The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-28
WIFECAME FOR HIM
The pardon Mill in Ac-
ton. Russell BraswelI
a Free Man.

u,ao &C one will. coldly logical as
nov he surely as conviction may
aat into the soul, there is oliiei en-
=. deem az the heart or nature ltseii
when preconceived conclusions coliiue
49, coalitions that ring the bell OF
sentiment.
11,bao woman pleads for mercy
- q strong man Weeps with the
randing tearing, halr-suppressed soos
that force Their way from the stoIh-
ach-ir is thus and not from the
rhroat that Il man cries-cold reason
aven the colder sence of expediency Is
ant to Specialize with haste.
1t was conditions such as those thai
Governor Avcock faced yesterday
when the father and wife of Russo
Braswell walked into his office tt
plead for the pardon of son and nus
hand Braswell had come from Hall
fax county, where he had been con
yicted by white jury of stealing a 81
pair of pants. His sentence was nine
months III the penitentiary, and he
had served up to yesterday about SIX
months Of his term. When the two
who were pleading for his Liberty
came into the office they pitched their
nppeal on a note that was hard to re-
sist Simply their faith shone out
from their love. The prisoner was IN
nocent, they said, and simply ano
clumsily they began to go over tht
evidence to the governor. quaking ne
doubt as they did so at the Imperfect
ness of their argument, little aware
that the man to whom they were talk
ing was thinking not Of what they
said, but of what they were, of Wha'
had brought them trembling to the
office Unconsciously, they had comt
IN the best way they had touched the
right key!
When | entered the ante-room foul
people sat in the inner office, the Bras
wells, the man bent far over in n
chair, the woman sitting fearfully on
the edge of hers, the Governor at Ia.
iesA and eX-Judge Francis Winston,
the next Lieutenant Governor.
/ stopped in the ante-room ana
Judge Winston, glad no doubt to lift
the strain, joined me without the Gov
errors office.
Presently the Governor came out
Relief was on his face, which beamed.
There was a quiZzical smile about his
lips. his eyes were briLht.
His wife came after him." said the
Governor, Il think I'll let him gO!"
We went in. The woman sat quiet
i'm her chair, her eyes wet with recent
tears, look Of dazed content about
her solemn bearing The man sat
rocking in his seat. handkerchief t.
mis- eyes, and sobbed i'll great gasp>
hat swelied his neck with REDEEMED
and outstanding veins.
The Governor took up the phone
and called the penitentiary and gave
his orders to the warden AS the i'm
port of the words sank in, the finalitN
of the relief, the woman gasped and
the sobbing of the man became un-
comfortable, so that they had to leave
the office for the ante-room.
And then I saw them last. the wo
man, appropriately dressed in a
bright blue skirt and a fancy waist, the
man rough, humbly dressed, hard
hands hanging clumsly down by his
side both watching with impatient
eyes the clerk filed out-oh! so
slowly-the pardon form.
The two had come in on the Wei
don excursion. Even then their fell
low travellers were swarming in the
capitol buldin" their voices resound-
ny under the dome. But they in the
office were happy with the joy that
hurts; and they were waiting for
piece>of paper to carry to the peniten-
tiary, to get their boy" to take him
back home on the excursion!
l did not ask for the reasons" Of
this pardon; in view of what | saw
they would have been supertiuous.
But there occurred two thought: that
every editor who has written thought
fully about pardons and criticised the
practice, should have seen that man
sob, should have looked at the tragic
picture of that over-dressed woman;
and that so long as the law puts where
it does the exercise of a power that
can be used to the perfection of dis
erection only by some mechanical in
vention, there ought not to be COM
plant if the people come to find out
that their Governor has a heart.
While the formal reasons of this
pardon are not now known, the one
that counted probably was:
His wife came after him.