H. S. Moody to Beriah Magoffin

KYR-0001-020-2188.xml

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Accession Number

KYR-0001-020-2188

Document Genre

Correspondence

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

MG24-299 to MG24-305

Place of Creation

Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Date of Creation

1862

Dates Mentioned

1862

H. S. Moody to Beriah Magoffin, 1862, Office of the Governor, Beriah Magoffin: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Petitions for Pardons and Remissions, 1859-1862, MG24-299 to MG24-305, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, KY. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-020-2188, (accessed December 26, 2024).

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State Prison,
Frankfort, 1862
To His Excellency, Gov B MaGoffin.

Dear Sir: In times when the bayonet is bristleing in all sections of a once happy and peaceful country -- when, the roar of hostile cannon and musketry is breaking the monotony that pervaded a section since the days when our sires struggled for emancipation from the burdens imposed upon them by the Mother Country -- when households are ruthlessly violated and life jeopardized -- when every moment is big with events, and the next gale wafted from the South may bring the clash of arms to your own doors -- when, brother is arrayed against brother in the fratricidal conflict, and personal safety has almost become a subject of primary importance at such a time it seems almost wrong to intrude private griefs where National and State calamities prevail However much this unhappy state of affairs is to be lamented, and while all should earnestly pray for a speedy and amicable adjustment of our difficulties (now too intricate and irreconcilable ever to permit us again to become a consolidated Government) -- the moral or legal obligation to remember the unfortunate, especially those who may justly be termed the wards of the State, is none the lessened by these clouds that overshadow the horizons. I say this with becoming respect, with a sense of your disposition to the side of Humanity, and with a perfect knowledge of your many acts of clemency, and not with a disposition or desire to be misconstrued into any reflections. We are all but human at the best journeying, it is

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ordinary or unusual as not to have found its parallel in the career of many others -- or to consume your time in the perusal of matter uninteresting or irrelevant to the subject With the general details fo my case you are probably already familiar -- it not, the means of becoming so are of easy access and I therefore deem it scarcely necessary to advert to them in this connection

Something like eight years have now elapsed since the offense for which I was sent here was committed I plead guilty to the charge; and, at this remote period, have no inclination to deny it It was an act of boyhood, and it would perhaps have been better for myself, if not for society, had it been suffered to pass in silence But I shall find no fault; -- if that silent monitor, impanted in every human breast, which calls us to a retrospection of every action, and a review of every thought, tells me that I have erred -- that I have been doubly criminal -- criminal to myself in prostrating my talents to a base purpose -- criminal to society in violating her laws -- I shall let the Past admonish me constantly that verily is "the way of the transgressor hard;" and, benefitting by the sad lessons of Experience, so shape my conduct that time, if it does not thoroughly eradicate the evil of by-gone days, will, at least, cast such an oblivion over it as to make the Future tolerable.

The primary object of all law should be the Reformation of offenders -- punishment, in all cases, being a secondary consideration The Great Jehovah, in his eternal and immutable decrees, does not despair of the vilest of his creatures, and his angels are represented as standing ready to receive, with great rejoicings, those who are willing to "turn from the error of their ways A Christian people, with such an example of Divine Mercy before them, should, at least, be willing to imitate it; and instead, of being (Iago -- like,) ready to impale upon the slanderous tongue of society every evil, re=

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true by different paths and in different capacities, to the same common destiny; and in the cares, the vicissitudes, and the daily routine of an anxious and feverish life, are often apt to overlook what we consider minor and unimportant details though the omission may crush hopes or extinuish a spark that has long been flickering in the breast of some obscure yet integral member of the human family.

Your Excellency will doubtless, ere this, have discovered the object of this communication the subject is an "oft told tale," and its repetition may have become irksome to you Among the hundreds who have been incarcerated here during your administration, there are but few, perhaps, who have been so utterly vile and depraved as to have been entirely forsaken by the world; and such being the case, I can readily imagine how you have been importuned, almost daily, by father or mother, wife or sister, brother or friend, as the case may be, for the exercise of a power which the best interests of Society demand to be prudently, judiciously and wisely used I trust I properly appreciate the trying and difficult position in which you are placed, where Humanity and Justice are placed in the scale especially so when the better feelings of Nature are in the preponderance I know that between representation and mis-representation -- between truth and falsehood -- between the palliating circumstances and the facts of a case, it is almost impossible, at times, to come to a correct conclusion. But
"To err is human to forgive Divine," --
and it is better to err on the side of Humanity, even if Justice should, for the nonce, be held in abeyance

It is not the purpose of this communication to detail to you the events of a life perhaps not characterized by anything so extra=

