The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-01-16
MUTILATED CORPS IN
COURT MUTE ACCUSER
SHATTERED BONES ARE Ia
KEN TO COURT IN HOODED
BAND HEARING.
TORN BODY SHOWS TORTURE
Rack" Used to Main Victims, and
Parts Removed From Bodies Be
fore Death. Doctors Tell How Men
Met Fate at Hands of Kidnappers.

Met rate at r1anQS OF hidndppeTS.
| COURT HOUSE, BASTROP, La.
"A bent and bowed father saw his
sons body. broken and mutilated,
sewn on dun cardboard, with pebbled
surface, displayed to gaping throng
as mute evidence of the atrocities of
hooded horror, in court here.
]. L. Daniel, 66-year-old Louisiana
planter, sat face to face with the shat
tered bones of what had once been his
powerful son, Watt Daniel. who was
! by masked mob in Morehouse par
ish last August
! The shattered body was held up
| against the court room wall by two
! learned pathologists, who in staid
ton of the revolving manning and
numbering, Daniel sat there facing the
blasted bones, some still discolored
with blood His shoulders did not
shake; his lips did not culver, nor did
his eyelids blink to hold back the
yelling tears.
Outside children rolled about the
court house lawn in the radiant sum
shine and negroes lounged lazily about
the gallery posts, while the dramatic
scene was enacted in the open hear
ing of Louisiana's greatest crime.
This was the climax of the hunt
which federal and state officials have
conducted since Daniel and his friend
Thomas Richards, were kidnapped byI
masked mob last August and be-
hind the veil of dense foliage in a
Wooded section near Mer Rouge tor
tured indescribably and tortured to
death. The hunt ended several days
ago in Lake La Fourche, when the
decomposed bodies of the mob vic
TINS were found entangled in fish
erman's net.
Dr. Charles Duval, one of the path
ologists, recited the revolving details
in a monotonous voice as he calmly
illustrated his simple story, couched
in scientific terms, with the bleached
bones held together by white threads.
Doctor Tells of fortunes.
His account was one Of torturesI
rivaling the Spanish inquisition and
other extreme punishments in the
pages of history. He told of fiend
ish operation performed on Daniel be-
fore his death and declared the arms,
| feet and heads of the victims were
brutally torn from the bodies after a
machine had broken the bones. A me-
chanical device smashed the chests of
the helpless men and crushed out their
lives, he said.
DIR. John Lanford, the second pathol-
ogist to tell the sickening story, gave
similar details.
DR.. Duval later gave the United
Press his mental picture of the tor
ture machine. He described it as a
three toothed steel device with wise
attached. He said he believed it was a
specially constructed machine.
THE arm or, leg is placed between
the instruments and as the vise-sim-
liar TO those used by carpenters and
mechanics-is screwed together, the
teeth crush the bone of the limb in
three places" DIR. Duval said in de-
scribing how he thought the machine
worked.
DR.. Duval stated that he has per-
formed 5000 autopsies during his pro-
fessional experience but never before
had he had a case in which the SUBJ
lects had been so brutally tortured.
He said the manner in which the men
were put to death was unparalleled in
medical history.
Daniels body was mutilated and
parts removed before the other tor
ture was inflicted" in the opinion Of
the physician. This mutilation was
performed by a man who has had
surgical experience and a sharp knife
or razor was used.
THE evident torture of these two
men was beyond believing and there
is nothing in technical torture to COM
pare with it" he added.
Hearts Were Drained.
Both he and DIR. John Lanford
agreed that death was inflicted after
the bodies were subjected to some
specially constructed device designed
for inficting punishment Their au-
topsies revealed the hearts were drain
ed of blood and that the manner of
torture produced a slow death. The
pathologists submitted as exhibits
crushed and broken bones taken from
the two bodies in support of their
conclusions.