THE JUDICIARY: Reckoning Day

It was the moment Henry Blackmer had put off for 25 years. His fists clenched, the half-blind, old oil millionaire last week stood up for sentencing in a Denver courtroom. The man who fled to France in 1924 to avoid questioning in the Teapot Dome oil scandal had voluntarily flown home seven weeks before to face perjury charges on his income tax (TIME, Oct. 3). The court agreed with the U.S. attorney that the evidence was perhaps too weak to support the charges, agreed too with a doctor’s report that “any substantial period of confinement” would cause Henry Blackmer’s death.

“Therefore, I do not believe the ends of justice would be served by sentencing the defendant to jail,” said the judge. Instead he fined Blackmer $20,000. Blackmer’s attorney whipped out two $10,000 cashier’s checks, drawn on a New York bank, and paid the fine. Old Henry Blackmer walked out of the courtroom, a free man—not exactly vindicated, but at least paid up.