The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1912-12-28
The Wholesale Pardoning.

victs. 1t is the most sweeping re-
Duke ever pronounced by the gov.
ernor of any state against system
denounced as barbarous and PERM
cious-the convict lease system He
assigns as his reason f I discharg-
ing so large number at this time
lis for the purpose Of forever break
ing up the convict lease sy stem in
this state.
Ever since he has been in Office he
has been fighting the convict lease
system and the county farms,
About fifty of those pardoned are
on the three county farms left in the
state, in Mississippi, Desha and Ief-
ierson counties, He pardoned every.
one on those farms whose names he
could get, except those convicted OF
carrying pistols and selling whiskey,
His purpose was to;blot these farms
out of existence, There were 800
convicts in the penitentary proper,
not counting those who are being
worked on county roads in Pulaski
and few other counties under act
1911
Gov, Donaghey has consistently
fought the convict lease system ever
since he has been in office. In every
public speech he has denounced it..
AS a memb"t Of the penitentiary
hoard he has opposed it Many
times he has pleaded with the legis-
lature to ABOLISH the system, but de
spite all thR'so relief has been given.
"The subject has been grossly neg.
lected BY TIL general assembly says
Gov Donag,by in a message To the
legislature 1Iich he made public
last night, partly due to n confus-
ion Of ideas as to what plan best to
adopt, and partly due to a DISPOSE.
ton by some to let the matter re.
main as it is, with the statement
that the penitentiary was not de-
signed for a Sunday school"
To this the governor retorts nor
was it designed for a revengeful hell.
OF course no one intends for it to be
such, but in measure that is what
it and the county farms Of the state
resolved themselves into. The abuse
Of power shown by a few individ.
uals acting as justices of the peace
in some of the towns and cities of
the state, as is made plain by the
record, is enough to staggcr into
amazement those who have given
the matter no attention"
The Governors wholesale pardon
was not the result Of an impulse,
but Of deliberate purpose dating
back several years when he first be.
gan studying the subject, For
months he has been at work s,eurs
ing complete data of all the eonviets
in the penitentiary, and has sent
special agents to the county farms
TO secure data there, securing re,
ports that are indeed startling in
the extreme. Aud but for the re.
cords in the case says he 'H.bay
could scarcely be accepted as truth
gotten from official documents and
personal statements among n civil.
ICED people, and but for the pardons
granted by me, giving the reasons
therefor, | would be looth to make
known, Ia manner for the outside
world TO know II, the statements
obtained, v
The Governor cites ten specific in.
stances Of the most outrageous sen.
fences inflicted, often for the most
trivial ailenscs. One of these is as
follows;
I'm Phillips county, according TO
the court records, two negroes Joint.
ly forged nine orders for one quart
Of whiskey each, For this ollensc,
one Of them was convicted and sent
60 the pcnitcntiory for 80 years, and
the other for ~ years, When the
record Of the circuit court convicting
them was secured by me, at once
issued pOrdons for both of them,
They had no one 10 appear in their
behalf, and NJ the time ! issued the
pordons was notified by the penI-
tertiary officials that after serving
nearly two years the negro sentene.
ed TO 80 years had died"
Among other instances he notes
The following Jefferson county ne
gro sentenced to i2il days for pet.
&c ,lareen,I another from same
GO, NY $40 for petit la,eenyi an-
tny FG Am same county 1881 days
tJr TioNarcenyi Craighead county
whit dIcdp, 200 days for assault
and The w Miller county negro,
three much Nor stealing n few orti.
eles nnolh'NIng off n clothes line,
The w,n sNre, are but n few typical
CO... " "eI ALA Mould be sufficient 60