I'Irlttenby

Cbrl ~anzrzm
Nov. J, 1928, District Jail, "aahington, D. C.

Born: June 28, 1~92, Eaat Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Full list of all Jails, refor~atorles, prlsons and state or Govern-
ment Inst~tutlons I have been In.
,
~ ,, How I got. into the.l,
How long I stayed In the~,
How I ~ot out of the~
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No.1.
East Grand Forks, M1nn. Charges: 1ncorr1g1tlllty-and burglary.
1903. County Ja11.
No.2.' Red ~lng, U1nn. This is t.he seat of the Minnesota state Train-
r ~ No.3.
in~ School. There I stayed nearly two years.
Butt4e. ~!.ont. Charge: Burglary--three months 1n the county Jail
there and then trled in County Court and sent to the aontana State
Refor~ School at ~11es City, Mont. where I was held about 1 year
and then ~ade a successful escape. Thls was In 1905 under my
'r1qht name, C. P.
No.5. Joined the U. S. brmy 1n 1906 at,Helena, Mont., ~nder the na~e
of Carl E~nzrao. Stat10ned at Fort.Harrison in the 6th ~e~ular
u. S. Infantry In A Oompany. Pract1cally as soon or very sJortly
after I Joined the Ar~y I was put in the guardhouse fJr,at~aling.
Several mO'lthsthere and then tried 'by a U. s. :.iilitaryGeneral
C~urt Martial and sentenced to 3 years.
No.6. Sent to the U. 5 ~Ilitary prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kana.,
where I served 37 ~onths. Discharged.
No7. 'i,f ~IT DRvls. I 71"s
So:net1:1ein 1910 or 1911 ugd,ef,~'1ecJ!,a;lf~.
rorresteQ rt Jacksonvl11e~Cnero~ee ~~udt~,Texas.~the C3U.ty
seat where I was trled for va~rancI tae cri:ne beio- tn~t I
WaS rLlin" a r:l'1iltr"in on toc , wn ie :,ei'1~arned ~Iit""' tv:;> \?is-
tols. For t.his I wos sent t;J- t tle Coun t v Road G8n~ :'!1re .l brved
65 daya, and escaped. The date I don" t-reme:nber but ti,e next
night I was in Houston, Texas, and that was the ni,:;"tof the big
fire trer-e, I think it WaS e"rly In 1911. ,
No. B. Fresno, California, under the na~e of J~ff DaVis, I think. Char~e,
Petty Larceny. Sentenced to 120 days. Served 30 and escaped.
- f l~O. 9. The Dallea, Oret,on. Nane Jack Allen . 1912. Cnar..o:e: HlghC7sj
RObbery and Assualt. Held to await the action for the GI'a"d Jury.
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I, r:alted about three .aont.haand escaped.
~l
No. 10. Sel:lttle,',Yashin;;;ton.
1912. Na'!le,Jeff Davis.Charge: Petty
Larceny. Served:-l :n-::r.th. DlaC:-l[.rged. C'")'l,l ~
No. 11. ~oscow, Idaho. 19~2. 0hrrge: Petty Larceny and assistinsa pris~~
[ to escape. Ttlrtydays. Name, Jeff Davls.
No. 12. Chlno~~, Mont. Charge: Burglary. Sentenced to One ye~r State
II Prison under the neje of Jeff Davle. 1912. Served ~nonth3 5~d
escaped. Arrested one lYeek later at Thpee Forks. :lont ror barg-
f lary under t~e name of Jeff &~odes. Sentenced to one year in
state Prlson, Deer LOdge. Uont. ~hen I was brou~bt back to the
i prison I \71l8 taken to the County Court at Deer LodFe and "lve:1 I
/ year for escap1ng from prlson. Of these three sentences I served
two years and wad dlschar~ed.
No. 13. tstoria, Ore-:on. 1914. :,:Z:::;e, Jeff Baldwin, Charged dth bur-gLar-y,
ZlIfY"J <rrV-.o , Glven 7 zeer:. '~,)';lest-te D:"i50n at Sc,lem, Ore <ron pone one -ear
"",-'; v' ~ ... ~ea~ -:'.u..c"...; <:ihileout t:l:Jt
.... t Lm- one wee;{ I rOubed a a';d
vi <41'''\ ~ n~ 'lada eun fignt--17itha de;:uty sherlff = t Sugen~.1Ore",on. Foz'
~ /~' th-se two crl~es I roes~iven two additional sentences. one of
...i
o v two years for robbery a~d one of 8 years for 8S5ualt. wh1ch ~de
me have alto~ether a full ~7ye3rs to do, 1n Oregon, but I only
done one more year of 1t and then escaped a6ain. I still owe 14
years to Oregon. After escap~n3 from the St'.te prison at Salen,
Oregon, in,~ay, 1918, I chnnged my na~e to Jo~, O'Leary, to?k
out sea~an s pa~er9. pC3Jen~er'9 passQorta anj went to South
kllerlca, Europe al\dAfrlc:;. For the next 5 years, or frO"i\1918 to
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1923. I Wa3 in 31 differ"nt ooun t.r-Le s had st.o
Le and s-ent thousands
,
/ of dollar" c01JllittscClany nur-der-aan~ rob::ei'lB and ot.nsr crimes
and ths oniy t':lO th't 5 year'S W,,!) OtlQe
tir.lesthai.I "ias in jfltleu:-i!l":
~: ~got 10 days for theft in Barlinnie Prison in ~rasgow. Scotland. ~91Y.
, No. 15. And the other was in Bridgeport. Conn., for burglary and carrying
oonce~led'weanone. Six months in 1920 and 1921.
Ng. 16. My last arrest before this one WaS in 1923 at Larchmont. N. Y.
Sent fro~ there to White Plains. tried in the County C?urt and
sent to Sing Sing prieon snd fro~ there transferred to Clinton
Prison at Dannemorra. ll. Y w~ere I served 5 yeare, being dis-
chc-rged JUly 6, 1928. '
No. 11. Arrested 36 days later in Baltimore, M~., and thst'e this case.
I hope it's my last one as I am pretty da.a tired. Theae ere the
1 Main places where I have done tine but there are about 100 more
places where I have been in jeil for variJus offenses for periods
I of from 1 day to a week or eo. Alto~ethsr. I hDve served about
I twenty years of my Itfe in prison ~nd I am 36 years old now.
I
In my lifetime I have murdered 21 human beings, I have co~nitted
I thousands of burglaries, robberies. 1~rcenIe8. arson~~nd last
but not least I have connitted Bodomy on more than luOO~uman

:I
f 'beings. For all of these things I am not the least bit sorry. I
have no conscience so that does not worry me. I don't believe in
, ,~
man, God,.nor devil. I hate the Vlhole darnedhuman race "including
myself. ."1-0':':'-" . ' ~ \-'
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! I~my 145 page autobiography I st~ted the fact that 1n 1921

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1n Lqblto Bay, Africa, I there killed 6 niggers. I merely stated
the bare fact. To Bome people o~ average intelligence this seems
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an almost impossible feet. That is because of their ignorance of

].".;;
the ,full detalls.
It was very much easier-for me to kill th~se_6ix:niggers than
it was for me to kill any une of the 7 young boys I ~illed later
and some of the~ were only 11 or 12 years old.
,l' In Africa there are bull buf'faloes thet weigh 2000 pounda and
have enormous strength, yet a crocadile 12 or 15 foot long can kill
I and eat a buffalo. Any ~f these 6 niggers that 1 killed could kill
I
\ ~ U.;a,gd El:;ltone of those crocadiles. Ar;ned with no more than aone small
,
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0M
ls~lgKsvand a piece of rotten meat they do that trick every day all
tfrica -1 waS fore~rmed with the :nowled~e that 1 had ~ained
an rla SO a ~ mllamete~ Ger-Dan L,l""$r Auto,n2tic-Pintol and plenty of
0 e s , Toe seven 01'us were lrl-"hEcanoe, t.h e other six In rz-ont,
of me where I sat in the stern. The canoe was ebout 22 foot long
4 1!2 foot wide and 2 1/2 foot deep!
The niggers expected nothing. They all had their backs turned
to me. I a~ a crack shot. I fired Ii single shot into each nie,ers
back, and then reloaded with a new clip and fired another shot lnto
the brain of each one as they lay dying or dead in the botto~ of
the canoe. Thep I threw them allover board and the crocadiles
soon finished whst I had l"ft of the;!., This'canoe was registered
and licensed. It must still be in existence. If it is, there are
twdobullets imbedded in the wood, ooe in th~botto~ near the stern
an one on Hie port side near the middle. Tnese ni, er-s were all
full grown men with fa:ullies who must be still alive'and who still
remeaoer me as dozens of peop~e saw me at Lobito Bay when I hired
.: them and their canoe. The exact date can be very easily ascertain-
i ed by the records of the port and the O&8Sengers list or the s~ll
I Belgian S. s. which runs from ~atidi to Bo~a; Loanda and Lcbito
Bay and return. On her 1n 1921 I bou~ht a t~cket frollLoanda to
i
Lobito Bay and a few days x~kex in Lobito Bay snd then I bou~ht a
return ticket on the sane bOat to Loanda. This 1s all very eBSY to
verlfy by anyone who cares to do so. And as for the body of the
little bigger boy at the gravel pit at Loanda. he is still there
unless he has been found since the day I killed and left hin there.
The pistol with whIch I did that killing, I buught back to
the states. There is a record of it at the ~axim Silent Firear~B
,t Co. at Hartford. Conn., where I sent it 1n the winter of 1922 and
J
1923, from Yonkers, N. Y., under my name of Captain John O'Leary
Under that nalleand address, 220 Yonkere Ave I sent the pistol
to them and they sold me a silencer for 1t. All of this must be
on the books of that co~panY'B records. The Port PolIce, the

,---~c:...... ~~ __ __ .. _

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.~. 0 .I\~
S. 0. COS., ard the Beleian Council at Lobito 3ay can verify the
rest of the Lohito B9Y cnd of it. I thoueht that the pistol ~~sn't
deadly enough as it was so I 'got a silencer for it to be able to
do a bigeer and more efficient business in the murder line. And,
believe me, if that heavy calibered pistol and the eilencer had
only worked as I thought it '''ould,I would have gone into the murder
business on a wholesale scale instead of being a piker and only
killing 21 human beings. Uy intentions were good because I am the
man that goes around the world doing people good. C. P.

I have lived 36 years in this world and Boon I expect to

leave it.
All that I leave behind me is smoke, death, desolation and
damnation.
(signed)
Carl Panzr8lll
~en have made a study of crime, its cBuse, effect and the
r-e-nedv
, :r.ay
men know the effect. :,Ianymen know the cause. I
Know the remedy. The answer is Truth.
**;':'-i:-;;'*-;:***~::C-ri-*K~~.}:r~****

I have written two letters here.

One for you and one for my brother, ihcluding the one he
wrote to me. When you read the one he wrote to me, you will see
where he wants to get a letter from some officer. If you would
care to write hi~, perhaps it might do some good and could do no
harm. If you d on t t care to bother .with this, just drop my letter
and his in the box here in the regular manner. &lit yourself.
The other bunch is just a short outline of my history. Of
course, I left a lot out because I arnnot much of a writer and
there is enough here for you to verify every statement I have made
in case you care to do so. ~ll you need to do is to write to all
of these different places giving the proper names and the approximate
dates, and they can give you MJ complete record of all my records
while at these places. You will have a hell of a book full, If there
is anything else that I can do for you, say so to
Carl Panzram

I am sorry for only two things. These tuo things are: I amsorry
that I have mist~eated some few aninals in ~y life time and I am sorry
that I am unable to murder the whole darned human race.
You may do as you like vith this th~t I have written. Believe
it or disbelieve it. Publixh it or burn it or hide it or any dam thing
you care to do with it.
(signed)
Carl Panzram

...
I wrote quite a lot today. I started, got interested and kept
on going. At this r~te yOU'll soon have encugh to write a book or
~ build a fire with. I f you find it is interesting to read as I did
in the writing, yOU'll do well.
If after reading ~at I v~ite. your faith in human nature isn't
all destroyed. then i~ never will be.
This is a very dirty 1ess of writing but I am only starting in
just wait until I hit my pro~er stride, and yOU'll be sorry you didn't
blow my brains out instead of blowing me to smokes and eats. Youbetter
be careful about giving me any eats or anything else bec~use those cons
out there with the w~ite pants on will sure snitCh on you if they find
it out. r nay leave here at any ti,e ~or some bi~-house, mad-house, or
death-house but I don't give a dam where they Fut me. They won't keep
-tme long bec sus e no po,-;er
cn e'lrth'can keep me alive and in jail for
tvery much longer. I would kind of like to finish writing this whole
business out in rl~tailbefore I kick off so that I can explain my side
of it even though no one ever hears or reads of it except one man. But

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one man or a million makes no difference to me. ~ben I am t hr ough ,
I am all through and th~t settles it with me. I'll try to finish
this. Some days I may write much and some d~ys little. It depends on
my moods and the circumstances at the ti~e.
If you or anyone else will take the trouble and have the intelli-
gence or patience to follow and examine everyone of my crimes and
actions you will find that I have consistently followed one idea
through all my life. I preyed upon the weak, the harmless and the
unsuspecting. Those I harmed wero weaklings, either mentally or
physically. Those who were strong either in mind or body I first
lied to and led into a trap where they were either asleep or drunk
or helpless in some wsy. I always had all the best of it because I
knew ahead of time just what to expect and the others did not. I
therefore was strong in my knowledge, and stronger in body than those
I preyed upon.
This lesson I was taught by others
Might makes right.
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1.

True statement of some o~ ~y actions including the

time and places and my reasons for so doing these things.

-~ Written by ~e of my own free will at the District

.:'Jail, Washington, D. C., Novembe, 4, 1928 JL

/ I was born on a'small farm in Minnesota. My parents

were of Ger~an descent. Hard working, ignorant and poor.
The rest of the family consisted of' five brothers and one
sister, all of whom are dead except three of us brothers
and our sister.
All of my family are as the average human beings are.
They are honest and hard working people. All except myself.
I have been a human animal ever since I was born. ~ben I
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-/ was very young at five or six years of age, I was a thief
and a liar, .and a mean, despicable one at that. The older
I I got the meaner I got.
My father and mother split up when I vas about.seven
or eight years old. ~e old man pulled out one day and dis-
appeared. This lft~my mother with a family of six on a
small worked-out farm. As fqst as the older boys grew up,
they also ~ulled out, One died. This left me, my sister,
one older brother, and my mother. My sister and I were sent
to school during the days and as soon as we came home in the
evenings, we were put to work in the fielde where my older
brother and mother were always at work, from dayli'&~t until
long after dark sometimes. My portion of pay consisted of .
plenty of work and a good sound beating e~ery time I looked
cock-eyed or done er-ything that displeased anyone who was older
and stronger and able to catch ~e and kick me aroung whenever
they felt like it, and it seemed to me when and still does now
\ that everything was "always right f'or the one who was the strong-
est and every single thing taht I done was wrong. Everybody
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said so anyway. But right or wrong I used to ~t plenty

of abuse. Everybody thought it was all right to deceive
me. lIe to me. kick oe around whenever they felt like It,
and they felt lIke it pretty regular. At thIs ti~e, that
is the way my life was lIved until I was about eleven years
old. At about that time I began to suspedt that there was
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r,
I
something wrong about the,treatment
rest of the human race.
I was getting from the
When I was about eleven years old,
'.
I I began to hear and see that there were other places in this
I
world besides my own little corner of it. I began to realize
I
that there were other people who lived nice, easy lives. and
who were not kicked around and worked to death. I decided that
I wanted to leave my miserable home. Before I left I looked
around and figured that one of our neighbors who was rich and
, had a nice home full of nice things, he had too ITUch and I
had too little. So' one night I broke into his home and stole
everything that, to my eyes had the most value. Those things
were. some apples; some cake. and a great, bIg pistol. Eating
the,apples and cake and carrying the pistol under my coat, I
walked to the railroad yards where I caught a freIght train
going to,the west where I intended to be a COWboy and shoot
l
Indians. But I must have had my Wires crossed because I
I
missed my connections ~omewhere so instead of going out and

I
f
seeing the world. I was caught, brought back home and beaten
half to death, ther. sent to ja~l and from there to the Minneso-
ta State Training School at Red TIing, Minnesota.
,
f

1 Right there and then I began to learn about man's inhumanity

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man.

They started me off by trying to beat the Christian religion'

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into me and the consequences were that the more they beat
and whipped me, the more I hated them and their dam religion.
They beat me and whipped me for doing this and not doing that.
Everything I seemed to do was wrong. Just at that ti~e I was eleven,
twelve or thirteen years old, I was just learning to think for myself.
I first began to think that I was being unjustly imposed upon.
Then I began to hate those who abused me. Then I began to think
that I would have my revenge just as soon and as often as I
could injure someone else. Anyone at all would do. rr I couldn't
injure those who injured me. then I would injure someone else.
From that day to this I have followed that line of thought.
From the time I was twelve years old I have been in jail al~ost
continuously until now when I am thirty-six, I have spent

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twenty years of my life in prison
During my twenty years in all the various prisons and jails
I have been in, I have undergone every kind of abuse and punish-
ment that the ingenious minds of many men could devise and, believe
me, men can surely figure out some horrible tortures to impose on
other men. I have had the whip, the Paddle, the Snorting-pole,
the Humming Bird, the Hose, the Jacket, chained up frontwards,
baCkwards, bucked and gagged, spread -eagled, water-cured, starved,
beaten, thrown into sweat boxes and half-cooked, thrown into
.::,.
ice-cold dungeons and half frozen. I have b~en in solitary con-
finement for years at a time where I could have no privileges or
pleasures of ar.ykind. Evary single thing in life that men hold
worth while and that go to make life worth liVing for, I have been
denied and deprived of. I have gone through every conceivable
kind of torture that one man or body of men can impose on another
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man.
I at~rted out in life enjoying it and hating no one. I am
winding it up now by hating the whole human race including my-
self and having no desire to live any longer. ~or all the
misery and tortures that I have went through, I have made
other ~n go through many times ov~r, only worse.
When I first went to the Minnesota State Training School
I w~s about eleven years old, lively, healthy, and very mis-
chievous, innocent and ignorant. The Law i~mediately proceeded
to educate me to be a good, clean, upright Christian citizen
and a credit to the human race. They trained me all right in
that Training School. There during my two years I was trained
by two diffe~ent sets of people to have two differnet sets of
morals. 'l'hegood people tried to train me to be good and the,

bad ~eople did train me to be bad. The ~ethod that the good
people used in training me was ~o beat goodness into me and beat
all the badness out of oe. They done their best but their best
waan't good enough to accomplish the task they set out to do.
In that school there were about 250 boys ranging in age from
seven or eight years old up to twenty-ijne. These boys were
divided up into five companies or cottages. Each company was
in charge of a manager and a matron. I was first put in Cottage ,
No.2. The ~anager's n~e was George ~ann. The matron's name was
~l1S8 Martin. And a fine pair of Christians they ver-e to have
,in charge of a lot of ~oung boys to train. My first reception
at the school was to be met by Mr. George Mann who told me
the rules. Next he called me into his room to take my pedigree
for an oral and physical examination to be put on the reccrdo of
the Institution. He began the oral examinatton by askirg ~e my
name, parents, habits. schooling, home life and history of my
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associations. He asked m~ if my father ~as insane, was he a
drunk~rd, was he lazy or industrious. He asked me if my
mother was a prostitute or a drunkard, was she educated or
ignorant. After asking me all these questions and explaining

in detail just what each question meant and all about it.
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he then sbripped me naked and began my physical examination, locking
to see if I was lousy or had any kind of sickness or disease.
He ex~mined my penis and'my rectum, asking me if I had ever
committed fornication or sodomy or had ever 'had sodo8Y committed
;--~--' -
on me or if I had ever masturbated. He explained in detail
and very thoroughly just what he meant by these things. That
began my education. I have learned a little more since. This
Mr. George Mann was a Christian, very much so. I wns taught
to pray when I got out of bed in the mornings, to say grace
at each meal -md give thanks to the Lord after It. ;;;esang
bumn ~t each meal. A bible lesson every evening before bed-
time, and then jsut before bed-time to say another prayer. On
SUndays we were sent to Sunday SChool in the mor-nLng and Cl'urch
in the afternoon. Oh, yes we had plenty of Church and religion
all right. I used to be pretty ignorant and not able to read
very well so I always had a hard job learning my SUnday School
lessons. For failure to learn these lessons I was given a whip-
ping. During the first year I was there I used to get a benting every
Saturday night ~nd sometimes three or four more during the
week for doing something I wasn't sup~osed to do or for not
doing something that I was supposed to do. Oh, yes, I had plenty
of abuse. They had various methods of punishing us for doing
wrong and fo~ teqc~ing us to do right. The m09t popular with
them ~as to take us to the "paint shop", so called because there
they used to paint our bodies black and blue.
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'fhe Paint Shop was a very ingenious contrivance for inflicting
the worst punishment where it vou Ld do tho least harm and the most
good. They used to h~ve a large ~ooden block which we were bent
over and tied face downward after first being stripped naked. Then
a large towel was soaked in sqlt water and spread on our backs ~rom
the shoulders do~m to the knees. Then the man who was to do the
,whipping took a large strap about ~ of an inch think by 4 inches
wide and about t~o reet long with a handle on it nbaut two feet long.
This strap had a lot of little round holes punched through it. Every
time that whip came down on the body the skin would come up through
these little holes in the strap and a~ter 25 or 30 times of this,little
blister~ would form and then burst, and right there and then hell began.
The salt wat~r would do the rest. About a week or t"o Inter a boy
might be able to sit down. Maybe, if he didn't sit down on anything
harder than a feather pillow. I used to get this racket rugularly
and when I was too ill to be given that sort of medicine, they used
to take a smaller sbrap ~nd beat me on the open palms of my hands.
Vlhile the other boys were playing ball, skating or s..i~~ing, I used
to be given a Sunday School lesson and made to stand at attention with
my arms folded and my back to the field where the bays wer all playing
and enjoying themselves. Sometimes a dozen of us at a time'would be
lined up like that. "e-'were all sup;osed to go to school a half a
day and work half a day, and the rest of the time learn how to love
I Jesus Bnd be gnod boys. ,Naturally, I now love Jesus very much. ,Yes,
I I love'him so dam much that I would like to crucify him allover again.
I was too dumb to learn anything in school so they took me out and put
me to work all day washing dishes and waiting on table in the officer's
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'dining-room. Right there I ~egan to get a little revenge on those who
abused me. ~~en I served the food to some o~ the officers, I used to
urinate in their soup, coffee or tea and mqsturbate into their ice-
j- cream or desert and then stand right beside them and Ratch them eat it.
(
They enjoyed it too because they told me so. I'wish they eould read
this now.

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Once each week I uaed to be Bent to the laundry to ~t the clean linen
rOT the dining room. One cold winter day I went there and didn't come
back--not right away. I attempted to escape, but got caught, brought
back and dam near beaten to death. But they put me back to work in
the of"ricersl dining room. The next thing I tried to do was to poison
,,
that l.lr. george Mann by putting rat poison in his rice pudding. But
l they caught me, be-it, me and put me out of' the dining room and into the
band. There the first day I learned to play one note and never learned

i law was a boy by the name of Gillespie. He is now the Chieflor Captain
of Police in either Minneapolis, St. Paul or Minnesota.
\l That ~w.George Mann was dishonorably dischRrged from his job
'-.:::---:;----:---;;-
8S Company Comnander of 2d Company, M. S. T. S. , by the then He~d
Superintendent, a Hr. ~nittier who rired him ror co~itting aone kind
i
of immoral act on some or the boys under his c~re. This same Mr. '1ihit
tiel
~ was himself later on dishonorably discharged ror the brutal and inhuman
treatment of the boys under his charge. Allor these t"ings are on file
among the records of the M. S. T. S.atRed ~ing and can be verified by
anyone who cares to look the f'acts up.
After serving aboutt~;o years there, I WCIB pronounced by the Parole
 o o o
Eoard to be a nico, clean. boy of good morals, as pure as a lily and
a credit to those in authority in the institution where I hod been sent
to be reformed. Yes, sure, I WRS reformed all right, d~m good and
reformed too. When I got out of there I know all about Jesus and the Bible
eo much so that I knew it was all a lot of hot air. ~lt that wasnlt all
I knell'.I hod been taught by Christians how to be a hypocrite and I had
learned more about stealing, lying, hating, burning and killing. I had
learned that a bOY~B penus could be used for something besldes to urinate
with and that a rectum would be used for other purposes than crepitating.
Oh yes, I had learned a hell of a lot from my expert instructors furnish-
ed to me free of charge by society 1n general and the State of Minnesota
in particular. From the treatment I received While there and the lessons
I-1 I learned from it, I had fully decided when I left there just how I would

I
!
live my life. I made up my mind that I would rob, burn, destroy, and
kill every~here I went and everybody I could as long as I lived. That's

I the way I was reformed in the Minnesota State Training School. Thatls

I the reasons why. What obhers may have lesrned by the same sort of treat-
ment in other and similar institutions, I donlt know but this I do know
that in later years I have met thousands of graduates of those kind of
institutions and they were either in, going into or jUBt leaving jails,
prisons, mad-houses or the rope and elecbric chair was yawning for them
as it is for me now.
When I was discharged from the school I was given a snit of clothes,
five dollars in money, a ticket to my home and a million dollars worth
of good advice. This adVice I threw in the first ash can with my Bible
and Sunday School Lessons and report cards. The Five dollars I spent
on the train for candy, fruit and a belly-ache. The ticket I used to
ride as far as my home. The suit WqS taken away from me as soon as I got
home. In exchange I was given an old pair of overalls and a hoe, taken
to the field, told to earn my keep by work and the sweat of my brow. That
!
didnlt sound so good to me so I told my folks that I wanted to go to school'
and study to be a preacher and save souls. I put up such a hot line of
talk that it was decided to send me to a German Lutheran School where
the minister taught German to kids in the basement on week days
and saved souls on SUndays in the sa~e church.

