The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1911-02-16
JONES SEEKING PARDON?
PEARLSTIAE'S SLAYER IN Pen, BUT NOT
PRISONER"
APPEAL NOT ABANDONED y
Pardon Campaign Being Conducted
From Penitentiary. No Rea-
son Given for Removal to
Penitentiary Pending
Outcome of APP
peal.

Columbia, Feb. 12.-Special: The
proceedings in the matter of John ].
Jones, who was convicted Of killing
Abe Pearlstine, at Branchville. are,
to say the least, unusual.
There was great furry and
flourish in the newspapers, from
the home end of the line, that
Jones had abandoned his appeal TO
the Supreme Court and that he
was going to begin his sentence Of
ten years and one month for the
killing of Pearlstine, and thereby
perhaps engage public sympathy.
Allowed Many Privileges.
1t is true that Jones is in Colum-
bia and it is also true that he re-
ceives his mail and friends at the
Penitentiary, but he has not aband-
oned his appeal and he has not be-
gun his service. He does not wear
stripes, which is the first essential
of a prisoner, and he has not ma
circulated" as convict.
If he had been entered as n pris-
oner he would not be allowed to
do as he pleases and he would have
been required to don stripes, which
he has not done, and which he has
not been required to do, as all 9th
er prisoners must do.
IL Not Prisoner, What?
superintendent Griffith has
been advised by counsel for Jones
that Jones has not abandoned his
appeal and until he does this he
cannot legally be considered n pris-
oner and Capt. Griffith does not so
regard him.
The further fact appears that
Jones is conducting from the Peni-
tentiary a campaign for his pardon.
He is in conference with his attor-
neys. or at least with Columbia at
torneys, with reference to his par
don, and it was stated that on yes
terday a lot of blanks were taken
him, and that he will send these
blanks out to secure signatures
asking for his pardon, when, as a
matter of fact, he does not appear
to have begun his sentence.
Appeal Not "Entirely Abandoned"
The invariable rule Of previous
administrations has been that as
long as a party contended for his
liberty before the courts, he was in
no position TO ask for "A pardon, and
that a pardon could only be asked
for after the remedies of the court
had been entirely exhausted Or
abandoned.
To the outside world Jones would
appear to be prisoner actually
serving his sentence. whereas.
Capt. Griffith is advised by Jones
counsel in Orangeburg. that the ap-
peal has not been entirely aban-
doned," and Jones has not been
asked to wear stripes-the usual
apparel OF prisoners in the State
Penitentiary.
Why Taken to Penitentiary.
If Jones appeal has not been
abandoned. it appears somewhat
peculiar that he should have been
brought to the Penitentiary instead
OF remaining in the jail at Orange
burg until the Supreme Court pass
es on his case.
In what purported to be an in
terview with Jones, while he was
in the orangeburg Jail, published
in an Orangeburg paper, Jones was
accredited with the statement that
he was going to the Penitentiary to
begin his sentence and would per-
form any work to which he was
assigned, the inference being that
the appeal would he abandoned.
Contrary statements are made now.
1t is all very curious.