Biography
H. E. Kirchner was from Elizabeth, West Virginia. H. E. Kirchner began serving a prison sentence in March 1918. He was convicted of publicly stating that "war was corrupt, " the draft act was " unconstitutional " and the people should not purchase war bonds. Kirchner was state secretary of the West Virginia Socialist Party.
The presidential-clemency table in the 1921 Senate amnesty hearings records a sentence imposed February 15, 1918: Two years at Atlanta; appeal affirmed. Pardon granted April 22, 1919. 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. Duration audit: Kohn entry 201 independently identifies service beginning in March 1918, which is retained with month precision. Neither the two-year nominal sentence nor the April 22, 1919 pardon quantifies an actual twelve-month total. Unsupported exact counters are removed; no completed total is inferred from the imposed or commuted sentence.
Amnesty and Pardon for Political Prisoners, 1921 Senate hearings, printed page 183.
