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Fort Worth Morning Register

TOM WRIGHT

TOM WRIGHT MUST HANG

Governor Sayers Refuses to Commute the Death Sentence

Reasons for Non-Intervention

The Crime was a Deliberate, Cowardly Assassination and the Act of a Hardened Criminal

Special to the Register

Austin, Nov. 9 - The governor has again declined to interfere in the case of Tom Wright as the following statement given out by the chief executive will show:

"After again most carefully reviewing all of the facts and circumstances connected with the murder of John Adams by Tom Wright I have not been able to reach any conclusion other than that the sentence of the court should be executed. Wright is an ex-convict, having been heretofore, convicted of the crime of arson. Through executive clemency he was required to serve only a portion of his sentence. Instead of thereafter leading a moral, an industrious and an honorable life, he confederated with others in the open and direct violation of the law and out of such conduct grew the difference between Adams who was a constable endeavoring to enforce the law and himself. This is not a case where killing has occurred in heat of passion or from great provocation, nor where the slayer had previously lead a correct life. The assassination of Adams was the act, deliberately and cowardly committed of a hardened criminal who had once received executive clemency for a crime of the most heinous character. This clemency he willfully abused. Admitting that Adams had used threatening language and had refused to accept Wright's denial, yet if the latter sincerely believed his own life to be in danger the law furnished him the most complete protection. Instead of appealing to the law, he in company with another assassinated Adams, who was entirely unconscious of Wright's presence and intention when the deed was perpetrated. Were I to interfere in this case it would in my judgment be at the expense of order, law, peace, morality and justice. The prerogative of executive clemency is a sacred trust to be exercised only where fact and circumstance justify."

TO HANG TODAY

Tom Wright Will be Hanged at Stephenville for Murder

Bluffdale, Tex., Nov. 9 - Tom Wright will be hanged at Stephenville tomorrow for the murder of Constable Adams at Dublin. The governor has declined to commute the sentence to life time imprisonment.

Mr. J. C. Adams, son of the murdered Adams at Dublin is in our town making an effort to establish a newspaper to be known as the Paluxy Valley News. (Fort Worth Morning Register, November 10, 1899, page 1, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)