The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-11-12
MASSACHUSETTS JUSTICE.

On Friday of last week, the governor
and council of Massachusetts granted a
conditional pardon to one Moses II. Wheel
or, and he was, Saturday, released from
confinement in the state prison at Charles
town. He had been in confinement nearly
eight years, convicted of crime which he
never committed, and known for five years
to have been innocent of it. In March
1867, the roof of house in Brighton was
discovered to be on fire. but was extin-
gushed with but little damage-an expen-
diture Of only thirty dollars restoring it to
a condition better than before the fire
AID, in November, Wheeler was arrested
charged with arson in setting fire to this
building. In February, 1868, his trial took
place in Cambridge, his sister and her hus-
band testifying that they had actually seen
him set fire to the house, that he was bad
man, and capable of committing such
crime while the owner of the house,
widow, who also occupied it, testified that
Wheeler actually saved the house from des-
truction, that he climbed the roof and ex-
tinguished the lire, and Wheeler, himself,
denied his guilt, telling the same story as
the owner OF the house but the fates, or
prejudice, were against him, he was con-
victed of arson, sentenced to life impris-
onment, and committed to state prison the
same month where he remained until Sat-
urday last.
Wheeler, all the time, claimed that his
conviction was the result of conspiracy,
that his sister and her husband had some
end to gain in getting him out OF the way,
and so the result proved. Five years ago,
his sister died, and, on her death bed, con-
fessed that her testimony on the trial was
fabricated and that she testified as she did
at the bidding of others and for the sole
purpose of getting her brother out of the
way. The owner of the house always be.
lieved In bis innocence, and so, we are
told, did the authorities of the prison, as,
also, the state authorities when the con-
fession of the dying woman was brought
to their attention, as it was by his friends
Immediately after her death-and yet, be-
lieviDg him to be an innocent man, he was
suffered to remain in prison five long years
more, and is now only released on con-
ditions that if he shall ever be found again
in prison, convicted of any offense against
the laws of Massachusetts,, he shall at once
be removed to state prison and serve out
the remainder of his original sentence.
That is to say, that an innocent man after
suffering the disgrace of imprisonment
more than seven years---aud five years after
only released upon the condition that If he
shall ever become Intoxicated or commit
breach of the peace, he shall again undergo
his unjust sentence Or be imprisoned for
life for a trifling misdemeanor Is this
Massachusetts justice, or is it a new way of
enforcing temperance
Early in life, Wheeler was a sailor and,
as such, had visited many of the countries
of the old world; and, later he had served,
during the rebellion, in the volunteer and
regular army of the Union, having been
both wounded and prisoner. He was the
owner of a farm of,one hundred and twenty
acres at the west, on which lived his wife
and three children from whom he has kept
the story of his. disgrace. This man has
been unjustly deprived of his liberty for
more than seven years the Massachusetts
officials have kept him IN prison for years,
knowing him to be innocent for that
length of Time, he has been deprived Of the
fruits of his labor and his family of his as
sistance in their support the state has re-
ceived for his labor an average of at least
one dollar per day, or at least some twenty
three hundred dollars he has endured the
shame and disgrace of imprisonment, and
| the stigma thereof is still attached to his
name and now ne is conditionally par
| is sent forth TO the world with the bare
sum of two dollars and eighty-three cents
the exact sum which he had in his pocket
book when he entered prison, in February,
| 1SGS-with which to reach his western
home and commence life again. This may
be law, but is 1t justice The state has
wrongfully imprisoned him and has re-
ceiyed the profits of an innocent mans la
Dor for nearly eight years, and now turns
him adrift without compromising him for
the injustice he has suffered, for his time
or his labor. This is law. Is it justice
The same kind of law and justice prevails
in Vermont and elsewhere. Ought it not
to be remedied?