V. FRANCE.”

1endation (to
snt excuse for
like to show
nowledge that
suojects, than

ecommend for
ited the crime

TMENT,
ay 23rd, 1887.

pardon of George
application for the

t], Governor.”

b answer; which
5 of what should
low:

s honest, earnest
uelched, ought
ions have been

W. France.”

nh old time ac-
“seems to be
days.” I ask
and he sweats
many months,”

My Retkase. 419

“ Watta Waa, W. T., June 15th, 1887.
Hoy. S. C. Winaarp:

Dear Sir :—I forthwith wrote Governor [Democrat] in re-
gard to the absence of petitions, ete., etc., for my release; citing
the greater part of what should be on file and that Governor
[Links] had repeatedly declared that he had left all—‘every-
thing’ in my behalf on file; and later that he had written to
Governor [Mason] his recommendation for my pardon; and that
Governor [Mason] never disputed the same to me ;—but I get no
reply.

I am, therefore, constrained to request you to answer him
(Governor Democrat) also, and in as urgent a manner as the
case demands.

Ihave but four months from the 21st inst. to my short
time, which would not justify the duplicating of all the work
done for my justice, by friends worn out in the cause, only to
be lied to and spit at by blackleg Governors, at the secret beck
of their kind.

I told Governor [Democrat] that it was “but a technical

sentence,” done with the understanding that I would be
presently restored.”

Yours very truly,
Gro. W. FRAncE.”
To which Judge W— replied as follows:
‘¢Wanta Wauua, WAsH. TERRITORY, June 20th, 1887,
Mr. Gro. W. FRANCE.
Dear Sir:—I have written to Governor [Democrat] as you requested.
Yours, ete., S. C. WINGARD.”

|He got some kind of a reply; to which he replied June 25th. ]

“ June 25th.—The warden tells me ‘the Governor has sent
for my commitment’ which is supposed to mean tla! my case
is settled, that I go forthwith—the commitment being used to
make out a pardon.”

“ June 27th.—Judge Wingard and others called; he said,
‘the Governor has sent for your commitment and we expect to
see you out very soon,’ etc. He told another prisoner that he

‘had recommended my pardon to three Governors, and he is still
held? ”

July 4th.—E. V... and family called. Say, that ‘‘the most of those

e

Satie

CE Raita ES EONS sit

A RE R RARIIE

ae

i arte ae Geen iapetan sacra ust ctmntincmnosiiniticeinansind anes Ti

Pe
| ce
ie

Me a |
| (

420 Extracts From Diary Kepr In Prison.

i erence

who were active against me, have themselves been wreck. and their true
characters exposed in trying to wreck others, ete.; and that they (my
neighbors) want me back.”

The gang evidently sends in another secret veto, and the
Governor writes the following contemptible, rotten quibble. I
is either one false excuse or another (and, of course, such can
always be had) and means that there is xo recourse for «a victim
of the gang, and that Iv STILL RULES.

“Ouympra, W. T., July 9th, 1887,
Hon. S. C. Wincarp, Walla Walla, W. T.

Dear Sir :—Your letter of June 25th was duly received and contents
noted. Answer has been delayed, pending examination into the case of
Geo, W. France, and, as before stated, I do not think it proper to grant a
pardon upon the mere request of any number of persons, or upon argu-
ments or theories other than those based upon well-established facts. A
showing in the nature of the showing required upon a motion for a new
trial should be made. And upon notice to the District Attorney. In the
case under consideration I do not think there is sufficient cause shown for
executive interference, and, therefore, the prayer of the petition must be
denied. Very respectfully,

E... [Demc . Governor.”

So Judge W.. was still incompetent to properly present
my case. One would think that after all of his experience in
the matter with the other Governors, they would have taught
him the way to do such business. But he knew that the rotten,
quibbling excuse was a mere handfull of soft dirt thrown in the
face for a blind, and that, do what we mig..t, he would always be
found full of dirt to spit out, and so he gives up the job as
follows:

‘“Warta Wana, W. T., July 11th, 1887.
Mr. Gro. W. FRANCE.

Dear Sir:—I send you the reply of the Governor, which, I regret, is
not favorable to your release.

I do not know the reason, but all of the Governors seem to take an ad-
verse view of your application. Now I have done all I can for you, and
without fee or reward or the expectation of any. Nor would I accept any-
thing for what I have done, if offered. If I could pardon you, I would do
so, because I think you have been punished enough for your offense.

