Rocky Ford enterprise., 1909-01-01
GOVERNOR VISITS ROCKY FORD
CONTINUED from first page)

Bank and with a petition of 1000
signatures hurriedly gotten protest.
ing aginst you pardoning him. This
petition includes well known citizens
of Otero county and we can with a
few more days bring you a petition
of 5000 signatures as all it takes is
time; there is no opposition to our
stand as far as we can learn. We
ealledSa meeting Of depositors for
last Saturday in Rocky Ford. At
least 400 of them were present. We
presented two petitions, one for par
donint and one against. Not a per-
son would sign the petition asking
that he be pardoned. Every person
present signed the other.
We realize that you have the abso-
lutte power of pardoninr: that you
have that power not as private cit
izen but as Governor. What you
would do as private citizen and
what you would do as Governor is
vastly more important than your
duty as a private citizen. As Gov
ernor you have sworn to uphold the
laws Of the State of Colorado and
as such it is your duty to maintain
the dignity of the decision of courts
of justice when they abide by the
laws. Is it right that the serious
work of the courts of our county at.
ter an expenditure of thousands OF
dollars to mcte out justice to an out
rageous crime committed, that such
serious work is to be lightly over
thrown simply out of consideration
for the feelings of the accused and
his family? Is it right to claim that
friendship exists strong enough to
pardon a man discovered to have been
a systematic robber for years?
No more sacred business relations,
exist than that OF guardian of trust
funds. No law can be too strict IN
the interests of the depositors, SO long
as it only amply protects them. Think
for a moment OF the misery caused
hundreds of homes by the total loss
of all their resources and their money
caused by the failure OF this bank. On
Saturday last one man 81 years old
was at the meeting: with his wife
nearly as old as he. they lost in this
wreck every dollar OF their savings
for IS years last past-he is too old
to start in again to make beginning;
what condition are they left in! An
other resident of Rocky Ford, Mr.. d.
w. Barclay. deceased, was hurried to
his grave with a broken heart brought
on by worry and humiliation to his
family by the crime Of John E. God
ding. One widow lady who lost ST.
zoo by this failure became tcmporar-
lily insane for time and for months
was in a dangerous condition: scores
of families were left destitute and
pcnniless by this mans wrong doing:
scores of children have been this win
ter. young boys, taken out of school
to work in the sugar factory few
months to earn enough money to take
the family through the year on ac-
count of the loss of their savings in
this bank: hundreds Of Christmas din
ners will be similar this year on ac-
count of the failure of the State Bank
of Rocky Ford. The ruin and devas-
tation caused by this mans manipu-
lations have caused loss that will
take s years to overcome. He set us
back ; years by his systematic rob-
berry.
John f. Godding has never turned
over to the receiver Of the State
Bank, nor has any member OF his
family turned over to the receiver, a
dollars worth Of their property not
withstandinK the many interviews
that Mr.. Godding has pushed into the
papers to the contrary. Only few
over 5000 on a life insurance settle
mcnt on a maturcd policy. the prem
iums to pay for which during the
years he had doubtless taken from the
funds of the dcpositors OF the bank
but not a dollar of this $1,000 did he
turn over to. the dcpositors. Can you
say that hci is or has acted fair with
them in any particular? We think
no We do not believe that when
you hear these facts that you will
say that John E. Godding should be
shown any clcmcncy at this time. We
are here in the interests of all Otcro
count protesting against any clcmen-
cy being shown him because he has
never shown himself entitled to any.
A pardon to John E. GoddinE at this
time would not only be an outrage
upon justice. upon the impartial and
conscientious work of the people of
otcro county. but would absolutely
destroy all the good effects of the
example which the dignity of the law
maintains: pardon now would en-
courage crime and VIC believe that
YOU aprec that such criminal
should be punished. let suffer who
may. and let the dignity Of our law
and of our courts be maintained"
Two days later the Denver Rcpub-
lican had the following report OF an
interview with the Governor:
Gov. Buchtcl was glad to have
the opportunity to hear everything
which the committee from Rocky
.',-G brought to his attention. He
had noticed hitherto certain intcn-
sitv of expression which would nat.
.irally be misleading to rcoplc who
Knew nothing apout the exact facts
.5r;Ec intense expressions were used
by Mr.. North. as for example. whcn
c declared that moro than half mil
ion dollars had been lost to more
han a thousand depositors from ep-
.ry section of the county and lost
Fpr how long pn one knows The real