Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 55, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 July 1933 — Page 13

JULY 14, 1933

LUESSE TELLS STORY OF DAYS SPENT IN 'HOLE' ‘Red’ Leader Punished With Long Stretch in Penal Farm Dungeon. (Continued From Fage One) watched and how friends were forbidden to speak to him. “The food on five or six occasions made more than one hundred prisoners sick each time they fed us an awful mess of ground-up liver. They cot ptomaine poisoning. When we said we were sick, we nevertheless were forced to work. "We were threatened with a club on these occasions and many prisoners actually were dubbed, although they were sick," asserts Lues.se in his affidavit. narked By Negro Luesse is borne out in his tale of the alleged spoiled meat in another sworn statement hy John Jackson, 42. Negro, of 30fi North West street. “At one time T was head cook on the range in January, 1932,” says Jackson's affidavit, “I noticed some rotten meat in the supplies. I railed the attention of , steward, to the condition of the meat. He said. ‘Send it back'; I did . . . j more meat was sent over and it, was bad told me to cook it. “That night . . . men were taken sick in the dormitory. It was a terrible sight. The superintendent called for doctors, but none was at j the prison. One orderly attended j to all the sick prisoners.” State farm officials admit in statements that men became ill from eating “liver pudding,” but deny that the meat was rotten. Jackson and another prisoner got int/O an argument. He swears in his statement, that no blows were struck. Jackson was sent to the “hole.” He met Luesse there. Sent To Dungeon Tn the meantime, Luesse, according to his sworn statement, became embroiled with the penal farm au- ; thorities when, “Once I asked the 1 prison waiter for another helping of beans. He spoke to the guard, j who retorted that I had had enough. T protested and they put me in the 'hole' for nine days. "The ‘hole’ is a roll below the ground, with very little ventilation, of varying temperatures. No place lo sleep. Many men were put in the 'hole' naked and forced to sleep on the cement floor. During the day we were chained up from 6 a. m. to 6 p. m. to the bars in the 'hole,’ says Luesse under oath. “On one occasion a prisoner was forced to walk through the snow from the hospital naked to the ‘hole,’ his affidavit reads. Luesse tells of another prisoner, in his affidavit, who preferred confinement in the farm's jail to work after his ankle had become infected. Handcuffed to Door “I was chained to the cell door in another cell a little bit away from Luesse,” declares Jackson in his sworn statement bearing out Luesse’s story. "He was also chained (Jackson means handcuffed) to the door.” "While In the ‘hole,’” continues Jackson's corroborative affidavit, “I heard Luesse tell and Dr. Gillespie (Dr. J. F. Gillespie the farm’s doctor) that it was against the state law to hang men up by chains in a cell. ‘ I heard him ask him what he intended to do about it. I was getting the same treatment, but I didn't think it would do any good.” “I have seen stories, recently, denying that prisoners were made to; work in chains ... I saw men working, chained sepafately, in the quarry. Each man had a chain fastened to his ankles and secured at his belt by a rope. The chain allows only a half-step to be taken when walking,” charges Jackson’s j affidavit. Clothes Kept On For Weeks “When these men are chained, I they can not remove their clothes for a week. If their clothes are wet, they must go to bed that way. “Once a week their clothes are j changed, no matter how dirty they are, and they get plenty wet and muddy in the quarry,” avers Jackson in his notarized statement. The necessities of nature are ignored in the farm’s jail. Handcuffed to the bars the incorrigibles of the farm must remain in that stance. I like cattle in stalls, throughout the j day. one sworn affidavit reveals. Harry H. Wissel, acting superintendent of the farm, admits men j are handcuffed to bars in the farm's “hole," but declares in a statement that they are freed at noon "for a short time.” "The maximum time men are chained to these bars is seven or eight hours each day,” Wissei's statement says. Punished For Smoking “Prisoners caught smoking cigarets who happened to be favorites of the guards went unpunished. The guards even bought the •whitehaired’ boys cigarets. When the guards caught me smoking, they made me sit in the office to miss a meal.” declares the affidavit of Luesse. Other former inmates, in verbal as well as sworn statements, related to The Times how the smoking of a cigaret was an offense paid for by time in the 'hole.’ Pipe smoking is permitted. "The mess hall,” continues j. isse's affidavit, “was a madhouse. Guards stood in the door with clubs studded with brass and yelled at the prisoners to 'hurry up.' “When a prisoner was not fast j enough, the guards would whack him with a club. We were kicked coming out and hit with clubs. Prisoner Resists “A prisoner sentenced from Ft. Wayne, Francis Wains, was kicked by Guard . When the prisoner objected, he was put in the ‘hole’ for one day. Armett (meaning Arment) and Craig came into the 'hole,' where I also was prisoner to curse and abuse him. He resisted clubbing. “They took him out and put him in a cell at the hospital and about three weeks later they condemned him as criminally insane and one morning at 5 . . . they spirited him away to the Indiana state prison . . . Luesse swears in his statement. “In the shirt-shop, workers are forced to make task. If they do not make task (do the job set for them) they are taken into the office and,

A PRINCELY POSE

Five pounds lighter, but as smart sartorially as ever, Harry T. Gerguson, pretender to the title of His Imperial Highness Prince Michael Romanoff, is pictured leaving feedral prison in New York after serving a ninetyday term for unlawful entry into the United States. He’s on probation for three years. clubbed by captains and guards and then slung into the ‘hole.’ I can not recall their names, but I can get them if they are needed. I know at least fifteen such cases,” his statement before a notary says. “A common occurrence was to see one guard hold a prisoner while another clubbed him and a third held a gun on him. Vernon Austin, Indianapolis, and James ScheafTer, of Gary, are two of many who experienced this brutality,” Luesse charges in his affidavit. Eggs Only On Easter “I was in the farm twenty-one months and the only eggs I ever got were those served on Easter morning. “They have 40,000 chickens on the farm. Guard is in charge of the poultry farm. One day a fire broke out. A prisoner in charge was blamed for the fire. His name is Clark. “When they estimated the lass, they said 4,000 chickens were lost in the fire. The prisoner in charge of the chicken farm said only 1,700 birds were lost. “He was put in the ‘hole’ for four days and thirty-three hours of his time for good behavior was revoked,” charges Luesse in his affidavit. (Next—The Man Who Nearly Bled to Death.) In a burning building, clothing, draperies, and other materials give off dangerous gases which even may kill persons not burned by actual flames.

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times, each time to girls whose first name was Alice. “It’s a pretty name," he said in applying for a license to marry Mrs. Alice Browning, the No. 4