St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-08-14

| wrote: III MT. MuSsCy SuOuiu SURVIVE
an operation and afterwards be sent
back to prison. believe his term of con
finement would leave him more of a ply
steal and nervous wreck than find him
TODAY" Dr. Charles A. Gale who had
practiced in Rutland for twenty years
and been for eighteen years Mussey S
family physician, wrote: I'm my opinion
his chance Of surviving an operation is
not by any means as good as that Of a
person of ordinary strength, And be-
lieve, should he survive an operation and
be sent back to prison, that, unless there
should be some very decided favorable
change in his condition as compared
with what it has been heretofore since
his confinement, he would not be able to
live out his term Of imprisonment"-it
had still five years to run-"and If he
should survive such term of imprison-
ment, l have no doubt that it would
leave him a complete physical and
nervous wreck. Should be survive the
pending operation and be released from
Imprisonment now, he has fair chance
of recovering and being restored to
health"
Here were no representations that a
man was on his deathbed. All these
physicians ventured to say was that he
might not survive the operation, owing
to his impaired condition. and that if be
did he might never recover his health in
prison. The action of the President was
therefore not based upon the familiar
sentimental consideration of letting the
prisoner ''go home to die"
Equally temperate was the letter Of
Mussey's pastor, the Rev. George w.
Phillips of the Congregational church of
Rutland, who has been assailed viciously
for his share in urging pardon. All
Mr.. Phillips did was to certify to the
high standing and large practice OF the
three physicians concerned, and to say
that he had visited Mussey in prison and
had "noticed nothing inconsistent with
the bearing of sincerely penitent man
in his situation. His physical condition
is apparently feeble" continued the
clergyman, land his emaciation extreme.
Without going further into particulars,
trusting entirely to your sense of what
the ends OF such punishment as his may
require, permit me to subscribe myself"
etc.
Finally, District Attorney James L.
Martin, who conducted the prosecution,
wrote: LAS a sentence is not only to
punish the offender, but to deter others
by example, just what should be done
becomes serious question" Neverthe-
less, when Judge H. H. Wheeler, who
presided at the trial, said: "Mr. Mussey
profted nothing, made full disclosure,
assisted the governments all he could, and
in the condition of his health think the
he should be pardoned now" Mr.. Mar
tin added line saying that he concurred
in this opinion.
Thus the case was made up for the At
torney General. If there was any politi-
cal pressure any, indeed, which dealt
with aught except the merits--it does
not appear from the papers. The simple
fact is, that pity for man who had first
yielded to a friends opportunities, and
then committed one fault after another
to hide something which had gone be-
fore; who had never made, or expected
| to make, dollar from any OF the trans
actions; who had done his best at the
last to make restitution; who had found
his life turned into hell for several years
through the burden of guilty conscience i;
and whose formal punishment in prison
| had been made as great as that of the
villain who tempted him and enjoyed the
fruits of his crime, moved Attorney Gen
eral Knox more than any consideration
of the convict's peril through ill.health
or the surgeons knife. 1t is doubted here
whether a man who had been through
an operation for appendicitis as lately as
the Sd of July, is yet in any condition to
go on much of i"hunting trip" to the
Adirondacks or anywhere else. The
greater probability is that his trip to
the mountains is part of the regimen
prescribed by his physicians for bringing
| him out OF his physical trouble.
In short, the whole question involved
in the case is whether, under all the cir
cumstances attending the crime, contes-
sion, and punishment of Charles W. Mus
sey, the attorney general was justified in
recommending, and the President in
granting, a pardon after somewhat
more than a year of the six he would
have had to serve with the usual allow
auce for good behavior. That is a ques-
rion for moralists, with which the subse-
quent Adirondack tri p and all the rest of
the incidentals have nothing to do.