The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-11-09
o'NEAL's LETTER ON LACEY

From the montgomery Advertiser.
The public letter of ex-Gov Emmett O'Neal
declining to indorse the application of Theo
Lacey, the embezzler of the funds of the con-
Wet department, for parole, is manly and
straightforward; this last incident again en-
phasizes the cruel injustice of the ISLANDERS
aimed at Governor O'Neal in that time of Bit
ter and partisan hatred.
Nobody who knew Governor O'Nea we'll ever
entertained the slightest doubt of his integ-
rity. No man who knew him and his high stand
ards of rectitude would have ever entertained
for moment suspicion that he would touch
a dishonest dollar The looters of the funds of
the convict department could not have brought
forward enough evidence to have made the per-
sonal friends of Governor ONeal believe for
moment that he would consent to or counte-
nance a single act of dishonesty by any men,
Der of the official family of the state if he
knew of it. In the days when the Lacey scam
dial was new and when INSCRIPTIONS politicians
were whispering in back halls and stairways,
it was a common saying among the men who
knew the governor, "It's an outrageous under
hand attack by people who would not face him,
one of the most straightforward and honorable
men in all financial affairs in the state"
When Theo Lacey returned from his flight TO
give himself up voluntarily and face the music,
he alienated thousands of good citizens who
believed he was the scapegrace in the footing
of the convict department, by making false
and vicious charge that Governor O'Neal had
benefited indirectly in financial way from
the shortage. The general and vague State
ment of Lacey was SO vicious and so palpably
false that the Advertiser refused to publish
it at the time. The unfortunate man who had
become criminal and who, for reasons of his
own, had consented to bear the whole burden
of his crime for the protection of his fellow
criminals if he had any, also gained his own
consent to brutally malign the who had
been his friend and benefactor.
This baseless charge was the climax of the
offending of the weak-wied chief clerk, who
had been led into crime, as he claims, by
stronger wills-this attack without scintilla
of evidence upon upright official 1t was
an error only less grave than his offense in
aiding in the embezzement of the states
money. By it he made his own fate much
harder, and increased the heaviness of the bur-
den which he had assumed
This creul and unjust attack was eagerly
seized upon by the political opponents of the
governor, and as we have said, it was a period
of intense bitterness. Mems Judgment had
been warped by partisanship and bitterness,
and the governor of Alabama was being ma
ligned as no other man in our times had been
slandered.
The baseless charges of Lacey were covertly
given as excuses for the persecution and pur-
suit of Governor O'Neal by a partisan legis-
lature. No other governor ever had his of
ficial acts and the written record of his ad-
,;e+~ oil
lative committee delved into the O'Neal ad-
mnistration to carry out its purpose ''to get
O'Nea" They did not get him, because there
was nothing for which he could be got. Not
one shred of evidence was found that there
had been any wrong doing, or that he knowing
ly tolerated any wrong doing. Even as Lacey
had nothing to substantiate his attack on the
governor, the legislative committee could find
nothing wrong in the record of the executive,
though it examined his official acts with
magnfying glass.
Governor Kilby's public statement in con-
nection with the latest chapter of this unfo--
tunate affair does credit to his spirit of fair
ness and generosity. He andSiovernor ONeal,
it might be said, have been lifelong politi-
cal opponents. In 20 years they have not been
on the same side in a political contest in Ala
bama Yet, Governor Kilby felt that it was
only fairness and justice for him to go out of
his way and make premature statement that
Theo Lacey now admitted that his charge
against Governor O'Neal was false and that
he deeply regretted that particular error into
which his il-will had led him. The latest state
ment, by Governor Kilby and by Lacey does
only tardy justice to greatly maligned man.
and they are the closing chapter of political
controversy which, we trust, will never again
be duplicated in Alabama. M
MONEY IN CANDY
From The Detroit News.