M. J. 8.”

1881.
le for you.
g our duty
pwards you
we would
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will never
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1881.

ks] course.
and try to
there is a
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882.

vies of your
being con-

THRILLING CORRESPONDENCE. 825

fined—unjustly though it be—saved your life from those enemies that rose
up so veromously against you, for they seemed determined on your de-
struction, and there is no telling what means they would have used to
accomplish their foul ends,.......See how Paul was persecuted, and
why ? It was not for any wrong act of his, but because he was straight-
forward in doing his Christian duty. We are very sorry to hear of your

ill health...... Time is a great restorer of rights, and avenger of wrongs.

AMER Your neighbors and townsmen strongly petitioned for your re-

lease, but... . has very evidently been corruptly tampered with. 6... 6.6.
M.J.S...”

Two of my witnesses had been controlled to testify when
on the stand, that Jumper’s carbine, at his second shot, was
aimed at niy near companion (L—) instead of at me, so that I
would be defending another man’s life instead of my own. But
as they had from the fight and for about nine (9) months there-
after declared that the second shot was aimed at me, and there
being three men at Seatco who had been in jail with these two
witnesses, and had heard them very frequently say that “it
was aimed behind L— at me,” I therefore desired to get their
affidavits, with those of other men, to establish this fact beyond
any dispute.

L— had forthwith after the fight so declared it, and in a
complaint for Jumper and partner’s arrest, which he wrote out
himself, had also sworn that this second shot “was aimed past
him at me,” and the other witness had always so stated it (and
DOES Now, 1889) to even his wife, who never knew he had ever con-
tradicted it until I informed her after my release. ‘“ Why!” she
said, ‘‘ HE ALWAYS TOLD ME AND OTHERS that the gun was aimed

past L— at you, and L— striking it down saved your life and
killed the horse.”

If the Governor hesitated in releasing me, I wanted him to
give me some kind of a trial (inasmuch as I had never had any)
to enable me to bring out and establish such matters as these.
So I wrote to a notary public to come and take these affidavits
for me, and received the following reply :

‘¢TrEntno, November 17th, 1879.
Guo. W. France, Esq., SEATCO.
Dear Sir :—I will be at Seatco last of this week or first of next, when
I will attend to your business. Yours truly, F. R. B..”

326 SrrRuGGLInG FoR LIBERTY.

—

But I was not to be allowed to positively destroy the only
point that served the gang as a pretext for “ convicting ” (?) and
plundering me ; therefore, though B.. was frequently at the
bastile, I could not get the business done. Once I was told
that the Notary had left word for me “to have the papers
signed and send them to him, and he would do the “ acknow!-
edging at home and forward them on to the Governor for me.”
This was evidently a trick to squelch the business as they would
a letter, and B.. being one of the charitable (?) brethren, was
willing not to interfere with their game of torture.

Here is a copy of a letter I wrote to B.. over three months
after I commenced to try to get this business done, and J was
trying all the time.

‘*Seatco, W. T., February 16th, 1880.
F. BR. B.. Esa., TENtINo.

Dear Sr1r :—Will you please be so kind as to attend to that business
for me at your earliest possible convenience ? Please to consider my sit-
uation, and that I am unjustly imprisoned—which fact I will establish in
part by the three affidavits that Iam so anxious for you to take, as I de-
sire to send them at once to the Governor, or to accompany a petition
from my home. Very truly, Gro. W. FRrancrE.”

Of course, with an honest Governor one’s life would not
be thus trifled with, and haggled and flayed. But such, my
countrymen, is practical masonry. Have I not seen it? Have
T not felt and suffered it for so many years? Don’t I Know that
this is so?

On the first visit of Governor [Links], I being in the din-
ing room, easily got an interview with him. I referred him to
the briefs of my case that I and others had sent to the execu-
tive office before, and that petitions would soon be sent to him,
and got him to promise that if there should be any opposition
or objection to my release that he would let me know forthwith
by whom it was made, and give me an opportunity to meet and
disprove it. But I could not get him to state anymore than I
could his predecessor, “ what showing he wouldrequire to release
a prisoner,” but he repeatedly said he “would consider my
case very carefully,” etc., etc., and I being so plainly innocent,
and having such strong proof of it, and such petitions withal it,
did seem to me that there could not be another being in human

en

the only
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was told

@ papers
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ey would
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THRILLING CORRESPONDENCE. 327

forma: .spect, so brutal, so corrupt, so blood-thirsty and cruel
as to reject and spurn it all, that he might gloat over the misery
and heart’s blood of his victims. I told the Governor how I
was denied the right to attend to my business as to the aftida-
vits, etc., but instead of his seeing to it that none should be
denied such vital rights, he settled it by saying that { “ could
just send the papers in to him simply signed, and he would
consider them as though they were sworn to.” /e thus joined
in squelching my case.

