Convicted in 1953 of armed robbery, Arthur Francis Emery of Seattle, Washington, was eventually pardoned by Governor Arthur Langlie in January 1954. Nineteen-year-old Arthur Emery was standing on the street when a passing bus driver identified him as the individual who had robbed him of $105 on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill on December 29, 1952. Emery was tried in June 1953 in the Superior Court of King County. His mother and father both testified that their son had been asleep in their house at the time of the robbery, but the jury found him guilty. In September 1953, Emery was sentenced to five to twenty years in prison. After Emery had served seven months of his sentence, a Colorado prisoner named Eugene A. Gough (also referenced as Eugene A. Gouge) confessed to the robbery. The confession was verified when he told investigators the location of the bus driver’s money-changer. Emery was pardoned by Washington Governor Arthur B. Langlie on January 23, 1954, and the state legislature awarded Emery $13,000 in compensation for his attorney’s fees and wrongful imprisonment. - John Melis
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