Biography
A. J. Partan was the business manager of the Finnish newspaper Toveri in Astoria, Oregon. He was arrested on November 9, 1918, and convicted on May 6, 1919, in an Espionage Act prosecution involving radical literature. After appeals, he and his codefendant surrendered to the U.S. marshal on March 8, 1920, to serve two-year sentences at McNeil Island. The exact prison admission date remains unverified.
Date review: The November 9, 1918 arrest is reported the following day. May 6, 1919 was the verdict, not established prison admission. Custody resumed on surrender March 8, 1920; exact McNeil Island admission remains unresolved, so incarceration is recorded only to the year. The previously recorded 1921 release date is retained pending independent confirmation; no exact duration is asserted. Sources: Sunday Oregonian, November 10, 1918; Oregon Daily Journal, May 6, 1919; Oregon Daily Journal, March 8, 1920.
1920s release-date review: The Attorney General approved parole January 6, 1921. The actual physical release date is not established by that approval; the unverified exact release date previously retained is now cleared. The source separately lists October 16, 1921 as sentence expiration, which is not substituted.
Source: Amnesty and Pardon for Political Prisoners (1921), printed page 195, continuation of the Attorney General's January 20, 1921 list of persons paroled. The original table was visually checked, distinguishing release from sentence expiration and parole approval. Other custody endpoints remain under review.
The Senate hearing's January 1921 parole appendix lists A. J. Partian of Oregon, matching the existing Partan case and its May 6, 1919 proceeding, at McNeil Island. It records Attorney General approval of parole on January 6, 1921 and a listed term expiration of October 16, 1921. It does not state a day of physical departure; neither approval nor sentence expiration is adopted as release.
Amnesty and Pardon for Political Prisoners, 1921 Senate hearings, printed page 195.
