The daily sentinel., 1907-07-09
FIRST NIGHT OF FREEDoNr
It Brings No Joy to Pardoned Con-
vict After Long Confinement.


vict After Long Confinement.
/ 4 Il wish you would allow me q
Il q to occupy my old cell tonight. q
II q l have no place to go. 1t Is q
/ q the only home l have known a
! q for so long that 1 would be q
l q lost should l venture out to- q
/ q night" 4
\ q And William Sell, after twen- 4
/ q ty-one years of life in the Kan 4
I q sas penitentiary, was allowed q
/ q to pass his first night of free a
/ q dom in his old quarters. 4
| Sell. convicted twenty-one years
ago of the most atrocious murder in
the annals of KANSAS. was liberated
on Tuesdays on receipt by the war
/ den of a pardon from Governor Hoch
4 Legally willie" Sell-as he is
! known by practically every person in
Kansas owing to his extreme youth at
the time of conviction-was a free
man a few minutes before o'clock
/ Tuesday afternoon when he was
handed an unconditional pardon in
Warden HaskelIs office by the gov
ernor's private secretary, who made
| the journey from Topeka especially
/ for that purpose.
This is the hapiest moment of my
| life," said Sell, when the papers Civ
/ ing him freedom had passed into his
| possession and Warden Haskell had
addressed him as 'Mr." Sell and Civ
en- him permission to violate the pris-
on rule in regard to addressing
visitor
Before pardoning Sell-who, with
one exception, was the oldest prisoner
in the Kansas penitentiary in regard
to time of service-Governor Hoch
arranged for his immediate future.
State Senator Griffin from the JEFF
! ferson-Douglas district and member
of the pardon board. had promised
| the governor that Sell should be Civ
en- employment in his drug store at
Nortonville, Kan. An unforeseen cir
cumstance, however, prevented Mr.
Griffin from reaching Lansing in time
and, realizing his ignorance of the
world, Sell did not care to run the
gauntlet of the morbid curious by
making the trip alone.
John Higgins, parole officer of the
penitentiary, accompanied Sell when
he escorted him to his new home in
| Nortonville.
"How does it feel Mr.. Sell to be a
! free man?" was asked as the party
were making their way to the rail-
road station.
"Feel?" was the quick reply.
"Why, man, If were to live a thou
sand years and had I the command of
| language of the most eloquent orator
in the world. could not begin to out
| line my feelings. I have looked for
ward to this moment for an age, it
seems to me.
Now that it has come, don't ask
me to describe how It feels. Let me
feast on the sunshine, the landscape,
the green foliage. Say, If you had
been in h for lifetime and were
suddenly transplanted to heaven, do
you think You could put into words
| how you would feel? OF course not
So don't ask me such silly questions
Why don't you ask me what | think
of the Roosevelt-Harriman controver-
| sy? That would be easy?"
A carriage had been provided for
the trip from the prison to the rail-
way station, but Sell preferred to
walk.
you may get in that stuffy old
cab If you want to-" Sell told Of
hcer Higgins and the newspaper men
who had assembled to see him safely
on his journey, but none of 1t for
me- I want to walk. It's been so
/ long since ! kicked up the dust and
| felt the good old mother earth under
| foot that it's an experience | don't t
intend to forego.
your pardon gentlemen If I seem
selfish, but If you realize what this
| first voyage into your commonplace
old world meant to me, I'm sure you
would not blame me.
Did any of you ever sit down and
figure up how many days it takes to
make twenty-one years? | thought
not. With just one exception, have
not been outside those old walls for
just 1882 days. Think of it-7.532
days, yes that's almost an eternity.
And every one of those days had
night. Years and years ago the days
ceased TO worry me and to any great
extent, but those nights-they were
awful. Don't ask me to describe them
with just a little touch of sun
shine l have had in the last hour 1
wonder why I don't go mad from be-
ing deprived of 1t. I know now that
the belief that some day I should be
free was the only thing the time must
surely come sometime when some
governor would set me free. No great
er Injustice was ever done a person
than my Imprisonment. That the loss
of father. mother, sister and brother
should not be enough affllction for
a 16-year-old boy seems Incredible,
Not so i'm my case, however, Four
months after the murder of my fa-
Tiers family l was brought to Lam
sing, condemned to die. You know
the rest, but thank God, there are
some people who think I am innocent
of that crime. or / wouldn't be here