The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-01-23
Texa.-Faets and F ane,e..

D. u. hipp- IOOOeu tne OIluQ organ
grinder at Richmond. The paper
thinks he was drunk at the time, but
he now repineth within damp and
cold prison walls.
The newspapers are sll publishing
the story that a fourteen-year-old boy
bullied Brown Bowen, VINO died not
long ago from hempen' d;phtheria, and
drove him out of Gonzales with an
empty horse pistol. Yves. Hardin says
b. b. was an awful coward, and yet he
was the terror of every community in
which he lived. There is no mistake
about HsrdIn's pluck.
Judge Flemming says that in Ste
phens, Young and Eastlsnd counties
there are coal beds FIVE and a half and
six feet in thickness. The whole
population of that district of Texas
seek access to Austin with which city
they desire to trade, and because it is
on their nearest route to the Gulf.
The newspapers of Colorado say they
must get to the sea through Austin,
their attention to this city having been
attracted by the discussion of the mar
row gauge railway question, and now
bill is before Congress to build a
road from Austin to the Pacific coast.
Austin will yet be a worthy capital of
the great commonwealth.
The Dallas Commercials Austin let
ter says sit is strongly asserted by those
who at least pretend to know, that
our efficient Adjutant Central, w. G..
Steele, whose history the people OF
Texas well know, he having had g
brigadier generals commission in the
United States army, which, at the
commencement of the late war, he re-
signed and took up his sword in de-
Tense of his brethren of the South, il
to be decapitated, and one of his SUBJ
ordinate officers, Major John B. Jones,
of the frontier battalion. made his sue
cessor. 1t seems that Coke names al
the officers of the Governor elect,
though Others say that Gen. Walter
Lane, one of s. Ii. Russell's deputies
is to receive the appointment above
mentioned. 1t is hard to tell at THU
stage of the game to what party some
politicians belong, especially when the
loaves and fishes are in full view"
The Austin correspondent: of the
Dallas Commercial inaugurates the wal
to be vigorously prosecuted, it is said,
against Governor Roberts. The secre
of this animosity to his excellency will
be developed sooner or later. But VT
give his story as we have heard it Oh
the streets and as now printed il
the Commercial BY the way tn,
editor-in-chief of the Commercial is
IN Austin, but we can hardly be
lieve that he wrote az follows
''It looks to your correspondent as L
Governor-elect Roberts was already
driving every peg to hang his hat il
the United States Senate, vice Maxey
On the authority of a State Senate
now serving his second term, we affirm
that Roberts faithfully promised tn
Office of Assistant Attorney General Il
Chenoweth, of Fannin, only to breal
his plighted faith in that regard b,
giving said office to Ball, of Jack
and all this, too, upon the pltiful PIE,
that he, at the time of his promise, die
not think there would be SO many ap
plicants for the Office"
The report just issued from the offic
of the Secretary of State shows that
during the two years ending Decembe
1, 1878, executive clemency has bee
extended to not less than 1856 individ
uals, all of whom, in due form of law
had been convicted of crime. OF thes
objects of executive clemency t10.ha,
been sentenced for theft, 90 for muir
der, 3 for manslaughter, for bigamy
16 for assault with intent to murder
for ENFORCEMENT, 1 for illegal vot
ing, for swindling, for rape,
for robbery, , for burglary,
for forgery, l for rescuing
prisoner, 2 for threatening huma
life, 1 for counterfeiting and 1 for al
son. Tie same report shows that dul
ing the same period the Governor ha
remitted, besides sums left in blank
of fines and forfeitures the moderat
aggregate of \$43, 3O3.50. All thi
shows that the scale of justice is nc
always kept evenlN poised between SC
I ciiety Erdd-parties accused -of-cEime
that courts and Jur1es lean too strong
ly against the poor, helpless, unfortu
nate ones arraigned before them; an
that Texas needs, as a prelude to il
millennium, a society for the protectio
of criminals against the rigor and cru
city of judges and juries. Either thi
or the goodness of heart of the Cove
nor.
The San Antonio Express, speakin
as it does for West Texas, says of til
conduct of the Adjutant Generals Of
fee: "Gen. Steele has given his enel
} gies and his best efforts to the caus
, OF order and law in the va!
territory exposed to the raids of Ind
ans and subject to the sway of VIC
lence and lawlessness in the persons {
transient outlaws and fugitives frol
other portions of Texas, and frol
, other States and the territories, to th
unlnhabited districts of the lsrg
border counties. In ferreting OF
these desperate felons and riddin,
the country of their presence, he hal
, in conjunction with his able and az
tive subalterns of the frontier battalio
and the ranger force, established sy;
! tenn which has given relief to the pei
| pie and assisted materially in en-,
bling the citizens of the frontier
maintain their county organization
There are doubtless other gel
tlemen not whit less we
1 qualified in the abstract, so I
! speak, for the duties of the offiS
! than Gen. Steele. There can be nor
better qualified than he is by educatio
and talents, while his experience as q
officer Cf the army on the frontier b,
I fore the war and his thorough acqusil
a lance with the country, together wi,
the present requirements of the Off
: acquired during his administration
e surely establish for him claims superi,
! to those of any untried man. It hi
not transpired whether Governor Rol
erts intends to make any change, bl
in view of the fact that the office is OF
within the gift of the executive, Il
Express could not, in justice to the il
: terests and preferences of the people
. the West, withhold this expression
the hope that Gen. Steele will be r
tanned in the position which he b
g filed so WE'LL"