Biography
William K. Smith was an Ohio-born rancher in the Sayle area of Montana. He and his wife Janet were prosecuted for statements opposing the war, Liberty Bonds and wartime government policy. He received a ten-to-twenty-year sentence and a $20,000 fine, and worked as a weaver in prison. His conviction was reversed in March 1920; he left prison on October 10, 1920.
The original Montana State Prison descriptive intake form records actual receipt at Deer Lodge on 1918-10-20 and sentencing on 1918-10-19 in the Custer County state sedition case, with an imposed term of ten to twenty years. The report date is distinct from prison admission; receipt is not necessarily initial arrest, and the term is not completed time served. No new physical discharge is inferred. The named form includes frontal and profile photographs. Source: https://clcowgill.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/intakeform-m-w.pdf#page=19
The original Montana State Prison descriptive intake form records the sentence date as 1918-10-19. This sentencing entry is separate from receipt at the penitentiary.
