Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-25
WEARY OF THE DELAY.
A Priests Earnest Plea for the Con-
demned Hungarians.
THE PARDON BOARD ASKED TO ACT.
Their Pastor Insists the Alleged Rioters
Are Innocent
TIE UNFORTUNArEs DEVOTED DToPRAYER

The Rev. Father Wider, pastor Of thu
Slavonic St. Michael's Church, Braddock
and spiritual advisor of Rusnok, Sabol anc
10th, the Hungarians convicted Of murder
in connection with the Braddock riots, Ii
growing restless with the Pardon Board!
delay in acting upon the cases. Speaking
of the prisoners and their imprisonment the
reverend gentleman said yesterday:
Two months have already gone by since
the Pardon Roard received the papers urg
ing clemency in the case of the three
Slavonians, George Rusnok, Michael Sabo'
and Andrew 10th, on whom the sentence Of
death was passed. Everybody is anxiously
| awaiting the final verdict in this case, but,
however great this anxiety may be, it cannot
possibly be compared with the awful sus.
| the hands of the Board of Pardons. Does
not the heart of the prisoners tremble every
time the doors of their cell are opened7
ITO spend hours in teaching the most un-
mannerly children, whose parents show a
lack of sense, to visit persons who are af
| ficted with losthsome diseases, to comfort
the despaired, to save the souls of the
wicked, is the holy duty of priest as soon
as he is ordained, and from this duty he
does not shrink. But to weekly visit and
comfort persons who are confined in cells
and unjustly sentenced to death is hard
mission, and thus my duty is so much more
hard, because I, as pastor of the Slavonic
congregation of Braddock, am wholly
| acquainted with the case, and also know
what the unfortunates suffer- % God, only
% years of age. I am not acquainted with
the ways of the world, know none of the
worlds pleasures, and yet shall now end
my young life on the gallows. did not
take part in the strike, and yet am unjustly
confined for II months. Ny property is
gone, my health undermined and have no
rest, day or night. How terrible the suffer-
ing Of my poor old mother must be, who
still resides in Europe I only learned to
know Sabol and 10th in this prison. Thus
walls young Busnok. 'On my conscience,
your reverence, 1 assure you that my
conscience and my hands are free of this
blood. did not see Quinn, and therefore
could not have hit him. I only became ac-
quainted with Rusnok in this prison, and
yet an Irishman, II. Stewart says that
Rusnok held Quinn and that hit him with
shovel. If 1 were guilty of any crime I
would deserve Imprisonment, but I am as
innocent of this crime as you are, your rev.
erence. only worked II days at Braddock
and now they want to hang me, although I
am innocent. God, in His righteous judg-
ment, cannot permit that we should end our
lives on the gallows for crime that we did
not commit and of which we are wholly in
nocent.' These are the words of SaboI.
Words of Pious 10th.
"Your reverence, as innocent as you are,
because you we're not in Braddock at the
time of the strike, just as innocent am L
You know, your reverence, that God has
decided In what manner man shall die If
it is His will that should end my life on
the gallows, then His will be done. We
have to bow to His will. I trust to the in
tercession Of the Holy Virgin Mary. We
three are accused Of Staying Quinn. Omy
God, belive me, your reverence, I never
saw Rusnok or Sabol before as true as there
is God in Heaven, whose servant you are.
1, an innocent man, will go to the gallows,
Dut my uisgtacelhl uedth Will open TO me
the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven"
These are the words of pious 10th.
81 was spiritual adviser in prisons in
Europe. Under my care was a man, who
decapitated his first wife, threw her head in
a well and literally tore his second wife to
pieces The whole world is convinced that
this man should have ended his life on the
scaffold, but he was only sentenced to prison
for life. This blood thirsty tiger hopes that
some day the doors of his cell will be open
and he go forth free man. God only knows,
what had to suffer with this man in his
cell. This is a fellow deserving disgrace
full death, but even death by strangulation
would be too good for him.
can alibi in the case of unfortunate Rms
nok received no attention at all. The con-
went further with the jury than the state
ments of dozen Huns The jury's yer.
dict is murder in the first degree
"Whom God loves He chasteneth. and
this is the reason of the Imprisonment of
these men. Poor, pitiable countrymen,
your spiritual adviser says: God will not
desert you.
Alleged Injnstice Done
GAS long as I live I will not cease to
speak and to think of the great injustice
done under the roof of the building over
whose entrance the words Aodifcium |
j Justitiae Sacrum'-The House Devoted to |
Justice'-are placed. This inscription is in |
this case the merest satire. And though |
the whole world would sanction the out |
rageous verdict of the jury in this case, and, |
although all the world would be pleased /
with it, yet shall never cease, wherever |
come, toipoint out the monstrous outrage
which my countrymen received at the hands
of an American court. If God is willing
that one or the other of the prisoners should
be hanged, then the doomed man is the
victim of objectionable Justice, man
whose name should be enrolled on the list
on the martyroligium of the Roman Cath
olic Church, whose gallows will be converted
into an altar.
"But all three will 60 to the gallows.
Rusnok's sentence was changed to one of
lifelong imprisonment The report that
Toth's sentence was also changed was incor-
rect. But for Gods sake why should these
poor creatures spend their life, or even sew
sral years in imprisonment? On my char
lcter as priest I repeat publicly what I
,aid upon oath: 'Rusnok ought not to be
robbed of his liberty, and Sabol and 10th
nave already suffered enough Is it not
errible that these innocent men are impris-
med since April last and that they have
7isions of gallows constantly before their
yes?"
Its Excellent Qualities
commend to public approval the California