The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-09-10
THE CASE or ROBERT c. DAY
HE HAS A FRIEND WHO LONG
CONCEALED HIS IDENTITY.
@. II. Nye Befriends a Convict He
Believed Innocent of the Terri.
BILE Crime for Which He
Was Sentenced.
Intermingling of the Elements Of philan.
thTopy. Hatred and Revenge In the
History OF This Case.

and revenge or justice and mercy. 1t
has also proven true, time and again,
that those same elements which prompt
ed the crime are invariably the ones
that are employed by enemies to keep
convicts In prison, and by friends to Sc
cure their release. Many Of the pris.
oners have persons working for their
pardons whom they never heard of. In
these instances the unknown friend has
learned OF the crime In some manner,
and was drawn into the case because of
the satisfaction afforded In assisting
suffering humanity, whether the OBJ
jects Of their charity be convicts, or
merely some Of the earth's unfortu-
mates who are poor but honest"
In this connection a story comes from
Cincinnati detailing the strange actions
Of messenger for mercy and justice
who Is working for the release Of Rob
ert Q. psy. Day has an excellent case,
and pc presented with many
a. : lps at the next meeting of
- ardons.
> vdescribing the strange
fprI f61,c ..ons pei unknown friend is as
Pro the Oe"nS\ Attorney Schwartz had
a stra rsiRgst Wednesday who was
bent on a. strange errand There are
many persons In the world who make
II their business 10 look after the poor
and afflicted, and aid them in all ways
they can, but the caller upon Mr..
Schwartz was one who has bent his en-
ergies In a strange direction, and has
4 gone further than is usually done by
such people.
For the past week Mr.. Schwartz has
been receiving telephone messages from
a person who would not give his name,
making inquiries about the case of Rob.
ert Q. Day, who Ia in the penitentiary
serving life sentence for killing his
father In May, 1850. Wednesday that
person called and revealed his identity.
He was accompanied by Lou Rinken-
berger, who vouched for his identity.
He said his name was @. II. Nye, and
that he had once had a fortune, but had
spent II in doing good for others, and
relieving the wants of the poor and dis.
tressed, so that now he was practically
without means.
He was asked why he was interested
In the Day case, and said his reason
was simply that he was philanthro-
pist, a humanitarian, and desired to get
pardon for Day because he believed
that the man had been unjustly accused
and convicted, and that he was not
guilty Of the crime for which he is now
suffering. He was asked II he was any
relation to Day, and replied that he was
not, and had never seen the man, but
he had investigated the case, and did not
think Day was guilty. He said he had
seen all the jurors, and they had said
they believed he was innocent, and that
they had wanted TO vote for acquittal,
but there had been one or two who were
In doubt, and believed he was guilty at
the time OF the triHl, but had become
convinced since the trial that he was
not.
Nye called attention TO the fact that
at the time of the killing there were
number of shots fred by others than
Day, and he declared that it was the
shot of another person that killed old
: man Day. Nye was asked repeatedly
what object he had in his actions, and
what interest he had in the case, and
, his reply was that he was only inter.
ested for the reason he had given, and
that was as matter of humanity.
, He could not bear to see any person
suffer, and he believed that Bob Day
was suffering for something he was not
guilty of, and he wanted to aid him in
being vindicated and released from
prison. The action of Nye while he
was talking about the matter was pc
culiar. He talked strongly and vehe-
mently about the case, and fairly grew
! eloquent about it, and while talking
became so excited that he trembled all
over His earnestness in the matter
interested Prosecutor Schwartz, and he
: was at loss to account for the strange
proceeding. He could not understand
why the man who had never seen the
accused, and who had no interest in the
family, and no ties to bind him to the
; person concerned, should be SO inter
, ested in the obtaining Of a pardon for
that man. Mr.. Schwartz, in telling of
the visit of Nye, said that he knew there
were persons in the world who devoted
great deal of their time and money to
the relief of others who were in dis
, tress, but why man should spend all
his fortune in that way, and especially
In indeavoring to vindicate persons
from charges Of crime of which they
had been accused and convicted, he
could not understand. 1t was new
phase of human nature, and one that
, he had never before come in contact
with.
Nye was in earnest in the matter, and
asked that a statement of the case be
: prepared for him, that he might, with
1t and his knowledge of the crime from
his investigation of it, be able to show
, to the Board of Pardons that Day was
innocent, and was suffering for the
crime of another. He did not say, how
I ever, that the person whose shot had
0 killed the old man Day did the killing
. purposely, but that the shot was acci-
dental, and was the result simply of the
promiscuous shooting that was going
on the night of the shooting.
When reporter talked to Mr.. Nye
, yesterday at the time he called for the
written statement of the case as the
0 prosecutor had il on his records, he ad-
: mitted that it seemed unreasonable that
| he should be so interested in the case
, where he was not concerned other than
as humanitarian, but he declared that
was his only reason for acting as he
did. He said he had aided great many
persons who were in trouble, and he
:, had done II for the same reason, and
had spent great deal of money in that
Q way, yet he did not regret dollar OF
3 IL. He said he was an officer in the
A United States navy prior 10 1868, when
he was retired on account of his health.
He was first lieutenant of marines.
He said his father was Henry Nye, who
was o pork packer IN Columbus many
years ago, and left large estate at his
death. He finally admitted that the
. brother Of Day was interested In the
matter of getting pardon from Bob,
/ The crime for which Bob was con-
lxt.. fa1 fAaf nTAlI