The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1904-05-04

to Mr.. Shaw by the publication
OF an indiscreet letter written by
Judge N. M. Hubbard. The very fact
that Mr.. Shaw allowed this letter to
become part of the public record. to
fall into the hands of any who might
wish to read, completely exonerates
him from attaching to the letter any
more Importance than it deserves.
Certainly if. as Governor, Mr. Shaw
was about to parole man for political
considerations and against public policy
he would not have allowed such letter
to have been placed on file. In the
files of the Governors Office will, be
found hundreds of similar letters ad-
dressed to every Governor who has
occupied the chair. Some of these
letters are insulting, some grotesque
some pitiful in their lack of knowledge
of men and motives.
Unfortunate as it may be it is the
custom for attorneys to take pardon
applications as they do other cases.
for consideration, and their zeal for
their clients often gives rise to mis-
carriage of justice just as it often does
before the courts. We all know of
guilty men who have escaped punish
ment on account of clever lawyers and
the matter applies to pardon cases as
we'll.
Again it is to be regretted that in
the matter of pardons the Governor
is constantly the victim of misplaced
confidence often in the best known
citizens. We remember a case in
point when the petition of notorious
violator of the pr5hibitory law made
application for remission of fine and
his petition was signed by large
number of leading citizens. Gov.
jackson could not understand why the
petition was SO generally signed as the
case was fragrant one. Accordingly
he addressed letters to twelve of the
| most prominent signers asking their
reasons for so doing. One replied that
he had no recollection OF having
signed and said his name was forgery
the remaining eleven replied in effect
that they hoped the Governor would
not remit the fine, that they had sign
ed the petition because as business
men they had feared to refuse, as re-
fusal would mean loss of trade and per-
haps local persecution.
We dare say that hundreds of such
petitions and letters are filed each year
in the Governors Office and that there
are many instances where the pardon
or q parole has issued on just such
spurious and illadvised Representations
Every Governor makes mistakes both
In granting and withholding acts of
clemency, there are hundreds upon
hundreds of just such i'll advised letters
as that of Judge Hubbard on file in the
Governors Office which with just as
much justice might be made to reflect
upon the character OF any of our chief
executives. In our recollection the
direct brides offered ran all the way
|
| Gov. Shaw feeling probably that
from the representations made. Sher-
clitfe had been sufficiently punished,
granted parole conditioned upon good
behavior. The parole was violated and
the prisoner returned to Fort Madison .
We cannot then see that any great
how a 81 T. = l. II;
to the majesty of the law. Whatever
thousands of dollars may have been
spent by Omaha parties to employ
counsel or for any other purpose does
not effect Mr.. Shaw nor his honesty of
purpose in giving the young man the
chance which it seems he failed to
appreciate.
In this connection it is only necessa-
ry to add the interview given out by
Secretary Shaw yesterday relative to
the parole. After he has spoken there
Is 60 need of further defense, save of
the fact that in giving this matter to
the public some one at Des Moines
seems to have been guilty Of an at
tempt to place Mr.. Shaw in as bad a
light as possible, even though por-
tion of the record had to be suppressed
to do SO. The following is Secretary
Shaw's statement: Every attempt to
make political capital out of the Incl
dent in Iowa has failed. Sherclitfe was
sentenced in 1893 to seventeen years in
the penitentiary. He had behaved we'll
while in the penitentiary and saved ali
his good time, and at the time of parole