The Case of Thomas. Mooney The release of -Thomas- Mooney
from Sacramento Gaol can hardly right the wrong which has been done to him ; but Governor Olsen has at least done-his best to end the judicial scandal which has disgraced the State of California for twenty- two years. It is to be hoped that he will now pardon alio Warren K. Billings, condemned to life imprisonment, with equal injustice, at the same time that Mooney was condemned to death. Arrested in 1916, the two men were " framed " and condemned on the testimony of witnesses who later confessed to perjury and police officials who confessed to intimidation and manufacturing evidence. The frame-up was completely exposed by the commission ordered by President Wilson ; but neither the Federal Government nor the judiciary could intervene so long as the Supreme Court of California refused a retrial. Mooney was imprisoned for twenty-two years, though his innocence was•proved, because he was a Socialist.. The perjurers and officials who framed him are long since dead ; Mooney,• fortunately, is still an active and vigorous man, who has won the sympathy of millions of men and women all over the world. Truth does sometimes prevail, even after twenty-two years. But though Mooney is free, Sacco and Vanzetti are 'dead, and the Scottsboro' boys still in prison. It is to be hoped that Governor Olsen will find imitators who will redress this wrong that still stains American democracy.
Previous page
