The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1876-10-13
An Application for Pardon,
and the Ground Thereof.

W = ho - pNNh W iNll
the following copy of an applica,
cation said to have been sent to
Governor Porter, for pardon. The
document explains itself:
"KNoXvILLE, Tenn, Oct. 3, 1876,
To his Ezccllency, James d. Porter,
Governor Of Tennessee:
SIR am an humble and un-
fortunate citizen of Tennessee,
and a Democrat. From my infancy
| have been taught to admire the
leaders of the Democratic party,
and especially those high in au-
thority. All the lessons of my
| life had taught me that the Gov
ernor of a State would demean
| himself as became a gentleman;
and do no act unworthy of pa
triotic citizen, taking as an exam
pie worthy of imitation. As |
have said, II am a Democrat"
And it would be useless for one
to say that all good Democrats"
have prided themselves in your
Excellency, ever ready to declare
that your "acts are worthy of all
acception and imitation" So you
see, | read your "Ben Aqua"
speech, and it just so happened
that a neighbor Of mine, one John
johnson, had said that las be
tween sheep and the dogs, he was
for sheep; but as between the
dogs and Democrats, he was for
the dogs" OF course | sought
an opportunity to denounce him
for this utterance.a True, he had
said it in a private place, and in a
jocular sense, but my Democrat
ic heart was big with wrath-too
full for utterance. | reflected
much as to what course | should
pursue, as Johnson was a bigger
man than ! am, and he carried a
large walking-cane. In the course
Of inc, however, read an ac-
count of your controversy" with
Thomas at Shelbyville. Tat once
saw my way clear. / knew the
! Governor of the State was sworn
to faithfully execute the laws"
and that although Judges had
told the Juries that no citizen had
Il right to carry pistol secreted
about his person, still they were
only trying to fool somebody, or
have such fools themselves as to
believe the right Of the people to
carry pistols had been taken
away, and thus one of the very
strongest Democratic arguments
destroyed, for Of course you, the
Governor, would not violate the
law--I say Of course not. sup
pose the pistol law applied only
to niggers and Radicals. Having
as ! have said, read an account of
what you 'said" and "did" at
Shelbyville, at once procured
me good pistol. and proceeded
to hunt up the aforesaid John
Johnson" and denounced him
as infamous" for making the |
aforesaid remark about the Dem
ocrats and dogs. He tried to ex-
plain out Of the matter. But, as
you would naturally suppose, this |
made me press him the harder
Finally, after | refused to accept !
his explanation, he grew impa
tient and said my STRUCTURES were
maliciously false" whereupon of
course | told him he was liar"
at which she reached for his
walking-c -cane," and drew my
pistol from my overcoat pocket"
and told him ''if he struck me
with his stick" batted an eye, or
made another violent gesture, |
would "shoot him on the spot"
And for this sir, have been in
dicted in a Radical court, tried by
a Radical Judge, and convicted
by Il Radical jury: and here | am,
in a Democratic work -house-for
carrying a pistol. And to add in
tensity to the punishment here,
the officers and Radicals, thus vi
olating our right of majority TO
rule-lor we Demo convicts are
in majority.
Now, insist they have no more
right to punish me in this matter,
than they have to punish your
Excellcncy for carrying the pistol
with which you vindicated the
Democratic party, and your own
personal honor from the unwar
ranted attack ofThomas, and with
which, of course, you intend. to
make Ethridge submit to be ''de-
nounced as Infamous" when you
90 to Memphis for that purpose.
OF course you would not have Vi
olated the law by carrying q pis-
tol; and of course | would not
have thought of carrying pistol
with which to answer these argu.
ments against the cherished
character Of my party, if | had not
followed you example. !,
In consideration Of the premi-
ses, ] now ask that your Excellen-
cy entend to me that clemency
that is so fully foreshadowed by
your own conduct, by granting
me an unconditional pardon. so !
may be at the election to bully
niggers and to bribe mean white
men, and thus contribute toswell
the vote for Tilden, Porter, and
reform. Yours in great hope.