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TO HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS MIFFLIN ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA. THE PETITION OF JOHN HYTON OF STRASBURG TOWNSHIP IN THE COUNTY OF LANCASTER. HUMBLY SHEWETH... YOUR PETITIONER'S WIFE HATH BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF HORSE STEALING AND SENTENCED TO ONE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT AND TO PAY A FINE OF SIXTY DOLLARS FOR THE USE OF THE STATE. THAT YOUR PETITIONER IS VERY POOR AND IN DISTRESSING CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNABLE TO PAY THE SAID FINE, HAVING ALSO THREE SMALL CHILDREN WHO DEPEND UPON YOUR PETITIONERS DAILY LABOUR FOR THEIR SCANTY SUBSISTENCE. YOUR PETITIONER THEREFORE HUMBLY PRAYS THAT YOUR EXCELLENCY TAKING HIS DEPLORABLE SITUATION INTO CONSIDERATION MAY BE PLEASED TO REMIT THE SAID FINE.. by Hyton, John - 1797

by Hyton, John

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS MIFFLIN ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA. THE PETITION OF JOHN HYTON OF STRASBURG TOWNSHIP IN THE COUNTY OF LANCASTER. HUMBLY SHEWETH... YOUR PETITIONER'S WIFE HATH BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF HORSE STEALING AND SENTENCED TO ONE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT AND TO PAY A FINE OF SIXTY DOLLARS FOR THE USE OF THE STATE. THAT YOUR PETITIONER IS VERY POOR AND IN DISTRESSING CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNABLE TO PAY THE SAID FINE, HAVING ALSO THREE SMALL CHILDREN WHO DEPEND UPON YOUR PETITIONERS DAILY LABOUR FOR THEIR SCANTY SUBSISTENCE. YOUR PETITIONER THEREFORE HUMBLY PRAYS THAT YOUR EXCELLENCY TAKING HIS DEPLORABLE SITUATION INTO CONSIDERATION MAY BE PLEASED TO REMIT THE SAID FINE.. by Hyton, John - 1797

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS MIFFLIN ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA. THE PETITION OF JOHN HYTON OF STRASBURG TOWNSHIP IN THE COUNTY OF LANCASTER. HUMBLY SHEWETH... YOUR PETITIONER'S WIFE HATH BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF HORSE STEALING AND SENTENCED TO ONE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT AND TO PAY A FINE OF SIXTY DOLLARS FOR THE USE OF THE STATE. THAT YOUR PETITIONER IS VERY POOR AND IN DISTRESSING CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNABLE TO PAY THE SAID FINE, HAVING ALSO THREE SMALL CHILDREN WHO DEPEND UPON YOUR PETITIONERS DAILY LABOUR FOR THEIR SCANTY SUBSISTENCE. YOUR PETITIONER THEREFORE HUMBLY PRAYS THAT YOUR EXCELLENCY TAKING HIS DEPLORABLE SITUATION INTO CONSIDERATION MAY BE PLEASED TO REMIT THE SAID FINE..

by Hyton, John

  • Used
[Lancaster, PA, 1797. [1], [2 blanks], [1- docket, with Governor Mifflin's signature approving the petition]. Manuscript petition, written in ink on a single page, with the names and signatures of ten townspeople endorsing the petition. One leaf. Old folds with a few short splits but Very Good.

Elizabeth Hyton was convicted of horse stealing "on the last Monday of February Anno Domini 1797." Governor Mifflin pardoned her on March 27, 1797, when her one-month jail sentence expired. Fortunately for Elizabeth and her impoverished family, Pennsylvania did not consider horse theft a capital crime, unlike some States.
In 1786 Pennsylvania became the first State to adopt discretionary terms of hard labor and imprisonment for felony offenses, and to delegate to judges rather than juries the authority to determine the sentence. "The frequency with which felons were pardoned may be surprising to those familiar with modern clemency practices. Pardon and benefit of clergy were alternative and ameliorative features of what was otherwise a horribly draconian penal system." King, 'The Origins of Felony Jury Sentencing in the U.S.' 78 Chicago-Kent Law Review No. 3, pages 937, 949 [2003] [noting the dramatic rise in pardons for horse-stealing in 18th century Virginia, when it was rendered a capital crime].