The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-04-27
THE pHEsTos.EaEHs oAsE,
Tbe Communication % their Sentence
OF Death 90 imprisonment for
Lifo-Tha Goyeraor's hea.
Hons Therefor,
EXECUTIVE owes, !
AusTls, TEAAa, Aprll "a, 1851

yluted Of murder ~ mo nfat degree anu
sentenced W tho penalty VI death, by the
District court VI Cook county, vi Tho
July term, 1879
This case and that OF Ben krebs, for tho
murder Of tho England family, both being boz
fore mo upon applications Tor communication,
lhe same rdAsonafo for my action may be gyen
IN 0nch ono " tho cases, which ar0 ~ f0llows :
Justice between mnn aud man, and brtween
tho individual and the whole body polite, ID
sought " b0 0blnlned " every
civilized country by law - law
consisting Of regulated rulea Of procedure
and rulea Of action, aud rnlea OF sanction, 10
enforce la observance, Cases have occurred
aud will occur Ia which thu penalty Of death
has been determined upon, wherein tho
ruos prescribed have been observed faith
fully by Nh upright and Intelligent Judge
and by nm honest Jury, aided by able
lawyers and by the evidence OF unImpoachod
witnesses and still there IA resting
on tho minds Of those concerned Ia the trial
and upon tho minds Of other good and intel
llgent men, who are made conyersant with
tho facts, substantial apprehension that the
very truth and Justice of the matter have not
boon reached on the trial, which induced m
awful broad md lasting fear Of y great wrong
being done In executing the adjudged penal
W. This most usually happens where tho
conviction Is obtained upon radically con.
lcting testimony and upon crcumsnntlnl
evidence.
This State, rs wall No others, has provided
n remedy of reliof In such cases, by nm appeal
TO tho Governor for executive clomency In
some shape or other, IT, upon II full inyesiiga'
ton, II can DO made 10 appear that such ap-
prehension Ia well founded, and not the result
Of sympathy or sentimentulity or prejudice.
We have no exact rules 10 measure the de-
groes Of such apprehension that may arise
between tho moral certainty OF tho alleged
guilt and epossl6ility OF n mistaken conclu-
sion, aud we have no modes of expression
coined to express or define such do.
groes of apprehension, Nevertheless, they
do exist In tho mind, and when
strong and lasting, lmpel TO action
for relief. La such II case, therefore, il Is we'll
for the Governor To have tho views of thore
concerned in the trial and conyersant with
tho facts rs; well as the evidence on the
trial.
Impelled by such irresistible apprehension
of wrong about to be committed in the in
Fiction Of tho death penalty upon krebs and
Preston, the Hon. n A. Carroll, District
Judge, acting under his responsibility to
the State and his duty to his fellow man, on
the fifth ofthis month addressed me an Off.
cial letter of most serious and solemn i'm
port, requesting me to commute their pun
ishment from death TO confinement for lie
in the pententiary, in which he says, elf |
could say that was satisfied, beyond ra-
tional, substantial doubt, that these men were
the guilty authors, | would prefer
to see the sentence Of the law
executed; but as the case has been
80 often before me, | have watched il with
great interest, have heard the testimony from
the witnesses so many times, and thought 50
much Of the case, deem il my duty to give
my views Of the case" After presenting
calmly various views upon the conflicting
testimony and surrounding circumstances de-
veoped on the trial, he says: Taking these
facts into consideration, and weighing them in
the light of the tesSim ony, its conflicting
nature and rejecting upon the possibilities of
mistaken constructions of words and gestures,
feel called upon to say 10 you that have
in my mind such substantial doubt MS to
the guilt of these parties as to ask of you
the exercise Of executive clemency so far as
to commute their punishment from death to
imprisonment for life" He signed this letter
officially MS District Judge,
The enormity of the offence, and the pro-
tracted prosecution, have aroused and at
tr9cted to il u widespread attention through
out Northern Texas, and numerous able law
ynrs, and other distinguished citizens, and
persons in the various walks of life, seriously
impressed with the same apprehensions, and
having the same doubts about the case, have
made the same request, many of them with
An earnestness and sincerity that demand due
consideration.
l have examined the statement of facts in
both cases twice, the last time with careful
sSpdy--the leading evidence in both being
substantially the same; and the briefs and opin-
ions in the Court of Appeals, together with
afhdavits and statements Of some matters, not
adduced on the trial, to which, however, %
great weight should be given, further than
as they may tend to explain obscurities and
uncertainties developed on the trial.
The statement of facts exhibits shocking
crime, perhaps unequaled in the annals of
erin o in Texss--the deliberate murder of n
peaceful family of four persons ut their own
abode In night time. The indignation
of the community was Just. The active eff
forts Of the officers and citizens TO ferret out
aud punish the perpetrators were praise
worthy. The protracted prosecution of the
accused exhibits proper spirit to exc ute
the laws. The Judge gave them fair trial
The Jury amidst all the conflicting tenden-
cies of the evidence doubtless acted conscien-
tiously in their verdict of guilt, The Court
of Appeals did right in saying that they
could not say that the verdict was unsup-
ported by the evidence, which they wo Id
have had to say upon reversal Of the case
upon tho facts in the record. The regular
forms of law have been gone through with
Now the question is, upon,.a full consldera-
ton of all that has been laid before me, am
so impressed with the apprehension that a
wrong may be done as to commute the sem
tence as requested by the Judge and .ssothers?
The only question in the case, regard
ing both clses as depending upon the
same transaction, ia the identity of Krebs and
Preston AS two of the three parties that COM
mitted the murder. The State assumes from
the evidence that they and A. X. Taylor
were the three persons who did the deed.
1t may DO stated without going into de-
tails, that this is mainly founded upon Mrs
England's dying declarations: that she
recognized Krebs rs the man who entered
the house, shot her son Isaiah. d. Taylor !;
followed her and her daughter out of the
house and shot them both, together with her
statements that her dsu liter said it was