January 11, 1864 ~ Monday

Jan 11^th 1864

I called upon Brother Burton & then I called at the Court
House and had another interview with Jason Luce who is sentenced
to die tomorrow. He still feels sure that He will not die. he thinks
that he has the testimony of the spirit of the Lord, that He will
live & not die. He said that he was innocent of many things
that the people thought he was guilty off. He said that he had
never killed any person or had any hand in the death of any
person except Rhodes & Bunting & said that he could not
fell that he was guilty of murder in the death of Either of them
He had killed them in self defence. He said Wm Hickman
had advised him to do many things that made his flesh
crallwl but he had not followed Hickmans advise in these things
He told the Jailors (which I did not Hear) that Hickman
once asked him to go & knock an old man in the Head
for no other purpose ownly to obtain an old Mare that was
not worth more than $30. And He feels that W^m Hickman
has betrayed him and done him much injury & he looks
upon Hickman as a vary bad man. He said he would like
to see me tomorrow. He thought to day was the time appointed
for his execution untill I told him it was tomorrow. I went
to the council & spent the afternoon & attended to the business
of the day. And in the evening I again called upon Jason Luce
in company with John Sharp, T. B. Stenhouse R. Burton &
many others. G. D. Watt being present acted as reportinger in
taking an account of what Jason Luce would reveal unto us in
his last moments. I called upon Governor Reed & asked
him if he would commute Jason Luce sentence to the Penet-
entiary foromor life as Hickman had held out this promise
to Luce. Soon Hickman & Wilford Luce came in for their
answer & Mr Reed told them He could do nothing in the
premises that He considered that He would be commiting
crime to change the sentence of Luce unless he had better
ground than any thing He had seen. So when I arived
at the prision in the evening I told Jason Luce there was
no chance for him to live & I wished him to prepare to die. He
then spent more than an hour giving us an acount of what

January 11, 1864 ~ Monday

Jan 11th 1864

[FIGURE] I called upon Brother Burton & then I called at the Court House and had another interview with Jason Luce who is sentenced to die tomorrow. He still feels sure that He will not die. he thinks that he has the testimony of the spirit of the Lord, that He will live & not die. He said that he was innocent of many things that the people thought he was guilty off He said that he had never killed any person or had any hand in the death of any person except Rhodes & Bunting & said that he could not fell that he was guilty of murder in the death of Either of them He had killed them in self defence He said Wm Hickman had advised him to do many things that made his flesh crawl but he had not followed Hickmans advise in these things He told the Jailors (which I did not Hear) that Hickman once asked him to go & knock an old man in the Head for no other purpose ownly to obtain an old mare that was not worth more than $30. And He feels that Wm Hickman has betrayed him and done him much injury & he looks upon Hickman as a vary bad man. He said he would like to see me tomorrow. He thought to day was the time appointed for his Execution untill I told him it was tomorrow. I went to the council & spent the afternoon & attended to the business of the day And in the Evening I again called upon Jason Luce in company with John Sharp, R. Burton & many others. G. D. Watt being present acted as reporter in taking an account of what Jason Luce would reveal unto us in his last moments. I called upon Governor Reed & asked him if he would commute Jason Luce sentence to the Penetentiary for life as Hickman had held out this promise to Luce. Soon Hickman & Wilford Luce came in for their answer & Mr Reed told them He could do nothing in the premises that He considered that He would be commiting crime to change the sentence of Luce unless he had better ground than any thing He had seen. So when I arived at the prision in the Evening I told Jason Luce there was no chance for him to live & I wished him to prepare to die. He then spent more than an hour giving us an accunt of what