To the south of Springfield, the capital of Illinois, is the nice business town of Edwardsville. There, in jail, languishes the Russian immigrant Nikolai Gavrilovich.

He is a villain, a great criminal; he killed his wife, his life mate, and is sentenced to die on the gallows for it. The execution is to be on the 24th of April, in seven days. The doomed man dreams of appealing his case, but lacks the necessary $80 to do so. And in the jail already are being prepared the ropes and the henchman who, possibly, too, will be paid $62.50, as was paid in Sing Sing, the electrocutioner Davis, for electrocuting the four gamblers who shot down Herman Rosenthal.

However, much of a criminal the wretched Nikolai may be, at the sight of the ropes awaiting him, he is simply an unfortunate being whom one pities with an aching heart. He becomes near, dear, and one's very own, even to those who never before suspected his existence. Capital punishment does not render justice, nor strike fear among criminals, even as the jails and courts proper do not end daily crimes.

Capital punishment only creates new heroes for the mob, bewilders the multitudes in the community, and thus adds another to the evil already accomplished.

Capital punishment admits to the crime the entire people of the state; instead of one murderer, (there) appear many murderers.

Nikolai performed a most shameful, most beastly, hideous act. Why then does the State of Illinois desire to perform the same over him on April 24th?

He killed. He will be killed. He is an assassin. An assassin the State of Illinois wishes to become. Have you, men, ever stopped to think of the torments in the shadow of death? They are worse than death itself, because they destroy the heart of man, fray his nerves, turn his hair white, bring sudden wrinkles on his face, scorch, decimate alive a vigorous human being with a passion for life.

A twanging, relentless, rayless pain, asleep or awake. I have lived through sixteen days of such extreme horrors, in momentary exepectancy of death's arrival, of the appearance of soldiers ready to fire at me, to lacerate my flesh with their bullets of lead. These sixteen days irretrievably carried off sixteen years of my life.

Upon witnessing an execution sturdy, vigorous, calm people sob like frail children; they flop down on the ground, smack themselves from 4pressure of soul anguish. Tears do not relieve. Prostration increases and hardens to a point of utter exhaustion.

I see Nikolai in nightmare ravings, ready for anything, only so that he is not to hang; only so that he is to live, to breathe, to see, to think, to feel. He moans, beats his head against the wall, and tears with his hands at the window grating. He entreats the whole universe for mercy. He is dejected and at moments in his soul flares up a warm hope for .... he does not know himself for what. He struggles for resurrection; he will welcome every sacrifice, every conceivable suffering only not those in the shadow of death.

Poor, pitiable, wretched Nikolai! Who will proffer a helping hand? Can there be found one so mighty and fortunate to throw the noose off his neck? Fifty thousand Russian immigrants live in Illinois. Ah, if 5they saved his life! If the zeal in their breast were to be stirred forcefully. And to save is necessary and possible. There are two ways out - to give $80 for appealing the case or to petition the governor, the governor of Illinois, to pardon Nikolai.

There are in Chicago several hostile Russian organizations. In a struggle with death they join together to give battle. United these organizations may petition the governor to pardon the unfortunate Nikolai.

They should be joined by groups and individuals from Aurora, Joliet, Bloomington, Peoria, Rockford, Paris, Warsaw, Quincey, Charleston, Waterloo, and other towns and villages. They should send telegrams to the governor in Springfield with one and the same appeal in them for a pardon. For governors, too, have hearts that beat, and sound sense that pounds. Perhaps he will understand and will be merciful to the prisoner. It is in the governor's power to do so. His own individual good will can save a man from the noose.

There were such instances. I, personally, together with an attorney, succeeded in this wise in saving the 19-year old Lntasov, in New York, from the electric chair. One day before the execution, the attorney of the unhappy youth and I submitted telegrams to pardon Lantasov. Governor Dix spared his life. The youth is now languishing in Sing Sing prison.

Save a man you, too, Russians of Illinois! Act today, do not postpone for tomorrow.

In a week from now it will be too late. The man will not be. Stop, think, and act. Save a man from the noose. There is no greater joy than to give life to another.

Iv. Okunzov.