Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1910-05-20
A Pardon
By HARRY Won AMBERG
Copyright. 1910, by American Press
Association.

You, boy. Come out O that and
help bring on the wood"
So called the mate of steamboat
on the Mississippi to a pale faced boy
lying in his bunk. 1t was at night.
and the weather was stormy.
Il can't; I'm SICK
"You hain't goin' to work yer pas.
sage on this yere boat sojern there.
Git up. say. and carry your load"
The boy made feeble attempt to
rise. but failed. The mate seized a
stick of wood and held 1t over the in.
valid.
"You git up or Ill brain you."
Fear gave the boy additional
strength, and he managed to pull him
self out and stagger over the gang
plank to wood pile which the deck
hands were transferring to the boat.
He worked as best he could till the
task was finished. then crawled back
to his bunk and fell fainting in it.
This boy, Robert Stewart, was so
poor that in order to get from New
Orleans to ST. Louis he was obliged
to work his passage GU steamboat.
Ihe mate was powerful man. and
the boy. who was Ill with fever, was
completely at his mercy. What made
the act still more brutal was that
there were plenty of deck hands to do
the work without calling out sick
boy. There was something fendish in
the mates nature that led him to this
act of cruelty.
Years passed meanwhile That sick
boy was moving in one direction
While the mate who had tyrannized
over him and had nearly cost him his
life WAS moving in another. The one
was rising, the other sinking. Srhoolcd
in adversely, Robert Stewart possessed
that within him which enabled him to
triumph over obstacles. the harls!ips
he had endured furnishing a spur to
send him onward and upward Sue
cessful in his own affairs, the people
intrusted him with theirs. In time his
name became known to every one in
Missouri He rose to be governor
One day man was brought to the
governor from the penitentiary as an
applicant for pardon. He was a large
powerful fellow, and the moment the
governor looked at him he started
Then he scrutiniZed the criminal long
and closely. Without speaking he
turned to his desk. picked up the pa
per on which the mans pardon had
been made out and wrote his name at
the bottom Of 1t. Before handing it to
the prisoner he said to him:
II fear it will be useless, perhaps
wrong. for me to grant you this par
don"
The man stood stolidly waiting to
know the governors reason.
"You will commit some other crime
and be sent to the penitentiary again"
NO. governor; promise you that
will not"
The governor looked doubtful. He
was apparently turning something over
in his mind. Finally he said:
"You will go back on to the river-as
mate on steamer. suppose"
Eyes, governor; I'll go back to work
at any position l can get"
"Well." the governor continued, ''be-
fore pardon you wish you to make
me promise"
The man looked interested and wait
ed. The chief magistrate was in no
hurry. The mass Of business awaiting
his attention was forgotten in this par
don case There must be something in
1t to move him SO strangely. For
few minutes there was a faraway look
in his eyes. He seemed to be pictur
ing something That it was painfui
scene WAS evident from his expression
Then he turned to the criminal and
said impressively:
81 wish you to pledge your word that
when you so back to the river as mate
on steamboat you will never drive
a sick boy from his bunk to load your
boat on Il stormy night"
The criminal looked at the governor
in vain attempt to understand why
he imposed upon him such a singular
condition. Then he made the required
promise. asking at the same time for
an explanation. Finally the governor
gave it:
Zone night nany years ago you were
mate of Il steamboat running between
New Orleans and st. Louis. On that
boat was Il boy sick with a fever. One
night when the wind blew cold and
the rain c;lme down in torrents you
drove that boy out Of his bunk and
forced him to carry wood.
Now, there. are two reasons why
don't wish you to do that again. The
first is that ! desire any boy sou
might so treat to escape your cruelty.
Another time it might cost him his
life. The second is that he might be-
come governor OF his state and you
might commit another crime and come
before him with an application for
pardon"
The man stood looking at the gov
ernor. faint glimlner Of memory
struggling in his brain. But with a
life Of so many brutal acts behind him
it was hard for him to remember one
which at the time he had considered