Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-07-13
A MONTH YET TO LIVE.
MURDERER HUGH n. BROOKS GRANTED A
RESPITE


OF. LoOis, mo-, July lZ.-The Governor
this morning rendered his decision, in
which he declines to grant Communication
Of the sentence against Hugh NJ. Brooks,
alias MAXWELL, but granted o respite for
four weeks.
Maxwell's petition to the Governor,
written by himself, ia "a follows:
To HIS Ereelleneg, a. p. Moorehoxse, Coo
ernor of Missouri:
Your petitioner. Hugh Mattram Brooks,
respectfully represents and states that ON
the 14th day of July, 1885, in the 81.
Louis Criminal Court he was convicted Of
murder in the first degree and sentenced To
death upon the gallows Cor haxisg cSussd
the death Of one Charles Arthur Preller,
and your petitioner now represents and
states, as he has always heretofore repre-
sented and stated, that the death of the
said Preller was entirely accidental and
unintentional on the part Of your petitioner,
and the facts and circumstances relating
thereto were fully and truly stated by your
petitioner on the witness stand upon his
trial, which testimony is fully preserved
and set out in the record Of said case.
Your petitioner represents and states
that whatever degree Of blame may prop.
erly be imputed to him by reason Of the
death Of the said Preller, certainly he ID
innocent of the crime Of murder, of which
he stands convicted. And while thus
sOlemnly protesting, as he has alwsys
done, his innocence of the crime of mur-
der, your petitioner recognizes the fact
that the only legal test Of guilt is O fair
and impartial trial, before q fair and i'm.
partial jury. But your petitioner Is ad.
vised and charges the fact to be that by
reason of the great popular clamor and
prejudice engendered and aroused against
him by the public press, and by reason Of
the unjust and unfair advantage taken Of
him by those conducting and concerned in
his prosecution, he has been denied fair
and impartial trial before Q fair aud i'm.
partial jury.
The instances and particulars in which
your petitioner was denied this right to q
fair and impartial trial are fully set out in
the record Of the case, and many of them
are discussed and demonstrated by Justice
Sher wood, in his dissenting opinion. And
these instances and particulars have been
partially specified and discussed in an ap-
peal published by my father, Samuel N.
Brooks, on the 9Th day of April, 1883, and
they will be more fully laid before your
Excellency by my attorneys, Martin and
Fsuntleroy.
And your petitioner represents and states
that it appears, not only from the able and
elaborate dissenting opinion of Justice
Sherwood in the case, that the rights OF
your petitioner to fair and impartial
trial were more frequently and more fla
grantly violated by the trial court
than in any case heretofore brought
to the Supreme Court; but 1t appears
from the shortly opinion of the Supreme
Court itself that in many instances your
petitioner was denied upon his trial most
important and essential constitutional and
statutory rights and safeguards which the
law in its wisdom has thrown around the
lives and liberties of those charged with
crime. And your petitioner further repre-
sents and states that the methods and
means resorted to by those representing
the State upon his trial in order to secure
the conviction was such as not only to de.
prive your petitioner of fair and Impair
tial trial, and intlict great injustice and
hardship upon him, but such as will bring
deep and lasting disgrace and shame upon
the State Of Missouri, and cast an inefface-
able stain and reproach upon the admins.
tration of her laws in her courts.
And, therefore, your petitioner most re-
specially, but easnestly, represents and
claims that not only right and justice to
him, but the interest and welfare Of the
State demand that at least his life be not
taken by such methods. Wherefore your
petitioner most respectfully and earnestly
prays that your Excellency will, in the
exercise of the power conferred upon You
by the Constitution, commute his sentence
to imprisonment in the penitentiary.
HUGH M. BROOKS.