Spared

"Germany will not let me hang," Stormtrooperish Max Stephan boasted.

Fourteen months ago 22-year-old Oberleutnant Hans Peter Krug, escaped from a Canadian prison camp, got in touch with Stephan, who gave him money and two days' food and lodging. Recaptured in San Antonio, Krug blandly served as star witness against Kamerad Stephan. The District Attorney did not ask the death penalty. Federal Judge Arthur J. Tuttle, however, ruled stiffly that would-be traitors needed a lesson, sentenced Stephan to hang. Three times the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case.

Gallows built in sections in Detroit were shipped to the Milan (Mich.) penitentiary. The arrogant Stephan melted into whining hysteria. Hundreds of softhearted Americans and, reportedly, Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy (who opposes capital punishment) appealed to the White House for clemency.

Twelve hours before the trap was to be sprung, the President commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Argued Humanitarian Roosevelt: there are different qualities of treason. Stephan's was a low degree of treason, it was not preconceived. Warden Cecil J. Shuttleworth told once-tough Nazi Stephan. He kissed the warden's hands, hugged his lawyers, kissing and crying and laughing.

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