Evening star., 1947-12-24
1,523 Draft vioIafors
Pardoned by Truman;
Civil Rights Restored
Continued From First Page,

the cases considered, the draft vio-
lators had a prior record OF one or
more serious criminal offenses, the.
board commented:
THE board would have failed In
its duty to society and to the men,
ory of the men. who fought and
died to protect it, had amnesty
been recommended in these cases.
Nor could the board have justified
its existence, had policy been
adopted of refusing pardon to ALL"
Many Cases Due to Carelessness.
The board found that what ep-
reared to be a willful violation in
some cases actually was due to ig-
norance. illiteracy, honest misunder-
standing or carelessness short Of
criminal negligence
But among the willful violators,
1t also found men whose records in
cluded murder, rape, counterfeiting,
desertion, embezzlement, bigamy
using benzedrine to deceive medical
examiners, blackmail, bribery, black
market operations and other Of
fenses; men seeking to escape de-
lection for crimes committed; fugi-
tives from justice, wife deserters
and others who had ulterior mo-
tives for escaping the draft"
Those who for these or similar
reasons exhibited q deliberate
evasion of the law, indicating no
respect for the law or the civil
rights to which they might have
been restored, are not, in our judg-
ment, deserving of restoration OF
their civil rights and we have not
recommended them for pardon" the
board reported.
Jehovah's Witnesses Discussed.
The board discussed at consider
able length the problems raised by
the 1900 cases of Jehovah's Wit
nesses, who got into trouble with
the law because they insisted on
classification as ministers, which
would give them complete exemption
from service.
The amnesty group found the
draft boards were inconsistent in
handling these cases and recon-
mended pardons for those who had
devoted their entire time to wit
Messing" The board did not recon-
mend pardons for secular workers
who spent their spare time wit
Messing"
Without indicating how many
from each group were recommended
for pardons, the board reported
that it had considered the cases of
approximately 10000 willful viola
tors, 1900 Jehovahs Witnesses,
1000 religious objectors and 500
other types,
Men convicted here and pardoned
by the President include:
Willis E. Giese, 40, who was en-
ployed as a unit chief in the War
Manpower Commission when he
was found guilty of failing to re-
port for induction. Giese, who de-
scribed himself as a conscientious
objector, was convicted February 7,
1874. AU IIldl IlillC, llC 1lFCo III oAiS
5000 block of Van Hazen street NV
Heber Pearse Stone, 33, who
sought classification as conscien-
tious objector, was denied the
classification and notified his draft
board he would not report for in
zduction. Stone, who lived in the
$500 block of Thirteenth street
NV. was convicted July 8, 1912.
Robert M Hockenberry. %, son
of a St. Ehzabeths Hospital nurse,
who lived in the 1000 block of
Nichols avenue Sc. He was con-
victed on draft charge November
26. 1945.
David Collier Wilson, 80, convicted
December 18, 1912, when he failed
to produce a draft card: District
Court attaches said Wilson gave as
his only address shack on the city
dump.
Alfred Anthony Watson, convicted
November 18, 1943
Jim S. Goods, convicted January
21 1914