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port and evil action of their fellow-man, stand ready to nourish into maturity every germ of good -- to extend the hand of Christian friendship to the fallen and unfortunate -- make them feel that the hand of malice or the vindictiveness of society is not crushing every hope as fast as it springs in the heart -- and let them fell that beyond the dark veil that obscures the Present, there is a bright Future, for all who are willing to conform to the laws and usages of Society. -- The world is too apt in a misguided spirit of exacting justice, to make an Ishmaelite of an offender -- the feeling imperceptibly growing upon him that his hand is against every man, and every man's hand against him No rational doubt can exist as to the fact that there is a period in the life of the most hardened, obdurate and vile of God's creatures, when, if the magic wand of kindness and sympathy had been properly applied, the heart might have been reached and much good effected. The Creator never gave life to a being destitute of feeling -- and society, in its never-ceasing warfare against evil, with a disinclination to make allowance for the circumstances of birth, education, or other palliations, and a disposition to frown down, as hypocritical, every evidence of reformation, is, in a great measure, the abettor and manufacturer of criminals

To come to my own case. I shall make no pretensions to being more than morta -- weak, fallen and liable to err. But the measure of my punishment is now full It has been sufficient -- it has been profitable. It has taught me that in the great battle of life -- that even in an age of Mammon-worship, "honesty is the best policy. It has taught me more -- that there are other pursuists than selfish pecuniary ones which go to make up the sum of human felicity -- a laudable ambition to be useful to others as well as to myself. God knows that within the past few years the thoughts of my heart have been directed in the right channel. I feel to-day like one who has

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passed through the fiery ordeal and come out whole. My only regrets for the Past are that it was not more profitably, more usefully and more honorably employed. But the Future looms up as a field where laurels are yet to be gathered -- where an honorable name, if not renown, is to be achieved, and where good works are yet to be left as an evidence of the truth and honesty of these professions.

Away from those who are inseparably clear by the ties of consanguinity -- incarcerated within the strong walls of your State Prison, my voice may be powerless, my sincerity may be doubted, my invocations disregarded But I cannot believe you made of impenetrable stuff Your many acts of clemency within my Knowledge assure me that you are not deaf to the cries of Mercy, and that Humanity has a friend in you.

I am yet young. I have a Medical education, to complete, and an active, unbounded desire to make myself useful to my friends, society at large, and myself. I have been imprisoned over two years, and my conduct during that period I am willing to submit to the most rigid scrutiny I know that so far as Reformation is concerned my incarceration has attained its object; I feel that further confinement can result in no possible good, and, under those circumstances, I ask for a favorable exercise of the power which has been judiciously bestowed upon yourself.

"The quality of Mercy is not strained, --
It droppeth as the gentle dew from Heaven --
x x x x x x
It is twice blesses
It blesses him that gives and him that takes"

It has been said by the poet that "distance lends enchantment to the view" Penetrating, with an eye to the Future, the gloom that envelopes the Present, I have pictured to myself, in the silent hours of

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meditation, the home, the fireside, the "household idol," and a "labor of love," that would amply and richly compensate me for the misfortunes of the Past. -- With medical qualifications that I flatter myself make me at least the peer of many others -- with an undying devotion to the profession of my choice -- with an ambition to reach the climax of a science honorable, useful, and respected in all ages of the world -- with the impulsive and restless blood of youth rushing through my veins, I long for a field where
"No pent-up Utica (can) contract my power."
I long for that liberty which is to wipe out the records of the Past -- for those active and stirring duties that are to re-instate me as a constituent and beneficial member of community. As it is now in the clashing if barred doors and the clanking of bolts, I see dimly shadowed forth the skeleton of that Remorseless Tyrant who never recalls seconds.
"I cannot rest. This fever of the blood
Consumes me Inaction gnaws my heart-strings"

I consider my wrongs to society as fully expiated -- that the law has been vindicated, and much longer incarceration I look upon in the light of
"Revenge, the luxury of vulgar minds,
As generous pardon and soft pitying words
Distinguish nobler natures"

In conclusion, I can only assure your Excellency that any favorable action you may feel disposed to take towards the subject of this, either at present or at any future time, you shall never have occasion to regret, if fidelity to the pledges herein made will ensure it. They are uttered from the honest and sincere depths of a heart that recoils with horror from the idea of living hereafter any other
than a life of probity I do not ask or expect immediate action in the premises I desire you to satisfy yourself of the truth of my professions, and then act as your own mature judgement and humane inclinations shall dictate; and I shall cheerfully abide by the result, confident of its character

I have the honor to subscribe myself, in the meantime,

Most Respectfully,
Your obedient,
And humble Servant,
H. S. Moody.

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