Hundley for 20 years. He is ambitious, energetic and capable, and I believe would dispatch the business of his court, if appointed judge, speedily, efficiently and creditably. While have indorsed the application of E. D. Smith. I take pleasure in testify ing to Hundley's fitness and capacity.
 WALKER PERCY, Attorney Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail-
 road company.
 There has appeared in your columns
 
 of recent date the proceedings of a meeting by a minority proportion of the bar, in which speeches were made refecting upon Judge oscar R. Hund- ley, and a resolution adopted censuring him and declaring against his confirm ation. There has also appeared an ad- dress signed by six membe CTS of the bar to the same purport
 Judge Hundley, by the very nature of things, cannot, with due propriety and with respect to the office he holds, make answer in any manner. It is well known that Judge Hundley is the hus- band of my daughter, a man whom I love as my own son; I take 1t, there fore, however judicial propriety may seal the lips of the judge, the public cannot properly censure me for present. ing this plain statement of facts.
 Judge Hundley assumed his judicial duties immediately after his appoint ment by the President. After he had served upon the bench for many months and after the bench and bar had had ample opportunity to judge of his capacity and fitness to fill this ex- alted position, his friends requested and secured an indorsement for him by the bench and bar and state officials. In this friendly work I assisted; large portion of those inducements were heret ofore published in the Birmingham press. Without taking the space requi- site to republish those names, l now present, for the information of the pub lie, statement in detail of the numbers and character of those inducements, which are now on file with the commit tee on Judiciary of the United States Senate. They are as follows:
 State Officials.
 The governor of Alabama, the lieu tenant governor, the secretary of state, the auditor the librarian of the su- preme court.
 The Judiciary of Alabama. : The chief justice and four members of the supreme court 12 judges of the circuit city and inferior courts of Jefferson county; II judges of the cir cult and other courts in the Northern Judicial district of Alabama.
 Alabama Legislature.
 Twenty-Five members of the Alabama state senate 65 members of the Ala bama house of representatives.
 The Bar of the Northern District.
 About 400 members of the bar of the Northern district, from the various counties thereof, embracing practically 90 per cent of the bar of said dis trict
 It will be remembered by the pulp lished list given out from the White House at the time the President ap- pointed Judge Hundley that these in- dorsements as to his character and fit- ness for the position by the bench and bar were many in number. As sam pie of these inducements I beg to head this article with telegram to the President from Walker Percy, Esq.
 The Southern Steel Matter.
 It seems from the remarks made by Mr. Percy, the first speaker at the meet ing of the lawyers, that Judge Hundley's conduct in the appointment of receivers for the Southern Steel company, bank rupt, was indeed and In fact the moving cause for the criticism of him. I shall not attempt to make any defense of Judge Hundley's conduct in that case for the reason that after a patient and thor ough hearing on this matter by a sub committee at stated times from February to March 21, 1908, he was fully vindicated from this and all other charges pre- ferred against him. The senators who voted favorably to report Judge Hund- ley's confirmation to the full committee were Senators Knox. Dillingham; and Clark of Arkansas, one senator alone vot- fee thereafter by a vote of seven to one to the Senate. The Senate having ad- journed without action the President again appointed Judge Hundley and upon December IA, 1908, the judiciary commit tee again, by vote of eight to one,