Biography
Francis X. Hennessey was a conscientious objector from Massachusetts imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth; Fort Douglas. Sentenced to 25 years in prison - reduced to 3 years. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: registered on June 5, 1917 as a C.O.; interviewed by Bd. on June 19, 1918 at Camp Devens, on July 19, 1918 at Leavenworth, and on Jan. 5 at the Disciplinary Barracks ; had hose turned on him for 15-20 mins. (along with Breger) while at Ft. Riley*; classified first as 2; …
Confirmed Camp Funston guardhouse transfer
The signed report on treatment of conscientious objectors identifies Francis X. Hennessey among those received at the Camp Funston Military Police Guard House on September 5, 1918. This is a confirmed facility receipt, not an independently established new arrest or beginning of all imprisonment. The September 5 and September 27 groups explicitly came from the Fort Riley guardhouse. The October 8 entry names Hennessey joining the hunger strike and describes his collapse under a forced shower. The affidavit addendum also names Francis Hennessey among previously abused objectors without dating his first jail admission. The report covers events through October 21 but does not supply an individual discharge date. Existing original-admission, release, sentence and total-duration fields are not replaced by this receipt date or calculated from a military sentence.
