Biography
William Powell was from Detroit, Michigan, and was imprisoned under the Espionage Act after criticizing the war in a private conversation. The official 1921 Senate table records a twenty-year sentence commuted to two years, followed by actual parole on July 7, 1919. The April 22, 1919 commutation was not his physical release. His exact prison admission remains unverified.
At the December 21, 1920 Senate amnesty hearing, witness Mr. Lee described Powell's prosecution as arising from a private conversation in a relative's home: Powell disputed reports of German atrocities, criticized United States policy and the President, and called the conflict a rich man's war. Lee reported a twenty-year sentence and a $5,000 fine, which Powell paid, followed by a substantial commutation. Lee's approximate recollection of two years served conflicts with the shorter interval currently recorded and is not adopted as an exact duration.
The Michigan row records twenty years and a $10,000 fine imposed July 23, 1918, commutation to two years April 22, 1919, actual parole July 7, 1919, and nominal expiration February 29, 1920. The former April 22, 1919 release field incorrectly used the commutation date; the 272-day counter is removed. The inherited July 24, 1918 start is not established as physical admission by this table and is cleared pending the individual prison register. Testimony elsewhere in the hearing recalls a $5,000 fine, so the table amount is attributed rather than treated as uncontested.
1921 Senate amnesty hearings, printed page 93 (PDF page 100).
The presidential-clemency table in the 1921 Senate amnesty hearings records a sentence imposed July 23, 1918: Twenty years at Leavenworth and a $5,000 fine. Commuted April 22, 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 183.
