From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Petition to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, a petition for pardon for Wash Bell, convicted of grand larceny.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Letter from Mrs. William Hoover to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, containing a resolution by the maternal association of Summit, Mississippi, thanking Ames for his support of temperance.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Letter from William H. Garland to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, recommending Reverend William Hoover for Superintendent of Pike County, Mississippi, schools with a newspaper article attached.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Newspaper, containing a clipping from the Daily Mississippi Pilot, April 10, 1874.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Legal Document from Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, a veto letter on House Bill No. 591, an act to repeal the law forbidding sale of liquor to minors.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Letter from R. B. Avery to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, containing a dissertation on temperance.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Petition to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, asking for pardon for Martha Adams, convicted of grand larceny. Pardon included.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Petition from John M. Powell to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, asking for a pardon for George Jones, convicted of Grand Larceny. Attached is a pardon issued March 25, 1874.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Petition from the citizens of Yazoo County, Mississippi, to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, asking Ames to leave the murder case of Morgan and Hilliard to the courts.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Letter from W. P. Smith to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, containing copies of indictments for six charges of selling liquor to a minor.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Payroll report for the Mississippi Secret Service Department for September 1870, submitted by L. M. Hall, chief of the department. Appended are additional notes regarding the department, its personnel, and its finances, dated September 28, 1870, October 15, 1870, and October 22, 1870, respectively.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Report from P. B. Starke, Thos. W. Stinger, and T. J. Mitchell, members of a committee appointed to assess the affairs of the Mississippi State Penitentiary, to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn, containing the results of the committee's investigation into the condition of the penitentiary - including plantations leased by the penitentiary where some convicted persons, mostly African Americans, are made to perform labor - and its inmates. There are several pages of information concerning some inmates needing medical attention, some inmates whom the committee believed were improperly convicted, and recommended pardons or commutations of sentences. Appended are additional "special reports" concerning particular cases and persons.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from F. W. Keys, a district attorney in Carroll County, Mississippi, to H. F. Hewson, Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn's private secretary, addressing an accusation against Keys of his excessive drinking, and mentioning that he has not had a drink in several days in his efforts to quit. Included is a note from H. F. Hewson giving a summary of Keys's letter.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from U. B. Tabor to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn, writing again to ask for his help with a local establishment that is selling liquors. States that it is hard for him to run his factory due to the local citizens patronization of said drinking shop.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from William N. Raines to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn, concerning the removal of the current sheriff of Newton County, Mississippi. Item attached to this letter is a petition for the removal of the sheriff, signed by William Woodward and several other individuals.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from J. J. Bradford to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn, writing to tell Alcorn of his thoughts on the current county clerk, Mr. Sarris, who Bradford accuses of having a drinking problem. and to suggest that he be removed or replaced.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from D. M. Dunlap to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn, requesting Alcorn to use his influence to preserve the Sabbath day laws currently in place in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which seem to keep certain types of businesses closed on the Sabbath. Dunlap states that there is a petition being circulated to be presented to the legislature to this effect.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from J. A. Orr to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn, informing Alcorn that James Murdoch murdered Evans Rogers near Shuqualak, Mississippi, and had also escaped. The letter goes on to give a physical description of Murdoch, stating that he is fond of whiskey and opium, and gives his demeanor while under the influence.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from Thomas McCarren and Geo. B. McNamara to R. J. Mathews. A reply written to Mathews concerning the case of William Hanlan (also known as Michael Hanlan). The letter states that Hanlan and the man whom he was charged with shooting served in the same military unit stationed in Columbus, Mississippi, in August of 1867. Both men were drunk from liquor and got into a quarrel. Hanlan went to his tent to get his rifle and shot Beau, another man, and was then turned over to local authorities in Columbus.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from James R. Chalmers at Austin, Mississippi, to R. J. Mathews, recounting details of the Isaac Franklin case and that he thought for what Franklin was sentenced his going to the Mississippi State Penitentiary was a hardship.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from James T. Coleman at Vicksburg, Mississippi, replying to an inquiry concerning the case against Parker Lacey. Coleman believes an injustice had been done by the conviction of Lacey, arguing that a companion of Lacey had been swindled out of some money and when Lacey went to recover the money from the alleged swindlers, they had Lacey arrested. Coleman believes that Lacey was convicted because he is an African American man and the alleged swindlers are white, and that Lacey's punishment was far beyond his offense.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Alcorn Collection. Letter from Doctor Jno. Brownrigg at Columbus, Mississippi, to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn, informing Alcorn that, despite statements to the contrary, Columbus Mayor David L. Wallace is not drinking. Brownrigg states that Wallace was following Brownrigg's prescription that he have a beer once or twice a day. Included is a note from H. F. Hewson, private secretary to Alcorn, giving an executive summary of Brownrigg's letter.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Clark Collection. Letter from S. M. Meek at the District Attorney's office in Columbus, Mississippi, to Mississippi Governor Charles Clark, giving the facts of the conviction of M. Joice and others of burglary and larceny.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Depositions of Harriet Cook, L. Perkins, and Melinda Townsend of Yalobusha County, Mississippi, witnessed by C. C. Johnston and sworn before Mayor and Justice of the Peace William Price, to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, attesting to the drunkenness of a Judge E. Gifford and his alleged "proposals to lie with" Melinda Townsend. (Depositions are enclosed documents mentioned in mdah_784-968-11-06).

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Ames Collection. Letter from William Handlon, a prisoner at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, describing the events leading to his incarceration for manslaughter and request for clemency.