Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1889 — LAST OF THE JAMES GANG. [ARTICLE]

LAST OF THE JAMES GANG.

Got. Morehouse Commutes the Long Sentence of “BUl’* Ityan. [Jefferson City (Mo.) dispatch.] “Bill" Byan, the train-robber, has been granted a commutation of his twenty-five years’ term by Gov. Moreheuse. The Governor’s reasons for granting the commutation are: “William or “Bill’ Byan was a member of what was known as the James gang. He was but a boy, and came of an honorable and respected family of Jackson County. He was no doubt guilty of violations of the law, but from statements in the petition submitted and from other information 1 believe he was the least guilty member of the band. A man who was much deeper steeped in crime and who was more guilty on these specific charges was pardoned out of the penitentiary to convict him, and he has been punished more than any member of the gang. Justice, therefore, demands that he should receive this clemency.” Byan has been confined in the penitentiary since Oct. 16,1881. He was convicted of complicity in the Blue Cut train robbery on the Chicago and Alton Bailroad in 188 L