CO129-040 - General Jervois - 1852 [3-12] — Page 173

crimmal sessions a petition was sent in for a pardon on the grounds solely of in alibi made out by affidavits forwarded with the petition. The facts disclosed by the petition and Affidavits were submitted by His Excellency the Acting Governor to the beting Attorney General, who knowing from experience the facility with which any amount

amount of testimony can be procured from the Chinese for any given purpose, advised that he saw no grounds for a pardon disclosed by the affidavits. The acting lettorney Ieveral however did not dismiss the subject from his mind and having from an examination of the locality and from having ascertained, the truth of certain facts set forth the petition and affidavits, arrived at a conclusion in his own mind

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that possibly dyer Starks might be mistaken as to the identity of the person who robbed him, he the "Acting Attorney Ieneral procceded on board the Susquehanna Amorican steamer and in the presence of American Commodore cermined

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Starks as to his certainty on the point of identity. Starks on this recasion gave a much less positive testimony than he had given the trial and in fact wavered so much that had he given similar evidence at the trial the Acting Attorney General would not have pressed for a conviction. Under these circumstances an alibi being clearly made out and there being doubt on the subject of Chow Atae's identity with that of the man who robbed stanks, the

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