Governor McLean Will Not Answer Dudding Attack. . . Indicates That Charges of Inhuman Treatment of Prisoners at State Farm Are Without Foundation. . . Said Prisoner Was “Outpost of Hell”. . . Tribune’s Raleigh Correspondent States Facts, Which Are Given to Our Readers
Raleigh, July 8—Governor A.W. McLean does not expect to reply to the letter of E.E. Dudding, president of the Prisoners’ Relief Society made public in Washington some days ago, in which he characterized the State Prison farm at Caledonia as an “Outpost of Hell,” charging that prisoners were subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment and that six had been shot to death by guards while attempting to escape.
The Governor indicated that the charges were without foundation and that hence they were to be disregarded. The letter of Dudding to the Governor was given much prominence on the first page of the Raleigh morning newspaper, under the headline “N.C. Prison Farm Described as an Outpost of Hell.” The same morning newspaper a few days before had carried a story supposed to have come from a prisoner named Tug Flannigan, who had just completed a sentence at Caledonia, in which he told of alleged cruel and inhuman treatment, among other things asserting Elijah Larrimore, who was drowned in the Roanoke River at the Farm on June 8, had in reality been shot in the back by one of the guards while trying to escape.
In order to get at the facts in the case, The Tribune correspondent decided to launch an investigation of his own. And the following facts were learned:
First, that Larrimore was not shot, but drowned while trying to swim the river after making a break for liberty, as reported by The Tribune correspondent on the day which he was drowned. A telegram was sent to W.C. Williams, coroner and undertaker who prepared Larrimore’s body for burial, asking if there were any gun shot wounds in his body. Williams replied that there “were no signs of his body being shot,” stating that his body was taken out of the river on the opposite side from the point where he attempted to escape, and that he had drowned. It also developed that the only person who saw Larrimore drown and who gave the alarm and called for help in an attempt to rescue him, was this same Tug Flannigan, who at the time was serving as water boy for the gang in which Larrimore was working, and who, when released, charged that Larrimore had been killed by a guard shooting him in the back.
Another charge that was found to be groundless was that prisoners wee compelled to work while shackled and that guards had fired on them, though trying to escape in shackles, which is virtually impossible. Investigation showed that only class C prisoners—the lowest grade—are ever put in shackles, and that these are rarely worked on the open farm in gangs, because of the fact that it is nearly impossible for them to work while shackled. Prisoners are put in shackles only for short periods of time as punishment for gross infraction of the rules, and are generally kept within the prison enclosure during this period.
In his letter to the Governor, Dudding charges that six prisoners have been killed by guards while attempting to escape, but he does not specify the length of time over which these six are distributed. A search of the prison records reveals however, that three men have been killed while attempting to escape in the period from 1921 to 1926 covering the last five years. And in this same period 213 have attempted to escape; thus the percentage of those killed while trying to escape is seven-tenths of one per cent. In the same five-year period, two other men besides Larrimore were drowned, also while trying to escape. They were brothers, Lawrence and Volley Weaver. They escaped on May 26, 1924, and Lawrence’s body was found in the river June 3 and Volley’s on June 5. The coroner’s inquest showed that neither had been shot, but that death had been caused by drowning. The three prisoners who were killed by guards while attempting to escape were John McNally, February 26, 1925; John Henry Goins, May 30, 1925; and George Martin, May 30, 1925.
The other charge contained in Mr. Dudding’s letter was that a prisoner named Charles Grady had been put in solitary confinement for 28 days on bread and water and that at the end of this period he was so weak that he was unable to stand alone. Then,, because he could not work, he was again put in solitary on bread and water, when he attempted to commit suicide, and was saved only by a “miracle” Dudding alleges. What this “miracle” was, he did not indicate.
Here are the facts in Grady’s case as obtained from the official prison register:
Charles Grady, sentence to from two to three years for larceny. A second termer with a very bad record. Class C prisoner sentenced to solitary confinement on May 19, at 3:30 pm. For continued refusal to work and for using abusive and insulting language to guards and supervisor. He was released from solitary June 3 at 9:30 am. He was examined before commitment by Dr. V.W. Leggett of Scotland Neck, and pronounced in good pnysical condition. All prisoners are examined by a physician before commitment to solitary and every day during their confinement their pulse and temperature are taken by the physician. Whenever their physical condition becomes endangered they are removed. Grady, after 14 days in solitary showed no ill effects, other than a rise of two-fifths of one degree in temperature and an increase of two beats in his pulse.
On June 17 Grady was again put in solitary for five days, for breaking into the boxes of other prisoners and general incorrigibility. Again, he showed no ill effects according to the physician’s report. Neither was there any report or indication of his having attempted to commit suicide.
Health conditions at Caledonia are excellent, only one death having occurred from sickness in the past four years, despite an average population of approximately 400 during this entire period.
From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Thursday, July 8, 1926
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