Evening star., 1925-11-22
DESPERATE SEEKS
CURE BY OPERATION
Roy Gardner. Backed by
Captor, Asks Surgeon 10
End Brain Pressure.
By Consolidated Press.

By Consolidated Press.
ATLANTA. Ga. November H.
Roy Gardner. one of the most spec
laru!ar desperadoes turned out by tie
lpoqcrn West, is going TO have sur
GeonS try to cut the thing out OF MS
brain that makes him criminal
that Is, Gardner is going TO take TINS
chance with the surgeons knife II he
and Louis s. Sonney. the Washing
ton deputy sheriff who captured him.
can induce the Government to con-
sent to their plans.
1t is hard to say which ls the
stranger Observation-Disclosures, the SEN
sational mail bandit and hero of sew
eral hair-raiSing escapes from the law.
or Sonney, the man who walked into
a hotel room in Centralia, Wash, ana
captured him without even pulling
gun.
Sonnev gave half the reward to
Gardeners destitute wife and child n
few days after he received it. Then
he began to study Gardeners wild
escapades, which ranged from stick
jug up trains to some of the most
desperate escapes any criminal ever
..lade. and he decided that Gardner
lad been insane since the day the
back of his head was crushed by
cavern in Arizona.
Spends Reward for Cure.
SO he began to spend the rest of
the reward trying TO have the Gov
ernment regard Gardner as patti
ent instead of a prisoner. Today Son
ney has only one thin dime LETT or
the So 900 he got for capturing Gard
ner. and has just finished a trip
across the continent to interview
Tol, E
lanta Federal Penitentiary, on the
possibility of having an operation
performed on Gardeners skull His
belief is that if the depressed bone at
the back of Gardner's head can be
lifted. Gardner will change from a
desperate to an honest man.
Gardner is willing to take the
chance: in fact, he is Clamorlng for II.
He knows that cutting into the brain
is business that often means death.
But he Is willing 70 risk II for his w1e
and child. He would like TO be honest
for them, he says.
Sonney, who probably knows more
about Gardner than any man living.
sketched the bandits career just after
an interview with the warden. He de-
Clared that Gardner comes of a good
family and has a college education,
and that 1t was not until after his in
Jury in Arizona in 1905 that he turned
criminal.
Skull Badly Crushed.
His skull was so badly crushed"
said Sonney, that many stitches had
10 be taken to keep the brains from
oozing out of the hole IN the back of
his head.
Daring the Madero administration
in Mexico he smuggled arms across
the border-seemingly just for the ex-
citement. In 1920 he disguised him
self as a negro and held up truckload
of registered mail on the way from
the San Francisco Post Office. He hid
the money in bushes near Delmar
Calf, and hung around until he was
captured and the money recovered.
While he was being hurried to San
Francisco he took notion that he
wanted to see his wife and baby, and
in spite of the fact that ne was hand
cuffed and guarded by four officers, he
snatched a gun from the belt of one
of them, held up all four, made an
other prisoner unlock the handouts
and escaped.
Escapes Twice More.
Later on he held up the Pacific
Limited. and soon afterward was cap
tured in a little town near the scene
of the holdup. He was sentenced to
McNeils Island and was put aboard a
train with handouts. shackles and
Oregon boot on his leg. Before board
ing the train he managed somehow to
secrete d pistol under his arm, held up
the officers, made them loosen him and
escaped.
Il captured him without any trou
BILE In Centralia, and he was taken
safely to McNeirs Island that time.
But he hadn't been there long before
he made one of the most sensational
escapes in prison history. Two pris-
on teams were playing a base ball
game in a wire inclosure when Gard
ner and several other prisoners
rushed for the wire. cut it, and dashed
away in a rain of shots. One man
was killed and three were recaptured,
but Gardner got away to Mexico,
where he remained until longing to
see his wife and child brought him
back. He was captured the last
time in Phoenix, Ariz.
The mans mind is wrong, or he
wouldn't have taken the desperate
foolish chances he has. That's why l
say something should be done about
lifting the bone that's pressing on his
brain. | believe the surgeons can
change him into an honest man. and
they ought to be allowed to try"