Some of the papers laid before the governor in support of the petition for the commutation of the sentence of William Foster to imprisonment for life

Letters and other documents addressed to New York Governor John A. Dix asking that the sentence of William Foster be commuted from death to life in prison. In an incident that came to be known as the "car-hook" tragedy, Foster, while drunk, murdered Avery D. Putnam on a New York City trolley.