The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-06
(Commu JUDGE COLEMAN'S FINAL REPLY MADE TO MIR. KNOX

MT. Knoxs final reply gives some evil dence of convaleseence from the infirmity
 which so seriously threatened his equi-
 librium. He writes as one much debili- tated-a lttle hazy at times but making
 much real progress toward recovery. Since his last-the frozen and almost llle- less asp that stung it's benefactor looms
 up as strong and rugged man." Quite a change He has also discovered that
 the question upon which he so vaunted
 himself was an 'immaterial detaiT' and
 one merely expressive of the will of the
 convention" and in no sense binding upor. the legislature or to become a part of the
 constitution. This Is just what said and
 classed 1t with mint anise and cun1in,' matters of small importance as compared with matters or weight
 My reference to the particular days ot
 the official proceedings which contained full account so that others could read and see for themselves. doubtless re1resned
 his memory He repeats, however. as II speaking In an apsent-minded mood his
 reply to me just as he did before; in fact, his reply indicates to the observant or his mental condition, that his chief pur-
 pose was to enjoy the pleasure of re- beating over again that which he had so fondly handed out in his first reply. Old
 Folonius diagnosed the case of the me
 thodical mad Hamlet from the fact that he was still "harping on my daughter
 During the debate, as l stated before'
 MT Knox made the charge against me
 of having resigned one office to take higher implying an increase of salary was
 an 1nducen,ent and that I made no ob-
 lection to the raise of the salary While an incumbent on the supreme court bench His attention was called 70 tne
 Injustice of the charge. l expected nm to explain, but he did not. l was informed that the record of the proceedings had been revised. but as the charge on that had been made on the floor of the con vention I thought It was due me that the explanation be equally public. After giving him ample time tsone
 days). and seeing no indication of such
 a purpose, rose to a question of per- sonal privilege not by the grace ot MT | Knox. and read from q manuscript tn | following statement:
 believe it Is due to myself now as we are nearing the end of our delibera- l lions to remove eny wrong impressions that
 might have been made soon after this con
 yention assembled by a distinguished oeie | gate with reference to my official con- duct
 | It was stated that I resigned the ouice | of solicitor when the office wes made | saIaried one. instead of continuing the | | much larger income than the salary, in- l timating that such change induced my | resignation.
 The facts are. the legislature of 1Ss6-I
 changed the system and placed the salary l of solicitor at $30oo. l was then elected | for a term of six years, which accepted 1 In the spring of 1887. while court was in session in Walker county, and was I preeent as solicitor the Hon. A. G. Smith,
 now of Birmingham, came to court and | informed me of the creation of new | chancery division and informed me that | could get an appointment as chancellor | If I would accept the office. This agreed to do. notwithstanding the salary or the | chancellor was only s225o while that of so- l licitor was 5000 I had been solicitor | many years and was willing to accept an | office to which was attached more honor
 though less salary.
 I The bar of Alabama and the decisions | of the supreme court can determine
 whether my discharge of duties of the office of chancellor justified the ap' l pointment.
 It was also intimated in the same dis II cussion that while I vas a member ol | the supreme court the salaries of the II judges were increased and no objection | was heard from me. The facts are, tne II salaries of the supreme court judges were II raised in 18S6-7, more than two years before I succeeded to that very nlsn anu iioi'
 orable judicial position, and at no timt while I was member of the supreme
 court was there any increase of the sal ary or any movement within my knowl
 edge to effect such 9 purpose. The dis
 tinguished delegate who gave utteranct
 to the statements here referred to, IS ane
 has been my personal and political friend and know he would not Intentionally d, me a wrong I feel quite sure he actet under the influence of heated debate an' transformation of the facts, but felt l was due myself that such public utter
 ances should not go unchallengcd ant without correction.
 However many errors and short-conn irgs may have entered into my long of ficial life (and there gre many. l am no conscious that any resulted from irnprope motives or influences. The above reference are the only ones that have ever hear' of and fortunately for me the statutes O the state and the records of the cour show that they are utterly without foun dation.
 The absolutely correctness of the state
 ment was not questioned by MT kno, nor anyone else. It will be found witl the proceedings of the seventy-sixth day