George Huston to James F. Robinson

Accession Number

KYR-0001-029-0292

Document Genre

Petition

Repository

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

Collection

Office of the Governor, James F. Robinson: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Petitions for Pardons, Remissions, and Respites, 1862-1863

Item Location

R3-429 to R3-430

Place of Creation

Morganfield, Union County, Kentucky

Date of Creation

18 March 1863

Dates Mentioned

1860-11

1860-11-07

1861-04

1862-04

1863-03-18

To the Hon. Gov^r of Kentucky

The undersigned Geo Huston, being called upon by Geo J Hales a citizen of Indiana makes at his request the following statement — that in November 1860 the undersigned was Judge of the Union County Court for Union County Kentucky. that application was then made to him by affadavit and he issued his warrant for the arrest of William J Hales, under charge of Malicious Stabbing of one Lash — the prisoner was arrested and brought before me for examination under said charge and on the 7^th November 1860 I heard the case counsel being present for and against the prisoner. I found that reasonable cause existed for holding him over for trial in the circuit court not for felony but for stabbing in sudden heat & passion without malice — And required bail — He executed a bail bond before me in the sum of two hundred dollars dated 7^th November 1860 with Peter Taylor
as his surity — and the papers were returned to our circuit clerk — I find an Indictment was found at April 1861 by the Grand Jury for malicious stabbing — and that the case was continued until April 1862 the bond was declared forefeit for Hales failure to appear and summons awarded — We have since had no court and no further proceedings have been had — Hales was a young man say 18 or 20 who had married a short time before a Miss Lapham of this county by whom he received two slaves — I understand that Hales & wife joined in a mortgage on one or bother of the wifes slaves to Taylor to indemnify him as Surity that Hales fled from this County since the inquiry before me and has since been absent, that his wife is and has been in this county since — that Hales has no estate and his wife little or nothing but the slaves aforesaid — I can find no memo of the testimony that was aduced before me — my recollection is that Lash resided a short distance below the village of Raleigh on the Ohio river and
that Hales and some half dozen other young men of the village while on a drinking spree went down to Lash' premises, to induce him to remove an offensive family that he had on his premises — some family that had been driven away from another neighborhood and that Lash had suffered to remove on to his grounds and got into some altercation with Lash and that Lash was perhaps drinking and was very insulting and provoking himself and perhaps attacked the parties and was stabbed by Hales with a pocket knife My impression is I should have acquitted the young man but from the fact of the unlawful expedition of Hales &^c to his premises —

If the bail is colleted the effect will be the wife must pay it —

Begging to be excused for troubling you I am respectfully your obt svt
Geo Huston

Morganfield
March 18 1863 —

Should this meet with the approval of your excellency — please forward the requisite papers to

Judge Houston
Morganfield
Kentucky

G. J. Hales

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