Chief Askew's Diary: May 1, 1930

Ben Moseley sentenced to chain gang; Hoover says depression is almost over

News came back from Carrollton today that Judge Rook had ordered Ben Moseley Jr. to serve the rest of his suspended sentence on the Coweta County chain gang, and Chief Askew suspected he would be “taken out sometime to-day.” Supposedly his leg was healed from where he accidentally shot himself while drunk at the Mann Hosiery Company plant.

Meanwhile, President Herbert Hoover assured a group of American businessmen that the worst of the economic downturn that began the previous fall had passed.

He was overly optimistic.

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This 1930 photo of Herbert Hoover, with First Lady Lou Hoover at his side, is from the collection of the Library of Congress, accessed via Wikimedia Commons.