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Show Drama of Gold Rush Revealed President's Pardon of Vuco Perovich Bares Story of Strange Life. Kansas City, Mo. When President Doolidge granted absolute freedom to kVuco Perovich the other day he ended end-ed a drama of the gold rush which reads almost like fiction. Behind bars 21 years and in the hadow of the gallows, Perovieh's pectacular battle for liberty was end-d end-d by the Executive pardon. He has Dot been bitter over the misfortune Xate has heaped upon him. And now, at forty years of age, owner of two barber shops in Rochester, he sees a Jiappy future. Some day he will visit his fatherland, Montenegro, where his lather was a nobleman. He was released from the federal prison November 6, 192G. by Judge John C. Pullock, of the Kansas Federal Fed-eral court, on a writ of habeas corpus. Jlis plea was unusual ; he asked free-Born free-Born or death. If his plea had been allowed al-lowed he would have been taken back to Alaska and hanged according to a jtourt decree there. His argument was based on his declared de-clared innocence of a murder for (rhich he was convicted. The murder jras In 1904. At hat time he could Bot speak English. It was his contention conten-tion thA death would be preferable "to an innocent man than a cruel imprisonment im-prisonment Judge Pollock held with him. ruling rul-ing the President of the United States In 1909. William Howard Taft, had no right to commute the death sentence Imposed on Perovich by the Alaskan court without the consent of the accused. ac-cused. In his decision, however, Juil-te Pollock declared justice would no: be served by sending Perovich to the gallows gal-lows after he had served twenty -one years in jail and prison. That point vas not decided. President Taft was asked to commute com-mute sentence after Perovich y.l been in jail four years. He did this by Executive order. Perovich was tnkn to the federal prison at Leavenworth. Kan., to pass the rest of his life. There the your.; nobleman studied American laws and customs, rr.asrer-1-sg both language and law. tie came across the legal point which proved to be the sesame f.-r his recent re Vase. He applied to the court and Ce.Tge WcDermott. a Kansas lawyer, was appointed ap-pointed to represent him. Then came the presentation of faets in the oas. Strangely, time had shifted characters In this drama so that former President Presi-dent Taft was now chief justice of the United States and was called upon to pass upon the legality of his own Executive order that saved Perovich from the gallows. Last May the court held against Judge Pollock, and Mc-Dermott Mc-Dermott and Perovich shaped their application ap-plication for a pardon from President Coolidge. Early Life Was One of Ease. Few of the romantic novels ever written about inmzinary principalities In Europe are dotted with stranger and more unusual circumstances than have entered into Perovieh's life. His father fa-ther was chief justice In Montenegro and a friend of K,'ng Nicnoias. His mother was of the royal family. As a child Perovich played with the royal children and no expense was (pared In his education. At fifteen he could speiik eight Slavic dialects and Spanish, French and Italian. A few years later I!u.sia and Turkey became Involved In one of the I'.alkfin wars and he enlisted In the P.ussian army. The youngest officer In the army, he as decorated for bravery and com- x missioned a lieutenant. When war was over he desired to join a brother who had come to America. Reports of gold in Alaska also attracted him and finally final-ly he obtained permission to come. In Alaska he met an American prospector pros-pector named Sam. Perovich could nly speak a few words of English. They found a claim from which they took SI 4. 000 worth of gold. Then went to Fairbanks. Alaska, to buy machinery machin-ery so they could take out gold in greater quantities. One day while Perovich was standing stand-ing in the door of a saloon in Fairbanks Fair-banks his partner came staggering to him. wounded and bleeding. "Our claim has been jumped," Sam muttered. Perovich said recently he hurried back to their cabin and found three men there. He asked for his clothes and other belongings. Answering, the men drew knives and started to attack at-tack him. He was six feet tall, weighed 203 pounds and was toughened by months of hard labor. Seizing a huge board, he fought them off and finally obtained his clothes. A few days later he was arrested on a charge of assault. He was given to understand an assault charge meant little in Alaska. Accused of a Murder. While he was In jail pending the outcome of the assault charge, he declares de-clares the three men accused him of the murder of an old prospector at a wood chopper's camp to which Perovich Pero-vich had moved after the fight. These witnesses, he declared, produced clothing cloth-ing said to have helongi-d to the old man and accused 1'erovich of having threatened to kiil tie old prospector. The cabin in which the prospector lived was burned and the accusers charged Perovich had murdered him and had burin d the cabin to conceal the crime. Pa fore Perovich knew what It was all i.l-oiu he was charged with murder. mur-der. The members of the jury were quick to believe the accusers. It was |