Bisbee daily review., 1922-10-19

ROY GARDNER, ABERICA'S SLIPPERIFST PRISONER.
 LEAVENWORTH, Kas.. Oct. r. - Does Uncle Sam keep his word with Q mail train bandit?
 Roy Gardner. mail bandit and slip periest prisoner federal officers have tried to make ''stay put" wants to know. It may mean that he will be transformed from the most closely watched inmate of the federal peni- tentiary here into a model prisoner.
 After the most picturesque career of banditry and thrilling escapes the country has known for Q decade. Gardner last fall was sentenced to serve 9 years at Leaveuworth prison This was after McNeals Island federal nris0n had been unable to conline him
 Judge. will go, and will give my word not to escape this time ii you will promise that I be permitted to undergo an operation to make my brain function right" pledged Gard ner. when a federal judge at Phoenix Ariz., sentenced him.
 No Operation Vet
 Gardner says the judge agreed. Gardner came here, went to work Tn the tailor shop, and has been model prisoner.
 So far. there has been no operation.
 Judge William Sawtelle, who sen fenced Gardner, said he made no such premise. Harry NJ. Daugherty, attor- ney general. refuses to grant permis- sion for the operation. But Gardner and his wife insist the promise was made. and they continue the fight to have surgeons seek to stifle his crim- nal impulses.
 Before Attorney General Dausherty are statements of reputable surgeons that they can cut into Gardner's skull and raise any portion that may be pressing upon his brain. These are supplemented by statements of Card ner's friends that they believe such an operation would remove crime ac- tions.
 Daugherty also has the report of the Leavenworth prison physician that Gardner is nc different from other prisoners. An operation, the physi- elan contends, would not change Gardner's physical or mental condition
 Supporting the physician is a re port from IIeber H. Votaw, brother in-law of President Harding and sup erintendent of federal prisons. Votaw abides by the decision of the prison physician.
 Unless Daugherty himself issues the order. the operation will not be per formed.
 Wife Still Hopeful
 Rut Dolly Gardner, the bandits pretty wife, has not-given up. When she gets the necessary funds, she will go from her home at Napa, Cal, to Washington to press her plea. Both she and Gardner say the money is ready to finance the operation. Neith- CT will divulge the source, however.
 Recently $250 was sent to the pri- son warden in an anonymous letter stating it was to finance the opera tion.
 q have a moral right to be normal, and thus be able to live straight, even though I do have to remain in prison" declares Gardner q believe that without part of my skull pressing on a certain part of my brain, I would not be swept by criminal impulses.
 "A blow on the head as I fell from q horse, caused the trouble. That was when I was a boy in Missouri As years went by. I changed from mod el youth in Chillicote, Mo, to a law breaker
 'I could not control the impulse to hold up trains an descape from pri- son. It drove me to taking desperate chances"
 Pleasant Chap
 Gary CT has a pleasing personality and is of a high intelligence. He was idolized at oue of the big San Fran cisco shipyards, where he had charge Of an important department during the war. After his first escape from federal officers, he won much sympa- thy in the west when he returned to California to surrender. Finding officers sought to capture him and thus get the reward Gardner thought should go to his wife and child, he eluded them. few days later, mail train was robbed, Gard ner was arrested and sentenced to McNeils Island.
 Had Public Favor Public opinion snickered when Gard ner again escaped his guards, this time by covering them with their re-