But I am powerless to aid you further, except to sympathize with you
which I know is poor comfort. Respectfully yours,

8S. C. Winaarp.”

ind their true
hat they (my

eto, and the
quibble. It
se, such can
for «a victim

Oth, 1887.

d and contents
into the case of
oper to grant a
or upon argu-
ished facts. A
10tion for a new
torney. In the
cause shown for
tition must be

Governor.”

perly present
experience in
1 have taught
at the rotten,
thrown in the
uld always be
up the job as

| 11th, 1887.

ich, I regret, is

Lm to take an ad-
‘an for you, and
1d I accept any-
you, I would do
our offense.

nathize with you

WINGARD.”

My RE.Ease. 421

The Governor wanted to go through the motions of doing
something and do nothing.

The “arguments and theories” of my case were “based
upon well established facts,” and the Governor knew it, if he
cared to knew it, and he could not put his finger on a single
weak point.

And the showing was ten times stronger and more complete
than is generally required upon “a motion for a new trial,” and
this he knew also, if he cared to know; and the district attorney
was notified in various ways.

But it must be an effort of one of the gang, for a price, to
be attractive to such ring lackeys. This is the fellow that
nominated ex-Governor Links for a trustee of the insane
asylum! which shows how he would murder suffering humanity
to affiliate with his

**Should pale disease their trembling limbs invade,
They would call not, they would expect not human aid.”

“ July 28th—B.. called; says, ‘the people felt very sorry
for me, ete., but had found that they had no influence to redress
the wrong, and could do nothing.’”

“ August 4th—Prison directors here; said, they ‘would
forthwith recommend my release,’ and afterwards one of them
told me that ‘they had done so.’ I believe this had never before
been done in the Territory.

“ August 8th.—I asked the warden whether ‘there is going
to be any foolishness about me getting allof my short time,’ he
replied, ‘I don’t see how there can be, for there is not a single
scratch against your conduct, neither here nor at Seatco.’”

‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
Whene’er we practice to deceive.”

“ August 9th.—Received letter from M.. saying, ‘We would
gladly assist you in any way we could to get you your freedom,
for you should not have been imprisoned at all, and we have
written several times to the Governor in regard to your case,
but he would not even reply,’ ete.”..........

“ August 20th.—I have been shown a letter from the Gov-
ernor, and in spitting on the petition for the release of one of
the innocent prisoners, he virtually declares that the people

423 Extracts From Diary Kepr In PRIson.

should not be permitted to interfere with the work of the gang,
or courts, when they are prostituted or err. He regards peti-
tions of the people as ‘ worthless,’ and continues saying, ‘a peti-
tion no matter from how many people, is not ordinarily ground
for granting a pardon.’ ”

Thus he admits that the government is not ‘by the people
—for the people,’ and he continues: ‘The people have estab-
lished courts to deal with such cases.’ [But they reserved to
themselves the RIGHT OF PETITION to correct their abuses, and any
man who would spit upon or nullify this right, is a tool of the
gang and a traitor to his country.|

“ And,” he continues, “ Executive officers should not inter-
fere to disturb the course of justice except upon the very
strongest showings.”

[But it is the course of INjustice and iniquity and robbery,
that the people frequently have occasion to “ disturb” and cor-
rect. And what stronger showing could there be than that a
victim was positively and beyond dispute innocent of any crime,
as was done in my case, and yet even this was spurned.

It is false to assert that the people established these courts

as they are in practice—robbing machines run in the interest of
the gang. Tools of the gang talk that way, but nine of the people
out of ten declare the courts to be “a rotten fraud.”

If a person will sign a petition ignorantly or wrongly, so
will he vote, and to petition should be as effective as to vote.

Thieves and traitors can get votes, nominations and ap-
pointments to office, by conspiracy, corruption and deceit, who
naturally deny the people the right to effectually retort, censure
and correct these false, corrupt agents, who are supposed to be the
people’s servants, not their tyrants and vampires.

