Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-30

liberal Communication law applicable to all
United States prisoners wherever confined.
On account of the great injustice done to
the prisoners transferred to Atlanta in ex-
tending their sentences beyond the terms
which were intended by the courts in i'm
posing sentences, and in order to remedy
this injustice, the President has issued this
general order.
After reciting the law and facts in the
case, the order concludes as follows:
Now, therefore, be it known, that L,
Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United
States of America, in consideration OF the
premises, divers other good and sufficient
reasons me thereunto moving, do hereby
order that each and every United States
prisoner who was, or hereafter snail be-
transferred from state institution TO lne
United States penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga,
under sentence imposed on or before the
goth day of July, 1902, be discharged by the
warden of the said United States peniten-
tiary upon the day when he would have
been discharged had he continued to be
confined in the state prison or penitenttary
from which he was transferred; upon con-
dition that his conduct in the said 1nsutu-
ton and in the said United States peniten-
tiary has been such to entitle him to'the
deductions hereby granted and allowed
Pardons Granted and Denied.
The President has denied fifteen applica
tions for executive clemency and has eXer-
cised clemency in nine cases. as follows:
he mas cOHHluleG 10 1oi
twenty years the sentence of Thomas Thur
Der, convicted in Kansas of murder and
sentenced in 1883 to be hanged. President
Cleveland committed this sentence to i'm
prisonment for life. Several attorneys gem
eral have examined the case and made re-
ports to the President, stating that 1T was
not proper case for pardon, but that the
facts showed it to be a case of murder in
the second degree. the maximum penalty
for which in most states is twenty years.
At the time of conviction in this case no
degrees of murder were defined by the
United States statutes Attorney General
Knox, after examination of the papers,
has taken the same view as his predeces-
sors and recommended a communication to
Imprisonment for twenty years. The pris-
oner has served nearly fifteen years in
prison. and this Communication will operate
to release him within the near future, pro-
vided he earns by good conduct all the COM
muta ton allowed by law
He has commplted to two years the SEN
tence of James Stevenson. convicted in In
dian territory of selling Intoxicating liquors
and sentenced to imprisonment for four
years This communication was recommend
ed by the Attorney General because the
district attorney and judge have reported
that in view of the facts which have come
out since the sentence they believe the SEN
tence of four years was excessive. and that
two years imprisonment would be ample
punishment.
He has commuted to terms of iraprison-
ment to expire July l. 1908, the sentence of
Andrew Catcher, Charles Chisholm, Isaac
Alexanden and Will Davis, all convicted in
the northern district of Indian territory of
horse stealing and sentenced in 1901 to i'm
prisonment for five years EACH When the
communications take effect the prisoners will
have served the equivalent of three years
sentences The Attorney General recon-
mended these combinations in view of the
reports Of the district attorney and judge
that under the facts of these particular
cases they believe the minimum penalty of
five years fixed by the statutes Is excessive.
He has pardoned Alexander Quarles who
was convicted in the Police Court Of the
District of Columbia Of carrying a razor
and sentenced on November 26, 1902. to i'm
prisonment for three hundred days in the
District Jail. The district attorney and the
trial judge report that after the sentence
was imposed in this case 1t was shown be-
yond question that the prisoner Was ilno-
cent of any intention Of violating the law
and had the razor concealed on his person
merely because he was tranferring all of
his personal effects from one lodging room
to another.
He has also also granted two pardons to
restore civil rights.