Biography
William P. Elmer was from Dent County, Missouri. William P. Elmer was sentenced to five years in prison for writing a newspaper article. He sewed in McNeil Island Penitentiary from September 10, 1918, to July 27, 1920, when he was paroled. According to the judge at his federal court trial, the portion of the article for which Eimer was convicted concerned the writer's impression of the facial expression of " a local soldier boy " who was "leaving home after a furlough." According to the court, the following excerpt from the article by Elmer was sufficient to find him guilty under the Espionage Act: There is a look in the faces of these boys not there when they roamed like free Americans at home, but a look of resignation to fate, an utter helplessness for the future. They know they are to be manacled, and shackled, and marked for slaughter.
The Northern District of California row records a five-year sentence and a pending clemency application. 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 88 (PDF page 95).
The March1922 official report lists William Elmer in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Violating the espionage act. a sentence of September 10, 1918, 5 years, McNeil Island.. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF7] July27,1920 is described as parole granted. The report does not expressly call it the physical-release day. [PDF7]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 7.
