Gilbert Henry Stephenson. Application No. 5151. July 1921.

Type of event: Incarcerations

Location: Minnesota; United States

Document date:

Document type: Gov't Record(s)

Document subtype: Pardon Calendar

Documents: Gilbert Henry Stephenson. Application No. 5151. July 1921.

Citation:

Minnesota. Board of Pardons.
Gilbert Henry Stephenson: Application No. 5151.
Pardon Calendars [Minutes]. 1921
Application No. 5151, July 1921, page 44.

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5151 – STEPHENSON, GILBERT HENRY (6598) Convicted of Riot in St. Louis County January 22, 1921 and sentenced to the Prison for an indeterminate period.

Age 34 years. Asks for pardon as there is reasonable doubt as to his guilt and believes his conviction a miscarriage of justice.

BRIEF FACTS: Convicted of Riot which was in connection with the lynching of two negroes at Duluth, Minn.

PRISON: Second grade. Conduct and disposition uniformly good. Eligible for parole February, 1922.

PARTNERS: Louis Dondino and Carl Hammerberg.

No record of previous convictions. Had been steadily employed and at the time of arrest was employed as truck driver for Bloom and Company.

Single. Mother dead. Father living at Duquette, Minn. Three brothers living in Duluth.

TRIAL JUDGE: I know nothing outside the record which you have, which would be of any benefit to you in the consideration of the case, and I have no recommendation to make in this matter. (Ben Fesler)

Letter from T. W. Hugo, Mayor, Duluth, Minn.
“Since the trial certain evidence has been brought to my attentio particularly that of a policeman who knew Mr. Stephenson very well and who is positive that he is not the man who was identified as a participant in the riot.”

Recommends Mr. Stephenson as an orderly and reputable citizen. Asks for consideration of his case.

Leonidas Merritt asks for consideration. “Mr. Stephenson only one of the unfortunate victims of an equally culpable mob.”

Something over a hundred letters ask for a pardon for Mr. Stephenson claiming that he was only a bystander.

Synopsis of testimony introduced at the trial on file. Endorsed as being correct by County Attorney.

Main issue at the trial was the identity of one member of the mob that forcibly took three negroes from the custody of the police. Statement too long to be reproduced in this calendar.

[Handwritten on left side of page: fr hunt, Duluth, brothers, Wallace, Carl]

[Handwritten at bottom of page: County Atty. – no recommendation, see, Denied]

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