In an astonishing number of these cases men of high standing signed petitions or wrote letters asking me to show leniency to the criminal.

In two or three of the cases--one where some young roughs had committed rape on a helpless immigrant girl, and another in which a physician of wealth and high standing had seduced a girl and then induced her to commit abortion--I rather lost my temper, and wrote to the individuals who had asked for the pardon, saying that I extremely regretted that it was not in my power to increase the sentence.

I then let the facts be made public, for I thought that my petitioners deserved public censure.
Whether they received this public censure or not I did not know, but that my action made them very angry I do know, and their anger gave me real satisfaction.

The list of these petitioners was a fairly long one, and included two United States Senators, a Governor of a State, two judges, an editor, and some eminent lawyers and business men.
In the class of cases where the offense was one involving the misuse of large sums of money the reason for the pressure was different.

Cases of this kind more frequently came before me when I was President, but they also came before me when I was Governor, chiefly in the cases of county treasurers who had embezzled funds.