+--~ - .- "--'
 o o
9.
The German Lutheran Church and School or Grand Forks, North
Dakota. !
This scheme worked rine ror about a couple or months and then the <'\
kids began to point their ringer at me and yell, "Reform School, "
every time I passed by. Then I started knocking their blocks orr
every time I could catch one alone. They told their parents who told
mine who in turn told the German preacher to do his duty by me. He
did. He started Whipping me pretty re~~larly but I was a pretty big
boy and very strong so one day when he started heating me. I came back
at him and gave him a good scrap but he was too much ror me so he won
that time. But I had learned a thing or two by than. One of them was
a little piece or poetry about a Colonel Colt:

Be a man either great or smali in size,

Colonel Colt will equalize
With that idea in my mind I looked around until I found a kid
who had a big, old-fashioned, heavy caliber Colt pistol. I got it.
The ~ next day at daylight I stole one or my brother's vests, put the
big pistol in the inside pocket, and went to school and the rirst crack
out of the box after school opened up I gave the preacher-teacher
warning to layoff of me or I Ylould rix hi~. I guess he took it for
I granted that" I was blurring or incapble of carrying out my threats
80 iostead or leaVing me alona he immediately got his Whip and ordered
me to the rromt for punishment. I refused to leave my seat. He came
down and tried to pull me out but I held 80 with both hands-and feet.
Then he started beating me over the head and shoulders with the whip,
and at the same ti~e yanking at my coat and vest coll~r to pull me out.
Ehe buttons on the vest gave out berore I did. The preacher geve a yank.
The buttons on the vest tore loose and the pistol fell on the floor
and the preacher with it. He rell on his big, fat caboo~e with his mouth
wide open and his eyes as big as saucers. He was paralized with sur-
prise and fear. All he could say ,!,as,"Uine Gott. :.lineGott, a gun, a
gun," I was not surprised or afraid. I was mad as hell. I jumped out o~
my seat, grabbed the gun and pointed it at thi:nright between his horns
and pUlled the trigger t ':10 or three tines but it wouldn't go ofr. The
school was in an uproar, and during ths excitement I figured it was
a good time ~or me to go somewhere else. I did. I vent home. I thOUght
I was. hero and I figured they would kill the fatted calf' for rae as
 o o
I told my sbory. Instead of killing the fatted calf they dan near
killed me. They had heard the other sjde of the story f~st. and
before I had a chance to tell my end-of it. I got a wallop alongside
of the coco that floored me and the next I knew was that my big older
brother had me by the throat choking me to make me tell where I had
hidden the gun. I told him and when he went out of the back door
to look for it I went out of the front door to look for another one
to shoot him with. 1 have never seen him since except once for a very
short time. That night I r-esumed my journey. to the ":est the.t had been
cut short two years before. I didn't want to be a preacher any more.
I wanted to be a cowboy and shoot me a few wild Indians and tame
preachers. That's more than twenty years ago but I have been a cowboy
aince. I never shot any wild Indians but I did shoot a tabe preacher
once. I shot him right under his shirttail. His name is Reverend
Johnson and he ahs a church and runs a mission in Balti~ore. Maryland
right now. But this happened many years later. At my second attempt
to run away from home to go out and see the world. I was a little
more successful. Since then I have been allover the world. I have
seen it all. and I don't like what 1 have seen of it. Now I want to get
out of thisdamed world altogether.
I was about i3 or 14 years old at the time I ran away from home
the second time. In theory.if' not in actual practice I already 1mew
how to get by in tHe world. What I didn't know I soon learned. I
started out a hobo' and soon learned how to ~idi freight trains and
passenger trains. inside and o~t. without paying my fare. For the first
three or four months after I left home. I hob oed ,my way to the Pacific
Coast and allover the west; sleeping in box cars. barns. sheds. hay- '
stacks or'most anyflhere at all. ~y eating I ~ot by begging and telling
people lies and hard luck storeis'about how I was a poor orphan and how
much I loved Jesus. how I wanted to go to this place or that place.
whichever vay I happened to be going at that ti~e. That's where ~y rich
uncle lived who want~d me to come to him--a lot of buP without any
trutbwhatever in it. But peop~: used to fall for it and feed me and help
me on my way. Sometimes but not: al':lsysso. ! done a little stealing
whenever I could. Sometimes I worked fDr a day or two. One experience
I had during that time I never forgot and it bad a direct bearing
on a lot at my actions later in life.

j 'T'
 -r-,

o
11.
I was riding in a box car one night in the Toest. I was alone and
reeling th~t I 'Kould likc BO!":e one to tall: to, I ,:mlked over the train
until I caCiC to an opcn lumber c~rr. There were four big, burly bums
in it. Vfuen I saw the~, I told them about tho nice warm cox car I
had just left. It was clean and full of str~w. They all immediately
got interested and friendly and told l2e to lead them to it. I did
but I very soon wished thRt I hadn't because just as soon ss we all got
into the car and shut the door. and the tr1in pulled out. they all began
to tell me wheb a nice boy I was and how they would "~e me rich. They
were going to buy me all the silk ur.derwe'lrin the 'iIorldand I would soon
be wearing dia~onds as big as baseballs. In fact they promised me every-
thing in th~ Whole world. but first they wanted me ,to do a little some-
thing for the~. tben they told ce what they wanted fro~ me. I very
aoon began to fl~~e thqt that was no place fer ~e. I didn't want
I:
" any of that ror cine. I told them no. But my wishes didn't ~ake any
difference to them. ~hat thej douldn't get by coral ,er~a$ion they
\
oe-eded to get by force. I cried, begged and plended for mercy,

r pity and sympathy but nothing I caJld say or do could sway the~ from
heir purpose. I lert that box-car a sadder. sicker but wiser boy than
flI was ~hen I entered it.~\fter t~at I always ~ent alone ~~cnever nEd
lWherever possible. I hedpone other similar experience With men. I was
in a ~all town in the ~est on a S~nday arternoon. I ~QS just a poor,
young. ignorant. rrierAlcss and nearly harmless young kid. I was broke
and hungry- and I "ent into a Iivery stable Y'here a bunch of' town loafei's
were sitting around rushing the can snd hitting the bottle. ~hen I
approached the~ and begged ror a bite to eat and told my h~rd luck
..
story about how I loved Jesus and what a good boy I w~s and how rar
,I bad traveled and how old I ~as. they all beca~ deeply interested ~nd

f
very s~pathetic toward ae. They didn't pro~ise me any silk underwear
or jewelry but they had a better scheme thr.nthat. Thoy told ce how
,good the beer was and how ouch bett~r the whiskey ~as. They first orrer~Y
'~e
I a lit~le drink and then a bigger one, snd it rnasn'tvery long until
II W9.S so drunk that I didn't know rTf own nane and soon after I didn't
kn01f anything at,all. But I sure kne"R sOr:tethingwhen I woke up.

These two experiences taught ffiO sevoral lessons. Lessons that I

never forgot. I did not want to learn these lessons but I round ~Jt
r
 o o
12.

that it isn't what ~ne wants in this world that one gets. Force and
might make right. Perhaps things shouldn't be th~t way ~ut th~t's
\ tne w~y they r~e. I learned to look with suspicaion and hatred on
i
everybody. As the years ~ent on'that idea persisted in my mind above
all others. I figured that if I was strong enough and clever enough to
i~pose my will on others, I w~s right. I still.believettat to this
day. '\nother lesson I learned at ths.ttime was bhat there were a lot
of very nice things in thisworld. Among them were whiskey and sodomy.
But it depended on who and how they were used. I have used plenty o~
both since thon but I have received ~ore pleasure from them than I did
those first ti,es. T!10se were the days when I was learning the lessons t
that life teaches us all, and they ~ade me what I am today. It ~'3.sn'tmy
fault that tho te~hers who gave me my instructions were the ~~ong kind
or that the lessons they taught me were the wrong kind. Men made me
What lam today, and if l!Iendon't like what they have made of me. they
must put the blame where it belongs.

I After I had hoboed ~round the country for a few months, I was
finally caught in a s~all petty larceny burglary at Butte, Montana. I
I was held in the county jail where there were 50 or 100 older men put
II in there for all the kinds of crimes and meannesses there are that men
could do cn each other. I was there a month or two under the name of
I V
~~j /;1 Carl Panr:ram. Then I was. tried and sent to the Montana State Reform
, ~.School a t ~l1les City, 1!ontana. There I stayed ne,crly one year. While
there I spent my time either working in the shoe~shop or in the fields
and gardens. ',:'hen
I wasn't doing that, I v-a s trying to escape or
being punished for trying it. I WqS a pretty big boy at that til!le--
very stubborn and contrary, deceitful and treacherous. I had been in
a few small scrapes and all of the officers had orders to watch me c10se-
1'1. That didn't worry me much but there was one offieer'there by the na~

of B~shart. an ex-prize fighter fDom Boston, who made it his special dutj
to make life miserable for me. lie done a pretty thorough job of it. He
kept on nagging at tme until finally I decided to murder him.
Every evening in the schoolroom, he used to sit upon-top of one of the
front seats while he had one of the boys black his boots. He was doing
that one evening, and I got a board sbout 2 feet long and 18 ins. wide
by one inch thick. This boar-d was made of hard oak wood and had about
three or four pounds of iron on one end of it. I took this and sneaked
 o o
13.

up behind him and whacked.him on top of his head. It didn't kill

Ihim but it m~de him pretty sick, ~nd he quit monkeying with me any
imore. For this I got several beatings and locked up and watched closer
\\,~ than before. They were going to indict me and send ~e to the state
~\II '
Prison at Deer Lodge for that but I was too young. As the hul law
would not por~it them to send a 14 or 15 year old boy to state Prison,
they done their da~deBt to make life miserable for me. They worked
me hard and best me harder. You see they ~ere trying to make a good
boy of me. ~~ey took me in the hospital and opersted onme by clip-
ping my fore-skin off to stop me from the habit of masturbation. So
they said anyv:aybut how the hell they f'igured that would stop ~o is
,j'-'
. more than I could see. I can't yet.
At taht time a Mr. Hawkins was Superintendent. His method of

! ,
teaChingus boys religion was to hacmer it into us morning, noon and
night just trw same as they
.
done to me at Red Wing. But it seems
as though we veDe not getting enough religion yet. Hawkins got fired
for stealing the funds of the State and for that money and for the mis-
handling of the boys under his charge. The next man to take up his
job was a devil chasing soul saver, a preacher by the name of llr. Price.
His method was to pat us allan the pratt and tell us all v: hat good boys
he thought we were. He lasted quick. ~e all began to leave his happy home
as soon as we could get "round a corner and then r-un, i\.fterI 'fas here
nearly a year I began to be good pals with a boy by the nume of Jimmie
Benson whose home was in Butte and who was a pretty smart little boy.
Between the two of us ve concocted a scheme that we could both escape the
llameday. He was trusted but I wasn't so he was to run away first and while
he was gone and all of the screws were out chasing him then I Was to blow.
We had a prearranged place to hide until the hunt w~s over and then we were
to meet at another place about 40 niles away. ~e each done our part
and the scheme wor-ked like a c ar-m, Our plans called for a me e t.Lng
place about 40 miles away at the first water tank east o~ Terry, Montana.
The first to arrive ~"S to wait for the other. I arrived thcro first,
on the third night after our escape. I looked around and saw no one
80 I took my iron bar ..
hich I !:adcarried all the way from school
then I walked ~round behind the tank, Lay do\voto sleep, cold, hungry
and tired but free and happy. I was awakened at 4aylight by hearing

.
t
 c 14.
o
someone rattling tin cans and smelling food. I didn't know who
it night be so I peeked around the corner wher I saw a ~an dressed
in a nice blue suit ~ith a big stetson hat on. On one side of him
la~ e. big esck full of clothes and food while on the other W8Jll a bel t
rull of shells and a scabbard of pistol; The 'man was eating and
drinking with his back turned towards Te. I :as hUn~y and wanted
the grUb, clothes and the pistol, so I took m) iron bar and sneaked
up on him and was just about to bounce it off of his head ~en he
heard me cmd grabbed the gun and turned ar-ound so I could see that
it was my pRrtn~r J1m~e Benson. He laid his gun down and I dropped
my iron bar and we began to celebrate. In the sack he had food and
clothes for ~e, which he had stolen a rew miles down the line the
day before by breaking into a surveyor's and homesteader ' s shack.
,

Arter we ate and I dressed up, he gave 'me the gun as I was the biggest
or us two and probably the meanest. Then we were all organized and
ready to do battle with anybody. We didn't go back looking for the
screws who were looking for us hut we were 1n hopes th'1t we might DJeet
one of them, we were both pretty dam hostile and we felt that if we
couldn't meet any or them, then someone else would do to have our
revenge on. It didn't take long for the pair of us to raise plenty
or hell with a lot of different people. I stayed with him about a
month, hoboing our way east, atenling snd burning everytning we could.
He showed me how to work the stick-Up racket and how to rob the
poor boxes in churches. I in turn taught him how to set fire to a
church after we robbed it. We got very bUSy on that robbing and
burning ,a church regular every chance we got. When we got tired
or riding on a train, we used to open up the journal boxes, take

I I
,
l
out the greasy waste pncking and throw some sand or gravel into it.
they wouldn't get far with that car until they had a hot-box. At that
I

time tbe wheat harvest was going on in North Dakota and whole train
loads of wheat would be shipped, sometimes loose in cars. Every time
we saw a car or train loaded like that, ;\-e Viould cr-awl,underneath on
the ~ods "nd cut or bore holes through the floor so that the wheat
would pour out through the holes and go to waste on the tracks as the
" ,,
;1 train was rolling along. By the time we got aa far east as Fargo, North
I Dakota, va had between us, two good six-shooters, each had n good suit
r

III!
, , and about $150.00 in cash be~iG3S v~'ious assortment of watches, rings,
 .....
t'")
.. :/-

15 -.
o
to
and other ..lum that ve had got by the burglary route and by rervesting
the harvesters. At Fargo we split. Jb'nie went back to Butte and it
WgS only a short time later thAt he got caught in a hold-up and sent
to the big-house at ~oer Lodge, Montana, for ten years. I Met H1~
i~ there yenrs l~tor when I myselr was sent there for burglary.

I ,\fter Ji=ie and r__

split up, I went to my home Where I st9yed

I only a day or two ann then I headed west again. Out to the const

II again and back to Montan. where I joined the U. S. Army about 1905
Ii or 1906. I joined the 6th Regular U. S. Inrantry. I was only in
II

I the Army a month or two when I got three years in the U. S. Military
Prison at Fort Leavcm7orth. Kansas. I w~sn't there long before I

I tbied to escape but luck ~as against me. The next thing I done there
was to burn up all the prison shops. That time I used a candle inside
~ .of a one gallon can. In the bottom of the can was a lot of oil soaked
rags. ~ben the candle burned do~n to the ~ag8 that set the whole works
ablaze. She sure made a fine little blaze. a clean l!Wcep. Another
1 hundred thousand dollars to my credit. ~nd-the best Fnrt or it was that

I no one ever found it out until now. I WRS

prisoner nearly all the While I was there. I .as alwRys in trouble
in stripes as a third class

I of some sort. I had a job of swinging an 18 pound ha~~er in the

rock quarry :::lost
of' my bit. My nunber- 1'19S 1874 and '::IY name "''JoS Carl

',J Panzram. There I done 37 months. I done plenty of work. and I had
I
I
,
plenty of punishment and the. only good p'rt or it "''1S that they didn't
try to hammer any more religion into me. My General Court ~wrtial or
If trial was held a t Fort William Herny ll9.rrison.He lena, -Montana. and my

il yeourt proceedings .-.erereviewed by the then Secretary of' Vial' !':r.HOIl''!rd

II j Tart. He r-ecoemended me f'or three years and he Signed 'em. Fourteen
'I~ -years later I had the very good fortune to rob hi~ out of about ?40,OOO

worth of' jewelry and liberty bonds. This happened at his home 1n flew
Haven. Connecticut in the. summer of 1920.

I I was disch~rged f'rom that prison in 1910. Before I lef't there

I I sung 'em the same old ~~ng !Ind gave 'e~ the S~Me line ",bout ho~ I

j sure loved .Tesus md wh.qt a good nice young man I.,.as and ho'lllIlUchgood
it had done me to be sent to that prison. I don't know if they believed
I me or not but they all said they did anyw~y. ?hey all declared that I was

1
rurG ~s a Illy Rnd f'ree f'rom all sin. They told me to go and sin no
I more. I agreed with everything tP..syBaid. They gave me $5.00. e. suit of
!
I
 o o o
16.
-.
clothes. and a ticket to Denver. Colorado. ~ell. I was a pretty
~otten egg before I went there but when I left there, all the good
that ever may havv been in me had been kicked and beaten out of me long
before. All that I had in my mind at that timo was a strong deter-
mination to raise plenty of hell with anybody and everybody in every
way I could and every time and every place I could.
I was the spirit of meanness personified. I had not at this time
got so that I hated myself, I only hated everybody else.
At this time of my life I was about 20 yeara old, 6 foot tall and
weighed about 190 pounds of concentrated hell-fired man inspired mean-
ness. I was as strong as two or three aver-age men. I had to be to
be a.le to stand some of the punishments and labor that I went thru
during my 3 years in the U. S. M. P. One of my tasks and punishments
I while there was to be shackled to 9 50 pound iron ball ror 6 nonths.
~~ing that time I wore that ball and chain day and night. slept with
it and worked with it on. My work was in the rock quarry ~d that was
3 miles from the prison. The gang of about 300 convicts ~d 40 screws"
used to march out in the morning and back at night. The other men
bad nothing to carry except themselves but my part was to load my iron
ball, and 18 pound hammer, a pick and shovel and q 6 foot iron crow-bar
all intoa wheel barrow and march behind the line of cons. out to the
rock quarry and there work for a ! hour-a in the hot Kansas sun, busting _
big rocks and after thst was allover to pack my little iron pill and
my tools into the Irish buggy and wh~el it all back to the prison. There

eat my su~per of stinking cod-fish. greasey stew or mouldy and wormey

.l
") rice or begns. But all of that treatrnen~ ~1d one good thing for me. The
I
I worse the fOOd was and the barder they worked me, the stronger I got. I
!
I
I quit myoId habit of masturbating because I couldn't do that and tbe
I
I
hard work and punishment at the same tioe. When I left there a nd went to
Denver I was busted, and to get a start With a few bucks I took a job
I
/- in a R. R. w~le-skinner's camp. I was there only a few weeks but I licked
I

I
!
everyone in it and ~9 getting all set to go to work on the boss-man
whan he fired me, pulled a gun on me and drove me out of camp. I took
m) pay. went to to.m and bought me a gun, the biggest I could find in
Denver and th~y have some big ones there. ~ith the balance of my money
I went down to the red-light~istrlct figuring on getting good and drunk
and then tqking charge of that ~e~tion of Denver. But something went
wrong somewhere because the next Rrternoon I woke up to find myselr
 o ,....
"- .:

17.
o
laying in an alley feeling pretty sick. I had no gun, no money, My
coat hat and shoes were gone but I had a few l~~ps on top of my head
that weren't there before. And the werst was yet to come about a
week, later when I found that my collection also included a fine first-
.class case of gonnorrhea. I began to susiJe.,:
t.t~~t the ladies ~.erevery
j good things to leave_alone. I have followed th~t policy pretty closely
--- - ---- -" ----------- .- ------ -._. --"- ---_._---
ever since. Onoe in a while since then one would get her claws into me
-- --- - ----------_. _.~ -~-_.-----------_.--------- --
- - .
') but not w~ile I waS sober or in the daytine ~hcre I could see 'em first.
----- _._------- ---- _._ .. -

After leaving Denver I hoboed arJund stealingas ~ went and not

forgetting to take over all the churches I could, until I hit Hutchison
Where the State Fair of Kansas was being .held at the ti,e. There I
joined up as a rider f"or Col. Dickey's Circle D~!1ld \iest show \vhich
was playing with Kliens Carnival Company at that time. I lasted about
a week but during that time I fought and licked everybody around there
inclUding the harses End steers. Then they got tired of me being on
the prod all the time so they canned me. Then I went over to where the
Kansas ~tate Militai soldiers were camped and stole one of their tents
and was carrying away some sacks or oats and grain when the sentry
caught me but he was only a tin soldier and a kid at that so I took
his rifle and threw it in the horse trough and was going to throw him
In after it when qbopt nine thousand more came running to his rescue
....
It was about time Tor me to leave there ~nd go somewhere else. I did.
\ f
I went to Sedalia, Missouri, where they were holding their State Fair.
I In a day or so the Carnival Company with the Circle D. showed up to play
:f
:: but they had had bad luck. The first night's stand they had the mis-
fortune to lose their horse tent nnd cook tent by some scoundrel touching
~ a match to them. I left there right away quick. I went to St. Louis
where I got a job for the C. and E. I. ~nd bhe I. C. R. R. as a guard
and strike breaker. They first sent me to the yards at Centralia,
Illinois, where I started in to lick every union striker I saw. I
didn't see many so I started to likd the scabs and guardi and I
succeeded so well that the Company sent me to Cairo Which was a hard
town with plenty of trouble there. Vfuen I got off of the train a
union picket stopped me to ask me my business. I licked him. A Copper
stopped us :tram fighting and I licked him. Anyway. he stopped fighting
me long enough to bl_ his whistle for help and while he l'1'dS doing that
I figured it was a good tine for me to go .nd report to my new boss.
when I reported to him, I gave him a letter that my former boss at
 =0 :s ..

. " (~
, J.B. o
Centralia had given me to give to hi~. He read it, got up and patted
me ~n the back. told me what a ine fellow I was and then told me to
go out in the R. R Yards and iT I sa~anyone there who had no business to
be there. to knock their blocks off and run ' em ragge~. I told hi~ I
would. and I did-- so T.Uch so that the whole town of Cairo was out to
I '

.scalp me. The next Saturday night being pay day and me having a few
i\- "I' bucks in my pocket and feeling pretty good , I decided to go up town,
get a few drinks and then go and see what the girls in the r~d-light
) district had to offer.
In the first saloon I struck I met a very nice and accoT.odating
j'fellow who offered to show me a good ti~e and a nice girl but first
I
; he had to call her on the phone. He did as he ,promised ~e. He sho~ed
me the town. Something else too. tie took me around the corner and
showed me about a dozen big, hUSky, mad union strikers. They at once
p~oceedcd to see if I was such a hell of a fighter as I thought r \'las.
I wasn't. They cleaned me up in great shape and then the cops came and
finished the job,by throwing me in the can. ~y boas got ~e out of there

I and gave me a ticket to E. St. Louisand'another"letter-to

man there but when I got on the train I tore open and read that letter.
'another boss-

After reading it I decided that St. Louis could try to get along with-
out me. I went to Chicago, looked at the ~oop and the Lake front and
started out for Mexico where there was a ~ar on at the the ti~e. I
figured that a ~exican was easier to lick than a lot or hard boiled
railroaders. Besides I had heard that all of the Churches in Old Mexico
were full of gol~ and silver. Maybe I could get my share. All the Ameri-
can churches I had robbed wouldn't keep me in cigarette money. I left
Chicago hoboing, stealing Any w~y I could and by the tL~e I hit Jackson-

I ville, Texas, I had collected two heavy calibered pistols, some T.oney.
not ~~ch though, and one of the most baauti~ul. curly-haired, blue-e!e~

I l rosy-cheeked, fat boys that I have--_.--

-~-_._-.
ever seen_.1.n.J:lY
---
life ar.d I have seen
some nice boys.
At Jacksonville, TexRs, we were pinched. The cops took my gun

I but le~t ~~ my boy. ~e were both sent to the County road gang at Rusk,
~exas, ~hen we got to the road gang, they gave ~e a chain to wear on my
leg and took my boy away from me. The boss-Man's name was ~r. ~oore. He
took my boy to sleep in his tent. I guess he wanted to sq~e the boy's soul
or something. An~/ay, about three weeks sfter I was there. this Mr. Moore
and one of his officers by the name of AwkNaite or liawknight or some such
a name got Into a hel'! of" a !'ratt!e- and W"m'"~ gufrrg to' sl'rootelI~ o_~.
, Mr. Moore fired Mr. Awkwaite or liawknight or whatever his name was.
i
 (1
19.
o
,
Awk went to to~ and complained to the countyofficai1s and they in turn
came out to the camp, investigated the conditions an! fired Ur. ~oore.
Then my boy was chased out of the 0fficer's tent qnd put ~ack into the
prisoners' tent where I was. Then he told me tales about "T. Moore and
~r. Hawkbright and what a queer pair Df Christiandegenarets they were--
bot~ married wen with families, too. At the time of our arrest and
coninement there I gave the name of Jeff Davis, and the boy gave the
name of John H. Clarke. This was in the winter of 1910 and 1911. Theee
things are all on the records and can be verified by anyone.
My sentence on that road gan~ called for 40 d~ys or ~19.70 at
:;
.50 per day. I finished my 40 days' snd asked the Boss-Man to cut my
chain off and turn me loose but he left the chain on and knocked my
block off instead. The next day I ran away, got caught, hrought back
and whiprcd at the snorting pole. Then I worked 20 days ~ore and
asked the same question of the same man. Hejave me the same answer
as he had before. The next day I tried again to move out with the
same result. ~gauE in five days I tried but that time I wasSuccessful
in my attempt. I walked to Palestine, Texas, caught the trucks of a
fast -mail train, and that night I got into Houston, Texas. ,:henI
got there, the train couldn't get in because the whole town was on fire
so I got off and walked through the town, enjoying the si~hts of ~ll the
burning buildings and listening to the tales of woe. the moans and sighs
of those whose homes and property were burning. I enjoyed it all very
I
I much. Several times people asked me to help them save their valuables.
SUre I helped 'em save their stuff but not for them. I wore some of
I the clothing for months after that I helped to save. The stuff I stole
there kept me in funds and living high until I hit El Paso, Texas.
There I crossed the Mexican border to Jarez in Mexico where I
tried to join the exiean Army but ~he Federals were in centrol there
and they wouldn't accept ~e. I left El Paso on the El Paso and South
Western R. R. going towards Del Rio. At that time I was with a young
quarter breed Indian whose home W~9 in Kalamath FallS, Oregon. he also
told me that he had just got out of the pen at Yuma, ~izona. ~e
palled together for a week or t~o. After leaving El Paso we rode our
way to smoe small town about 50 or 75 miles away. There ~e met a fellow
who told us he was about ~5 years old and that he had been working in
aome R. R. Camp near by and that he had $35.00 on h~. I and the Indian
 j

o
.I
20.
1
got interested right away. We told him a lot of bull and conned him
'J
into wal~ing with us on the wagon rO!ldbeside the tracks to the next
town. ';:estarted and got a few miles where we came to a stretch of
! road with tall mesquite brush ~d greasewood on both sides of the road.
!
no houses in sight and no signs of Bny other people. There I put the

11 arm on him and we dragged him through the fence on the lert hand side
of the road. ":ewalked into the brush ror about 1/4 or a mile away
I from. the road. There we'stopped and'robb~d him of his 35 bucks. I
tied him up and we walked away. We hadn't gone far before the Indian
J
i
said to me that we had better go back and do a.better job tying him
up as I hedn't done a very good job. l.uc~ ,,'"
did be cnuae w hen we got
back where we had left him he was just about loose. This time the Indian
f
)
"
tied him up. First he took his belt off. pulled his pants down to below

I his knees and tied his legs together with the belt and also tied his
I
shoe-laces together, then he tied his hands behind his back. Tnen he
I
,I
tied his hands to his feet pulled up together behind. Then he stuffed a

I sock in his mouth and tied a handkerchief tight over that and then tied
i
1 him to a tree. fiewas then ready to leave him, fib and walk away but I
I
~asn't through yet. I figured that While I had such a good chance as that,
I would com~it a little sodomy on hi~. This I proceeded to do. Then I in-
vited the Indian to take a ride but th~t dam fool was only an Indian. He
hadn't received the rull benefits of civilization yet like I had so he
declined the honor. ~e lert that guy right there in that shnpe. lie is still

didn't care much for their beans and much less for their pepper.
 r:
-.
21.

As I coul~n't do much business inmy line there. I deserted,

but first I stole my horse and everything that wasn't tied down.
J
I rode my horse to death before I hit the border. thoro I left

1 everything I had stolen snd then dam near run myself to death
before I got back to the l~nd of the free and the home of the brave.
I Immediately got busy on the S. P. line from Y~~a. Arizona to Fresno.
California. During this tl~o I was busy robbing chicken coops and then
touching ~ match to the~ I burned old barns. sheds. fences. snow-
sheds or anything I could and when I couldn't burn anything else I
would set fire to tho grass on the praries. or the woods. anything
and everything. I had a pistol and I would spend all my spare change for
bullets. I would take pot-shots at farmers' houses at the windQws.
-j If I saw cows or horses 1n the fields I would cut loose at them. At
1 night while I was riding the freight trains I w~s always on the look-
j
out for something to shoot at or trying to stick up the other hobos that

II I met on the trains. I looked ' em all,over and Whenever I met one
Who wasn't too rusty looking I would make him raise his hands and drop
his pants. I ~asn't very particular either. I rode' em old and Young.
tall and short. White and black. lt made no ~ifference to me at all
f
i
except that they were hu~an beings. During this ti~e all along that
S. P. line. things were pretty warm. The sherriffs. copp0r~ and rail-
1
i road bulls were all hostile. I got pinched a couple of ti~es but it w~s
I in the daytime and during that time I would have my gun and sap ~nd other
plunder planted. &Jt in my pockets I always carried a well-thumbed

II Bible and a prayer-book and a little account book wher I h~d written
down a lot or crap about where I had worRed on different jobs, how
many hours. days. what I earned and a lot of bull like that. So every
time a cop grabbed me. I would pull the old innocent "nd injured racket.
Tell 'em how much I Ibved Jesus and what a good hard-working honest fellow
I was. That nearly alw~ys worked rine. sometimes not.

o II.
When I hit Fresno. California. I got 120 days in the can ror stealing
bicycle. I done 30 days and then escaped. ,;hen I got out of there. \,

,.
I
I
1
I ',,/
I.'} I went ADd dug up my plant where I had left my gun and other stuff and
then started north on the S. P. line.
Mr!
I had not gone far berore I met
Trouble. He took the form of a R. R. brakeman. I was riding

f ;~'" a*u--~~ il~

----- """,'tJ 0-

- ~- ...


o
in pn iron ope~ coal cpr at the time with two ot~er bums. Thoy-
knew nothing about me except the lies I had told 'eY:l.I was sizing
up the youngest ~nd best lookingJ:ono of the two nnd figw'ing when
to pullout my hog-lee and his to 'e~ up. but a shaok oomes over tho
top and bounces down into ~ oar ~nd beGins bawling un all out ~nd
telling us to dig up or unload. He asked us all who we ,.ere 9.n1what
we were. I don't know vrhr.tthe ot!hcr two told him but I pulled out
I

my cannon and told hiY:lthat I was the fellow who 7~nt Around the
.orld doing ppople good ~nd.aSkod him if there was anything that
I had that he ~qnted. He said no and th,t he was a good fellow
and never put ~nybody off of his trains ~nd to prove that he W~8

.a good fello~ he offered to buy us all a feed and offered to give us ~ pIece
of change. He gave me a Piece1Change, all he had ...nd then he gave
me his watch and chain and then he wns so kind as to pull his pants
down while I rode him around the floor of the freight car , '"ben I
.as through riding hio. I told the other two b~s to mount hi~ but they
declined to indulge in t~t ror~ of pleasure. But by ~y using a little
moral persuasion and much waving around of my pistol. they also rode
Brak9~n around. After our very pleasant and profitable, for me any-
way. J,ittle trip was allover. the other three got off to walk. They didn't
want to but they did anyw~y. The freight was rolling along at Rbout
15 or 20 miles an hour so I guess they didn't hurt theI!lselvesvery
much. It didn't hurt me any. I have boen unload~d from trains
going much f~ster than ,~ were then quite a few times and I am still
alIve to r-emember-it. After they got off. I kept rolling <J1onginto
and out of Sacr~ento. through Oregon. up to Senttle. There I got the
an for a short bit. All this tine since I left the prison at Fort
Leaven~orth I had been going under the name ofJeff Davis. Now I
eh9.nged :.lj Ilame to Jack .\llen. Under that name I'l!1!!.s
pinched for high-
way robbery, assu3lt end sodo~y at the Dallas. oregon. I Wqs in jail
there held for the sction of the grand jury. I vas there about 2 or
~ months and then broke jail thore. I ~nven't been there since. Before
I left there one day they put an old snfe blo~er In t~~t can. I
Im:nediately aaked hie to teach me how to blow safes. ue didn't ldQrB: stay
there long enough to teach me that but he showed me ho'.~I could break out
of there. He WqS taken to tioseow, Idaho. to stand trial for a pos~
 .c.~.
office robbery. lie got 5 years in Leavenworth. tater on he got another
and bigger:bit. 110 is still in the can. Hls name WaS .Cal Jordan or Doctor
i Jordan. He also done a bit in the hoose-gow at Salem. or-ogcn, under the mme
of Hopkins. A few days after he left ~he Dalles. I broke jail. This was in
/I. 1912. From there I went to Spokane. ~~ong my loot there was two of the copper:
pistols. Then I b0ught six hack saws and tied 3 on each leg under my sock
and underwear. I then went to ~OSCO\7, Idaho, to try to get the old safe.,.bloTl
out. "":ehnI got there I hid the two guns. some clothes and food and then
walked up to the jail. broke in to it but got caught doing so. and got 30 days I
myself. The thanks I got from old Cal W"s that he thought I was in love with
min and he tried to mount me, ~~t I wrrsn'tbroke to ride ana he was, so I
,
rode him. At that time he was about 50 years old and I w~s 20 or 21 but I was,
'.-'
sirong and he was weak. .;~f"
~hen I got out of jail. I got as far as H\rrison. Idaho, where I got
pinched and put in the can where I at once tried to brenk out by setting fire
!! to the jail. but I got caught and a day or so later I was in the jail at

\ Wallace, Ids.hO.und er the name of Jeff Davis.

