On Dec. 20, 1900, then-Illinois Gov. John Tanner granted clemency to seven prisoners. 5 have been boys; 4 had stolen chickens and one had “tried felony assault.” Two have been grownup male murderers. One was a cop who killed a colleague whereas arguing in regards to the Spanish-American Struggle over after-work drinks. The opposite was a laborer who admitted to taking pictures his spouse in entrance of their 3-year-old daughter.
Charles and Augusta Nelson have been Swedish immigrants residing in Chicago with their daughter, Grace, and a male boarder in 1896.
In response to paperwork from Charles Nelson’s homicide trial (saved on the Illinois State Archives), Augusta and the boarder had a relationship and flaunted it. A married couple who labored for the Nelsons testified that Augusta let the boarder put his hand up her skirt in entrance of them, talked to him “coarsely about love” and stated “she liked the boarder deal greater than she did her personal husband, that she wished her husband would kill himself or die.”
Charles’ brother testified that in entrance of him, Augusta informed Charles she wished a divorce, to which Charles replied he’d kill himself if she left him. Augusta stated: “All proper, go and kill your self. I am going to pay for the (coffin), that will be the most affordable manner out of it.”
On Aug. 16, 1896, Charles informed the boarder to get out of their dwelling. Augusta took Grace and left with him. Upon their return that night, she and Charles “quarreled all night time.” He rose early to get whiskey. When he acquired dwelling, Augusta stated she was leaving him.
“As she acquired to the underside of the steps, (Charles), being crazed from grief and whiskey, fired and killed her… (then) he took his little daughter on his knee and sat there till individuals got here and the police. When requested why he did it, he stated she saved firm with (the boarder) and wished to stay with him,” wrote Charles’ legal professional.
There is no such thing as a document of testimony on Augusta’s behalf.
The grand jury discovered Charles responsible for taking pictures Augusta twice within the again “unlawfully, feloniously, willfully and of his malice aforethought.” Charles pleaded responsible and was sentenced to 25 years in jail. The decide informed him: “Had you killed (the boarder) who invaded the sanctity of your house and wrecked your peace of thoughts, I’d have felt inclined to deal extra leniently with you,” reported the Nov. 14, 1896, Chicago File newspaper.
After he’d been within the Joliet penitentiary about three and a half years, Nelson wished out. He petitioned the governor for clemency, pleading that earlier than the homicide he’d by no means dedicated against the law and had been “industrious and his associations had all the time been with good and honorable individuals.”
Charles had shocking assist, which included the prosecuting legal professional and his sufferer’s brother. Each wrote that Charles ought to be launched in addition to pardoned. The homicide sufferer’s brother stated the sufferer’s associates agreed. The Board of Pardons could not assist pardoning a confessed assassin however concurred with releasing Charles for time served.
Gov. Tanner did simply that, saying Charles ought to be capable of father or mother his solely little one. The subtext in his and others’ statements is evident. At minimal, the homicide was justifiable; at worst, it was his spouse’s fault. The governor wrote that Nelson acted “in a frenzy attributable to jealousy and the assumption that his spouse was about to go away him.” The Board of Pardons wrote: “(Charles) protested again and again to his spouse… however his protests appear to have met solely with derisive taunts. He appears to have used each peaceable means to get the boarder out of the home however failed due to the actions of his spouse.”
Nelson was dwelling in time for Christmas, 1900.
