Bisbee daily review., 1914-11-28
FEDERAL PRISONERS WOULD BE RELEASED
 WITH ARIZONA DRY
Argue They Have Been ImpriSOn-
 ed on False Testimony and New State Law Will Effective
 B Prevent any Future Trouble

The new statewide prohibition for Arizona and letter from several prisoners in the Gila county jail, to- gether have combined for another of the several new and novel proposi- uons which have arisen in this state since the election. There is now a move on foot for petitioning the fed eral authorities that the sentences of men serving time in the state pri- sons on charges of selling liquor Co Indians be commuted Others would have the sentences shortened, SO that the men may regain their freedom shortly after the new state law be- comes enective.
 The grounds for the movement are based on the argument that with no booze to sell to the Indians, the men could not, if they would, violate again the provisions of the federal statute making it a penal oTense to supply the red-man with red-eye. The movement it is said has been started in Gila county and will soon be spread all over the state Friends and relatives of some of the Gila prisoners are organizing the cam paiT
 The prisoners. in their argument that they should be released soon af- ter the state has gone dry, use an other tack than the probability of future violations of the federal laws. They argue that they have been con victed on false testimony by the ln- dians, and that they are serving long terms in the prisons of the state for no other reason than that Indians have lied to place them behind bars. Some of the prisoners in the Gila lccunty jail in making their argument have issued to the press a statement of their proposition
 Following is the letter which the federal prisoners issued stating their | proposition and arguing their reasons for asking that with a dry state they | be allofed their freedom,
 GLOBE. Ariz, Nov IS. 1914 To the Editor
 We. the federal prisoners confined in the county jail, wish to call the attention of the public through the medium of your paper to the cause of most of us being here
 Most Of the men confined here are i held on the perlured testimony oi Indians who would swear a mans ! life away if they had a chance They are paid for it and are employed for that purpose They are stool pig cons" to help interruptions officers The Indians state that they get good pay for it and vii. say and do what 1 the officers tell them They will screen the real culprit and point out some unfortunate who cannot prove ! his innocence. as the testimony oI i the Indians is taken in preference
 Men who are not guilty plead suilD
 to get lighter sentences, as it is usu lally case Of "railroading." Ther, are only a few Indians who are thi
 cause of thus sending a great mum
 ber of men to jail and the fedora Ipenitentiary solely on their per ljured testimony. It is time thu
 federal authorities were looking in
 to this kind of a graft Familie. . are deprived of their support an' men lose their homes. And all oi
 account of few of the kind of In idians who have always been a men | ace to the country. Some men ar
 confined in jail six months awaitin trial and on conviction get from thre
 months to one year. But nothing 7 taken off from the time served il 2 jail That is one of the injustice of it all
 The truth Of everything stated her
 can De proved
 FEDERAL PRISONERS.