The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-10-14

Ienden.
JEFFERSON CtfY. 0ct. 5. i5ss.
After living for some four years the life Of
epeaceable,-ahd to all appearances a res
Pectable and aw.abiding citizen. Frank
james yielded 30 the persuasion of relatives
and friends, and in the hope that after all he
might not be convicted, or might be par
doned, and deep seated feeling that unless
he did surrender his fate would be similar to
that of jesse, wrote the following letter to
Gov. Crittenden:
AN APPEAL FOR AMNESTY. lIf &
ST Louis, Mo, October 1, 1882.
Hon. T. T. Crihenden, Governor.
Your EXcellency, time has demonstrated
tnat however carefully may follow the path
OF good citizenship, and however successful
may be in gaining the confidence and respect
OF those VINO associate with me daily and
know my every act the work of heaping in
fanny on the name which my children are to
bear goes steadily on and it began SO
many years ago. The greater the crime which
startles the people of our western States, the
greater the certainty that it will be attributed
TO my actor instigation, However. strange It
may seem that II man of the reputation Ibear
should assume to possess either pride or
schsibility, have the haFdihoOd to lay claim
TO some degree of both. For years The one
desire of my heart is and has been To regain
the citizenship which lost in the dark days
when, In Western Missouri, every man g hand
was against his neighbours, and 10 have an
opportunity to prove, by my. submission TO
the most rigorous test, that am not unwor.
thy of It. IL would avail me nothing at this
day to revert to the circumstances attending
my outlawTy, which and thousands of 9th.
ers regarded as eXtenuating. Those who were
where they could observe the events in that
little page of history need no re,
capitalization of them from me, and
those VINO mad no personal knowledge
in the premises have. been so prejudiced
against me by reports of my evil dofngs that
they would naturally give no consideration
to facts OF that character. Tho people at
large reason, and reason logically, that
a m ST hp
some fire; that although some of tho charges
made against me may be unjust, all are not
without ioundatton, and that an evasion of
the officers of the law is not the course of an
innocent man. bow to this logic and reply
that the man who is making this appeal does
not do so from the standpoint of d martyr
He comes oyou, their representative to say
that though his suffering has been a hundred
times greater than they have q knowledge of, 1
UNNECESSARILY greater than the courts which
he evaded would have attached TO his acts, he
recognizes that he has no right to. complain
o. his Tot He comes as II man who, conscious
OF AN honest purpose, asks to be permitted to
uO what an earnest, law abiding citizen may
to remove from Missouri the odium for which
his name is III part responsible ,IIo comes as
a man who, outlaw though he is, has for those
Innocent ones who call 1ifni husband and
father, love as strong, devoted and deep as
l. found in men whose lives are blaIneless
before the world. and as one who il anxious
TO remove from their closet the skele-
ton which has so long been its hidcous occu-
pant. II it were not Tor the fear of response
buity Tor that whichI did not do rather than
Tor Ibilt which did Governor OrittendeL, YOU I
my litai But an excited and iustif fhdigr
nant nublic is not diSqtiminative, land when a |
man IS stripped of the safeguard of presume.
tive innocence, with whei2 tie law Vi iTnal1v
surrounds him, as would be, he is put to the
dangerous necessity OF proving negative.
That fear is still with me, and, as | write, it
prompts me 70 abandon my present purpose,
and having for nearly twenty years proved
my 2bllltYtoeyadoa all attempts TO capture me,
to take my little aInily and 20 to souie remote
section where c;Jn live quiet life free from
apprehension, That refuse to obeylsuch an !
impulse; that J. pteferto go back TO my boy
hoods liome and lace my disgrace in order
TO live it down. that am willing TO place
myself unders urVoillandeto whioh no man in (
MISSOURI has eveiIyet been subjected. us must
naturally be the case should Ireturn; that
choose this rouehdoa arse .whensmoother ones /
enc 2msr is am n SHmGy f sub pr S%s
been pointed out, ana thai the ole I
mehts of manhood have not been entirely OBJ /
liberated from my nature Right terribly, 1
Gsainst society WRe RNye been e e ShsaSsi
against the James family been Inevenged. |
enon on hoaftsibfoken enough lives bhghted. 4
God knows that if it is the purpose OF the lazy
10 prevent crime by making Its punishment
awtmto contemplate, that purpose has been
served in large degree in those ten years of !
terror and tragedy Is its demand for ven !
gcance insatiablel Is "iustice tempered with /
mercy" mere poetical nothingH Must tue
great Stlte,df lMfssourfindul9e d spirit of ne
VouSe until it has secured the last ounce of
ucsh! VI, laying All considerations of mercy
aside, can 4otBour State-tD would to God L
could say my Stakeholder afford, now that it
has vindicated its laws -as no State ever did
before, to say to its supplicants. Yes, come
in, We VIII convert HollPNery u otoriety.into
powerful instrument of good and order. We
Will, purely rs an unsentimcntal investment,
OPPORTUNITY to prove your contrition and
further purposeSI We wilf Call upon
you you to use your experience and knowl-
mcnt of the laws which you have in the past
been charged Will violating, and when by
y ears of correct department and honest in
dustry Yon have won this confidence OF ali of
those who now condemn you, we will point to /
IT all ms aproot of our wisdom" If l were
certain THAI would not be made q scrape-
E9at, l would never have troubled you with
tins petltlon but would have long ago faced
Your courts. and met your charges, but once
chances, and whileIrone would have been in
ttrested N proving my innocence Of what
their advantage to assist in yeonyioting me- !
Put yourself IN my place for one momen6
aud then Judge of my course in Keeping out
tion other thdn already mentioned which has
weighed heayilyl in tayOr of my taking my
present step. Eor ii I've months | hays been
mine or Jesse's, or some silly persopp seeking
notoriety, might carry out the threats of as
sassination which haye been. according to
pose : lot tong' iabmehtN P't tS lat that
had occurred, is there's man living who
NOuiu NOT nave ntlu TeSpOnSlDlc 1Of 1C(
And ct, moi ONLY xere the threats mot mine,
as you will discover by comparing them with
my writing. but the Thought of revenge wins
never one moment entertained by me! have
now stated my case and have, I,trust, ave Did
ed any SAVIOR of mawkishness. ask ii You cam
not consistently with your duty give me some
hQpetor amnesty under the condition haze
specified. IL may strike on that a,nodesty Is
not the most pr9minent Characteristics OF this
request, but it should be remembered that IT.
comes from "a man who is still at large and
the uncertainty OF whose Whereabouts Is, 81
though II need not be, the cause OF, q deal OF
apprehension. do not appeal as q man who,
having followed the wrong course until his