Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1906-02-21
WHEN WILL EXECU.
T|0N TAKE PLACE
Of Murderer John
Conley at Jail
in Taos?
RfPRItVE FOR TEN DAYS
Make Question of Legality
as to Hanging Taking
Place on Sunday.
Special to the New Mexican.

Special to the New Mexican
Taos, N. NJ, Feb. 21--Is John Con.
ley to be hanged on Sunday or Mon.
day? The official reprieve brought
here by Deputy U. S. Marshal Fred
Fornoff and as filed officially in the of.
flee Of Territorial Secretary j w Ray
nolds, reads as follows:
Executive Office.
To the Sheriff of the County of Taos,
Greeting:
Whereas, it has been represented to
the Governor of the Territory of New
Mexico that John Conley upon whom
the sentence of death has been passed
and imposed by the Supreme Court Of
said Territory, has become violently in.
sane since the said John Conley has
been incarcerated in the county Jail
of said county awaiting execution, and
Who reas, the sixteenth day of Feb
ruary, 1906, has been fixed by said Su.
preme Court as the day on which said
sentence of death Is to be executed
and carried into effect by the sheriff
Of said county, of Taos, and
Whereas, you, as sheriff Of said
county, have been commanded by said
court to execute and carry into effect
said sentence under said order of
the court at the time and place above
mentioned;
For Investigation.
Now, therefore, in order that the
question of the sanity of said John
Conley may be fully and properly in.
quired into by the Governor OF said
Territcr5 the said John Conley is
thereby granted respite and reprieve
under said sentence for ten days from
this date. You are hereby commanded
! to suspend execution and carrying in
to effect of said sentence on said 10th
day of February, 1906, and you are
! further commanded to suspend the
fexecution of and carrying out of said
sentence under said order of said court
until further orders to you herein.
Given under my hand and the seal
OF the Territory of New Mexico, this
the 18th day of February A. D. 1906
at the city Of Santa Fe in the Terri
tory of New Mexico
n. ]. HAGERMAN,
Governor
BY the Governor:
J. w. RAYNOLDS,
Secretary of New Mexico.
"Ten days from this date. under
an exact Interpretation, would bring
the execution ten days from the date
of the reprieve, or on Sunday, Febru-
airy 25. 1t may be argued that this
date" means that or "the above
date, referring to the second para.
graph of the reprieve, hut this would
be rather a violent construction and
when a human life is at stake, the
greatest exactitude and nicely must be
observed in Interpretation.
What is Legal.
Could Conley be legally hanged on
Sunday? Would the hanging on Mon.
day be legal in view of the language
of the reprieve? Even if legal on Sun
day. If the execution were to take
place on that day, it would arouse un'
| fo hi No, mo cpf nnH nf
the country to the other.
The execution is also suspended un.
til further orders and thus far no fur
| ther orders have been received here
and inquiry at Santa Fe reveals that
no further order is on file in the office
of the Territorial Secretary. 1t is
learned that Governor Hagerman will
be out of Santa Fe until Friday and
since Taos is thirty-five miles from a
railway and telegraph station, it is a
question whether an official order is
sued on Saturday would reach Taos in
time to have the sentence of death
carried into effect on Monday.
A Cause CeIeDfe.
Those who believe that John Con.
ley committed the deed for which he
Is to hang in self-defense have inaug
urated a movement to have Congress
pass a law making knowledge Of the
English language necessary qualif1ca.
ton for Jurors In the territories. Us
ing the Conley case as an example,
they will show that the majority of the
jurors who convicted Conley did not
understand the testimony, the pleas,
the instructions or the charge Of the
court except through an interpreter;
that no record was kept of what was
said by the interpreter; that neither
Judge nor attorneys for the defense
understood what was said by the inter
prefer. BY quoting evidence on behalf
Iof Conley they will show that exact.
but important, shades of meaning are
luntranslatable into Spanish. There
fore, the fact that the only juror not
a