Biography
Ben Kahn was a traveling salesman imprisoned for criticizing the First World War and wartime food policy in a Red Lodge hotel. His prosecution followed a complaint by the hotel proprietor, who chaired the county council of defense. Kahn worked as a prison trusty and played in the prison band. He was paroled on February 6, 1921, after his sentence was commuted.
The original Montana State Prison intake form lists an age of 38, birth in New York, and occupation as traveling salesman. It records actual receipt at Deer Lodge on 1918-04-21 and sentencing on 1918-04-18 in the state sedition case. The admission is distinguished from an earlier arrest, and the printed sentence is distinguished from actual service; no physical discharge is supplied. It includes named frontal and profile photographs. Source: https://clcowgill.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/a-m.pdf#page=19
The original Montana State Prison descriptive intake form records the sentence date as 1918-04-18 and records the plea/trial response as: Did not plead guilty; stood trial. This sentencing entry is separate from receipt at the penitentiary.
