Max Mason. Case No. 6785. Letter from L. S. Nelson to State Board of Parole, May 25, 1925.
Type of event: Incarcerations
Location: Stillwater; Washington County; Minnesota; United States
Addressee: State Board of Parole
Addressor: L. S. Nelson
Document date:
Document type: Correspondence
Documents: Max Mason. Case No. 6785. Letter from L. S. Nelson to State Board of Parole, May 25, 1925.
Citation:
Minnesota State Prison (Stillwater, Minn.) [Stillwater State Prison].
Max Mason: Case No. 6785.
Case Files.
Letter from L. S. Nelson to State Board of Parole, May 25, 1925.
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State Board of Parole
St. Paul, Minn. 25th May, 1925
Mr. F. A. Whittier, State Agent,
State Prison, Stillwater, Minnesota.
Dear Sir: We enclose herewith
letter from Judge Nelson in regard to Max Mason-6785 and
recommending a pardon and expressing doubt as to the man’s guilt
which please have made a part of the records in the case for consideration by
the Board at the September
Yours very truly,
Ella
S. Hudgins
Secretary to the Chairman.
L. S. NELSON, JUDGE G. FRED CARS, COURT
REPORTER
Thirteenth Judicial District
Worthington, Minnesota
April 27, 1925.
Mr. H. B. Whittier,
State Capitol,
St. Paul, Minnesota.
Dear Sir: In re Max
Mason.
Max Mason, who was tried and convicted in my court in St. Louis
county, and sentenced to Stillwater penitentiary – I have always had some
doubt about his guilt, and had it not been that his counsel raised some legal
questions that I thought should be passed upon by the Supreme Court, I was of
the intention to set aside the verdict and grant a new trial.
In the
evidence, it appeared from the testimony of the girl in question and her escort
that five of the negroes had intercourse with here, while she was in a faint,
and her family physician who examined here about ten o’clock the following
day found no trace of any one having had intercourse with her, as her organs
were normal, no bruises, no inflammation – that while it was possible that
they could have had intercourse with her, it did not appear to be probable, and
the evidence of identification was far from satisfactory.
I am of the
opinion that Max Mason should be pardoned at this time. I, therefore, earnestly
recommend that he be either paroled or pardoned.
Yours
truly,
L. S. Nelson
Judge