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November 5, 1931

Dear Miss Binford:

This is in reply to your letter of Sunday last regarding Russell Robert McWilliams of Rockford who is sentenced to death on December 17th for murder. The crime is admitted and the boy threw himself upon the mercy of the court. Probably recent crimes in this region account for the unpredictable death sentence. I am told that it is unprecedented in Illinois, and that among two hundred and fifty-four cases U.S. reports in which the accused threw himself upon the mercy of the court only one was given a death sentence and that person was a man of forty.

Enclosed is a copy of an affidavit by the boy's father, prepared ofcourse by the lawyer so that the language is somewhat more formal than the father could use himself. All that I have been able to learn about the case makes me believe this statement. I am told that the boy's employer, Mr. Chappell of Chapell Bros., this city, earnestly believes that the death sentence should be commuted and that he is urging this view on the Governor. This as well as the statement in the affidavit would indicate that the boy was a valuable employee.

I feel sure that letters to Governor Emmerson from Chicago persons of standing and influence would be extremely helpful. As I think I wrote you the Governor will hold a hearing on the application date tentatively set for the 17th. If I learn it is earlier of course I will let you know instantly because it is plain that nothing can count unless it reaches him by the date of the hearing. Many petitions are being circulated here. But from Chicago the boy's attorney thinks as I do that letters and other personal appeals are the best method. Doubtless you can get letters from Mrs. Bowen and Henry Chandler and all the others you know better than I. Yesterday I talked with Mary Roset Smith over the telephone -- Miss Addams was out -- but we both felt sure that she would write to the Governor.

Miss Breckinridge also wrote as you did and I am sending her the same material.

The crime cannot be minimized. The boy robbed and shot a motorman. Bad liquor was probably a factor in the last brief period of his life which culminated in the murder. His youth seems the unanswerable reason for mitigat- in the sentence.

I hope you will not think I have been trying to advise you or tell you waht to do. You experience is so much richer and more recent than mine that I can only thank you for your letter with great appreciation from the attorney for the boy and others who are endeavoring to have the sentence modified. If you have any suggestions for us let me know.

Yours faithfully,
(Signed) Julia C. Lathrop

Miss Jessie Binford,
Juvenile Protective Association,
Chicago, Illinois.