Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1889-06-21
MISTAKEN IDENTITY.
Rather Singular Criminal Case Acted on
nv the Governor To-day.

nv the Governor To-day.
On the night ol December %, 1887,
while an A., +. y ). T. passenger train
vas standingat the y. p. junction, man
sprang to the platform OF a car and as
saulted Conductor Russell. The brake
man heard the scuhing and appeared on
the scene, when the assauitlng party He'd.
The suprosition was that several other
men were concealed near Ivy and that the
attack on the conductor WAS the opening
Of raid upon the train for purposes OF
robbery. Detective Franklin was sent
to capture the supposed robbers, and at j
O'Clock on the following afternoon he
came upon two men walking south near
the railroad and about one and a half
miles out OF Socorro. Franklin accom-
panied them to the town and there ar
rested them. Their names were George
Harris and Charles Jordan, They pro-
tested that they couldn't conceive why
they were placed under arrest, as they
were peaceahe men, just from Colorado,
and Wero going south III search Of work.
Harris and johnson were given r prellm-
mary hearing ut Albuquerque. Con-
ductor Russell identified Harris as the
man who made the midnight assault
upon him. Detective Franklin swOrc he
found them asleep under a tree near So
orro ana there arrested them, and Al
hl querQue's town marshal, Cal Brown,
teslIheu that he had overheard Harris
telling gang Of trAmps Of his plans and
he believed the conversation had refer
enCG to lis attack upon the train. The
men were not asked Tor Il statement and
had no counsel. They We're held to APP
pear before the grand jury and were later
sent to the Las Vegas Jail for safe keep
ing. There habeas corpus proceedings
we're had but the court refused to release
them.
In the Bernalillo county court the men
were indicted under the law which makes
train robbery capital otlense. The
chains were tightening about them. Thus
lur appearances ut least were against them,
and the district attorney told them they
had best save their neCks by pleading
guilty to n mere assault upon the con-
ductor The men said they could not do
this because they were not guilty and
had no knowledge OF the crime. 1t was
explained TO them that il they did not
plead guilty OF this MINOR otiense they
would probably be sentenced to death
upon trial under the indictment for at
tempted robbery OF the train. Again they
demurred, but finally they agreed to 20
through the form of pleading guilty,
coupled with their protest that they were
innocent, but saw no other way OF getting
out Of Il probable death sentence. This
they did, and were sent to the peniten-
tiary for five years each.
Last summer an Albuquerque criminal
was before the courts and was given
long term sentence in the penitentlary.
After his trial he confessed to the charge
against him and informed the district ut
torney OF his completely in several other
crimes, among them admitting that he
had committed the assault upon COnduC-
tor Russell at A. 4 +. junction. This
admission caused the authorities 20 begin
All investigation Of the charges against
Harris and Jordan, with the result that
Gov. Prince became fully satisfied that
the conviction OF these two men was Il
pretty clear case OF mistaken identity,
aud to-day the governor issued Il prOCama-
ton pardoning them out OF prison.
The governor spent q month or more
investigating this unusual case. He paid
several visits to the penitentiarv and took
down in writing the statements OF the
men and also took the statement of the