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| Field name |
Value |
| Collection Reference Number
|
GLC00045.16
|
| From Archive Folder
|
Collection of Presidential Pardons
|
| Title
|
Pardon of John Litzer, David Frank, Frederick William Schmidt, Herman Julius and Charles Hoffman for rape
|
| Date
|
20 March 1860
|
| Author
|
Buchanan, James (1791-1868)
|
| Document Type
|
Government document; Legal document
|
| Content Description
|
Countersigned by Secretary of State Lewis Cass. The men were sentenced in March, 1858. Pardoned by Buchanan for insufficient evidence after a petition was presented to him stating that Victoria Fugleman, who had said the men had raped her, had recanted her testimony.
|
| Subjects
|
President Pardon Law Criminals and Outlaws Women's History
|
| People
|
Buchanan, James (1791-1868) Cass, Lewis (1782-1866)
|
| Place written
|
Washington, D.C.
|
| Theme
|
Law; The Presidency; Women in American History
|
| Sub-collection
|
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1860-1945
|
| Copyright
|
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
|
| Module
|
Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945
|
| Transcript
|
Show/hide TRANSCRIPT GLC 45.16 James Buchanan. Manuscript Document Signed: [Illegible] [illegible] Attorney Generals Office March 19, 1860 Sir: I am directed by the President to request you to issue a warrant with the following recital for the pardon of John A. Litzer, David Frank, William Schmitt, Herman Julius and Charles Hoffman. Whereas at the March [illegible] 1858 of the [illegible] Court for the District of Columbia, John A. Litzer, David Frank, William Schmidt, Herman Julius and Charles Hoffman were convicted of rape upon the person of Victoria Fugleman, and were by the said court sentenced as follows: the said Litzer, Frank, and Schmidt and Julius each to imprisonment in the Penitentiary of the District of Columbia for the period of twelve [2] years and the said Hoffman to imprisonment in the said Penitentiary for the period of fifteen years; And whereas, having examined the record carefully, I have become satisfied that the evidence was not the such a character as would justified their conviction; And whereas, the District Attorney has strongly expressed his conviction that the parties are innocent of the crime whereof they were convicted and ought to be discharged; Now therefore & Respectfully yours & By direction of Attorney General: JMCooper (Pardon Clerk) Hon. Lewis Cap Secretary of State To his Excellency James Buchanan President of the United States . . .. We the undersigned Citizens of Washington respectfully represent to your [illegible] that at the March term of the Criminal Court of the District of Columbia for the County of Washington held in the year 1958 the following persons to wit. John A. Litzer. David. [illegible]. William Schmidt. Herman Julius and Charles Hoffman- (Germans) were severally tried on the charge of committing a Rape on [illegible] Victoria Fuglman on the 14th day of April [illegible] and convicted. And that the said Litzer Frank Schmidt and Julius were each sentenced by the said Court to suffer imprisonment and labor in the penitentiary for the District of Columbia for the period of twelve years for the 1st day of May 1858 and the said Charles Hoffman was sentenced by the Court to suffer imprisonment and labor in the penitentiary aforesaid for the period of fifteen years from the 4th day of May1858. And that they are now confined in the said Penitentiary under and by Authority of the judgments of the said Court (as by reference to a certified
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