The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-26
FAMOUS CRIMINAL HAS HOLE IN HEAD Opening is as Large as a DoI-
 lar Bill STRUCK WITH A HAMMER Georgia Convict Will Probably Re- cover and Talks In Unconcerned
 Fashion of His Vari-
 ous Exploits.
STRUCK WITH A HAMMER

Atlanta, November 25.-(Special. With piece chiseled from his, skull the size Of dollar bill. leaving a hole through which his brain protrudes, George L. Cole, an inmate of the United States prison near Atlanta, has entirely recovered from the effects of blow on the back of the head from a sledge hammer struck by life prisoner who sought revenge. i Within a few days a silver plate will be placed upon the opening in the skull, the scalp will be sewed over and the final operation will have been performed. | The blow dealt to Cole must have Nchanged the entire conditions of his brain. i, I'll it transform him from a habitual | ci. s'na into an honest man? Or was the NV, for this purpose. struck in the wrong ice?
 l Aside rom the remarkable surgical operation which saved Coles life despite a skull fracture of more than inches | length, the assault which caused 1t pre- sents some interesting features of prison life, of the jealousies and passions which exist among the prisoners as much so as | if they breathed the air of freedom, per | haps more as, for within the prison walls l they must come more or less in daily con- tact.
 Assaiant Is Negro.
 Cole is a white man this side of forty years. His assailant, Curly Logan. is a one-armed negro murderer, who is serv- ing life sentence from Indian Territory. Cole is an all-round crook, and this is by no means his first experience in prison walls He, too, came from Indian Terri tory, where he got a three-year Sentence for fobbng a jewelry drummer. He has still about fifteen months to serve.
 Cole is known as bad man. He is looked upon a bad man within the prison, as well as man with a bad record. He talks with equal calmness of the state of the weather and his safe cracking experiences. Once, while rob ping house, he turned and was confront ed by man lying upon a sofa with a pistol full in his face He lodged behind a piece of furniture, and with another bound was out through an open window. He snatched woman's pocketbook, but his chief delight in the exploit Is to tell how she grasped her skirts, pulled them to her knees and gave him chased chase gained her nothing. @
 Cole was serving a term in western penitenaiary when the Spanish war be- gan.
 Joined Bryan's Regiment.
 william J. Bryan got me out" he said, ''and joined his regiment. I thought 1t would help me in my business"
 Cole says he is well known in all the cities of the west.
 "I can't stay in one of them more than three days" he says. "They make me move on.
 Both Cole and Logan had been work ing around the kitchen. Cole had once or twice in different ways offended members of the kitchen squad. A wedge-shaped block of wood used for elevating laden buckets from the floor Into the elevator Logan regarded as his peculiar property, because he used it most frequently. Find ing 1t split into kindling wood, he was heard to remark:
 Cole did that, and I'm goin' to fix him for it."
 Hit Him With Hammer. Three days later Cole was standing at a sink washing some potatoes. Logan picked up a heavy hammer, slipped up behind him and, without a word of warn ing struck him with all the force of his single arm. just back of the left ear. Then he quietly put the hammer down and went about his work. Cole never knew what struck him. Men in the kitchen who heard him fall ran to the room and saw him lying on the floor unconscious. They thought he had fit. He was removed to the hospital where he remained in that condition two days. There was no abrasion of the skin, and until fever developed it was not known that his skull had been fractured. | The chief surgeon of the prison then opened the scalp and began to chisel out | the skull along the fracture until he had cut out a piece of bone nearly inches | long and about inches wide. laying bare the brain. This relieved the pressure and | Cole soon began to recover. Every com | fort and convenience that could have | been afforded in the most modern up-to- date hospital was given him. The very latest and most improved methods of sur | gerry were provided, and within seven weeks from the time the blow was struck | Cole felt as well as he ever did in his | life.
 | At the present time the skull has still further grown together, and within a few days more 1t will be ready for the silver plate which will serve him as an arti- l fcial bone for the protection of his brain.
 Here Is indeed a case of Lombroso. l { remains to be determined whether Cole will cease to be a criminal for Logan little pllnishment be