The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1899-05-31
, r HOBBS, Editor and Proprietor.
. . scARBOROU0H,. Field Editor.
Tur Ivo MILLER PARDON.
,srs. II. Colemen Says the
c.v.ruor Did Promise Be-
fore Conviction to Par
don Miller.

don Miller.
r.c,. Recited by Mr.. Coleman In
Detail.
r.. following statement Of facts
Inc e-aOared BY me for publication
was pa;ght or ten days before Miller's
som1 s,n as was preparing to take the
psruVtt ~ the supreme Court, when two
s,,smen csSs of this place to whom l ex-
gsI.d ginsd NV intentions, asked me to
Pshbeld Psssbold action until they could inter
s;sr the governor. They found him
', .s,Ssnatobia or Sardis, forget which,
snS came back with the assurance
sbst s tbe pardon would be speedily
ssrrsuted: srs and the same was granted In
about ten days.
..rdon had not intended to say any
!s;ns psiuf further in the matter, but the re-
.u,te un, ennblic assertions Of Gov. McLau-
c.a, ,bst he made no such promise to
Ia,don l,M @ as is claimed, when he not only
Rnows that HE DID, but that l had SO
stated at the time of conviction, when
~ many wondered why Miller's attor-
S.rS ~ had advised him to that course,
n@ompel @ me in Justice to myself to pub
@ l;sh exactly what was said and done.
STATEMENT OF FACTS.
tertbe Indictment in the Ivo Mil
Ia, case was returned into court, in
INV IS9s. and Miller had been arrested
md broupht back from Memphis, the
Arm of Coleman & McClurg, Of which
lam member, was appointed by the
sonrt 10 defend him, as he was too
Moor to employ counsel. A motion
- ouash the indictment was interposed
on the grounds that the grand jury
which found the same had been pack
ed, and that four of its members OF the
seventeen impaneled were then, or had
bsen within twelve months, road over
Seers. and had been retained on the
nanel after the attention Of the court
had been directed to that fact. The
state moved to strike out the motion
TO ouash, on the ground that the same
was frivolous, which motion by the
State was sustained; and the cause
was then continued on the application
of defendant, as some of his witnesses
we're not present and 1t was doubtful
if any of them could have been OBJ
tanned in time for "a trial. This meant
that Miller would have to lie in Jail un-
til the next term of court, and to OBJ
viate this if possible, since his mother
and sister we're dependent on him for
their daily support, l left Greenwood
at o'clock one evening, went to
jackson, sought Gov. McLaurin
that night and laid the facts
of the case before him as fully as they
we're known to me, and as set forth in
the testimony taken at the commit
ting trial which resulted in Miller's
discharge, a copy of which testimony l
showed the governor, and asked him If
hewould not promptly pardon Millerif
he was convicted, telling him that my
idea was to have the continuance set
aside and have him plead guilty to
manslaughter. He told me that to
promise to pardon before conviction
would be equivalent to pardon which
would be unconstitutional, and would
subject him to impeachment, which
idea secuted and combatted. We
had long discussion and much more
was said by both, winding up by his
telling me that l ought to know we'll
enough what he would do in such a
case, and not ask him to make the
promise. | replied that l could not
indulge in any presumptions, but must
know what l was doing; that / was
satisfied no jury in the State would
convict Miller, upon the evidence, and
that could not afford to take any
and asked him if he did not
see where | stood and appreciate my
condition. He replied, "You are in a
tlckllsh place, amt your" "Yes,"I re-
Piled, "and must therefore KNOW
what to depend upon" He said: "Go
home and have your man convicted;
bring your petition down as quickly as
you can and / will turn him loose.
You need not wait to have the petition
signed before publishing it, but Won
can publish it and circulate for sigma.
lures at the same time" said II am
aware of this fact, and want to say to
you that you have lifted a great bur
den from me, and whenever l can serve
you IN any way in the future, you can
draft Oh LIE and | will honor the call"
MS I reply was that after the many nice
Things had said and done for him
down here tmeaning while / was in the
llglslaturel he would do anything in the
world for me. He then asked me il /
could not manage to keep Miller here
aaarlng the thirty days necessary for
Oh nls petition to be published. Iexpress-
20 doubt as to my ability to do so,
ouI promised to try, at the same time
teiling hlm that l had no sentimental
" ABOUT his wearing stripes; that nv
oniy oo]ect was to get him released as
speedily as possible,so that he could 20
y; y WORK Tor his family, who would other
wise become dependent. The COVER
uor t9en said: There is one thing
tnat Will ask of you, and that is not
,ua ~ make the State give him the $40 and
e;n. 1au new suit OF clothes when pardon
.;m aiIi ln thirty days" l responded, i've
"mi VIII make the State present of that"
aue ~. ieit' going immediately to the de.
IN. la; anu wiring to my partner, "Fix
lungs there-everything all right
uere, ere, or about that.
Mneh l reached home the next
n19rnihg | was informed that the
h. IIuse would not take the plea of man
'btausnter. bo Then with the consent of
'"o ;so prosecution jury and verdict of
''v WI Imprisonment was arranged.
,on. wnen the thirty days were out l pre-
'on.eu 'ou petition with the names of
''Setnihg 'S;u over 2400 of the citizens of
'"'' ana adjoining counties.
8. r. COLEMAN.
90 Tar the Governor has made no re-
~ 70 the above, but has given it out
nat ne will have something to say be-