The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1939-01-20
TOM MOONEY FREE
AFTER SERVING u
YEARS in PRISON
Gov. Culbert L. Olson, Less Than A
Week In Office, Frees Mooney,
Saying He Never Was Guilty.

Week In Office, Frees Mooney,
Saying He Never Was Guilty.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS) Thomas
j. Mooney is free; free by the act of
the fifth governor of California who
has dealt with his case. Gov W. d.
Stephens commuted Moneys death
sentence to life Imprisonment, at the
request of President Woodrow Wilson.
Governors c. G. Young, James Rolph
and Frank Merriam refused to pardon,
the last excusing his inaction on the
ground that Mooney was still appeal
ing to the courts. But Gov Culbert l..
Olson, less than week in office, freed
the man who had been in prison nearly
% years on the simple ground that he
never was guilty of the crime charged
Fight for Billings to Continue
At the end of the brief hearing in
the assembly chamber at Sacramento
Governor Olson said:
Il have signed and / now hand you
Tom Mooney, this final and uncondi-
tional pardon. | now instruct Warden
Smith to release you to the freedom
which | expect you to exercise with
the high ideals l have tried to indi-
cate."
The Tom Mooney Molders' Defense
Committee announced that it woulC
work to free Warren K. Billings, con
victed with Mooney and now serving
life term in Folsom Prison. Gov.
ernor Olson is not free to pardon Bill.
lings, as Billings has prior convic-
tion against him and, under California
law. the governor may not act under 3
pardon application for him unless it is
recommended by the State Supreme
Court. The court has consistently
ruled against both prisoners for many
years.
Case Began in 1916
July %, 1916, the business men Of
San Francisco were holding a Pre-
paredness Day parade As the parade
passed through Market Street near
| Stewart Street, bomb was thrown
killing 10 persons and wounding 40
| Some days later, both Mooney and Bill
lings were arrested and charged with
the bombing; but were tried sep
arately. Mooney relied on a news pho
tograph, which showed him and hi:
wife on the roof of large building
nearly mile from the bombing, anc
barely two minutes from the time thu
explosion occurred.
Against this, two witnesses, JOIN
Macdonald, waiter, and Frank G
Oxman, an alleged cattleman, swor'
that they saw Mooney at the site o
the killing He was convicted, anC
sentenced to be hanged. Presiden
Wilson did not believe him guilty; hi
plea got the sentence commuted to lif
Imprisonment; and the 20-year battl
Tor Tom Mooney began.
Evidence Shown False
Piece by piece, the evidence agains
Mooney was pulled away. The sta
witness, Oxman, was identified a
being across the bay in Oakland whe
the bomb exploded; and he wrote
letter to an old pal in the Middl
West, telling him to come out to Sa
Francisco and get some easy none
by identifying somebody that the pc
lice wanted to get" John MacDor
aid. believing himself to be on hi
, deathbed, confessed that he had lie
at police orders.
The Judge who sentenced Moone
: urged that he be given a new tria
and really quit the bench and devote
years of his life to freeing Moone.
Jurors asked for pardon, and the as
sistant prosecutor, Matheson, did tn
J same
Courts Deny Relief
The United States Supreme Cou1
| has refused review twice and
habeas corpus three times. The stat
courts have been adamant. Gov. 0
son had telephone call from Jude
McNutt, saying that he had eviden'
available showing that police author
ties and one private detective wel
watching Mooney every minute Il
day of the explosion and knew th
ne could not be guilty.
;, Mooney was Sin bad" with the p