The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-09

attend the funeral of his brother who died
IN Cincinnati. Governor Matthews permit
ted the prisoner to go home for ten days
without guard. having only the promise of
the young man that he would return to
the prison when the time was up After
reaching Cincinnati the following was re-
ceived from Kennedy at the Governors Of
flee: This is the first opportunity 1 have
mad 10 thank you for your extreme kind
ness in paroling me for ten days. Owing
10 a delay in the papers arriving at the
prison i did not get away until Sunday
morning and arrived too lafa 10 attend NV
brothers funeral. AS / find mother very
Ill L hope you Will not consider me asking
time little longer. / write this so it, will
allow me time TO get an answer from you.
prison on time"
Afterwards Governor Matthews received
the following from Warden Patten: 1T
gives me pleasure to state that William
kennedy returned to prison this afternoon
as per term of parole. He seems very
grateful and requests me to extend YOU
his thanks and those of his family. which
am glad to DO" Jan. 10, 1857 a petition
signed by Decatur county people was sent
to the release of William Kennedy This
petition was headed by Attorney Tackett
the eX-prosecutor of the county Tackett
appeared 10 be firm believer in Kennedy's
guilt, and he always opposed a pardon.
Voorhees, STRONG LETTER.
The late Senator Voorhees,, in letter to
Leon Bailey concerning young Kennedy
said: L feel a keen interest in regard to
the Kennedy case, believing as I do abso-
lutely, after very thorough examination
of the voluminous papers on file, that his
conviction is wrong, absolutely wrong and
that IL is a shocking case of mistaken iden-
tihcation. 1 have not the faintest trace
of personal interest in it, except so far as
naked justice is concerned. Ii l were Cow
erHor would pardon him in one
hour, After forty years experience in stiff
ing testimony have no more doubt that
ne is wrongly convicted than l have of
my own existence at this moment. l know
Governor Matthews to be a Just man and
a braVe-minded man, and L cannot enter
tam q moments doubt that he will pardon
him II he takes the time and trouble to
master the case as it is presented on his
The records show another letter from
Senator voorhees, in which he urged that
Governor Matthews take some favorable
actIQn. 1t is as follows:
MY Dear Captain Myers-I am delighted
10 learn that you have taken an interest
IN the case Of Kennedy and have consented
10 place 1t before the Governor. i have
never in all my life known personally of a
case IN which so much wrong has been
done. L have been planning all summer
the papers myself before Gov
ernor Matthews, but the pressure of
my friends from Indiana and then the call
OF the extra session deranged all my cal
culations and the best | could do was to
catch little fresh air and rest down in
the Virginia mountains. L write you
to say that I have been thoroughly and
critically over every paper in the case and
that on my conscience and without a farth-
ing OF interest in ii, the man is no more
proven guilty than L am. You will find
that beginning with the grand jury he
would never be indicted If the matter was
70 Go over again in the light of the evil
dence now on file; next that the traverse
jury would never again convict, and finally
that the judge himself who tried the case
evidently believes that the prisoner would
nave been acquitted if all the facts had
been known. Please say to Governor Mat
InGWS with ri no
IN his place [ would without hesitation
pardon Kennedy on the well-sustained
GENTLY certain at the trial and that proof
subsequently taken shows beyond q doubt
10 my mnd, that the wrong man was ar
rested, tried and convicted. More than this
| could not say to the Governor even were
! present and 1 know he will do me the
justice to believe that | would ask of him
no act, official or otherwise, which does not
meet my most conscientious approval
feel deeply in this matter as is most natural
to be suffering for another mans crime.
am very sorry not to have seen you when
yo4 were here, but l hope to do so later
on this fall and in our dear old Indiana
JURY RECOMMENDS PARDON.
At the solicitation of Kate Kennedy many
citizens of Decatur and Rush counties
wrote personal letters in the interests of
her brother, and the trial jury, to man.
recommended that a pardon be granted
William w. Summers, foreman of the jury
made this statement in the Governors
office Aug. IS, 1886: Il will say this in the
first place that a very short time after
that verdict was rendered by the jury l
would have given almost anything to have
called it back. Since that time l have
learned the feelings of the people a great
deal in the county and they all seem TO
think he got rather an unjust verdict"
Summers, on this occasion informed the
Governor that he was satisfied that Ken
nedy did not commit the murder. Larry
Hazen, detective, took an interest in the
case, and a few years ago agreed to be
responsible for Kennedys conduct should
he be pardoned. George w. Ryan another
Cincinnati detective, made a statement in
as Dayton Sam" and Henry Tetteman
alias Dutch Tad" both well-known to
met Dayton Sam in Rochester, n. Y,
some time after the murder and that the
latter told him Kennedy was innocent and
declared that Dutch Tad" was the guilty
man. Mayor Smith of Cincinnati, sent
Governor Hovey a note in 1889 in which
he spoke of the excellent reputation of the
ter of the sister. In July, 1898, President
ingalls,, Of the Big -Four Railway, wrote
to Governor Matthews as follows: THE
inclosed letter comes from a young woman
whose mother I knew for several years in
her frantic endeavors to get her boy par
Qoned. l suppose you have heard about
the case and know the history of it, It
has always seemed to me, from hasty
knowledge, that it was a case for executive
enough with it to make my judgment worth
anything. IT, however the boy could be
sent here to see his mother in pursuance
of the inclosed request it would be a mat
ter of charity"
The inclosed letter referred to by Presi-
dent Ingalls, was addressed to him by the
ever-faithful sister of the prisoner 1t read:
II write to ask your aid if possible. My
mother is very i'll and the physician cannot
give us any hope. She is unconscious most
of the time and when she is herself a.
any time she calls and begS to be allowed
to see my brother who is in the Southern
prison at JefferSonville, Ind, serving life
sentence. l appeal to you to know if you
can in some way reach the Governor of
Indiana and get my brother paroled for a
him to come home for a few days with his
guard that they may see each other before
my mothers DEATH My brother is honest,
although in prison and if he gives his word
to return to prison he will keep his word.
/ hope you viii not be afraid to trust him.
l hope. my dear sir, that you will
look with pity on this family l worked
to prove my brothers innocence and got
no reward Now | ask charity in God s
name. 1 mail this to you as 1 cannot leave
my mother for a moment"
ID: II. baldwin, the Well-knoWn music
dealer, addressed a letter TO Governor
Hovey during his term of office in behalf
of young Kennedy, stating that he knew
the sister and spoke of her in highest
terms. He asked that Kennedy be pardoned.
convicted Kennedy. He said: Il was great
ly surprised to learn that some time ago
young Kennedy had been convicted of muir
der and it seems TO me that there must
be q serious mistake somewhere, as the
young man has always borne a good char
give the matter your calm consideration
and use your best efforts to give the young