The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-05-13
THE pARDoNlNG POWER.

i =
A citizen OF Richmond said in our hear
ing the other day that in his opinion one
cause OF lawlcssness in the South is the
too liberal exercise of the pardoning pow
er bv the Governor. It is his idea that II
tho people were confident that all law
breakers would be duly convicted and SEN
fenced, and that tho sentence would sure
ly be carried out lynchinSs in Virginia
would be almost unknown.
There is something in this, yet it must
be said that the people in the various
localities of the State are more respon-
sible In one sense than the Governor Tor
what our friend calls too liberal exer-
else OF the pardoning power. When the
friends OF penitentiary convict approach
tie Governor with a petition signed by
the Judge Of the trial court, the Common
wealth's attorney, the members OF the
Hury. the witnesses in the case and prom
nent citizens generally, it is a hard mat
ter for the Governor to reject such q
petition and refuse to pardon the con-
syict. 1t is usually declared in such Pc
titions that the circumstances under
which the crime was committed were pc
<,uliar. and in the opinion of the petit
.ioners the convict has been sufficiently
/. punished; that he is a reformed man, ana
that If he be pardoned he VIII In all
! probability lead n correct life whereas IL
& kept in prison to the end of the term ne
may come out hardened criminal, and
so on. Il is also stated in many such
cases that the prisoner is man OF dell
cate health. and that If he is not par
doned he will either die in prison or come
out a physical wreck. The Governor nat
i ,,raliv supposes that these petitioners I'M
!. dorstand the case better than he, and how
! eyer anxious he may be to execute JUS
J lice it is very hard for him to deny such
a strong appeal
But where such petitions are brought
] 80 the Governor he should, if possible, in
yestigate the circumstances under which
the petition was gotten up. we all
know how easy it is to get up peu-
ton for anything. Americans seem TO
have a mania for signing petitions, and
often they will sign without taking the
+ronb,a 10 investigate for themselves. "A
woman in tears goes to some weak mem
Der of the jury and gets him to sign, then
she uses the fact that one has signed 10
get another to sign, and then she uses
the fact that two have signed to get 9TH
ers to sign, and so on to the end. Nlr-
Einians are all tenderhearted and mercl-
full and it isf Very hard for tlem to re-
ject the pleas of mother OF wife or SIS
ter unGsr such distressing circumstances
In che of the Virginia cities several
yearg ago a prisoner who had been SEN
1ensed to Jail by the Mayor and who was
bsdag escorted TO Jail by the chief OF po-
Nee. deliberately drew a concealed weapon
kirom his pocket and put a bail into the
sSchief. 1t so happened that the Mayor was
standing by when the shot was fired. BY
good luck the wound was not iatal' out
that was through no fault of the man VINO
,nf,icted it. In all our experience we have
never known of a more daStardly cIliile'
we have never known a man to snow
wonderful to relate, in less than SIN
months that man was pardoned out oil
the pcnitentiary upon peuUloh sisheu
by the Mayor and the chief of police Inc
chief of police explained to one OF ms
friends who questioned him on the SUB
iert that he could not refuse to sign the
,etition because, having been wounded by
:his man, it would appear that he mar
oored malice against him; the mayor
pirned because the chief of police signed,
and when these two had signed, it was
,ba hest argument in the world to get
,thers to sign And so that petition was
,,rm,rht to Richmond and presented to
,,a Governor. and the Governor granted
.he pardon.
Now we mean to say that If the Gov
ernor of Virginia, who received TINS Pc
tttion. and who acted upon it, had known
The exact circumstances of the case OF
The outrageous crime OF this convict and
tho circumstances under which the par
don was obtained he would not have cn-
.crfained it for one moment.
But after all, it comes back to the or
fp;nal proposition. II the people of Nir-
cinia do not want The Governor to eNer-
else executive ciemency" too literally, let
them stop signinGs petitions.