Biography
William Gessert was a farmer from Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. William Gessert was sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to allow his son to be conscripted into the army. He served in Leavenworth Penitentiary from February 15, 1918, to September 24, 1919.
The Eastern District of Wisconsin row records five years and explicitly states out at expiration on September 24, 1919. The table separately identifies sentencing, nominal judgment and circumstances of execution; no new jail admission or actual-service counter is inferred.
1921 Senate amnesty hearings, printed page 101 (PDF page 108).
The presidential-clemency table in the 1921 Senate amnesty hearings records a sentence imposed February 15, 1918: Five years at Leavenworth. Commuted May 24, 1919 to two 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 185.
