Biography
Frank Shaffer was from Everett, Washington. Frank Shaffer was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and served in McNeil Island Penitentiary from July 10, 1918, until January 23, 1920, when he was pardoned. Shaffer was convicted of mailing a book published by the IBSA entitled The Finished Mystery. One of the passages the government found offensive stated: The war itself is wrong. Its prosecution will be a crime. There is not a question raised, an issue involved, a cause at stake, which is worth the life of one [soldier].
The presidential-clemency table in the 1921 Senate amnesty hearings records a sentence imposed July 10, 1918: Two and one-half years at McNeil Island. Commuted March 3, 1919 to one year. A pardon, commutation, nominal expiration or parole eligibility is not itself evidence of the day of physical release; the imposed or reduced term is not a measured time served.
Amnesty and Pardon for Political Prisoners, 1921 Senate hearings, printed page 177.
