Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-22
A PATHETIC APPEAL
For Pardon Made by Preacher Eggles-
ton, the Victim of
A BUILDING ASSOCIATION SHARP.
Strong Pleas Entered to Save Fitzpatrick
From the GalloWs.
THE DEAD SADIE PRUNER is SCORED
rsrEcrlL TELEGRAM TO TIE prsrA-cu.l ]

Association of New Hampshire, has written
long and difusive letter to the Board Of
Pardons asking for the extension of execu-
of his life as Methodist clergyman, he
says:
My last ministerial service was given in
assisting DIR. Durel!, pastor eof st. Paui $
Methodist Episcopal Church in Manchester,
n. H.. to administer the Lords Supper on
the first Sabbath of November, 1890, ut which
time consecrated the elements at DR..
Durelrs request, and did not then think
that was eating and drinking altogether
unworthily. or imagine that in less than
two weeks from that day should be charged
with crime and confined in the Allegheny
county Jail, Only to be followed by incarcer-
alton here. But the unexpected often hap
pens in this world. which was never truer
than in my case. l never knowingly
gave my service to anything not considered
entirely legitimate or that l could not con-
scientiously transact.
fslames Jacober for His Woes.
He saws he wanted his practice to harmon
ize with mis- preaching, and gives history
of his departure from New Hampshire,
where he received a salary of SIS week as
an employee of the Granite State Provident
Association, to work for the organization in
Pittsburg in negotiating loans amounting
from $40, 900 to $4,000 He severely criti-
cises the course of man named Jaeober, to
whom in the main he ascribes his imprison-
ment, and says of him:
have thought much to discover how it
was possible for Jacober to inspire and re-
tain this confidence upon so many, when he
at the same time flooded these parties and
many more with documents that showed
his promises to be worthless, and which could
be any day used to indeliby brand him as
an intentional deceiver. l know that | was
both ignorant regarding them and of him
/ ha va
go to PittsbuIg had imagined that would
be called upon to clear up the dirty work
Jacober had left behind him in his flight for
his own safety, since it was no part of the
work l was employed to perform, and at
most could then have lost nothing but my
position had positively refused to go there
at all. The TACT is, 1 think it inconceivable
that any sane man would readily consent to
go IC0 miles on any business if he knew or
even supposed before starting that his
work would be embarrassed, as mine was,
by what Jacober had done months before
my arrival
With these facts and under these circum-
stances it has always seemed strange to me
that was convicted. But it must be re-
marked that the case was conducted
throughout on the assumption that the as
sociation was bogus and rotten concern.
No evidence was allowed on this point, be-
cause the association was not on trial. But
this was in my opinion the worst feature in
the whole case for the accused as well as the
surest way to defea justice.
Public Sentiment Against Him.
He complains that public sentiment was
against him, and that his friends in New
Hampshire did not appear in his interest
because they thought his acquittal was
sure, and continues:
Worse STILL they were intimidated by its
being openly declared that they would all
be arrested at sight. and to prove that this
was no idle threat the only one who took
very unfortunate for the defense that the
judge threw in IA make-weight when charg.
association had no legal right TO work in
Pennsylvania, and consequently that the
accused had violated the laws OF this Com
monwealth in all they had done. which, if
true, l not only claim that / was more
sinned against than SHINING, but l also
charge that some one in Pennsylvania Sc
cured money without rendering proper
equivalent.
To enter plea of guilty 1 could not and
would not have done had known it was my
only way to escape being immediately
lynched, and to stand trial on all three in
dictments might result in being sent into
penal servitude for Is years. While was
wondering what should do to escape even
with my life from trumped and false charges
on verdict that had been rendered after L
had been so mixed mp with the acts and
names of others as to lose all individuality,
as well rs verdict rendered without the
charges having been proved and in ignor-
w
of the same kind of Justice to follow, began
to think the Golden Rule had tried hard to
follow ought to be studied in connection
with Matthew vii. 6, and that my best way
was to enter no plea but to ask the Judge to
please be SO gracious as to sentence Inc to
the penitentiary for life, which at nv age l
should have much preferred to being sent
there for IS years.
Wants to Go Back to the Pulpit.
The prisonerstates that he had an incor-
rect idea what a plea of nolo contendere
meant when he made it at the request of his
counsel, and closes his letter thus:
1 simply beg you, in consideration of my
dear wife, who, l donbt not, has been the
greatest sufferer in all this trouble as well
as myself TO do for me the best you can, and
send me back to my family in the city of
Brooklyn, \. Y, with rs good character as
possible, tor this is my only capital,
and l shall very likely go back to the
ministry, in case am able to do so, and die
in that work, as Providence seems to be
against me in all my attempts in business.
William Yost, counsel for the prisoner,
in his application for pardon says: "When
called for sentence the Court entered judg-
ment in one of the cases in which he had
pleaded nolo contendere, and suspended
sentence in the case in which he had been
tried. thus depriving him of any opportun-
ity to contest the correctness of the verdict
against him." 1t is further contended in
the application that Eggleston was not
guilty of any of the charges; that the sent
ence was excessive if he was guilty and that
one year would have been ample. Thomas
NJ Marshall, in letter, says Egglesten
was improperly and illegally convicted dur
ing time of great excitement, and that all
the conversations he had relative to making
loans were purely accidental. John NJ.
Robb says he was convicted By public
clamor. Several other citizens of Pittsburg
have written letters asking for Executive
clemency for the prisoner.
Trying TO Save Fitzpatrick.
In the application for the communication of
the death penalty in the case of Patrick
Fitzpatrick to Imprisonment for lite it is
set forth that the applicant was in such a
frame of mind by reason of intoIication
that he was incapable of forming the de-
liberate intent necessary to constitute muir
der in the first degree, and that he had been
man of weak mind and when drinking
liquor appeared irresponsible if not de-
mented. Commissioner Boyle, James
Whalen and others have written letters
asking for Communication, and petition
headed by j. L. O'Donnell has been filed
with the Board of Pardons making similar
request. The above case will be heard at
the meeting of the Board of Pardons next
Tuesday, as will that of Joseph Evans, of
Allegheny county, who was senterced to II
years and II months in the penitentiary for
the murder of Sadie Pruner, alias Sadie
Jones.
They All Blame the Woman.
Miles Humphries, Chief of the Fire De-
partment, says in letter that Sadie Pruner's
principal vocation seemed to be to entice
boys and young men into the paths of vice
and debauchery. Young Evans became one
of her victims, and in his young and thought
less way became entirely wrapped up in her