Biography
William J. Dodge was a member of the Socialist Labor Party from Buffalo, New York. William J. Dodge received a prison sentence of six years, which was later commuted, for disloyal "utterances." He made the remarks in a speech "at the corner of Main and Mohawk streets" in Buffalo. While Dodge was addressing a crowd on the merits of socialism, a person took out his draft card and showed it to Dodge. Dodge reportedly "scornfully" stated "some honor" when he saw the card. The government charged that this statement was made "willfully and for the purpose of injuring the United States." Dodge was convicted and served in Maryland Penitentiary from September 18, 1918, to November 22, 1920.
The presidential-clemency table in the 1921 Senate amnesty hearings records a sentence imposed September 16, 1918: Six years. Commuted September 3, 1920 to expire November 22, 1920; the recommendation says more than seven months actually served and discusses his disabled hand, poverty and sentence severity. 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 192.
