The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-03-04
MOSES 4

MOSES rtEs.I2.s :. sscT'
Ci".,Ains to Nave Been Bcrcft OF
His reason by Social Ostracism--
The Good N0Inc OF his Father In
k to Save Him from the
Penalty Of His Mtsdcctis.
Yesterday afternoon, at the Superior
Criminal Court ut East Cambridge,
Franklin J. Moses, Ex-Governor Of
South Carolina, WAS pleaded in the dock
Tor sentences, he having plcaucd guilty
to an indictment for obtaining money by
false pretenses from Col. II. ". i~Iigcin-
son Of -nlubridgc. He was pale, atten-
mated, with hair and beard nearly white,
and presented the appearance Of a man
entirely broken in health. Colonel Hig-
ginson stated briefly the manner by
which Moses imposed upon him +; that
he came to his house and represented
that he WAS Captain Bryan Of South
Carolina, and he (thc Coloncl) believed
him and gave him $34. Artcrwald he
tclcgraphed to Sonth Carolina, and
found that Captain Bryan had not left
the State. Then the legal proceedings
were instituted, which resulted in the
arrest Of the prisoner in Detroit, Mich
ighan. Judge rtman then asked the
.prisoneri if he had anything to say upon
the matter Of sentence. Moses stood up
and addressed the Court as follows:
May it please your Honor: Not on
my account, but for the sake of the
name | hcar-which, until the death oc
my father in 1877, was an honored one
in the public annals Of South Carolina
crave your indulgence for my utter
ance Of , few words in connection with
the crime charyud' against me, and Of
which by my own admission, l stand be-
fore You as guilty. Not under any cir
cumstanccS could I have been able to
adducc before the Court any facts which
would have gone to prove me guiltlrss
Of the crime as charged, but, were it not
for the pancity Of my ~pecuniary needs,
it would have been within my power
most abundantly to have proved nv
those who are cognizant Of tho premises
that oven before my accession to the GU
.bernatorial cl air of Sou.h CArolir a, ut
the early age Of thirty years, my mind
was in an unbalanced and unsettled con-
ditlon, consequent upon the unjust and
utter alienation Of those upon whom, ND
to that time, my whole life had been
passed. That alienation, caused in the
first instance by my sincere convictions
ns to my public duty on the eve Of ere
construction" in the South, was 80 CON-
plete and unanimous rs to render me
practically a stranger in the State which
gave me birth and narrowed and confined
my sphere of social ex~istrncc to those
who entertained political convictions
identical with my own. These troubles
unnervcd and almost .paralyzed my
mind. ~hey left their traces in strcakS
OF living white upon my head. and-in-
creasing in intensity as the years sped
by, have left me nothing but the scat
tered wreck your Honor sees before YOU
mind anal intellect almost wholly
gone, and a memory freightcd only with
blasted hopes and blighted aspirations.
This condition Of mind has been dag
nosed by physicians nnder whose care
have been. and it could be shown that
i am in a mental and physical condition
which wonld warrant my being, if con-
fined at all. codsigncd to a prison, among
criminals. but to some institution where
they minister to minds diseased" The
crime committed by me against Colonel
Higsinson was not n willfnl md pre-
meditated one. After many years of
suffering and privation 1 found myself
with my family in New York, irnpover-
ished and unemployed. anil | came to
Boston for the purpose Of asking aid OF
one whom in earlier and happier days it
had been in my power to assist under al
most similar circumstances. TO nv
horror and CONSERVATION ! met with a
negative reply to my earnest appeal.
Not for II omen had I thought Of
such an answer, and it left me aghast
and b~ewildcred. In this. hour of un-
looked for refusal, the horror Of the sit
uation came upon me with irresistible
force. In my fevcrcd imagination saw
my wife and little chiidren-whom !
with passionatcidol atry-houseless
n homeless on the public highways
of 4 great CITY. denendant for eh.lt. an