Mischievous

Whether or not Governor William W. ("Plain Bill") Brandon of Alabama had "openers"* will never be known, for at that particular moment last week a deputy sheriff and raiding party rudely interrupted the gubernatorial poker game at McQueen's Camp near Magnolia Springs, Ala. Behind the Governor's chair the intruders found a half case of whiskey, and in the room he occupied with several friends there was a suitcase which clinked and gurgled mischievously. In all, 13 quarts of mellow liquor were confiscated. The Governor and his eight companions were arrested, appearing voluntarily at jail in the morning. Each furnished a $300 bond. No one seemed to know who owned the suitcase. "Plain Bill" offered to let the raiders search his person; said he was merely an invited guest who was enjoying a little fishing by day and poker by night.

Next day, Henry Hudson, faithful Negro servant to the Governor, shouldered all the blame; pleaded guilty to the ownership of the confiscated liquor. "Henry, how could you?" said the Governor; forth with announcing that he would pardon honest Henry before retiring from his office in January.

Alabamans recalled that Governor Brandon had been elected four years ago on a platform calling for rigid enforcement of the Prohibition laws, but that in office he had pardoned many liquor violators. Then too, as everyone knows, his was the voice that boomed untiringly before the 1924 Democratic National Convention in Manhattan: "Twenty-foah votes foah Un-da-wood."

*Poker term, usually signifying a pair of Jacks or better.