Typed as spelled and written
Lena Stone Criswell

THE DAILY DEMOCRAT
Thirteenth Year - Number 5
Marlin, Texas, Thursday, April 03, 1902
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AGAINST COMMUTATION.
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The County Attorney's Office is Re-
sisting Strongly
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ANY INTERFERENCE OF THE GOVERNOR.
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       The county attorney's office will resist to the utmost the commutation by the governor of the death sentence of John Roan.
       Messrs. Boyles and Carter have secured quite a mass of evidence not adduced in the trial of the case, to further establish the guilt of Roan.
       A very strong affidavit has been secured from E. C. Barclay, a reputable citizen of the county.  Mr. Barclay states, in the affidavit, that he saw and recognized Roan the day before and the day after the crime is alleged to have occurred, near the place, thus tending to further dispose of the alibi attempted to be set up by the defendant.
       There is also among the papers to be forwarded to the governer (sic) an affidavit from Warren Fannin, in which Mr. Fannin states that he was told by a negro woman near whom (sic) Roan lived, that Roan was away from on the night of the morning the crime was committed.
       The statement filed with Governor Sayers by Messrs. H. G. Carter and Dan M. Jackson, in which it was stated that "the grand jury would not have returned an indictment except to save the prisoner from mob violence," will be met by the fact that Roan was in the Waco jail at teh time, out of harm's way.
       Those who seek to have the death sentence commuted to life imprisonment have secured a large number of signatures to the petition praying for execution.
       The outcome is awaited by everyone with the keenest interest.

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Copyright permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing
by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls Co., Texas