Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-02-03
ENsANS ARE DOING
 UTMOST TO AVERT eHANG!NG IN STATE
pople Appeal to President to Change Sentence of
 Convict

Tnneka, Kan, Jan. 3l.-W hethe1
 not President Wilson will go
 ,nter a to sentiment of nearly 50
 oars, a standing in Kansas and au.
 a, ar;ze the hanging of Robert F.
 4nand in the federal penitentiary
 'Geeavenworth is question that is
 o+hcring Kansas people just now. E.ennse the United States supreme
 e',rt has recently affirmed the
 oth sentence pronounced by the
 s1aYol court upon Stroud for the
 .nrder of Andrew F. Turner, a guard
 the federal prison.
 There has not been legal hang
 a nndar state supervision in Kan as ,s since 1872, and none under Gov
 ,nment supervision since 1888. Ev- ,v effort is being made by people hronghout Kansas to obtain com ,ntation of sentence for Stroud so be ' record of the state will not be ,ritten to President Wilson urging oarred. Gov. Henry J. Allen has nrtber consideration of the pleas of he mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Stroud, bat the life of her son be, spared. Thousands of letters are urging a khange in the sentence, as the pres dcnt alone can do this.
 Kansas practically abolished capi- (al punishment in 1872, when the ate Thomas P. Fenlon, one of the Nest known Kansas lawyers. obtained he passage of the bill requiring that vhere the death sentence was inn bosed the prisoner should be kept at he state penitentiary- for one year hefore the death warrant should be presented to the governor for his signature. No governor has ever s;cned a death warrant since that lime and in 1907 the death penalty for any crime in Kansas was abol- ished completely.
 Four Hangings Before 1872.
 There had been four legal hang ings in Kansas before 1872 and there had been some "near-legal" hangings during the early days. There were numerous lynchings in the early days of the state. There have have been several legal hangings in the state under federal supervision since the state in effect abolished capital punishment in 1872. The last govern ment hanging took place Nov. 21 1888, in the county jail at Wichita, when Joe and Jake Tobler, half breed Indians from the Indian ter ritory, where they had murdered two white men near Vinita three years previously, were executed. President Taft granted commu tation of sentence to Charles O'Neill, etenced to be hanged at the fed prison for an assault upon a $. Cant girl on the Ft. Leavenworth years ago, and is believed to be the military reservation. This was 10 ' only time that the states record was hear being marred by a legal hang. Ing. President Taft was b0mbarded with letters, telegrams and personal visits by hundreds of Kansans plead ing with him to commute the sem tence of O'Neill, which he did few days before the hanging was to take place.
 Mrs Stroud has always contended that her son was the victim of his fathers degeneracy. He is man of "a dual personality. One day he ap- pears the most vindictive man for the slightest affront, while the next day tears come as the result of any, one showing him even the slightest kindness. One day he speaks of mur- der in the lightest vein, justifying it as the only just means of removing blot upon his dignity, while the next day all thought of harm to oth- CTS has disappeared and he would not injure hair on the head of the vilest criminal in the prison.
 Psychologists and criminologists do not understand Stroud. On his "bad" days he contemplates with equanimity the commission of mur- der or any other vile or loathsome crime to gain his own ends or to set tic an old score. On other days Stroud comes as near being a model prisoner as could be found anywhere m any prison; is a,niable, earnest and industriaus, while on his bad days he is taciturn, sneaking and re- fuses to work.
 Stroud was brought to the federal penltentiary at Leavenworth from McNeill's Island prison at Seattle He Killed hls rival over dance hall girl at Juneau, Alaska, and under plea ot guilty was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was born at seattle 29 years ago and commit ted ms first crime when 13 years of age. stealing pair of opera glasses.
 stroud killed Andrew E. Turner, prison guard. at the prison March z6, 1916. He has always contended that Turner had referred to him ' ~needlessly with vile epithet. Stroud worked tediously and long fashion lns dagger from kitchen knife, which he had stolen. He even made scabbard for carrying the uagger Tn his coat so that the guards had never suspected that he was armed. The murder was com mi'ted when sixteen hundred pris- enefs were seated in the mess hall lor Sunday dinner As Turner swalked by Stroud the latter rose rom his bench and stabbed the guard thru the heart.
 Sentenced to Be Hanged.
 Dn the first trial Stroud was found suiity of murder in the first degree ano sentenced to be hanged. But sne Judge had failed to tell the jur- ors that if they desired they could return verdict of guilty but quail. sy M the sentence to life imprisonment me united States circuit court o1 appeals ordered new trial because gcf this ommission.
 K un the second trial Stroud was lound guilty of murder. in the first uegree. But one of the 12 jur. CTS was opposed to hanging, so he 4..nai!y won the other II to re. s;sl is;us.hlng a verdict of guilty with 2 4. ,ie imprisonment sentence. Again r,", m. case was appealed and again il z St Sas reversed. On the third trial .Ssntuo saat was again found guilty and .ehced to death and this time ths