Oscar Snow's Death Commutation
This document is President Ulysses S. Grant’s commutation of Oscar Snow’s sentence from death to life of hard labor at the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet. In 1875, Oscar Snow was sentenced to death by Judge Isaac Parker for committing murder. During this time there was no higher court an individual could appeal to if convicted in the Western District of Arkansas. If an appeal was desired, the convicted must appeal directly to the President of the United States. Adhered to the document is a certificate signed by the Warden of the Penitentiary, R.W. McClaughny, stating he had “Received from J. T. Fagan…the body of Oscar Snow'' signifying Snow had been turned over to the warden. U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas James T. Fagan then penned a list of all the costs he incurred in transporting Snow from Fort Smith, AR, to Joliet, IL. Fagan was owed a total of $137.
Commutation of Oscar Snow's Death Sentence, dated August 10, 1875. National Archives Identifier: 5898023
View and download the Commutation of Oscar Snow's Death Sentence on the National Archives Catalog. This document is one example of the many records held in the Defendant Jacket Files for U.S. District Court Western Division of Arkansas, Fort Smith Division, 1866–1900. You can explore more of our holdings by visiting our online Catalog or by visiting the National Archives at Fort Worth. This record is located within Record Group 21: District Courts of the United States, Series: Defendant Jacket Files for U.S. District Court Western Division of Arkansas, Fort Smith Division, 1866–1900. Many of the records in this collection have yet to be digitized. We encourage researchers to visit us onsite to explore these records and learn more about the archival collections held in the National Archives at Fort Worth.