Commutation of Sentence
Title
Commutation of Sentence
Creator
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Identifier
WWP15056
Date
1919 April 22
Description
Woodrow Wilson grants an officicial commutation of sentence to Otto B. Reichelt, convicted of violating the Espionage Act.
Source
Gilder Lehrman Collection, New York Historical Society, New York
Text
WOODROW WILSON,
President of the United States of America,
Whereas Otto Bruno Reichelt was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey of violating the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917, as amended, and on October fourth, 1918, was sentenced to imprisonment for eight years in the State Penitentiary at Baltimore, Maryland; and, Whereas it has been made to appear to me that the said Otto Bruno Reichelt is a fit object of executive clemency:Now, therefore, be it known, that I, WOODROW WILSON , President of the United States of America, in consideration of the promises, divers other good and sufficient reasons me thereunto moving, do hereby commute the sentence of the said Otto Bruno Reichelt to imprisonment for one year and one day.In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the Department of Justice to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States, the One Hundredand Forty-third.
By the President:
Attorney General.
President of the United States of America,
Whereas Otto Bruno Reichelt was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey of violating the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917, as amended, and on October fourth, 1918, was sentenced to imprisonment for eight years in the State Penitentiary at Baltimore, Maryland; and, Whereas it has been made to appear to me that the said Otto Bruno Reichelt is a fit object of executive clemency:Now, therefore, be it known, that I, WOODROW WILSON , President of the United States of America, in consideration of the promises, divers other good and sufficient reasons me thereunto moving, do hereby commute the sentence of the said Otto Bruno Reichelt to imprisonment for one year and one day.In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the Department of Justice to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States, the One Hundredand Forty-third.
By the President:
Attorney General.
Original Format
Certificate
Files
Citation
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924, “Commutation of Sentence,” 1919 April 22, WWP15056, Gilder-Lehrman Institute for American History Woodrow Wilson Documents, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.