Save a condemned man - or not [SPOILERS]

[Joe]

Based on what I see on the internet, I should be able to convince Mr. Manners to let Fletcher go with Kiss Ass or change their customs with Smart Ass.

When I try that I get a lot of XP, yet Mr. Manners shrugs it off and proceeds with the execution.

[Erei]

From memory, what I did was to convince him to abandon their customs, by meeting the cowboy guy in the dentist's place (you have to ask for a free steak, to give to manners).
Then, I went through the Fletcher quest, and convinced his wife (the one with a russian name) to tell me about the Robinson's conspiracy.
Then you can go directly to Manners, or, as I did, get fletcher first, then during the execution speech say something about the conspiracy. He stopped right away.

[Amilarah]

Apologies for the necro, but I spent several hours trying to find out what I was doing wrong since while I could use the Kiss/Smart@$$ options Manners would just, as the OP says, "Shrug it off".

Eventually I got it to work after avoiding the execution for a long time and doing all the quests I could. So my guess is you have to do as many quests as you can in Angels Oracle before Mr. Manners will back down on the execution.

So here's to you future people that use the search function, remember that even if you've already brought Fletcher back and they're all ready to execute him, as long as you don't approach the crowd and Mr. Manners never starts his speach, you can run around and do quests for everyone that's not part of that crowd still. You can even leave Angels Oracle and come back and they'll all still be standing there.

[Cryme Tyme]

I know what you did, YOU told Manners about Elizaveta is seducing him via Tori in the very first visit with Manners, Just because the dialogue option is there, doesn't mean you have to take it, Elizaveta have warned you not to tell when you talked to her.

As for their tradition, you have to bust the fridge with human meat in it, talk to hobo right outside the city enrance, have the gate guards take him to hospital, then the option of cow meat quest opens up when you first talk to Manners.

[Joe]

If i remember correctly I have done cow quest after execultion.
On the other hand I don't thing it alter ending in any way.