"Mountain justice" as it is practiced in Alabama can certainly work in favor of the criminal element.

Particularly does it favor the convicted

man if he can escape the "cruel jaws" of the law in this state and work his way northward.

The law is practiced in such an exemplary fashion in the state of Ohio that a judge there let an escaped Alabama convict go "a free man" at an extradition hearing.

He was freed simply because the "unbiased" judge said he had heard of our "mountain justice" down here.

The prisoner stood before the bar in Ohio after he made good his escape from a work crew near Montgomery and had worked his way north, to take up residence in the Buckeye State.

That was where he was found and arrested some time later, and law enforcement officials from Alabama were dispatched to return the offender to our penal system.

As indicated earlier, the lawmen came up empty, after having spent a number of dollars on the futile expedition.

Now, you don't reckon that judge up there could have been guilty of listening to hearsay evidence, do you?

Such practitioners of jurisprudence as exemplified in this segment of the Ohio judiciary do nothing to disencumber a thinking man's mind of the fickle nature that is man's.

Law as it is practiced "up nawth" leaves much to be desired by those in the know amongst lawgivers nationwide.

This particular judge may make his decision on the flimsy reports and popular opinions of his Midwestern fellows, but this is wherein we differ.

"We", in this case refers directly to your Greenville legal fraternity.

(Note: This item was printed in The Advocate under the column titled Chamber Music and is reprinted today for the benefit of our readers.)