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File Name	Q21568
Item Title	"An Old Man A Convict."
Description	Letter from James Foster, a 68-year-old prisoner in Wetumpka, Alabama, to Governor W. J. Samford. In the letter Foster asks the governor to grant him parole. He acknowledges his guilt but argues that his good behavior makes him a worthy candidate for early release: "Its [sic] a parole I want, Governor. A parole with the conditions that I leave the state within 24 hours, never to return, else the parole to be forfeited with loss of short time on the 10 years I am now trying to do. Wouldn't it be to the best interest of the state, to have all ex-convicts to leave it?" He compares his situation to biblical characters who were forgiven: "King David, with all his advantages through life, with the spirit of Jehovah continually upon him, committed the capital crime of adultry [sic], and followed it with a cold blooded murder long before jack pots and moonshine whiskey was every invented, and, Jehovah, after inflicting a light punishment, pardoned him, and he became afterwards a great and good man...Who knows but what, with a sweet parole in my grasp, I may emulate some of the best of king David's life. I've made a good prisoner, and by the everlasting jupiter, I'll make a good citizen!" The letter was printed in the May 17 issue of The Montgomery Journal. Governor Samford died before replying to Foster's request, so Foster wrote Governor Jelks about the matter, too; the letter is also available online: http://216.226.178.196/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/voices&CISOPTR=%203468
Date	1901 April 28
Sort by date	1901-04-28
Time Period	1900-1909
Subject	Foster, James Samford, William James, 1844-1901 Alabama--Politics and government--1865-1950 Governors--Alabama Prisoners--Alabama
Format	Newspapers
Voyager Number	v1186
Collection or Series Title	The Montgomery Journal
Box Number	51.2516
Catalog Record	http://adahcat.archives.alabama.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1186
Repository	Alabama Dept. of Archives and History, 624 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36130
Language	English
Rights	This material may be protected under U. S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code) which governs the making of photocopies or reproductions of copyrighted materials. You may use the digitized material for private study, scholarship, or research. Though ADAH has physical ownership of the material in its collections, in some cases we may not own the copyright to the material. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in our collections.
Digital Format	600 dpi tiff
Project Name	Alabama History Education Initiative
Digital image reproduction form	http://www.archives.alabama.gov/photo_order_form.pdf
Permission to publish form	http://www.archives.alabama.gov/referenc/private2.pdf
Upload batch	Malone (text) 2010.03-A
Date created	2010-04-23

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