The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-26
Governor Bailey Not a Believer
in Wholesale Releases.
During December $50 AppII-
cations for Freedom Received.
ONLY FIVE GRANTED.
Not Fair to Courts to Release
Penitentiary COnvicts.
Many PitifHI Stories Told BY
the Applicants.

Governor Bailey is not a believer in
the Christmas pardon system for
penitentiary convicts. Out of $50 appli-
cations for rardons received at the gov
ernor's office in the last 80 days. only
four or five have been granted, and only
one of these was granted on the day
before Christmas.
Some years ago. it used to be the GUS
tom for the governor to allow, for sem
timentaI reasons, "a nice bunch of pardons
day or two before Christmas. The
plea was made that the convict should
be allowed, whenever possible, to spend
Christmas at home with his family. 1t
is a mighty good plea to put up, too,
and it takes a governor with consider
able strength of character to withstand
the temptation, and allow his sympa-
thies to get away with his better Judg-
ment.
But Governor Bailey is not lacking in
sympathy. He has a big, genial heart
and would have liked, no doubt to send
Christmas pardons to about half the in
mates of the state prison. He says:
1.-THE rush of applications for pardons
is something enormous just now; the
pressure which is brought to bear in
many cases is great and it is hard to
Withstand. Some of the most pitiful
cases are brought to my attention.
listen to some terribly sad stories. But
I can't grant many pardons; it wouldn't
be right, nor would it be fair to the
courts of the state which have put these
men and women where they are"
Just at this time, the convicts and the
friends of the convicts think that they
have a double hold on the governor.
They counted first on the Christmas
pardon idea, Which nowadays is largely
a myth, and second on the fact that
Governor Bailey is about to retire r. ON
office, and is therefore supposed to be
a little more lax in his investigations OF
such matters. Every governor, when he
iG a office h6SieRe0
with applications for pardons, but Gov
ernor Bailey has been getting his In
double measure.
During the past week, applications
for pardons have been coming in on
every mail at the rate of about twen-
ty a day. The rush may let up bit,
now that Christmas is over, but IT Will
not stop until Governor Eailey re'iIes
from Office.
As a matter of fact. an application
for a pardon does not receive very ex-
tended consideration unless 1T is back
ed up with some exceptionally strong
evidence of merit. Scores of applica-
tions are filed away in the governors
office with little investigation, simply
because it would consume too much
time to study their merits. Those
which seem to be backed uD with i'm
pressive evidence. or which bear on
their face the stamp of genuine merit,
are looked into. and a few of them are
allowed. But the people who think
that it is easy to get a pardon appli-
cation allowed have probably never
tried to get a pardon for anybody.
There are a number of old timers
down at the state prison who come in
with their application for pardon al
most as regularly as Christmas time
comes around, hoping that some time
they may put their case before some
governor whose sympathy will be
touched by the appeal, and who will,
out of the generosity of his heart, al
low them their freedom. Perhaps
their time will come some day, but as a
general proposition it takes evidence as
well as sympathy to move a governor
to act in such matters.
When a new governor comes in, the
penitentiary inmates are always anx-
ious to find out whether or not he is
going to be easy in the matter of par
dons. Governor Hoch will come in for
his trial before long, and there are
doubtless a good many convicts wait
ing and hoping for that time to come.