I
I
"~ ~
l Some morrtihslater I was pinched at Chinook, Montana. for t>urglary, I
.
~q lck took a plea fo guilty and got 1 year at the state prison at Deer Lodge,

l
1i
\?'/ Montana. When I got there I met myoId
10 years ~
partner Jimm1e Benson who Y/as doing
for robbery. I stayed there about 8 TIonths and escaped. A week

I later 1 TIns arrested at Three Forks, :.:ontana.:for burglary under the name of
Jeff Rhodes. I.ple~ded ~~i1ty and got a year and sent back to Deer Lodge
where 1 was at once brought to court and given one year for ~y escape under t

I name of Jeff Davis'~lt of these three sentences I served 23 months. In that

prison there~as uorz for only a few men and 1 wasn't.one of these. All of thl

I cells were for 2 men In each cell. Eaeh man could choose his own cell-~ates
and get a new one anytime he wanted one. I used to want a new one pretty

I re~lar. At that place and time I got to be an experienced wolf. 1 knew

, more about sodomy than old boy Oscar ~ilde ever thought of knowing. I would
f start the morning with sodomy, work as hard at it as I could all day and

!
f
,
someti~es half of the night. I was so busy committing sodomy that I didn't
have any time left for to serve Jesus as I had been t augh t to do in those
Reform Schbo1s. The \mrden there W:lS a big wolf l;y the name of Frank Conley

..
--- --- -
 (""\'
"

24
;.s
He was the warden of that prison and mayor of the town of Deer Lodge for over

30 years. ~e wound up his carreer by blowing out his own brains because he

was due for a bit ----in one of his own cells for charges of stealing t~ state
--'--:-:----:---------------

~--- funds and for a host of other crimes.

~hen I left there, -----
he told me I was as pure as a lily. and free of all

sin. to go and sin no more~ He ga!e me $5.00. a suit of clothes, and a ticket

to the next to"n 6 miles away. I headed back to the u8st and about 2 weeks

later I ~as pinched for burglary at Astoria. Oregon. The judge and the distrlcl

attorney offered to let me off light if I would plead guilty and save their

county taxpayers the expense of Ii trial. I done so and they didn't. Instead

they gave me t:~~~limit of 7 years. '11'.:.<;n

I gut back to the jail the coppers

laUghed at me, locked the door and went aw~y. When they were gone. I got out

1 or my cell,

all the locks

locked ~ll of the other prisoners

so no one could get in or out. Ynen I went to work

in their cells. I plugged

and wrecked
up

'V~~~ir dam jail. I tore loose all the r~diators and steam pipes. smashed all
, 't"h~electric Wiring took the cook stove. all the dishes. all the food. all
< .'1\1)

')the b Innke t s , mattresses and clothing. all the furniture. benches, tables.
4., '
, :J. chairs, books and everything 'that W"lS loose or could be torn loose and that
). j.l<l
" would burn. Then I piled it all up ans set fire to it. The coppers finally
Y
..I' ~' broke
l'
through the door. put the fire out and locked roe up after first knocking
VJU i Jl'

':'"rmy block off. Then I tried to play crazy but I couldn't 1'001 the doctors.
; ,

'[TheY took me to the State Prison at Salem. Oregon. This was in 1914 and my

, name there waS' JefferE'on Ba Idw.Ln, 7390. I swore I would never do thnt7 years
..~
and I never have either.
I was sent to the Oregon
--
.state .' ,.~.
Prison in 1914 and 'as soon as I got there

I was in more trouble. I swore I would never do that 7 years and defied the

warden and all of his officers 'to make me. The warden svore I would do every

dam day of those 7 years or he would kill me. I haven't done it yeht
I
and I

am not dead but he is. His nR~e was Harry Minto. His method of running the

prison all the time scheming and planning how to escape ~d causing all the

trouble I could. If I couldn't escape. I would help everybody else ~hat I

could. I ~as always agit~ting and egging the other cons on to try to escape

or raise hell in some way.

I finally met a ~lg. tough, half-simple. Hoosier kid in there and I
r , JlJV
~.;vr.r eLL?';
v~)r~'~
n..
,

}IV
 -
25
] steamed him up to escspe. no done everything I told hi~ to and some more
that I didn't. He went to the warden and he asked ror ~ job on the farm. He
got it. As soon as he did he attempted to escape right under the warden's eye.
The warden tore.out to run him down. Hedid. ~ben he caught the kid they were
.a long .:ays in the lead or the other screws who were all chasing him but they
and some ~ or the cons $8W the whole deal. ~hen the warden caught that kid
he at once started to beat his brains out but the kid came back at him and t
took his gun away rrom him and killed him and kept on going on h1sway but nct
very far. The rest of the screws caught up with him and riddl~d him with bullet
hben that warden got killed, they sent his brother, a John ~into~to take.
. ---=
his place. As sson as the new warden got On the job he began to look me up and
make life miserable for me, and I in turn done the Bame for him. I tried to
escape but no l~ck,--caught and severely punished. hext I robbed the store
room and stole a few dozen bottles or Lemon extract which I took out to the
gang in the yard ~d got 'em all drunk and steamed 'em all up to raise hell
and battle the screws. They did just as I suggested. They run all of the yard
screws ragged. I didn't drink at all. Next I set fire to the prison shops and
,
~\JfI figured that I would go over the wall during the excitement but it didn't
i\~ork worth a cent. The fire went good and burned thl!r
whole works down. and
that was another hundred thousand dollars to my credit. But I got caught that
time. They kicked the hell out of me and put me in the cooler for 01 days on
bread and water and then carried me out to a new place that they had just
built especially for me and a few more like me, in one corner of the yard
under the eye of thet~o rifle guards day and night. There they thought they
had us safe ror all time but 1n less th~~ 3 months there were two of the bunch
that escaped. cheir names were Cocky O'Brian and Step and a half SMith. But
~ of us couldn't go so we stuck and when d~ylight came and the screws opened
our doors to feed us. they found 2 nissing. ~owl Then there was hell to pay
~or sure. As they couldn't punish the two who had got away. they took their
spi~e out on the rest of us. TWD of us, me and a fellow by the na~e of CurtiS,
they stripped naked and chained us ~ up to the door and then~urned the rire
hose on us until we were bl"ck and blue, deaf'and hall-blind. T'.is caused
a big investigation by the aroused public and the eonsequences were that
the warden, the deputy-warden, a s~~nk by the n~e of Vinegar Sherwood and
 26.

9 screws "got a can tied on tho~.A ne~ warden cane then. ~n ex-ar~y c,ptain
-
by the name of Murphy, and a pre~ty good old scout he was too~ The ne.~ward-
en's method of running that prison was a radical chahge from the old system.
I had never seen anything done like he was doing. There was no religion
about hin and no brutality. 7hose who wanted religion could have it. There
was no punish~ent of any kind except one and that was to be locked in a eell,
given a bed to sleep on, three meals a day, plenty of books to read and

.
were ~ay over my he,d, and I was too dunb to underst3nd all he told me but
one" thing he did tell ~e that I did understand was this. lie told me that
he had looked up my record and it was ~ust as had as it had been told to
him. The other officers and the former warden told him that I was the worst
man in the prison; and that.:.
they thought I was: the" neane se and most"'co;-:ardly

aegenerate that they hadever seen or heard of. I agreed with what they todd
him....;..7hen he told.me that he didn't believe them at all and he told me I
was not the worst man Ln the pr1son~ I told him to show ::Iea worse .one.
Then he told me the biggest surprise of my life. He told me that if I
auld gl ve h Im my ?;ord of'honor that I wouldn't escape or"try to that he
open the gates and let me outside of the prison to go any da~ place
wanned to go but to r.eback for the count at supper ti",e. I thought for
a few -ninutes and then I gave him my wor-d of honor that he would see me
there for supper ti.e and that I would not try to escape. Even when I told
hi-n that I had not the least intentions of keeping ~y word of honor. I fully
intended to escape at the first chance. but s ome t nf.ngwent, wrong somehow."
Old Boy Spud was as good as his "ord. He opened tho gates and I was free
to go any d~m place I ~anted tal I just stood ther~ dumfounded and so sur-
prised at what I couldn't understand that I didn't try to escape at all.
I just ualked around a little while to see if any screws were watching me
but I didn't see any so I sat down and tried to dope out what it ~as all

about.
Of one thil'!gI was sure. I could have gone if I had car-ed to. And
another tjing I was sure of was that there wasn't any more honor about
/
\ me than the stone I was sitting on. I just thought as I couldn't und'~r-
stand wh'lt it was all about that I would stick around a ',7h11ear-d sec what

... ~.-
 -,

27.
happen and then I ~ould sure be~t.it prter a rew days. That evening I walk-
ed up to the gate or the prison and de~anded to be let in. Spud ~urr-hy was
waiting for ne. lieasked me why I didn't beat it. I told him I didn't know.
He asked me if I vant ed a job on the f-,rm as a tr:u;ty. I told hi:::l
no.,_.
I

(/ went hack into the prison and all the cons told ':lS I W'1S nuts. I ti',ou8ht

-------
so Myself "0 I asked the doctor "0
.::-:--_.~--,~.~.~.=_.
examine me to see if I was crazy or not.
,,----'------
He said I was sane. The \mrdcn gave m~ a job inside of the prison. I worked
._-_ ....
-._-
for hi~ where I never would do anyt~ing right for any other wardens in other

'
prisons. In other jails if they made ne ork, so~ething always went ",~g-
and dam qu Lck too. If they put me to\~2rk around any rnac h Lner-y , it soon'ii'Snt,
<;

~i on the bum, either the bearings bu;nt out o~ ~omet~ing else

But I worked for 3pud all right. -'
He. soon got a baseball team organized and a band. He told me to learn to
I<<tS

'._
sure to happen,

play ball and some kind of music~~ instrument. The tailors made me a band
uniform and a baseball uniform. ~~t I had never had ~n~c~nnce to learn to'
d

play baseball phen I W2S a bOY, nnd I was too d~nb to loarn ~usic. Then he
told ~e to learn how to be a drum wajor and lead the b~nd but"I ~as too
dumb to learn even that) so finally he asked me if I was too dQ':lb to carry a
flag in front of the b~nd. I could do th,t fine. ?very "eek after that the
whole band of 30 or 40 men and the baseball team of 10 or 12 men would load
onto trucks or on the train ~ith only one guard with us and we Would go to
towns allover the State DfqOregon. Th.s outfit of cons had every kind of a
lllongrelcrook.and ,urderer thor was in the prison, some doing life, some 99
years, some 50 some 20 and so on down to 1 or 2 years. The state was in an

..
uproar. The.rapers aI' over the country had their e-ree "on 'Spud :.1urphyand
-
everybody was watching his experinent with interest.
....~" on all aunmer- and during th'lt tine I was put to work
outside the walls as a trusty. A ~~~ fellows escaped but not very many. I
stuek it out that was for about 7 or 8 ~onths and nade no attempt to escape
in any way. I was allowed to stay out late in the evenings till after dark,
just walking around or passing the ti~c away talking, s~oking ~nd enjoying
.lii'e.
There \"1-'S a big hospital close by iDmx where thore WC1'e Ii lot of women
{nurses working .They used to write mash notes and try to date me up for a
,good time. I used to go out once in a While and one night ~hile I was ~~th
~
l:ne of these firlS, haVing a good time ~ith a bottle of booze she had, I not

\ ~'\J.. \,~Ut,
 o
28
being used to drinking MUch, got lo~dcd to the eyes. I .ss pretty drunk
and tho girl was very pretty and nrrectionste. I stayed too late and thon be-'

I w as a pretty dumb slob to stick around

ing drunk I t'1O'..lght there when I coule
be haVing that kind of a good ti::16all the ti::lo.:'he ni~ht ~1'lS -'9.1'::1 and the,

..---..
moon ...
,"'-~._._..;;;.-,----..;:..---------_-..:::.....--------=--
as shining bright. ,\freiGht train Tlhistling down in the yards--
W',9

_C;;;,;;;!l;:;l,;;1,;;;i;,;.n;;,;9
...
...;t;-.;o;...;:n;:.'('~'
_1_w:.f.:i::::g1::!.u::.~,;;e.:d;.;':""::';;'
r.;;.T':.;_~,a::.y~~
.n~sVl~red. 1_ pullcd out of-!.l::.e:,~~
A -ueek

later I robbed a h':use ne:.r Eugene , '<,regon. In the house I ;:;uten a good suit
of clothes, ~hat naney I found I put in my pocket with a 10nded pistol ~h1ch
I found thero. Toen I sat do~n and at~ for the first time in about a week.
IJi~'henI left t~lerc I fel t that I would ratr.er die than be brought back to the
({prison to face Sf-ud ril'..lr,:hy.
I guess that's the resson I hnd courage enough to
put up Po g1..ln'battlein daylight in the ~ddle of a town; me~one against
the sheriff an~ the rest 'o~the to~. ~nywsy~ that's what happened ~n hour or
sc leter. I fired.~nd fOUght until ~y gun was empty of bUllcts,(-~ ,... I was
,e":!pty of !.CQ'T..l~~be.:" ---" .. ,' {r
o '
~',.~/~'i . : . , . '. -
\ -*".I:"~hei-trl~dS'c-;;:
tiu~~~e'!l~ ~av~" M~ ~;- jears ror the 1mrg1!lry and 3 yea~8
,""
for ass1:l,alt
on th~ sherU'f. Elick to.,the prison I ~;ent wher-e no t hd ng ..
73S done
~- .
to me except to Lock :ne up fo-:-a fe" months . \f'terthat the WL'ra,3Ds put me
bsek to work on the inside cf. the walls but he told me that 1n a few months
he would ;ut ~e back outside to work again ~ I was bofore. But that was too

'Ii much ror ~c. I, got busy ~nd got so~e h3ck-sawB and spreader ~nd othor tools
~ and clothes, and one ~orning I made a brc~ from the inside of ~he ~aJls. I
made it clean. 1 have never been back since. I still 0 .6 14 years. there. That
~
happened in ~ay, 1918~7hey gave ~o quite a chase. The whole north~est wns
aroused. ~~e ne~ly organized State constjlbulary uere all ~ter me . So~e of

the State v.iJitia arA all or the citizens in that purt of the country were
art~r ce and ~re~ards ~ were orfered for me but it done the~ no goed.
Luck ~as ~ith ne and I got clear away.
The war ~ns on at that tine and the country was pret~y hot. Every once
in a while I was picked up and eith~!' t:.lrnedloose or broke 1001"0. I took the
~~name of John O'Leary nnd I registered for the aroy draft at Meyersdale, Penn-
~~J.YSYlV~nia. They pat oc 1n Cl~ss l-A. 7r.at didn't sound good to ce so I kept
on noving. I ~ovcd into Balti~ore nhere I worked ror a f~w cays nt Sparrows
point qnd then wont in~o Baltinorc, bought a g~n and met a nice boy. T~e boy
told me a good joint to stick up at Frederick, Md. There we go to the hotel
where I registered n~ John O'Lenry. ~hat the kid's nnoe ~s, I don't know
 n n '1
-I
29.
or care. At two o'clock that morning we went down into the lobby of the hotel
and stuck up the joint. My end was better than C,120qpO and gave the kid
about a couple hundred in small b111s and about lOpounds of silver. :.here
he Ylent I don't know.

IJV r:
~~ ,: went to New York to see what !!ladethe lights so bright there. I found
Later I joined the Y. IA.C. A. In llell'
Yor!r, ~arine Firenans

It ;:':~';.'::':'::;;;:;::~'~:";:;'~:':.:::::: ::::,::,::::::":::d:"::.:: :::h

those credentials I joined a ship, the Janes S. nnitney of the Grace Line. ~en
...
to Panama and from there to ?eru where I jum~ed hal', went up to the copper'
mines at Cerro De Pasco, ',:orkeduntil the strikd ':,nd
then went to Chuqui-
cornatti, Shile, where I worked for the Braden Copper Corporation a short time.
then back to Panama where I signed up as a labor foreman for the Fortification
Division. U.S. Government. A short time there and I went up the coast of
Panama to the i31and','0f'
BOcus, D"l 'J.'oro,
'ohara I Tlorkcd driving niggers f:or'
. ;U

,tt)------
the ~n!lJll.iI:,~Q:n".$~'?m'p}l}'y..,t~
They sent me,to take charge of a gang '"ay up in the
,

Talamanca Indian countrv. Not long there until I was fired for fighting any-
~J~OdY 9nd everybody all the tine. This was in 1919, and I was still using the"
~fi;:~name of'JOhn, O'Leary. I burned the oil well rig at Bocas Del Toro for which
":~~rth':'..'f.inchir
_~: Co,::!::::!
offered _~500 _.::.e,~a:;d
but no one ever g~t it ~.
V~!\S~{~~
learned a little about uncivilized people .,hile I wa s up, in the Talaman
~ ~\ii. 'l~ ,
;,\ rca Indian country in Costa Rica and Panama and what I learned I liked and want
~/:.\.
.~1~ ~d to learn some more about them so when I got back to Colon, Panama. I inquir
ed around a bit and found out all I could about a race of Indians who had
not been contaminated or civilized yet by the other civilized people. Those
Indians were a t~ibe called the ~an Blass Indians who lived in the Darian
countiry in the mountains and on the islands down the coast of Panama. At
Panama City I got a legation passport issued to me by the U. S. ambassador
there. But I had to have a boat to get do\Yn the coast and not having the mone~
to bUy one I set out to steal n small schooner. I :~nted around until I found
one I liked. Then I huneed around until I found a hard-boiled sailor who
would listen to me. Bet\1een us we concocted a scheme to ste" 1 that schooner
and kill the owner. captain and crew,. There were six of' them on board of her

L
 :30.

The tV/Oof us got all ready to do the business but the other fellow got to

drinking and while drunk, he alone went to tho schooner; killed all of the

six men out he was too dr-unk to nandLe the schooner and the consequences
(
were thnt he got caught. He was tried in t~e court nt Colon, ?ana~a, and the

court sentenced hi~ to. 18 ~onths for his crime. I was in the clear. I stayed

that way by getting on a Panama R. R. S. S. The General Gothals or the S. S.

Colon. I don't know \"/hich. I came to the states on her and joined the [,. S.

~~ouma, An oil tanker and wont from N. Y. To Port Arthur, Texas, and from there
I~
V' to Glasgow, Scotland. There I robbed the ship and everybody on her for which

I got a short bit in Barlinnie Prison at GlasgO\~. Sco t Lo nd , ','hen I got out

of there I had money and my old Panama Passenger's passport.

I went to London, to Southhampton. crossed the channel so Le Havre in

France and up to Paris. Had a good time but soon broke so back to LeHavre

where I j~ined a ship to Hamburg. Germany and a few other ports in LUrope

and then back to the States. Landed broke and went to Bridge:-ort. Connecticut,

Where I robbed a jewelry store. 1 got about ~7000worth of stuff but my end

after peddling the lot was ~~500. ~hen I signed on the S. 5. tianchuria and

went to Hamburg, Ger~any. and had a rEll of a ti~e with my l5JO American

dollars and German marks at 60 ttothe dollar. In 9 days I was broke and came

back on the same ship. ::''lCk in NewYork in the sur.ncr of 1(;20 I t::ink--June

..2:::.1$ ~Y,~~~~::tst.
0!-.,;rllly. !-~~:
d.S!,: aft;;...!-got~y1?sc.JU));'01~~tJl-11
.....
~e~ ~;anc~ur1a

.~Jt-I
\
~Ient up t~ ~cw nave::, y.~on~,.c:tl~ I,. X:0Sl'~r;.? ..h?!:le o~Rr.le"""J:l9J-n
:.....'1'l:,ere.

~, .t}~~t pl?ce. I go:.. about ~J~:?:~~~~E.th. of ,Je~::~!!

a~ l;bert! bon~s: Tg,e1

"-~~_ , ....
were signed and ~~~~~:red2Lt!l.-ns.,'lle_of \'/~ ~. 'raft, "n?-ilrnon~ t,he. .i O'\'Ie
lrl
was a watch with his name".Qnit
--. tl7' __
,presented to ru,mbv some oongress or senate
.~""" ~ ......
- . ......-.- -~.- .~-.; ,..; --_"'" .~~......,...- _ .. ~

~hlle.;:_.::~..:,;~e _\,?yernor _.Gene~.al.

?CJ;J:Wh}-)llJl1E~ I.;'land;> .~,.,;\'2--I know ~t
was the same man who hed given me my tr~eo years in the U. S. ~. P. wh

he was cec,etary of ~"ar about ~906. Out of this robbery I got ~3000 in ~

~-cash and kept scme of the stuff. (::-:'h~hat mo~ey I boug.'1t a yacht .--t:;e

U_Aklsta':, lier i!!itials and registry numbers "."ereiCUoB.C;.107 ,29?J-eu.?

On my yacht I had quarters for five people but I was alone. for a while.

Then I figured it ":;ould be a good plan to hire a few sailors to:.ork for me,

get them out to r;ry yacht, get them drunk. commit qjodomyon the'] rob theIl)s.nd

then kill them. This I done. Every day or two I would get plenty of booze

by robbing other yachts there. T~e B3rbra II was one of them. I ro~bed he~ ani

a dozen or so othe~s ~ound there. I was hitting the booze pretty hard my-

fleIr at th~t ti::le. Every day or two I would go to HewYork and hang around
 31.

25 South ~treot nnd oizo up t~c snilorn ~hcnever I ssw a couple who ~ere

about my size ~nd seaned to have monoy I ~ould hire the~ to work on ~y
yacht. I I'!ouldal',7'1.y'1
pr-omi.e
e hig pay 'md ensy "'ark. ~.11.nt
t~l:JYgot W9.B some-
thing else. I would take thao and all their clothes and r,ec,rout to ~y
yacht at City Island. There 1'l"0 would wine and dine &00 vlhen thoy wer-e drunk e
enough,.they wcu Id go to bed. ";:henthey ware asleep I would get my 45 Colt ..
A~ AUi;::mntic,~
..I stole f"ro!:l
:ir. T'1f"t'shOr.Je,and blow their brains out
Then I would take a. r-ope UnG tie a r-ock on them and put them into my row hoat,
1'01'1 out in the main channel about 1 cile nnd drop 'em ovcr board. 7~ey are
there yet, 10 of..'on. I worked that racket about;; weeks. ~;y boat ','as!'ull
o~ stolen stuff". nnd the :;::oople
at City Island ~ere boginnir.g to look queer
~t me so :11.0next two sailors I hired I kept alive and at work. One was
tlalJedDelaney "nd the othc1' "fiS Goodman or Goodwin or something like that.
The tr~ee or uo on cy bont pulled out one d~y. findwent as fnr ~s Graves End
Eay .~~~ York, ~hcre ! robbed another y~cht. Thoy knew it but I rigured on
killing thc~ b~th in a day or two. BUt ~e only got ~9 ~ar down the coast as
Atlantic City. U.J wher-e oy yncht was wrecked. T/ith everything en her lost.
The three of us got ashore alive. The other two I paid off" and where they went
)~ don't ~cno\Vor care. I"mis sick at that ti=w and J..Dr. Char},.es','cGive,rn
~

