The age-herald., 1897-08-08
POWER OF THE GOVERNOR As Regards the Pardoning of
 Criminals.
THOSE BEYOND HIS POWER
Are Cases of Impeachment and Treason-Sone of the Appeals Sent His ExcelIency-
 Petitions Recently Acted Upon.

and it furnishes one of the hard jobs of the executive office. The constitution | gives the governor the power to remit | fines and forfeiturSs, to grant reprieves, | communication of sentence and pardons. The only limitation on the pardoning | power is that the governor has not the | power to grant pardons in cases of trea-
 son and impsachments. The only power
 Che governor has in case of treason is to | suspend the sentence, and report his ac- | tion to the next session of the g.neral | assembly and that body has the power to | either commute the sentence, pardcn | the person convicted of treason, grant a | further reprieve or order the execution | of the sentence
 The constitution provides that pardon5 | in casts of murder arson, burglary. rape assault to rape, perjury, forgery bribery and larceny, shall not relieve from po- | lDtical and civil disability unless specif- lcafly expressed in the pardon. The ar tlcle also requires the governor to report to the general assembly each case of re- prieve, communication or pardon granted | with his reasons therefor.
 1 The last legislature supplemented the pardoning power by giving the governor. the authority to parole prisoners. The | parole is issued on such conditions as the | governor chooses to impose and the pris- onsr rel9aSed on the parole of the gov ernor Is liable at any time to be re-in- canoerated should he violate the cond;- tons of the parole on which he or she | obtained freedom. The conditions usu- ally imposed are that the prisoner shah | conduct himself or herself as peaeaable and laW-abiding citizen and in many instances the governor inserts the con- | dftlon that the party paroled shall re- | Train from the use of intoxicating hquorsy The governors mail is almost sure to nave several letters every day from soma unfortunate convict or the friends of one-
 asking for executive clemency, and some | or them are strikingly original One convict writing for his freedom, saysf T nave nobody to appeal to but you and God" 329 A convict serving ldfe sentence for murder, pleads for clemency and con
 ciudes his letter With the following states4
 mem Governor, pelase thing that has
 brothers and one cousin who was hung.
 Ill tnls same charge, and I am got a life seneehce. Governor this is hard Pelase thlnk or dt. The convict in this in-
 stance is one of four negroes who were
 indicted in Montgomery county in 1894 | TOT the brutal assassination of a white merchant. On the trial a conspiracy to XII the victim was established and the l evidence was strong enough to cause the | Jury ito return the death penalty for | three of the number and this applicant
 Tor executive clemency was given a life sentence. The three sentenced to death l were hung in the jail yard here from one | scaffoh in July. 1894.
 Nearly every convict is given a stj,mn | every two weeks and large proportion or the stamps are used on batters writ ten to llhe governor asking him to look into their cases and pardon or parole them or if he will do neither Eo cut down tho term. Nearly every fstter concludes with the assertion yhat the writer has given
 no trouble to the officials since his or her confinement.
 T'he style adopted in addressing the governor is often unique. A few specd-
 mems to illustrate: convict who stales
 in his letter that he is a minister of the
 gospel addresses the governor as Your Supreme Excellency." "A Lee county con vict who wants to get out to support a father aged 79 and a mother aged 6s, appeals to the 'Most Noble Governor. A colored convict serving sentence for manslaughter begs clemency from "Yue Christian Excelency." An odd time ne- gro woman begs the governor to Please give me back my boy"
 One of the cases of let CTS received at the
 executive office pleading for clemency full of tenderness and pathos was let- ter received from a white woman living in northern county begging for the re- lease of her husband The womanis edql- cation was scant, but her 1etter was writ ten between tear drops as she pleaded
 wldh the governor to restore her husband to her, and after exhausting all the claims
 she could set up on her behalf she con- cluded with the plea: Governor, have a sweet little girl just three years old wf1o
 says: Please, Mr. Johnston, send my paw
 home Ho me-" The letter did not obtain
 the desired freedom. but personal visit
 to the weeping wife and bright faced ht-
 tie tot was rewarded by iuhe couple leav-
 ing the office with the pardon for hus-
 band and father duly signed and sealed.
 IA negro minister doing time for an as-
 sault 10 commit rape states his case to
 the governor by copying and forwarding
 him the verses of the 39th chapter of Genesis from the 7th to the 20th. After
 thus setting forth the story of Joseph and
 Potiphar's wife 1Ys adds: '"Tllat is the
 way they caught me. It's a thousand
 pities passed Uhat road that day.''
 A Birmingham negro serving sen
 tence of five years for burglary informs
 the governor that he is sure that God
 has now forgiven him for his sin and
 begs the governor now to show him the
 forgiveness of the stalte.
 During the past week the governor has
 acted favorably on the following appli-
 cations for executive clemency:
 John Townsend, of Dallas. under sem
 tence of death and to have been executed
 on Friday; sentence commuted to life im-
 prdsonment in the penitsntiary.
 Henry Young, of Montgomery, convict
 ed of forgery and grand larceny and serv- ing q dye years sentence. He stole prop