The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-11-22
HOGG CLEMENCY
SAVES FRANCISCO REYES FRO,r
BEING HUNG.
The Governor Gives Full EXPLANATION
of Why He Commutes the Sent
ence to Life Term In the
State Penitentiary.

s waS 70 hang next Friday in the
;umny ;m ~ Jaii mere, but this Communication
ment. l'''ie enlerlaln-
Notice was given Sheriff White about
noon yesterday and he Immediately took
reyes out OF Jail and taking the / IL
train LETT for the penitentiary, He was
rather uneasy for his prisoner and want.
ed TO get him, off his hands at once. The
onlciai pronunciamento of the governor
reads as follows:
EXECUTIVE 1eei office, Austin, Tex, Nov. 10,
Ex parte Francisco Reyes. Death sem
renee. Application for pardon.
Applicant, Francisco Reyes, has been
tried by the district court of Travis coun-
~ and convicted and sentenced TO he
hanged for the alleged murder in said
county OF OF NJ NJ. Hornsby, September
Substantially the facts are about these:
oh saturday night, September oath of
iyen by a Mexican tenant on NJ. NJ
Etornsby's plantation, some 10 miles
FROM the city of Austin. 1t lasted late
into the night until broken up by row
in which Hornsby received his death
,Mound from pistol shot.
OTo assure peace the tenant had called
on MIR. Hornsby and son to attend the
dance.For this purpose they were there
The applicant Reyes, and associate or
companion called his partner" were
strangers in the neighborhood, where
they had only been about week picking
cotton on an adjoining farm to the
Hornsby place. That night the two at
tended the party. Near by the plat
form upon which the dance was in prog
res several MeXicans were gambling.
Applicants partner, Rossano, and one
hnH thN
nero retreated and Rossano pursued him
with a drawn large knife called u "bal-
duke" Mr.. Hornsby and his son inter-
ceded for peace They took hold of Ros-
sanO to prevent the execution of his as
sauit on Romero. They tried persua-
sion and reasonable restraint only. He
became boisterous, defiant and unman-
ageable.
Up to this point there is very lit
tie or no conflict of opinion
or testimony as to what occurred. AS to
subsequent events, the conflicts and con-
fusion arose. Neither the applicant nor
his partner" Rossano could speak but lit
N if any English. They were strangers,
Md two white men (strangers to them
selves) were struggling with Rossano in
the dim light reflected by lamps from the
platform and house windows. In the
midst of the struggle Rossano called out
in Spanish to his partner, Reyes, to
''shoot them," or Ego for them,' or ''kill
them," or words to that effect. The tes-
timony in the record shows that Applicant
Reyes, responding, rushed up and shot
1, ,dornsby through the right lung and
IlIlfruck him on the head twice with pis-
Me- From the bullet wound he died sew
lnMal days later. The next day Reyes was
M, Irehended, arrested, and twice put to
Eefhal before a jury, and each time found
ysvllty Of murder in the first degree and
vaw warded the death penalty. From each
4 Judgment on these verdicts an appeal was
4 taken to the court of criminal appeals.
On the first appeal the case was reversed.
The second appeal resulted in an affirm
ance of the case He pleads with me for
executive clemency, claiming to be an i'm
nocent man.
In bis petition he claims that his "part-
ner" fired the fatal and only shot. This
may or may not be so. OF the large num-
Der of people at the dance only two pro-
fess to have seen the shooting, and they
N-ere Mexicans of the unlettered, ignorant
l ss. In some material particulars these
10 witnesses were contradicted by other
Estate witnesses. The younger Hornsby
did not see the shooting, as he was at the
time engaged with the infurated Mexi-
can. He saw another Mexican immedi-
lately after the shooting run up and hit his
father with pistol, whom he believed,
but was not positive, was Reyes, the ap-
1pliCant. SO the question, after all, as to
who fired the fatal shot is not altogether
clear of some doubt. Taking the testi-
mOny of the only two Mexican witnesses
who profess to have seen the shooting,
hnd waiving all points of conflict between
their statements and other witnesses as
10 what occurred Immediately before and
Rfter the homicide, and it may be con-
tluded that Reyes, the condemned man,
beyond reasonable doubt, committed tne
Heed Remove all doubts on this point, II
hny exist, and admit that he did the
shOoting, do the facts support, to satls-
factory conclusion, Il case OF murder Ill
The first degree?
Il The law applicable to this case says:
All murder committed 80. with express
|nalice :. >. is murder in the first degree
Which shall be punished by death or by
sIinement of the offender in the penn
SNatiary for life. The punishment ior
ESyrder committed without express malice
y tpunished by confinement in the penl-
n ttiary for a term of years to be deter
n ned by the jury trying the case.
H Tow did Reyes kill Hornsby on express
M lice? If he did, then he should be eX-
tied. Otherwise he should not. The
,hest approved authority on the subject
ur supreme court and court OF crlnlnal
.ppeals) in repeated cases write and say
that express malice is where one with Il
sedate and deliberate mind and formed
design unlawfully kills another, whlch
formed design is evidenced by externai
circumstances discovering that IN
ard intention, as lying in wait, ante
cedent menaces, former grudges ana con.
eerted schemes to do bodily harm, or
other circumstances showing sedate'
deliberate mind and formed design unlilw-
fully to kill or to inhict serious bodily n;trIp
which might probably end in the death Oh
the person upon whom the same e., was 51. III.
hieted." mccoy vs. State. 70 Tex, 90
Cox vs. State, ) ct. App., 493; Sharpe vs.;
State, II CT App, 1869 and dozens ol
other cases. ..rho
These high courts further say: me
aA = must not result from mere suuucn,
ls. N and immediate design sprlngllg from
an incOnsiderate impulse, passion Vi III
citcment, however justlhaDle anu
unWarrantcd it may be- !farIltL ",
State. ~ Tex, 90, and other autilori
tics therein citedD. r,4o1
Admitting that Reyes fired me fnats faati
Shot into Hornsby, no one from the i iactS
iof record would contend that ne was JUS, ani
able, but there is to my NINA hol 4Lnro
lance of proof, or | might say thtbe tbe
n g very meagre facts to indicate III he tiie
Slightest degree that he was moved 10 3;,to oto
All from n sudden. rash and immediate