Biography
William R. McKee was an Illinois-born farmer and former merchant and hotelkeeper who moved to Montana in 1917. He was imprisoned after a Custer County sedition prosecution over remarks about American soldiers going overseas. Witnesses submitted testimony supporting his character. After his release on January 1, 1919, he lived in Deer Lodge and worked as a railroad machinist.
The original Montana State Prison descriptive intake form records actual receipt at Deer Lodge on 1918-06-14 and sentencing on 1918-06-08 in the Custer County state sedition case, with an imposed term of one to two 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=5
The original Montana State Prison descriptive intake form records the sentence date as 1918-06-08 and records the plea/trial response as: Did not plead guilty; stood trial. This sentencing entry is separate from receipt at the penitentiary.
