Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-08-24

A Solemn nte-Mortem Statement in
Which the Prisoner Again Asserts His
Innocence of Murder,
The night before the execution Maxwell sent
the following letter to the st. Louis Republic:
ST Louis, Mo-, Aug 8, 1888.
DEAR SIR: May ask the favor OF some of
YOUR valuable space, that l may finally say
a:d few words? I thoroughly realize my posi-
Death Is staring me in the face, and it is impos-
sible for me to avoid it, SO that what now say
ought to be taken and received with the
same weight as an ante-mortem statement,
I again most solemnly accuse Mr.. Glover
and his associates with having resorted to
crime to secure my conviction. Their crime has
been successful, and presume they will rejoice
with unholy glee at the results thereof But Mr..
Editor, the fact remains and will forever be q
blot on the State OF Missouri, that in my case the
circuit attorneys resorted to crime to secure my
conviction, and that this crime was approved BY
both the Supreme Court and his Excellency Al
bert 2. Morehouse. !;say approved, for do not
crime and disapprove of the crime itself.
The two things. are so intimately con-
nected that it is impossible to approve of the
one and not the other True, the Supreme Court
condemned this matter but they accepted the
fruits thereof, which is merely disproval in
theory but approval In practice. I know that it
this matter now. But feel so strongly upon
the matter that can not do otherwise and,
further, 1 consider it a moral duty the part
Of any man who has been SO unfairly and I'M.
justly dealt with as have to protest to the last
moment against such treatment.
am satisfied that the great majority Of the
and fGir play, and, while my protest cannot do
me any good it may be that the voice of the
people will condemn "the Dengfelder plot" SO
strongly that such people as Mr.. Glover and his
assistants will not venture to resort to it again.
It is strange thing that the only people who
had leg lily any power to give relief against this
plot should have refused to do so.
There are many other things of which might
speak and complain, but will content myself
with speaking Of one only. It will be remem-
one of the s-Coulahan-was prejudiced
The Supreme Court held that the evidence was
insufficient to prove the fact, and of course de-
that this witness was not the only person to
whom Coulahan had expressed his prejudice
against me, as appears by the attidavits of j. J..
tornes s and were entirely unacqueinted with
this fact until last week, when my at
torneys were made acquainted Herewith.
the curtis, and the only thing we could do was
to lay til matter before the Governor and ask
relief from him therefor. The honesty and bona
fide OF these two gentlemen is beyond dispute,
and the reasons they give for not making the
matter public before are such as ought to be
satisfactory to anyone. An impartial considera-
most bitterly prejudiced against me and
went on the jury with the expressed intention of
convicting. He perjured himself upon his ex-
animation touching his qualifications to serve,
for he swore that he was unprejudiced and that
he had neither formed nor expressed any opinion
upon the matter.
matter, and as this has already been done, it
would be useless to enter into it again. At this
last solemn moment of my life again protest
think, in ali the annals Of criminal juris-
prudence, trial could be found that was
u greater parody and travesty on JUS
srea @ that neither cseut
Attorney Glover, the Missouri Supreme Court,
nor Gov. Morehouse can take away from me,
and that is the fact that have been
before God who is both just and merciful, and
I pray that he will show himself merciful to
those who have not only shown no mercy to me
but even denied me justice. Yours very truly,
HUGH NJ. BROOKS.