Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-02-26

The Friends of Gillis Pray the
Board TO Set Him Free.

Inc friends OF f.. M. Gillis in Eureka
are making another effort to secure a ia
vorable consideration Of his case by the
Board Of Pardons. The prisoner has nov
been confined in the State Prison eight
years, under a sentence Of murder in the
second degree, for the killing of a man in
Winnemucca. The circumstances Of the
crime, as they are told to us, are briefly
these: The victim of the killing was a bar
keeper, and was sitting on q high chair in
front Of his saloon, when Gillis, in joke,
came up behind him and tapped him on
the shoulder. The barkeeper was startled
and fell over, hurting himself just enough
to make him mad. Gillis, seeing this, ran
into the saloon, supposing he would get
up and come in and they would take a
drink over it. The barkeeper, however,
rushed in wild with rage. seeing which
ellis ran through the saloon trying all the
while to escape. His adversary followed
aim, and, cornering him, knocked him
down and beat him nearly to death. ellis
10 q small, thin man, while the man who
mauled him, as long as he had breath to
strike, was a large, powerful fellow, who
1bOJSe baS AORabotAOh Va DCAhk .
and who had some time before mashed in
q mans head with q six-shooter. Stung
by shame and maddened by such cruel
treatment on account OF what had been in
tended for q joke, Gillis, with his head
bandaged, returned to the saloon, saw
his antagonist and killed him with a pistol,
shot through the forehead. Up to this
time, Gillis had never had q serious quar-
rel with anybody. He is now about Sc
years old. Since his incarceration he has
given no trouble to the authorities and
has shown a l~aw-abiding disposition in
conforming cheerfully.to all the rules and
regulations OF the prison management,
He is one of the few trusted convicts, and
is allowed the greatest freedom that is
consistent with the discipline of a p%eniten-
tiary. The friends OF the unfortunate
prisoner base their prayer for his pardon,
to some extent, on the circumstance Of
the crime. Gillis was young at the time
and hot blooded. He had been beaten
nearly to death by a notorious bully with
out any adequate provocation. While he
could yet almost feel the barkeeper's
blows in his face, disgraced and humilia-
ted, he confronted his brutal enemy, broke
the law and slew him. At the time of the
killing, perhaps, the legal punishment for
such an offense was less certain thar now.
Perhaps the very looseness Of the law in that
early day suggested. if not impunity, at
least something like an apology for it's
violation. The friends OF ellis appeal to
the Board for his restoration to liberty on
the ground that his reputation preceding
the Winnemucca tragedy and his subse-
quent conduct in prison go to show that
he is not q vicious or dangerous man.
Thav nrOa that tho prigonar 10 acIf-raanaox-
full and proud; that his relations in the
East are well-to-do people, who would
willingly come to his aid if they knew of
his trouble, but that he prefers to suffer
the extreme sentence, if inevitable, rather
than let them know that he is the inmate
of q penitentiary. They urge, again, that
ellis has been severely punished. The
effect of the punishment on him is already
complete. So far as he is individually
concerned, the reformatory purpose in
volved in the penalty Of the law has been
already fully accomplished. The prisoner
cannot be improved by any further con-
finement, while if he is released from i'm
~prisonment now seven years OF a useful
life will be saved to him and the com
munity in which he may hereafter reside.
What q boon to him this restoration to the
free air of heaven Nor, at least, will the
world suffer by his release from further
association with criminals. The friends of
the prisoner who earnestly petition the
Honorable Board for his pardon are honest
in their prayer, crudely put forth in the
statement of the case as above. The
SENTINEL will add its opinion that if the
history of ellis life previous and subse-
quent to his one act of lawlessness be such
as is given to US, and we believe it is, the
Board of Pardons will do the State no
harm in restoring him to liberty and citi-
zenship. In doing so the Board will GER
tainly crafty a large number of the unfor-
tunate convict's friends who are good,
honorable men and excellent citizens, who
would not ask for ellis pardon il they
did not think that the purpose of the law
is already accomplished in the eight years
OF penitentiary service. The SENTINEL is
disposed always to advocate severe and
certain punishment for crime, but it seems
that the case Of ellis is one which war
rants an exception in favor of mercy
.Al-- H. ~x. - A. Ok