The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-11
JUDGE START STANDS
IN WAY OF PARDONS
State Board Considers Forty.
Two Cases and Grants Lib
erty to Two Prisoners

day considered a total of forty-tWo
applications for pardon, parole or COM
mutation of sentence, and the result
of the session of the board was to
grant two pardons, and four commuta-
tions of sentence. All the other cases
considered were either denied, contin-
ued or taken under advisement.
Chief Justice C. NJ Start was the
obstacle in the way of pardons for two
or three men. In each case the chief
justice set his face sternly against the
exercise of clemency, and in at least
two cases he expressed his views in no
uncertain language. To him the fact
of conviction, without subsequent
question of the guilt of the petitioner,
was sufficient for the law to take its
course.
Fred Ames' Case Laid Over
The petition of Fred w. Ames, for
mer chief of police Of Minneapolis,
serving a sentence of six and a
half years at Saltwater on conviction
of having accepted a bribe, was be-
fore the board of pardons, but was not
pushed. The fact that former Mayor
A. A. Ames, brother of the convicted
chief of police, is now on trial at Min
neapolis on a bribery charge, is be-
lieved to have Influenced the postpone
ment of consideration of the case of
Fred W. Anes.
Robert Poole, one Of the Jackson
county men convicted Of having in his
possession with intent to sell, 1000
wild ducks, and sentenced Nov. q, 1908,
to spend 200 days in the Jackson coun-
ty Jail, and to pay fine Of $4,000,
was given a pardon by the board at
its session yesterday. He will be i'm
mediately released. Prominent officials
and citizens of Jackson county recon-
mended cIemency for Poole, who has
already served some five months OF
his sentence.
BleW's Sentence Reduced
Edwin T. Blew, sentenced Oct. 20,
1902, from Hennepin county to Still
water for seven and a half years, was
granted a communication of sentence to
four years, BleWs offenSe was for
gerry. While his partner in the grain
business, T. F. Armstrong, escaped
with four years, Blew was given the
longer term Armstrong escaped with
the lighter punishment by declaring
that Blew had forged notes to the
amount of over $4,000 before he was
aware of anything being wrong, and
the hope of making UP their losses.
Blew's attorney presented a strong
statement of his case to the board of
| pardons yesterday. ST.
| The application Of William Patton,
| the LIE Sueur banker for a pardon
aroused the expressed opposition OF
Chief Justice Start. Mrs. George Tay-
| ler, of lie Sueur, a sister of the con-
| victed man, presented the case to the
do cyfr
brothers pardon on the ground that he
was not mentally accountable for his
! acts before the failure of his bank, nor
! was he now mentally competent. DR..
| H. A. Tomlinson, superintendent of the
| st. Peter state hospital for the insane,
| said that he had examined Patton be-
fore his trial, and he had then express
! ed belief that he was not capable of
proceeding to trial nor of undertaking
! a defense. He had seen him a few days
| before at saltwater and had been con-
| firmed in his belief.
A strong letter was presented to the
| board from Judge Francis Caldwell, of
LIE Sueur, before whom the conviction
! of Patton was obtained. protesting
! against pardon or communication by
! the pardoning board. Judge Caldwell
recited the facts of Patton's convic
| ton on the charge of forging a note for
| $4,000; that he had received money
when he knew his bank, the Farmers
| and Merchants, of LIE Sueur, was in
| solvent, and that eight other indict-
ments against him had been nolled
upon his conviction. Judge Caldwell
protested, saying that the ends of JUS
| tice would not be served by clemency
extended to the prisoner.
Judge Start Is Stern
"The question of the prisoners COM
potency is not one to be determined by
this board" Judge Start said. fIt is
entirely one for the court to determine
/ The prisoner was represented by coun-
sci in the trial, and his rights were
| protected. The jury has said that he
was competent. He was sentenced to
serve in the penitentiary for a term OF
eight years, and yet here he is, after
| only eight months of his time having
| expired, asking the board of pardons
to overturn the courts and to say that
he is mentally incompetent. The pro-
eedure borders very closely on the gro
/ tesque."
Benjamin ]. Campbell, sentenced to
saltwater from st. Louis county June
! 1, 1903, for three years and nine
months for grand larceny in the Sec
ond degree, was given a Communication
of sentence to two years and SIX
months.
Charles L. Howard. a st. Paul mar
who had served eighty days in the
workhouse of ninety days sentence
for beating his wife, was pardoned on
| a recommendation of Lieut.. Frank
Horn. Howard has been given a posi-
tion by a st. Paul manufacturing COM
pany.
August Landberg, sentenced from
Ottertail county Nov 81, 1903, to three
| years at Saltwater, had his sentence
COMMITTED to one year and six months
The board considered at considerable
length the petition of William Fitz-
simmons, sentenced nine years ago to
life Imprisonment, for the killing OF
| Joseph Vigue at Pine City. Letters
were presented from H. III. Wyman
Anoka; L. H. McKusick, Pine City; J.
c. Nethaway, Saltwater, and G. S
Pease Anoka, in which clemency was
urged Judge Start opposed the petit
| ton. The case was taken under ad-
/ Yisement
Mrs. John Dahlgren, accompanied by
her three little girls, pleaded to the
| board for a pardon for her husband
! who is serving a ten years sentence al
/ Saltwater for burglary. The record
showed that Dahlgren had served a
previous term for attempted burglary
in Kings county, N. Y. The woman
| asked for his release that she might be
assisted in gaining a livelihood for her
children. The application was denied
Train Robbers Case Continued
Action in the case of the four alleged
Great Northern train robbers, Thayer
| Minot, Hull and Hoffman, was post
| poned because of the absence of C. c.
Haupt. United States district attorney
4.