The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-01
WALKER WILL
PLEAD today
FOR MOONEY
Governor RoIph Will Hear
Arguments of Mayor
for Pardon.
WALSH OPENS APPEAL
Famed Attorney Declares
That Conviction Was
Won by Perjury.
WALSH OPENS APPEAL
BY GEORGE H. BEALE
United Press STAFF Correspondent

SAN FRANCISCO. Dec. Led
by Mayor James j. Walker of New
York City, attorneys for Thomas
Mooney went before Governor
James Rolph today and demanded
pardon for the noted labol agi-
tator.
AS the hearing opened in the
rooms of the state supreme court.
a report was current that Charles
Fickert, district attorney at the
time Mooney was convicted as a
Preparedness day bomber, had ex-
pressed an opinion that Mooney
should be freed.
Walker, early for once, arrived at
the court building ten minutes be-
lore the hearing opened.
He was dressed in a morning coat
and striped trousers.
Cheer for Walker
Some five hundred people we're in
front of the building anxious to get
a look at him. 1t was with diff
Guilty that police forced a path for
him through the crowd.
Some one started a cheer for
Jimmy" and the crowd responded.
The mayor, very seriously, in con-
trast to his usual smiling self, lift
ed his derby hat and bowed with
dignity.
Inside the courtroom the mayor
paid his respects to Mrs. Mary
Mooney, 84-year-old mother of the
convicted man, and Mrs. Rena
Mooney, his wife.
Frank p Walsh, noted labor at
torney and chief counsel for
Mooney, was the first to address the
Governor.
The keynote of his talk was that
Mooney was convicted solely on
perjured testimony
Upon careful search and close
analysis of the record in the Mooney
case, we assert that without the
testimony of Frank Oman and
John Macdonald there would not
be shred of evidence even to cast
suspicion upon Thomas j. Mooney as
one of the perpetrators of the
crime" he said. And neither one
of those witnesses testified truth
fully"
Traces Pardon Effort
Walsh opened his argument by
tracing the history of efforts to win
pardon for Mooney in the fifteen
years he has been in San Quentin.
He told how Governor William
Stephens refused to grant Mooney
a hearing, how Governor Friend
Richardson passed the matter on
to Governor c. G. Young, and how
Governor Young denied the appli-
cation.
Walsh attacked Governor Young'S
statement that the cases of Mooney
and Warren K. Billings, convicted
on the same charge as Mooney, were
parallel and that both must be
guilty or innocent. Governor
Young denied MONEYS pardon plea
on this ground, after the state SUI
preme court refused to recommend
pardon for Billings.
Neither the vital witnesses who
testified in the two cases, nor the
nature and character of the evil
dence we're the same" Walsh said.
Walker Listens Closely
AS Walsh outlined the points OF
his argument, Mayor Walker list
ened gravely. Occasionally he leaned
forward and made a note at his
place at the counsel table.
Rolph and his associates sat ir
the chairs ordinarily used by the
justices of the supreme court.
Members of the mayors party
said he would demand an out and
out pardon for Mooney, scorning, as
Mooney has done, any suggestion OF
a parole.
The mayor received letter Mon
day night from Mooney in which
the convict reiterated that under
no circumstances can apply for OF
accept a parole"
An attempt by the Mooney Mold
ers Defense committee to stop pub
lication of this letter led to rumorS
that Mooney might have decided tc
ask for a parole. His attorneys
quickly denied the rumor.
Governor Rolph, who, as mayor
of San Francisco, led the Prepared
ness parade, had several courses
open to him.
He might grant Mooney a pardon
comute the sentence to time served
"a course Mooney and his counse
object tor refuse to intervene.