GEORGIA: Gene Dropped It

Governor Eugene Talmadge of Georgia, scourge of furriners,* picked up another poker and found it hot. Six men convicted of taking part in nocturnal Ku Klux Klan floggings, three of them now on the chain gang, appealed for clemency. Gene's tender heart was touched. He expressed sympathy for "misguided" floggers, admitted that he had once been one himself. Promising a public hearing on the appeal, he reportedly advised attorneys for the floggers to "have some preachers up here to speak for these men."

Preachers came, at least a score, but with few pleas for...