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OFFICE OF
THEODORE DEBS
TERRE HAUTE, IND.
August 20th, 1915.

Honorable William Spry,
Governor of Utah,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dear Governor Spry:-
Please allow me to say a word in behalf of Joseph Hillstrom
(also known as Joe Hill). From the reports that have come to
me from those in position to know the facts and whom I regard
as entirely trustworthy, I am convinced that there is more than
a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of this unfortunate brother
of ours in the cause of labor. He was convicted upon circumstantial
evidence, denied the right to choose his own counsel,
while at the same time there was unquestionably a strong prejudice
against him on account of his actvitiy in the labor movement.
Joe Hill is a poet, a writer of songs, a man of soul, a tender
and sympathetic nature and the crime of murder is as foreign
to him and as unthinkable as it would be to any other man of
like temperament. For this reason and others I will not toruble
you with I beg you to give serious consideration to the case
of Joe Hill and if you do I am confident you will grant him
executive clemency. Joe Hill is not a murderer; he is a man
and the great state of Utah where murder is so abhorred cannot
afford to take his life.
Thanking you sincerely for myself and for the working people
in whose behalf Joe Hill has labored and suffered and made
many sacrifices I remain,
Yours very truly,
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