The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1910-01-30

and / am confident that To this fact
alone more than anything else | owe
my long sentence. II not my actual
conviction. for very unjustiy re-
ceved the blame for what he lid as
well az for what | myself did.
Prosecutor Lends Aid.
Fortified with these facts. Miss
Thomas went To work on the case. The
district attorney who prosecuted Whit
ton at first was, il is said. doggediy
opposed to any mercy being shown. but
Miss Thomas induced him To make
further investigation. This he did,
| with the result that he reached the
conclusion thai Whi,ton had been pun
ished enough. and he promised to help
free the young man. as he realized
pardon would give Whitton freedom
and chance 10 support his blind sis
! ter. Miss Thomas also enlisted the
support of United States Senator'S Car
/ ter and Nixon. and the case last year
was brought before the board Of par
dons of Montana.
| But the friends of the deputy sheriff
/ protested vigorously against favorable
i action. and as consequence the board
4 ulNldts. oUe III va
his pardon. while the other insisted the
/ law should DE carried out. This left
4 ii to Governor Norris to decide, and in
view of the fact that there was. some
evidence to the effect that whitton
might have fired the shot that killed
I Allen instead of Morgan, the governor
felt he could not consistently favor a
pardon at that time.
1 But under the Montana laws. a par
don can be given to convicts with rec
ords of good behavior after they have
served certain portion of their terms.
In Whitton's case. twelve and one half
/ years is the required service for par
don. and this period will expire shortly.
viii Recommend Parole.
/ Governor Norris promised Miss Whit
ton that IL nothing unexpected comes
up and Whitton continues a model
/ prisoner the governor will recommend
that Whitton be released on IA parole.
and a. Attorney General Galen of Mon
tana also is favorably inclined to a
parole. Whitton's release from the pen
/. itentiaGy is looked for. Under q parole
a convict Is expected to report to the
law officers twice year. so they can
J know If he is keeping his parole. but
In the case of Whitton. who desires to
return home to look after his blind
sister. the regulations will not be en-
/ forced. All Governor Norris required
of Whitton's friends was that they sat
isfy him and the members of the board
of pardons that they will furnish the
means to bring Wilton to Washington
and sustain him until he can get work
This was done.
Senator Dixon said:
Miss Dolly Whitton, the blind sis
ter of young Whitton. called on me
about a year ago and explained the
case. | talked with Governor Norris
about II. and he said he would parole
the hoy when the latter had served
about twelve and half years. And
that period l believe is about up.
Iron, the facts presented to me
am of the opinion that the boy did not
commit the crime himself. but that the
man who was with him was RESPONSE
BILE for the killing. Governor Norris
did not mention the case to me when
he was here attending the governors
conference"
During the past week n delegation
/ of Montanans from the Milk River
valley region has been in Washington
1 comforting with government officials
/ in regard to irrigation in that section
In the party We're 4. NJ. Everett. state
senator; NJ. d. Hoyt, of Glasgow; Louis
] w. Hill of the Great Northern road:
John Lohr. II. d. Philips and Rudolph
| MOsher. The delega ton was a COM
/ mittee appointed at a recent meeting
/ Of the Milk River valley citizens to
/ take up the matter with the authori-
ties here.
The delegation called On President
| Taft at the White house. Secretary of
Interior Ballinger aud the reclamation
/ bureau official They were accom-
/ panied by Senators Dixon and Carter
and Representative Pray. The burden
was being retarded in the northwestern
section of Montana by reason of the
delay in completing the irrigation prof.
ects. namely, the st. Mary's and Milk
river schemes. The. pointed out also
that much land available for good
! farming was in the state. but had been
! unsuryeyed and that farmers could not
get the opportunity 10 develop it. As
n result many of the settlers were GO
! ing into Canada. where the restrictions
We're not so severe.
/ They also pointed out that although
the farmers had turned over To the
government eight years ago their wa
+ ter rights under the belief that they
would have water from the irrigation
projects. their homes had not been real
lied. 1t was also stated that nearly
a fourth of the total area of Montana
is in forest reserves and that i'm these
/ there are rich bottom lands where
farming would he profitable. The
delegation asked that these river bot
toms he orensd In the farmers. Set
tlement for farming was also retarded,
they stated by the fact that sixteen
and 4 half million acres of land in
the STATE are nnsmrNaNaa md not avail