Brownsville Edmonson County
Ky
May 23^rd 1864
To His Excellency
Gov. Bramlette
of Kentucky —

Your petitioner, the undersigned would respectfully represent to your honor that for some 7 or 8 years immediately preceeding the commencement of the present rebellion in the United States, he had been engaged in the Mercantile business in the above mentioned town of Brownsville — That upon the breaking out of said rebellion, it became Necessary in consequence of the invasion of Kentucky, to bring his said Mercantile business to a close to his great and irreparable loss — The town in which his business was located was constantly visited for several months — (Fall of 61 Winter of 62) by bands of rebels and his Store broken into by them, on two or three occasions and robbed of the remnant of Stock on hand- worth some 6 or 8 hundred dollars — While his general loss directly & indirectly, from invasions of Ky, and from the existence of the war has not been less than Ten Thousand Dollars — That the unh-

-appiness of mind superinduced by the business adversities brought upon ^him^ by the causes to which he has adverted and by the gloomy and cheerless aspect which the future of our Country presents in consequence of the existence of the present deplorable and frightful civil war, led him, at times, to give way to the weakness of a too free indulgence in ardent spirits, and, on such occasions to permit himself to be seduced into a game at Cards — Never, however, did he do so when not intoxicated — That, on some occasion, when he was so greatly under the influence of liquor, as to be incapable of exercising authority, gaming occured in his store house,- but never did such a thing occur when he was sober, nor did he, your petitioner ever play at Cards when not intoxicated- his life having been spent in devotion to business and in obedience to the laws of his State and Country — with the exception of the accidental aberation above alluded to — That at the last term of the Criminal Court of our County — (Sept 1863) — some person, or persons. (doubtless unfriendly to your petitioner) — gave information to the Grand Jury that caused them to indite him, on the charge of permitting gaming in his Store house — That at the present (May 1864) term of the Circuit Court (our Criminal Court having been abolished) the case was tried and a fine of Two hundred dollars assessed against your petitioner — though the Jury admitted after they rendered their verdict (as mild ^as you will observe^ as the law allows in such cases) that they would have found — "not guilty" — — but for an imprudent

remark made by your petitioner, in the course of the trial, — said remark being construed by them — (though irroneously) as conflicting with the testimony — all of which was, throughout in my favor — Every member of the Jury would sign this petition, but as several of them live in remote parts of the County, it is not within my power to see them within so short a time as would be necessary in order to enable me to have this before you in Season — The members of the bar would also, as your petitioner has good reasons for believing have signed it unanimously, but Court adjourning a day or two earlier than was expected by your petitioner he failed to take steps in time to secure their names —

Your petitioner is and has ever been a devoted and uncompromising Union man, upon the platform so comprehensively and powerfully expounded and illucidated by your honor, in the Speech made in our town during your late campaign for the position which you now occupy and which speech I had the very great pleasure of listening to —

In conclusion your petitioner would say that if he had cooly and deliberately violated a Statute of the State, he would make no effort to avoid the prescribed penalty, but as he has not, in this instance, nor in any other throughout his life, been guilty of such violation of law, he indulges the hope and expectation, that you will extend to him the favor & clemency of remitting the said fine of Two Hundred Dollars, or so much thereof as the law allows — My present pecuniary embarassments are such that I could not pay the amt without great annoyance —

I am

with the highest respect & consideration, your obt servant
John W Bailey