The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-24

l peal to the ''moonshiners,' that appeal in which he declared that his nation wide prohibition amendment would per | init the undiSturbed manufacture of l fcuor on mans own property, has l appealed to~the residents of certain sec l tions of Marion.
 Ii is said. however, that the majority l or these are republicans.
  l, travagantlv spen. the money of the | state, he hai not gone behind the cap l itol and participated in a division of the contents of the suitcase. The public fully understood the infamous charge l intended to le conveyed, the cowardly inuendo, the false and malicious in i situations, and the public will now l understand that Laevs statement was no doubt inspired by the agreement | that in the event hc bushwhack ed me ] a favorable ear would be lent to his position for pardon in the event Conner again occupied the executive office. l "It is not difficult to suppose that l the man elected a local optionist becoming when it was politically eX- pedient so to do an ardent prohibition l ist, makes secret agreements with the i liquor interests. would hesitate to traf- l fife in the pardoning power. negotiate with a felon, and commercialize chal- acter assassination. No living man can doubt that the time of Lacy's utterance was calculated with the precision of a | time-fuse, so that the explosion would | occur at the very time when MT. Conner | knew that l expected to expose his ! record, and no living man can believe l that Lacy lent himself to Mir Corners plans, worthy of the banditti of the middle ages without a consideration 1 therefor, and no living man can doubt that the only consideration which Mr l Conner could hold out to Lacy was the hope that he would strike from him the shaclSles of a convict.
 Illusions to Gang
 i Tn every speech, circular and paid advertisement after insidiously suggest ing that l and other state officials were confederates of Lacy, Mir. Conner has eXclaimed Sweep the O'Neal gang from the capitol I take it that when he re- fers to the O'Neal gang he means the various state officers and my ap- pointees in the capitol. Why should | they be swept out from the capitol? Because of the plain suggestion which B. B. Conner has attempted to convey, I that they are unworthy and corrupt. In the name of myself and the splendid staff of state officials who administer its affairs. faithful. as honest, as efficient any set of officials who lhave occupied positions of respectabil- :
 
 of B. B. Conner his foul calumny. [ brand him tonight as a man who to 'gratify his selfish ambition would de- scend to the lowest depths of islander and falshood. The poison dart of slan der which he and Theodore Lacy hurl at my breast falls harmless at my feet. The tale is too thin; its purpose too trans parent
 | He says it is a fight of Conner and | anti-Comer. I challenge the statement It is a fight of decency, honesty, pat riCtism on one side against demagogery, I clamor and selfish interests on the oth- CT, lead by B. B. Conner. With those who have robbed the state, in the hope l that he might coin their crime into political capital; with Lacy and Oakley and other co-conspiriators, with assas sins of private character, with Horace Hood and Journalistic thugs of his type. | he has taken his stand, and there he will stay, the object of public pity and contempt. Not one word of abhorrence or indignation at the crime of Oakley and Lacy ever fell from his lips. If our positions had been reversed, If he was the governor of Alabama and I can didate for the succession, if he, like myself, was uaing all the powers of his office to vindicate the demands of out ragged justice, I would have asked that the clamor of political faction be hushed. and I would have been the firsl to have invoked in his support the CO., operation of every law abiding citizen in the state
 Previous Embezzlement
 T would have said the fair name of Alabama Is involved the supremacy of the law threatened, and the burning ques- ton was whether men who had held nigh office betrayed their trust and robbed the state could through personal or p.- 1 htical influence or power escape punish ment for their crime. MT. Conner, how ever, prefers to rejoice that into the off cial life of Alabama thievery has crept. l Passing blindly over the fact of the enl- bezzlement in the educational department | which took place during his administra- ton, and remaining undiscovered until it was disclosed by my examiners. l have Nttempted to make no political capital out If that fact nor have I ever attempted to insinuate that he personally had any connection with it, nor have I ever sought alliance with convicted thieves and venal editors to advance my political for tunes or to besmirch the character oi any political opponent. I suppose though that I might have different outlcol
 upon life and upon men if l had piled dollar upon dollar wrung from the laboi of little children Such a course of con. duct would naturally atrophy the mora nature and destroy every altruistic sentl- ment of the human heart. The plans. o' which Lacy'S statement was the culmi' nation, will come to naught, for not only am l speaking here this evening, but am supported by that vast public senti
 ment of the state of Alabama whose citi
 zens are too broad, and too fair, and to, brave, independent of political conncc tions to indorse so cowardly method of attack. and I shall not falter in thS face of this or any subsequent islander which their malicious ingenuity may con
 cock in the steady prosecution of thu remaining cases against Lacy and Oaklc, | or of any other cases that the evidenc,
 may develop against them or any othe'
 party whosoever he may be-.
 Free as I am from the cowardic,
 which follows a consciousness of guilt I shall fearlessly tread the rugged patti marked out by duty. All the damnab,,
 schemes of personal or political eneme l to defame my character will come {,
 naught for I am defended by the i'm
 penetrable armour of truth and iustc'
 and innocence. against which the poiso,
 shafts nf slander will be hurled in vain Tskes Tin Governor Conner
 Following the governors arraignmen
 O. Sheriff Hood and his reference t , the alleged conspiracy, in which he de .clared that MT. Conner was the rim
 leader, the chief execuuve launched int
 the main part of his speech. first talk , ing up the former governors claims fo , nomination. He declared that has beel seeking to gain votes by making his ad 7 ministration the target of abuse. During all this time have been slen |, while MT. Conner has stalked over tn state seeking to gain votes by makini Imy administration the target of hi ! abuse and misrepresentation. cheered oI