** For where is now that hour or hallowed day,
When plundering villains cease lo prowl for preu ?
Evhaustless wealth their boundless bosoms crave.
While thieves concealed in every guise we view,”

Very soon after this visit of the Governor my petitions
and other papers were sent in to him. But for a long time
afterwards—though I wrote the most plaintive appeals to his
supposed sense of justice and humanity, and begged of him not
to thus torture and destroy all that was dear and worth living
fort’ and mine—yetI could get nothing out of him, but
that vas “considering” my case. Oh! what a hateful,
treacherous word that “ considering” got to be. Still he would
give me to understand that he would presently “act on my
case.” And when I would ask him if any one opposed my release
he would always reply that “no one opposed it.”

I tried, time and again, to get him to “name some point as
to which he was in doubt as to my innocence, and I would
undertake to satisfy him with indisputable proof as to the
same.” But this he would never, NEVER do. He would speak
of the “ unusual strength of my petitions,” and would not say
that he needed anything added thereto or any further proof of
my innocence, or any further information whatsoever.

A person that went to see him in my behalf reported that
“the Governor says your petitions are the strongest he ever saw,”
and that “from what he said, I think you will go out ina few
days,’ and shortly afterwards the Governor told me that he
“would act on my ease in a few days,” and he said it in such a
manner that I and others near me thought that I would surely

go, when I received the following :

= ean He

eh ATE LER aN SGA hs NT.

328 SRUGGLING FoR LIBERTY.

‘* Home, April 12th, 1881.

On! My Dear Hussanp.—I have received a letter from Governor
[Links] and he gives me no encouragement, though he don’t say he will
not release you.

I was so sure that he would act favorably. Ido not know what to do
Next, ONT avenying 1S 80 CAN 6 isc eee scene cee unuawaegenesiceeaes

‘I have kept you ever in my heart, dear George,
Through months of good and ill.

Our souls cannot be torn apart,

They are bound together still.

I never knew how dear you were to me,
Till I was left alone.

I thought my poor, poor heart would break
The day they told me you were gone.

Perhaps we'll never, never meet
Upon this Earth again.

But there, where happy angels greet,
You'll meet your Effie there.

Together up the ever shining shore

We will tread with trusting heart;

Together through the bright eternal day,

And never more to part.’ Errte,”

[‘‘ The greatest affliction humanity can suffer, is the agony of prolonge
ed suspens?.”
‘*Corroding griefs and slow consuming care,
Hz firmly resolved your injured heart to tear.”

‘* Long as his actions ’scupe the public view,
Whatever his passions prompt, he dares to do.”’]

‘* Home, May 10th, 1881.
But, Oh! It seems to me that you will come. I am with you so often in my
dreams. Last night it seemed, it was not adream. I was with you, and
the warm kisses seem to linger yet on my lips. You will never be more
natural and real in life, than you were last night in my dream. ..........

I am sitting by the window, looking—when not writing—on the green
hills and the tall, gloomy pines; they are the only things that do not
change—always the same—-and thinking of the past.

Why does everything rise in my mind so vividly this morning—there
seems to be a something before me; it does not seem to be evil either—I
almost dare to think it is something good.............cceeee serene Iam
having the garden planted to-day. I think of how we used to make
2:80 (:) | re Do not despair, for I think it will end well yet.

, 1881.
om Governor
t say he will

w what to do

EFFrie.”

pny of prolong=

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ith you, and
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THRILLING CORRESPONDENCE. 329

‘Oh, breathe not those accents, though distance divide us,
Though time has been lavish with sorrow and years,

Thou art dear to me still—the past cannot chide us,

When we turn and look back through a vista of tears.

Ah, yes! thou art dear, though the sunshine has faded
From off my yond forehead, while shadows of care,
Like the twilight of evening, my pathway has shaded,
And left, now and then, silver threads in my hair.

Speak not of indifference, while there yet linger,
The hopes and the dreams of my earliest hours.
While memory points with her magical finger

To pathways whose thorns are all hidden in flowers,
How well I have loved thee may never be spoken,
And now, even now, in my early decline,

My hopes all departed, the heart that loves thee
Must ever be thine.’ ; Errtis.”

