New Britain herald., 1925-08-25
McCRAI AND "MULE" HICKS
\ ContraS Between the Cases of Two Conrtts Confined in Ceorpir

From thtCoumbus (Ga.) Enouir-
 cr-Sun],
 Gov. cCray, charged with forgery ai using the mails 10 SWind'c' hs convicted and sen tolcod to Srve ten years in the federal rorentiary. He defrauded people Whotrustcd him, and he made lis hin office ashicld for his !orgofics' short, the former governor of Indiana. who had won Inc faith oflls fellow citizens, de- Ilb'ra'cIy tu,od crook. When he was sentence to ten years not a voice was rahd 10 protest that the punishment ws loo severe.
 Why this "nation-wide move- ment' to obtm McCrays pardon when he has n served ono-fifth of ms deserved pson sentence?
 Wo wonder hat "NIulc" Hicks. of Georgia, thks of justice and law If he know about the case of McCray, IL wa'"MuIo" Hicks. an ignorant unoducied Negro who 12 years ago stolo alule. The value of the animal was robabIy less than $lO0. Mule" Hios was tried in a Georgia court. lc judge could have sentenced Hits for four years. or live or any nnber up to 20. twenty years is the maximum. "Mule' Hicks redvcd the maxi mum-20 years at ard labor and
 under constant thrG Of inc mur- derous lash for "MA" Hicks. the uncducatcd thicf-"MIe" Hicks the friendIcss Negro. TTqty years for stealing d mule.
 When "MuIc' HicNhad served fifteen months of his rm-served actually enough time tooay for five mules valued at $100 eal--djd any ministers of the gospelany politi- tlclanS, any governors Inner gov cTnorS, or any members f the iury "'' '" ct i"'ioh-Nluc or em a State- wide movement to obtaiia pardon for Mule" Hicks?
 Hardly; for Mule" Itks is an ignorant Negro with no loney, no friends, no political pull.
 And when 50 months hl passed, no onc-no preacher, orpolitician or governor or former g4rnor -- no one thought of Mule" ,icks the irlondless, ignorant Negro. And 60 months passed and mmths passcd-and 12O months lssed - and IA months passed md the friendlesS ignorant Negro ho had been convicted of stealingt mule had attracted the interest or inc sympathy of no one. And 'Mula" Hicks, black, friendless andienor- ant, is still in jail.
 There is more to be saida bout Mule" Hicks, the poor dev of a Negro who never had a cham hut but not just now, It is the aemnt to get d pardon for the cr,ked, grating, former governor of pdi- ana, which is under discussion-the attempt of those in high plac to prevent the law from dealing .ith q criminal who also occupied a iEh place.
 It was 60 years ago that H,rv Ward Bcccher, in the spiri,of prophecy uttered this warning
 There must not be one court or white men and another for blk men. If you are to classify. Nil cannot stop here. Now it is coh, but by and by there will be a clas. iication on account of condition all there will be laws for the rich ma and laws for the poor man, 8, peal 10 every man if he can dodg, or get rid of it."
 The words of Henry Ward Beech CT are there for those in high place, to ponder, For those who may be poor and black, or poor and white. and who have not had the oppor- unity to obtain an adequate educa- lon, already, suspect that when persons of wealth and influence con- front blind justice, so-called. she somehow manages to juggle the bandage which is supposed to bind her sight.
 And such suspicious are too dan- gerous to be confirmed, even if a tHeving former governor is forced to serve his full and deserved sen- telce.