Edward Merkley, Affidavit

KYR-0001-020-0128.xml

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Accession Number

KYR-0001-020-0128

Document Genre

Legal/Financial

Repository

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

Collection

Office of the Governor, Beriah Magoffin: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Petitions for Pardons and Remissions, 1859-1862

Item Location

MG17-41 to MG17-42

Place of Creation

Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Date of Creation

2 November 1860

Dates Mentioned

1860-05

1860-10-23

1860-11-02

1860-11-10

Edward Merkley, Affidavit, 2 November 1860, Office of the Governor, Beriah Magoffin: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Petitions for Pardons and Remissions, 1859-1862, MG17-41 to MG17-42, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, KY. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-020-0128, (accessed November 4, 2025).

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To his Excellency Beriah Magoffin
Governor of Kentucky.

Your petitioner Edmund Merkley, a citizen of Louisville, will respectfully state that sometime last winter, Henry Bernstine and Isaac Rosenbaum were arrested charged with receiving stolen goods knowing them to have been stolen. that upon an Examination of the case before the Judge of the City Court the said parities were each held to bail in the sum of $800. to appear & answer in the Circuit Court at the May Term 1860. of the Jefferson Circuit Court; your Petitioner was induced by the appeals of Bernstine's wife who had two small children & from his confidence in the man, and from a belief that said Bernstine could only be indicted for a misdemeanor, in trading with a slave, to become the bail of said Bernstine for his appearance as aforesaid. Rosenbaum & Berstine were indicted for a felony however, and when the case was called in the Jefferson Circuit Court. Bernstine failed to appear & his default was entered & a scire facias ordered against your petitioner, and upon this scire facias a
Judgement was rendered on October 23^d 1860. in the said Jefferson Circuit Court for the sum of $800. & costs.

Your Petitioner states that Bernstine has not only left this State, but as your petitioner is informed and believes, has left the United States, that he has no means to indemnify himself, the said Bernstine being hopelessly insolvent. nor has he any knowledge of Bernstine's whereabouts, so that he could have him arrested and brought to trial. He states that he was induced to become bail for said Bernstine, at the ^unfortunate^ instance of his wife who was greatly distressed from her husband being confined in Jail & from a firm belief that said Bernstine would appear & answer to the charge. He had no intention of his act to aid in any way said Bernstine's escape; but was wholly influenced by motives of humanity. Your Petitioner will be compelled to pay thirty per cent, the Parties of said judgment due the Attorney of the Comth. which is $240.⁰⁰ and the other costs of the suit He is a poor man & unable in justice to
his family, consisting of a wife, and 2 small children, & to his creditors to pay the above sums, he has but little means & this claim being late pending now reduced to a judgement has materially affected his business & so embarrassed his credit, that it is with difficulty he can support his family, and from this embarrassment and the fear that he would be ruined by this Judgment, on the part of his creditors he has been compelled to sell the greater portion of what he had, to satisfy those to whom he was indebted, and that he may be saved from Bankruptcy, and his family from want. he appeals to your Excellency now to interpose & discharge him from his liability as bail for said Bernstine, and as in duty bound, so he will ever pray &c.

E Merkley

Sworn to before my by Edmund Merkley this 2^th day of November 1860.

A Maas N. P. J. C.

To His Excellency the Governor.

The within Petitioner is Known to me to be a good citizen: A German, peaceable and industrious. He has a family, and by his industry has acquired some property: if consistent with executive clemency I Join in his petition

E S Craig atto for Com^th 7^thJudic

I unite with Mr Craig for reasons set forth in the Petition in asking a remission of the Judgement against him

Geo. W. Johnston.
T. H. Crawford.

Jefferson Cir Ct
$800: } For. Recognizance
Edw^d Merkley
Remission Iss^d
Nov. 10. 1860

Remitted
B. M

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