The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-12
BOARD HEARS MANY
PLEAS FOR MERCY
Four Prisoners Serving Life
Sentences Applyfor Pardon
Sensational incident

10y
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James G. Nugent, serving a life SEN
tence at. Saltwater for the killing of
his thirteen-year-old daughter at Ma
pie Lake, Wright county, in 1894,
thinks hehhas been4sufhciently pun
ished, and the petition for his pardon
was heard by the state board yes
terday.
The crime was committed without
~provocation. When the little girl re-
monstrated with her father for drink
ing, Nugent ran into the house, re-
turned with "a gun n shot his child
dead. He was convicted. Of murder in
the second degree and sentenced to
saltwater for life. Judge c.. B.. FL
lott, of Minneapolis, the presiding
judge, and w. E. Culkin, register of
the Duluth land Office, but prosecuting
attorney of Wright county at the time
Of the commission of the crime, Joined
in recommending a pardon while a Pc
tition signed by all the county officers
of Wright county was presented to the
board. =: las-
1t was shown thai Nugent, had suf-
fered an injury to his head some years
ago and when on a periodical spree
was not responsible for his. acts. c..
S. Pigeon, clerk of the supreme court,
and Charles B. Oakley, receiver of the
United States LAND office at Cass Lake,
who had defended the man on his
trial, both argued yesterday for a
communication of his sentence. John
Nugent, for many years sheriff of
Wright county, and a brother of the
man for whom the effort is being
made, was also before the board. No
action was taken by the board of par
dons. . +.
Routine Is Interrupted
There was a sensational incident
when h release of Russ Shepard, a
Lyon county prisoner at saltwater
convicted last November of adultery,
was considered. - The father Of the
convicted man appeared before the
board and pleaded for. his sons liberty,
charging that his SON. had been the
victim of a conspiracy in which the
husband of the woman had joined. He
said that the husband desired a .di-
yorce and to procure it had sacrificed
his Wife's good anne.
The sensation came when the hus-
band interrupted to denounce the
story. He insisted with heat that no
man had ever had a happier home
than he until the tempter in the per-
son of Shepard had invaded it. Chief
Justice Start said that the sentence of
eighteen months, was light in view Of
the circumstances; that in many
places bloodshed would follow the dis
covery. The father, at the unexpected
development, bea a hasty departure,
n while the Shepard case was taken
under. adyisement it was generally un-
derstood that the board would take no
actien. 4fs$ az
FrederfeK sc. FISCHER, t%wenty-one
o,o ia co~%1oa $500
county Nov. "a, 1903, applied for n
pardon from the estate reformatory.
He was convicted WITH two younger
boys and a man of stealing brass cast
ings from the Chicago Great Western
yards on the West Side. The two
younger lads were given into the Gus
tody of the probation officer and the
| County -l&ttorney sT.3tR.A Kane and
JudgesE. A. Jaggard recommended the
| pardon and DIR. Ohagestalso sent a
letter to the board detailing the cir
cumstances n advising the pardon
that young Fischer might help. his
parents.,fThe family lives in the Fifth
ward. The case. was taken under adj
Life,Prisoner Wants Pardon
Robert owens, who has served five
years of a life sentence at Saltwater,
having pleaded guilty of abusing a
~six-year-old girl at, Austin. renewed
torney said that Owens. had pleaded
guilty under force of circumstances.
He had entered the court room after
several days debauch.- had declined
the services of an attorney and had
entered a plea of guilty with no I'M
Outstanding of the possible severity
of the sentence. The trial Judge had
admitted that he had made a. mistake
In accepting the plea, but feeling was
at fever e at Austin and. there were
threats. of personal violence to the
prisoner.
Owens. the attorney said, was so
drunk a not to know. whether. or not
he was guilty, but now protested his
innocence. The county attorney had
recommended the pardon, but the
board OF pardens continued the case
until a more complete record of the
facts at the trial could be had. The
prisoners sister, swho eeame: from. Sc
attic to assist inHsecuringe the pardon,
appeared before the beard, and prom
iSed to take her brother home with
her If he were released.
The William Chounard application
for communication Of a death sentence
to life imprisonment was continued
until 10. o'clock today, but Daniel Du
Lury, county attorney of Cass county,
appeared before, the board in opposi-
ton te-the application. Nothing had
occurredsat the trial. he said in favor
of the defendants plea. He declared
that many of the signers to the petit
ton, alleged to contain the names of
5000 people, asking for the commuta-
tion of sentence, were little boys and
girls Of families living near Walker,
while it contained the names of some
people not living in Cass county at all.
1t. was made til appear, however, that
all We're names of men and women
resident inathe county,
Asks Reduction Of life Sentence
The case of William Fitzsimmons,
sentenced on his plea Of guilty of muir
der in the second degree, to life. Inn
~prisonment at Saltwater, came before
the board again yesterday. Fitzsim-
mons iiledga Observation-Disclosures Joseph
Veigue in a street fight at Hinckley in
1895. HIS gsattelpneH AslseH for a COM
mutation Of the sentence to some def
mite term of a sethat the board OF
control might grant a parole to Fitz-
simmons. a.Atterneg F.~S.i Stewart, OF
Anoka, Yho ~repfseeseaetea Eitzsimmons
before the Board OF pardons, intiinated
that h Saltwater attorney who had
defended E~itzsimmons at his trial ad-
vised him,fo. pieadegailty that he might
save a large expense to- thescouitty, and
promised that he would use, his best
\ nffny}C ~ 49, ~ - Il