Biography
Martin Ferkovich was a Croatian-born miner and stone mason prosecuted for opposing conscription and refusing to fight against Austria, his country of origin. He received a ten-to-twenty-year sedition sentence and worked as an outside trusty at Deer Lodge. His sentence was commuted in 1921, and he was released on November 16, the last of Montana’s state sedition prisoners to leave prison.
The original Montana State Prison intake form lists an age of 39, birth in Austria, and occupation as miner. It records actual receipt at Deer Lodge on 1919-02-23 and sentencing on 1919-02-21 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. The form’s February 23 receipt differs from the previously sourced February 22 entry; that conflict is preserved rather than silently resolved. Source: https://clcowgill.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/a-m.pdf#page=12
