The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-08
THE PEOPLE PROTEST..

new campaign for a pardon for the
Younger brothers They could hardly
believe their senses when they found
how carefully this thirg had been
organized, and how dexterously, by
various methods, strong support had
been acquired for the petition for par
don. But they are wide-awake enough
now, and indignant enough and de-
termined enough that if this outrage
be committed it shall not be done with
out the voice of a protest being heard.
You have but to go upon the street, to
talk with men in any walk of life, to
ask a question in any town from
boundary to boundary, to learn with
what Amusement and anger people re-
gard this last and ablest attemptSto set
aside the reign of law in Minnesota,
to restore to liberty men who were
saved from the scaffold only by the con-
ditions of our laws at that time, and
to advertise to the world that in the
state of Minnesota the sentence of
court means only a temporary cnas-
tisement until the pardoning power
gets ready to invalidate it.
We do not know whether this move
ment will meet with success or not.
1t carries with it the evidence Of extra
ordinarily careful and extensive prep
aration. 1t has gathered together and
concentrated upon the board of par
dOns of this state all the personal and
political influence that could be con-
| trolled. 1t has managed, by what
means we do not know, to secure the
assent Of newspapers that have here
tofore set themselves resOlutely and
righteously against any interference
with the sentence of these malefactors.
1t is too we'll organized to be despised
But yet it is a crusade against justice,
against right, against the safeguards
of law and order in this community
and against a practically unanimous
and outraged public opinion.
We ask the board Of pardons of the
state of Minnesota, which has been in
existence but few months, to deliber-
ate with more than ordinary care be-
fore it opens its record with an act
that will bring down upon every men,
Der the lasting condemnation of the
people of Minnesota. 1t is even an
nounced, impudently enough, that two
members of the board are already COM
mitted in favor of this pardon. We
do not believe it, We have too high
an opinion Of at least a majority of
the members of that body to assume
either that they would express them
selves upon so grave a matter in adj
vance of a hearing, or that they will,
under any circumstances, sanction this
defiance of public sentiment and of the
! demands of law.
1t is possible to catch a few people
in the mad wash of a wave of senti-
mentalism, but the great body of them
are sober in judgment and firm in reso-
luton. They know that, while there is
law in this state or a court to en-
force it, while the prison doors are
small, these men ought to continue to
serve out the punishment assigned to
| them, which was so much less than
their crimes had earned. 1t is not
| personal or private issue, it is a public
one. Men have no right to let their
feelings sway their action when the
| threatened result IS the destruction of
the respect Of the public for the laws
under which it lives.
Not merely in the name of the family
and friends Of the brave man who
died for duty at Northfeld; not only
! on account of the unknown victims of
these men whose graves lie elsewhere;
not only in the name of those brave
citizens who took their lives in their
hands and risked greater dangers than
| those of battle to rid the country of
these bandits, but in the name of the
peace and order of the whole commu-
nifty, in the name of law itself-that
| those who defy it, as we'll as those who
| obey it, may know that it rests on
something sounder and more solid than
passing emotion-we demand that
the protest of the people be heard.
If it is conceded that a pardon be Of
fered to these men the wrath of the
people of Minnesota will know no
bounds, and every man concerned in it
will find that their just anger will fol-
low him to his dying day.