[‘‘ Rare are solitary woes;
They love a train, they tread each other’s heel.”

‘*Her tempted virtue unprotected left,
Robbed of assistance, of each friend bereft.”

Friends wrote and urged the Governor in my behalf and
informed him of the critical condition of my affairs, which was
being taken advant ge of by cowardly devils, to distress and
ravage my home aad family, and that I had no one to protect
them. But there was no honesty in his heart, and he seemed
to enjoy and gloat over such torture and murder. Of course,
he DID enjoy it, or he would not do it. “Since will to act and
action was but one.” An “there was a laughing devil in his
sneer.” Rather than let go, he would cut out the tongues of
his victims so as to escape their dying curses. |

‘* Home, May 22d, 1881.

My Drar Huspanp :—[She is being robbed of between three and
four thousand dollars by one devil alone, backed by the gang; is being
got into a stress; is gloomy, discouraged, distressed and embarrassed, so
that ruination was surely evident if I was not speedily released, as there
was no one else to avert it, and which I frankly and plaintively plead to
the Governor; these letters to the Governor are too plaintive, entreating
and meek for me to ever repeat. Aud yet his conduct was so mulignant
and brutal, that it flamed and maddened my wife’s brain, tore her heart
into shreds, filled her with the very frenzy of despair, drove her insane
and cast her down, so that she was ruined and never herself anymore. |

2
i acrpimpaaieit :
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330

STRUGGLING FoR LIBERTY.

‘I know not what shall befall me,
God hangs a mist o’er my eyes;
And each step in my onward path
He makes new scenes to rise;
And every joy he sends to me
Comes as a sweet surprise.

I see not a step before me,

As I tread on another year;

But the past is still in God’s keeping,
The future his mercy shall clear;
And what looks dark in the distance,
May brighten as I draw near.

For, perhaps, the dreaded future
Has less bitter than I think;

The Lord may sweeten the waters
Before I stoop to drink.

Or, if Marrah must be Marrah,
He will stand beside its brink.

It may be he has waiting

For the coming of my feet

Some gift, of such rare value,
Some joy, so strangely sweet,

That my lips shall only tremble
With the thanks they cannot speak.

Oh, restful, blissful ignorance,
*Tis blessed not to know;

It keeps me still in those arms,
Which will not let me go;

And hushes my soul to rest

In the bosom that loves me so.

So I go on—not knowing,

I would not, if I might,

Rather walking with God in the dark,
Than going alone in the light;
Rather walking with him by faith,
Than walking alone by sight.

My heart shrinks back from. trials
Which the future may disclose;

Yet I never had a sorrow,

But what the dear Lord knows.

So I send the coming tears back

With the whispered word ‘He knows.’

Berm.”

THRILLING CORRESPONDENCE. 331

Law of Moses.—‘‘Tf any Judge takes bribes, his punishment is death;
he that overlooks one that offers him a petition, and this when he is able
to release him, he is a guilty person.”

‘ Strike, if you will, but hear.”

‘*The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on.”

‘* Home, October 18th, 1881.

Ou! My DEAR HUSBAND -—........ 00. c cece cence eee eens [What
transpired and was written within this space of time, and beyond, is too
distressing, distracted, miserable, tender and domestic, to note here, or
for the profane and cold to comprehend or regard, and enough cruel an-
guish has already been given, and is otherwise known, for such to gloat
over. She is being governed by the force of cruel distress, and is thus
distrained in the ruinous crash, as to which I cannot write any more, for
no language or pen can express it, and to only think of it is maddening.

‘‘Oh, pant not thus, for his poor heart to bleed.”

‘‘Oh, Virtue ! I have worshipped thee as a God; but thou art the
slave of depravity.”” That is incapable of & sensation of pity.
She closes as follows :]

I wItL REMEMBER YOU, LOVE, IN MY PRAYERS.

‘When the curtains of night are pinned back. by the stars,
And the beautiful moon leaps the skies,

And the dew drops of Heaven are kissing the rose,

It is then that my memory flies,

As if on the wings of some beautiful dove,

In haste with the message it bears,

To bring you a kiss of affection and say,

‘I remember , ou, love, in my prayers.’

Go where you will, on land, or on sea,

I'll share all your sorrow and cares ;

And at night, when I kneel by my bedside to pray,
I'll remember you, love, in my prayers.

