The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1918-11-29
Mooney Will Not Hang;.
Sentence Is COMMITTED
Action Taken on Thanksgiving Day by Governor Stephens;
of Observation-Disclosures Strikes Had Been threat.
ened in Behalf Of the Co ndemned Man.
SACRAMENTO, Cal, Nov. 2S.-

SACRAMENTO, Cal, NOV. 2e.--:
The sentence OF Thomas J. Mooney S
sentenced to be hanged on Decem-
Der 13, for the. deaths Of ten. per-
sons, killed by a bomb explosion in A
San Francisco during the Prepared:
ness Day parade in July, 1916, Was
commuted by Governor w. D. Steph-:. !,
ems tonight to Imprisonment for life.;;f
Court action to save Mooney from
the gallows was exhausted BY theE
prisoner; the supreme court OF the;
United States having decided it,
could not review the case. - =
Threats of national strike in..t,
case the governor did not intervene
had been made In, various parts Of
the country, and some time ago it.
was reported that President Wilson !;
had written the governor to see that Z;
Mooney suffered no injustice. I'll
trial Judge had also requested new
trial for Mooney. = ,
Governor stephens statement an
nouncing the communication. said that in:
considering the case ne had before him
the urgent appeal OF the President OF:
the United States that I grant commu-'
tation. Originally IN January or this
ynar. 7 received O letter from the prcsi-
dent asking me il Il would not y" poSs'-.
bic TO post ponc the execution dt Mooney,
until he could be tried upon Of the other
indictments against him.
"Inasmuch as an appeal already had
been taken to the supreme court or Call.
fornia. which appeal itself acted MS
s,ay of the execution. there was at that
time no occasion. for action on my part.
take il that the president was not cor
rectly informed % 10 the status s. =
case" .. -.
In explaining why he had no
called upon to act previously. the gov1
ernor said:
Tho case as presented to the Califor-
mia courts was that of murder without
further evidence of motive than the i'm
possible tcne,s Of anarchists: whose
sympathics for the German cause in the
war are we'll known. Their wild raclftst
theories fitted into trc widespread re-
t!yities Of the kaiser. agents in THIS
country.
4 number Of persons OF pronounced
anarchistic tendencies were arreTte1
shortly after The explosion and of these
Warren X. Billings was convicted and
sentenced 10 life imprisonment and
Thomas J. Mooney found guilty and SEN
tenced 10 be hanged.
so long as avenues Of ap7ea! to the
courts remainel open to Mooney and he
ayailed himself thereof. deemed it i'm
proper for executive authority 10 inter
ferc"
The statement reviews the cases fully
and quotes the two messages from Pres
idcnt Woodrow Wilson. in which the
action now taken by the governor %a1
suggested. The communication. says the
governor. reduces the cnsc to the status
OF Warren X. Billings.
IT refuse to recognize this case AS in
any fashion representing clash be-
tween capital and labor th" governor
caid. and he characterized as absurd the
prapa Snnda that would make Mooney ap-
pcar as martyr to the cause OF labor.
In support OF this statement he quotes
n letter from Alexander Berkman outiin-
ing the plan aftcrward adopted for the
Mooney campaign.
He denies that Mooney was true
(Continued on 3ACo A1ne)