Means Out

Wraith of a dreadful era, Gaston Bullock Means got out of prison last week. Citizens had to tax memory heavily to recall precisely which one he was of the many crooks in the Harding administration.

Means was not involved in the Oil Scandals. The names in that were Fall and Denby, two Cabinet officers who were ousted, disgraced. Fall was tried but not convicted.

Means was not involved in the Veterans' Bureau scandal. The name in that was Forbes, whose term at Leavenworth Penitentiary ended last winter.

Means was only a witness in the Alien Property scandal. The principals in that were Daugherty, the U. S. Attorney General, and Miller, the Alien Property Custodian. Miller went to Atlantic Penitentiary. Daugherty got off by one juror's vote.

The Means crockery was only minor graft in the Department of Justice where he was lodged under Daugherty. He was convicted of taking a bribe from two culprits in a mail fraud case which the Department discovered. He was convicted of conspiring to obtain and sell Federal permits for whiskey withdrawals. He was charged with forgery of a Senator's name, but that was dropped. He served 38 months at Atlanta Penitentiary, including extra months to work off $20,000 in fines. Then he took a pauper's oath and departed, a free man, to see his 79-year-old mother in North Carolina; to begin life again with his wife and child. The wife taught school while waiting for him.