Biography
Tom Cason was a teamster imprisoned for declaring opposition to the American government and identifying himself as a Wobbly in Missoula in April 1918. He was placed in the county jail and convicted under Montana’s sedition law. He entered Deer Lodge on June 15, 1918, and was released on October 3, 1920.
The original Montana State Prison intake form lists an age of 64, birth in Tennessee, and occupation as teamster. It records actual receipt at Deer Lodge on 1918-06-15 and sentencing on 1918-06-15 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 nominal sentence range differs from the project transcription already cited; no structured term or actual-service correction is made from that conflict. Source: https://clcowgill.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/a-m.pdf#page=7
The original Montana State Prison descriptive intake form records the sentence date as 1918-06-15 and records the plea/trial response as: Did not plead guilty; stood trial. This sentencing entry is separate from receipt at the penitentiary.
