Witt the release from prison on Warren Billings, who, with Tom Mooney, was sentenced to death in connection with the Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco in 1916, the end has been put toa very tragic business. The conviction of Mooney was suspect from very shortly after his conviction, and. though it was proved that various of the witnesses had given perjured testimony, all that could be done was to save the lives of the men by a reprieve which meant for them imprisonment for life. Throughout the long years which ensured many attempts were made to secure the liberation of these men whose guilt was very considerably in doubt, but for one reason or another, mainly it is believed political, these men were kept behind bars, until Governor Culbert Olson at the last elections declared that one of the planks of his platform would be the liberation of Tom Mooney if he were elected to the governorship. Last year Governor Olson kept his word, and freed Mooney, who, as he emerged from prison. announced that it was his intention to devote the rest of his life to securing the liberation of Billings. Mooney received a pardon; it is probable that Billings will be similarly cleared, and what it is believed to be a grave injustice will be rectified so far as it is possible to adjust the fortunes of men who have spent over twenty years in jail. Whether they were actually guilty or innocent these two men alone really know. On the evidence produced at the original trial their conviction seemed be the only correct verdict which the jury could reach, but that evidence has been considerably blown upon, and there is sufficient evidence to show that Billings' alibi offered as a defence at the trial was a true one. It is one of the tragedies of humanity that despite all the care which is taken in civilized countries to see that the guilty are punished and the innocent left unharmed, there are miscarriages of justice. The case of Mooney and Billings appears to be one such, but it is a comforting thought that these two men have at last obtained a belated freedom which was probably wrongly denied them,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.