Thomas Holden to Alexander J. Dallas, 28 March 1816 (Abstract)
Thomas Holden to Alexander J. Dallas, 28 March 1816 (Abstract)
§ Thomas Holden to Alexander J. Dallas. 28 March 1816, Boston. Has been imprisoned in Boston for a debt to the United States of $400 and $21.05 in costs, which he cannot pay. Has been deprived of his property and has a wife and several dependent children. Prays that the “Honble. Secretary” will inquire into his circumstances with a view to discharging him from prison.1
RC (DNA: RG 59, Petitions for Pardon, no. 317). 2 pp.
1. On 28 Mar. 1816 a second, similarly worded petition in the same hand, signed by Joel Holden, also dated at Boston and addressed to Dallas, sought a pardon for the same offense (DNA: RG 59, Petitions for Pardon, no. 319). On 4 Apr. 1816 Dallas forwarded both petitions to George Blake, the district attorney in Boston, in order to ascertain their eligibility for pardons. Blake responded on 12 Apr. that both men were in prison in that city and that both were eligible for pardons (ibid.). On the verso of Blake’s reply is Robert Brent’s note “Thos & Joel Holden,” docketed by JM “Let a pardon issue J.M.” (See Remission for Thomas and Joel Holden, 20 Apr. 1816).