Partly-printed DS as president, one page both sides, 9.5 x 14, November 12, 1925. Pardon granted by President Coolidge to a violator of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, in part: "Whereas Walter J. Early pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to violating the Harrison Anti-narcotic Act, and on September twenty-ninth, 1923, was sentenced to imprisonment for three years in the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, and to pay a fine of five hundred dollars and costs…Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America…do hereby commute the sentence of the said Walter J. Early to the term of imprisonment already served." In very good condition, with overall soiling and staining.
Accompanied by four pieces of related correspondence: an ALS from Early to his wife from Leavenworth (April 29, 1924), asking for money, reporting on a recent operation, and wishing the family well; two TLSs to Early by W. I. Biddle, warden at United States Penitentiary Leavenworth, forwarding the "certificate of commutation signed by President Coolidge" (November 28, 1925) and wishing him luck (April 12, 1926); and a TLS to Early from chaplain Bernard S. Kelly of Leavenworth's Cathedral (November 30, 1925), in part: "I received notice from the department of Justice that the President had listened to my request; releasing you from the Hospital here. This was sure a delight to me. I made the appeal to the President through the department by and with the consent of the warden and doctor here."
Passed by Congress in 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act required manufacturers, sellers, and distributors of coca and opium products to register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue under the Treasury Department. The act was the first comprehensive law in the United States to regulate whole classes of drugs.
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