Evening star., 1934-03-19
LORTON CHARGES
HELDUNSUSTA|NED
BY INQUIRY GROUP.
Committee to Send Findings
to Commissioners by
Wednesday.
BAD ACTORS' TRANSFER
is SOUGHT BY BARNARD
Believes Is Hardened Criminals
Threaten Trouble at D. c.
Reformatory.

None of the sensational charges
against the Districts penal institu-
tionS has been sustained by evidence
produced during the Board of Public
WelfareS investigation, the Inquiry
Committee decided today, following
the close of the final session.
A formal report will be submitted
tomorrow or Wednesday to the Dis
trict Commissioners informing them
of the Investigating Committees find
ingS, Chairman w. w. MILAN stated
Barnard Ends Probe.
AS Capt. M. NJ Barnard, veteran
superintendent of District penal in
stitutions left the witness stand
bringing the investigation to a close,
Mr.. MILAN called his committee into
a brief consultation, at the same time
announcing that he would have some
statement to make in a few minutes
The committee conferred for less
than five minutes. Then Mr.. MILAN
said:
Although the taking of testimony
has just been concluded. the commit
tee has been in constant consultation
throughout the course of the investi-
cation and is now prepared to an
nounce that none of the charges
brought against these institutions or
their management has been sus-
tanned"
The announcement came as sur
prise, since almost a dozen volumes
of testimony had been taken.
While testifying, Capt. Barnard
warned that continuation of the in
veStigation was creating an extremely
dangerous situation at Lorton Re-
formatory and the Occoquan Work
house, where approximately 1000 men
are being held without walls.
If this investigation is continued
indefinitely" said Capt. Barnard, Il
don't know who is going to sit on that
keg of powder"
He reiterated his plea to remove
hardened criminals from the reforma-
tory.
Would Transfer Bad Actors"
"The Department of Justice has re-
fused to send these men away to Fed
eral prisons If some legislation is
not gotten through at this term of
Congress, pity the man that has to
run that institution during the next
Congress. Now is the time to act to
send those long term bad actors away.
There are 10 or Is of these men
being held at the District Jail now
because 1 am afraid to take them to
Lorton There is more at stake than
any of you people realize"
Throughout the investigation Capt.
Barnard has insisted that the public
nature of the inquiry is creating
dangerous situation among the
prisoners, making it extremely diff
cult TO control them.
Replying to charges of brutality at
Lorton Capt. Barnard said, 1T would
be absolutely impossible to hold those
1000 men down there and have these
brutalities going on Most of the
session today was taken up with the
testimony of prison guards, all of
whom denied torturing or mistreating
prisoners.
They were specifically questioned
concerning Erasmus Cecil Jenkins, a
4O4L LIlCl Pl ICOA4CI az LII VII pAlN AAO"
being held in the Federal Penitentiary
at Atlanta, who wrote Representative
Francis H. Shoemaker of Minnesota
that he had been chained by the neck
and arms to the bars of a cell at
Lorton and beaten into inSensibility
by guards. The five guards named as
those who beat jenkins denied it to
the committee. They were Capt. Paul
F. Pegelow, j. William Devers, Charles
w. McInturff, Lester E. McMenamin
and Hoke S. Henson.
When Shoemaker appeared before
the committee Saturday morning he
charged that Carl Panzram, pris-
oner, was tortured at the District Jail
until he lost his mind, later numbering
two guards at the Leavenworth Fed
eral Penitentiary.
Peak Denies Charge.
Col William L. Peak, superintend-
ent of Lorton Reformatory and until
recently head of the District Jail,
denied this charge. He said Panzram
had never been chained by the wrists
to "the post so as to force him for
ward onto his toes for long periods of
time. Peak said, however, he did not
remember whether Panzram had been
punished at all. He promised to look
UP the record of the case and report
it to the committee.
The committee also inquired into
another allegation made by Shoe
maker Saturday. This was that
Charles Sawyer, superintendent of the
shipyard at Occoquan had built a
home in Occoquain Village with prison
bricks and by use of prison labor.
Sawyer denied it, but told the COM
mittee he had been helped by one
prisoner in casting concrete blocks
used in constructing a house for a
relative. The work was done off the
reservation and the prisoner helped
voluntarily, he said.
j. E. c. Bischoff, business manager
Of penal institutions, was questioned
concerning his relations with private
concerns which employed him da1ing
off-duty hours while he held his Dis
trict post. Nothing new along this
line was brought out Methods Of
handling prison supply contracts were
described by Maj. Daniel j. Donovan,
District auditor.