The Ballad of Frankie Silver - By Sharyn McCrumb Page 0,99
evidence, rather than admit that she did it, with no means to show provocation.”
“Someone should have explained the situation to those judges in Raleigh.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. The Supreme Court does not decide guilt or innocence. They rule on procedural matters. They cannot pardon as a governor can.”
“A governor?” Newland winced. “I had occasion to meet Mr. Montfort Stokes in Wilkesboro last April. The trial was still fresh in our minds, and when I discussed the matter with him, I was dead set against a pardon. I told him she would deserve what she got, and I said the rest of the county was pretty much to my way of thinking. I believe I misspoke, though, and now I must put things right. The governor can be appealed to, and if Montfort Stokes can be made to see reason, she might yet be saved.”
“It is worth a try,” I told him.
“Will you write him, then?”
I shook my head. “It would not be seemly for a Superior Court clerk to protest a ruling from his own court.” I did not like to think what Squire Erwin would say if I had undertaken such a measure. “I suppose I could sign a petition, though,” I said. “As a private citizen. The letter will need to be accompanied by a petition showing wide support for the prisoner within the county.”
“Who should write the governor then?”
Not I,I thought. I told him: “There is nothing to prevent an honest citizen from taking up the cause, and since you are the one who broached the matter with the governor, surely you are the person to plead her cause with him now. Could you manage such a letter, Mr. Newland?”
He looked at me shrewdly. “I might. There may be one or two gentlemen who could advise me on how to set forth my argument. And I have business in Raleigh in early September, so I shall take care to see that he gets it.”
I smiled. “I’m sure that Governor Stokes’s door is always open to the citizens of Burke County.”
Several weeks later David Newland again waylaid me as I happened to be waiting for the stage. “I have it done!” he said proudly. “That letter to the governor. I have headed it ‘Raleigh,’ for I shall deliver it when I get there.”
He handed me the letter for inspection.
Raleigh, 6 Sept. 1832
His Exelency M. Stokes, whom I had the pleasure of seeing in Wilksboro some time in April last.
The circumstances of Mrs. Silvers killing her husband was named and you was told that a petition would be presented to you for her pardon. The petition has come in hand for your consideration. At the time aluded to in Wilksboro you claimed you did not know of there ever having been a female executed in N. Carolina & asked if I had—to which I answered in the negative. You then said you would be delicately situated & asked me my opinion. I answered that if rumor be true I thought her a fit subject for example.
But Sir from various information which I have rec’d since her trial I am induced to believe her gilt has been much exagerated which you will perceive by the opinion some gentlemen of the Bar whom has signed her petition & was present & also disinterested during her trial. Upon the whole I realy think her a fit subject for excitive Clemency.
Yours, sinsearly,
D. Newland “It’s a fine letter, Mr. Newland,” I said, for if I helped him with its phrasing or altered his misspellings, I would have had a hand in the document, which I did not feel able to do. “I hope it may achieve its
purpose.”
He nodded happily. “The petition is done as well. You can see it has a goodly number of names on it. Some lawyers, and four of the jurors. The governor ought to sit up and take note of that.” He said no more, but he watched me expectantly.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Newland,” I muttered at last. I felt my cheeks redden as I spoke. “I do not feel able to add my name to the list of supporters. I do not know the circumstances of Charles Silver’s death, and so I cannot say if his widow should go free or not.”
Colonel Newland eyed me sadly. “You are dealing in justice, Mr. Gaither,” he said. “I am dealing in mercy. I hope some day—before it is too late—you find that Mrs. Silver is deserving of both.”