The Denver star., 1914-08-08
PATCHING up THE
Law IN ALABAMA
Bar Association at Birmingham
Tackles Hard Task.
NEED OF Law ENFORCEMENT

dition and Color Gives Rise to Un-
usual Action on the Part Of Southern
Jurists.
While the Bar association at Bir.
mingham, Ala. is working hard OF
ways and means to revise the court
procedure whereby standards for prac-
icing attorneys will be raised and
technicalities and financial. political
and social influence as an obstruction
to law enforcement reduced to a mini
mum, two cases are causing wide
spread comment and an increased
sentiment for judicial reform. says the
New York Evening Post in recent
issue. One Is the case of an obscure
Negro. who was sentenced to fifty
years in the penitentiary for robbing a
fellow workman Of so cents and was
paroled by the governor because of Ill
health after serving twenty years.
In striking contrast is the case of
a highly educated and widely connect
ed aristocrat who. in the capacity of a
trusted official. robbed the state of
100000, was sentenced to ten years in
the penitentiary. took an appeal and.
after six months. has not yet been
committed to state prison.
This contrast in its effect upon the
public thought and demand for more
equitable law enforcement Is strength
ened by the case of another Negro.
who. upon purely circumstantial evil
dence, has been sentenced by a county
jury FIVE times to the gallows during a
legal fight covering a period Of four
years. had his verdicts reversed and
three times by the supreme
court and is awaiting execution under
a fourth ruling of the higher tribunal.
Twenty years ago Frank Williams.
an illiterate and poverty stricken
Negro working on the road. robbed a
fellow workman of 50 cents. A Hale
county jury sentenced Williams to 6fty
years in the penitentary. He made
an excellent prisoner. having been a
trusty for eighteen yesrs. His health
gave way. and one Of the judges Of
the supreme court recommended that
he be paroled. This was recently or
dered by the governor after twenty
years of the half century sentence
was served. Williams is now sixty
Eve years old and very feeble.
Theodore Lacy, formerly chief clerk
of the state convict bureau. who
handled $2.OOO.OOO year of the states
revenue derived from the system OF
leasing convicts to coal mines and tur-
pentine camps, was sentenced to ten
years in the penitentiary for stealing
100000 Of the state's funds. Lacy IL
grandson of the late United States
Senator Edmund w. Pettus Of Ala
bama. of Confederate fape as a gen.
eral and political idol in Alabama.
For while Lacy lived high. Every
body like him. His convival tempera-
ment caused him to run short in his
accounts. Then he collected 100000
in cash from the Montgomery banks
on checks signed by the president Of
the convict board. packed the money
in suitcases and fed. For six months
the state tried in vain to apprehend
him and spent $4,000 in the work.
Suddenly one night Lacy rolled into
Montgomery in n high power motorcar.
surrendered to the sheriff and an
nounced that he had returned to "face
the music" When arraigned he plead
ed that he had been promised a light
sentence. possibly pardon, II he
would return and make deal for
restoration of the money. No part Of
1t has ever been recovered. Lacy was
visited in Jail by stream of prominent
people and loaded down with floral
tributes and table delicacies. After
sensational trial he was sentenced to
ten years In the penitentiary, but an
appeal to the supreme court has been
pending for months. and 80 far he has
notserved day.
The case of Erwin Pope. Negro who
was convicted of numbering white
man on the testimony of a blacksmith
who declared the peculiar marks III
the mud from the shoe Of mule coin
cided exactly with unusual dents he
made in shoeing Pope's animal. II wide
" cited in contrast with Lacy's trial.
Pope has been sentenced to death f1ve
times by the county court Three
times the supreme court reversed the
vcrdicts. and once its own ruling. final
ly confirming the death sentence. Ap-
peal proceedings are again pending.
and the case is going over into its hfth
year.
Contrasts between these cases repre-
senting obscurity and poverty az well
~ race on the one side and afauence
and aristocratic family connections on
the other have largely increased the.
force Of public sentiment in it, de-
mands for revision Of the court pro
cedure OF the state and more equitable
and uniform systems Of law enforce
ment Some of the legal profession
and politically active elements under