PARDONS

January 9, 1900.

Carey Bates.

Sentenced January 31,

1899; county, New York; crime, assault, second degree; term, five years; prison, Sing Sing.

The jury accompanied their verdict with a strong recommendation of mercy. From a careful examination of the evidence it would seem that they ought rather to have acquitted the prisoner, it being practically undisputed that he acted in defense of himself and his wife against a most brutal and inexcusable assault by a mob organized for the purpose of driving him and other negroes out of the neighborhood. All of the jurors join in the petition for his pardon and the district attorney recommends it.

January 17, 1900. John Sullivan. Sentenced June 29, 1897; county, New York; crime, burglary, third degree; term, four years and six months; prison, Sing Sing.

January 17, 1900. Max Hutsedt. Sentenced June 29, 1897; county, New York; burglary, third degree; term, four years six months; prison, Sing Sing.

The evidence against these prisoners was barely sufficient to render their conviction legal. The pardons are granted on account of the doubt as to their guilt.

February 13, 1900. Saul Jacobs. Sentenced February 9, 1898; county, New York; crime, grand larceny, first degree; term, eight years; prison, Sing Sing.

Jacobs' guilt is exceedingly doubtful. He was indicted with two others who were unquestionably guilty, one of whom has confessed, and stated that Jacobs had no connection whatever with the crime, a statement which is amply confirmed by all the circumstances of the case.

March 2, 1900. James Kelly. Sentenced December 6, 1899; county, Madison; crime, being a tramp; term, one hundred and thirty days; prison, Onondaga County Penitentiary.

Recommended by the committing magistrate and by a number of reputable citizens of Oneida county, where the prisoner and his parents reside. He is a young man of good character, not in any sense a tramp or vagrant, and was convicted under a misapprehension of the facts.

December 4, 1900. Frank Ryan. Sentenced September 10, 1900; county, Kings; crime, violating Liquor Tax Law; term, one hundred and thirty days, or fine of six hundred and fifty dollars; prison, Kings County Jail.

Ryan was convicted of trafficking in liquors without having obtained a tax certificate. He had applied for a certificate and paid the fee but commenced business before the certificate was actually issued. The judges, although entirely satisfied that he had no intention of violating the law, still felt bound to impose the prescribed penalty. They now unite with many citizens in a very earnest appeal for Ryan's pardon.

December 20, 1900. Harry E. Sherman. Sentenced August 24, 1900; county, New York; crime, attempting to commit burglary, second degree; maximum term, five years; prison, State Reformatory.

Granted on the recommendation of Thomas Sturgis, President of the Board of Managers, and of Frank W. Robertson, Acting General Superintendent of the Reformatory. Sherman pleaded guilty, but from a careful examination of the facts, it appears that there was really no attempt to commit burglary, the act complained of being simply a trespass.

December 21, 1900. George de Jordan. Sentenced December 16, 1893; county, Jefferson; crime, burglary, first degree; maximum term, twenty years; prison, State Reformatory. Transferred to Matteawan State Hospital.

The prisoner went into a boarding-house and stole a few articles of trifling value. Although the facts were such as technically to constitute burglary in the first degree, there was nothing in the case demanding severe punishment. Imprisonment for seven years is more than enough.

COMMUTATIONS

January 3, 1900. Chiara Cignarale. Sentenced June 3, 1887, to be executed, and sentence commuted, July 27, 1888, to imprisonment for life; county, New York; crime, murder, first degree; prison, New York Penitentiary and State Prison for Women.

Commuted to eleven years, five months and ten days, actual time.

The prisoner was convicted of murder for killing her husband. She committed the crime, being exasperated by his long-continued cruel and inhuman treatment, and although his conduct furnished no justification for her act, it may, under all the circumstances of the case, be properly taken into account in considering her application for mitigation. of punishment. She had always been a woman of good character and her conduct during her imprisonment has been in all respects commendable. She has now been imprisoned for a term which, with the reduction allowed for good conduct in cases of imprisonment for less than life, is equivalent to more than twenty years. The commutation has been very earnestly requested personally and officially by Baron Fava, the Italian Ambassador at Washington.

January 8, 1900. William O'Brien. Sentenced November 20, 1896; county, New York; crime, grand larceny, first degree; term, ten years; prison, Sing Sing.

Commuted to three years, one month and nineteen days, actual time.

O'Brien has served about half his term, less the usual deduction for good behavior. He will probably not live long, being very ill with consumption, and Mrs. Maud B. Booth makes a very earnest appeal for his release.

January 9, 1900. Valentine Dick. Valentine Dick. Sentenced December 12, 1898; county, New York; crime, assault, second degree; term, three years; prison, Sing Sing.

Commuted to one year and twenty-seven days, actual time. The assault did not result in serious injury to the complainant, and the evidence on the trial tended very strongly to show that he was really the aggressor. The prisoner appears to be a man of good character, and the judge and the district attorney think his case a proper one for clemency.

February 8, 1900. John Gerkey, or Yerkey. Sentenced March 28, 1895; county, Niagara; crime, arson, third degree; term, six years and eight months; prison, Auburn.

Commuted to three years, seven months and eighteen days, actual time.

The prisoner was confined in the county jail for more than a year awaiting decision of an appeal from the judgment of conviction. Judge Millar, before whom he was tried, thinks it but just to allow that time as part of his sentence.

March 24, 1900. John Flynn. Sentenced January 12, 1898; county, New York; crime, assault, second degree; term, five years; prison, Sing Sing.

Commuted to two years, two months and twelve days, actual time.

Two trials were had in this case, the first trial resulting in a disagreement. An examination of the evidence given on