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IkSir□8D0n011-yesveris-re-el-'ng-ndos-mdim-;izenalnd-” ‘' Kribs and Pre«toii.Some twelve or fifteen years ago there was committed in Montague county the most horrible butchery ever known to Texss history of crime—the murder of the England family.The two men whose names head this article were accused of the offence, tried, and convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to be hanged. The governor, not satisfied of their guilt, commuted the sentence to lifetime imprisonment, and they were at once oonfined in the penitentiary.Nearly ten years have come and gone since these two old men passed within the guarded walls of our state prison; time has continued his onward march, and vicissitudes and chadges have come upon all alike; perhaps their families have moved away or died;I friends may hcve grown indifferent or ; forgotten them; and in these bustling times of push and enterprise; the names of Kreps and Preston are forgot.We have always felt skeptical as to.hi ithe guilt of these men, and we know good men as there are in Texas, who firmly believe that they are innocent.The circumstantial evidence against them was very strong, and they were convicted by a j ury of as good men as are to be found in the state; but that passion was not infiamed against them at the time of their trial, no one we think will deny. They may be innocent, God and they alone know. They always protested their innocence, and we have been informed that when all hopes of commutation of sentence had been abandoned, and they were preparing for their execution, that they sent for and and affirmed to Judge J. M. Lindsay their innocence, and requested that he use his influence to ferret out the perpetrators of the bloody crime. Considering the circumstantial evidence by which they were convicted, that man is fallible and may err, considering the age ofpa-ig”on-the;ak:rit-f of y a 'hat if at of to hsir her-ifthe men, their humiliation, shame and long cominement, is not vengeance satiated? is not the majesty of the law vindicated ? and cannot the great State of Texas, speaking through her chief executive, afford to extend mercy to these two old men, helpless, degraded and wholly in her power ? God pity the callous heart whose seared chords never vibrate to the appeals of mercy, who never feel another’s woe, and believe that death alone can expiate a crime.We hope that some man or men of influence will petition Gov. Ross to pardon Krebs and Preston, that they may find a grave and rest among their families.
Newspaper Details
Whitesboro News
Whitesboro, Texas, US
Fri, Apr 13, 1888
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Max B.
USA 26 Aug 2020
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