T have loved you too fondly to ever forget

The love you have whispered to me,

And the kiss of affection, still warm on my lips,
Since you told me how true you would be,

I know not if fortune be fickle or friend,

Or if time on your memory wears ;

I know that I love you wherever you roam,
And remember your love in m; prayers.

When heavenly angels are guarding the good,
As God has ordained them to do,
In answer to prayers I have offered to Him,

332 STRUGGLING FOR LIBERTY.

I know there is one watching you ;

And may its bright spirit be with you through life,
And guide you up Heaven’s bright stairs,

To meet with the one who has loved you so true,
And remembered you, love, in her prayers. EFFIE.”

“Oh, Mercedes! I have uttered your name with the sigh
of melancholy, with the groan of sorrow, with the last effort of
despair. Ihave uttered it when frozen with cold, crouched on
the straw in my dungeon; I have uttered it, consumed with
heat, rolling on the stone floor of my prison....I wept, I
QUPAGO cory ees lh cron omminrasiehnsg ier eaetehiae ler ot —Monte Cristo.

In the fall of 1881 the legislature convened, and a commit-
tee of it and the Governor visited the bastile. Aad while Iwas
pleading my case to the committee, the Governor interrupted,
telling me that “all I lacked in getting out was the Judge,” so I
subsided as he did not want my case to be known. But the Judge
had refused to recommend or otherwise favor others, and stated
that he would not solicit any one’s pardon, “as that was the
Governor’s province to use, independent of the Judge.” Still
as he had charged the jury in my case that the fight “was more
like a duel than anything else’”—which meant that it did not
exceed manslaughter—and always maintained that I ought not
to have got more than five years, and that he would not oppose
my pardon at any time before, and this while not knowing but a
part of my case, I therefore felt that when he should become
more fully informed, he would fill the bill, and I would go.
For “ Hope springs eternal in the human breast, man never is
but always to be blest.”

A friend who was clerk of the court at my farce of a trial,
and who was now chief-clerk of the assembly, wrote me from
Olympia that nearly all of the members of the legislature would
sign a petition for my release. And that he had also “ex-
plained my case to the Governor, but he declined to interfere
with “the judgment of the court,” but added that he “ thought
after five years of imprisonment I would be pardoned.”

So it was “the Judgment of the court,” was it?

But the “Judgment of the court” did not bother him as to
other men he had pardoned.

In the midst of his cruelty and the shrieks of agony, he

ee ee ee

EFFIE.”

the sigh
t effort of
yuched on
med with
I wept, I
» Cristo.
2 commit-
rhile Iwas
terrupted,
dge,” so I
the Judge
and stated
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ge.” Still
‘was more
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ought not
hot oppose
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n never is

of a trial,
me from
ure would
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”

him as to

agony, he

THRILLING CORRESPONDENCE. 333

has the gall to express sympathy (?)—praises the Judge, and
virtually confesses that he has not yet “ even considered my
case.’ —Here it is.

j ‘* TERRITORY OF WASHINGTON,
ExEcUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
Otymria, W. T., January 25th, 1882.

sles akave eerste I have your letter respecting your unfortunate brother,
Mr. France, and I assure you that you have my sympathy, so also his
family, and if I could with propriety indulge my personal feelings I would
give him his liberty. He had a fair and unprejudiced trial by a good
Judge, and found guilty of the crime for which he suffers, and sufficient
time has not yet elapsed to consider pardon.

There are many in the prison for the same crime, and all about equal-
ly deserving, so that I cannot well select one. I am sorry for you and his
family; with respect I am yours, Wm. A. [Linxs.]”

This letter is a fair sample of the rot given by ring officials
to outsiders. Ifthe prisoners were “all about equally deserv-
ing” with me, would a man of any sense of justice or humanity
hold any of them? So he confesses to more than I have here-
tofore stated as to the innocence of so many. And he did make
selections, and I have before noted their character. And he says I
“had a fair and unprejudiced trial!” When even a juryman
afterwards stated that a majority of the jury were fixed against
me, and another one stated that he afterwards found that
Thad committed no crime, unless it: was in “not killing the
devil before he did.”

