CONVICTED OF PERJURY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 6

CONVICTED OF PERJURY

PROHIBITIONIST LEADER.

(Received 31st January, 2 p.m.) NEW YORK, 30th January. After a long-fought and bitterly contested legal battle, in /which famous counsel defended him and prominent clergy testified concerning his integrity, William Anderson,' State- Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of New York, was found guilty in the third degree of perjury, the jury deliberating on their verdict for three hours. The punishment is a maximum of five years' imprisonment. Indictments of grand larceny are still outstanding,-but it is considered certain that there will be an i appeal on the case. The defendant's counsel summoned hundreds of witnesses, including clergymen who had helped to support Anderson. Anderson's chief cry was that Prohibition's enemies had planned and successfully executed his downfall. Elderly clergymen, whom the prosecution crossexamined, declared with £ears in their eyes, after ■• strong and incontrovertible evidence against the defendant was ad-, dnced, that they would deliver their heart and soul to him.

The case opened on .the 20th July last, when the grand jury indicted W. H. Anderson on charges by a former employee of the Anti-Saloon League, that Anderson had appropriated large amounts of the,league's funds. He had been one of the most vigorous "dry" agitators in America.- '■ .