Biography
Rev. William Madison Hicks was a preacher, a lawyer, a pacifist and a Socialist Party member from Guthrie, Oklahoma. Rev. William Madison Hicks was sentenced to twenty years in prison. He served in Leavenworth Penitentiary. He had a wife and two children. His daughter Helen was born while he was in prison and was over three years old before she saw her father for the first time.
The Western District of Oklahoma row records twenty years and a $10,000 fine, commuted to five years on April 22, 1919; the report says he was still in the penitentiary. This is a nominal sentence, not twenty years actually served. The table separately identifies sentencing, nominal judgment and circumstances of execution; no new jail admission or actual-service counter is inferred. No source in the current raw body (which is empty) establishes the inherited actual-service override. That override is cleared; the nominal sentence is retained and actual total custody remains unknown.
1921 Senate amnesty hearings, printed page 97 (PDF page 104).
The presidential-clemency table in the 1921 Senate amnesty hearings records a sentence imposed October 2, 1918: Twenty years at Leavenworth and a $10,000 fine. Commuted April 22, 1919 to five years. 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 183.
The March1922 official report lists William M. Hicks in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Obstructing the military service in violation of the espionage act. a sentence of October 2, 1918, 20 years Leavenworth Penitentiary; fined $10,000. (Apr. 22, 1919, sentence commuted by President to 5 years.). Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF10]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 10.
