The Green Forest tribune., 1904-06-18
HIS HEART DIDN'T MELT.
Gov. Davis Turns Deaf Ear to
 Headings for Mart Vowen,

Gov. Davis is now being con- demned in unmeasured terms for his refusal to exercise ex- ecutive clemency in behalf of Mart Vowell, who was hanged for murder at Paragould on Friday of last week.
 The facts in the case are that l VoWell was an Confederate soldier and save the trouble in which he killed William F. Love- joy, he had always led the life of a Christian citizen. There must have at least been some miti- gating circumstances in the case as the grand jury three times re- turned a bill for murder only in the second degree, and but for the persistence of Judge Hughes would never have made the charge higher, and that was done by different jury from the one that first considered the case.
 The petition asking for ex- ecutive clemency in behalf of Vowell was signed by more than 1900 of the best citizens of Greene county.
 As the time for the execution drew nigh and no evidence of the governor interfering having been man ifested, the chief executive was overwhelmed with telegrams from all over the state, many old soldiers and ex-Confederate or ganizations pleading in Vowell's behalf, but it was all for no pur- pose. The governors only reply was that it was a hard struggle for him against his own in clinations, but "stern duty and exact justice" demanded that he should not interfere, which sounds very much different to the statement made by the governor in his Eureka Springs speech on the subject of pardons and ex- pressions he made use of on various occasions during the last campaign. In his Eureka Springs speech he said he par doned a Newport man in a large number of whisky cases, on a pe- tition containing "nearly 5OO names of the best people in Jack sou county.s With reference to the case of the notorious pr. Johnson the governor said that although he might have made a mistake that time, he "would not let any old, gray haired white man die in the Arkansas peni- tentiary." Further he said: "Judge Wood said the other day in one of his speeches that any old woman could get pardon at my office who came there crying. I want to say to you, my fellow citizens, that I thank God that my heart has not become so stilled, so cold and callous, that the tears of the mothers in Israel will not move me to pity. - If you don't want your boys pardoned, don't come crying around my office, because l can't stand 1t and do not try to stand it, :,
 In the Vowell case, Mrs. Vowell and her children and his brother called on Gov. Davis and pleaded with him personally and accom- plished nothing.
 Mir. Vowell was certainly we'll respected in the community in which he resided. His remains were taken to Rector for inter- ment and here is the press report concerning the funeral:
 "The train bearing the remains of Mart Vowell, who was executed at Paragould yesterday for the murder of Wm. F. Lovejoy in this county, arrived here at g o'clock last night. Several hun dred citizens were at the depot A large crowd remained on the street last night. Vowell's ex- ecution and Gov. Davis attitude in the matter was the topic of the town.
 Vowell's remains were inferred this afternoon at Z o'clock in the family cemetery, one mile north. west of Rector. Services were conducted in the Methodis