t. V took car-e of' me there at his home f"or a week or so. liitlI gnve a few pi~cel!l
~\r of je~elry of Old Mnn Tart's. I also gave hilJ the 45 Colt automatic, that
~Y\ro
~~~l I done the killing With. I left his home ~nd went b~ck up to Connecticut
}J)'{ looking f"or another ~40,OOO, put I ;;:otd"lC I:!onths.
in the e9.n at BridgeP2rt.
v~~conn~~~~, inste~d 1'01' burg;qry. I dono that six months nnd while there
I bcrro\>ed ~lOO.OO f"rO:!l
OJ' doctor Gh1l.rles:JeGivern. hen 1 got out 'of"the
,
can I '."lent
to I'hiladclphia. There I got my Colt 45 b'l.ckfro:n the doctor.
Then I joined the Plying ~quaaron of" the Seamans Union who vera on strike
at that ti~e. A rew days later I got into a gun bqttle ~ith s~~e scab sailors
and the cops. Tho cops Tion. I got pinched and held for the grand jury urAer
the ch:lrgcs or Aggravated assault and inCiting to riot. I got out on bail
and im'!lediatelyju:nped it. I went to JJorfolk, Virginia, got a ship to Europe
and robbed and jumpGd l:er when I got l:here. From Europe I ..
:ent down to fllatid1
\ in the Belgl~n Congo. Africa. From there I went to Loanda Angola, Portugese
,"1'1 .JI
l
\ Ii 7.est .~.t'rlca.
There I went to work for the ~lnclair Gll COl:'lpuny.
t.lJ:'ivlng
niggers and I sure drove the hell out of them too. I \1ssn't there long bef"ore

( I decid~d

~~rlcan
to get me a nigger girl. I got one. I paid a big price
I boulSht hel' rrom her nother and fRther
zoney. The reascn I paid such a big price
1'01' 80 esc~ud!!.sor about
1'01' her was because
1'01'

ea.oo
her.
in
 ,r-;,
32.
o
sbe was a virgin. Yah so she said. She was about 11 or 12 years old.
I took her to my shack the first night and took her back to her father's
shack the next.XJ I demanded my money back because they had deceived me
by saying the girl was a Virgin. I didn't get my money back but they gave
me another and younger girl. This girl was about 8 years old. I took her to
my sh~ and maybe sbe was a Virgin but it didn't look like it to me. I
tock ber back and quit looking for an~ore
, virgins. I looked for a boy: I
found one. He was our table \'laiter.I educated him into the art of s$domy
ae pr~cticed by ciVilized people. But he was only a savage and didn't apprec1at

.
the benefi t~br civilization. He told .myboss and the boas-man fired me qUick~._
. .

but berore~he did I licked the hell out of him. They cbased me out of the
jungles ot Quimbazie where that happened and I went back to Loanda. There
J~~nt to thc.U. S. Counsul, a Mr. Clar~, but he had heard all about me and
my ways ~nd he would have none of me, I left his office and sat down in
a park to think things over a bit. "hile I was sitting there, a little nigger
boy about 11 or 12 years old carne bu~~ing around. He was looking for something.
He found it too. I took him out to a gravel pit about 1/4 mile from the main
camp of the, Sinclair Oil Compan~ at Loanda. 1 left him there, but first I
committed sodomy on him, and then ~illed him. His brains were coming out o~
i~ his ears when I left him and he will never be any deader. He is still there.
l 1 Then I went to town, bought a ticket on the Belgian steamer to Lobito
Bay down the coast. There I hired a canoe and 6 niggers and ~en~out ~unting
in the bay and back waters. I was looking tr~crocodiles. I round them, .q
,'-

~,(~<J, plenty. They were all hungry. I ~ed them. I shot all six of those niggers and
~\{;
J. I dumped e'!1in. The crocks done the rest. I stole ,-"air canoe and went back
I
o f1l'~ ---....
I to town, tied the c~noe to the dock ~nd :hat night someone stole the canoe
tram me. Then I bought R ticket on that sa~e Belgian steamer and went back
to Loanda where I again went to Mr. Clark, the U. ~. ~ounsul and bummed h~
for a ticket to Europe but he gave me the air and set the cops after me. That
night I "ent to the house of a Spanish prostitute and robbed her of $10,000
eschudas. ~ne also set the cops after me so I beat it. I couldn't get out o~
there by rail or by ship 58 the cops were looking for me so I hiRed out. I
hiked north for the Belgian Congo, 300 miles way, thru A~brizett and Ambreeze,
up to the mouth of the Congo Rclver at San Antonio. There I hired a canoe
and paddlers who took me across to Point Banana. There I bOUght a ticket
on a French ship to Boma and from there up to llatidi. Tnere I stayed about

month. T.~enbroke and couldn!t get a ship. Isto~ed away on a U. S

 33.
r)
ship, the West Nono. ?hey carried IDS a,.fflr as Axd.1nO on the Gold Coast and
dumped me there. I va1ked to Secondee and there robbed some lime juicers and
bought a ticket on th~ Elder Dempster, S. S. Patonie. On her I got as far
as Las Pa1mas, and there the U. ~. Counsul didn't know me 3nd I gave him a
lot of ~~ll and he bought mea ticket en p portugose ship to Lisbon, Portugal.
~ben I got there I at once went to the U. S. Counsu1 to try to get a
!!It' ship out but I got hell instead. He kntl:wall about me .! lIr. Crandall, ~a
6 - d~fector of the Sinclair Oil Company, had been there a few weeks before on
1/ACU~
.~ hi:;!way, from Loanda, and he told tho Counsu1 all about me. That afternoon
n~~1 stowed away on an English coal carrier that took me to Avenmouth, England.
r A day or so later I signed on a U. S. Ship as a counsu1' s pn ssenger- to New
Yank .This was in the sumner of 1922-.
Just as soon as I got to New York I took my old license as captain and
owner and my bill or sale ~,hich had been given to me in the Customs lIouse
1n New York City rormy old lost yacht, the ,ck1sta, and ~nt and saved all
. I

or this t1me from 1920 until 1922. I got a new license and set of papers I

by turning my ~ld pnes in to the Customs House in New York City. '1 kept these
'new papers and began looking around for another yacht of the same s1ze -and
kind so I could steal her, take her name Rnd number off and put mine on.
In JUly at Salem, Mass.,I murdered a 1] or 12 year old boy by beating'
-"''''''''KlQ aU! I'L - !'lilT 4._!~_,.,.~~ ... -t.AJ~,i

b1s brains out with a rock. I tried a little sodomy on him first. I left
him laying there with his brains coming out of'his e-z-s , c eme down tOYllJ.pds
N. Y. --robbing and hell-raising as I came. That same summer and ra11 I went

I
,I
through Philadelphia to Baltimore where I bought a ticket to Jacksonville,
Florida, on a boat. At Jacksonville,
Rouge, La., paid off there and went to the Marine Hospital' at N~w Orleans,
I signed on a ship and ~ent to Baton

stayed there a month or two and when I left this hospital, I robbed their

\\f...
\G-ug-room
L.
~f two suitcases rul1 of drugs, cocaine, morrhine and opi~. Sold
, some in New Orleans; some in St. Louis and the rest_ in New York. In J~nuary
or February, 1923, I got a job as a watich-re n at 220 Yonkers ,'.va. Yonkers, N.Y.
for the Abeco 1.;illCo. ;.We there I met a young boy 14 or 15 years old whose
name was G!7orge and wnoae home ',:asand is in Yonkers. I stnrted to teach him
the f'ine art of' sodomy but I roundthathe had been taught all abouth it and
he liked it riue. I kept him w1th me until I left that job in April 1923.
A_l'l0nthor two later I got a job as watchman and caretaker of boats.at tha
Jj.r~r1
. \-" .
'- -:!'
-'7r,~ +; ~p- _
 34.
\~ H~en
\)~",~W Yacht CJub at N~w.Hqven, con~:__I took very good cure of their
boats, so ~ch so that I robbed one the next night. The name of the yacht
I don't know but the owner of it was t.hePolice Commisioner of No.v Rochelle,
N. Y., o~ some place near there. Part of my loot was his pistol, a 38 Colt
double-action side break g~n. A few ~eoks laterjabout ~ay or June I stole
a yacht at irovidence, Rhode Island, I sailed it as far as New York. I was
alone until then. l\t New York I,picked up a Jdd about 18 or 20 years old,
took him on the yacht with me as fqr as Yonkers. There I let hi~ go back
to liewYork. At Yonkers I picked up my other kid, George. I took him along
on the yacht to Kingston, N. Y. There I painted the yacht over, changed
the name and numbers to correspond With my papers. I tried to sell the
boa4 there and while doing so, I met a fellow who said he ~anted to bUy my
boat but Lns t e ad of that he got out on the y,ehtwith me wher-e we' wer-e
laying at anchor. There he tried to stick me up but I WqS suspicious of
his actions and was ready for him, and I shot him twiceviththe sa~e pistol
~~- 'I had stole fr0m the Police Commissioners yacht at New Haven a snort time

before.
A~ter I killed him I tied a big hunk of le~d sround him with a rope and
threw him and his gun overboard. ue ~ there yet so far 3S I know. Then I
sailed down the river stealing everything I could as I went. I got as far as
Newburgh,'N.Y. There the kid George got scared and I let him go home to
Yonkers. :-,henhe got home he told the police all he knew about;me which 'Sasn"

5 or 10 thousand dollars and that I would give it to hi17lif he got me out
of jail. he got me out and I gave hi~ the boat and my papers. ~.nen he went
to register the ~oat he lost her because the owner from Providence c~~e

and got her.

Vii h A feV! d'l.yslater I v.enf to lle'll

Haven ';;hereI Jc1.l1edanother boy. I
committed a little more sodo~y on hi~ also and then tied his belt around
his neck and strangled him, picked him up when he was d ead and threw his bod3
over behind seme busQes. ~ent to New York then and got q job as a bathroom

- -
o~ me going to China I got fired fer baing drunk and fighting. The.
next night I robbed the express office at Larchmonth. N. Y. And got
4

" 't.
r
I
r':\
e:'- )
35.

caught in the act, tried at ~hite flains. N. Y for bt~gl~ry. sent~nced

to 5 years at Sing &ing Prison. Soon after I WAS trRnsferred to Danne~oaJ~

Prison for incorrigbles. ~ere I stayed 5 years;, I was th"re only a rew

months ~hen I made a time bomb and tried to bt~n do~n the shops. The screws
--------:---:-:-:c-:c-::-:-::-:-:-:-:------=--~-_::::_--_:___:_:~_:_:~----:.--
ll",l!.?undit but didn't blame me for it. They put the blame on a c cup le of other

~
rt)J;-'I", guys and, put those two in the Isolation. A short ti~e leter I atteopted

~r to escape. I failed. At that time I broke both ankles, both legs, twisted

ACO'my back and ruptured myself. Then I was locked up for about six months

v'~ or more. Then I tried to murder a con. I sneaked up behind him as he was

. :wi sitting in a Chair and I hit him on the back or the ne sd .7ith a 10 pound

~CIUb. It didn't kill him but he Was good and sick. and he left me alone
f/~ b,/1-A9J.
after that., Then I Was locked up for a fp.w months More. ::y ruptured testical

had been bothering Me and a new dcetor eame to the prison. He took me in

the hospital and cut one testical out. Five days arter my operation 1

,tried to see ir my sexual organs were still in good order, I got caught

trying to com~it sodomy on another prGsoner. For that I v~s thrown out of the

hospital and PUt in the Segregntion Bldg., or the Isolation. I stayed there

until my time was up,--two years and four months later. ~nen I Was discharg- '

ed I was told that I was as pure as a lily, free from all sin. to go and sin

no more. 18 days later I com.~tted 6 or 8burglarles and 2 dnys later I

c~itted a murder in ?hiladelphia, Pennsylvania. A week lafer I comnitted

a burglnry in Baltimore, 12 days later a burglary in ~ashington, D. C. ?he

next day or two I com~itted 2 more burglaries in Baltimore, T~en I WRS

arrested in Baltimore and brought back to ":ashington, D. C. ';.here I w;s put

in the D. C. jail and soon after I tried to escape but got caught snd here
.... "7

I am now wajt5ng for to see which way the wind blows and ~crhaps'the electric

chair. the rope. or the mad ~ouse. It makes very little dit'ference to me

either way. This I hope will be the finish of CARL pnlZ~A!.r. with that name ,

as I started in life and changed to John Q'Lesry, Jerf Davis. Jeff Rhodes,

Jeff' Ba'LdwIn , Jack.llen ''Dd back to Carl Panzr-nm ,

 1.

-Torquem~da, the chief inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition,

when that institution was in full bloo~ was known as the world's
greatest torturer. rne methods and all er the instruments that
he used to inrlict torture on other human beings were all very in-
genious, but they wer-e very crude compared to those in use today.
I have been to Spain and while there I have visited their museums
and big cathedrals where some of those old time implements were cn
view. I looked tern~llover. I have read many books which told of
the methods then in use. The rack, thw Wheel, red hot irons to
burn out the eyes, pinchers to pull off parts of the body, fire to
burn am '"at",rto drown. I have seen and read of them all.
Everything I have ever seen or rend on this SUbject rnak~sme con-
vinced that. though ti~e ar~ mp.thods have changed, ~en are:the sa~e
and .the -vcbua L results !lrethe same.
Torture, pain and agony is a relative thing.
When pain reaches a certain potnt, then it has reached the lL~it

and can be nu worse .

The history of mankind goes back for onl-y a few thousand years but
men lived and died on this earth for uncounted thousands of years before
the dawn of history as men know it today. Yet in all these thousands
of -years men have learned little. The men of the world today are doing
the s~me thinBs that their ancestors done ages ago. Men have always
had intelligence which never has increased--only knowledge hqs kept

advancing.
The knowledge that men have gained by observing the dirf~rent kinds
of torture used by different men in different times and places have all
gone into the making of what I believe to be the last word inthe rine

art of putting men to torture. The absolute quintessance "nO.supreme acme

of an old and fine are.
-t The Humming-Bird
<....
This bird is not a bird and yet this bird is a bird. This isn't
the kind of a "bird that has feathers and rlys through the air enjoying
life and freedom as nature made it and intended that it should.
Tlrlsbird is a bird that was conceived in the mind of another bird.
0-
That one~ was a human bird, ~ buxzard of the m,man specieo. He sure must
have been to figure out a device that would int'lict the=i= of corporal
 (':\
0_" G.

corporal puniShment with the,mini~um of harm to huoself and the cost

exquisit anguish on the vict1c of the HUEk~ing Bird.
This,bird wasn't made of any feathers full of the spirit of life.
It was made of steel. watetr wire, a sponge and a little electricity.
Yet it was alive'. That doesn't .sounua s though it held nuch a hell of

torture as it did.
First, an ordinary steel bathtub in which was 4 or 5 inches of ice
I' cold water. The victim is layed down in that and there chained hand and
f9ot Then the chief torturer enters the scene. lie is dressed in his
ordinary clothes and has only a rubber slicker and a pair of ruhber gloves
on his hands. In his hands be holds a co~on sponge. This sponge is
connected to an electric battery by wires. The switch is turned on and
the torturer advances on his victim. He first begins on the sales of the
feet by gently rUbbing the charged sponge there. and then gradually work-
ing his way up the body to'the head. The sensation of the victim
are that there seems to be millions of red hot needles sticking into him.
The agony is intonse. Two or three minutes of this and the Victim is
then all rea::'yfor either the grave or ~ mad-house. Yet there is not
a single mark or bruise,on his whole body. -
A physiclian stands beside the Victim and every few seconds feels t'ce
pulse and examines him. ~~en he jUdges that the victim is exactly on the
verge of madness or ,:eath, he gives the signal to switch off the current.
Then the victim is taken out of the bathtub and thrown into a cell where
he is left for'" few days or ;7eeks.,At the end of that t tme he is either
a helples and hopeless idiot or & r~.~~g maniac.
There are hundreds of men in the world today ~ho have undergone this
form of torture. ;,:ostof them are in their graves, some are in m!ldhouses)
some in prisons or jails and hospitals. and some are out mlki::g the

streets today.
7nis system of torture was practiced for many rears and all that
time there were a lot of people who heard of it and investigated and
tried to stop it. ';;henthey f1:f'stbegan to investigate the rumors, they
had heard they ~ere met at the gate by a big, fine, prosperous. benevolent-
looking gentleman who at once told them what a fine prison he had and
~ a wonderful place it was. Oh ~es. he was a very religious man and
a very law-abiding citizen. Ln the surface everything looked rosy and
very fine. The food the com:nittee saw was very good. The prisoners made
 c
no epmplaints or very few. The doctor wbuld prove th~t he also was
a very fine fellow snd thqt anyone who said different was cra,y and nct
to be believed. I t is the nature to be deceived very easIly by those
who ~ish and have the power and the intelligence to do so~ People
believe what they want to believe. Truth isn't liked

L_d_on_'..:.t_r_e_e_l_=~c_h_l_i..:.k~e_d_o_i_n.::g:...-a_n.:.y:--w~r_i_t_-
~i_n:::g:-o:j_u_s-=t--=a-=t=--t-=h~i_s
-=e~.--.:I
am still s little bit diz7.Y from thatlnst be3tin,3 and the toO"ture at
the post. 7Jr
.r1VVJ ;v,
A tt1fS\ <f\ AllI v-
I have a lot of things on my mind just a t this ti"le to think abcub ,
I am pretty well upset ~nd any writing that I do now will prob~bly be
pret y well -uddlad up but later on when I f,'"l petter and the conditions
i. for thinking and putting ely thoughts in writing. I shall oblige you to
the best of my feeble ablity by -"'r1.ting
the true fs.cts of r.1ylife his-
tory.
And the worst is yet to come,
A little me~ner and ~eaner.
Every day in every way.
During t.he p?st few weeks there have been about R dozen newspaper
r-epor-t
er-s around here wanting to talk to me but I we'uldn't talk to
any of them. They done me plenty of harm and none of them ever done me
any good. I Jon't care to talk to them but I would like to give them
this what I have written and see if they will publish this the truth
instead of a lot of hot air and guess work as they have been doing lately.
Carl Panzram
The Hu~ing Bird died in Ohio where it was born but before it
died it hatched ~ut another bird and that is ~he electric chair.
Time g~s on, customs change but nen renainthe same and the
final results are the same today ~s they were aees ago.
This world I don't ~ike and would like to leave it and see if the
other is better or ~orse. -----w~ _
This whole joint seens to be upset today. Everybody ~p in the air
on their ear-s, First some bug started whistling a nd cursing the rr-eacher-
at crmr-ch tine. Then some other nut tried to burn the joint down , ~hen
the Buz Doctor' C'i'7!ehere and exaru ned me to see if I was nuts. The screws
have been hopping around all day ~utting guys in the cooler and chaining
'em to the post. This dam joint is so full of nuts that I am think-
ing they -i r-e all nuts except me. Anyvlay, I dan t t; do any "'riting or any
real thinking. ait until I can get a lot of things offmy ~ind and then
I'll write some nore.
 "-
....J 4. o
This whole system was all exposed and stopped years ago
(

in the Ohio State Prison and other places by Miss Ida Tarbell of
Oklahoma. She was a writer who specialized in that kind of
writing for years but she was final1y bull-dozed and bribed into
writing for the conservative press and t~e orthodox people.
Mr. Upton Binclair is another writer whose writing along
those lines caused him so much trouble by the people that he

7 exposed that he was driven out of this country and now lives
abroad except for short and infrequent visits to this, his ~
own country, and while here he goes around with body guards, The people

don't like to be told the truth.

M./-; .;",>VI
C.,)". .~r;3
fv>.<
..~.~~
cJJ1A~ ?
~
Right today, not last year or q hundred years ago, there are
many, many places and many many people whose sale business in
life is to torture and mistreat other men.
_Men t"ught me all I know, and what they' done to me I done to them.
~.....::~--_.--.:---_:--------
~ght ::lakesright.
This being the case, then ~e are today what we were a million

years ago.

___ ... M
o I was going to v.-rite
~.-'
lot more of this but I cut it ShO.:")for
several reasons.
e..-..J-
Today I was notified to get myself ready for trial nnthe 12th.
Today a couple more carpers came to me looking for a lost murder fI'om
Rhode Island. They must look somewhoDe else for bim.
Today my eyes are getting worse.
Today my right hand is hurting me too much to write
Today I am weary and all through.
During the past few weeks I have made several confessions. Each
one about a separate case. All Of these different confessions are parts of
one complete series of acts. You have the only full and cqmplete confession
~ have ever l!1ade~ -..
_no. _

If you check up on the lot. you will find that everything I have
written down is the full truth.
You probably will never check up on all of it but if will just
cbeck up on one bit of short time--those 36 days I was free before I got
pinched this time and when I was released from Dannemora, July 6. 19~8.
until August 13. 1928.
You will find that I committed sodamy about 25 ti~es; burglary
12 times: murder 1 time.
And I was just getting all set to do a wholesale business in
all these lines.
Maybe I am wrong but I think that if these words that I h9.ve
written should ever be handled by the right people in the rigr-t way,
something would sure pop. Maybe my neck and maybe more.
I 60 know that there are a hell of a lot of people in this world
who would give a lot to see what I l~ve written. The D. A. for one. ~he
newsp9.pers and magazines for another. Some of those newspaper reporters
who have been after me would sure be glad to get their hooks and eyeson
it. You better make yourself a copy quick.

+..
- o
part 2.
..
1.

.The Snorting Pole

ibis a very common form of punishment that is used in the
southern states. It is notihLng less than a Whipping post.
A large post about 12 foot long by 1 foot in diaMeter is sunk
into the ground. Near the top is a pair of hand-cuffs to which a rope is
made fast. The rope in turn is run thru a small ring and fro~ there down
t~ cleat near the center where it is made fast. ~~en a man is Whipped
at the Snorting Pole, he is whipped with the Red Heifer. The Red Heifer
is nothing nor3 than a black snake whip about 8 foot long running from
the leadloaded butt and tapering do\vn to a fine lash. The man to be
whipped is f"irst hand-cuff'ed to the Post and then the rope is pulled up
tight until the man is on his toes, barely touching the ground. Then
his shirt is pUlled either off or tip over his head, usually the latter, aad
his trousers are dropped to ~is feet. rie stands in that ,.osition and the
whipping boss steps of 9 or 10 feet ,nd starts popping"the bud to the poor
sucker that is be1ng ref'ormed. ~henthe lash begins to take away little
bits of hide and the blood begins to run then ~he sucker begins to jerk
and yelp, jU~p and snort. That's why it is called the Snorting Pole. If
you ever get it, you'll snort the same as I did when I got it.
This form of torture is usually dished out in the evening ~hen
the day's work is done. All of'the prisoners are lined up to ~itness the
efrorts of one nan to put the fear of God into another. A little sermon i8
usually handed out at the same time when all of the pr&soners are given
some instructions and advice with a "promise"included. v.nen a mari is let
down sfter being well whipped, he has blood on his back snd murder in his

heart.

A Dose of Salts

1 This is anotherlittle trick that is very popular down thRt ~ay.

,
j

;
Tois may be a fine remedy for anyone who is constipated and is looking for
! relief. This a sure remedy for thqt ailment. Believe me, I know. If
\1
If you don't th:'nk so, just try it. This purif shmen t is usually tried out
1,
II right on the job while the men arc working. That'd whe way I got it. It
don't take much time or effort or delay the work much.
 -~

o
2.

\;hen the boss man decides that seme one is in need or a pbysic
he calls another screw who pulls his gun to back up the other boss. The
first one will take his No.4 strap from his saddle or kit, and then call
:3 or 4 of the other prisoners to grsb the sucker ~hat is to be whiPred I
never saw any of them ever hesitate. They grab the chu!llp,1!hrow
him down
on the g~ound onhis belly, pull his pants down and his shirt up. One will
bold one leg, and one the other. A couple will hold his arms and sit on his
bead. Then the boss man does bis stuff. After about 15 or 26~ihacks with
bis No.4, there is no one around there that is constipated any more. When
I got this dose of salts, I had a big buck shine to sit on the back of my
nack, my face ground down into the dirt and manure of the mules. A couple
more held my legs. Just to show how loyal thses coons were to the boss-man.
they all took a clout at me when they let me up. I never had a chance to
,payoff those coons or the boss-man, but believe me, many another coon and
many another 80uthern Gentlemen has paid a stiff price for me bing forced

to take that physicL; T~hedose of Salts

.P'ese things were done to ne at the Che~ok~gounty Road Gang
fitRnsk, TexRs in 1911. The men who done thses things to me were the :3
on the lash was a
\ly.~vlco0ns, Bill, Nappy, nndHarvey. The Boss-man who laid
Mr. Mooro, ~nd the gun guard was a guy by the name of f\wkwritc. or Hawkright
c

or some such a name. Anyway they were the ones.

The Jacket
Different place' and dLfferent people have dLfferent kinds of
torture they use to reform people. The jacket ~qS used on ~e by the jail-
guardS in the 00unty Jail at FresnO, California, sometime in 1912.
'The jacket is a rorm of straight jacket. It's only a piece or
very heavy c~nvas, about 4 foot long by 2 1/2 root wide with eye-holes on
~ both sides t.nr-u
\:Ibicha rope is p.i L'lcd tight. l"!rst the canvas is laid
on the floor, the man is laid or somctL~es knocked down upon that facing

! downwards. Then the ropes arc pulled thru the eyeholes and a big burly
1
I
t
\.,
 r

screw slaps his lIo.10 in the Middle 01" your back and hauls vii th all his s
strength on the ropes until you're as tight as you can get. I only got 1
hour of that but it ~as a plenty. I have heard of cases where other men
got 6 to 8 hours in The Jacket. After my one hourin the Jacket ~ blood
had stopped circulating and I was mumb all over. ~hen I was taken out I
couldn't walk hardly at all and not very good for a week. It took more
than a nonth 1"or the effects to wear off. That's your dam Jacket.

The Hose.
Once again, time, place and men change. The punishment also. The
only thing that re~~ined the same was the'result.
_In 1917 at the State Prison Salem. Oregon. 'I was given the hose
by the Deputy V.arden. Q iUr. '."'herwood
and the Warden. Mr. Montoe, with the

I{ help or Nancy Fisher, Cherokee Bill. Lilley, Johnson and &cother screw_ by
~,y, the name socething like Mitzer or Mitzger. Anywfl.yhe was the one who spat
'f;t upon me and cursed me. I would know him 11" 1 lfver SQW him even ir I don't
U'
':.z,;~'\
'~.l~'knowhis name. This outfit silripped me naked. put my back to the wall and
JYJ.'~ ,
OJ. hand-curfed ilIeon each hane stretched out Sideways, facing the man holding
nlfl ,
~~~~a regulation size fire hose at a distance of about 15 feet which they held
~ C\J;-v
)p>!~~onme 3 tL'!Ies.The first time wQsabout 2 minutes. next :3 minutes and the
)J last time about 5 minutes. At the end of that time I was out and hanging by
my arms. ~hen I C8l:letoo. I was nearly blind. all swelled up, f~om hoad to
I
~oot, ears on the bum ror months afterwards. black and blue allover the front
or my body; my privates were as big as those of a jackass. The full effects~
of this 'didn't'ever wear off completely. This 1s more than 10 yenrs ago but
\ still every time I catch an Oregonian and get him in a cor-nor, I sure give
him hell. :lany a man has paid ror what those men done to 1'10 that SUnday
\ morning. ~aybe that hose did wash a lot of dirt off the outside of me but it,
I \/ also washed a hell of a lot of dirt inside of me too. That's your damea Hose.
-A

I The Bat or the Paddle.

r This was given 00 me by a Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Bushhart. a 1~. Hardy,
1
I

1
 ~_.-
( '.
4.
and a ~r. Reinhart, the super and 3 screws of the Montana Ztate Reform Zchool
ify~~t Miles City, Uont., in 1905 when I was bout 15 years old.
The bat or paddle is an ash stick about 3 fOOD long by 2 inches wide
and a half of an inch thick with a handle about 4 or 5 inches long.
I was stripped naked and laid face down~ards on a bed, feet tied
with a rope on one end and hands tied to the other end of the bed. In that
position I got the Bat laid on my back 50 times. put into a eell for
10 days. then taken out and given 20 more and then put back into the cell
for 20 days more. The first 10 days on bread and water, the last 20 on 2
meals a day, and darned s~all meals they were too.
"

The Restraint Machine

This I got several times dur~e; 1907-8-9-10 in the U. S. ~,Iilitary
1f:i~0
I~.J/1 Priso~ at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The punishments werE" ordered by Captains'
1 A~\ Clark Rnd ~olfe w~ were the executive officers at tbosa th~ The actual
I 'JJ~ punishments were given me by various screws, privates,' and non-eons" Sergeant
16~!1
"~4'\'iatta.1hher. and Davis. The privates wer-e too numerous to mention but 1'11
(1iP rfJo ----'---.......::.- __ --_
1 ~~ / know them in hell when ~e meet there. The Restraint ~achine--barefooted.
vII l
ijj;1'-W"';"
v atan
~ ....
"" ing on a cold. darrp concrete rloor, backed up to an iron-ba.cred door, ,
1I hands behind cuffed to the door. A large belt uncer my arm~ around.my chest

I pUlled tight to the door. Standing in that position for 4 hours, then let
down for 1 hour to eat my bread a rrlwater, then 4 hours more. Then more
bread andwat.er , then to bed which was a bo sr-d, no blankets. In the morning
breed and water and then 4 hours more and so on for 8 stretch of an~,here
from 5 to 14 days. That uas the li~it. After that, at once put to work,
arrlmy ~ork there consisted of 9 hours work a day swinging an 18 ~ound sledge
busting rocks. That's your Restraint ~achine. ~here that name originated,
I don't know. All I do know is that it sure serves the p~rpose if that purpos
Is to restrain. I have often wondered what other people think. if they do t
think about it nt all. V.nat is the physical and mental condition ~ the
person vmile he is undergoing these tortures and how he feels after it is all
over and when he is released from prison. Do people think that he forgets all
about it and forgives those who do it to him1 Oh no, n~t b~ a hell of a sight

.'
j
.
I
 I .....
-

5.
The actual oain may be gone but remains and a that
eats right into his v~~y soul. ~he natural result 1s that the ~ore or this
.,
kind of treatment one gets the ~ore vindictive he gets. I did and I do. I
\
know many others that feel and do the s=e as ne ,

Trw Cooler or the Hole

and in others you roast and sweat. In all you are hungry and thirsty, f1lthy
and dirty. In some you stay a day, others a week and there have been times
'-------
when I have been in the.cooler a :;lonthor more. Bread am water isn't very
ncurishing, and neither does it generate clean thinking in a person's mind.
The milk of hunan kindness generally curdles and turns sour under such
conditions. The ~ cooler you get, the more heat and hate there is generated
in your heart. In every joint I ever w"s in, there is always scme form of

. ( torture that was on tap. I usually got my share of every kind there was. I
have had them all at one time or another.

Curfed up to a Post.
This 4s an up-to-date modern method. In use
~ashlngton, D. C. That's where it in 1928.
(
Nation,

The
- I got

Post is about 18 inchos thick made of iron. I was stood up

with my back to this Post. My hands were Vw1sted behind me around the Post
and then hand-cuffed together. A rope was tied to the cuf'fs and my arms were
pulled up towards the ceiling. In that positon I was left for 13 hours one
1-"
night. The next night I Viasfirst bea~. kicked, choked and ~lackjacked
'""- --'-
\ nconscious and then dragged down and again cuffed up to the Post for a

I
I
couple more h~s. ~hen I was let down my 'hands and wrists were swollen to
twice their noreal size. tho skin on my wrists were first blistered and then

,, chaffed tt~u the meat to the bone. I still have thexxExWx scars on my wrists,
three months after. That's being cuffed to the post.

