Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1901 — Wants Messenger Pardoned. [ARTICLE]

Wants Messenger Pardoned.

Bert Messenger, of Monon, a brother of Wm. Messenger, who was sentenced to prison for life by Judge Beeman, Jan. 10, 1898, following a verdict by a jury finding him guilty of murder in the second degree for the killing of Charles Nelson at San Pierre on the night of Aug, 12, 1898, was here Tuesday, He is making an effort to secure a pardon for his brother, and was here for that purpose. Wm. Messenger has been in the Michigan City prison nearly four years, and is now foreman of the clothing department. It is said that he has been a model prisoner, never having merited punishment or even a reprimand. He is a prisoner of the first-class and is permitted to wear clothing without stripes in recognition of his good behavior. —Starke Co. Democrat. Messenger, as most of our readers will remember, was, not long prior to his killing of Nelson, a resident of Rensselaer and its immediate vicinity. He did not have the reputation of being a bad man except when under the influence of liquor.