Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-03-02
MISSOURI STATE NEWS.

The Kincaid Extradition Correspondence.
Gov. Crittenden has addressed the
following letter to Gov. Hawkins, Of Ten
nessee, declining to honor the requisition OF
the latter for the arrest and rendition OF
John Kincaid, of Vernon County, to answer
charge of murder alleged to have been
committed in Tennessee in 1865:
sIR-On the 18th ultimo had the honor of
receiving from your excellency, by the hands
of man who represented himself to me to be
Henderson Rogers. requiSition demanding
the surrender OF John Kincaid,. now a citizen
OF Missouri, to the agent named in your depu-
tation, for extradition to the State OF Tennes
see. This demand was made, shown by
your requisition and copy of an Indictment
accompanying it, to the end that Kincaid
should be returned to your State to answer a
charge OF murder preferred against him and
borne County. The homicide was charged to
have been committed in Claiborne County in
the the month ct March 1863. Upon receipt OF
commanding the arrest of Kincaid and his
delivery to Henderson Rogers, the person
named as your agent, but for reasons which.
appeared sufficient then-and which are now
both satisfactory and conclusive-1 directed
the revocation and return OF our warrant
formed your Excelleney of my action, re-
Questing you to join me in such an investiga-
This proposition your Excellency saw proper
to decline, and renewed your request for Kin
caIds rendition. In reply to TINS announce
ment of your Excellency'S determination de.
Ginning to be party to the proposed investi-
cation, addressed a letter to you, under date
of Janusry 81, announcing to Your Excellency
my purpose to continue the investigation
with such assistance as could command and
promising you the result OF my inquiries,
when completed. make the statement with
great reluctance that the man who bore your
requisition as the duly appointed agent of
your confidence and unworthy of your his
toric State. He assured me, upon the pre-
sentation OF your req4isition. that his name anne
he was the same person named in
your requisition and deputed as the agent
Of state Upon the OF our
where Kincaid resides, he assured the Con-
stable that his name was Mayes, and that he
Tenn. He afterward stated to the same Off
Ger that his name was Rogers, and not Mayes.
sion, and which 1 deem wholly reliable, his
name was neither Mayes nor Henderson
Rogers, but was John q. Rogers; and that
when in Vernon County, accompanied by
several travelling companions, both Rogers
and his companions behaved themselves in
such manner as to excite the suspicion OF
ton of these facts is derived from the affida-
Wits of some of the leading and most reputa-
Of these men having provoked suspicion,
induced to make the investigation, In
which 1 regret that you did not feel that it
was your duty to assist me. feel assured
that you would not countenance any measure
that recalls or re-enacts one of the deplorab1e
events growing out of which should
long since have found repose in the charity,
if not the oblivion, of human memory. In
spired by such feelings, the people of Missouri
have Incorporated in their constitution the
following provision in relation to oblivion and
pardon: mo person shall be prosecuted in
any civil action or criminal proceeding for Or
on account of any act by him done, performed
executed between the first day OF January,
1861. and the twentieth of day August, 1866. by
virtue of military authority vested in him, or
in pursuance of orders from any person vested
with such authority by the Governments of the
United States. any of them to do such an
act" 1 beg to say to your excel
lency that the investigation I respect
fully asked concerning this case
was and is not "unauthorized,' as
you say; but is, in my opinion, 1ncumbent
upon the sivering authority; especially
when suspicious circumstances are suggested
by the lapse of time since the crime is alleged
TO have been committed, the delay in pursuit
and the action of the agent. In view
of the facts above presented, and exercising
right that believe still abides with the Exec
utive of this State, Notwithstanding your con-
struction of the Constitution and law govern
ing interstate extradition, 1 feel it to be my
duty in the exercise of a sound discretion to
respectfully decline to accede to your de.
mand 1 beg to assure your excellency that I
am impelled to this decision by conscious
ness of high duty 1 owe the State of Missouri
and its citizens.