Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-03-06 | Page 11 | Soldier is Given 30-Year Sentence

SOLDIER IS GIVEN 30-YEAR SENTENCE Connecticut Sergeant of Engineers Convicted Con-victed of Unpatriotic Utterances; a. Tried "by Court-martial. y AVER. Mass., March 5. William Nimke of Torrinston, Conn., a sergeant in F company. 3ulst engineers, at Camp Devens. was given a thirty-year sentence today for unpatriotic utterances, hie was tried by a general court martial February Febru-ary i. Nimke was taken to Fort Jay. N. Y., . immediately to besin his sentence. He was tried on three counts, on two of which he was found guilty. In one he was charged with saying: "If I am put in charge of a party on the other side I will surrender to the Germans, no matter what their strength may be." On another occasion he said: -"I will fight for the United States so long as I am kept on this side of the Atlantic, but if 1 am sent to the other side I will act independently." The third count, on which he was found not guilty, charged that he had said his father and brother Mould take up arms . against this country if he was sent to Ui-rope. . -jCrhe case had attracted wide atten- jt lion. a .Before the findings, of the court mar- .tial had been reported officially a report was published that Nimke had . been found guilty and sentenced to thirty-five vpars' imprisonment. A board of inquiry I as ordered to investigate the source of f ihis report.