<title type="main">Jefferson Rogers and H. C. Thomas to Beriah Magoffin Edition created from new transcripts of this manuscript. Initial upload of this work's facsimile images and metadata to FromThePage for editing Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections Administrator of the CWGK Migration transcription project on FromThePage Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections made 7 edits between June 22, 2025 and June 22, 2025. Dynamic TEI export from FromThePage (version 22.10)

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 November 11, 2025 Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives Office of the Governor, Beriah Magoffin: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Petitions for Pardons and Remissions, 1859-1862 KYR-0001-020-2119 MG24-181 to MG24-184

Petition English Version 1 of page "7": Changes to page transcript. Version 1 of page "6": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "7": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile. Version 1 of page "5": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "6": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile. Version 1 of page "4": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "5": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile. Version 1 of page "3": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "4": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile. Version 1 of page "2": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "3": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile. Version 0 of page "2": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile. Version 1 of page "1": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "1": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile.
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To His Excellency The Governor of Kentucky

Your petitioner, Jeff Rogers, respectfully states that at the May term, 1862, of the Jefferson Circuit Court, he, with three others, was indicted for an assault & battery on Casper Kromer; on which indictment all the defts were found guilty & fined $200 ^Each^ & sentenced to two years imprisonment in the County Jail

Whereupon your petitioner, with the other defts was at once, on the 13th day of May, 1862, committed to said jail, where your petitioner has ever since been and still is. In view of his imprisonment since that time, and the Matters connected with the proceedings on the trial of sd indictment, as shown in the memorandum of the testimony, & the statement of Mr Elliott, (the attorney who defended your petitioner) and the certified copy of your petitioner's affidavit for a continuance, which accompany this petitioner, your petitioner prays your Excellency, to release him from further confinement & also, as your petitioner is poor, to remit so much of the $200 fine as is coming to the Commonwealth. The $60 of it going to the Comlth's atto & the costs, are more than your petitioner can pay without appealing to his friends for aid; and these amounts together with the imprisonment which

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your petitioner has already undergone, is mortification & punishment enough for the alledged wrong -- And humbly praying Your petitioner ever will &c

Jefferson Rogers H C Thomas

The Undersigned respectfully join with the petitioner in his prayer and ask your Excellency to extend to him the clemency prayed.

WmRThompson Westly Phelps Wm J Heady C. R. Samuels S. A. McKay R H. Fald H H Tice L. Harris

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Jefferson Circuit Court The Commonwealth of Kentucky against } On Indictment for an assault & battery on Casper Kromer Jeff Rogers, John Gray Lowdy Howard & Geo Ridgeway

Bill of Exceptions.

Be it remembered that when this case was called for trial, the deft, Jeff Rogers, prayed a continuance & filed his affidavit therefor, which affidavit is as follows (here insert it), but, on said affidavit being presented & read to the Court, the Court overruled said Rogers application for the continuance & ordered the trial to be gone into -- to which ruling & order of the Court, the deft, Rogers, Excepted -- and, on the trial of the Cause, the Commonwealth introduced the following witnesses. Casper Kromer, Joanna Kromer and Thomas Ryan, who, being first duly sworn, testified as follows:

Casper Kromer stated that about the 21st day of April 1862, the defts, Rogers, Gray, Howard, Ridgeway and another man named or called Warner, came to the house of witness in Jefferson County, Ky, on the Shelby street plank road & near to Louisville, Ky, where witness kept a tavern. That witness' wife, Joanna Kromer, was in the bar room, & some four other persons (men) were also in the bar room seated

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at a table drinking, & witness was in the adjoining room, taking a meal, when the defts & Warner Came in. The defts called for some bread & cheese & butter & for something to drink, whereupon witness' wife requested witness to come into the bar room, which witness did. That when witness came into the bar room, the defts repeated their requests, & some bread & butter was furnished to them, as well as something to drink; and one of the defts threw some of the butter on the floor, remarking that it was not fit to eat, that it stunk.

One of the party (Rogers), at the time, picked up a chair & put it on a table where the four men ^before referred to^ were drinking -- Rogers was told to remove the chair, & here a disturbance took place, Rogers breaking a chair -- one of his companions also breaking a chair, &, in the Melee there were two panes of glass broken out of the sash door & some out of the window -- there was also a pitcher then broken -- in this all of the defts participated (Deft objected to this testimony, but the court overruled the objections & defts Excepted) While this was going on, the four persons who were in the room left, and witness ordered defts to leave his house -- Witness' wife pushed Rogers out of the door, & the others, who also came in with him, left

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The defts had got about 30 yards from the house & witness Endeavored to shoot at them with his revolver, but it snapped & would not go off.

Immediately after this, the defts returned to the house & commenced an assault on witness, to which witness was beaten by all the defts, & witness wife was assaulted by defts (defts Excepted to testimony being introduced as to an assault on any one Excepting the one charged, in the indictment, to have been assaulted, but the court overruled their objections, to which defts Excepted) & then the defts broke other glasses & injured other property belonging to witness (defts here objecting to all testimony as to injury to property, because not charged in the indictments & being a distinct, separate & indictable offense, but the court overruled the objections, defts Excepting)

No assault was committed on witness or witness' wife, or anyone till after defts came to the house the 2nd time

Joanna Kromer testified to the same effect (defts Excepting as before) and stated that besides defts assaulting her husband, Casper Kromer, they also assaulted her, broke & injured her husband's property, & after they returned the 2nd time and Commenced the assault, there was also taken, from the drawer, a small pocket book containing some baker's bread tickets, and about three

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dollars in change (defts Excepting as to taking property, because not indicted therefor, being only indicted for an assault -- the Court overruled the objections, defts Excepting) No assault was Committed till after the defts came to the house the 2nd time.

Thos Ryan testified -- Knew nothing of the circumstances of the assault -- saw that Casper Kromer had been beaten by some one & that Jeff Rogers had also received injuries on his head; witness here described the injury to Kromers property -- the defts objecting, but the Court overruled the objections, to which defts Excepted --

And this was all the testimony -- whereupon the Jury returned the following verdict (here insert it) and defts filed the following causes for a new trial (here insert them) which the Court overruled, to which defts Excepted, asked leave & time to prepare a bill of Exceptions, & time given till the 1st day of the next term of this Court.

Defts ask to have this bill of Exceptions signed sealed &c which is done, and defts severally pray an appeal.

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I was Employed by Jeff Rogers to defend him on an indictment, at the May term of the Jefferson Circuit Court, against him & Gray, Howard & Ridgeway for an assault ^& battery^ on Caper Kromer

The foregoing copy of the bill of Exceptions is a true copy from the one I wrote soon after the trial, when the testimony was fresh in my mind, & contains a true presentation of the proof as I understood it then & still believe it to have been. The counsel for the prosecution & myself differ in our recollection & on some material points, & we have not as yet agreed on the bill of Exceptions, nor presented them to the Court.

In view of this, as there may be some difficulty & delay in making up the bills of Exceptions, I have advised him, together with his friends, to apply to your Excellencys clemency, believing the verdict not justified by the law & legal proof & that the Court erred in refusing the continuance prayed by Rogers.

Respectfully Robt J. Elliott