Biography
Walter Roberts was convicted under the Espionage laws in Aiken, South Carolina, and sentenced to three years on October 2, 1918. A transcription of Atlanta penitentiary records identifies him as inmate 8899 and records custody from October 7, 1918 to October 29, 1920. The National Archives index corroborates the inmate identity. His sentence was commuted on October 25, 1920, which is distinct from the transcribed physical release date.
1920s remaining-entry review: The original Senate hearing page 98 (PDF page 104), visually checked, distinguishes the October 2, 1918 sentence and October 25, 1920 commutation. Genealogy Trails, Atlanta U.S. Federal Penitentiary Records: Inmates Tried in South Carolina Courts 1902-1922, transcribes the inmate 8899 row as admission October 7, 1918 and release October 29, 1920. The National Archives Atlanta index independently corroborates name, number, age 55, Aiken court, and Espionage Laws offense. The physical endpoints are explicitly secondary-transcription evidence, not claimed to have been read from original register images. They replace sentence/commutation conflations; exact elapsed days are 753.
