Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/350

 family in New Jersey, and his daughter, an agreeable looking girl, came to see me, but I told them my responsibility was over and that I would in no way interpose.

One day this letter came to me:

, 3/24/1903. Hon. Governor Pennypacker,

Having been found guilty of murder 1st degree in last term Oyer & Terminer Courts, March Session, 1903, knowing I have done deed in cold blood and my punishment death, I humbly ask your favor to speed execution. I see no reason why man should be made wait knowing it must come sooner or later. I have fully reconciled myself to my fate and again ask you speed in execution. Hoping you will grant my last favor on earth, I remain


 * Your humble servant as long as
 * Life shall last,

Surely a more remarkable communication was never written. I had the matter examined and this was the solution. A zealous preacher had wrestled with him and succeeded in converting him. Uncertain, however, about a relapse, and, feeling that it was unwise to take chances, he prevailed upon the convict to write the letter to me. The case took its regular course.

Who was “A Lawyer” who wrote the letter to the Record, before mentioned, I never learned. It is a law of nature that most of the mischief that besets our lives is done in secret. It is the habit of both the hyenas and the bedbugs to prowl in the night. The germs of typhoid fever and cholera perish when the sunlight is turned on them. I was told, however, that the letter came from an organization calling itself “The Yellow Cats,” having its lair in Lancaster County, of which Justice J. Hay Brown was a member.

Some days after my return from Washington, there came to me the following paper which had been circulated for signatures among the members of the Philadelphia Bar: 334