The Butler weekly times., 1897-07-15
HELD FAST IN PRISON.
Latest Efforts to Release the
Younger Brothers Fail.
Pardon Promptly Refused Two of
Minnesota Board Against the Plea
for Ciemency,


for Ciemency,
St. Paul, Minn.; July 13 Cole
and James Younger, who have served
in Stillwatec prison twenty-one years
for the part they took in the North
field raid, haye still life's sentence
before them The Minnesota Board
of Pardons concluded it's hearing of
the plea for pardon to day, and two
members concluded to withhold
clemency. The unfavorab!e verdict
WAS not long delayed. The refusal
to grant a pardon was made public
at 3 o'clock, and before sundown the
two anxious prisoners at Saltwater
knew that they must wait indefinitely
longer for freedom.
Late to. night it was learned that
the decision of the board was not
unanimous; that one member, pre-
sumably Governor Clough, voted for
pardon. Contrary to expectations,
the board late to night gave out a
statement of its reasons in denying
pardon. It is as follows:
REASONS FOR THE REFUSAL.
while under the law the Board
of Pardons is not required to make
a statement of its reasons in case
where a pardon is denied, it is, per-
haps just as we'll that the public
should know the grounds on which
the board based it's refusal of a
pardon to the Youngers. The peti-
tioners in law, and in fact, were
murderers. This proposition was
established by plea of guilty and
the final judgment of court of
competent jurisdiction 1t is the
exclusive province of the Legislature
to prescribe punishment for murder,
either death or imprisonment
"The Board of Pardors has no
moral right to interfere with this
punishment unless there are extenu.
ating circumstances. The character
of this crime renders it one abso
lutely without any extenuating Cir
cumstances. Even the advocates of
a pardon did not venture to suggest
that the sentence was not just. No
one claimed that there was any
injustice done here, and the only
reason urged for pardon meriting a
se,ious consideration was the fact of
the early environments of the peti-
tioners and that they are now re.
formed. Their parentage was good.
As to their environments eleven long
years passed after the close of the
war, and instead of following the
example of the men at Appomattox,
| who accepted in good faith the mag
unanimous terms offered by Grant,
and return to their homes and the
peaceful pursuit of civil life, they
became part of a notorious band
of outlaws. The plea that they
should be rardoned on the ground
of their early environment seemed to
the board to be wholly insufficient
to warrant their pardon.
The claim that they had reformed,
conceding it to be fact, if made
the basis OF their pardon, would
require that every life convict who
serves twenty. one years should be
pardoned. In short. if these pesi-
toners were pardoned, as a matter
of fairness. in case of every person
convicted of murder his sentence
should be commuted to life iFs spris
onment with the understanding chat
if be conducted himself properly
and reformed he should be set a
liberty at the end of twentr-one
years. For the board to adopt such
a policy would be an arbitrary usur
patton OF irresponsible power which
+. would prove menace to life and
EproportF and . curse to The State.
! The highest public interests Of the
State imperativeIy required that she
Implication be denied
The friends OF the Younger IoTs