| OCR Text |
Show Richard B. Shopard Makes Application Ap-plication to Court in Sun- . flower State. HEARING IS TO BE HAD AT T0PEKA ON DEC. 17 Case Being Watched With In-' In-' tcrcst by Friends in Several States. TOPEKA. Kan., Dec. 9. Attorneys for R. B. Shepard, owner of a largo book concern at Salt Lake Cits, who wan convicted con-victed of notifying a man tljrough tho malls whero ho could got obsccno literature litera-ture and sentenced to thirteen months In tho penitentiary, applied today for a writ of habeas corpus, which was granted, and tho hearing will come up In Topcka before Judge Pollock In tho United States court, December 17. The abovo Associated Press dispatch has awakened widespread interest nmonj,' tho many friends of Mr. Shopard Shop-ard in this city. Many of these aro of tho opinion that tho conviction of Mr. Shepard wns a miscn'rriapc of jus-tico, jus-tico, and it is hoped that the habeas corpus proceedings will cither result m a new trial, or the return of Mr. Shepard Shep-ard to !.ho Utah state prison, whero ho may complete his sentence. The trial before .Judno John A. Marshall Mar-shall in this city, two years ago, created creat-ed more or less of a sensation, because of the prominence of Mr. Shepard and owinj; to tho business in which ho was engaged. Ho was convicted, after a lengthy trial, of having sent a letter through tho mails in which ho advised a person where lie could procure certain obscene books. The job was one put "P by government postnl inspectors, who posed as private citizens, and whose evidence was accepted by the government govern-ment despite tho apparent oddity of this procedure. Upon conviction, .fudge Marshall imposed a sentence of thirteen months in the Utalstatc prison. Judgment Affirmed. The caso was then taken to the circuit cir-cuit court jif appeals, whero the "judgment "judg-ment of Judge Marshall was affirmed. An effort was then innde to carry it to tlie United States supremo court, but the time in which an appeal could bo perfected had elapsed. Petitions signed by hundreds of Mr. Shepard 's friends were laid before President Hoosevelt, but without avail. Mr. Shop- ard was then brought beforo Judge Marshall for resentencing and tho court ordered him confined in tho federal j prison afc Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the law having been changed so that federal fed-eral prisoners should bo imprisoned in a government penitentiary instead of a stato prison. Mr. Shopard was taken to Leavenworth on November 1"3, by Unilod Stato Marshal L. C. Smyth. He is still confined thero and is understood to be emplo;cd in tho library of the great penal institution. Bccauso of the change of tho place of imprisonment by Judge Marshall, counsel for Mr. Shepard havo applied for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that tho court had no right lo change the place of imprisonment originally or-iginally designated by it. Attorney .leesc B. Root of Butte, counsel fo"r Mr. Shopard, says that tho. present proceedings will moan one of two things either a new trial or a transfer of the prisoner lo the Utah prison. A now trial is greatly desired, as Mr. Root declares ho has positive evidence in his possession which will Tesult in the complete vindication of Mr. Shepard should a new trial be granted. |
