The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-07-09
GONE DAFT.
State Board of PardOns Bound
to Unload ssWiIIie" Sell,
Murderer of His Entire Family,
on a Community
That Protests Loudly Against
the Outrage.
BOARD TAKES WORD
OF a Number of People "WhO
Don't Believe"
Sell Was Guilty of the Crime
Charged.
COURTS OF JUSTICE
Are Made a Farce, Indeed, BY
Wholesale.
Emptying the States Prison
of MaIefactOrs.
COURTS OF JUSTICE
Are Made a Farce, Indeed, BY
Wholesale
Emptying the States Prison
of MaIefactOrS.


Wells of Paola and Mayor Thomas of
Howard, comprising the state board OF
pardons, this morning filed with GOV
Leedy a unanimous recommendation
that willie Sell be pardoned from the
state penitentiary, where he has served
IL years for the alleged murder of his
father, mother. brother and sister at
their country home in Neosflo county,
near Erie.
The governor is out of the city, and
what action he will take upon the rec
ommendation of the board is, until he
examines the 20 pages of typewriter
manuscript comprising the report,
matter of conjecture
Despite the protests of citizens OF
Erie and Neoho county, the board
made favorable report. Notwith-
standing the fact that J. NJ. Allen says
lynched should he return to Neosho
county, the board recommends his re-
lease from the penitentiary Mayor
Henry Lodge of Erie wrote to the board
saying:
For Gods sake, in the interests of
humanity, do not pardon this murderer;
man upon whose hands is the stain
of blood from a murdered father and
mother, sister and brother.
Added to these and many other pro-
tests are resolutions adopted recently
by mass meeting of $50 citizens of
Neosho county objecting to the pardon
of Sell.
Embodied in the report are afidavits
from j. w. Skinner, William George,
Sarah E. Medley, j., c. BOlin, J. c.
Hudson, E. R. Powell and a number of
others who submit testimony sustain
ing their opinion that the boy is inno-
cent of the crime.
John Hall, a member of the state
board of railroad commissioners under
the LeWelling administration, now liV
ing in Chehalis county, Washington.
makes affidavit that Willie Sell said to
him:
Il want to- live long enough for the
people to find out that 1 did not commit
this crime; then [ am ready to die"
Mr.. Hall AYERS that Sell is innocent.
D. E. McClelland of Chanute accounts
for the blood on the boys clothing.
hands and feet by the opinion that the
family was murdered by two men,
strangers, who were seen in the vicinity
the night of the crime, having pur-
chased from ]. c. Bolin a pint of whis
ky and two ounces of chlorofOrm, and
after the murder Willie was awakened,
and passing into the rooms handled the
bodies of his parents and brother and
sister. Bolin claims that he put the
chlOroform in a deformed bottle which
he afterward found in the Sell yard.
Chaplain Morehead of the peniten
tiary. Dora Herod. officer; A. w.
Ashcraft of Chanute, Ovid Elliott and
others affirm that the boy was inno-
cent
T. w. Eckert of Arkansas City. a
member of the board of directors of the
penitentiary under the Morrill, admins
tration, in a letter to the board says:
Il believe Willie Sell is innocent of the
crime
c. A. Cox, who was county attorney
and prosecuted Sell. having, as J. NJ.
Allen says, received a generous fee
for his services, now believes Sell in
nocent and has been acting as his at
torney in the proceedings before the
Two hundred and eighty-six citi-
zens of NeoshO county signed the fol-
lowing protest:
49,
osho county, Kansas, at the time of the
murder of the Sell family lived within
a distance of three miles of the place
where the murder was committed, re-
Spectfully pray and demonstrate against
the recommendation for pardon or ex-
ecuttve clemency in the case of Willie
Sell We are well acquainted with all
the facts and circumstances brought
out before the coroner's jury and in the
\ district court, and we know that he had
a fair and impartial trial.
I'VE individually protest against the
turning out of so great a criminal as
We know him to be-"
At o'clock yesterday afternoon the
board was hearing the case This
morning at o'clock the twenty-nine
pages of favorable report were filed
with the governor. There is a suspi-
cion that the report was made up be
fore the hearing was had. During a
former session of the board it was an
.neunced that they had agreed to rec
ommend the pardon. Owing to the re-
monstrances which were Immediately
received hearing in July was ar
ranged. The fact that this voIuminous
report was in the hands of the governor
so soon after the conclusion of the
hearing leads to the belief that the
board simply had the hearing for eff
feet and sent in today the report which
prepared in May, although the
members gravely listened to protests
and evidence of innocence all day yes
terday.
The board reached the following con-
clusions:
I'VE have avap,inad with cara and
attention all the testimony that was
taken at the trial that we have been
able to obtain and other oral and writ
ten testimony and evidence.
THE evidence in this case was pure
ly circumstantial. and the rule in such
q, case is, that the circumstances relied
upon for conviction must exclude every
other reasonable suppoSition but the
single one of the defendants guilt. II