The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-30
Capitol Officials Say That
Friends Keep Lacy Ad-
vised of Every Move
FILLS AUTHORITIES
WITH DETERMINATION
Think Absconding Clerk Is Hurried
From One Place to Another in
County to Avoid Pursuit
of Officers
Nv l.. s. RETTY

Dy >.
Montgomery, May 2s.-tspecial)-After
several months of fruitless search for
Theodore Lacy, defaulting chief clerk of
the state convict department, with the
air occasionally alive with rumors of mis-
capture. followed by reports of miracu-
lous and hair-brealth escapes, all specu-
lation, opinion and belief have now fixed
upon one firm conviction-that if Lacy is
caught he will not be caught in Dallas
county. and vice versa, If he wishes to
evade capture he had better remain in
Dallas county.
This, in short, is the opinion held by
practically all capitol officials Montgon-
cry county police officers, detectives and
others Interested n the absconding chief
clerks movements since his disappear
ance early in March with nearly 100000
of the states money in his possession.
In Hiding in Dallas
Lacy is believed to be in hiding in
Dallas county, or if not in that county,
Dallas county, where loyalty to Lacy
is stronger than patriotism or state pride.
In other words, there are few people who
do not incline to the opinion that Lacy
is being protected by friends; that he is
being harbored within a few miles of the
state capitol; and that the movements
and operations of detectives employed by
the governor to capture Lacy are being
watched no less carefully by the object
of their search than by a large number
of people of Dallas county
Dozens of Rumors
During the past two months there have
been dozens of rumors concerning Lacys
whereabouts, and most of the rumors
have been to the effect that he was in
Dallas county. Other reports have been
to the effect that friends of Lacy were
endeavoring to negotiate with the gov
ernor and other high state officials with
view to securing a pardon for Lacy
In the event he returned part of the
money which he had stolen. OF late these
rumors have been of a most persistent
nature, and many people have believed
them But whether or not these rumors
are true. they have served the purpose
of convincing many people that Lacy is in
Dallas county, and that friends of Lacy
could at any moment point to the identi-
cal spot In Wnlcn tne aDScOnulng clerk
is in hiding
Such is the situation. Governor O'Neal
and officials are exerting every possible
means at their disposal to capture the
man who stole fortune from the state.
The governor has spent much of the
states money, including a part of his
own contingent fund, to place the alb
sconder behind the bars, yet his efforts
and the efforts of the detectives whom
he has employed are believed to have
been thwarted at every turn by the friends
of Lacy.
Expects to Capture Him
The governor expects to capture Lacy
and the few recent defeats which his
officers have met with have only served
to make him the more determined. Dallas
county has been secured from one end
to the other in the tireless search for
the absconding clerk, yet the quarry has
each time succeeded in evading his pur-
suers, throwing them off the scent, as
1t were, and turning up. the following
day in another harbor of refuge, accord
ing to rumor.
Yet Lacy may not be in Dallas county
All stories concerning his presence in
Dallas county may be entirely mythical
for he may be in Australia, in China,
or in the wilds of Africa. But people
do not believe 1t. They declare that
the man who had sense enough to make
a getaway with 100000 has sense enough
to avoid capture. and they believe that in
Dallas county Lacy has found his safest
harbor.