A Clean Slate Frank Canton wanted a pardon for his crimes—or else.

Former lawman Frank Canton was seeking a pardon for crimes—murder, rustling, robbery—that he’d committed in Texas in the 1870s under the name Joe Horner.  In July 1894, he made plans to meet with Governor Jim Hogg.  A go-between arranged the meeting, telling Canton that the governor might approve the motion—or he might turn it down and send Canton to jail.   One story goes that Canton stuck a pistol in his pants and remarked that the state would need a new governor if they tried to put him behind bars.