GOVERNOR, 1904
the captain, being rowed by a volunteer on a dangerous trip across a rough sea, saw the man suddenly drop his oars and on inquiring the reason was answered: “I am the brother of the man you had shot yesterday.” I quietly and blandly made my way out of the cell with the feeling that the warden had shown little judgment.
Strange to say, I some time afterward came into the possession of a letter written to a lady at Bryn Mawr by Cutaiar in which he described the same scene. In it he said:
I know it will surprise you very much to learn that I received a visit from no less a personage than the Governor of Pennsylvania. . . . I invited him into my cell and into my workshop in the rear of the cell. . . . We were alone for several minutes, except for one of the inmates, who stood at some distance, and this inmate tells me that the governor did not seem to pay any attention to the patterns but kept looking into my face as I was turned to one side.
The Chief Justice wrote to me:
My dear Governor:
I have read you memm. on the Cutaiar case with very great satisfaction. The most discreditable feature in the administration of justice in Pennsylvania is the reckless abuse of the pardoning power by the Board of Pardons and especially its more or less open assumption to re-try questions of fact and of law after juries and courts have passed upon them in the due and regular course of law. I am more than pleased to have at last a governor who does not feel bound to acquiesce tamely in whatever recommendation that irresponsible board may make, but who examines and decides the cases for himself. As a lawyer, a judge and a responsible executive, you have set a precedent which ought to be followed.
- Very sincerely yours,
- James T. Mitchell.
- Very sincerely yours,
After I came away the efforts in behalf of a pardon for Cutaiar were renewed and were finally successful. Thinkingthat perhaps I would interfere, his wife, from a respect-
