The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-08-10

"A mOLHeES euOTLS TO clsaL HeI SoH
name from the charge of murder are
revealed in messages reaching Kenosha
this morning from Laramie, Wyoming
declaring that an application for par
don has been filed by Mrs. Clara Berg
strom. of Kenosha, in behalf of her
son, Roy E. Bergstrom, former Keno
sha soldier, -who is under a life sem
tence in the state penitentiary of Wyo
ming for the staying of his wife, Gladys
Bergstrom, in April, 1920. The defend
ant is now incarcerated in the asylum
for the criminal insane of Wyoming,
but his mother is continuing the legal
fight to clear his name.
The messages also showed that the
officials of Albany county, Wyoming,
where Bergstrom was convicted of the
crime, are preparing to oppose the APP
plication for clemency with all their
power.
The application for a pardon is the
continuance of the long fight which the
Kenosha mother has made to clear her
son in connection with the killing. At
the time of the trial it was maintained
biidJ 1S1BoLLOu WAS SunGIlHB IIOU d
form Of insanity caused by wounds
which he received on the battleields of
France, and this plea is also featured
in the application for pardon.
Was Sensational Murder.
Young Bergstrom, who is widely
known in Kenosha, as he was student
of the Kenosha. high school and had
volunteered for army service here,
trailed his wife from Racine to her
home in Laramie, where she had gone
TO secure divorce from him. He shot
her while she was entering a law Office
in that city, and after the shooting
forced a taXi-driver to drive him into
the country, where he threatened to
take his own life.
He was persuaded by the taxi driver
to give w his plan for suicide and re-
turned to the city and gave himself up
to the authorities. While waiting for
trial he had often gone into stupors
which lasted for days, and which were
followed by spells of raving./
Attorney Robert Verne Baker Of Ke-
nosha was an associate counsel for the
defense at the time of the trial and is
legal adviser for Mrs. Bergstrom in the
continuance of her fight to gain free
dom for her son. 1t is declared that
Bergstrom was a model prisoner st the
state penitentiary, from which he was
later sent to the state asylum for the
criminal insane, where he is now in
carcerated.
Says Claim Is Substantiated.
After, being in prison for a short
time, Bergstrom became raving insane
and was transferred to the state insane
asylum as criminal patient. The de-
Tense maintains that this is proof Of
their plea of insanity and have asked
for clemency in order that they may
care for him and may clear his name
of the charge of murder.
Messages from Laramie declare that
George W. Patterson, the prosecuting
attorney for Albany county, will oppose
the petition of clemency to the utmost.
In a letter mailed under the date of
August to the Honorable Board of
Pardons of Wyoming" and to Governor
~ ~ OoASS az OhSySAiHC AS uSSAdASS.
Makes Strong Protest.
"A notice has been published in the
Laramie papers of the application of
Mrs, Carrie Bergstrom that pardon
be granted to Roy E. Bergstrom, who
was convicted in the district court Of
, Albany county, Wyoming, on October Z,
1920, of the crime of murder in the
first degree, for the killing of his wife,
Gladys Bergstrom." (The killing oc-
Cured April 8, 1920,
II wish most emphatically to protest
against the granting of any pardon, or
the committing of the sentence of said
Bergstrom The case was one which
was fought to finish at the trial; the
defendant exercised all his challenges
and secured as good jury as can be
secured in the state of Wyoming. The
jury stood five to seven for murder in
he first degree, without the death PEN
atty, and there was no vote for any
degree of murder less than first degree.
After hanging out for a long time, the
iury 6palIv rendnpad n yardicf of 7o,.r