To his Excellency Beriah Magoffin Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky

Your undersigned petitioners would respectfully state & Represent that at the October Term of the Breathitt Perry circuit Court 1860 One Jacob Neace was tried in said court under an indictment against him in said court pending charging him with having stolen 55. pounds of Bacon from W^m. Eversole in said county & said Neace was upon said trial sentenced to undergo a confinement in the penitentiary for one year for said offense. It would be impossibile here to give a full detail of the proceedings of the Trial but suffice it to say that the Eversole family who prosecuted said Neace were a family of wealth & possessed an extensive line of Relationship in said County & had great influence among the people of said county & they used all the aforesaid powers & make them bear heavily upon the trial of said Neaces case and caused considerable prejudice to arise in the minds of the people against Neace & caused him to be convicted through their power & wealth they state that Neace is an extremely poor man & was unable to defend himself against such a powerful influence as was exerted against him by the Eversole family & consequently can only hope for mercy at the hands of the executive of this commonwealth — they would also state that there ^were^ no positive or direct proof made against him on his trial showing that he was guilty of the charges & the lightest circumstantial evidence

that probably any man was ever convicted upon it was not positively proven by any witness that W^m Eversole had any bacon stolen or taken from him Eversole did not prove this fact himself but only stated that he believed the bacon was taken from him or that he had lost the same & that he did not know how much bacon he had at the time it was not proven that ever Neace ever had possession of any of said bacon nor was it proved that he had admitted the same thing nor was it proven that the time the bacon was alleged to have been stolen that Neace was at or near the premises of said W^m. Eversole & Neace was too poor to employ counsel to take an appeal from said Judgment of conviction they state that in their opinion if ever there was a case deserving of the executive clemency according to the proof made against Neace that this is one of those cases Wherefore they disire your Excellency to grant to said Neace a pardin from the Judgment of imprisonment pronounced against him

Perry Cir Ct
Neaces Case
Perj. Perry. Co —
Jacob Neace
Felony
1 Yr Penty
Pardon Iss^d
Apr 29. 1861