The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-08-05
STATE BOARD OF PARDONS
ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH

ceny. The Star promptly and severe
ly criticised the board At the same
time it wrote to State Treasurer Lun-
ing for the documents in the case.
Mr.. Luning, probably at some ex-
ira trouble to himself, had the docv-
ments copied, and sent the Star the
copies. These copies showed that the
circuit Judge of this county had sent
letter to the board, asking that
Tucker be pardoned. They showed
that every member of the jury that
tried Tucker had signed petition
for his release. They also showed
that six other citizens of the county
had signed a petition for fuckers
pardon. and that L. N. Green, princ;-
pal attorney for the prosecution, had
sent letter protesting against said
pardon, and giving good reasons for
his protest.
The Star printed the letters, max
ing no comment. 1t left the people to
make the comments, and they surely
did.
Mr.. Ernest Amos, controller. was
in town for day. He asked the Star
to send to Tallahassee any evidence
it could find and he would try TO have
the case re-opened. Mr.. Amos, by
the way, was not at the meeting that
pardoned Tucker.
In the meantime protests began to
come in. Three jurymen and three
citizens whose names were on the
petitions declared they had not signed
them. Four sent in affidavits, which
the Star sent to the board of pardons.
The friends of the circuit court
Judge were much surprised to see
what purported to be his letter among
the pleas for fuckers pardon. In it,
he completely reversed himself. The
Judge, however, was out of town,
taking his vacation on the west coast.
Nobody knew exactly where he was.
Lawyers have habit of chasing
judges for decisions and spelling their
vacations, so this one literally took
to the tall timber, and possibly hasn't
heard about the case yet.
In another day or two came let
ter from Commissioner McRae. de-
Tending the board. In it he stated
| that Attorney Green's letter had not
been presented to the board.
Attorney Lou Green brought to the
Star a letter from the attorney gen.
erals Office, stating that the atto1>
ney general was away from Talla-
hassee, but that his (Mr. Green's)
| letter had been turned over TO the
secretary of the pardoning board.
Between the two men, the secretary
of the attorney general and the Sec
rotary of the pardoning board. there
is necessity of one clearing up the
suspicion that lies on them both. Who
mislaid the letter? IL it was done by
either from carelessness. he is not a
proper man to serve the state. II
for any other reason, he deserves
prosecution.
Wednesday, Mr.. Geo. w. Scofield,
state attorney for this circuit, came
to Ocala. bringing all the documents
submitted TO the pardoning board in
the Tucker case. He and other men
here well acquainted with the matter
pronounce them all forgeries, and
L C1uIlSy 1OTkCE1CS db tkAdL.
The six names signed to the petit
ton of the jurymen who tried Tucker
were all written by one hand. There
was not. that we can see, any attempt
to disguise it. People well acquainted
with Judge Bullock say his signature
was also a forgery.
The state board of pardons has
been asleep at the switch, particularly
the attorney generals Office. The at
torney general was not at the capital,
but the papers were in the hands of
his assistants, who were supposed to
examine them closely. IL they had
they couldn't have helped seeing
something was wrong. and telegraph
ed here for information. Mr.. Luning,
state treasurer, has plenty of excuse
for not looking closely into these mat
tiers, unless he has reason to believe
there is something wrong. Mr.. Amos
wasn't present. He told the Star
that he would probably have opposed
the pardon if he had been there
Messrs. McRae, Sheats and Crawford
and the governor probably never lock-
ed over the papers.
| IL we misrepresent any of the
gentlemen named, they can have
space to say so.
/ Now, what are the state authorities
going to do about it? They have sal
down and allowed the people to be
imposed on and the state to be made
a fool of. Tucker was released on Q
conditional pardon and his wife has
committed or been a party to the com.
mission of forgery.
The state should at once set or
foot proceedings for the apprehen.
sion and punishment of these two
confidence operators. They are prob
ably in some other state. Let the
governor offer a thousand dollar.
apiece for their apprehension. It i:
better to pay that or more than to lei
them fiim-fam the people and ther
i live out of jail to boast about it.
Il The Star doesn't want TO brag on