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Partly-printed DS as president, one page, 8.5 x 11, September 21, 1867. President Johnson authorizes and directs the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to “a Warrant for the unconditional pardon of Lewis W. Girbison.” Signed neatly at the conclusion by Andrew Johnson. In fine condition, with scattered tiny stains.
As referenced in the 1868 House of Representatives documents archive: ‘Lewis W. Girbison was convicted at the January term, 1863, of the United States court for the district of Indiana, of passing one counterfeit silver quarter-dollar and one counterfeit fifty-cent note and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Ex-District Attorney John Hanna, who prosecuted the case, says: ‘At the time, I thought the punishment excessive and have repeatedly had it in my mind to ask the President to remit a part of the punishment. It is by far the severest penalty ever inflicted in this court for that grade of offence. The defendant has now served in the penitentiary over four years and, in my judgment, justice demands that he be pardoned. The proof on the trial disclosed the fact that it was his first offence. I have been reliably informed that Judge Caleb B. Smith, a short time before his death, expressed the opinion that he had been too severe in his sentence.’ The prisoner had between three and four months only to serve out his full sentence.’
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