~~ \Xtl- ----- -------

~l of these things didn't happen a thousand or a hundred uears ago
I i

1I
)
"
 6.
down in Ching, Siberia, of Jollopie. They happe~ to me, here and now. They
happened yesterdsy, today and will hgppen again tomorrow. The results will
e the s~me also. The reaction will be revenge by rape, robbery, and ~urder,

_._--
me, you and everybody else. It's too late for ~e to chsnge but how about
you,
'-
the Public of this great Land of the Free and the Ho~e ~----
of the- Brave. ~..

The Third Degree

The law says that this is also illegal. No one will a d:nit that
they use the third degree. Yet it is used every day all over this country.
The la~ has no scruples in the methods it uses to extort confessions out
of anyone and everyone. Results m-e only what count. But whgt is the
result? I don't know how others look at it but I know ho~ I see it. It
looks very rnuchto ne as though you, ~r Citizen and ~r. Taxpayer, are the
saps that get it in the neck. You l,oiJ big taxes to hhve the privilege of
being robbed, raped, and nrJrdered. It costs you thousands of lives and
billions of dollars every year to keep on doing business with the present
prison and educational systens Don't ~ou think it's pretty near time you
(I
woke up to the fact that you'realot of c~unps. Th~t's the way it looks
to me and I think my point of viev is ~ good or better than yours if you
----

both your eduqational and your prison systems.Thff), you may acconplish the
1 result that you say you desire. I have done ~s I was taught to do. I am no

I If
I,.
dirferent fron any other. You taught me how to live my life, and I have lived

as yau t aught; me. I.have lived a d est.r-uc

t Lve life when it Vlould have been

~ rar easier both for you and for me if I had been taught to live constructively.
You are to blame far more than I. If uou are to continue teaching others as
d,:;.
you taught me, then you as well as they must pay the price. and price Is very
expensive. You lose your all, even life.

1
I'
f
II

I
I
!
j
 (2 )

This country is baving a ~ar right now and very rew people
even realize the fact. ';ar, in the fin'll anau~is, is mcrf'ly
murder and robbery and the expenditure of life and property. ?his
country todqy is having a crinc ,',are :;n.nythous','.nds
of.'live):;and
billions of dollars worth of.'property are lost every yeur. Grl~e
is increasing 10 per cent each year. All society is up in arne to
combat orine ~nd crtr.linals.They nre using every possible method
that the law can devise. 7.he be~t thing they have been ~ble to do
so far ,is to build bigger arrs stronger jails nnd prisons and rill
them all full of crininals. Just 'lS soon as a prison is f.'illedto
capacity, they start right in building more and more. And they ~re

-
all full. But still there are ~Mm more criminals overy da). There is
no end to the~ ~nder the present system. ~ven the ~ost ~~perficlal

--- investigator of this question of crl~e knows this to be a fact.

All of your celice, jud~es, la?tyors. wqrdens, dootorj. N~tional

-- Cri~e Go~~issions and writers have combined to find out ~nd re~edy

~~_tj1e1:c_c.o=nd.~eY !la.vensc=pllshe~
__ n~thinficxpe~t tp mn.k~
_
Sl.9J\dit-ioDa-wors.eJnste:d
.
of bet:;er. This, is no:t...l;l....tbe.or,}:
-- ..........
~t~;.---~
......
';'hisis . -]O,"'!c'~---- ~'~

8 fact. St'lti!lticsprove it beyond any possibility of doubt.-'his

---- -.---
bein~ the case then
.......~ ....
they and their system oust be wrong. Thoso r.ho ~a~e
.... , :::a

~~_....,.._~ ..... ,'f'" '"

~ erforee the laws are more gll11~ l-bon those Ting co=:l.t the ori~~
against the lAW. The cri~inal does not profit by his cri~es. It is
the law makers and the la1'len1'orcers who do profit the most. :hey,
in reqlity, 9re tho real cause of the most criee. They kn0u it too.
That's ~hy there is so muoh crime in this cc~ntry doday. Those ~ho
roar the loudest about ,.utting do~n crine are the very ones who
cause the ~ost crime. I mn 36 years old and have been a cr;~inal
all my life. I have 11 felony convictions agninstrnc. I hqve
served 20 yeqrs of my lifo tn j~ils, reform schools ~nd pri~ons.
I know why I am a criminal. Others May have different pheorios
as to my life but I have no theory about it. I know the facts. If
any -nan ever W!lS a habitu"l cr ininal, I !H!1 one. In rrry life ti."e I
have broken every law that was ever made by both man and God. If'
 either had made any more, I should very hheerrully have broken
them also. The mere fact that I have done these things is q~ite
~ s ficeint ~ the average person .Very rew people even con ider
~rf~{~ ;;or!'hwhile to "onder 'Ihy I s.."l what I fu"ll and do wh'tt I do. n!..
II"~at they think it is np-cessary to do is to catch r.1e try me, con-
vict me qnd send ne to rr1son ror a few years, make life ~iserable
ror me while inprison and then turn me loose ",gain. 'l'h'lt
is the
system that is in practice tod"y in this country. ThP- eonsequerices
are that anyone and everyone can see cri~e ~nd lots of it. Those
-
who are sincere in their desire ~o PQt do~n crime are to be pitied
for all of their efforts which accomplish so little in the desired
direction. Tney are the aneW who are deceived by their own ignorance and
by the trickery ~nd greed of others who prorit the most by c~ime.
Much depends upon the point of view of the persons who exrress
themselves on the crime question. Those who roar the loudest xXx

I- -~-
and are thererore the most heard aro the v~iters, judges, lawyers
and wQuld-be expert crininologists. Allor these people m'ike a
nice, soft living out of crime. Therefore. they are directly interes-
ted in that subject. They don't produce a dam thing. All t~ev
~ p

do is to shbot off their mouths and push !l fountain pen. ,:,nd

:ror doin~ t~is they live nice qnd soft. They wear good clothes,

--- eat the best foods, live in nice hOMes, have the best or everything
the ~orld produces~ They have a nice, soft graft. and they know it
tOO.,They are not q lot of ChUMpS like the cri~inals. Don't think
-
ror a minute that they are going around renlly mp.aning to do as they
say they wish to do. Put down crime. Not a chance. There will be
no pick and shovel for that sort of people. That's ~hat ~ould h~~pen to
them ir they really did ~ut down crilne.There is t~Osides to
every question. ~y po!nt lbfview is just as olausible "TId 'l d'1
..
sight more prob~ble than all of the hot qir that hilSbeen published
abGut this question. others who have expressed their ideas in print
on this subject have all been either directly or indirectly inter-
, ested in receiving some sort of profit or benerit of scme ~ind from
wbst they say or write or do about this crime question. Some Have,
 o 9.

good jobs whieh they want to koep or perhaps they are trying to
get a better one or incensed gnd ore ud Lccd
perh'ips ~:heyare ::lorel"/'

.:,.against criminals because they or thoir friends have been robbed

-
~:::.:::.::;:.:::.....::::~:.::.=~:.:::.:::..::.::.::.:~:.;;:,..::~.!......::.::......::.:.::::..:::.:...~~:::;'~:"'::':':::~::::::'''':
~--'- I, on the other hand, h-ive not a eLng'le thin~ to ga i n
or murdr;:.rJ:>d.

v~iting this. My life qnd my liberty is already forfe

by !lly ed.

I cannot gain a single thing in any way for writing ~his. I am not

~Titir.g this because I expect some benefit by doing it. I am not

trying to do myself or anyone else either harm or good . ,']'

onlv
._------------------'---_:...-_-
-='-
~Uve in writing this' is to exrress myself ;;,n~_T'1Y
b':Ji.~C~ rGlint

-of view. ?erhaos I am altogehher wrong hut, on the other h~nd, I

- ~= ...::.-:;...~~:.:.:..::::...:.::..-.:..:..::;:......:.:.
".
- may
.,,-,._.--
be right "nd you may be ;,,'rong.
Let the facts speak for t hem-

selves ~nd then judge the results. Under the present systen, the
' -_~...;....----
.
......
best and the worst you dan do i~ j~st as JOU are doing now and that

~~s making bad matters ~orse. Before you can ever put down crime yeu
.

V1 ,
,~~must
O~ional
,/
change 'the system a vlhole hell of a_.lot. ~\lso ']'ou
must change
system. You must abso'utely divorce the schools

~\.v:nd prisons lrom all politics. As thirgs are now~ you are making~
fI,\~ .
~~.~~~ cri~inals much faster than you are refor~ing those that are already

'r:~~\- existene .!very child h"s jame tendencies. ;t is

~~i::i'::~l
~ your place to correct those traits '!nd tegch tu~~he rig~t way to
>

live while they are young and their Minds are for~lng T~ev wh~n _.#

- "'
the7 do rc~ch the "ge of reason and__"ction, it will be quite natural

II
I u'l'I
As for the criminals that are now in existence and working at
their trade or t1-.osethat yO"l now have in prison, ]Ot1 can r-ef'or-n

1v~~h~9:' that are, c,a::,~.le

of !'e~n~refo:;""1:,d
and those .row wh" are
~ Jit" incapable of any kind of refor::tatio ~, 0 ee the"!':'herevou

l}'\ have the~ ~x now in prison ~here they cqn do no hq~. These t~o

things you can do or 70u Cqn keep on doing as you ~re no~. Either

I make things better or worse ;! you think that yo~ cpn ston crime

II by catching us, Locking u su p , punis':ing us by brutt.\lt r-eatmenb ,

hanging or electrocuting us, sterilizi~g or castrating us, then you

,,
I
-
1
 r

-10-
are a fool for thinking that way. That only m~kes bad catters
<-------------------
'Worse.
....
,

A child i~ very easily led. hny child, if properly taught,

"--

will live t he way he in taught to live. ,,11criminals are merely

.~ ">

' ,':e,by our own efforts are failures in life. simply because
don 't know any better. -::,e
don't I:nm7 how to live decent upright
/
lives. Heredity has very lit::le to do ,lith the shr,pi:1gof cur
. '

live~ The ~ain causes of why we are what ~e are is because of our
improper teaching, lack of knowf.edge and our env Lr-onmerrt
s , Every
man's philosophy is colored by his environments. If 70U don't want
- -

--_....:-------...;.-
Xka us to rob, ro.pe and murder you, then it is your place to see that
,

~_...
the mental, and ~oral misfits are properly t~ught a sufficeint amount
of useful and sensible knowledge and put into the proper envircn-
.. .... ,. _ I"'~~~' __ '" 1 ......-...-... __ ._".... . __ ",1
-
.merrt where they can be best fitted
......
to exist tn l1fe ...,\.Itherwise,
..._ ~_..::~..,.i"._--..~_,..-~_'>=__"'__-.--_~~-;>l!~ ~J;;.'o~ "";,..~_.:.~__ ~

they will be misfits and failures and you qre the getual c~use be.
cause they den' t know any better, a.nd you do.\\1,'v own case ,is ver-v

-
...... y ",

ilimiln' to :'lanythousands of others. I was born a nor:'!al

human
b~ing. My parents were ignorant, and thru their improper teachings
.....
?
-
and improper enVironment, I was gradually led into the wrong w"y
. - ...-'--,....,...--~
i~ I~..:!.ill&,_~Little
I by little from bad to worse. I was sent to a

I reform school at the age of 11 years. Prom that d'ly to this, ail
of my life has been lived sl!Iongrnorqland mental misfits. All of

II my associ5tes, all of my surroundings, the atmosphere of deceit.

treachery, brutality, degeneracy, hypocrisy, Rod ever"~hing th'lt

I,
is bad and nothing that is good. Is it uno"tura that I should
\,
I, ..
have absorbed these things "nd have b*me wh<lt I am today,--!....
!
tre~ch~rous, degenerate, brutal, human savage, dev~id of 0. 1
decent feeling, absolutelynlthout consceince, ~or~ls. ~ity s~1

i
,
,

i
,
;

I
j

,
<)
11.
o
payth. principle, or any single ~ood trqi~~~Y a, I ~I a~?

I'll tell yeu ~hy. ~did not ~ake ~yself what I am. Others had

the ~aking of me. I hRve been in two reform schools, nine bi

__prisons, and hundreds of jail~:-!lone~f_~~em were any different

_from the ethers. All were run under the s~me system, by the

asme sort of people snd the results ,"erethe same system, by the

same sort ~r people and the results were the same in all of

them. My last term in prison ~nS exa~t1y the same as ~y first,

outline of my last bit in prison rrom the time I entered until

I left it. And if anyone can believe that that way is the right

way to stop crine, then it is my opinion that he is either a fool

or a ro~~e propably both. In 1923 I was caught in the act

of committing a burglary, put in jail and indicted. I at once

saw that I wou Id be convicted so I Lmmed La t eLy saw the pr-caecutfng

attorney and with him made a barg~in. He promised me that if I

would p1nad guilty and in that way save the county the expense

of a trial, that he would agree that I would get a very light

sentence inreturn. I kept to cy side of the bargain but he didn't.

I pl~sded guilty and was immediately given the limit of the law,

five years. At once I was sent 't o the prison where, because of

my many previous convictions, and my bad record as an escaped man,

I was very closely wqtched and at the least infraction of the ~lles,

I uas severely punished. I was put to work in the worst workshop

in the pri30n. I had a t~sk to do eight hOl~S work every day, alE

days a week, for which I was allo~ed 1 1/2 cents pe~day. In this

prison the work wasn't very hard but very monotonous and wearing

on the nerves. Jhe discipline ..'IS v"!ry strict. The food was very

.. ~_..----
b2d. After about six months of this I as f-.eling pretty hot, and
,------~
 r,
12.

very disgusted, I atcempted to escape. I failed in my attempt .

but in doing so I fell about 30 feet on to a con~rete walk bre~king

both Of ~y ankle~. both of my legs, fracturing my spine ~nd ruptur-

.
ing myself. In this condition I was carried to the prison hospital

where I lay 5 days and w~s then carried out and dumped into a cell

without any medical or surgical attention whatever. ~y broken

bones were not set. My ankles and legs were not put into a cast.

In fact, nothing ~~s done except give me a bottle of liniment which

would have done me no good if I had been able to rub it onto my~elf.

The doctor never came near me and no one else. was allowed to do

anything fer me. In that condition I was left for eight months.

At the end of that time the bones had knitted together S0 that I

could stagger around on a pair of crutches. ,urter a few more

months on crutches, then a cane for a few months. At the end of

fourteen months of constant agony, I was taken to the hospital

where I W9S operated on for my rupture and one of my testicles

was cut out. Only five days WqS allowed me for ~edical and surgi-

cal attention. At the end of five days I was sgain carried out of
"
the hospital and dumped into a cell where I suffered ~ore agonv

for many months. Always in pain, never a civil answer from anyone,

- always a snarl or a curse or ~ lying, hypocritical

VIas never k~ Crawling ftround like a snake With a broken back,

pro~ise which

-
seething ~ith hatred and a lust for reve~ge, five years of thi~

kind of life. The last two years and four months confined in

isolation with noching to do except brood upon ~hat I thou~~was

- the wrongs that had been don~ to ~~~1J-~d to receive
,
\~~ lette-s 0-" visits from friends. One lad" fr~end traveleO lOCO
V rmi1es and spents hundreds of dollars to come &nd visit m~. They

see ~e for 1/2 of an hour only. although she stayed.

_ __.-.!:::i,,= ;ZJ i La'ibJ :;:X:~~.L<Ii.~i!:li/ ~.. 'II! .i!L4at;::;az;:; .... I EJ:: 456 -

tu.--t~~b
 i3.
in the town for one solid week trying to see me again. ~y in-
coming and outgoing mail was held up or destroyed. I was not
aLLowed to complain to anyone of the higher o1'1'ici9.1s.
':.henever
I tried to do that, the letters I wrote ~ere torn up and returned
to me. ~hen the prison inspectors came to prison to investigate
conditions and complaints, they were told that I was a degnerate,
thqt I suffered 1'rom delusions and that I was insane, so they would
pay no sttenticnto anything thP.t I or anyone else ever complained
or. This went on for all of my five years and the more they mis-
used me the more I was filled Jith the spirit of hatred and ven-
geance. I was sc rilll of hate that there was no room in be for
such feelings as love. pity. xindness or honor or decency. I

- hated everybody I saw. 'jywhole mind was bent on figuring out

different ways to annoy and ~unish my enemies and everybody w~s
my enemy. I had no friends~ ehat was the frame of mind I was
in. when my five years was up and I was turned loose to go any-

-
where I wantied to go. My intentions was to bob, rape, and kill
.everybody' I could, nnybody and everybody. It was

my, intentions
to coa~it enough burglaries to get 8 few hundred dollqrs together
and with that to go to a place I had picked out at a R. R. Tunnel,
between ~eyersdale, Fa and Cu~berlRnd, Md. :here I intended to
wait until the fast all-steel Pullman train. the Caritol Limited
or the National Limited cSl!Ie
along. I intend~d to have a large
contact bomb in the middle of the tunnel fixed so that vhen the
engine struck the obstruction. the bomb would explode and stop
the wreck the engine and bLock up that ond of the tunnel.The ex-
plosion would set off ~ and burst some large ~lass containers or
rormaldihyde of other gas and also set fire to a few hundred
pounds of sulphur. The gas fumes thus generated and let
 14.
loose in the closed tunnel would in a very few ninutes kill every
living thing on the whole train in th~ tunnel. I would beat~tioned
at the rear entrance to the tunnel behind a bar~icade. ~nd armed,
re~dy to sh~ot down anyone who bad life enoughto try to get out of the
tunnel. As soon ~s I was assured that all were dead, I would put
on a gas mask and an oxygen tank, such an outfit as is used in
mine rescue work, then enter the cars and rob the whole train. An-
-other precaution that I intended to use was to place a tine bomb on
a bridge or tressel, 12 or 15 miles. back up the line fron the way
the tnain had come. This bonb would be set togo off just about
the time that the train would be vlrecked in the tunnel. In th t.
way all of the wires would be down with the brid~~so that no a
assistance could arrive to help those in the tunnel. I intended
that if this racket had worked out according to the way I figured
that it 7ould, I would have at least 11/2 h2urs in w3ich I could
->--

work unmolested, and in that time I could gather up SO OY' 100 ,000
dollars from the 3 or 4 hundred dead passengers in money and jewelry.
Then I would go a few -,iles aw,y and plant everything in 9. prearranged
hiding place. Then go away and remain quietly in hiding for
a month or two and at the end of that tine I would return. lift
my plant, goto New York and turn everything i.ntocash. -;:it"
unlimited funds in ~ hands I then intended tQ steql millions Qf

~
dol~rs
-~
and ~ill millions of people. This I intended to do by
starting a w',r het~leen England and the U. S. A. Sounds fantastic,
all right but I am positive that 1 could and would hqve done it.
The ~~y that I figured on doing this was to ~ork thru numerous
I
I stock brokers in ~all St., playing the stock ~arket ahead of time

with the knOWledge that 1

would soon be at this knOWledge, I
 o
15.

would kno~ exactly which stocks would rise and which stocks would

fall in value. Thnn With my money all placed with the proper

instructions ~ith the different brokers for investment at the

,
proper time and place, all that wmldbe necessary for me to do

would be to start a war between England and the U. S. A. This I

intended to do by ~aiting until diplomatic relations were scme-

what 'strained between the two countries. Then I would quietly

sneak up and sink sooe great British battle ship while in Ameri-

can waters on a peace~~l oission. This could be done very Aasily.

All I need to do wOClld be to wait until some British ship \'I'1S laying

at anchor in the Hudson River at New York. Some fine night I would

come up the river with 2 gasoline launches each made fa~~ to the

other, side by side, one launch filled ~ith T N. T., with a 15

minute fuse attached to it. In the bomb. boat I would have an

anchor and a long line. TInen I reached the proper position about

5 yards ahead of the battleship, I would li@lt the fuse and drop

the anchor of the bomb boat, cast off the lashings of the two launches .
I
I in my launch wouLd go on my way up the river full apeod While the

bomb boat would slowly float down alongside of the battleship ~ere it

would explode and sing the ship ~'ith all hand s , except maybe a-few

survivors who would be left to tell what they saw. All they would be

able to tell would be that they saw two l~unches which looked like

U. S. N~vy boats with Navy flags flying, run by man dressed in a

,
U. S. Navy uniform, who disappeared in the night. rr this succeeded.

it would start a hell of a row bet~een England and the U. S., just tae

same as the sinking of the _U. b. S. Main did in '98 between Spain

and the U. S. A. But if -this didn't start a vnr, then I would go

her under British registry with an all British captain and crew. I
,I
i
-would load her with a few tons of explosives, covered with an
~. --' .~--.

I ~~-~M
'I
--
 o o
16.
,
inoffensive looking cargo, send her to tho Panama Canal where I
would place a time bomb in the hold set to go orf in SOMe one of the
locks of the Canal. I would leave the boat to'proceed to :Cerdoon
and the doom of the Panama Canal. That would be very s~re to start
I

a hell of a bg war and in the meantime I would be salting away

millions of dollars t hr-u speculating on stocks on c.'allSt. I have
worked on boats and ships and ~lso fer the Fortification Division
and the Cattle Industry on the Panama Canal as a labor foreman where
I handled a great deal of exploseives in blasting operations, also I
can make any kind of a bomb. Tnese schemes may sound fantastic
and grandiloquent ''TIdIrnpossfb Le of ac comp.Idehment; by one nan, But
I feel very sure that It could be done. and I also feel S~.~
tent I
could have dnd,would have done just exactly as I had planned if
circumstances a~~ luck had not been against me. I was only out of
,/

prison une nonth and 6 days but during that time I committed 12
burglaries and one ~Jrder. I had a goal in View and VffiS working
toward it as quickly as I could. If anyone is in doubt as to these
facts, then just get a P. R. R., time table, look up the schedule of
either the National Limited or the Capitol Limited. Look up tr.emap
\.1tJ.~ .
11.'1 and you will find that there is a tunnel j1,l.st
as I d eacr-f.bedbetween
:.:eyersdaleand Cumberlnnd. I have been there and I know all about
~
. where to get all the dyn~ite and fuses that I wanted. In 19l5 I
I registered for the Armyd raft and also joined zhe F. o. E. Local 1255

I l~~
{!t

--
1,ieversdale,Pa , I robbed a jewelry store there the night I left
in the fall of 1918. ~y nane then and there was John O'Leary but now it
I is Carl Panzr-an,
I If If so~eone had a young tiger cub in a cage and then mistreated it
I I until it got savage and bloodthirsty and then turned it loose to prey

~\)i~
~~~(\
~ ~wvf-~- p~ 1
{,~J-(~ UJ a w-rvJ /'utt<,

'M'~J
 17.

on the rest of tr.eworld to go anywhere and kill anyone it ~anted

to, then there would be a 1~11 of a roar from those in danger of
the ned tiger. Everyone would believe that to be the wrong thing
to do. But if some people do the same thing to other people, then
the world is surprised, shocked and offended because they get robbed,
raped ~nd killed. Yet this is exactly wbst is being done every day
in this c~~ntry. They done it to me and then don't like it when
I give them the same dose they gave me, They do it to thousands
or others end they in turn retaliate by robbery and "!Urder:.If
you don't like to be robbed, raped, burned or killed then stop your

~ own injustices, your own dirty work. Stop your lying and hypocrisy.
~ive decent yourselves and teach others who arc "not able to do right
unless they are taught right. If you g t abused, robbed or killed,
you have it coming to you, so don't blame it all on the one who harms
you. SOMe of the blame is yours for not making it your business to
see to it that such conditions should not exist ~~ong your fello\voan
..-,
If you put a lot of powers in the hands of c servants and
they misuse their power , then you are at f"ult also.
little knowledge but I have 00
I kive only a
m~ch intelligence as the average per-
-
e. ., >
son and I ~mow thqt I was taught wrong. I could have been taught
-....
.....---~
...~-"'~ - --- ...... s;~-....,.,,-,,. ------- _

----'---~---
properly, and if I had been, I feel sure that I would hav6 led a far
different life than I have dene.~......;_-_....-.~_.....;........;.;..
l.=::c::..::--::.:~:........=.:::.::....:....~~~ You are to blame mere so than I.

_
That IS r.1y
belief. If you,_are going to go on teaching others as you
31- ~ Tn

have taught me, then you must suffer the same as I.

 c r>
'-' ,
(3)
I! 18.
"The code of the underworld.""Square

i/j eiple or }:oliey." The underworld code is

\""

very seimpl. It is tever Squeal.

I
i ~ .DonIt be a stool uigeon, a rat or an informer. All crooks want evevybody else

to believe that they a re squar~..:":l cops~~ -----._--------

same. Th.:!..Vl~.:~
all .. _e:.~y_

x,~o~y.~_~s~_!~._~~~~ they. act fr_~~:!:p'_~' The?:-~~..:. tel1i~~,.:::ryone

, ~~hey ~eet all ~bout how much principle they have. It's against their principle
I, ~~dO this or not tOdo that',The queer part of this is that they not only
~
.~ want others to believe this but they even believe themselves. But the real

~ truth of the matter is that they deceive themselves ~nd mistake policy for

~ principle. I hav met every kind of a crook there is. I have worked and lived

. 1;--both\'lith:lOur. and against them. Coppers the same , I know their tricks inside

~and out. I have associated with every sort, both in prison an on the street .

They and their \'IOrKSand their thl1mghts are like an open book to me. 2,:{no:...

} them well to my sorrow. I have been mixed up in every kind of a crooked deal
. ";~er:-~th~ 'ever; ;;.~; of a crook there.....!.:.
Con-"len and g'lngmen. Prowlers
.
[~
"J( and boosters, stick-up artists, can-o~~
peter-men and box-men, paper-hangers
artists and_~~~tJmes
~nd crape-hangers, hustlers and rustlers,
..... -
~~~~~~J:ists,

pimps and McGi;'lpS,hooks from the big t ovm and hooks from the sticks, big

~ ~hots and pi%~~ dynamiters and,sodomiters, fruiters and P~~~~_~ingba:s_

~ ....and gay-cats, shiv-;cen and gun-nen, needle pUr.1pers",nd snow :;n1Q.er,:,"op

I heads and jug heads, w Lse.guys and dumbbells, bootleggers

~.-:.::.:-...:----=-----::.-;;:~-=--....-.....::;....::--_--:."..;-.:..
}:;.~lves .and.If~::lls, dips and shor-c'il'd$8]12,le:,s, g'l."Tdf-
h0I1!.e
and ru:nrunners,

c.pd p~s,
. <-""--
:1 - booze fighters and cop fighters, and last ".ut not least muzzlcrs' and

~"-----
""'" ..
~~z~rs. I have ut .in 35 years in the ~,me or hooks Clnd crookn s.; I have been

~ .",.. q
There is ;:0 angle of this
from top to bottom and everywhere in ;:;~t'.'!een. .: -c-, .
ga~e that I h~venlt tried at so~e time or other. I have met thou~Clnds snd

thousands of my kind in every different degree, from the king pLns and the

biggest of big shots down to the greasiest of greaso-balls and without

exception. one and all insist on deluding everybody else and themselves "r,
...
also, that they are squClre. that t:Hlyhave in tlJAij~e-up the sl2.ar!cs_0'_

..,principleand honor. Th"3.tthey keep the code of the 'mderworld. Th'lt th~

ne~er squeal. Anything and, everyt~ing against anybody aroa: and everybody

Is quite all right and permissable at any time or place but the one rule

that must be kept by all, rege~dless of anything else is that they nust never

squeal. Ko matter what happens, no matter ~hat pressure is brought to bear I

on the~ to get them toopen up and squeal. If the co~pers ~ork the old mother

and Jesus racket on them or give then the third degree. 1 prong rap wit~ a _
bl retch in stir or even the rope or the chair, still the ;re ~ed--
I

I
 c .L9.

to keep their traps shut and never sg1!!<.~I have nev"yo !:let or heard of' anyon

yet who ever ad~~ thaV they were wrong and that":;they were steal-pigeons,
squealers or rats. They all insist that they arc right guys ~nS squar-e crooks --,
W\
I Even Ylhen they are caught right the act of going o:~ the stmd as a Witness

I ror

that
the

they are
State against

Men of' honor

their pals,

and that
they won't

theyact
admit

f'rom prinicple
it. 0ne and all

only.
insist

They all
J
j swear that they are loyal to the f'irst law of' the code or the underworld.
j

