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Show A Pardon for Mooney If a governor ever needed an excuse to grant a pardon to a j condemned man, that excuse has been accorded Governor Stephens of California in the case of Thomas J. Mooney, sentenced to be 4 hanged December 13 for alleged participation in the bomb explo-sion explo-sion at San Francisco on July 22, 1916. Governor Stephens- has hesitated to act and unquestionably powerful influences have been V; brought to bear to prevent him saving Mooney's (neck, but the fact" J remains that the preponderance of evidence supports, as a matter of justice and light, the pardoning of Mooney. i ' Thcri.il judge, before whom 'Mooney was given a hearing 1 -and who sentenced him to death: has petitioned the governor to y grant the condemned man clemency; the attorney general ".f Cali-! Cali-! fornia has done the same; the commission appointed by .President I Vils7TnVesfTpie had been unjustly condemned, and the president has requested that I leniency be extended. All these pleas have been based upon the j assumption that Moyiey was convicted upon perjured testimony, j the fa3 of the alleged perjury not being established until after his! trwl had been concluded and his death sentence pronounced. Courts hae been powerless, because of legal technicalities, to f aid the condemned man. Hjs f.te rests entirely ith the California J governor. Against all the pleas made for Mooney. the pica ot the trial "judge, the attorney general, the presidential commission i ") 1ft? pn'iiibrH 1 " hllt fffieial voi-'e in 1 answer, that of District Attorney Pkkert of San Francisco, who has demanded that Mooney be hanged, Fickert may belionest in his belief that Mooney is giiilly, but if he was not prejudiced and not swayed by a feeling of vengeance, ... . M..1 il . J-.il. I.. ,1 II h na ii .im.i in a.imn, as a lawyer. II1AI UlC UC.im inmiti not be inflicted where there is doubt as t the defendant's guilt, or a question as to the impartiality of the defendant's triaK and surely j such doubt atd question exists in the Mooney case. Pardoning Mooney will not free tiim. There are eight more murder indictments pending against him.. AH are for the same crime and if he could be fairly convicted on one indictment, he could be convicted on all. The pardon will result only in granting Mooney a new trial. If then, after a fair hearing, he is adjudged guilty, he should Iv hanged, and the people will approve his punishment, for the crime of which he stands accused was a dastardly one. I |