Arizona republican., 1913-05-10

l dent meeting, the chief executive takes oc | casion to say one back to the men who criticised his actions as governor. The | letter is somewhat lengthy, quite a ! goodIy space of it being given over to a defense of Governor Hunts views on the question of capital punishment with which nearly all the people of the state are familiar. However those par agraphs of the letter which deal di rectly with the charges made in the meeting as to his abuse of the pardon ing power and the wholesale letting 1 loose of criminals contain matters of some more than passing interest. In the defense of the prison policy Governor Hunt goes on to say: As to those reports in which my official acts toward the inmates of the state prison have been criticised, it is | evident that no little misapprehension exists, since the facts have not at all been fairly set forth. The charge has i been frequently uttered, by parties whose thoughts Were rather for in | jury to my administration than for the 1 dissemination of the truth, and is | echoed in your resolution, that the rule has been to turn cold -blOOded murder CTS loose upon defenSeleSS world, to minimize the responsibility for crime and to eXalt criminals. The resolution declares that the records show sever al instances of late where cold -bloOded | murderers have been released, either through absolute pardon or by eXecu- ! tive pleasure. in violation and in dis regard of the letter and the spirit of
 the law"
 Nothing could be further from the truth Neither the letter nor the spirit of the law has been violated. No cold blooded murderers have been turned loose No injury has been wrought to organized society; but on the other hand organized society has been strengthened by the rehabilitation of men who but for the chance given them would have constituted a men, ace. And 1 venture to say that I have exercised no executive prerOgative that would, but for the pressure of pOliti- cal antagOnism, have attracted more than passing attentions.
 T wish to call your attention in cor rection of the lurid reports of my abuse of the pardoning power. to the fact that since my inauguration O year and three months ago but two men convicted of homicide have received pardOns, and both of these had been previously parOlled by the preceding
 governor That official had discovered
 circumstances in the crimes they had committed sufficiently ameliorating to
 justify their release or parole. and their
 further conduct had been such as to
 justify their restoration to organized
 society.
 Likewise during all the time I have
 in I11+ ioI1+
 sentence for murder have been granted paroles, and of these five were second degree offenders Not one of these pa roles was granted carelessly. or with out ample consideration and justifica, tion. Two of the men were rapidly dying of tuberculosis. and one has since died. One, whose crime was committed under circumstances not without -eXtenuating features, was pa roled on the condition and agreement ! that he return to his native country in 1 Europe, which he did. One had gone | totally blind in the prison and was re- l turned to his sister, and another was | paroled partially on the representations | of many good people of Yavapai coun- | ty. Not one of these have failed in l their obligations to the state-not one | or them constitutes a menace to or ganIzed society, though the state main tains strict watch over them, and at the slightest evidence of a return to i criminal life their freedom would be | taken away. Having demonstrated 1 their possession of the powers and the | desire of rehabilitation, they have been given the chance without which they would have become confirmed and l dangerous criminals, to be freed, at the end of their terms, inestimabIy worse than when they were incarcer- ated.
 Administrations have come and | gone in Arizona, and men convicted l of murder, with sentences ranging l from twenty years to hanging, have | been pardoned, reprieved, commuted | and parOled and during exceedingly | few years in less number than the rec | ords show to be the case during my | administration. And yet it excited no | hysteria, and except in rare and indi- | vidual instances. brought forth no pro- | tests. It was accepted as a fact that l there are many cases in which the ex- | tension of executive cIemency is right | and proper, and necessary to the ac- cOmplishment of the best ends of or ganized society.
 
 ward reform of the abuses which had | grown up in the handling and manage | ment of those convicted of crime, has | so offended many who have evidently | given no study to the subject, and that | my fewer than the average of acts of | clemency have been the signal for hor | rifying reports that "cold- blooded mur- | derers are being released through ab- | solute pardon or by executive pleas 1 ure." The utter lack of justification | for the reports which have been circu- 1 lated, and the credence so confidently l given them by your resolution, must ] inevitably lead to the conclusion that ] the cry of Wolf! Wolff has come l from a questionable quarter, and raised 1 for purposes foreign to the subject.
 Regarding the Yavapai county men | who are now in the state prison under |