The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-08-31
How the United States Army
Makes Brutes Out of Men /

lands. But ships leaving Honolulu
are carefully guarded against soldiers
who try to escape, and those who at
tempt to do so are sentenced to six
months in the Post Stockade at Scho-
field Barracks. Life there defies the
imagination. Perhaps at no place in
the world, except the French prison
at DEVILS Island, are prisoners treated
more harshly. When at work, the
order is: "Heads down, backs up,
picks moving" Those who forget the
order an instant are given extra
work. When within the prison walls,
they must set upon the floor. Any
one who sings or whistles is placed
in solitary confinement on bread and
water for seven days No reading
matter, except religious literature on
Sunday, is permitted. Letters are de-
livered on Sunday and must be de-
stroyed by the following day. If a
prisoner is found with newspaper or
attempts to keep a letter from his
mother or other relatives, he is given
solitary confinement with no food ex-
cept bread and water for seven days.
The prisoner does not even have Sun
day for day of rest. In the morn
ing he must prepare for inspections
and in the afternoon, he is forced to
submit to dose Of religious opium
administered by an army Chaplain.
Boasts He Made Jail He'll.
Two former prisoners in the Scho-
field Stockade recently told me about
speech delivered by Major General
William R. Smith, Commander of the
Hawaiian Division. General Smith,
they said, told them: II have the law
in this hand and you in this, and l
will do with you as | wish. l know
this place is hell because have made
it SUCH
These prisoners are not criminals.
They are soldiers who could no longer
endure the hell of army life. They
had been led into the army by false
pretenses and in desperation they
tried to escape from the trap.
Press Suppresses Trial Facts.
Law is but a one sided affair with
the military authorities and they do
not hesitate to violate their own laws
and resort to the underhanded
methods. On February 10, 1925,
Walter Trumbull and | were arrested
and held without bail and without
any charges or warrants against US
until March II. Charges were pre-
pared then and we were tried in
April, We were held incommunicado
so that we could not get in touch
with defense organizations and have
proper defense when brought to trial.
Army officers were appointed to de-
fend us, but / could have defended
myself much better without them.
On February goth, / wrote letter
from the guard house II my parents
telling of my arrest 1t was not
mailed until about March 18th.
Contrary to usual procedure, the
newspapers were not informed in ad-
vance of my trial, and after it became
public, the Honolulu Star Bulletin
stated that it had been requested by
the army authorities to suppress the
facts in the case. Newspapers were
given wrong information about the
date of Comrade Trumbull's trial in
their efforts to prevent reporters
from being present.
Railroaded to Alcatray.
Of course, in our case the govern
ment was more anxious than usual
to railroad us to prison by any means
and to suppress the facts. But really
our case was typical of injustice COM
mon in the army A prisoner now in
Alcatraz, Anton Regnerson, was sem
fenced to twelve years Imprisonment
on forgery charge. made care
full study of his case and it appears
that he was the goat so that the
guilty persons, perhaps in responsible
positions, might go free. The army
officer, appointed to defend Regner-
son, called on him only ten minutes
before the beginning of the trial
Regnerson gave list of witnesses
who, he said, could prove him limo
cent. Also, he wished to take the
stand IN MS own defense. But the
officer defending" him would not
call the witnesses as requested and
told Regnerson not to take the stand
saying there was no evidence against
him and that he was certain to be
found mot guilty" A short time
ago, Regnerson wrote to the War De-
partment, requesting an investiga-
ton of his case. He told about the
failure of his defense" to really de-
fend him or let him defend himself.
He offered to produced proof that he
was away from the city on the day
the crime was committed and that it
was impossible for him to have been
the guilty person. The request for an
impartial and thorough investigation
was refused by the army authorities.
Why should they investigate? What