Page:Special message of the governor of Iowa to the seventeenth General assembly, communicating report of pardons and remissions (IA specialmessageof00iowa).pdf/7

1877.] judge and district-attorney and some county officers. Upon as careful examination of the matter as I could give it, I concluded the public interest would be better served by her pardon than by further punishment.

July 21. Committed to the Penitentiary September 19, 1874, for the crime of breaking and entering, in Lee county, for the term of three years. He was pardoned to save his life, as the warden and physician certified to his failing health and probable speedy dissolution unless immediately released, and it was doubtful if that would save him.

August 9. Sentenced to the county jail of Decatur county, for eight months, for two offenses of larceny. His health was very much impaired from confinement during the month of August in the poorly ventilated rooms of the jail. As he had only two months yet to remain in prison, it was believed he was sufficiently punished. The pardon was asked for by the sheriff, recorder, and auditor of the county, and Messrs. W. H. Robb, S. Penniwell, E. H. Curry, and one hundred and fifty four “other citizens of Decatur county,” at about the time his imprisonment began. When released, it was upon the recommendation and at the instance of the district-attorney, backed by a statement from Drs. Finley, McClelland, and Hildreth, of Leon, in regard to Miller’s physical condition.

August 19. Committed to the Penitentiary September 20, 1875, for two offenses of burglary in Mills county, and sentenced one year for each offense. The pardon is recommended in view of the small amount taken, the peculiar circumstances of the crime, his youth, the time he has been confined both in jail and penitentiary, and his good behavior during his confinement in prison; and upon the favorable report of his character and conduct, before he committed the offense, by his former employers, and upon the representations made by persons living in the neighborhood where the crime was committed, including the district-attorney by whom he was prosecuted, the district-judge before whom he was tried, and several of the jurors by whom he was found guilty.

September 8. Committed to the Penitentiary, May 13, 1867, under a sentence of the district court of the county of Clayton, for the crime of murder in the second degree. Sentence, imprisonment for life. He had served nine years, and his conduct during that time was unexceptionable. There was some doubt of his guilt, and his earlier life, I was led to believe, had been an orderly