The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-05
WHY HIGDON MAKES 50 MANY ARRESTS Hefin Says Sheriff Gets 50 for
 Each One BIG MONEY DURING STRIKE Solicitor Says Sheriff Collected Money Without Authority of Law-Nol
 Pressed Cases Because of
 No Evidence.
iIG MONEY DURING STRIKE

To the Editor of The Age-Herald: In 2. published interview in The Age Herald last Saturday, November 2S, Sheriff .Higdon said that large number of the strike cases for grave offenses had been
 nolle pressed in the criminal court. Be-
 lieving that this assertion was intended as
 a criticism of my official conduct with reference to those cases I deem 1t my duty to tell the public that the records of 1 the criminal court dlsprove that state
 ment of the sheriff.
 The court records show that no felony
 or other case of serious character grow
 ing out of the recent coal miners strike, i has been mol pressed. One of the cases
 of this latter class is now being tried,
 and the others remain on the docket, and
 will be tried later.
 The cases which were mol pressed, some
 400 or 800 in number, were all misde-
 meanors; and l assume my share of the
 responsibility for their being thrown out
 of court. I recommended that they be mol l pressed, and Judge Daniel A. Greene l senior judge of the criminal court, en- 1 tered the orders dsposing of them in that l way For the information of the public l I will say that cases are mol pressed by
 the judge, at the request of the solicitor and not by the solicitor alone. as many l people seem to think.
 | Does the public believe that Judge 1 Greene would have allowed those cases to be stricken from the docket had they been for grave offenses, fragrant viola l tions, as the sheriff charges.
 Sheriff Higdon is paid fees for his serv- ] ices, and, therefore, he has a pecuniary l interest in every arrest that he or his deputies make and in every case brought 1 into the criminal court. Let me ask, is the sheriff in a position to pass fairly and without bias on question of whether cases should be mol pressed or not? could 1 he, if he honestly tried to do so, decide that question as well as Judge Greene l and myself? Both Judge Greene and receive salaries for our services as pub lie officials, and, therefore, could not have any pecuniary interest in the final dis position of any case. Our pay is neither increased nor diminished by convictions or acquittals We, therefore, are in a posi- ton to act honestly and fairly on all matters coming before the court, and M
 warped or blinded by any selfish interest The article of Sheriff EIigdon, in part is as follows:
 '',rhe wholesale nolle pressing of the strike cases appears as a bit too strenu- 1 ous for me. There were a great many of the cases which undoubtedly should have been nole pressed, especially in cases where men had sworn out warrants against each other for petty offenses as the result of spite, and the solicitor ap- parently acted wise in not prosecuting them. thus saving the county great ex- pense.
 '"rhere were many fragrant violations, however. which were nolle pressed. For
 instance, the Il negroes who were cap tured at Adamsville on the night follow
 ing the morning of the second attack on
 a train at the Jefferson tunel. We could only place small charge against them on this arrest, but there was stronger
 evidence to be brought out. which we be-
 lieve would have resulted in their indict-
 ment on further charges. But despite the
 graveness of their offenses, their eases
 were nolle pressed"
 
 view makes the statement that many of the strike cases for grave offenses, fla
 grant violations of law, were mol pressed. But he fails to offer any evidence to. sustain that statement. He cites but one instance, namely, the case against the Il negroes arrested at Adamsville, and ad- mits that the charge asSnst them was only minor offense. For he says: we could only place a small charge against tban1 on This arrest. That charge was
 an unlawful assembly,"
 There were no other cases in court against those Il negroes. Every man in
 Jefferson county knows (unless Sheriff Higdon is exception), that case must
 necessarily be pending in court before 1t
 can be mol pressed. Therefore. it follows
 that one case only was mol pressed
 against those negroes, and 1t was the
 one above mentioned, which he admits
 was only for a minor charge.
 Under the facts, as shown by the rec
 ords of the criminal court how could
 Sheriff Higdon truthfully say But de-
 spite the graveness of their offenses their
 cases were nolle prossed.''
 After the strike was over Captain Frank S. White, attorney for the strikers, and MT. Walker Percy, MT. John Tillman, MT. Watts, and other law yers representing the different compan- ies, presented to Judge Greene and myself a list or the mlSdemeanOr Strlke cases that both sides desired to have mol pros sed Judge Greene and I finally decided that under the circumstances, it would be best to let them go off the docket. As the strike was ended, we felt that the prosecution of those petty cases would tend to widen the breech between capital and labor and the mol pressing of them would tend to bring about a better feel ing between the companies and their em- ployees. We knew also that In most cases no convictions could be had as they were prosecutions; and the sum- moning of witnesses, setting and continu- ing the cases from time to time in at tempting to have them tried, would be a great and useless expense to the county as they would finally have had to be mol. pressed.
 Why Is Sheriff Higdon dissatisfied? Did he wish those misdemeanor strike cases to be kept on the docket, and set down for trial again, and again, that he could summon witnesses, and make addi- tional fees? Or is he sore because those cases were mol pressed without requiring the sheriff's fees to be paid by the de- fendants? What does the public think about that? Had his fees been thus col- lected, and handed over to him in cash would he have complained then that the cases ought not to have been mol pressed? Would any murmer of censure have per- colated through his lips? (Maybe so, but I doubt it)
 Sheriff Higdon ought to be satisfied with the cash money he has already got