The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-07-14
LUESSE TELLS
STORY OF DAYS
SPENT IN HOLE

'iNA -N0NNi hIilOliCh w iAit
Long Stretch in Penal
Farm Dungeon.
Continued From Page One)
watched and how friends were for
hidden to speak to him.
The food on five or six occa-
sions made more than one hundred
prisoners sick each time they fed
us an awful mess Of ground-up
liver. They got ptomalne poisoning.
When We said we were sick. we
nevertheless we're forced to work.
We we're threatened with club
on these occasions and many pris-
, oners actually were dubbed, al
though they were sick" asserts
Luesse in his affidavit.
Backed BY Negro
Luesse Is borne out in his tale Of
the alleged spoiled meat in another
sworn statement by John jackson,
a. Negro Of BOG North West street.
AT one time I was head cook on
the range in January. 1892" says
Jacksons affidavit, Il noticed some
rotten meat in the supplies. I called
the attention Of --. steward,
to the condition Of the meat. He
said. Send it back, I did
more meat was sent over and it was
bad - told me to cook it.
gaTr III Arlr
sick in the dormitory. It was a
terrible sight The superintendent
called for doctors, but none was at
the prison one orderly attended
to all the sick prisoners"
State farm officials admit in
statements that men became i'll
from eating liver pudding" but
deny that the meat was rotten.
jackson and another prisoner got
into an argument He swears in
his statement that no blows were
struck. Jackson was sent to the
hole" He met Luesse there.
Sent To Dungeon
In the meantime, LueSSe. accord
ing to his sworn statement. became
embroiled with the penal farm au-
thorities when, once l asked the
prison waiter for another helping
of beans He spoke to the guard,
who retOrted that I had had enough.
I protested and they put me in the
hole for nine days.
The hole is a cell below the
ground, with very little ventilation,
of varying temperatures. No place
to sleep, Many men were put in
the hole naked and forced to sleep
on the cement floor. During the
day we were chained up from
a. m. to p. m. TO the bars in the
hole says Luesse under oath.
ON one occasion a prisoner was
forced to walk through the snow
from the hospital naked to the
hole his affidavit reads.
LuesSe tells of another prisoner,
in his affidavit, who preferred con-
finement in the farms Jail to work
after his ankle had become infected
Handcuffed to Door
Il was chained to the cell door
in another cell a little bit away
from Luesse" declares Jackson in
his sworn statement bearing out
Luesse's story. He was also chained
Jackson means handcuffed to the
door"
while in the hole" continues
JacksOns corroborative affidavit, L
heard LuesSe tell -- --
and DR.. Gillespie CDR J. F. Gillespie
the farms doctor that it was
against the state law to hang men
up by chains in a cell
Il heard him ask him what he
intended to do about it. was get
ting the same treatment but I
didn't think it would do any good"
L have seen stories, recently, de-
nying that prisoners were made to
work in chains l saw men work.
ing, chained separately, in the
quarry. Each man had a chain
fastened to his ankles and secured
at his belt by a rope. The chain
allows only a half-Step to be taken
when walking charges Jacksons
affidavit.
Clothes Kept On For Weeks
when these men are chained,
they can not remove their clothes
for a week. If their clothes are
wet. they must go to bed that way
once a week their clothes are
changed, no matter how dirty they
are, and they get plenty wet and
muddy in the quarry" AYERS Jack
son in his notarized statement.
The necessities of nature are ig-
nored in the FARMS jail, HandCUffed
to the bars the incorrigibles of the
farm must remain in that stance,
like cattle in stalls, throughout the
day. one sworn affidavit reveals.
Harry H. Wissel, acting superin-
tendent of the farm, admits men
are handcuffed to bars in the farms
hole, but declares in a statement
that they are freed at noon for a
short time"
The maximum time men are
chained to these bars is seven or
eight hours each day" WisSels
statement says.
Punished For Smoking
Prisoners caught smoking cigar
cts who happened to be favorites
of the guards went unpublished The
guards even bought the white
haired boys cigarets. When the
guards caught me smoking, they
made me sit in the office to miss a
meal" declares the affidavit of
LueSse.
Other former inmates, in verbal
as we'll as sworn statements, re-
lated 10 The Times how the smok-
ing of a cigaret was an ofenSe
paid for by time in the hole. Pipe
smoking is permitted
The mess hall" continues
'sses affidavit, was a madhouse. 1
Guards stood in the door with clubs
studded with brass and velIe6 Of