Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-06-24
JUDGE ENCLER|T
MAKES REPLY
Regarding His Connection
With Pardon of Will
liam Fishnan.

The following statement by Judge
NJ. J. Englerti in reply to the charges
made against him last Sunday night
has been received by The Herald:
Since | have been mentioned in
connection with the pardon, Of Will
lam Ffshrnan. I hope it may mot APP
pear unseemly for me to make a
statement on the subject.
THE activities In behalf of this de-
endant at and after his trial a
probably still fresh in the minds Of
many of the people of Grand Forks.
Before I pronounced sentence.
many representative men and women
appeared before me, in behalf of this
and other defendants, asking me to
either suspend sentence or pro-
nounce a Jail sentence 3on them. In
open. court, when Fishman was called
before me for sentence, the states
attorney asked that a Jail sentence
be imposed. After pronouncing the
sentence I did, a great hue and cry
went up to the effect that l had i'm
posed an unjust and outrageous SEN
tence on William Fishman. l really
began to feel that probably 1 had
imposed a rather severe sentence.
listers And other good citizens, with
whom l talked on the subject. will
remember hat / told them that 1
could not quite understand why there
was such dissatisfaction over the sem
tence in that case, and even others,
for that matter, and that ii. 1 had
made a mistake, it could always be
corrected by the pardon board.
Some time after hat an applica-
ton was made to me. supported by
several petitions, signed by more'than
five hundred men and women OF
Grand Forks, among them some of
the leading business people there, re-
questing me to either suspend his
sentence or change it to a Jail sem
tence. In addition to these petitions.
l received more than fifty letters
from Grand Forks citizens, includr
ing business men. some omen and
men holding official position. setting
forth various reasons why the request
should be granted. Among the rea-
sons given were that the sentence
was too severe and hat young Fish
can was then living a model life and
was a perfectly law-abiding citizen.
l denied the application. but l a
every reason to believe then, and I
still believe. that the men and women
who wrote those letters were actus
ated with honest intentions and the
'SSS VA " ~ wi VI
letters were from Grand Forks best
! type of citizens: At the same time
l got a letter from the elder Mr..
Fishman. In answering some of those
letters I old each one that l could
not grant the application. n that
the very best that l could do would
be to join in a recommendation for
Mr.. Fishman's pardon. after he had
served a portion of his sentence. 1
then wrote the states attorney to
present an order to me forthwith
committing him to the penirentiary.
After that 1 heard no more about
the matter until William Fishman
wrote me from the ~penitentiary. 1t
was in reply to that letter that I
wrote the letter published by Rev.
Ambrose. In writing at that time
l never gave a thought to the length
of time he had been there or. when
the board would meet. Not until
about three weeks OF SO after that.
when I received notice from the sec
rotary of the pardon board to the
effect that Mr.. Fishman had applied
for a pardon. and asking whether I
had any recommendations to make,
did l give the matter n considera-