Swedish Minister's and President Woodrow Wilson's Requests for Postponements of Execution and Spry's Reactions

The Western Union Telegraph Company Form 260 Incorporated 25,000 Offices In America. Cable Service To All The World Theo. N. Vail, President Belvidere Brooks, General Manager Receiver's No. Time Filed Check SEND the following messages subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to Oct. 1, 1915. I.A.F. Ekengren, Swedish Minister,Bar Harbor, Maine. I have granted postponement execuction Joseph Hillstrom to October sixteenth. William Spry, Governor of Utah. Chg. to Governor's Office

Bar Harbor, Maine, September 26, 1915.

His Excellency, The Governor of the State of Utah, Salt Lake, Utah.

In consequence of information received from lawyers as well as from numerous other responsible persons familiar with the circumstances relating to the trial and conviction for murder by the courts of the state of Utah of the Swedish subject Joseph Hillstrom, I deem it my duty in my capacity of the official representative of my country to the United States to most earnestly apply to your excellency for a postponement of the execution of the convited to such a time as to permit a renewed and thorough examination of his case. Asking for a kind acknowledgment of the receipt of this application I remain very respectfully his excellency W. A. F. Ekengren, Minister of Sweden.

The White House, Washington D.C. Sept. 30, 1915.

Hon. William Spry, Governor of Utah, Salt Lake, Utah. Respectfully ask if it would not be possible to postpone execution of Jos. Hillstrom who I understand is a Swedish Subject until the Swedish Minister has an opportunity to present his view of the case fully to your Excellency. Woodrow Wilson.

BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF UTAH. RESPITE. WHEREAS, Joseph Hillstrom was on the 27th day of June, 1914, convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree and by the Third Judicial District Court for Salt Lake County, State of Utah, the said Joseph Hillstrom was sentenced to be executed for said crime on Oct. 1, 1915; and

WHEREAS, the President of the United States has this day requested a postponement of said execution until the Swedish Minister has an opportunity to present his view of the case;

NOW, THEREFORE, by reason of such request of the President of the United States, a respite is hereby granted to said Joseph Hillstrom until the next regular meeting of the State Board of Pardons, October 16th, 1916, and pending such respite it is directed that the execution of sentence in said case be suspended. IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Utah.

Done at Salt Lake City, Utah, the Capital, this 30th, day of September, A. D. 1915. Governor.

By the Governor:

Secretary of State.

suggested

November 18, 1915.

To President Wilson:

Your telegram of date has been very carefully considered, not only by myself but by all the other state officials who have the responsibility of this matter on their hands. Some eight weeks ago your voice alone was potent for delay, and the course of justice was interfered with. Now again you raise your voice in the same spirit. We are not wanting in respect for the high office which you hold. Indeed, we have the greates respect for it. And in consequence we have again given the most careful and deliberate consideration to your message. There has been no haste, no anger, no feeling of revenge here, only the one desire that justice might be done and the dignity of the law upheld. We are sworn to do this and after this latest reconsideration we are unanimously of the opinion that we cannot again allow the course of justice to be interfered with. Our oaths of office, our conscience, our own self-respect would be outraged were we to do other than we are doing. We will not, we cannot do it. No, not though we should gain all the votes in all the world by the doing of it.

CWN