In theory this. seems to be the case. 'I'hat the avergge PArSOn renlly believes
I ,
j, this
.ticial
to he true
observer
and ~
only sees
that
a very
most crooks
scalI part.
believe
Jle sees
it also.
ncthing
The average
of" whAt goes .
super-

j on behind the scenes and under tho surf'ace. The actual f'acts or the matter
1
.. 'are that none or t!1e crooks are square i7.l.th one .another or. "itl! 9.nvbody...:-_
(~
. i) They
/"
are not square v.~th the Coppers and t~e Coppers are not square with

-r (,.",~thern. -.None
...--- or ~....:---
then have any principle. -::..__ ~......::._ ehey
They have policy. __:~_mistake
I
- ,)
',"
'
~
principle

Jj-c.x.o.: their
their
I

own interests
f'or- policy.

own_~terest
,',nen
--
to be so.
to be square
they are
r
-t
~ith
square

is
-- ----_.
:'~th anycne,

g';O~.!.':liCy.
one another, then
',hen it
It is

it
b ccau ae it

ceases
beccnes
_ ----
to b~o
t~me to
is

I
I J_ change their tactl~;:'-';;j"th~--;;';;-~t=;;:;~Z:; doinS 'it:ith;;:-~;;~e-;---
... ~

'/ no dHfes.~,!1c,e_tQ...the.~h.9-t<hey Sl:J;I..t~n........no matter ir t~:L.E~ been l~!~

I
I
-_..:..:.-.:;.....:;....-------------~--------""----..............
to each other thru a Whole lifetine as partners and f'riends.
--
:io mntter
. --
if' they
send their friends to prison or to hell by ~ay or the rope or chair. That
=:.::...:.::.=~:..:.::=:....::...:...:::..:~:-:.;;..-=-=:.;;..~_=~:.:....:y.;.:;:.~;;.;;,.~~.,=
i _. .....~=
c_ut_s
! __ __ n
__o_i~c_e_.
_1~hel are ~!ring o~~o.r the.!::~ own ~.:J,o.]J...,~.tl2...e.,.J!.,
thoI
J- can benef'it themselves at the expense or someone else regardless of What the

others have to sui'f'er f'or their trea.eherY,_Ue.~,1n-99_C!l..s~. out or 100, !!.!,g

_..:sur:.::..:e::..b::::.r.:;e:.:;ll:.:k~t::;h:.:;::..e..;:l;;;a:.;':1:....;o:::;r::.....:t;;h::;e;...:u~n::.:d~e;:..;:rw
..o;,:r..;l;.;d=-~".;;n::d:....;o::!p;:e::n:.:-.:u:.;p:...:n.:n:,:,G:'...::s.:
..p.r_~.~
t- ~ey ,

pals and f"riends, have gone thru every crine on the cal ncar, murder~,rapesL
robberies, in Jails ',nd in f'rcedonl, in ',ealth and in sickness, riches and
.... starvation and privations

.... square wi th each o t ner- but

n
o~ natur s lr- n
s~ vaticn cvcryth1r. went ov~rboard. They ~ll squeal

~ometi::le. Big croo){s and little crooks. 'rhe-' all squc9.1 when it b tc tQ,eir "
7he greatestcrooks I ever kn
hC'1rd or the

~ ----
~~'1lj8:"1 do it;.:itbl:
~principles and f'orever
Gerald Chapman_used to "'e always roaring
condeming a~l stool-pigeons.
about his own
~.
Shean took the stand a-
.... -

.....
 20.
the can he went to lIewYork in the very heart ot: crookdom wher-e he was given
the glad-hand by some cr Chapman's :t'ormerpsLa ; He Is a rat for the coppers at:
1,\.;;.\i~
~
, everybody knows it, yet he walks thestreets today and he is right in With
all the Big Shots in the Big To\vn. lie runs With both sides, the har~ ~nd
the hounds and double crosses them all. Gerald Chapman was known as a right

II guy all of'his life and yet he also was a'...rat. He didntt ever hesitate to .-----------"-
squeal when it '7/1S to his own advantage to do so; Everybody did not know thill

,. but it is true just the same. ~~en he was in the dance-hall waiting to get
~. , , .'I
,
I
J r
his neck cracked and he knew his days ~ere short. and he knew his days~
{ "'l'~ere short, and, he knew he had nothing to gain. he also open up and spilled
.'
:, \.: ,all he knew. Another Big Shot that I know well is John J. "Bum" Rogers, the
.
,,' .t-, \1 -..
~-'I gangster and gun man t:romNew York City. He also has the rep in the underworld
ot: being a right buy. all stocked up and loaded right to the ears with prin-
ciples. ~aybe he did have principle at one time but he has none now. I have
seeD him and'heard him sing opera and squeal. Some guys will squeal on one
and maybe not on others. B~t hhattsnot because of their principle. thatts the
proper pmlicy ~or them to t:ollow nnd they all play the policy end. In all
or my lif'~ I have never heard anyone roar louder abouttheir honor ~nd their
prInciple and squaren~ss than this same Bum Rogers. I will admit that per-
_- ....--"t'

t
pIgeon but he is very g}ib R~d clover so that he covers himself' up so well
'-= -
that most of those who know 'him, really believe what he wants then to believe
that he Is a right guy and the code of the underworld is "~chathe lives by. -
"

than there is snOw-balls in hell. "'ornecrooks will squeal for one reason and
~ome another. une will fall for the sof't soap gag, the mother and Jesus racket_
~-------------------,---_._-----,---
Some will be trlcked into opening up the Info Bag. The third de zr-oo drags it
------------------------_ .._.J-~ --~_, __ .. _. __ ..,..~ __

all they know. but most of us \7hen VIe do open up do it for self interest. \','e
want so-net.hdng
, ,"e eLtiher-warrt to save our lives or out liberty or maybe -
we want a cig~.rette o!'a.shey!..!?t:
tobrrcco f'orWhich we wilt h'tng anybody
~ .
-----,--. _-------------
or everybody. The coprers are a pretty dumb lot. ~ne most of'them nre well
8upplied with big
.....
-

an elephant in 't snow bank1unless they first had some rat or stool pigeon to
1~U-1
-'::::~";:~:':={';~U':"'J""':i G - G~
,i-'k il:VV"1:~~'~:-=-_~-\fN\--;&1_-r-----::l:--.
---=======--==:;;;::~~~~~l
21.
J
i
I
1
legd thern to it, and point it out. Nost of them have plenty of brawn
'"
very few-~~~_.---._-
have any brains.
--
:.ithall or
-".,..,...-.
the forces OJ the la\Tbl'hind the e,
.~- ---
but

i - coppers, all the steel bars "nd stone walls, their guns end clubs, all would
_._----
avail the~ nothing if it wasn I t ror their rats and stool-pigecns. The third
---------~_.-,.......~""'*-
....
--- -------~~.-------~~._-~- -._-.,
1

I
I~ and moral cc,:ldit
icns. 'Ih~ ,r!,d th~cop"ers
...2rook'::.!
..
, . I class ,,',ichwas pret ty low dO~Jn in the scale, about as low as it could be
down..!.!!-Q],\l.Ij!S
4 B. }~~::.. among thie:es is the bunk. And us ror the other
, .

\'''''!~_!:.~.E.~!:''J:I!~_"~~

side or the fence, the coppers, they also are always squaWking about their -
honor and their principles. But the real truth of the matter is that by far
the largest majority or them are in the sa~e boat as the crooks they run
around. They both play the game or working both ends rrom the middle. ~~at'
~...----.4

I ~. .-..1n.-_Sr'pJ
.1
_---------
.......
1 .mipOJ;::l.ty.
--_:_-..;.-~----"_._..-------~-~-~
few carpers there are who have principle ~nd honor cOwbined with brains, are
...
9 out of' 10 of them will grab a crooked dollar just as'
~,,-

~ ..j)quiCk as T
wj' J .. :.lostcopr-ers have stool pigeons working I'or_then. They work
"Ole ".-

-- ..... , -
-:;'ork
. .~just as bad gs his rat. :,oither have either principle or honor.~;r
--",~--
t
l.\ .'
in together just so long as ~ either can use the other to their own ad-
1tantage, but
-----
jsut as soon as eLther- "".:;~an make no farther use or the other,
r

then they are quLte capable of each double-crossing the o t her , Just to prove
..... -"'

.my point, I uill cite a row illustrations.

- W .. .- 0: 4'
--~~~
_ ' ....;. __

-A'e ....

few years ago in New York City there was a mob of'your~ hoodl~~
crooks in Harlem. They were all a lot of cheap, petty crooks ~nd gangsteru
who made their dough by a lot of petty crines such as loft ~urglaires. Once
in a while they ~ould catt up scatter or a gin mill or ~ crap ga~e or act as
strike breakers in time of-Jabor troubles. ~ost of the~ were pimps 'ohohad
-
-
them were ex-convicts. All of'them were known to the coppers. Fe~ ever had any

-
money. ~t this ti~e run-runming uas the big money racket. 7his bur-ch got their
 o 2" ~. ,

I; with ~2 ,000 ,000 worth of booze in her holds. 'l'blJ

whole 18 men went aboard
Jj

_~-~~~
of the ship, held up the Captain and crew ~nd stole every bottle of booze
,/

,JliI'
which they brought ashore to Jersey City and "jew.York, For turning this trick
..... ............- ....~-~ ....'"

lj 1 these 18 men split up between them.~244,000 ;n cas?, besid:~~~~~~.

Bome of t?~-booze. Some of this outfit soon went thru t!1eirrolls and were
th~~ ~ept

l' /800n broke but the foxey ones of the gang got their heads together and ','lent
,1/ ~o a different racket. They invested tJ'eirmoney into night clubs and
I ~eabRrets on ~r~!'fd
.
7ay._'I'heyepe;;.:,.~,;;,?
""theSi:ve.r
...
SUPJ~r, the Parcdy Club,

,~ the Cotton Club, and a half a d07.en other night clubs. There they peddle~
i, 'the booze whic~ the7 stole. There they ran big crap ga~es ~nd gambling joints.
I
I, - - hiIl ~ '_-''C'.e .t 1 ....- .... _ ............ ~~.J

They had a bunch of girls out r.ustli:cgforthem. '::hentheir booze ran short
~ ----- ~.-..'".es- .. _ ..""""_~,,, ."'k-_~ __ CW- f. ...... _~;~.,.,.:.;:~

they bought boats, trucks ~nd automobiles and hired other gangsters which
they org'tnized into gangs to run smuggled goods out of the U. :'1. Up into

i Canada and return with booze, do~e and undesireble aliens. They made money
by the thous~nds and hundreds 0~1thousands. 7hey are still in business. Strong
er than ever. They and their gangs have connections and ramifications extend-
ing all over the country. They have interests in "11 the big dope rings and
~skey outfits, white slavery and the prize fight gqme. ~is outfit is ~11
~hooked up together, Oney ~adden, Billy Badden, Bum Rogers, t~e Duffy brothers
1'DDm the Jersey City, Boo-Boo Hoff from Philly, Scar-Pccee Al Canone from Chi.
~ney have a strangle hold on the fight game, This was proved by the dicker be~
tween Eoo-Boo Hoff and Gene Tunney at the fight in Philly between, Tunney
and Dempsey. And again at Chicago Where Scar Face Al Capone was double crossed
.......
_~...:.. __ .__ ,__ .;;.,.- . m ~~ . ,. .~ _

_ by Tunney and his outfit~.~G~e~n~e~~i~s~a~p~r~~et~t~Y~f~o~x~~o.~y~,~b~i;r_d~._~~"~

of
bunk about his retiring fro~ the ring to live in Europe in high society. The
real truth 0f the matter is that some of his former ganester friends that he
double-crossed are out to take him for a ride and he cleared out hefore he

t ~~ got bumped off. Few people know the real inside facts. lIewknow that ?linney's
~
~ana~er was a politicain who was connected With the flewYork State Prison
Co~ission and Prison Parole Board. Appointed to thQt position by Governor

Visited --
Al S~ith. Pew peeple know that ?linney and his ~anager on numerous occasions
-.:::...:..=-
talks with BQ~ Rogers
-
--._-.."State r.isons and while there had long cOl".f'idential
several ::.Y. b

and other conVicts. ...Ur that while chere they were - ,

Wined end dined by the warden in his ho~e. ~ew people know th~t these gsng-
_. ..
- aters and ~~n-men in New York City have on several occasions made special re-
servati~n~ and-- 17vr.r7 expensive trips to and fro~ the Clinton =risQQ or tb~~_

.
 o o
j 23.

to comedown to the Big Town nhere they were wined and dined at the Silver
,1
i Slipper and other night clubs, all at the expense of those gangsters and
J
~ ~gun~en. All ~ these things are ma t t.ers of corpnonknowledge a-io
ng the
c:l-<"\
1~ ~nEier-world. ;'lany
coppers know these things. _~~e Silver Slipper and the

