Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-24
DROP ISSUE DIVISION WALSH PLEA FILED
Treasury Officials Simplify Petition for the Pardon of Con.
Counting of Paper Money Wcted Fnancier j
TRANSFER OF EMPLOYEES CONTAINS 100000 NAMES
Outcome Reorganization Scheme Alleged That Prisoner Slowly
Recently Adopted. Dying Of Incurable Disease.
NEW METHOD AGREED UPON ATTORNEY GENERAL TO DECIDE
Papers
ted to o Engraving of Justice and Will Take
Printing Usual Course.
Petition for the Pardon of Con-
victed Financier. i,
CONTAINS 100000 NAMES
Alleged That Prisoner Is Slowly
Dying Of Incurable Disease.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TO DECIDE
Papers Left Today at Department
of Justice and Will Take
Usual Course.

A monster petition for the pardon Of
John r. Walsh. the Chicago banker now
serving five years in Fort Leavenworth
federal prison for violation of national
banking laws while president of the Chi
cago National Bank, was today filed with
the Department of Justice by George T
Buckingham, attorney for the family of
the former financier.
The petition will go through the usual
course. In time ii will be taken up by the
pardon attorney OF the department, who
will carefully examine all the papers in
the case. He will report his conclusions
to Attorney General Wickersham. and the
latter will make recommendations To
President Taft either for or against the
freedom Of Walsh.
Haste is urged, however, I'm passing upon
the petition, the claim being made that
Walsh is slowly dying in the federal prison
at Fort Leavenworth. and that unless he
is given his freedom he will succumb to
an 'incurable disease" with which he Is
suffering. The government is asked To
restore his few remaining days TO his
family. which has been loyal to him
throughout
In Prison Since December.
Walsh is now seventy-three years old.
He has been at Fort Leavenworth since
last December, having been sentenced in
that month. His first trial for bank
wrecking began in October, 1907. He was
convicted, but carried appeals to all the
higher courts Of the land. The attorneys
for the prisoner claim that the charge
was a technical one of making excessive
loans to railroads and other enterprises in
which Walsh or his bank was interested.
and 1t is pointed out that as a result vi
the financial panic OF 1917 Walsh lost
every dollar OF the millions he had made
besides being responsible for the bank
failure. His case was one OF bad juCg
ment in making loans, IL is claimed, and
In no way criminal.
There were twenty-five volumes OF
letters from the most prominent BUSH
ness and financial men in the country.
including the great captains of indus
try, asking for the pardon. In addition
there are said to be 100000 names to
the petitions to the President. The let
President to pardon the aged banker.
Most of them are from Illinois and the
western states in which Walsh's ac
tivfties made him so prominent for
many years. Every officer and director
OF the Walsh banks Joined in the re-
quest for pardon and every depositor
who lost money, with one single ex-
ception, has also requested his free
dom.
Substance of the Petition.
The grounds for Walshs pardon are
summed up as follows:
That the crime for which he was found
guilty does not involve moral turpitude,
and that none of the acts upon which
conviction was based were done for. Or
resulted in. any profit to himself.
That the depositOrs In all the banks
with which he was connected were paid
in full and Immediately.
That the loss Of nearly all his own
large personal fortune. caused by the
forced liquidation of these banking in
stitutions, Is equivalent to financial
fine many times in excess of any usually
imposed. and is in itself a most severe
punishment already suffered.
That his loss Of power, prestige and
position, together with the humiliation or
a conviction and Imprisonment, is a pun
ishment already suffered greatly i'm ex-
cess of the usual.
That the racking strain of the four
year struggle to save his personal name,
as well as to save loss to parties inter-
ested, has, with his advanced age. SO
seriously affected his health that con-
tinued Imprisonment is likely to result
fatally.
Concluding Argument.
The petition, which includes history
of the case from the time of the closing
Of the Walsh banks by order or the con-
troller Of the currency in 1905, contains
this clause in summarizing the appeal:
LAS a question of trial tactics and pro-
cedure, the case of the government was
handled in q most able manner. II Is
submitted that by the efforts OF the gov
ernment's counsel (of which no criticism
is intended) a conviction was secured
upon q basis of fact, as these vital ele-
ments which, while perhaps technically
and artificially sufficient, lack that con-
vincing and conclusive quality which
should properly form the foundation for
a five-year sentence of seventy-three-
year -old man..