Blease’s Last-Minute Christmas Gift: 76 Convicts Walk Free

December 1912 was a chilly winter month in South Carolina, but Governor Coleman Livingston Blease’s decision to grant pardons and paroles to 76 prisoners brought warmth to the lives of many families. In a move seen as a last-minute Christmas gift, Blease signed the commutations, freeing the convicts from the penitentiary and chain gangs across the state. Among the beneficiaries was a prisoner who had been denied citizenship, but would now be able to reclaim it. The decision was a sweeping one, with pardons granted to individuals serving time for a range of crimes, from the most heinous to the relatively minor.