The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-04-17

member { he board; B.. S. Rearick Of
Cooperstown, M. D., is the fourth
member OF the board; S. al. Fisher of
S~trasburg, n. D., is the fifth member
Of the board. From this you will
readily see that the warden of the
penitentiary has nothing whatever to
do with the pardoning of inmates
from the p~enitentiary or otherwise.
The warden is not even permitted to
make a recommendation, excepting
in some special cases where an un-
usual condition of affairs exist. The
only relation that the warden has to
the pardon board is to furnish inc
formation to the board relative to the
prison record and department Of the
inmate, which record is copied direct
from the records existing at the
~penitentiary, which is submitted to
the board without comment. The
board, however, have the right and
power to summon the warden or any
other official. or any of the inmates
to appear before them and answer
questions that the board may pro-
pound.
1t is my understanding that no
pardons are granted BY the board ex-
coping upon unanimous vote Of the
board. and that each member of the
board Is required to vote; therefore,
n dissenting vote defeats the appli-
cation for pardon.
There has been a great deal of adj
verse criticism of the pardons granted
by the pardon board during their last
meeting which was held Dec. 2, 1911.
This board was constituted as follows:
U. l.. Burdick, lieutenant governor of
the state, sat upon this board rs the
acting governor, on account of the fact
that Governor Burke was at that time
absent from the state on account of
being a member of the party which
constituted the governors train. which
toured through the eastern states. The
full board was present, constituted as
follows: Burdick, b.. F. Spalding,
Andrew Miller, S. A. Fischer, and b. S.
Rearick, all being members of the
pardon board, and were all present and
acting in their E%official capacities as
members of the board. Consequently
any criticism of Governor Burke of
this session of the board is unfair and
as he did not participate in
the deliberations of the board. Any
criticism of myself on account Of the
action of the board of pardons is man
unfair. There would be equally
as much justice in blaming me for the
action of the supreme court of this
state, or the United States for the de-
rendered by them. or any jury
might sit in any case, as to as
that the warden of the state PEN
itentiary can, or does dominate or in
the pardon board is a SANDER
and libel upon the board, but might
accepted by him as a marked COM
pliment, as any person strong enough
to dominate and influence a board of
such high character as this board,
might reasonably feel a degree of pride
in the fact,
/ assure you that 1 have the high
est regard for every member of the
board of pardons, and that I respect
their opinions and judgment too high
ly to presume to even make an i'm
proper suggestion to them, as these
are men of unimpeachable
character and high degree of intellect.
| believe that the action Of this board
be safely accepted by the people of
the state Of North Dakota as a fair,
wise and impartial action, and that
the welfare and interest of society is
at all times dominant and a controlling
factor governing all Of their official
The people of the state have
repeatedly expressed their high esteem
and confidence in three of the members
of this board by electing them to the
high Office which they now hold.
Trusting that this explanation and
statement of facts will make clear to
you my connection with the pardon
board. l thank you for your kindly
interest, and beg to remain, yours
truly, F. o. Hellstrom, Warden.