The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-10-12
Throws UP THE SPONGE.
Frank James SurreEA,ers by Letter to
Governor Crfta enden.
Tho TrabuIations of the OntIa~ as Set
FOrtI. In His ComInhssAeataon.

Tho FribuIattons of the OntIaw as S
Forth In His Commhs<aeataon.
i KANSAS Cry, Oct 5.-Fzank jam
surrendered to Gov. Crittenden a. Jetfe
son CITY at 3 O'Clock this evening, an
: will be brought here tomorrow moFniL
/ ! and delivered to the jackson county al
| thorities. Gov. Crittenden telegraph
that the officers will leave tonight wit
the prisoner. The officials here expire
? some surprise at James action, as 4
overtures has been made on their pa
| toward a surrender They think Fran
has become discouraged, having In "
rious ways lost all his old confedera:ei
and concluded it useless to atteml
|. longer 10 live in outlawry, preferring {
trust to the leniency of the law involun
tarily giving himself up.
FRANKS LETTER.
The Times Jefferson City special la
the following letters:
ST. LOUIS, no.
To Hon. T. j. Crittended, governor
Your excellency-Time has demon
! strated that however carefully ma
follow the path of good citizenship, ant
however successful may be ia gaining
the confidence and respect of those whl
associate with me daily and hourly il
every act, the work of heaping infaml
on the name which my children are 4
4 bear goes steadily ON apd on, as it be
gan SD many years ago. The greater
the crime which startles the people o
our western states the greater the Ger
tainty that ii will be attributed to my
act or instigation. However strange i
may seem that man of the reputation
l bear should assume to possess either
pride or sensibility. have the hardi-
hood TO lay claim 10 some degree OF
both.
For years the one desire of my life
has been TO
REGAIN TIR CITIZENSHIP
which lost in the dark days when in
western Missouri every mans hand was
against his neighbours and to have an
opportunity of proving, by submission
| TO the most vigorous test, that am not
unworthy. Logically, that where there
is SO much smoke there must be the fire.
That, although some of the charges
| made against me may be unjust, all are
| not without foundation, and that an
evasion of the officers of the law is not
the course of an innocent man. May
bow to their logic and reply that the
| man who is now making this appeal
doaG not do so from the standpoint of a
martyrs He comes to you, their repre-
oOAboPlFSB W 9ftJ GAQS ti4OuHu MS Sut4CI-
ing has been hundred fold greater
than they have any knowledge of, i'm
measurably greater than the course
which he eVaded Waqld have at.
tached to his acts, he recognizes
that he has no cause 10 complain
of his lot. He comes as man who is
conscious of
AN HONEST PURPOSE
and asks to be permitted TO do what an
earnest, law abiding citizen may to re-
move fro m Missouri the odium for
which in part he is responsible. He
comes as man who, outlaw though he
has been, has innocent ones who call
him father and husband, aRd who pos.
sesses Q loye as strong and deVotcd as
was ever found in men whose lives are
blameless before the world, and who is
anxious to remove from his closet the
skeleton which has so long been its
hideous occupant. If it were not for
the fear of the responsibility for that
which did not do, rather than for that
which 1 did, Governor Crittenden, you
should never have had to put a price
upon my head. But an excited and
justly indignant public Is not disorImi-
mating, and when a man is stripped of
the safegua ID. of that
PRESUMPTIVE INNOCENCE
with which the law theoretically sur
rounds him, as would be, he
is put to the dangerous necessity
of proving a negative. That fear
is still with me, and as ! write it
prompts me 10 abandon my present pur-
poses, and having for nearly twenty
years proved my ability to evade an at
temptito capture me to save my little fam
lily and go to some remote section, where
l can live a quietSlife free from appre
henson, That refuse to obey such an
impulse. That prefer TO go back to
my boyhOOd home and face my disgrace
in order to live it down, that am viii
ling to place myselfunder surveillance
to which no man in Missouri has ever
yet been subjected. as must naturally be
the case should return, That choose
this rough course when smoother ones
offer, humblY submit as a proof that l
am
NOT so BAD AS HAVE BEEN PAINTED,
and yet the clements OF manhood have
not been omitted from lay nature.
Right terribly, Governor Crittenden,
have the offenses against society which
have been charged against the James
family been revenged. God knows,
enough blood has been spilled,
ENOUGH HEARTS BROKEN,
enounh hearts blighted. God knows
that if it is The purT Ose of the law to pre-
vent crime by making its punishment
awful TO contemplate, that purpose has
been served in large degree in the
ten years of terror and trag.
edy. Is its demand for vengeance
Unsuitable? Is Justice tempered with
mercy a mere poetical nothingf Must
the great state of Missouri indulge in a
spirit of revenge until 1t has secured
the last ounce of flesh, or, laying all
considerations of mercy aside, cannot
your state (would to God that could
say my stately better afford, now that
1t has vindicated its laws as no state
ever did before, to say TO its suppliants:
ayes, come in. We will convert your
very notoriety into a powerful instru-
ment Of good order. We will, purely
as an unconstitutional investment, restore
you To citizenship and give you an op.
portuniiy to pro9a your cOntritlOn and
further purpose. We will call upon
Inu To utilize your experience and
knowledge of wrong doing in the en-
fUTcement of the laws which you have
ia the past been charged with violating
You have won the confidence of all
who now condemn you. We will point
to il all as proof of our wisdom" II
/ we're certain that | would not
BE MADE sCAPR-GoAT
l would never have troubled you
with this petition, but would
have long ago faced your courts
and met your charges. But being once
in the tolls, would have had to accept
all the chances, and where none weuld
have been interested in my Innocence of
what might be alleged, many might find
il to their advantage u, assist in con-
victing me. Put yourself in my place
Tor one moment and then judge of my
course in keeping out OF the laws
clutches. There is no other considera-
ton, other than already mentioned,
which has weighed heavier in taking
my present step. For five months
have been in constant dread that some
rash friend of mine or Jesse's, or some
carry out the threats of assassination,
which have been according to published
reports poured in upon you. Suppose
for one moment that that had occurred.
Is there man living who would not
have held me responsible for itg And
yet not only were the threats not mine,
az you will discover by comparing them
with my writing, but the thought of re.
venge was never for one moment enter
tanned by me. ! have now stated my
case, and have, I trust, avoided any SAVIOR
of mawkishness. ! ask If you cannot
consistently with your duty give me
SOME HOPE FOR AMNESTY
under the conditions l have specified.
Il may strike you that modesiy is not
the most prominent Characteristic OF
this request, but it should be remem-
bered that il comes from q man who Is
still at large and the certainty Of whose
whereabouts is unknown, although it
need not be the cause of great deal of
apprehension. / do not appeal
as q man who, having followed the
wrong course until his head is whitening
and he is lettering On the verge Of the
grave, Is taught repentance by his inca
pacIty for further iniquity, bat as one
who is yet young and vigorous, and who
has reasonable ground to believe that
there are many more years left him for
active service within the pale OF society
than those which he has spent outside