The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-09
FARM TRACTOR AS TORTURE MACHINE
 0FF|C|ALS' THEORY
PathoIogists' Report on Con. dition of Watt Daniel and IF. Richard at Mer
 Rouge Gives Clue

| BASTRoP. La., March s.-(By As
 sociated Press .)-Persons who have l examined carefully the report of the | pathologists on the condition of the
 mutilated bodies of Watt Daniel and
 T. F. Richard. found in Lake La are familiar with mechanical devices declare they believe they have iden-
 titled the so-called torture machine
 as one of the many road or farm
 tractors in use throughout the par ish.
 Daniel and Richard were Kidnapped
 August 24 and nothing was heard of
 them until four months later, when
 two bodies were discovered in the
 lake and identified as those of the
 missing men. The head of each was
 crushed to a pulp, the scalp and skin
 forming sack containing the shat
 tered skulls. The hands and feet of
 each had been crushed off and at
 equal distances the lower legs,
 were broken. The chests had been
 crushed in. the ribs torn from the
 breastplates under the pressure and
 the man identifiel as Daniel had
 been forced to submit to what is
 commonly known as serious surgi-
 cal operation.
 The pathologists testified at the
 open hearing here in January that
 an examination of the muscles at
 the stumps of the legs and arms and at the fractures indicated the
 wounds had been inflicted before or
 just at death, passing their opinions
 upon traces of blood found in the
 muscles. The heart of each man. they said, had been drained of blood, indicating that virtually all of the fluid had escaped from the bodies.
 About three miles from Bastrop on
 the Bastrop- p-Collinston-M Monroe high way is huge tractor used to pull a road scraper, typical machine of it's kind. propelled by heavy duty gasoline motor. The iron wheels
 are seven or eight feet in diameter, while their rims have width of approximately three feet. Riveted to the rims to prevent the wheels slipping in soft earth are steel cleats
 the width of the wheels and about 15 inches apart.
 Stretched Full Length.
 The bodies apparently had been stretched full length when they were
 mutilated, with the arms brought
 above the head. Fractures of the
 forearms were on a level with the heads, and those who assert the bod
 ies must have been broken with a tractor believe they were stretched on the ground and the machine run or pushed over them. Such ma chine as the one near here, 1t Is con- tended would inflict such injuries,
 the heavy cleats on the wide wheels fracturing the arm and leg bonds, crushing the heads and chests and severing completely the hands and | feet at the wrists and just above the ankles where little flesh protects the | bones.
 | It is known that the authorities | have received numerous anonymous | letters from plantation owners and | farmers in all sections of the state | suggesting that a tractor must have | been used. and the arguments to l sustain the theory are similar to | those advanced here.
 | Firm in the belief that the bodies
 were broken with a tractor, those | advancing the theory also declare
 that they have hit upon a possible
 motive. When the kidnapers re-
 leased Daniels father, "Tot" Daven-
 port and w. c. Andrews at Collins
 ton, but retained Daniel and Richard | as prisoners, the three set at liberty were told that "one of these men will return, but the other will leave the | country" It is now believed that 1 Richard was the man destined to re- | turn. as he had wife and several | children. Daniel was unmarried. o O O
 Motive for MufiIafion.
 Daniel was forced to submit to an operation and those who have deter mined upon a possible motive for the mutilation believe that he bled to
 death. or that his captors realized he
 would succumb. Having blood on their hands, it either was determined to. make away with Richard, as he might have recognized one or more