Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Page: 173 of 1,110
vii, 9-1011 p. incl. ill., ports. : ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY 171
shall forget the scene when he sentenced
Steellnan. Ile said to him: "Niow, you are
hardly grown and you have a short sentence.
It should be a lesson to you, and you will be
discharged in tine to yet make a sober, upright
citizen.' Steelman, in receiving the
sentence, replied: 'Judge, you know there
is no respectable society that will receive an
ex-convict. I can never dismiss the thought
froll my mind, no matter wliere I go, that I am
an ex-convict. I lave disgraced ny falnily and
I amn not worthy of the position of an holiest
and upright citizen. I llave severed all the
sacred family ties that bound me to my
mother andl ny kindred, and by my own act I
will Ib disgraced with tlle stripes of a convict.
If I should get out and try to lead a
sober life anl 1be a respectable citizen some
m1an would some day say 'That man has been in
tle penitentiaryy' and tlen, Judge, I would
try to kill lhim. There is a society along the
Rio (Grande that receives ex-convicts, but I
cannot go there. No, sir; I will remain in
tlhe penitentiary.' Steelman cried wlile he
talked to tlhe judge, and his candor, earnestnesi
and his despair at the tlhouglht of his beinl^
a convict c('ased a number in tle courtroom
to weep. ''Ihis trial and sentence occurred
in 1853. In Novelnber, 1855, General
lRusk, whlo was supporting tlhe Texas and
Pacific railway bill il congress, came to Texas
to look over tlhe line for the proposed road
from Marslhall to tlei Colorado river. lle
Cailpetl d ear Dallas and lie caine in to see me.
lie told mle tflat ]h wanted to t o to Agustin
to sect're a l)rdon for Ir. Steellllan. lie said
thlt le lhad been laboring indlstriously for sixmonths past to get Steelman to accept a pardon.
He says, 'He is the most remarkable man I ever
seen. The superintendent of the penitentiary
writes to me that he has not locked
Steelman up the last year. He says he works
hard, carries the key to his own cell, has
nothing to do with anybody, and declares
that he would not leave the penitentiary, and
they have agreed to keep him employed there
his life-time. But at last,' said General
Rusk, 'I got him to consent to accept a pardon
upon the condition that I would take
him direct from the penitentiary to New
York and secure him a place in the United
States navy. He would not agree to serve
unless lie was sent to foreign shores. I have
secured a commission for him and he is to
slip from New York to Africa.' About
tlhat time Governor Bell was elected to congress
and "' Smoky Jim " Henderson, a personal
friend of General Rnsk, became governor
upon the resignation of Governor Bell.
Henderson granted the pardon and General
Rusk and took Steelman to New York. He refused
to even pass through his native State,
and lie said that he did not want his mother
and his old Georgia acquaintances to know
what had become of him. I was told that he
remained two days in New York and then
shipped to Africa, as General Rusk said he
would do. I have never since heard of Steelman.
In all ny dealing with men charged
with crime he was the most remarkable man
that I ever met."
TIE PIONEER ASSOCIATION
Of Dallas county, Texas, was organized
July 13, 1875. Following is a list of the
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Lewis Publishing Company. Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas., book, 1892; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20932/m1/173/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Public Library.