T had written to the “good Judge” asxing his assistance,
and provosed to have him fully convinced of my entire inno-
cence, if he would but name the point or phase as to which he
thought me guilty. But he was determined not to be compelled
to admit that I had been entirely shanghaied in his court. So
he would never give me any such opportunity to do so. He

would ignore my questions and propositions as to the same as
follows :

**Wanrta Wauua, Wash. Ter., January, 1882.
Mr. Grorce W. France :—I have received two letters from you, and
Yam sorry for you and sympathize with you, as I do with almost every
man who is unfortunate, whether in prison or out of it. J did not convict

you, it was twelve of your countrymen, who no doubt knew you better
than I.

|
}
&
§
4
ae
&
R
%

334 SrruGGLinc ror LIBerry.

I gave you the shortest sentence the law would allow. If I could
have made it five (5) years instead of ten, I should have done so, under
all the circumstances, as I told some of your friends who came to me with
a petition in your behalf, that I thought your crime only deserved five
years imprisonment.

You seem to forget that a Judge has any duties obligatory upon his
conscience. Nota month passes bit some oneis asking me to recommend
a pardon for somebody. Juries convict, the Judge sentences, and the
Governor can pardon if he see fit. That is his province, not mine. I
shall not oppose your pardon, and shall see that no advantage is taken of
you in my court, if I am apprised of any attempt to do so.

This is all I can promise you, and all I think you can reasonably ask.

Respectfully yours, 8. C. Winearp.”

He did prevent any further advantage being taken of me
in his court, as was attempted on account of my duress, and
showed plainly that if a Judge is so minded, he can see that no
man is robbed in his court, though he employ no lawyer and is him-
self absent. The whole horde of blackleg lawyers should be
squelched; any Judge that revives « litigant to employ or
trust one, is a thief at heart. JF ..t this court had been used as
a tool against me and mine by the gang to such an extent that
it was not necessary in finishing up the job, if the Governor

would hold me; and he would. 7 t
So the real judgement of the “good court,” that the Gov- h
ernor held to be infallible as to me, was a sentence of five years.
And the sentence of ten years was therefore A MERE TECHNICALITY, 8
that nove but tyrants would make use of to torture, ravage and P
destroy. 4
More of his Excellency’s rot to friends in the States. ‘
‘TERRITORY OF WASHINGTON.—EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. j
Ouympra, W. T., March 20th, 1882.
The letter is very satisfactory. I have no doubt of his good character : th
up to the time of the crime for which he suffers. I hope in time to be able jr

to do something for him.
The people here make great clamor over pardoning.
Iam yours truly, W. A. [Links.]”

When the people where I lived and my case was best
known were almost unanimous for my restoration, and had so
petitioned for years, and many of them also plead for it ; and,
moreover, when the Governor had so often declared that ‘no

f IT could
so, under
ome with
ayved five

“upon his
commend
s, and the
, mine. I
s taken of

mably ask.
INGARD.”

en of me
iress, and
see that no
nd is him-
should be
ploy or
n used as
xtent that
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d that “no

THRILLING CORRESPONDENCE. 835

one opposes your pardon,’ WHO THEN WERE THE “PEOPLE” who
would “clamor” against it, outside of the gang ?

Say! WHO WERE THEY?

I had an occasion to protest to the Governor the unreason-
ableness of requiring the Judge’s recommendation, when he
knew he had made it a rule not to recommend anybody.
“Well,” he said, “your case has not been fully or formally made
out or presented to me.” Intimating, I took it, that I should
employ a high priced agent, or linked middleman, or lobbyist,
to present my case to him in a more inviling manner ; for still
I could not get him to name “a point or phase as to which he wanted
more light.” And I had relatives and other friends, who were
likewise pleading for my release; some of whom did so as re-
presentatives of a whole community of tax payers. But neither
did his eacellency want any information from any of these. He
treated the judgement, will, and the sober second thought of
the people with contempt—frequently not even making any
answer to their true representatives ; they did not produce to
him any mystic sign!

I had now been meekly pleading and begging for about
three years and had not succeeded in getting even a respectful
hearing or an honest reply; nor had any of my friends.

I was therefore determined, if possible, that the Governor
should fully know my case in spite of himself, and to let the
people judge, whether or not “it was fully and formally made
out and presented,” and also whether it was truly done.

Therefore I wrote the following epitome of my case and
trouble, and had a copy of it delivered to the Governor at
Olympia and endeavored to have it published to the people.

But the Governor and Co. would not allow the people to
thus fully understand my case and condition, so they squelched it
Srom the people.

‘‘And with necessity, the tyrants plea,
Excused his devilish deeds.”

‘‘No engine so sure as the means we employ,
To ridicule first what we hope to destroy.”