Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-03-06

either Of these errors was by formal
application before me to set aside the
pardon indicating clearly the grounds
Of irregularity.. such an application
had not been made up to the time !
iett the ofrice to come before you.
No Aid From havner.
Ordinarily. when an official act OF
the governor is attacked, \he has ~ac-
cess TO the ofticc OF the attorney gem
eral OF the state for the purpose OF
counsel and guidance. but In this case,
as You no doubt are well aware. the
recourses Of that office are not being
directed In aid OF the governor but
have been used In an effort to annul
tho official act of the governor In an
extraordinary proceeding, disregarding
entirely the right OF the governor to
have the matter submitted TO him for
correction II error has been made,
Text Of the Message.
The governor spoke in part as fol-
lows.
Members Of the thirty eighth as
sembly OF the state OF Iowa-Gentle-
men: the controversy regarding the
Rathbun pardon has assumed such
proportions that the time has now
come when I should discuss it with
You with the utmost frankness.
Holds Recommendation Of Clenency
Some may think that should have
broken my silence sooner. In this
connection it should be borne in mind
that up to tho time Rathbun himself
went into court and waived the par
don. ! assumed, as / had a right to
assume, that reconsideration OF the
pardon would be brought before me all
the regular way and that I would sit
in the capacity Of judge to determine
it. Under these circumstances ~
would be ill-hecoming the Office l have
the honor of occupying to publicly dis
cuss the matter or attempt to justify
my former de cision.
Should Know the, Truth.
Many innuendoes are floating about
that possibly the governor was bribed
or accepted money in connection win
the granting OF this pardon. Let n'e
say to you that If these innuendoes
have assumed such proportions in your
minds as to create even doubt, it Is
your plain and imperative duty 20
trace them TO their utmost limit to
ascertain their foundation, for if the
governor of this state has acted Coz
ruptly or has accepted . bribe, you
can perform no more important duty
during the session Of the legislature
than to assemble the evidence and
impeach him. and if you thinkfthe evl-
dence sufficient to justify placing that
Ht al nrOCpeu
without delay.
ION the other hand if your investl-
cation convinces you that the evidence
would not justify such a proceeding
It is your duty to announce the same
so that the people may know the
truth.
Harding Passes Lie.
"It I have acted corrltptly should
be punished and the limit OF the Ia"
is none too severe. If / have mace
an honest mistake based on the record
before me at the time ! acted. that
is another and different situation ana
one which could have been corrected
before me in a regular and orderly
"It isc reported thatsthe pardon was
set aside as void by the district court
OF Ida county, one of the grounds pc
ing that + proceeded Illegally.
"If this statement was started py
any one who was present at court IN
Ida county at the time the Rathbun
pardon was before the court it is
malicious falsehood and If started oy
some one not present it is merely an
falsehOod
at might be interesting to go into
Just what question the judge did have
before him, the shape in which it
came before him and the order made
thereon.
IT you will further investigate you
will find that threats were made by
the attorney general and his assist
ants to the members Of the family
that unless they entered into the stip-
ulation other members Of the family
would be indicted.
judge Recommends clemeney.
when Clark came before me ask
ing for pardon I told him it had
been q rule Of the governors Office
for many years to give great weight
to the recommendations Of the county
attorney and the Judge who tried a,
particular case and would not con-
slider the case until had received a
from these two par
ties.
Later he returned with recon-
from both these officials.
THE one from District Judge NJ. E.
Hutchison Is in part as follows:
"'That taking into consideration
the circumstances and the evidence
upon the trial and the
there made. consider that
the life sentence imposed by me as
judge Of said court Is too severe and
l would recommend that the sentence
be commuted to period at the dis
cretion of your honor, based upon an
abstract of the record which will be
filed with you
Thought Justice Had Misearried.
"The one from j. A. Murphy. acting
county attorney, was in the language
quoted above.
Il have known Judge Hutchinson for
about ten years and know him to be &
man Of the highest ideals and the
strcitest integrity, both as man and
as judge, and with the request for
coming from him as it did,
with knowledge on his part that the
defendent had not gone to the pen
itentiaTy and had not served a day in
jail, it cerated in my mind the i'm
preston that inc judge before whom
the case was tried himself believed
that Justice had miscarried. Previous
to receiving the judges communica-
tion, I had read the abstract Of the
evidence that had been filed in the
court and submitted to me.
and had concluded from that reading