The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-11-15
REFUSES
To SPARE LIFE
Pardoning Court Decides That
Mortensen Must Die.
LEGAL FIGHT NOT ENDED
CONDEMNED MAN RECEIVES
NEWS WITH A SMILE.
lCy1HAT did l tel you?"

Z 4
"W That was the first remark
Peter AIortensen made yester-
day afternoon when Acting Warden
/ Wright notified him that the state
board of pardous had refused To COM
mute his death sentence 10 that of
life Imprisonment. When the news was
/ broken TO MIN MOrtensen was busily
at work charging a picture cut from
a magazine. lie was using a lead pen
ell, and the fine. perfect lines of the
drawing were mute evidences OF the
steady nerve OF the condemned man.
The instant Acting Warden Wright
approached his cen, the condemned man
Hooked up and. seeing who ii was APP
preached the barred door With as
much deliC2cy as possible ne broke
the news of the boards action to the
condemned man.
Smile Never Deserted Him.
After Acting Warden Wright had told
MOrtensen the news. he dropped his
eyes TO the floor of his cen for a few
seconds as though trying 20 think 0t
something. When he raised them. chat
same Old smile appeared upon his face.
and, looking the acting warden straight
M me eyes, he said with his usual uu-
concern.
What did 1 tell you?"
( The status OF his case was discussed
for O. few moments. during which Nor
Jensen expressed himself as still be-
ing confident that ne would not be
shot TO death next Friday between the
hours of 10 O'Clock i'm the morning and
? O'Clock in the afternoon. He still be-
lievcs that his case viii go To the Unit
ed States supreme court. and that he
VIII be able TO live the i've years which
he boasted he would when he was first
sentenced.
aid representative, he said no, that
Ee did not wish to- see anyone except
ing his attorneys and relatives. There
was no resentment IN his refusal only
he said that he did not care to see a
newspaper man.
Young Gives Testimony.
The pardouing board considered A1or-
tensen's case for exactly three hours
3 yesterday. Almost third OF that time
was i'm executive session. when the evil
dence i'm support of a Communication of
sentence was considered behind closed
doors. The other two hours and
r fraction were devoted 20 listening to
arguments by Mortensen's attorneys,
asking for "a me sentence. the remarks
p OF District Attorney Dennis O.. Eirhnor
fopposing 81. the reading of letters and
! amdavits touching upon the case, and
Fl, Che oral testimony ~ Royat by uuu e.
IvhO acted as special officer of the court
taking the jury to- view the premises
: during the progress of the trial The
dissenting opinion of District Judge
. MaTiOueauN was also submitted to the
, board for it's edification.
: At PAS o'clock the board emerged
8 from its executive session. and an
p nOunced that the unanimous opinion
was that the condemned mans appli-
{ cation for q communication OF sentence
] must be denied. With that statement
the various members of the board left
} the building. There was NO disposition
Z on the part Of the individual members
to discuss the case further than to CON
: firm the announcement.
: Legal Fight Is Not Ended.
3 When seen last evening. Attorney c.
s 3. Stewart said, in answer TO the ques-
p / ton. What lis your next stepE'
e Monday morning we viii file with
r. / the supreme court a petition for a rec
- hearing ON the last appeal The papers
D viii be drawn up so that they can be
filed as early as possible"
Suppose the petition is denied, then
what viii YOU do. Mr.. stewart
I'VE viii probably ask for a stay Of
/ execution pending an appeal to the
b United States supreme court. That is
hardly probable, though, because L do
, not think we viii secure money SUI
, fCient to take the case TO Washing
, I ton"
: Anything else you desire to say at
, this time2"
{, NO. 7 DO not think So" was the re-
= ply. we did The best we could before
? the board and failed
= Tt was almost II O'Clock when Gov
: CrnCr Wells called the pardoning board
? TO order. Clerk Richards was then di-
= rected to read the notice calling for the
2 special session. When be had con-
|aTr d
? Charles w. Morse who tried and seI-
y fenced 2Iortensen. asking for a COM
? mutation of sentence, was read:
? Morse Asks For Life.
Il beg leave to say that the evidence
in this case. While purely Circumstau-
- tial was such as to fully justify the
jury in finding beyond a reasonable
doubt that the defendant was guilty of
- the crime as charged. and j feel that
~ defendant had a fair and impartial trial
by "a jury composed of men who were
entirely free from any prejudice or
r. bias. and his defense was most ably
% conducted by his counsel. / do not
believe. however, that the death pen
atty ought ever TO be inflicted upon "A
% / person whose conviction rests s6lely
e upon circumstantial evidence and as
e the evidence in this case was entirely
= circumstantial, I therefore recommend
y that the application for Communication
ID be granted"
An anonymous letter received 10y
= Judge Morse. in which the writer hints
= that someone other than AIOrtenseu
u committed the crime. was also read.
H IL is as follows.
y Judge Charles W. Morse-1Iy Dear
= Sir: 7 want 10 inform YOU that the
day you have Peter MOrtensen shot FOR
the murder of Hay. that day YOU Will
have murdered an innocent man. Pc
ter would have been I'm the same fiE
as Hay II it had been known he had
e that much money. Ask Peter If he re-
members anyone that was standing by
TO- when he told Hay to come to his home
and get the money. We are out of the
~ way and IT, seems as if an innocent
D. man has got to be punished for ths
in crime.
ID yours truly i'm Ca
~ Stewart Pleads Earnestly.
se The letter was mailed at Hazzh
10 Hurst Ga. oct "a 1908, at I o. m- Thu
IT. writing was evidently thar OF an 3D.
10 literate man. and was in lead pencil
e. 1.-THE spelling and punctuation We're poor
o. There was a short letter from Distric
30 Attorney Eichnor. who tried AIOrteusen
~ in which he said ne had no informa
e. ton which would warrant him I'm be
h. Ilieving that mistake had been made il
id convicting the man. therefore. he coul
of not see his way clear 70 recommen'
m a communication OF sentence Wardel
HnfaH