Evening star., 1934-03-17
BRUTALITY WHICH
LED S[AY|NGS
|SLA|D TOLORT0N
Shoemaker Submits Letter
Charging Guards Beat
Prisoner Unconscious.
3ISCHOFF'S CUSTER
REPORT CONFIRMED
robe Declines to Call Repre-.
sentative Again as He Refuses
to Reveal AccuserS.

w AtCFCdl hCCuoClS.
A lurid story of brutality and tor
Ire at Lorton Reformatory and the
istrict Jail was related to the Board
Public Welfare Investigating Com
littee today by Representative Fran
IS H. Shoemaker of Minnesota At
le conclusion of his testimony, W. w.
lillian, committee chairman. informed
i'm he would not be called again as
witness.
Shoemaker charged that the ordeal
the post" at the Jail changed a
rlSoner into raving madman, who
lter killed two guards at the Leaven-
orth Penitentiary in maniacal rage
The District Jail and its officers
nd guards are responsible for the
murder OF those two men," Shoemaker
houted.
He read letter. reputedly from
ne of the 100 Lorton convictS sent
D the Federal Penitentiary at At
anita after the reformGtory riots last
Summer, telling of being chained
lude to the bars of a cell and beaten
unconscious by guards. Last Sum-
nerS riots were attributed in the
2tter to the prisoners being deprived
+ a meal because it was necessary
D clear the dining hall when a guard
jeat a colored prisoner there.
Bischoff to Quit.
Meanwhile. recent reports that j. E.
:. Bischof. business manager of Lor-
ION, would be asked to resign we're
Confirmed today by authoritative
-ources at the District Building.
The Lorton hearing brought out
hat Bischoff had received fees for
work. done during off-duty hours
from concerns having business rela-
tions with the District.
When asked about the matter to-
day, Commissioner George E. Allen
stated he was unalterably opposed"
to the principle involved in such a
practice. When asked what this
meant as regards to Bischoff, Allen
SAID use your own judgment"
Mlllan'S statement that Shoemaker
would not be recalled followed repeat
ed retusals by the Minnesota Repre-
sentative to furnish the names of
prisoners and guards, who, he said,
had given him information to back up
his sensational charges.
Il will not give the name of a
prisoner or guard until 1 receive writ
ten assurances from this committee
that these guards, some of them men
With families, won't be thrown out on
the street, and that the prisoners
won't be subject to the torture of the
punishment hole
Claims Promise Given.
On a previous appearance before
the committee. Shoemaker had been
assured by MILAN that any witnesses
that he might produce would be
granted complete immunity unless ac-
tually involved themselves in wrong
doing. MILAN took the position that
this assurance, which has been made
part of the official record, is more
than any letter could be-
In the midst of his stories of tor
ture, Shoemaker paused to say:
Il believe there is more brutality
In the District Jail and at Lorton
than in any other penitentiary in
the United States, State or national"
He said the prisoner driven mad
at the jail was Carl Panzram, who
since has been executed for the mur-
der of a Leavenworth guard.
"Panzram was given the third de-
gree and abused until he went mad
every time he saw a guard He was
hung up by the wrists to the torture
pole. night after night for eight hours
at a time. His wrists we're manacled
to the pole so that he was forced
forward upon his toes, and when he
could no longer endure that position
had to hang by his arms. Then he
was sent to Leavenworth. He should
have been sent to a psychopathic
ward when he was first placed in the
jail
Shoemaker said that while Panzram
was at LeavenWorth he frequently
would imagine Col. Peak and a
crowd from the District Jail were after
him." Panzram was executed shortly
before Shoemaker arrived at Leaven-
worth to serve a years prison sem
tence.
The Col. Peak referred to is Col
L. Peak. superintendent of
Lorton Reformatory and formerly
head of the District Jail.
Names Atlanta Accurser.
The letter from the Atlanta Peniten-
tiary purported to bear the signature
of Erasmus Cecil Jenkins. 1t was
dated March II of this year. The
letter stated that Jenkins had been at
Norton less than a month when prison
guards beat him because he could
not do the work of two stevedores in
the laundry"
Jenkins named the following guards
as those who beat him: Capt. Sanford,
now dead; Paul F. Pegelow, who is
now captain of the guards; William j.
Bevers, now steward; Lester E. Nc
Memamin, now mail clerk. and Will
liam McInturf.
The letter stated he was taken to
No. IT dormitory, which Shoemaker
said is known as the punishment
hole" and there trussed to the bars
by his arms and neck and beaten into
For two days Jenkins
was allowed to stay there without
food, Shoemaker charged, and then
for eight more days was given daily
0nly one piece of bread and cup of
muddy water.
One of the guards who did the
beating was quoted as saying that
jenkins again would be beaten if he
told of what had happened.
Blames Riots on Hunger.
Last Summers Lorton riots were
caused, it was stated in the letter,
only because the men wanted some
thing to eat. They we're tortured
like rats in trap, and for the same
they wanted to eat"
The trouble had almost died down,
the committee was informed. when
five days later police were summoned
from Washington to the reformatory.
"They went through the dormito-