The Sentinel=record., 1912-01-19
MORSE GETS HIS FREEDOM
PRESIDENT COMPUTES HIS SEN. FENCE BUT DOES NOT RE-
 STORE POLITICAL RIGHT.
Surgeon General Torney Reported the Banker Could Not Live q Month Under Confinement, and Not
 More Than Six Otherwise.

Washington, D. C.. Jan. Presi dent Taft tonight commuted to ex 2ire at once the 15 year sentence fo' yiolating the national banking law snder which Charles w. Morse, the New York fiaancier, and ice king served two years in the federal pen itentiary in Atlanta, Ga
 The communication of sentence wu;ch gyes Morse his complete freedom - but which, unlike pardon, does net restore his civil rights--were grartel upon recommendation of Attorpey General -Wickersham and Surgeon Torney txs. A.
 According to the surgeon generals report to the president on his coudt ton, Morse could not live one mon,n longer in confinement, and evcu at liberty. probably woNld not ltss siA months @
 Freedop to Morce follows;
 The president this afternoon com mnted the sentence of Char,vs w. Morse to expire at once This action was taken upcn the recommendation of the attorney general based on the report Of Surgeon. General Torney
 "A careful review of this report makes it clear to my mind that he is suffering from a combination of dis. cases due to degenerate changes which are incurable and progressive The reports show that both the con dltion of the kidneys and the heart are growing worse. l regard the at tack of cordiac dysponea. or heart block, from which he suffered on tine morning of the 18th inst, as an omi. nous oceuT9eice. In my opinion, the prisoners duration of life will be in all probability less than cae month if kept in confinement and in the event of his release on communication of sen tcnce it is not probable that he will live as long as six months
 Mrs Morse. who arrived here today from New York, was informed late this afternooa of the presidents elem ency to her husband.
 She will leave tomorrow for Atlanta % join her husband
 The attorney general immediately following the presidents action, tele graphed 10 Warden Mover of the At lania prison, who technically was il charge of Morse. even though he hac beoa removed to the Fort McPhersoi hospital, to release the prisoner. The army surgeons at Fort McPhersor yere similarly instructed. Morse vii te freed by telegraphic orders | being unnecessary for the Atlanta au tborities to await the formal warran ot commutation, which will be sen by mail.
 Efforts made for complete pardoi were unavailing and under the law Morse could not be paroled until h' had served five years. Recent efforts in his behalf developed the fact tha his friends wished to take him t' Carlsbad for treatment and tonigh Il was deemed probable here that h would be taken abroad at once.
 The communication of Morses sen tonce came at the end of months o nTemitting aeffort on the part of Mrs Morse and the bankers friends, Al most since the days the doors Of hi Morse and influential friends have Dc sleged the department of justice. ant through it the white house, for som mitigation or the sentence Mrs Morse in person conducted a campaign
 fag senators and members of tn ssouso of representatives and obtaiT ea scores of signatures of prominen men to petition she circulated l Ter husband S behalf.
 Until the past few months, however ah efforts were fruitless anl Presiden aft and the attorney general refuse 70 consider a pardon or commute uun Recently reports from Atlant 'huleated that Morses health was pro FaF'ous and the president caused SCI eral Investigations to be made as r' spit Of which the prisoner was tram ''ited from the prison 10 the Fort NJ inerson hospital Last week afte '1fther Investigation by army an fsVy physicians, President Taf
 trough the attorney general. autho
 eea the transfer of Morse from Foi N'flaerson to the Army and Nav 'eaeral hospital at Hot Springs, Ark