_Serial No. 3984_—Under sentence of death for the murder of his
brother-in-law, is an object of great pity. This man for the love
of his sixteen-year-old boy murdered a man, for which deed the law
demands his life. He and the man murdered were both wealthy farmers
at Terra Alta, Preston Co., West Virginia. Last November (1900) his
boy was arrested by the brother-in-law for breaking into the cellar
of his house and getting drunk on his cider. He had him indicted,
tried, convicted, and sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of
one year, which angered his father, who took a shot-gun and shot his
brother-in-law dead in his own barn in the presence of a hired man. The
father escaped and lived in the mountains a month, gave himself up,
pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to be hanged Feb. 15, 1901.
His neighbors, who were kindly disposed to the erring man, at once put
in circulation a petition to the Governor praying for a commutation of
sentence to life imprisonment. His wife signed a remonstrance against
granting the petition of her husband’s friends. However, the governor,
in order to enable the condemned man’s friends to present the petition
to the advisory board of pardons for their consideration, granted him
a respite until April 13. Upon his arrival in the penitentiary he was
permitted to see his wayward boy, and the scene between father and son
was truly pathetic.