The foregoing case was this: A very peaceable man had,
in the defense of his life and household, killed a man who was
armed with a razor and gun, and in the act of “cleaning out the
ranch,” as he had said he would come and do. This was so
plain and evident that there was not an effort made to arrest
him, or try the case for several years afterwards, when the main
witnesses had died, then his enemies (against the will and judg-
ment of the people, why knew the case as can be imagined
better than the courts could know it by their mode of practice)

of the gang,
sgards peti-
ing, ‘a peti-
rily ground

‘by the people

have estab-
y reserved to
ses, and any
a tool of the

ald not inter-
on the very

rand robbery,
irb ” and cor-
» than that a
of any crime,
urned.

these courts
the interest of
ne of the people
99

br wrongly, so
is to vote.

tions and ap-
d deceit, who
retort, censure
osed to be the

ble man had,
man who was
eaning out the

This was 80
hade to arrest
when the main
ill and judg-
be imagined
de of practice)

My Re .eFase. 493

secured his conviction and sentence of thirteen years in prison.
And even now, when the victim has suffered near half of this
age of time, the outcry of the people for his justice is spurned as
“ worthless,” and he is cruelly told that he must so horribly lan-
guish and die !

The heads of tyrants have been paraded through the
streets, stuck on poles, for less tyranny than this.

Now FOR A LITTLE DIFFERENT EXAMPLE: Afterwards §..
pleads guilty to burglary, and gets one year in this pen, but says
“he will not stay long, for the Governor is almost obliged to par-
don him.” When pressed for a reason why the Governor would
favor him more than others, said: his “father was a mason.”
The pardon came in two months, nor did they bother with any
“worthless” public petition.

Oh, try to think of the feelings of the snnocent who must
languish! and see to it, my fellow-men, that the sober second
thought of the people sHALL be Jaz.

The following are some of the reasons given for granting
pardons by the Governor of Oregon :

‘*Grave doubts as to guilt.”

Youth of the prisoner and promise to leave the State.

Evidence that the offense committed was entirely unpremeditated.

Severity of sentence.

Good conduct of prisoner.

Failing health.

Petition of persons and judicial officers.

Previous good conduct snd good character.

Offense was committed in the heat of passion, and under very trying,
provoking and aggravating circumstances.

Because conviction was made on purely circumstantial evidence.

Advanced age.

The Governor (Hill) of New York ‘‘requested the friends of the
prisoners to furnish hia information on six points—whether the prisoners
were not properly defended, or their trials were conducted improperly or un-
fairly ; whether it is now claimed that the prisoners were innocent of the
offense for which they were convicted ; whether, if they were guilty, they
are now penitent and are willing to cease the commission of such offenses;
what mitigating circumstances are claimed to exist which cail for or war-
rant executive clemency ; whether the sentences are held tu have been too
severe for the offenses charged ; and whether anything has occurred since
their trials to change the circumstances of their cases.”

[They were pardoned. |

sicetttenbihidepiainimachisacilaiisiclcebsanigtannicg tbs cielo
coi

i
Pe
wu

424. Extracts FroM Diary Kept IN Prison.

None of the four blackleg secret ring Governors of Wash-
ington would honestly and openly give out a single point, and
they ignored and spurned EVERY POINT AND ALL THE REASONS
deemed good enough for Oregon and New York.

And I proved that the courts were closed against the
prisoners, to be opened only on the delivery to the court gang
of various big sums of gold, that they have not! These facts
should awaken the most careless understanding.

‘* Strike if you will but hear !” ’

“ September 17th—Several preachers visited the prison;
one of them ‘hoped that I had repented and reformed.’

‘No, Sir! I have done nothing for which I should repent
or reform according to the golden rule—which is my creed—
nor of the laws of Moses, or that of our own or any other coun-
try on the face of the earth!’

“But,” said he, “I suppors you were convicted, and must
therefore be guilty of crime ?”

‘Now, this shows your child-like ignorance of men, and the
criminal jugglery of the courts, which you should learn, and
then work to reform the real criminals instead of their victims.
I was SHANGHAIED, never convicted at all, and I could find no re-
course. Because men have been howled down by the gang
and railroaded through the courts in charge and control of
blackleg shysters—in whom victims are required to trust—and
are thus thrown into prison, is really not reliable proof that
they are criminals; twenty per cent. of these prisoners are
really no more guilty of crime than you are-—supposing you to
be innocent; and take them all together, they are no more
criminal at heart or brain than the first 100 men you see on the
outside. The worst criminals of all belong to the gang, and
thus get into ofice instead of into prison.’

“ But,” said he, “it is a horrible thing to take human life!”

