Execution Averted

Jesse Cole, according to information compiled by the Sevier County Library, killed Samuel Scott Large in a logrolling contest of some sort in 1887. Sentenced to hang, The Washington Post published a mention of a reprieve. While only temporary, I have found no record that Cole was ever executed by the State of Tennessee. Public sentiment, at least some of it, appears to have been on Cole's side, and a song apparently resulted.

While not related himself, the murder victim, Samuel Scott Large, was the father of William Harrison Large, who married into the Matthews branch of my family.

From The Washington Post, December 24, 1888, page 2:

His Life Saved by a False Affidavit

Chattanooga, Tenn., Dec. 23. – Jesse Cole was to have been hanged Saturday at Newport, Tenn., for the murder of Samuel Large, but was respited almost at the last moment on the affidavit of Mrs. Waxlead, on the strength of which Gov. Taylor reprieved him for sixty days. Yesterday at Knoxville she made another statement, in which she says she does not know Cole and never saw him. It is believed that she was paid to make the affidavit, which saved his life. Rioting was imminent in case he had been hanged.

From Songs and Rhymes From the South by E.C. Perrow, reposted at http://www.folklore.ms/html/books_and_MSS/1910s/1912-1915_songs_from_the_south_%28articles%29/part_2/index.htm:

18. JESSE COLE

(From Kentucky; mountain whites; taken down from singing by E. N. Caldwell; 1912)

To one and all, both great and small, this story I will unfold;
It makes me sad to think about the doom of Jesse Cole.
They lodged him in the Knoxville jail; it is a dreadful charge;
He says that he is innocent of killing Samuel Large.
It's true it's sad to think of such a death to die;
Yet men could shun those reckless crowds, if they would only try.
Cole has a wife and children to leave as many a man has done.
Those bloody works for which he is to hang some other might have done.
He says upon the witness-stand they swore his life away.
Every knee shall bow and tongue confess at the coming judgment-day,
In the gloomy walls confined to stay until that dreadful hour,
And then his soul must fly away to meet the Higher Power.
All on that day his devoted friends will stand around, perhaps his troubled wife,
This enough to make the sinner turn to live a better life.
Parents teach your children while in the tender years [youth?]
To try to shun all evils and always tell the truth.
Teach them there is a God to fear, it's always best to think,
Also beware of gambling-cards, and always shun strong drink.
God fixed a way for all to live; He suffered on the cross,
Grace to every soul he gives; He would that none be lost.

Updated 9 December 2018: Regina Forsythe, a second grand niece of Jesse Cole, sent me the following article, which indicates that Jesse was somehow involved in the murder but did not commit it:

The Nashville American (1894-1910); Nashville, Tenn. [Nashville, Tenn]25 Dec 1898: 3.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Nashville Tennessean, page 3

TWENTY-SIX ARE HAPPY: Gov. Taylor Exercises Executive Clemency With a Lavish Hand on Xmas Eve. Long List of the Lucky : From Several Hundred Convicts the Governor Presents Pardons to More Than a Score : Sick and Crippled Let Out : Charles Rich, of Knoxville, and Herbert Hedrick of Memphis, Among the Fortunate Ones-- Jesse Cole Pardoned.

Gov. Taylor yesterday granted twenty three pardons and relieved three men for minor offenses.  The gubernatorial office was designed all day long and the Governor was kept busy hearing applications for Christmas pardons. In many cases the convicts who were pardoned were sick, maimed or otherwise unfit for work. In other cases strong recommendations for executive clemency were made.The Governor has on file the records in all cases in which he has acted and is ready to give his reasons for all the pardoned he has granted. In some of the most important cases the recommendations are published as they appear on the face of the pardons he has granted, but a lack of space prevents the details of all the pardons being given. All the reasons cannot be crowded on the pardons, but the records in the gubernatorial office show why they were granted.In regard to the Niemeyer pardon, which was granted Friday, Gov. Taylor says that no stronger recommendations were ever made in any case. Almost the entire bar of Memphis petitioned for the pardon of the railroad pass and ticket forger. The petitions make a voluminous record and the Governor says that he was fully justified in granting the pardon."I have pardoned a large number of broken down men to-day," said the Governor. "The are either sick or crippled and are unfit for work, and I think that it is nothing but merciful and just that they should be allowed to remain at their homes during the rest of their days, which are numbered. In some cases I have granted pardons for humanity's sake. I have communicated some long sentences to a little shorter term, so that the poor fellows may be cheered some and see a little light ahead. I have the records in every case on file in my office and they show for themselves."The pardons granted yesterday were as follows:Green Gillin...John C. Matthews...Henry Rivers...Dode Washington...comJohn Henry Jones...Mamp Betts...John E. Ware...Green Walls...Wilson Gregory...Charles Rich...Newton McMurray...Will Fogg...John Hennings...Luther Fountain...John Quincy Adams...Ed Taylor...A. L. David...Herbert Hale...Jesse Cole, Crockett [sic, Cocke] County, murder, sentenced to be hanged and afterwards commuted to life, pardoned. Gov. Taylor says: "I commuted the sentence of this man from death to life in prison many years ago. I thought then that he did not do the killing. I have since been convinced that, while he knew about it and ought to suffer, he did not deserve the life sentence. The guilty man came to his deathbed after Cole went to the penitentiary and confessed that he committed the murder. The jury who tried him now petition for his pardon. The wife of the murderer man also asks for his release, also a large number of good citizens of Cocke County."John Turner...Jeff Lester...Ed Flanangan...Herbert Hedrick...James Bolton...Tom Carter...Robert Hogg...