The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-17
1T is A HOT PROTEST.
County Attorney Johnson of Yellowstone
Roasts Governor Smith for Ex,end-
ing n Pardon To MarteIIo.

Special Dispatch TO the Standard.
Helena, Dec. 16.-The board of pardons
to-day approved the action of Governor
Smith i'll granting pardon to Nick Mar
tello. young man sent to the peniten-
tiary from Yellowstone county last May
for being implicated with a man by the
name of Cook in the robbery of a drunk
en- sheepherdcr Of SO In cash and a cheek
for 500. Cook was tried first and con-
victed the jury fixing his punishment at
one year. Martello then pleaded guilty
and the court gave him the same SEN
tence. Recently Governor Smith pardoned
him on account of his youth, it being
represented TO the governor that he was
only Il. and because of good behavior
since incarceration.
The governor said in his letter to the
board Of pardons that the boy should
never have been sent to the penitentiary
as he was a filter subject for the reform
school. Martello is a bootblack, and it is
said that once while the governor was
visiting the penitentiary he blacIed the
executive boots and made a strong plea
for his liberty.
There was one protest filed with the
board against approving the governors
action. 1t came in the form of a letter
from County Attorney Johnson of Ye!-
lowstone county. and as protests go II
was hot one. Mr.. johnson called a spade
spade in his protest. He mentioned sew
eral circumstances in connection with
Martello's habits previous to going to the
pententiary that would not look very
well in print lie severely criticized the
pardoning power and said in short
that the people Were getting tired of con-
Nicting law breakers to have them par
doned out soon after being conV cte d.
II do not believe. wrote Mr.. Johnson,
that the governor could have been in
formed to all the facts and circum-
stances i'm this case. for had he, he would
not have taken the action he did. Nick
is srl1I,
from the slums of Chicago. He was in
Billings some little time before he was
sent to Deer Lodge. and he associated
with no one but prostitutes. He was re-
puted all over town before the commission
of this crime as a thorough tough. If he
had any redeeming traits no one ever
discovered them"
description of the crime of which
Cook was convicted and to which Mar
tello afterwards pleaded guilty as stated
followed, and the county attorney con-
tinues: There is little doubt If the sem
tence in both cases had been left To Judge
Loud they would have received ars
each" He expresses some doubts of Mar
tellos age, claiming he swore before
Judge Loud he was over Is and Air
johnson believes him 20
''rhe governor has seen fit" continued
the county attorney, lin pardoning Mar
tello, TO insist that the Judge of this dis
trict was not executing the duties of his
olllce as We'll as he might. and therefore
gave him little free advice Had the
governor inquired into this matter as he
should he would not have been called
upon TO give paternal advice to one of
the best and most careful judges in this
or any other state. The wholesale Dardon-
ing of criminals which was begun under
the last administration has not ceased to
any great extent under the present ad-
] do not write this with any
idea that it will exercise any influence
upon the future use of the pardoning
power. The mania seems to have struck
deep in the high official places in this
state. ! confess ] cannot see the use of |
the county going to the eXpsn and trou-
BILE of conVicting criminals if they are 10 !
be sent back to US within a year and re- |
stored 10 all their rights II the whimper-
ing and lying Of convict backing his |
excellency's shoes Is to have more we ight |
than the deliberation Of judge and jury /
then Martello should b. turned loose. III 4
the governor was elected for the sole pur-
pose Of turning self-cenfessed robbers and I
perJurers loose to praS upon the goos +
people of the state then 1 withdraw al /
objections to the granting OF this par
DOM
Mr.. Johnson continues in this strain /
commenting upon the fact that no one in /
Billings, not even the class in which Mar /
tello trotted. ever asked for the pardon +
and thar ruhberles of that character have +
been quite frequent ID Yellowstone county
af late concluding his remarkable pro- I
say that the iaw-ahidins pa0pie 81 this
.h4s Wholesale part an.HE II criminals VIII +.