Short of the Glory by Tracy Campbell

Author:Tracy Campbell [Campbell, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Historical
ISBN: 9780813128191
Google: nQ4Upl_9Vr0C
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2010-09-12T00:36:52+00:00

10 Ashland

In the fall of 1949, Ed Prichard lived on borrowed time. His attorneys continued to piece together his appeal, while his personal and financial affairs came unglued. Prichard lived under the cloud of knowing that if his appeal failed, a two-year prison sentence loomed. Additionally, his hefty legal fees mounted, and in time financial pressures consumed him as intensely as his fears of a long jail stay.

Prichard’s conviction on July 14 placed his entire legal career in jeopardy. Many clients took their business elsewhere, while others looked for ways out of retainers they had signed with Prichard. A week following the trial, Prichard told the City of Lexington that he was willing to rescind his contract with the city and forgo $2,500 in possible fees. Mayor Tom Mooney quickly announced that Prichard’s resignation was accepted.1

Prichard shared his growing financial woes with Thomas Corcoran. In August 1949, he wrote about the general shape of the appeal and its expenses:

Dear Tom:

… The situation here is still bad. We just had an estimate from the printer of $3,000 for printing the record. This is on top of $2,200 for the typewritten transcript and $4,000 for a handwriting expert. I have not yet received a bill from my lawyers, so do not know about that. There were other expenses, such as $ 1,500 for photographing ballots and handwriting exhibits, etc.

I managed to get hold of enough from my father to pay my income taxes and an overdraft at the bank which arose during the trial. We are now trying to collect a few fees and complete some pending business, but those matters are always problematical. You can imagine that my practice is at a virtual standstill—at best until the appeal is finally acted on. Even pending matters cannot be pressed, since I hate to appear in court under present circumstances. Indeed, Judge Swinford, who presides over the Federal Court at Covington, where I had some cases set for trial in September, took it upon himself to write my clients and instruct them to obtain other counsel.

There is a note overdue at the bank, on which I have been paying about $500 and renewing it from time to time. The bank is calling the note—which is $3,500. There is another note for $1,500 which is due today…. Could you give me some immediate word as to the lay of the land. If there is no possibility of immediate relief, then I must try elsewhere… .

As a postscript, Prichard reiterated his growing anxiety—“If you could let me know something whether good or bad, I should be immensely grateful.”2

The “lay of the land,” as Corcoran soon discovered, was not good. Corcoran had sought the help of one of Washington’s most prominent attorneys, Edward Burling, of the powerhouse firm Covington and Burling. Upon receiving Corcoran’s note for help in the Prichard appeal, Burling fired back: “I can’t see any reason in the world why I should be asked to aid Prich’s appeal.” Claiming that he had not the money to help anyway, Burling added, “I see no reason to help Prich out of capital.

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