j : Cotton Club are the special h~ng-outs of both CQP~o.o.1&s~m;;~-;r

f ..
~~~~ ver1f!.-:hese t;;::;gs:Th~rv:'~' it nt-=.~_d_s_t_o_~~a~cn
th~the
coppers and t'1ecr-ooks are all wor::ing in together and all double-crossing
1
1 ,

~ach other at the same time. And yet each and all of them are always yelping

_phQut their honor and their great principles. \

'.
..Honor among thieves is the bunk.

\
c

I
 t: fl
(4 ) ~24.

--
J
.j
\
L.

I am making a ----
l' '

-. .
rew'suggestions which I hope you will carefully
1 think
over ar.daot Upon. or course,. it's up to you. It's nothing to me ir
11 you do or don't.

:~1
. I
I suggest that yoU take eVerything I have written, make a type-
V'fl: written copy or it. Then write out another rrom that, just Using
'j I.~'
Whatever parts that can be.published. Connect the dirferent parts
.;tdlfl'-r
I !O;.~ ' "'--"'---77"," .M ~J1_JQttz:;;z:a;w _ <t

!
. : .
j
I
the newspaper clipPings. And rrom now on keep track ,of w~at the
i
1,
~r
papers print about me. Save a rew or those clipPings. Just those
.J
'j that give tre i'uture and last acts or my life and an acco~,,~ of my
,1, death.
j
.1 P. S. I won't be alive to re'td What you PUblish ..El0 it ,von't cut any
f.,
f~
ice with me. I am doomed to pass out or the picture pretty soon. I
have fUlly decided that I want to die and there will be no turning
Ii aside. Thnether I die in the electric chair ror 80~e the murders I
1 ~ have a~readY conmitted or ir I must CO~it one or two more or ir I
1
,~e unde;-the guns or bl;CkjaCk~~e 'coPpers or even if there is
j ,~o oth" wey out ror 0', I ,hall t,k. my 0'0 l1r., I om oult.
10
j ~rJ~ -c;pable oi'~Ying in any or the;: \';ays~I~ sZ "ii"I shai; ;urely
1" 'i/;#' r , accomplish my desire to die. liomatter how I pass out, it will be_

I
I
... ........... - _----"-~
seli'.You better get busy and waste no ti~e because it Won't be long
--~ ---
of a lot of l' ee advertising about me in the papers. A lot has -......
--""-.........

..
-----
already been printed and the'vorst is yet to COrne.You never can
tell what the sequel will be. ::natcver
at __
. .",.;,;.~..:..;,.-.:-.:....
:.:.:::~.::..,:,;.:.:;,...:.:.:.:-...:.;~;:..~....::;.:...:.....:.:......::.:..;~-.;..
.- ........ "'-..................... ~_

msy be it Vlill be worth

it
.;;,-~.;.,

-
While. At the time of ~) d~ath that will be the proper ~oment for

-
~ vrU.. ':;\,p1Al;; vi ~
. V --

.
 j o .r--.,
25.

7U to publish YOur book. You p.~n see that surely. You ought to make a
q

barrell of jack out of it if you work things properly. What

.
I h~ve written and given to 70U is all that I have ever v~it~en and
r "_ __---.
it isn't very likely thrrt tIl ever v~ite any more for anyone else

you'll do well. One last suggestion is this: _...:.-.,

~"":":':''''';':'';''''-=-::''~'='':-----':-:'''::::''''-:':'--''''';';_,_n If you intend to ~ake
~

I {I
...any
-
l1me-.
use or Y;h'ltI have v.Titten, 'then you had better not waste any
I
......---.._,
am getting weary of waiting and liVing for this world. That's
-- ...._---..,
: .:.:~:.;;.;:;....;:;;:....;;.;;:...:.:;....::...:.:::.;..:....::.::.::.::..:.::..:.;.!:...::.:..:.:..:...,;;,.;..:....:::;::...

----.'r....
'.~~'''''
~. -
all.
--...;;:...--;;;..- -:...-----
P. B. A bunch or these kind or newspaper clippings and oy picture
would go good to fill in the last part or the bOOK. Lhey would' ~e
-- """"~-:j>'-",,-~---_.--- .
.'

I -
...
both authentic. and interesting. ,\ftera 11 of my part oLtlle_b.o.oJL.t.O
finish it off in proper ~tyle, you as the author could \-r~ce my
'-~--- --=.:.:.~~~~~--.---:-----=---_.--..::..=.
wind up or the epitaph wi~h perhaps
~-..~
picture of me arter death or the a
.... ~ ----=-._-_._-

-
'-for -,------
grave or the electric chair. You ~ite
t he book and "cur own explanations as the conClusions. T~is ought
.
the preface, use my \7ritings

-----
-
.
like it.
'--
I
the
would be aroused by all of papers publishing so much about me
._-~-~-:-=---:--:~---=-~-=-:---:-:--~~
I) "----..:...------.
lish it in bock form
-
"If you do write a book, you ought to get it copyrighted,
.
and then in serial form in the ~agazine~or
first

maybe just the other way around, first t~e magazines and the Sunday
--...::.....-.. -~- --- ----
spers and then a book. Just one ~ore suggestion th&t may be ~orth
while would be to let a rew men like '.rr.Clarence Darrow and a few
......

!,
,l
 26.
o

!:~t t1;e:n r?sd wnat I,",!'lote and then vlrite you ~at they t'link abcub it.

or even a few of the outstanding of their opinions tPBt thev have

\1 :lreadY writcen on the sUbjec~ of crime,
- ,
the causes, efrect and
7

L.

-- I don 't know ~ihethel' this

connection with wnat I ha ve already written

bunch of crap will

but it
be of any use in

will S'crveto

prove my contentions that the majorit.;L.."f cOD:pe!,s

are not out to
"QM""t-

put down cri~e and those fe'~~~l1l--are are in a small '1inority.

, .....
But by far th .. l"rgest percentage are both brainlQss and unprincipled

The methods in use br the police do not curb crime. The exac t reverse

fhlf~~~i8 true. Right here and now in this City. ,Hs"ington. D. C there is

~~man on the police force by the na~e o~ Allen. I don't know him

111 C
~~SOnalIY. Never .s,'Hf hi"',~r:,? never s.::~ to .h:~':"'::1l1 I know,.

!j-
~ that
l he is a colleg:'lZ:-~.at.e.!~~a ?~e:r and.cl":'~"?.:~~~d_man.
He hOlsboth brains nd a high ooral ~i!1d with good principles. He is

~ ";hysiCallY fit or he wouldn't be on the police force. He he.s brains

enough to see right and he has the moral courage to stick by his
principles. There sre v ry few like him on any police force. Any

man like this ~~y is. should be a welcome addition to any law abiding

co~unity or police force. That kind of a man is hard to find at

any ti~e. He is sacrificing his own best interests to be a service

to the public good. :"ndwhat is the result?

- The result is t hat; the
,
big mgj?rity of his companions and fellow officers are all out to

sink hi~. They are doing every dam thing they can.to drive hLT.off
~.......-..-~"",""""",,,,--... ,.-- e; --~~-~ --~~ ...~ .....
~, ....
- ....,....--~--- .~-~

the police force. They 'Ire w~tching every move he makes and ~t the
~ ....
->~ ..~~",.~ ...........
__ ~~~=-
........... '~; '"' ._"., _ z;:;_
 o
he is clean and they are dirty. Because he h~s prlncipl~
... -- .... .. _-
...........

__
which they 13ck. ;,ecausc he hRs
., r
more brains than they h'lve.

Here is a battle inside the ranks of the forces of law and

order. One m9.n who is in the right against a mob that is

in the r.rong. Anybody with any claim to intelligence at all

fl
"::,:::
~:: through . this
. racket. _~ven a skunk
or' -r like

that;m;r All~].: PeoplE! warrt everyone

a mfln 1iJ!:e
to have respect for the law but how the hell is anyone going

to have any respect for the law and order when the law doesn't

respect itself?
Then here is another little illustration. Just the other

day in New York City and alaa in Chicago. hith a grand hoo-

raw in the ,papers. the two chief's of police of thos6cities

made a grand round-up smashing up ginmills and saloons and

---------_._. __ ._.---------
pool-rooms and such like. In New York they pinched 1500 nen.

Inside of three days these 1500 men .:ere all back a t liberty.

, all exceot "bout l'JOin !l. Y.

-r

J~ , In Chic=g<:":~~~~=s!:~n.ched in 3 days. I.:;,.

three da~
~ " they were all f;ee, except 30~.~~And it pon't be long until
'It' the most ::'1' those are again free. This. being the case, then

wh~t the hell was the gain? Very probably the cops did pinch
~
a big mob of crooks. ~hat of it? They are all free again. ~hen

they got pinched and while they were in the can, they ~~st all!

have got a kick or two each. Some of em got beaten up good. Now

I wonder if anyone is a big enough fool to think that. this sort

of treat~ent made those that received it feel any bette~ dis-

posed to~ards law and order" Are they all reformed up now?

Does anvone believe that this sane outfit as soon aa they got

I/ out of the can they at once rushed around to get a job qnn.are

now hard at work, putting blisters on their h~nds and a hump

I'!!!'~-------------""!!!!!!!!,,!,!,!-"""""~~
o o o
28.

on their bac'ksb, trading labor for dollars. Anybody thinks th'1t is

sure nutty. ''-.'h'lt
they did do "''1'' to get' mad at the trcatJ:lentt.hey
received. Those among them who had the ~lts and the brain" all
got bus, at once looking for the crooked arid easy dollar. ~.o:ne
went
back to their old graft in the sa~e place~ Some looked around for a
new graft in a new place. Lots of them left town. \'1 ent aomewner e
else to where they was not known and there ~~ey are busy "orking
some kind of a skin g~me on srnneoneelse. someo~e,..-~,
so~ewhere
...... ..
in being _-_.--
__.~
rob"ed, raoed or killed by some of this outfit of three or four ,th.QUll;:l..nd
-FT .~"'-:-~,*J(" fa "'" .. 4; 4.. - " " .-'~-~...--.:-.; ,--- - -

men that were ninched, mistreated .and then turned loose.

- ...",.. '. - - ----..-- This
.'
kind of a bull-dozing police racket only'makes m~tter worse for some
....
d~-- _ .....".........
_~~""'c< .........
~_ ...-. ..........
__ ._~---., ... >-----~-.,.--"""'"~~~. ! _"1
poor sucker some'ahere else even if !lew'York and Chicl:ago got
-...--rid

...
of a}l ~~~e

-
-~-,--------~._--_.-._._.--....,;..~.,.-.:_~--
crooks that they pinched and ~~n out of town, that only
makes bad matters worse. ~hese crooks only go to som~
,.... other to.ms and . -

the people of those. t.owns suffer. They don't know

_"'_r" thses
..
... _, ...... T
er-coks, and
-.-... ~-......-~-

crooks know it. The crooks just bull their ~ay around and m~ny a
---------.....,-_._. ~._-- --~ ...... ' ................
- ....."'...,"""'-= ..........._."' ..,.-~~~~_ .... "..-> .......
_~._~,.."~-;.....,,

poor, h'ird-working slob must pay, I:l'iybe

with only his money or property
....~ -""-T'-"'~ __
'_'."",.,._ ._-...:~,, __ ~..,-~ _ '_,.,,;~_':;'_~~ __""""~_' ' ~~.. ..... < ~.-.-~-

and ~a~be w1tb his life or maybe both. Thet biggest dumbbell on
to
earth ought be able to see the truth of this. P.ow cnn anyone be

~
- so dUMb

~;ec::::~
9.S to think that these kind of tactics that the polic" use are

:::ap::s::: ::s::: ::S:l:o:: ::dd:::r::k:si:h:n:;~:i::~:~:~WhO

~ I pay big taxes for the privilege of being robbed or killed.

I have lived 36 years in the U. S. A. and never paid a dollar
for t9xes. There are thousands more like me. The present sestem
in use is the cause of t~is as it is the cause of many other
abuses. I was born and raised in this country and yet I have never
voted once and I am 36 years old. There are plenty more like me.
I ~ve done very, very little work cf the honest kind, but I have
-------------:------
o

...- ~---_.
---~
o
29
.
worked very, very hqrd at l)IYchosen profess1,;;.!!., producing de9.t~,

I{ ~~,~!~r:-~~~,
on living
~~!:;'l..t~J.2J1':
I am still
I am going to keep right
alive and as long 9.8 I keep
on doing the snme to the best of

my ability, T~ere are thousands of more like me vho feel the sqme

)r and do the same as I do. And,what we w ouLd like to know is. ~,r:.at the

{i_hell are we going to do about it?",

.f ~ l-.~~t. ...:: ~q';--:':':>;., 'II ""'J"'/:';":""1

'-
 o 30.

My eyes ere roeling pretty good nnd so am I 90 I thought I

would ~Tite a line or two to pass the time away. This sche~e I have

(I had in my mind for several years nnd it's too good a thing to thrOVl

away just because I .o an t t use it so I am writing it down .'ith the

, .
...
1 fervent .l1sh that sorneqne may
:
ree it and make good use of' 1to ,to

I
r : ~~~~~.o.f_J<_h.Jl_.WCC.~~~_'p'<i?~l;'-~t1c;!,L,?t
thi~.::.e;:_ld
:..
I.!.!:g>..lr
ed out
this sche~e TIhile I "~s in the
_~~~.-.e.-'U.l'.
..~~"~,,,,"~c..--.-_-.
Isolation
,'.. ...,~~,....- ...~ ~~
>
or s~~+~~~2~~~nt
at Clinton Prison, DannemorDa, New York. I used to spend all of

my time figuring how I'could murder the most people with the least

harm and expense to ~yself and I finally thought of a way to kill off

a whole town: men, .women , .children and even the cats and dogs. I

intended to buy up about ~ barrel of arsenic poison. Then I was going

to get me 6 or 8 hogs, starve them until they were all ravenously

hungry ~nd then I would give them all a big feed of flour, w~ter, mash

and 9rsenic poison all mixed in one mess. Lhey would all dive into it

and fill themselves full and in an hour or two the poison would b~gin

to work thru their systems. Then I was going to hang them all up by
their hind legs with a wash tub under them to let the slimey poison

and froth drain out of them into thu wash tubs. That I would then strain

and dry out and then I intended to get some' clay and make 3 big clay

pots each one to fit inside of the other and each one a little bit hard-

er than the next one. Then I was going to fill'all 3 pots ~ith

poison with the largest in the center. Then I was going to put the lot

all in one and put that in the bottom of a small creek that flows into

the reservoir that supplies the town and prison with all their water.

That would h~ve fixed a hell of a big bunch at one time for by the time

they found cut what was wrong with them it would be too late for all

he dam doctors in the world to cure em.

Luereti~ Borgia used this racket on a small scale ~ut I figured

 n
, o
31
..
on ll. few extra improvements xso that I could do 11 better lob than
----
the Borgias done. They were pikers. They didn't kill half enough.
, - ,=-----.-,-,._------- -, -_.- -,~--,----- --~ .
I~: ~;:-;;;:;.;.;."
~
;""':"'d ":-~ d,O-;;.,
.They should have killed evorybody "nd left thi9 ~Jorld for the only

Sl1lt
of it.
"'0.,;;-7; ~n was

,. ...

I think thst' it is pretty good "nd could be found very useful and maybe

valuable. You know that Gover~~ents, Navys, Armys, and g~eat co~~ercial

and banking houses, telegraph companys ~ all have in constant use

their own private s~cret codes. Perhaps you could sell the idea to

some outfit like that. If you could, you would get yourself a nice

piece of change out of it. This code I invented myself. I call it

Triliteral Transposed Code Interlocking.

It is very complicated and I am sure that it could be elaborated

on and fixed up into a cracker-Jack of q code. There nre millions

of different combinations in this one code. Ireel positive th'lt no

one in the world could ever ~ecipher a message that was~itten in

this code u~less he had the key.

~ po""
 ..
o
P'l.rtOne, 123
Symbols corresponding to Part two.

N-1.2.1
A - 1.1.1.
0-2.1.2
B 1.1.2
C 1.2.2 P-1.3.l
D-2.2.2
~-3 .1.3
R-2.3.l
E-2.2.1
5-1.2.3
F-2.1.1
T-2.3.3
G-l.l.3 U-l.3.2
H 1.3.3
1-3.3.0 Y-2.1.3
W-3.2.1.
J-3.1.l
X,-2.2.3
K-3.3.'1 Y-3.1.2
L-:3.3.2
Z-2.3.2
M-3.2.2 ., .

*Part Two-
These letters correspond to the syn~ols in
Part One.

A -
E
I
..-
0
0
0 and
0,... 0 These ten letters will be blanks
U''
'T - 0
-
0
used merely as a blind fo fill in anyYlhere. -;

,Y - o
G - 0
D
Z -0
-0

B, C. F. H .- No.1
J. K. L. M -- No.2
N. P. ~. R -- No. 3 {~
s. v. Capital letters
Vi. x. --period
As an example. the letter A could be ~Titten any of hhese Wqys besides
::lanyother "87s; -'\--1 1 1. This is the key. Or this is the code in cypher.
A. - B. F. !l.
or BAT H b9.t
or F ugdzcadfyz
or Faith bad
or Gat budhad
or ac::iofaubd
or haitgdzbugidztaod
To decipher just leave out all the blarurs. Suppose you wanted to write the
word cat. here are sooe different ways of writing the sa~e wQrd: C--1 1 2;
All 1; T 2 33: BGIER}'Ln:i'or C,;LGl-'m<,,,l'J.. Thus it takes three letters
to write one in code, and ,ou could ~ut in blanks an~where yml ~qnted
to as fo~ example; AEactjbughiofe~otni;ag. By dropping all of the blank8
yOU have left only bzjbhfmnp which spells cat.
 You have been prePty decent to ~e although thero i~n't any rea~on' why
~K'vou ';'-;;:'Uld
do me any favors, yet I am going to ask you to do somethi;;;-;'or
p/;/~:-ld like";; get a real si~-;~e opinic;n f;'~:'.~;;;-;~ike. t:::~~y
~ife w~o hqs a ke~, an~.i.cal trnined mind and who is ~hle to give ap

~ .----'----=~-- ,."\
....
uribLn sed opionion ,""",,t'~"~
ns to just..
,,,
,,,,,-..
wha t _the hell is OCO
v;r:fi-Alg
~ ~
',"ith
me. I am pre.tt;:

.! !gnor,-mt but I am_s,::.eI .am ~~_t.:~::?~~d ~~t I a~?~t_,\s...8..t~~:r~~I /' ,

i wouldli.ke- to k~~::-
just :Ih~t oth:rs~ ;hink about.my "co~le:ces and abnormal-
ities. I oon't whnt the opinion-10f some ordinary psyehoanalyst 01' bug docto
L....; ....... __ ~~_.... -.. ~"'t.<- '"~~~~~~"""-~~~.~N"'"
.......... -' _s.::w!'".ii<>_ .. '':oC .. ~- "'F.",;>-".-=OO;;:'~-_# . -

who merely goes'thr1i a routine rigamarol ex 'nination and jUdges b:' the rule s
that are written downin some book, full of theories which h~ve never been
proven facts. You Rre a student and I belie~e that your ideas are right
but still

---
----
I am just as much puzzled about myseIr., All of my lire I have been
trying to .fig=e just what ails me and 'WhY.-~
all out,
~~1d-~ I-~an .f1~.lr~-~t
try as I will. I ~~ not ~ooKing for the remedy or the effect. It's
- "----,"
too late for the remedy and I already lmow the efreet but I sure wou'Ld like
.to len 0'" t~ause. ','i111
you just ask what others thInk about that history
of my life when they -read it? Sor.m of "tho,-;mur assoct~and friends.
\surely ~st be cap~ble of getting the cLrreet answer to my problem

!
;~
~vf1Jftt;1:U::7U}/~}:";,-a-a".,,,~ ~
) .~nen I ~as a small boy 6 or 7 years old. I al~ays had trouble with my
"--
ears, alIT~Ys aching and running with matter. This ~et on for a year or tvo
constantly but with little or no medical or surgical attention other than
just What ignorant, irnmi~ant neighbors, mostly Germon far~ers, ~ould suggest
to be tried on-me. Things like laying a hot
brick on my ear. Pouring sweet

II
oil into it or maybe sOr:tetim~sgoose grease
and othor home remedies. These
experiments never done me any good but
things got worse ir-stead of better.

-Finally, my he~d s~elledup as big as a balloon. Then

---:..-...::....-----.:...:-c-;--~-~ __ .... my people finally
went to see a real doctor. He looke~ me over and at once prescribed an opera-
tion. I!.ypeople were too poor to have me in a hospital so I "illS operated on
in our ow!: home,
on tho kitchen table. This was a m~stoid oper1tion behind
Co
r the operation I w"s put to bed Where I slept with my
There \"lasnever any nurse in 'lttendance.
come onee a week for a few weeks. trymother and older brother TIeremy only
snd the doctor used to 1/
,nurses. They knew as ~uch about nursing ar-dantiseptics snd germs as I do
about the next world. But I got well in spite or their ignora~oe. For a
while only th~ugh. Tb~n ,~ !LSI' began to run with matter and swell up.
My neck and jaws swelled 'up also. Just Qne year ~fter my first operation.

;:~-=
 "

(J

My ~other watched tho operat~on snd she 'often told me all about ~t later on
in 1ife.,.She GRid that the doctors cut my head open and took out a sack or~r
absess about 3 or 4 inches mX long, filled with matter. I staye~~i~st J7 -'
hospital several months, unt~l Iwas all healed up. But still thnt dsm~ ear

--
and the other 'one also gave me many susche in the after years. I had trouble
with them for about 8 years each winter. and th~~qyer had any trouble
- -~
... ' =='_ s:::_-<C'l'ftl
7; ...... ...... -"' _. .. ".-- -

since except at rare intervals. Now I wonder, could it ~e nossible th~t the
trouble had or has now any connection with my ~imin31
~
~ possible
.. --
that those operations had any after effects on my brains. Has the
tendencies. Is it

.-brain
---- any connection with the car? I sure would like to know if this iiS-the

It~c~a~u~s~e~~o~f~a:1:1:-m:,~y~q~u:e:.e:r:-:ac~:ons
;:nd.~~d
'

that defect be~rernedieE~~Y anoth~r ~

Q~at1Dn-!2r ~~toids. NotXk that I~ant one because I don't. I don't want
~I rd-
it '_f3~to be cured in that way. The only way I want to be cured is to -die--and get
-

AlMA"" completely
lf~~r. out of this world .I would not consent to be operated on, and they
~\cantt operate on me without my own consent. All I want is to fir.d out the
~0!v _reason why I an what I am and why I act the way I do. I have been puzzled all
. my life about this and I would sure like to know the answer before I leave

thi s \'70 rId ~(f_-:y:.:o
.,
U S.::..h~o_u:::1
.,
d_a.;
t.::..t~e--n:...d_t~h-,-e_s-,-e_l:..:e,-c,-t,-u~r=--::.e
.;
u~l
.d:.-c=-o=-!Il=e_
; to
contact with any of these crack psychologists and psychiatrists doctors,
you could ask them '.?hatthey think about it. You and they sre all interested
in this SUbject 0 f criminology and surely there n!'v,:,r
~1~S a .better cha~
to rind out a few things that are not understood
----&f---
- about this subject in
studyings2=bitu9.1 criminal. If I amn't one, then there never was one. You
L "
are making a lifetime study and a career on this business and sureJY you

oUght to go and attend these lectures at the Mt. -PleAsant congre~onal

i:
Church and there you would meet this <auy N. D. C. owis and others like
h1~. You could learn much from hi~ an~ his other eonferres who are there
working with him along these lines. You could let him or them all read all
of any part of what I-have writr.en and find out w~~t they think about it. I
sure would like to know the correct answer to my problem.

In one of'the large prisons of this co~ntry on top or one of the frent
buildings is the statue of a man made of' copper. This statue is known as

J\/~-J ~)'T'.N ol~ C~rrl ~

 o
35.
The cons have made up A piece of poetry about this Corper John Bod
the cons themselves. The first line of it is,

fDD~
II
If Copper John c0uld only turn his face,
And see the ~uzzlers ~nd the guZZlers in this place,
there it goes on to tell just wh~t he would see. The meannesses,

degener~cy, unprinciple, treachery, brutality and every kind of roguery

and filth there is that is confined behind the stone wolls Bnd iron bars
that he hn s turned his baek i.:Xl on.

It is well understood in the underworld that the worst insulting name

--- ---_._-
that anyone can call another is that he is a muzzler snd guzzler. This means

that the man is lost to all decency and is beyond all redemption. He is

.-
During my last term in prison I was given the nickname or moniker of

jIlcon ~r John ~nd was known as a first class A No.1

y'I was given tha~ rep

mUzzler and guzzler.~o

wasn't altogether entitled to it, but I am now. I

~

Ii ;lead guilty. ~"fUllY deserve it nQ','.I am~~ot~~a~_~ knOW~o~-_t~~--:-

~ ~r:d the only re,sn I am not worse is because b'y'~J:pportunities
and abilities

SP~~~li~ite~,oster-ShoPlifter;-pro~le;-~~glar; stick up or hister-holdup

man; jug-bank; jug head-dunb bell; hop head-dope fiend, a s~oker of opium;

snow bird-cocaine sniffer; needle pumper-hypodermic user; con man-confidence

~an; shiv man-kniCe man; ~an opener-outfit ~ tools to rip a safe;,peter man-.
~
box man or safe b l.ower-, Sometines used to describe a !:lan.,,1-0 slips a Peter

-----
or knock out dno os in another's drink. A Keeley,1 A pLnp is a ~
...
a McGimp is both or worse than either. Paper hanger-forger;
pdmp and

crape hanger-

eith r a gloom Or killer. Catting up a scatter or gin-mill--to hold up a

mXEE~R saloon. ~ob is the same as a g~"g.A gunsel is a puP~ and a punk is
poofter and a poofter is a pratter and a pratter is Eimilar to & frmiter.
The only difference be tween the no is that one likes to sit on "it",

and the other likes to eat "it". " face artist is an exceptionally well

experinced fruiter. Cne ~ho h~ows his bannanas better than an !l:latenr.

A face artist is one .~ogoes down tObn for lunch and nose-dives into the

bushes when he's hungry. crOakeprison doctor and a very ap~ropri!lte title

it is. too. Big finger-warden; seco~flnger-p.K. or dep; ~ew~the big finger'

.~ csnce hall-death house; big house- hoose gow-stir or college. To pull

off a hot prowl is to turn off a trick in n private or a joint that is to

be kipped or bugged; that is to rob a place wher-e people -u-esleeping or that

\ is wired. To get a stretch in ~tir--to do a bit in the hoose go,,; to make a

\ ~ ~\-nLJ~1l-~..Ut)~L- CI\k1V1Vr4' r~ .aQ'W-llM;JJ-4

\

. -~U fIrpr}!) h~ . -
 o
36.

lam--to cruch out of the hoose gow. A big shot is a 16ading light of
crookdom. A wolf is one who h2s a r-reference for a gunsel. Sometimes they
fall madly in love' 'ith each other and then the green eyed monster stalks

abroad.

P. s.
L----
I been vondcring WhRt people think when they ~ad all this crap
thst I been writing. I'll bet that your girl friend and maybe youtoo. take
<- . ----------------------'---=---_-..:.:.--
a bl'th allover, whe neuer- you get thru reading. ,,11 of this filth and dirt ..
.-
all confined in the carcass of ~e human being. ;:.I:..'-:.1::.1::.......::b.:e..:t-
nor
anyone else ever heard of anyone who ~as so absolutely unprincipled and
rotten as I am. I have never y~t. and 1 have met every kind of a s~~nk ther~
-------.:"-------------------'---
is in hU!:l8.n
kind

The world is wide and they ain't all like.

COPFER JOHN

Carl
-
Alias
Panzram.
 1.
o
If'you are going to get, a job in that boys' tr~ining school, and if
f you intend to ".lakea. study s nd a life work of the delinquen~y and the re-

I
-----
habiJi~tion of young boys, then it won't do any hnrm, and may be of some
benefit, not only to yourself in yeur work, but also the youngsters
YOU will have to ;each and guard; that's why I am offering you these few
tnab

f ideas and su'.,o;estions.

,---
places
You know thnt I spent several years in one of those

,~~:~l
_
':_~-.:.
-
~oy and the so-called
-~----~----~--_.--..:~~
Training that I received,-:",~ile

~ r
-- --------- ---
there is mainly the cause of my being the degenerate beast that I am today.
I have theught about thqt system of training young boys for all of my life
_. --- ---------------

~and I know that the whole system is vmong. That system of benting goodness,
religion, ~nd Jesus into boys in 99 times out of 100 has the direct opposite
-
~ -
effect of taking all of the goodness, kindness, and love out of them and then
.

lleving the ..orst fir everybody and you especially. You will never be able
--- - ........... ---- --------_._--"'"-- .-.....-

to accomplish much with any of them until you first gain their good will and
confidence. You
that ysu're not a li~r-a
-_. - ----_._------"
never gain either until you absolutely assure them
CRn ~E

hypocrite. This you will hav~_~opr~v~ b~ word

-- ._- -

--~--------
~- ~~-
and deed to them. Once vou are able to convince them that you yourself are
! a good cle;,;.,honorable man, and that yo-;-~ean only good to t.hem, then
theY" will listen and believe ~ -::henyou got there, you will find that
they are all being taught KkKm a lot of bull by a lot of lying hyp ocrites
just the same as I was taught when I was a boy, ~th just about the same re-
sults. I know now that if I had it all co do over 2g~in and if I had any choice
in what subjects I should be instructed, then my real choice should be to dis-
regard all hypocricy and foolish L~practical things, such as are taught today
in the name of religion. That's the bunk ?he Golde~ Rule is religion enough

to teach to any
------ ~-.::-.-
----- .---
boy. The~h~tkh~e~m~t~h~e~m~e~a~n~i~n~g~~o~f~su~c~h~~t~h~i~n~g:s~~
---..,
 -2-
o
honest, thler; honor, ~lshon~;

,,~.
~
~ry,
-
cowardlce; clean. dirty; lov~.

For each lesson just take one wor-d , POI' instance. take the word truth.
in all its tenses. chen ttmJ_lir
Teach the'llthe full meaning or that one ','1Ord

teach t he-n how to spell It. pronounce it. find speak and write it in ever-y day

usage. 'I'e
-
so': them what it really means :;0 he truthrul. how they will be re-
----- -
!pected by all others ;,ndhow they will respect themselves bY_lJeing truthi'ul.
Teach them by example. word and de,d until they thoroughly know what one
--------------
word iT'uth.
--
-
The next day ror the next lesson, take the antonym or truth. the word
lie or liar. Teach that word until it is thoroughly understood, findwhat a
despicable thing a real liar Is. Show them 'the harm it does, show them that

it does no good and only harm to lie. Ho~ a liar looses his o,vn selr-respect
and nhe resr-ect ror all others. Show them the contrast between a truthi'ul
~------'----------
person and a liar. How one has his own selr-respect and the respect or all

others and then on the other hand snow then what a riean thing a liar is

. .rter these two lessons are over with, let each boy write out a short.compo-

l sition of what he has Lear-ned and his belief and theories or same .ieep all.
~r each boys' records on file. ~eep track or each time he tells the truth
t'
n~Jles. Keep a separate record ~f e~ch boy's conduct. give him credits ror

l~s truthi'ulness, a.~ punish him ;h, <,lying.Let these bxnmx records be the
real standard to jUdge the boy by ~s to his ritness or unfitness nx for

release from the institution. Don't judee the boy because he learns or does
"
not le"rn his Sunday School lessons or "'ecause he is mischievous and misbehave!!

by having " ~t with another boy or breaking something or because he does

.,- .' L--------------
not do bi8WOr\er
r

~~-
some of the other standards they use tod~y in the jUdging

o~ boys' fitness or his unfitness. Only a fool will jUdge anether person fer
..:
--

what he does. They should be jUdged not for what they do but for How they do
it and ~hy they do it.
-
 -3-

One or two words like these each day will do more to make better men

/; tho wor-Ld,
,~
.-
oat o~ young hays than all the long-haired wind bugs and all the Bibles in

You will find th~t the boys will all be interested. Their new words
will be in their vocabuluries in every day usage. They will believe in
these le"sons because they will be true and something they cans see. Thier
' rewards will be something that they can see, f~el, taste, or wear or keep
( always, and not merely a piece of paper full of hot air th~t th~y have no

real belief in.

You will find that when ou go to that place to work they will have
JJ:; ,,-
'some sort of a credit system, that they ~>~ to judge the boys by. So many
cr",dits to each for each days good b ehav Lon , \;11ena boy has, earned a

-
certain amount, he is elegible for parole. The boys who get their credits
the soonest are usually the most d~spicable ones of the lot .They are
the clever liars, the hypocrites and the stool pigeons. But they sure do
learn their :::undaySchool lessons all right . vnd they know how co be very:
----------.....::._-----------...:::._-~=--_::.....-------- ~
polite stool pigeons by saying, Yes sir, N~sir, and please sir, good morning
and how do you do, sir. But all these are merely surface fc~lings, and their
real feelings are hidd~n out of sight where you will have a hard time dis-
-- .. - -
 Post Office Box 7 Leavenworth. KensRs April 1, 1929
o
~16l4

Letter re~eivcd'froM
.,
';fYl"."" ~-t~ OvlIJ.c,'d. ., [. - mj
~J.:-I!
Carl Panzra~ written
111J
to lieury P. Lcsso~ I;Yfl-.-~~{tl
~ ~ (:viV.,~
Lesser:
Your letter of Mar.cn 30th v:~s handed to .,e this eve nf.ng artd I
i-: /'U \ 71,)
am ans~ering at once to tharut you for it a~d its enclosure of one doll~r.
Your Le t.t er w?" quite short but str'lir.ht to the point "8 asu.1r. I enjoyed
reading it and I expect to enjoy the spending-"f :rour dollar~ I neaer- got
the post card ~hich you sent me.
. This is ~y first loLter since I have boen here. I shall be glad
to hererr:criJ ,wu at ccny tIne you care to crop me a line. You can write to
me without sending r.1eany money. I'll be glad to hear from you just the same
and.--J.!..ll ",17:"1"1'''' answer vou. . . ~
~ 7here is very little novr s that I can give you be eause there is
.....
LWI~neto_Etv'" so f,o.r ."IS I !iIlOW.~ h"ve neen here 2 months tod"y_. Nothing very
&V1inusual hs s happ Lned to me so f"r. I nave no complaints of any }:ir.d. 'hat
fl.,) the future M<Jy have in store for -ie I don I t knov or very much care. Your
~\.,b1"P~criPt in reg<,rds to Allen v.a s the natural r-e su l t, to be e xpec ted C'Oml ider- '
~//~ng the conditions ~na circums~ances in which he was situated. tie will be
:/ the g"ineT in the long run. 'i'hat sort of a man will a Lv/a ye be up in fDont

'
800n~r or 19.te-r~ i
I believe you know the regulations about my prlvi1ag in letter
wr1tting. So please dont .ever send rie any thing unless your sure I'll get
it. I don't need any thing and I cid'-.k I c';cnnal'lage all right. )!.Y ,,.;,,-ntsar-e
little and I think I can satisfy tre~. I have ~et a n~8ber of .~, old pals in

I here who knew mo vcars ~go. I still

lie.!'! it \"111 ever ,",ear ofr until
too quick

letter,
XY:JC.{%YJ]C
working. reading.
1 have ...
1'01" no. Just
Rnd thinking.
have 07 pcr~etual gr~uch ~nd~-abh't
I nass our-cci~prefef7:-- --h9.'t~t.i;'e-cant- come
at 1=rc~ent I P9..DS ':1y tJ.:'1e t n 91 ~'ping,
~nd. the last is not the best.
'ondcrf,d about you a numb I' of ti",es and s Lnce re'.din~ vour-
the thought hqs occtwed to oe that you may be keeping house or getting
r-eadv to. The na"1Osounds "'...,~l;.~'l. Kind of rms1r:"J too. I had hor<es tho that
be~

e a t Lng ,

.YOU by t:big tJ.:lCt Hould ,nave.1 ounn yffiurRel:f in 6. better JOB ~'jit;n mor-e congenial
,ti.croundinp;s and a c Learier- ab:JO~phel'e. 'l~ke
lITould poison. '.i::E\ts nO kl.nd of a .lOD for you. L
"':({,;i- "nil:-<fpoIlth,t job like you
bu-r1t-ror-better tri Lngs .
than th:lE. Roy'-is your lJoy f'rlcnd "nd yoursc"'lf -etting along~n your writting
't he Bi ':rr'~,phV 01' bl.e T.lt:dt.ldS L 1:..-:.11iTf5u 6\101' knew ;-r--i:mve-bt;en-r'~;.ss 1rg my t l~e
'awn.y hJ~ serlO 0.11r.g a ~ '" .. oj.l. h~:~....or-rir x T heVe cr1.ttcn :lbout 30 o~ 40
thOUS9nd~ "ords. Should you ever COrlO to this !lnci if :TOU cc-red for it I .. ;ou1d
gl~dly ~akG YDuia present of ny lit:le contribution to the worlds worst
.1ite:,at'lI'e. You 0'70 rae nothing but J. consider myself' under some obligation
t..o- :,"'""1 . ,------- -~--
Yell. I'll wind up this tale of ....
oe. by saying So Long o.nd best
wishes.
lam very truly

Carl Panzram. i'3l614

Box. 7.
Leaven7Jorth.
Kans'ls

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 ,r>.'
" 2.
Let tar received from Carl Panzram ~Titten to rlenry P. Lesner.

Post Office Box 7

31314 .Leavenworth, Kansas April 15, 1929

Sir:
I received your letter of March 30th and the one dollsr enclosed. I
answered your letter the day after and am now sending another one.
I did not receive your Pont card so pont send any more of them. But
letters are p er-mtt t ed and yours ..
,illbe appreciated by me.
I'll be glad to hear from you ~ any time and will allways answer you
if I am able to. I

There is some-thing I would like to ~k you and as soon as I hear from

you I'll drop you another letter.
No more at this time so, aoLong and good Luck.
I am,
Carl Panzram
110 31614
Box 7,
Leavenworth
Kansas.
I forgot to tell you that when you ,~ite me a letter, you should use
plain smooth p9.per and sign your full name and address and then I'll be
assured of getting your letters. Another thing ie; that vr he n ,("U s ce Sinclair
lOU C8.D tal'!" to hi::1 ~nd vorifv ,,-"hUh ! told ~'19 011 R "tt i)nnoma,

r
~C)l...
l nh01lt:
posta Rica and AnP'Qla~ Africa. He prob9.bly wont knoy me out he will ~~ve
heard of me r'ror.! his Super '.:OVlose in Pannma , His director Crandell 9-nd.Mr.
Williams his ~ucerintcnten at Loanda, Angola, Portuguess ~est Africa. lie
,ill hnve ne'rd of r.!0and ~y \ncked ways. Just ~s a m9.tter of Curiosiry-
Is. l,(() 0 no\,!;;;TIn t he h9. s to aa v '",.bou 1.1t-.
If you sr-ou d g0t my e ~rs ~rCfght I wisn you ~ould let me know.
because if you dont get them there isnt much use in my \~tting. I am not
writting letters just to rass a\'l~ythe time of ror the benifit of anyone.
else except you and me. .
I sh9.11 he c ar-ef'u L and not write anything that is not permitted .s o
there Fill be no good r-e-i co n why you shouldnt get r.lyletters. ..'
You also in yeur Jetters to me must observe the rules as they are
here and not \'Iorteany thing th9.t isnt allowed.
Just use "lain smoot.hip ar-er-and ~ sign your full name and address
on the bottom of your letters as I do here and now.
Carl Panzram
31614
Box 7
Leavenwor-tih
Kansas.
 o
Letter r-eceLved from Carl Panzr-am written to Henry P. Lesser.
Post Office Box 7
31614 Leavenworth, Kansas April 23, 1929
Your, letter of April 18 ref'.c~ed rte today. I found the
one dollar enclosed or at any rate I Got it to my credit here on the books.
MEmy thanks for hath. I have only h-id :TOur letter abo.t!~~holll' __C',:}d_-.!_,~ave_
~ad it three tines altro:ld.<r and Tl.k ed i toC""tcr each ti,e. iretty nice
~ letter~I rlen~~na-quite intero~ting too. I a~ glad toh~r fhat your
, all right and ntill feel a bit Lrrt er-e s t ed in me, You ",sleed "10 ::hG.tsort
of' work I am doing. '''ell to tell tho truth I have a n oasy job. !'lot very
mu~o" and that llttJ:r:y---o:isy. I tlarr"t--rrtnd-:tt-'4!Uch'hUCr---'::l t"'7jO&-to
get a different ,10b~~I'1l.-1l..~ore_by'~mysolf. Perhaps La tier- on I'll
manage it. ]Ot...::nlw s . me feol: ~.tter t9-..~~ar. .!' h-rt your:_D.u..t...Q.g~phy_is,_
If ~ ,g'?1J:lg. to o:et u rbllVlng b:rs-uc"l a m'ln 0 s :.lonc'en;--Should he ccept it and
, 'ublish it, I :'O'..Ll.. like to p:et a subscription for 6 mont he or <:0. Cun you
,ahage'tnai; ~or'T:le1 I';will~be 'pernitted'to"reeeive the magazine if it comes
. direct from the publisher. You ask if I would care for ~ome books. ~ell
yea I would like to get some good books but the kind I want I can't get.
One thing I wou Ld like to have and that will be per-mf t t ed me :Ls '" dictionary
one sbout 10QOOO words will ~e all right. But there is no rush about it.
I can manage that all right by and by. I ~~ earning a little money by making
some be~d, neckl~ces, -nd curios which I am tharuting you for. The money
which you sint to me I used in buying the material I used in Making these
things. No~ what I wanted to ask of you was this, if I send you some of
the things! make, CRn you and will you sell them for me am send C1ethe
oney? Let me know about this will you? I have done a good bit of writing
nd up to date I have v~itten gbout 60,000 00rds. But I ~m ~frid that 1t
s all a wasted AITort as I dont kno\i\vna~-do ,'rith it now that I nave
,Ti tten it all out. [Obouldyou ever- cone here and have an hour or two to
spsre. then maybe you could have me called out for a visit. ~se yeur o"n
Ijudgement about that. You probably "ont have time but if you could spare
;an hour or two I should be gLad to s ee you and t8.1k to you .1. have been
,;here ~bcu.1 t,\l',;'lCMonths novI and so far I have~~_.12.('len_il1_3.nY-.Lq:ns yet .I
am ~ett1np; a Long 11.11 right bat I aIDstUI pretty hostile 'md I l~ight blow
~::c. ~2',"l'uII, g,., all ..d~.l,) md 1 Xa~,aJ~) ..itllt:Xxr1iiID::~XY.llx:tJiKe
~XJlXl,~lir~1J:~~tX:tim.a.m_hoping th"t I'll rind some way cf getting a r~st.
ODe it wont be too long to~:alt. You better t':J;:e ny trpGi('l'ditch that lousy
''lob 0 "ve ncw , ThercsIOts better ways 1'01' yOLl to ::lake a livIng. ',,~ll
11 have to ring-off ror this tine so. So Long and good Luck.
I am Carl Panzram
Uo 31614 Box 7

, d o J \t<. _._~~~~e.~
..v;th~::;[r: nVvl-~~~

),V' -~~'!'~~~'? .
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l.etter rec.eived from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7 Leavenworth, Kansas May 19, 1929

I: 31614
I10 !received your last letter on April 23, and since then I have been irn-
pantient1y waiting for another. This is my third letter since yours to
me. But I have enough time to v~ite letters but I suppose you have a few
II other things to do besides troubling yourself about me.

~en you do wtite~~gain I wish-X9u.would tell me as much as possible

\ .aboyt_.:.\r. r,lencken reply to you. In your---"].ast-lettcr-
to-rne-you-
asked-me
if I wanted--qny books or reading matter and if I would be pcr~itted to
reeeive any. ~e type of re~ding matter r,hich I prefer is taboo here and
I can manage pretty --colIwith what I get now. I intend to get myself a
dictionar1 and Encyclopedia in 6 vollli~esas listed in Montgomery Ward Col
catalog. !t costs 8 dollars and if I ever get that amount of money together
.
0(J0
I inted to get one of those sets.
\Vhile browsing thrU an old batch of rnisse1anous magazines the other
day, I struck an exceptionaly interesting article in the American MagaZine
of the March 1929 issue. Look it up and let me know what you think of it.
It's title is, "My seven minutes in Eternity" and it wss written by Bill
r Pe11ev. I think it will be nf interest to you.

If I send you a bead hadd-bag TIhich I have made in my spare time would
you be good enough to either buy it yourself or sell it for me and send me
the money? I'll leave the price to you. Any thing you say goes.
Thats all foro this time
So Long a nd Good Luck
I am.
Carl Panzram
No 31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth.
Kansas.
 '.oL -..

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Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser

Bost Office Box 7

31614 Leavenworth. Kansas Uay 25, 1929
Enclosed in this letter you will find a small hair watch chain and charm.
It only took me a week to make it, in my spare time, a few minutes or an
hour at ~ time. I am allowed to scn~~ut one package each nonth. I would
i! send more if I could. I spend my sapre time in doing such things as this.
:1 , with a little reading throwed in yJith a lot of thinking. llext month I'll
1
Bend you a bead neck-lace. I received your letter of Uay 20 tho Pretty
short all right. But lets hope your next will be longer and contain more.
I This one~ull of Faper but the_onl~in~eresting thing in it was your
'V 1~Oiine!)t about Sinclair arousea interest in oi1--weTI'in Bocas-'Det-Tor 0' ;' -
9' F.aJ:lama-:-Tel1hi'jCriot-toblame me "even tho I am the one who touched it off.
A big man by the name of Mowriss was the real cause. He canned me when I
was doing all right and everybody else wqs satisfied. ilismistake cost
, Harry a hundred grand. ~l!. later I h~_f:t"-2EL.9th~!..,!.!lllows JJk~_,llyse_1f
that Hary'y...':'!.":.s_
and" is~a"prettygoO<l'Old sc.tlut..-:-to my, kind_ 01' people. But
being sorry~n't rebuild his oil rig~-Maybe I earned a part of it back
for him by the "ark I done for hi~ on his oil field d own in Angola.
Portuguesse~est ~frica,. Jf you will take tpe trou~~e to look up the back
files af the xx saturday Evening Pos~or-l923 or 1924 you will find a series
,1'0 articles written bv g:,:I" :::,IaI"coSson
a~!!:::tiie oD bU,'tiness,among them
.;-~n- fi!l'dmy IJicturo, taken at-:;'uimbazieway up the Quanza River .L
... rlvInga-t~~mors(f-'tr15buUk-canlb-iils and -they-werenau'lTi'iga. bpi.l~r
on a long rope. hooked up two abreast jusCTike oxen-:-Onry~tneydidnt .
as as muCh braiIHi as on -t:l~-r-ycnr-rook these -thngs up you r.nlstremember
that at the ti~e I was sailing under the name of'Capt. John O'Leary. Harry
may not know me but' surely will nave hearer 01 'me from a iIl!'. Cranae:f1 one of'
his Directors in his Co. Or Mr. Williams his supt in Loanda. Angola. Old man
!dowriss sure knows me to his sorrow. He must have wanted me ... oretty badl
II" ...
when he of'fered $500.00 for me. I would like to hear him roar when, If ever,
he does", hear that I am the one who put such a cri:np inhis plans. I done
it because he VJSS bUll!,headed and v.ouldn't lett viell enough alone. \':1311
rhave gossippid enough now so III quit writing and start walking up and
down the floor taliking to myself, cursing a blue streak and every onece in a
while having a good hearty giggle .~t what I got to giggle about I cant
figure out yet. But that cuts no ice So
- Carl panzram.
31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth,
Kansas.

~~-av\ ~~'4( aM -6-r-~ 1- ~~~f~

--21~'1 ~o--WJ. J~I/j-;l~1
LA{nU-R r..L~":J- ) {,~

~ UrWJ i;;;.., , ~ '1:J~ iJfrO ffr'r !:Jr

 ...---=
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, Letter received from Carl Panzr-am written _ to Henry P. Lese
, I'

I Post Office Box 7

31614
I Leavenworth, Kansas June 6. 1929

Your last letter I recieved several weeks ago. Since then I have written
you 2 letters. In one of which I sent a horse-hair watch chain and a charm
I made of a peach-stone. I don't know what yeull do ~1th it after you get
1t. But if 1t looks like junk to you. Just heave it into the first ash-can

I
you come to and forget about it.
I I have been thinking that its about time for you to hear from The
I, Mercury. Should you by any chance recieve any thing from them. Its all
yours as far as I am c onc-ir-nedbut if you feel like cutting it;ll1ilD1i two
with me ~ I'll surely accept I~what-ever 1t may be. I dont feel much like
writing tonight so I'll cut this one short. The way I haye been feeling late1:
with next one will be shorter yet. ?

< SO Long and GOod Luck.

lam
Carl Panzram
31614. Box 7
Leavenworth.
Kansas

1
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r r
'.......
fZ.
I
Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7

31614 Leavenworth, Kansas June 15, 1929

I Your letter of June the 8 th reached me the other day. That w,s a pretty"
nice let ter all right. Full of news. and all of'it good .I was a bit surprised.
t~?
j;.o....r.ea.(L~h(l~M~nct~!1_,yrr_oj;Jl. 1 di~nt have much t'a.ithin the thing
being worth While, but anyone like,Mencken says-l~S-gooa-~ must beIIeve
~You use y~""'l1-'judgement;ana-~ Just!iS-you~ike-about-1:e-:--1ts ;tours
I
If
and waht you do with it is O.K. by me. 1 should like to read the article by
The Nati,on a,bout Older but thats out of order here. Send no clippings. ,1
am still on my same job and like it less each day. ~getting all ~t,..J.'.or
I' ~nge. It-wont be long now. 1 think your out of luck for-the~her 75,000
I. ~ words:t-wroteT1ere. Thats out of order also. Glad your friend was pleased
with the watch chain and charm. 1 made it out of an old fiddle bo~ and a
, peach-stone. Next month 1 III send you a be ad-eneck'Lace , That wont be worth,'
\(any thing either~ But the f'ollowing month 1 Shall, "if all goes_as usual",
'send you a bead Hand bag which should be ~orth something over 15 or 20~
bucks. These same sort of bead bag sell in the stores for around $35.00
and up to $100.00 according to the material used and the quality of the
worknanship. " , ' ,
On my bag 1 have a silver handle w!ich cost t2.75., Lining.75 and the beads
$2.50, Thats not counting such items as the silk thread, Bead needles and
wax and my 2 months labor on it. Considering every thing 1 think 1 should
be justified in looking for at least $15.00 for it. ~t when ynu get it
you must use y~ur OTIn jUdgement. ~batever yru do with it will be O.K. by
me. The necklace a s you Tiill see 1 put in the intial T BO I gue ss you III
know what to do with that. That should he some connensation to her for a'lof
'the work she must have done in decyphering and Cyptng all of my scribbling.
Did you take the-!~?uble to verify any or all of ~y statenents. 1 think
jOil"slrott-ld-o-"m5'n1t you rr mef'"an "old~fr'iend',o!""'mi
ne here by the name of
Reynolds, an old, old timer. 1 wish you knew him and that he knew you.
He sure could spin you some wierd yarns. its pretty-hot here just now. 1-
have been ex~ecting to see old bQY Sneak down here with a neWClot of bums
,':f"ncludlug .~h~re"">'l=~f'" people tiere ";ha ..,oulOdge glad to
:.s~It! tl'tC} (fna-of. both ot en. ,~nsts ;il1ena.oing? \;'hx, the "(;'ck don"t- -you
:~ake ny tl~adrop that job yo~y your no~ going to Wft~until
b'ou get- the same 'is Allen got. 7iour the aame type as him and you must
~xpect the same kind of a deal if you stop in ~our ~~ne line of business.
Long -nd good Luck;.; rx .
\.... Ji'-t ~t M--t vU(,1'-'
~ t ~ ~ "V0-......
am
.Carl t'anzram
it 1/JU"'~t;?, /r>"
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~ 31614 BoX, 7.
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 8.
Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser

Post Orficd Box 7

:51614 Leaven worth. Kansas June 28. 1929
"

: This will be ju~t a short letter, merely to let you know that I am
all r'1gn~ny rateas well ascould be expected,(considering all
)~
I
of *-
_
the circumstances. .. '
Should you read anything,very unusual in bhe papers about me, you
mustn't take it for granted that it is all true.
I have no pen or ink at this tine,so you must excuse the pencil and

~I
my b~ writing. ~ am a little bit nervous Just now but I guess you can
read what! Vlrite. ~ ,
.Lat;el"
on I ~ll write to you and try to explain some-t ng -which
~bably ..puzling you Just now. n e mean-we' 11 be wishing
you good luck and waiting paitiently to hear from you.
I am.
Carl Panzran
No 31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth.
K9.nsas.
 n ,.I Q
9.
Letter received from Carl Panzram written t~ Henry~R. Lesser.
" .... 1

Post Office Box ?

31614 Leavenworth, Kansas July 12, 1939
I recieved your letter of July 9th, thi~ evening. and am ans~erlng
it at once. Your letter contained quite a bit of nev.s , I was glad to get it.
I have been puz Led a good hit aboULtl1e....general-tona..Q!
e :;;our lQ.tte.!:LJ;.o...me.
..JOID' supsr,.:.scriPt:ron-;"-espe'CI9:11.cY:" h'l~.E1e !!p.nd;:ring .....':L.he~.gen,ergl.:r..frJendlY._~orie "
all thrl,L'y'our""""Tctters. All of 0:1. I caziE help but believe 'lour oincere' in .- -
;your_'prQ.te9 ta noi:~ .ot: fr iends!-iip for. me ;-.l.lut ''h:ffCgets..:i'le-hi., ):iQI1...J.ii.:.:the....hec
( l!ny man..0.uQUI'....1n:~l.l.igence _..~'!.ab.ili.ty ,)mo\'G.!1gJl.s..:nuch..Bbout .ce..B.s_you..do, ,~
~ _~Il.still be. frie:cd1.y.towards a thing like me, when .I.eve.lLcl.!lsp;i.s.e_"'Jldd~te.st
W_Q).>f.!lselt.,. TI:,1~tAJY.ha.t-l'u~1\lsL'!l"'onder:;; :1iJ:l:..n~y.er_.c'.ilJI.Se. So Ai len got him- /:
self reinstated in tho good graces of the Larr. How come that Right carne out :
. on top of Might. Dosen't seem r-e as onub'Le to !!le . ~ tho he i~ the ~_tlnd
no friend of mine, I can and do respect hin if I cent 1 i1"8 him. Yes I r-e sd
. b:ml abo:lt ell" demise of one of' my old companeeroes F~ank Mat:lpw of Silver '
\ Slipper Fame. ue isnt tho first of that mob to be taken for ~ ride Qna if I knc
any thing of his crowd, he wont be the last. He is one of the~ush that hoiste,
the S. S. M:tllhouse for a million in boose, Bor9 years ago. If ,ou keep on
reading the news papers you'l seo some day where some more of his click will
be taken.' 18 Men pulled that l.!ullhouse trick and not a one of em ever done
a day even tho nverybody in New York, including the coppers knows it. They
I '
are too strong for ehe law but they are not strong enough keep on fighting
among themselves and prosper at it. I don't wish any of em any had luck but
i I hope they .all go out like the Killkenmy Cats did. pay I w~..Q-J;.ell
I you

l some thing you h~ow in my letters

~cred1t.
to yeu I have been grousing about my-J<6b
, .bere. I'Cricin't 11l:,,!tt ana tianted a cli-mge. "ell I gy.!.JL.cltmEe ~Jl ri,!~;hDut
I had to kif I My boss to get it:-'lharmakes
rou can put that down in your little
either 22 or 2:5, that I have to
story-book, and if I keep on
living much longer I Bay have some more to put in my grave-yard. For th~st
two or 3 weeks I have been pretty well upset, Things all went wrong for me.
y p].ans have been 9:11 stloe to p1eces. I thOught for 9: "hile l "Quld seon be
l1her-rree or deadJ out I l'fli"inn'1;--1rmr any luck either way. I am still alive anc
oc ghter tnen I was--ner ore. But pal~'lence-';iorKs- wcmders a"ndtlme nakea
1 t ngE eq I know a 0 0 aws but -o. wOlle Lhtt;rl.s a sure
, orker HIll es the 't1nv ompcnsat on. i' 3. one will sure wor-k , Say. about
e things I was going to send 'cou, the Bead necklace and tho Bead Hand-bag.
our out of luck for those I guess. I had em all right but when ~ went
n the war-path a couple of weeks ago, I lost them ~nd every thing else I
// g n s my H h-tirem .:o bty1 1 did4!L . But maybe~ lOSI
r :1\1'0', it hMr:! yet. J._J:lltv' hQJ)."'-li. Now I have another murder charge
against me hesi es those in ~assachucets Pennsyl~ania qnd Connecticutt. I
am bound to be tried some where for murder and then maybe the La\v of Com-
pensation will' catch up with me and cook my goose. 1hy"e the Lay; w!l!-do me
-O-IULfavor in rej;llrn for_ all_j;he roi~erey' ;I.t_ba~....caused ..!:le.., I looK forwona: 1;0
a se~ in the ele~tr~~ dance on the end of a rope ust like some
s do fO ,.. (Id1pg night . ,',ell its Me a cu n" ~:r
and for ~e to start walking up and down my eel floor, talking to myself

I and trying to figure out tille quickest and easlest~

WOrld. Fwtl are :.'oa !.lskillg out \'11th your dim~ove"I.
e
out of'1;his dam
bum: Don't Hearst want it?
d once, at re-a:",t hls----mrtO'i', i3Uslltr!fll8 did. Try Older. hell take it.
Long.
,'';
POST QPFIClS Box 7

31 t 14

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Letter received from Carl Panzram ilI'ittenbo Henry P. Lesser. ,\

post Office Box S

31614
Leavenworth, Kansas Aug. 4, 1929
I received you letter of July 29th all. OK. I WDote you three others since
the 12th of July. I write one every ~eek now. I hope you get all of em. I
believe that I get all of yours all right. Your last letter had quite a lot
of news and as usual all of it good. Too bad that all of mine cant be that
way !!lso but you know enough about me by this time that where ever I go
there is sure tote bad luc~ and hard tl~es for so~e-b~and scnh-t1~es
for (very-oodv. I am ola rean bad-luck, hi~seIr:-The last time I stopped any 11
where long enough for the people to Rnow me very well was in Dannemona.
~ There I had a lot of different people ask me at different times~ho I was
and what good I was. My answers were allways the s~me. :'I am the fellow
who goes around doing people good." Asked vlhat good I haa ever done 'Iny
one. Again my answersw,re the S>tme to all. "I putpeople out Q!-tJ:leirmiser~,
They didn It know that I was telling them the t:"1'uth. I have .,ut a lot oL
people out of theiI'misery find new I am 10ok~g-~some-one to cut me out ,

I
, of mL'1e.,I )'" ~oo4a:ned ...
]l.ar"flx:9. sr,oul~--cf> gc[ress
my':nean dfs'OositioE., -nlen
e'iA t B n:ii:e 1 I you~enas t e 'ueck ros from
their rear 0.wl1110nsto 70U abol!.-~ne--ca:-usEfs-
wish 'lOU would let me know their versions of: it.
-sol encK4'b is still interested in Lucky Baldwins Autob1ograoq.
to him at it. You ftemember, I nnee ~d
of
Mo"e Power
you that I wrote cut anothc~ 75,000
words along that line. ~ell in your last letter to me you expressed the
desire that you would like to have that also. ~he truth of the matter is that
I am afraid your out of luck for these reasons. In th~ first place it is
against the rules to write any thing like that and also against sending it
out. ~~en I wrote it I was in a different nosition then I ~~ no~. Then I
could see and talk to many ~ecple, now I see very few and talk to less than
that. Then I had plenty of time, pens, ink and paper, Now I have only time.
I havent even a pencil. The one I am "Titing uith no~, I borrowed and must
return it. I have no money to buy any thing with. On the other hand, if .I.
did have eve.ry thing I needed including per~iti',nfrom the officails here,
1 then I "ould gladly spend a nonth Gr two in putting down on paper the things
I know and also the thing~'that I think I know. but I cant do any thing myselr
1 Perhaps -ou can tho. Thats up to 'lOU if you oareto write to the ~upt, ~arden
or Deputy ~arden here. Those are the on1yones who Can give me this priVilege.
You must use your ovm judgement. Any way I couldnt do anything about it just -
mow because I expect to gO_~ .. X.Clrtr.,laJJle";~_)1l.ont1l..,~!19,,_I-'1O~J,d
h~v~e to "alt
until I see if I get my w1,.1'l-~n._",eJ.l So Long nnd Good Luc'k:"""From
J;:'::':";";:-_~':"'_-"':;;-_":--- Carl Panzr-sm '
31614 Box 7
Leavenworth
Kansas.
 -~ t:

!)
, "
11.

Letter received from Carl Panzram \~:ritten to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7

Leavenworth, Kansas Aug. 20, 1929
31614
last
I recieved your letter July 29th. This is my third letter since then.
Whats the matter? Dont you get all of my letters or dont you c~re to answer
them. If you don't want to write to me. Just say so and I'll not bother you et
any more. I believe that you would write to me all right if you got my lettele

II but it looks to me as tho you dont get em all. But Whyyou should get some .
011 em and not all is what :l. cant underst9.nd. All of my letters
I write just exactly Tlhat I think and believe that I obey all of the rules
are alike. t~
I
in regards to letter writing. 0f course there are a lot of things ... would .
like to ,~ite abcut that is verbotten. Hereso I write on17 what L thip~ willm
pass the censor here. llaybe the fault is that I dont know' whats all right an(~
Whats allrong. I allways "elieved, "I do yet too," that I ~mewright from
wrong. It looks to me as the others do not agree with me. 1~ere ~re some fol]
s who actua1y bel.1rolW am 1u,st a Iii-tIe bi~.Eut..u- But I dont worry about
that because thhy dont know me like Denowmyself. I know myseLf far better
\ than anyone else knows me and I am firmly c cnvanced th ,t :r am not crazy. s
Waht got me started along this line of thinking today is an articlo I read i1
the NewEra~ The Prison paper published here. The Issue of Ajlg:nst 129. I
J am sending it to you in a separate cover along with this envelope. l'he artic:
to Which I refer is on Page 14. Paragraph No 1 in Colum 2 is what steamed rne
up. This does not mention me by name but I am the one that is meant all righ
I don't know who ~~ote it and dont care hut I do care when he or anyone e1s
thinks or savs I !l.11l insane. I wish you could get a publish"r for that
story of ~ine~ I Wffitldlike to havo a eopy of it when i goto trial. I expect
to go up for trial next month or maybe Oct. I dont care what they do to me
JJ1ll.t SCL..tJl~nLtr;z to.:rrQ.Y.{lT II m _eraU-., I aonE ':~ant TIp n~r_t.,s: t.liit. :L~t.
~hangcJll~,_A:~l}_F~ orfl.Dy.-!'hi!liLthoY...Y!1::nt '&"u~_ &Slip'; 'to see 1;h.1lJi..J<1ley .
,-dont b1.lg me, I @In.ql_.ver.:l:-gQod ...9n,..tr.Ying,.tcLexplain.-things by ta1;'lI}g
:ispec.;l.El.ly~in.a.J:ourt _.rom'" I set m~'Ln(LD..;z_of.i;...Jill~ ..1,:lgndle~o eas.1.J~'!.:t.J.fI .
can get a copy of v:.hat.,,~.wrote .In .~ashington...D_c.....amLt.ben....pr~D..duce....J.t-in
Court ,-:r:.am....sur~e.-L-can-.ccnvince--any~-or._whc...is"even..half-\'La~ 0P\1D to reason
that if the Law i!> rl~n-~-
Carl Panzre.m
No. 31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth J
J . n
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~
Kansas
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, 12.

!
Letter received rbom Carl.Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.
J
I Post Office Box 7
! 31614 LeaverrRorth, Kansas Sept. 20, 1929
I see no renson why you shouldn't get this letter.
I recieved your short letter of August 19th with the one dollar enclosee
~any thanks for both. I did not answer that letter until now, because in one
of your previous letters, you asked me to write more often and at greater
lengths. At that time, during July and August I did as you requested, I wrotl
you ~bout 6 or 8 long letters. But I dont think you ever recieved them so, I
figured that if you didn't get the letters I wrote, then Why should I write.
Thats why I waited so long in anawering yours of Aug. 19. But now I have soml
hopes th3t you will recieve my letters as there have been som~ bit changes
hftr& ]qtely. I wont .~ite a great deal at this time because I want to ~ait
and s eo if you get this letter and my next 2 or :I.tIt I'doIl't
hear "'f'rom
you
In-ansu~r to this letter and my next 2 or 3 then I can only conclude that
Borne one other than myself has put a stop to my correspondence. But if I
heQ~ from you I shall be very glad to continue our correspondence as long as
we are permitted to do SQ. SO Long and Good Luck From .
Carl .t'anzrWll .
Ho 31614 Box. 7
Leavenworth
Kansas .

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c 13.

Letter received from Carl Panzram written to llenry P. Leeser

Poet Office Box 7
31614 Leavenworth, Kansas Sept 28, 1929
Yesterday Evening I recieved your letter of sept 25th~ In it you
asked me 8 quostions. It ?ould take 10 or 15 pages of paper like this for
me to fully answer all of vour

questions.u' That cant be done. You Should
allready xnow the answer to most of e~. ead your manuscript over again
and you will understand. You surely know the facts if anyone does besides
myself. If you dont know you pro~ably never will understand. I wrote it -
plainly and distinctly enough for anyone to understand. All escept 2 of
might not understand. You '1sked me w':1yI done it and if I got a j{rck: L'c!~
"O"--it-:-
rhan-not-one reas6ii-rorClol~"lgit, butUoouc-47reas-ons-ana each
~m was-agooareason. Gooae-nougn-f'or me anyway .... You :movJ--the
Jenl I got in t:hn n C. can from Peake. Did you think I wou ld f'or--etandfor-
give
that. I told you all then while in my cell. again in ehe open court

Ii~
room, again when I came here, I told everyone I came into cont~ct with that
I would sure knock off the fir~~ who ever botw.~~. I even told tInt
to the Depu t y ,-iiirden
here a rid the man--'!k:i.l-fed. t warned em all to layoff'
me and leave me alone. They didn't le!lveme alone and I killid one and tried
to kill a dozen others. The _Y I figure things out is this "ay. If' it was

i
i
!II all right for the law to do the things to me that it has then its all right
.' for me to do the same thing to the law. l'eake Vl'lS t_he.2ne ;j: \7~.~tedl:l;n>lJ.l-:tL{1~
to get but he diqnt 4~pY:!!'-.here
~
thin ' ~
_~92,_st~_pped _0>J.-(."mtt gefL _nQt~,,.One_jullt li:ce
0 r _kiU_ing,_
Y_'?.:J~)l::~~LiJ:,.J_e.k"'-_k-1Ck_OJlt_ peo}:);Lt1.S:..l.l;E3 _~=.go.FIf
-'oudo as I had done to me 5 or 6 big huskers w a Lk in on you and
you d_o~t
fat em ha~er you unconc OJ voa down in a cel~~and- chain you
u to a post and ~ork you over some more. an n you f0el like orgiving
.
Ian or e
22 years 0
ng a a
1 S k no 0 s U an you now an e
wonder v~y I am what 1 ~m- Uont be so du~b. JUdging by the tone of your lette]
you.
,~
);lve-had
h 0

Iyou now figure I am a bug of some kind.). fire bug or a homicidal 1:1'1niao,
1pats where your ~Tong, 1 a~ no bug even If I do get a kick out things which'
woUld have the dIrect o~posite ef1'ect on you. Another thing. you asked about
sending me some cigars. Now you know he-ter than that. Thata hieh treason~
If your going to send me money that all ok. At the ~ame time you can have
the Haldeman Julius Co send me their catalog so I can buy some of thier
bo ka ,. n90~ ,
~~~J!!:-~'i1''';''-1 VII I Carl Panz r-am
- 0 ~ \!.t. iJCi!\ ~'\. 31614 _ .
~. . . BoX 7,. .l.eavenworthKansas .
J
~Af~~~~JL1t-~.
ollt \V~
\rt-- r~rl/ "U ' --1/11 rr: . A .
,"~Ej{~ ~ ry:;t.~adrb~~~~
~ .'*~t: ~0ku& ~ rr-: -7 \
~ 4-"1~f..4 C'\ "'" (I"''''''4.!IV'''1 . ~
- 'l~~;J\~ r, ~J1.vy4v, ~(W1 k-t. -~.r -l

