Sunday, March 19, 2023

Governor Shortens 5-Year Sentence on E.G. Koonce, E.R. Henderson, Frank Briggs, to 18 Months, March 19, 1923

Ellis Makes Plea for Convicted Kidnappers Now on Buncombe Road

Raleigh, March 19—Refusing application for pardon, Governor Morrison Saturday commuted to 18-months the five-year road sentence imposed in Buncombe County Superior Court against E.G. Koonce, E.R. Henderson and Frank Briggs of Buncombe County, convicted of kidnapping and severely whipping a man named Harris employed by the Southern Railway in Ashville during the strike of shopmen last summer. The men have already served about six months of their terms.

The governor stated that great pressure had been brought to bear upon him for the pardon of the three men. J.M. Ellis of Salisbury, president of the state federation of labor, made a plea in behalf of the prisoners, and in addition numbers of petitions and recommendations were sent to the governor from Buncombe.

From the front page of the Salisbury Evening Post, March 19, 1923

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