Pardoner's Tale

When a Governor pardons a condemned criminal, it's sometimes news; when his chauffeur does, it's usually a crime. Last week a Fulton County (Atlanta) Grand Jury, in the process of asking questions about the pardons granted by ex-Governor Eurith Dickinson Rivers, stretched a long hand to Great Neck, N.Y., hauled in Albert Chandler, Negro chauffeur lately in Rivers' service.

Charges: he "frequently went to prison camps of Fulton County with pardons already signed and asked to see prisoners whom he did not know and who did not know him. . . . Henry Wilburn was serving a life sentence for murder. . . . Wilburn said [to Chandler] the warden had $50 of his and he would be glad to pay that much. This was acceptable to Chandler." The jury reported: "Henry Wilburn, the one who was serving life for murder, is free today at a cost of $50 [paid] to the Governor's chauffeur."

How smart, ingratiating, gold-toothed Chandler got the pardons he sold remained for the jury to decide.

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