The morning call., 1893-12-10
TWO FORTUNATES
= 49,
Tl1e Parole Law at San
..*:.. Quentin.
p THE: DIRECTORS 60 SLOW.
Conservative in Granting the
Privilege.
SWAIN MUST REMAIN THERE.
Several Other Requests Are Denied.
: "A Question of Concurrent
Sentences Settled.
'WALM MUST REMAIN THERE.

Legislature at its last session, known as
the "psrole law," were exercised yester-
; day at San Quentin for the first time by
the State Board of Prison Directors, and
two prisoners were allowed the privilege
OF. going at large.
These are not the first two in the State,
however, to enjoy the parole privilege.
Folsom recently took the initiative in that
respect when the PITT River Indian chief.
John Turner, and the Shasta County homi-
eide. Garrety, were given conditional lib
erty. Turner was an Indian homicide.
Following The notion of his tribe. be killed
medicine man because the latter failed
to cure Turner's brother. He was sem
fenced to ten years Imprisonment. Gar
rety's term was for six years.
The Directors, of whom there was full
board present yesterday at San Quentin.
: showed disposition to be very conserva-
tive in granting the parole privilege.
Feions who have served a previous SEN
tence IN a penal institution and murdererS
whose crimes have come within the first
or second degree are excluded from the
privilege under the law. The board is half
inclined to go a step further and treat very
critically the applications of forgers
Forgery TO them is deliberate act result
ing from a thoroughly criminal motive,
whereas mRnslaughter might be committed
IN the heat of passion by man not neces-
sarily criminally inclined.
The two fOrtunates let 60 on parole yes-
terday belonged to these two classes re-
spectlve1y. The forger, Henry Haas, was
sentenced from this city in February. last
year. for five years term. He has been
b a model prisoner with a faultless record.
and his application was well supported by
numerous recommendations. The other
man was James n. Capell, serving five
years sentence from Mendocino County
for m mansiaughteT- BE is The slayer of Saul
Harmon, but his excuse for the deed is
q that Harmon menaced him. His sentsnce
dates from October "a 1891 Capell has
been very exemplary prisoner. and was
Recommended by many of the officials of
his county and large number of promi-
nent men.
The requirements for eligibility to a
parole are good conduct and proper recon-
mendatioDs. Several applications were
denied because they were either lacking in
those requirements or the board did OF
deem it wise TO favor them. One of the
applicants was Seneca A. Swain, who was
convicted OF grand larceny in connection
with the r. 81. Mcdonald Jr. divorce
scandal. When he and Clara Bell Nc
Donald. who was in ntatuated with him. at
tempted to elope< <cwalm was caught with
Mrs. McDonaid'n s,welry in his possession.
He was aQ,sSsi ssdfOr seven wears in SEN
tess snDer fed. Swim repeated his protes-
a at;un4xatg noceEe of the crime in bis ap-
1Il cation. End argm that if allowed to go
BS would te able barn $1,000 per annum
p: as @sn Insurance sgeI of thirty years. ex-
periehseee. He is nof4S years of age, and
. WardenNs Eale said Is record had been ex-
celleut G&pder eened credits his term
will expire nSsxt JIAe.
The other ap nlidtions denied were those
OF a. j. Lawrenee, serving ten years from
e Los Olives for manslaughter; n. c. Meek,
a six-year forger from San Diego County,
and w. X. Bibby. serving six years on two
commitments for forgery. There was
quite anumber of protests against paroling
Lawrence, and therefore Warden bale
;gcould not iDdorse his petition. The appli-
cation of o. Fredien went over for month.
:: The question of allo ing clothing to
paroled prisoners came up. Should a
prisoner on parole be provided with a
new suit Of clothes ar the expense of the
.@astate2 Director Devlin thought not.
The whole theory of parole, said Mr..
Devlin, was that such a prisoner should
first be able to take care of himself. For
that tmatter the law supposes that q man
;:to be eligible to parole should be qualified
by. being fitted for it by having clothing
and either some means of subsistence or
prospect of employment.
:. President De Pue was of the opinion tba I
the granting OF a parole would involve the
necessity Of either the prisoner fu nishing
: his own suit of clothes or having some
friend send one to him. The whole oues-
=:tien was disposed of by the board conclnd-
q 0g that the clothes would have 10 be fur
shed by the prisoner and not by the
tSte.
,risoner j. RafeI, having written in
oiring IL he were eligible to a parole, fur
b ilshed the board with the reason for lay-
lng down rule to cover like cases. He
Is burglar serving under commitments
from two different counties-Los Angeles
land another, and as his sentences are con-
: secutive the board held that his case is
equivalent TO that of a secoud-term con-
: .yict. and comes within the spirit and in
tent of the law, II not the letter. Having
served one sentence he would be yirtnallv
a second-termer.
= A communication was received from
. Prisoner L. II. Steele inuuiring as TO the
length of hls sentence. Steele's case u as
peculiar He was committed under three
sentences from San Bernardino County
for forgery. One of his sentences dated
from. Novembe 6, 1889. ON a plea of guilty,
and was for three years; the other two
sentences were for four and two years re-
spectively, dating from November IA, 1889.
1t would appear specifically that Steele
han nine years altogether to serve. Steele,
however, claimed that the three years
sentence ran concurrently with one of the
other sentences. and after considering the