The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-07-19
CoMMUTATIoN CERTAIN.
A Dispatch Received From Senator Plumb Yes
terday--Beiden Excited and Happy.

terday--Beiden Excited and Happy.
Belden will not hang. Influential friends
have taken the matter in hand. Rev.
David Winters and Rev. L. w. Bicknell
have worked in this matter INCREASINGLY.
Day IN and day out they have never failed.
They have been untiring and alert. Col.
Hallowell put his shoulder to the wheel;
the editor of the EAGLE, Judge Balderston
and other philanthropic men and citizens
poured water on the wheel Senator Bent
ley was enlisted and laid out the campaign
with Senator Plumb as the general in the
field, on the ground and at the front. He
said that if tie interest of Kansas great
senator could be enlisted for Belden his
life could be saved. Senator Plumb was
in the west. He arrived in Washington
on the 18th inst. On the evening of the
18th of this month Rev. David Winters
asked Senator Bentley to wire Senator
Plumb. This was done at great length,
giving u careful history of the case. On
Senator Piumb's arrival in Washington
last Tuesday he found this dispatch. His
first response was that he could do moth
ing. The men behind the movement per-
severed
|
| citizens Of Wichita, the pity of the women,
and the philanthropy of the men of this
great and thrifty city was behind them.
There is not man in this city or a woman
or child that wishes TO see this boy
hanged. All through this community is a
commiseration and most hearty pity for
this helpless wAif of humanity, who
floated into the port of Wichita, a mere
foater and almost without a friend. They
! thought of his helpless condition, and of
his mother far away. They thought of
that country wild and unsettled at the
| time of the comm ission OF the offence. And
the unsettled condition of society and all
of the surroundings of Belden at the time of
the commission of the crime. All Of these
things were q mitigation of the matter
and weighed in Belden's favor
Friday night Senator Bentley sent the
| following dispatch to Senator Plumb:
| "Belden must not hang; sentiment here
is overwhelming for Communication. Act
| speedily, and don't fail"
| Yesterday afternoon Mr. Bentley re-
ceived the following message from Sena-
tor Plumb:
| ''WAsHTNGToN,.D.vC &C. July 1S 1891.
Attorney general will recommend COM
| mutation of Bel6en's sentence. Think it
| Will be done. P B. PLUME
As is usually the case when Senator
| Plumb sets out to accomplish anything be
succeeds. He has done faithful work in
this case as he always does for our people
| when any request is made of him. He is
! an Eli. One sentiment peTvades this COM
munity, pity for Beldon. The people of
! Wichita do not wish to sec this boy hanged.
1t is very probable that the boy is not
guilty, but time viii tell the story.
Belden's is an intrepid spirit. He is a
boy of nerve. All through his trial, and
during the early part of his incarceration,
''he armed himself with dauntless air."
Without shUdder, unmoved, without
culver of the lips, he heard from the
foreman of the jury that tried his case in
the L. S. court, that most startling word
in the English language, guilty" With
apparent unconcern he heard the awful
sentence of death pronounced; sentence
pronounced by a court apparently without
a heart
As the summer days heightened and the
fatal day drew nigh, as he stood almost
within the shadow Of the gibbet and real
lied that he must die, his boyish bravado
human
nature. 1t was then that this friendless
boy, broken in spirit, with the false cour-
age all gone, turned YEARLY, almost heart
broken to those nearest him for that SYM
pathy that we all yearn for in time of
trouble. He showed at last that he was
only human like the rest of us. lack
Massey, the jailor, has been his friend.
From the sheriffs good wife he has re-
ceived many acts of kindness. The respite
came, and thirty days of new life were
given him. New hope came to him, but
the old time buoyancy of spirit was gone.
AS he entered upon the last thirty days
borrowed time and nothing was done for
him, his hope fled again. His eye grew
restless, his hands cold. He lost his nerve.
A tremor took possession of his frame.
He suffered intensely and his sleep be-
came fitfuL The haunting horror of the
gibbet was always before his eyes. How
the hours flew by and how short the days
were 20 the weary boyl How well he
knew the day and guessed the hour of his
standing upon the fatal drop. As the
time drew near to that day, the oath of
July, on which the law ordained
Belden must die, under the faithful
ministrations of Christian minister the
fulness and freshness of the christian re-
ligion came to Belden with irresistible |
force
Softly, sweetly, silently, almost upper
ceptibly, as the moon-beams stealing |
through the bars of his CELL came to Bel |
den in the part of his confinement, that |
gentle soothing which ''passeth all I'M
The mother who gave him |
birth is far away and not present TO sooth
her forsaken boy during all the long weary
hours of confinement, but nature and pa-
lures GOD supplies her place.
AS soon as he received the dispatch
from Senator Plumb, Senator Bentley
word to the sheriff, who at
once conveyed a copy of the dispatch to Bel
den, who was almost overcome with Joy
at the news. He was wild with Joy. His
sleep last night was pleasanter, more rest
full and more peaceful than for many days.
There is no doubt of Senator Plumb's
success in this matter. Belden's sentence
will be committed to life imprisonment.
TREE TRIMMING.