‘Yes, indeed, said I, ‘but I prevented that, in my case, by
killing the robber assassin—even one of the gang—thus saving
my life! only, however, to be murdered and ravaged by the
devil’s brethren in office and out, who prost#‘ute the courts and
government for the purpose; but I expect no sympathy or help
from you, siz, or you would have been preaching against such
crimes and criminals, and if you have no concern as to my wel-

rs of Wash-
le point, and
THE REASONS

against the
e court gang
These facts

’

the prison;
med.’

should repent
s my creed—
y other coun-

ted, and must

f men, and the
ild learn, and
their victims.
ld find no re-
by the gang
nd control of
to trust—and
ple proof that
prisoners are
posing you to
are no more
you see on the
he gang, and

human life!”
my case, by

thus saving
aged by the
he courts and
pathy or help
against such
as to my wel-

My REeEtease. 425

fare in this world, certainly you have none as to the nezt; there /
is Father B.., who was my next neighbor, he knows me and my
trouble well, and the fight; see what he says about it? Ih.
B.., was I to blame for anything I did as to my trouble or the
fight?’

“Yes! you are to blame for one thing, but for one thing only.”

‘Well? What is that?’

“Because you did not kill the man before you did; for you
to let him follow you around the field—the way he did—and
wait to look into the muzzle of his gun before you defended
your life was foolhardy ; that is all you are to blame for, for if
L.. had not struck the gun down the instant he did, you would
have been killed.” [Two or three preachers in unison. |

“Of course, under such circumstances one is very justifi-
able to kill another.”

But they should have sought out the truth before, and
seized upon every opportunity to proclaim it to the people, it
being a good but persecuted cause that would bear the scrutiny
of light; it should not have been allowed to be hidden while
even one victim was languishing for the right.

‘‘Show that thou hast not lived in vain,
With life and genius cursed.”

I recently said to a phrenologist that “if he would visit a
prison and examine the heads of the prisoners, he would find
them to be an average lot of men mentally and morally.” He
replied that “he had done so, and fownd this to be true.”

‘**T write not these things to cause you to hate mankind, but as my sons
towarn you.” —St. Paul

October 4th.—Received a note and a bundle of papers from a Mrs.
Rey. M...., saying that my children had once attended her school and were
her friends, and she thus manifests tome a thoughtful and kindly feeling.”

May she and all others, who have kindly remembered and
befriended me while in prison, know, that they are held very
dear to me, and ever cherished in my mind and heart of hearts,
and that they did not do so in vain.

“Oh! could the muse some lasting wreath entwine,
In stronger colors bid their virtues shine !”

‘¢ Bleak are our shores with the blasts of December,

426 Extracts From Diary Kerr in Prison.

Fettered and chill is the rivulet’s flow;
Throbbing and warm are the hearts that remember
Who was our friend, when the world was our foe.”
Dr. Houmes,

“ August 10th, 1887.—Released from prison; getting ten
days more than my full short time ‘for uniformly good behavior.’”

‘The hopes that round my heart had clung, ere those I loved were gone,
Had vanished as the sparkling frost beneath the noon-tide sun

Melts from some branching tree, with its feathery gems of light,

And leaves it dark and desolate, to tell of winter's blight.

I feared the morn—I feared to seek my long, long-wished-for home,
As with a sad foreboding dread of misery to come.”

A severed and a sorrowing thing, I had come back alone,
One wandering bird unto the nest, from which a brood had flown.”

“Oh, for a tongue to curse the slaves,
Whose treason, like a deadly blight,
Comes o’er the counsels of the brave
And blasts them in their hour of might !
May life’s unblessed cup for them

Be drugg’d with treacheries to the brim.
With hopes that but allure to fly,

With joys that vanish, while they sip,
Like Dead-Sea fruits, that tempt the eye,
But turn to ashes on the lips!

Their country’s curse, their children’s shame,
Outcast of virtue, peace and fame,

May they, at last, with lips of flame

On the parch’d desert thirsting die.—
While lakes that shone in mockery nigh
Are fading oft, untouch’d, untasted,

Like the once glorious hopes they blasted!
And, when from earth their spirits fly,
Just God, let the damn’d ones dwell

Full in the sight of Paradise,

Beholding heaven and feeling hell !”—Moore.

r

. HouMEs.

getting ten
yc behavior.”
d were gone,
un

ght,

or home,

ee ee