The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-03-27
LEPER IS TIED TO
CROSS IN US. ARMY
Ex.Soldier Tells Health Off
cials Here How He Was
Tortured.
CONTINUED from First PaseJ

AtS's 80 a NsN'f
weeks and received practically no
attention and was sent back to duty.
No medicine was prescribed for me
and / was too sick to work and the
splotches became more pronounced.
Realizing that there was no use to
expect medical attention from the
army doctors. l took absence without
leave 50 l could go home and have
my family physician examine m. !
had a dread that i had leprosy. but 1
was not sure. 1 was arrested rs a
deserter at Jackson. La. and taken
back TO camp and placed In the bar
racks, later being concentrated,
81 was sentenced to six months at
hard labor and deprived OF two-thirds
OF my pay. / dug trenches again, air
the time sick and suffering from the
disease that was making great in
roads in my system and which threat
ened contagion to othre soldiers
Among the tasks they gave me was
that OF burying dead horses.
~ complained-said l could not do
the work. And. they strapped me
naked to a bed spring. without covers
or a. mattress with my face 10 the sun.
They they piled hot sands about me.
1t was torture-horrible. How | did
suffer as the hot sun beat down on
my naked head! And this punishment
came because / told the doctors /
could not work-that I was sick.
And when this punishment did not
end my complaints, / was tied in a
cross fashion to a tree, with my arms
above my head and my legs apart, so
that the weight of my body fell to my
arms.
becoming blue in the face, they
would release me. and 1 collapsed to
the ground. only upon recovery to
sain be tied up in the same fashion.
oh. 1t was awful torture.
Capt. Pete Hamilton. army sur
geon. and Sergt. Moses Wise. his as
sistant. were responsible for this pun
ishment.
"Then, this was not sufficient tor
ture! After returning to duty / again
reported sick. stating l could not do
the laborious tasks to which 1 was
assigned.
Imprisoned In Hole.
"They figured out another form of
punishment for me, placing me in a
hole, six feet deep. five feet long and
four feet wide. The hole had a
gable roof over 1t. and there was
foot or more stagnant water in it.
BrlckS nau DeeH plieu III INC "osc'
and q board thrown over them as an
improvised seat or bed for me. /
begged and pleaded for my release,
and they kept me in this hell hole
for more than ten hours.
after getting out l again escaped.
but they captured me at JJonesville.
La, and they took me back to the
camp and again put me in the hole.
l spent altogether twenty-seven days
in this hole, then / was court-mar-
tial for desertion. breaking arrest.
and disposing Of my uniform. 1 was
sentenced to twenty-five years I'm
prisonment at hard labor at Fort
Levenworth, Kansas. This was on
July IT., 1918.
ION entering the prison called the
attention of DR.. Chambers to the
spots on my body. He also told me
that. hard labor would Sweat" IL
out. I was put to work with a gans
moving stones and sand-they called
1t moving mountains with a wheel
barrel"
Yes, the wheel-barrel had no legs
They could not be put down to en-
able the bearer OF rest his arms oil
his back. Then a few days later
after doing this task for a day, we
airy barracks when / fell out, tainted
away. They. too, stretched me to q
tree, only making me place my feet
on the point of stump of tree, with
my hands over my head. 1 was kept
in that position all day without any
thing to eat but bread and water
Later 1 had to break rock with q
fourteen-pound hammer.
RinRleader In strike.
'T could not stand 1t ally longer
The splotches were becoming worse
The prison doctors began to see ]
really was sick-although they never
realized 1 had leprosy. and they as
signed me to the prison as an orderly
I was left free to mingle with 3,300
other inmates in the prison, and when
the strike occurred in January, 1919
l. being one Of the ringleaders, was
sent to Alcatraz Islands, off San Fran
cisco.
ut was not until was sent to AL
catraz that the doctors actually dis
covered that l was leper-that the
spots on my face and body was the
result of this dread disease which
had been ravishing my system since
I entered the army. They sent me