The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-10-29

$4,000; August, $4,000; September,
$4,000; October, to date, S22 600.
Things are dull in this department.
Secretary Lawrence and bis shillfhl
clerks. however, are up to their elbows
in work, fixing up for the approaching
meeting of the board, which occurs
Tuesday next. Up to date applica-
tionS have been made for about $50
sections, chiefly in Cara and Reeves
counties
+ No more grass commissioners re-
ports are in that can be heard of.
Those already in seem to be buried
very deep in the official "tomb of
secrets"
CAPITOL COMMISSIONERS.
General Walker is Quite sick, but his
many friends hope not seriously.
General Walker. superintendent
Of construction of The capitol building,
who was reported as quite sick yester-
day, is much better to-day. With his
usual energy he defias disease and it
takes a pretty hard stroke or the
"celonel's" commands to keep him in.
VETERAN BOARD.
Gen. W. z. Lane, who was at San
Jacinto in SO, in Mexico AZ and ali
through the late unpleasan ness from
81 IT, 90, and now president of the
Veteran board, arrived in our city
last night,
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE.
A petition is now being circulated
and will )e Signed by the attorney
general and probably 10y lhe COMMITS
0Fi h1ac nr.a1 Ian off M
the district attorney for the pardon Of
d. g. Kerr, who was sentenced to a
year in the penitent1 Try for 70 gerry.
His term will expire the 4th of next
month.
VETERAN LAND BOARD.
The veteran land board met yester-
day and recommended that 1888 acres
be given to Elizabeth Dickerson.
widow of James Pickerson,
1880 te Mary Nugent. wife
of John M. NugeDtt;;- ii,SoU to Elizabeth
Seatop, wiuow of j. W. Seaton; 1880
10 Emily Hilton, widow of Frederick
Hilton: 1880 to Elenor Rhea, widow
of J. r. Rnea, 1850 to Jane Denman,
widow of Obedlah Benman; 1880 to
L. j. Allcorl; 1890 to &. Hendricks:
| 1890 to Jefferson McGrew; 1880 to
John Hinton Keith; 1880 to Marcel
lar Caro-; 6i0 to Ygoacio ESpinoza 4;
1880 to fedora r. de Xlmenes, widow
or Juan de XimeDes; 1880 to r. G.
Trimble; 1880 to Virginia Beatty, wi
dow Of 4. w. Beatty; 2s0 to Antonio
Fernandez.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
A short time since, Gov. ireland re-
| ceived letter from Il. L. Chalk, ESQ;
of Bolton, attorney at law, asking the
pardon OF an escaped, con-
Vict, who, it is alleged
did escape because of the cruel
! ty of prison life. Following is the
full text of his excellency's reply.
E&EG0TttE OFFICE, /
AUSTIN, Tex, Oct. 81, 1885. 5
| To r. L. Chalk, Bolton:
Dear Sir:-I have your favor OF
date, urging me to pardon Larkin
Reynolds, convicted and sentenced to
the penitentiary for a term of two
years, for the offense of theft of hogs
You admit that this man is now a
fugitive, having made his escape
You say that he was half fed, poorly
Clothed and cruelly treated, and from
your letter take it that you get your
Information from the convict himself
You also say that he prefers
being inside the walls.
1t is hardly necessary for me to tell
| you that l know the mans statements
as to his clothing. treatment and
food, are untrue. L have, from tbs
first month of my administration
kept myself fully advised of the gen,
|! itentiary management; ard L Know
further, that the present -rS54 siE = 81 81
managers are personally conyersant
with all these matters. There is not
a prison in America where The con-
victs are more humanely treated, bet
ter fed and clothed. That the prison
is not such as to induce very many to
prefer being in there to having their
liberty, admit.
You ask me to pardon him, or give
assurances of future treatment and he
will return. l Can do neither. l have
uniformly refused to negotiate with
any one who defes the law. No mat
ter what he may be st present, he
must submit to the law and return to
prison before [ i'll hear his case at
all.
You claim his pardon on the
fact that 1t appears that
there were more than twelve men on
the grand jury that found an lndlct-
ment.
This Office cannot be converted into
acourt for the correction Of errors OF
the district and appellate courts.
You cite me to a decision of the
appellate court.
1t appears that in that case the
appellate court held, that because the
record showed that there were more
than twelve men on the grand jury,
tn 1t, therefore, the indictment was
Illegal and the conviction nullity,
although never brought to the atten-
ton of the court until after trial and
Article 357, code criminal proceed
ipgS, requires sixteen men to be sum-
moned as grand jurors. Article 367
requires, in a certain contingency, the
sheriff to summon not less than
twelve or more than sixteen.
Article 1868 requires talesmen to be
in certain cases, SO as to
give a jury of twelve men.
Article 81 requires the court to pro-
coed when there are as macy as tW Give
in attendance.
Article 376 Is the same as above.
Article 800 provides that nine mem
bers shall be quorum to do business.
Article 377 provides that anyone
interested may challenge the grand
jury, or any member of it. if they are
sworn. Any prisoner, at. his request,
may do so. These are all the provi-
sions of the law having any material
bearing On the case. At common law
a grand jury consisted of not less than
twelve and not more than twenty
three persons.
It must be observed that the code 20
where says that the grand jury shall
consist of twelve men and NO MORE,
but the implication is to be found In
al the provisions on the subject, that
it must consist, when organized, of
not less than twelve and NOT MORE
THAN SIXTEEN. 1t may be said that
the additional four are summoned to
insure the attendance of at least
twelve, but it is not so declared.
1t is true that the constitution says
IN at nntif and GRAND iurioc in tho die