The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-06
BROWN REFUSES
 TO GIVE PARDONS Two Cases Are Turned Down
 By the Governor
  PEOPLE LIKE HIS STAND Governor Brown Declines to Heed Recommendation of Prison Com mission and Acts Upon His
 Own Initiative.

swayed from his duty to the state by po- litical influences.
 Practically every one of the dozen or more prominent and influential citizens of Thomas county and that section of south west Georgia who appeared before him to urge executive clemency for William H. Mitchell. convicted of assault and battery upon Miss Lucille Linton and sem fenced to serve 12 months on the chain gang, was his political friend Of course the application for clemency was in no sense based upon that fact, but the governor knew they were all his political and personal friends, and his ad- verse decision was made the harder to him by the fact of such knowledge Yet he performed the duty unhesitatingly as disagreeable as 1t was, and declined to interfere with the sentence of the court. Following as 1t did close upon the Mitchell case, Governor Browns decision also not to interfere with the sentence of the court in the case of Olin Pharr, former cashier of the Cir izens bank of McRae, who is , serving four years sentence for the embezzlement of s15.000, has served to entrench him still further in the pub lie estimation among those who believe that the law should be enforced regard less of conditions and influences.
 Those who presented Pharr's appeal for communication of sentence were likewise political friends of Governor Brown, but the governor took the view that he could not afford to pardon after 15 months ser vice man convicted of stealing s15,ooo.
 What an encouragement to embezzlers such pardon would bel'' Gov. Brown said in discussing the case with friends.
 There are plenty of men who would be glad to serve time in the penitentiary at the rate of $10O0 a month, and I verify believe it would prove an inducement to some to steal all they could. hide it away and, after few months Imprisonment, come out to enjoy their ill-gotten gains"
 The governor did not propose at least to make the executive a party to any such get-rich- quick schemes as pardons in cases of this class might encourage. He did not leave the inference that he thought any such thing as this had been done in the Pharr case; Pharr may not
  he took; he may have had the unques- tioned intention to make restitution when possible Still there might be in such pardon, if granted, encouragement 10 others who would take chance of getting away with the cash.
 Not with an attitude of hostility, but simply because he believed the sentences of the courts in these two cases were correct and in accord with justice, Gov ernor Brown declined to heed the recom- mendations of the prison commission, and let the sentences stand just as they were passed by the courts.
 It is an index as to what may be ex- pected in matters of this character during Governor Browns administration. That 1t will be a source of encouragement to the law-abiding and to the courts charged with the administration of the law, can not be questioned.
 CIemency cannot be bought with polit- ical influence; pardons will be granted or denied only in accordance with the ousl'ce of the case.
 Iudy;np hv the numerous letters and teleerams which Governor Brown has re- I ceiyed congratulating him upon ms acuon | in these two cases nothing which ne mas l done during his entire political career mas l SO strengthened him In statewide pupllc | opinion.
 Question of Races. Has A sheriff in charge of negro pris- | oner from whom he cannot separate hlm- self, the right to ride in passenger coach set apart in accordance witn tne law. exclusively for white passengers fn fudge James K. Hines, special attorney ! for the railroad commission, whose opln- ion has been made law through the com missions order.
 sheriff in such circumstances, Judge ' Hines holds, on the ground of the great est rood to the greatest number, must betake himself and his ebony prisoner to the negro coach, as distasteful as It may . be to the "arm of the law"
 The matter came before the railroad i commission upon the complaint of Sheriff w. w. Beard of Clay county, Georgia, who went with his negro prisoner securely l handcuffed, into the white smoker or a 1 Central passenger train on his way back | to Fort Gaines. The conductor ordered the l sheriff and his charge into the negro smoker, where they were obliged to go or l get off the train.
 l Sheriff Beard was indignant and humili-
 
 l complained to the commission. He be- l lieyed he had the right to go into the l white smoker and take his prisoner with | him. and he asked ruling from the com 1 mission.
 The matter was referred to Special At l torney Hines, who has just rendered his l opinion adverse to the Clay county sheriff; also, perhaps, to number of
 other Georgia sheriffs whose duty now and then compels them to go into other l communities to bring back fleeing crim- l inals.
 'AThis is a hard nut to crack" says Judge Hines in opening his letter to the commission. ''It presents new and un-
 expected phase of the ever-recurring race problem"
 Judge Hines quotes the code showing | the law requires railroads to furnish equal
 but separate accommodations for white
 and colored passengers, either in separate | cars or in separate compartments of the ! same car Conductors are charged with the duty of assigning passengers to the compartments in which they belong. A
 refusal to obey the conductor in this mat
 ter Is made a misdemeanor, and the con-
 ductor is clothed with power to eject such
 passengers from the train. Sleeping cars
 may accommodate both races if the con-
 pany so desires. in separate apartments.
 but they are not required to accommo-
 date colored persons at all.
 But a negro prisoner with white
 sherin. says Judge Hines. presents a new
 nrob,em. If is a violation of the letter
 of the law for a negro to ride in the white
 coach. and conversely. white person
 cannot legally ride in that assigned to the U