Year: 1875

At Fort Madison. Iowa, there may be
seen going about the streets with the ut
most freedom gray-haired old man, the
only feature oiwhose appearance distinguish
ing him from the city fathers is the uni
form dress of the Penitiary This costume
Is IN strange contrast with the rest of not
unattractive exterior, and it brands its
wearer as an object of curiosity to corner
idlers and of bread to little children. 1t is
the mark of Cain, indicating that the hands
which protrude from it are stained with
human blood it is the badge of murder
er who escaped hanging only through a
technicality of the law.


The old man is known by the name of
Pleasant Fouts, and has the doubtful dis
tinction of having been the first white man
to commit capital crime within the bor-
ders of Polk county, Iowa. When last he
crossed the county line, in August, 1854
he was an immigrant in the prime of life,
jOurneying westward with his young wife
Ruth, in search of home They never
found one In an evil hour jealously thrust
itself between them and the husband, in Il
moment of madness, struck a murdcrouS
blow Of which he has never ceased to re-
pent.


\ trial in those days and in that sparsely
settled region, though fenced about with
some formaities, was comparatively rapid
and positively decisive. Fouts, when brought
to the ban, was confronted with an unimpeach-
able witness, who swore that she saw him
stab his wife again and again with knife,
despite the deponents entreaties to desist :;
and that, after his victim had once escaped
from him and taken refuge IN the house of
a neighbor, he obtained access to her there
by deliberate cunning and deceit Neither
the deed nor the malice aforethought
could be controverted by the machination
of counsel. Fouts was convicted of murder
in the first degree and sentenced to be
hanged. Less than a fortnight before the
day appointed for his execution, however,
a reversal Of judgment was obtained and
new trial ordered, which resulted, in the
then cooler state of popular feeling, in his
condemnation to the Penitentiary for life.


For the first ten or twelve years of his
Imprisonment he lived like other convicts :;
but little by little the warden came to have
more and more confidence in him and to
allow him greater liberties, until now he is
under no restraint whatever, and transacts
much of the official business of the institu-
ton both inside and outside its gates He
really needs no watching, for he feels no
temptation to abuse his privileges. With
his wifes death the last link that bound
his desires to the world was sevrered. The
half-score of years that followed permitted
the rest of markind to outrun him in the
race of life. He is, to all intents and pur-
poses, dead to social life the hands of the
century clock have been turned so far back
for him that they can in no manner regain
their wonted place. Persons who know
him say that he is so sensible of his isola-
ton that nothing would induce him to for
sake the Penitentiary-not even Il full par
don those gray, grim walls, so repugnant
to the sight of men who have never for
feited their freedom, encompass the only
home he cares for.


We are not aware whether Governor
Parker, in the documents relating to the
prison system of Iowa, which he is prepar-
ing to send to France, has included any
account of this singular case. 1t would,
indeed, scarcely come within the scope Of
a collection such as we take his to be. a
worthy biography of Pleasant Fouts will
probably remain unwrittcn until perhaps
the author of the Man Without County"
seeks materials for similar romance.