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0;;:1M1r;!JJ-1. FJ11Ju--. ku~ J-i"F

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 ""_-?: ....

D
~. 14. o
This letter received rrom Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post O~fice Box 7

31614
Leavenworth. Kansas Oct. 6, 1929

I recieved your letter of Sept 25. I answered it at once but

was unable to fully answer somo of questions which you asked me. I'll try
to answer some or em in this letter. As for my next trial, I dont ~now
when its due. Someti!11esoon I believe. But probably Nov. or Dec. in the
Federal Conrt at K. C. K.
You seldom answor any of my questions but thats all right as
it dosent make much dirf either way. llat I wish you wou Id all'.'1:):ys
let me
know if or when you got all of my letters. JOu asked me as to my motives
in d"ing some of the things I have done. Surely vou Imo.: that I an very
"impulsive, vOr':! vldlcLl,-e tifF] aosollttly UtiSCl'upa!ou:-:. ;;110$6 U!'p. I"C'{SQDS'
enough t6-exp1.aI"nmy acTIons. You 'Ilso-knon wh 1 foel Rnd am that way.
-:tI"s
fUI the 1.1c1C I get out of i I meant l?igura vely and not literaly.
What ever Dossesed '/"outo think that ::1eor nnv one el~ll~d e sex\LaJ.
,ilke fcel~ng ~:::h~"!...:::..e,.....om1;.iL'!.s.r~rmfi:::Uk.~nUrdeL9.:r:~aI'S~n..
~~? ,trELPullk...
I myself have intelligence enough to know the ~eeling but I havent know-
. !ee;;e enough to expLun it; so th"l! yoa coula understand U . 'l':be.onI: way
I ow of I:Ot:....Y_QJL:t::OOJJJlli::91!LjU"..D'Mt_ ..Qt t_9~-,a.;.JP.9K>Lg.~WJJ.t.-"LI C i,s
"for you t~...,.~
Experiment; go buy yourself a box of matches. or go get an ax and bop
some guy on the back of tho neck. Its easy when you know how. Bee Lde s you
put em out of all thier misery when you knock em off. Now then for your
question about my ideas of any dreams I have had and thier effects on me.
fSUre I have drea~s but they have no effects whatever on my actions during
.lmy waking moments. ~bat started you thinking about that ~as probably my
fCquestions a bout Bill Pellys article in tho American l;iagfor t~arch 129. Just
l4 forget it. ":rou probably have allready; because you never anawer-ed my
t question "Since I read that I have read some more of his \\Titlngs and I rave
Il. come to the conslusion th;t ho is some kind of a bug or more probably a
hoP-head.~.
lOIX nS anv bodu I can see
I can reason things o~t just a s logical,. and cleerl.
che truth and 1 eRn ad:nit it. v.hel e a grea~ny .

I U other people are unable to see the truth and are unwilling to admit it even
if they do see it. ~ell th~t about enough of my p~i~osophy for this time.
Now about you. I would like to know when if ever your going to quit that
Lousy Job and get a real one. Th~t Job is doing you no good. Its doing you
{ harm .If you. staY w'th ,i t ] pug rnougn yen'l"ba 9 s. bvd. a- -:;z~b_at '1r.es.t-....C..r..1.lI11110
~ist Aq h1s :fcl.bjf.!.t...tor....za...ySlarJ\~'\.ng....tb..n.~t):;.O
who;;;;tndi "he--&MJ.J.~doe,sn
_at .he l-_w,~i4~;~"i .. If 701] gOp''- 1ge1is-g ~t '-sk hi.., You knQW yrbo T mean.
qt fn'ca - . ". , 1iO\'1 then ss for the money
and cigars which you promised me, Just forget it or wait until you peddle
your manuscript and then if you get a real bank-roll. "Donate", to
V
.,.\ )''''':l'\jl.t.A~ ClU'l Panzram

\,,,,-
~ ~0 ~ ~ ..\ \i-4 31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth. Rall.DSa

t~'\11"
 _.
Letter received from Carl Panzram written to llenry P. Lesser

Post Orfiee Box 7 .

:51614 Leaven~orth, K~nsas Oct. II, 1929.
I wrote two letter~ in answer to yours of Sept 20th. this is my third
and yet I haven I t h-ad rrom to Rnsw,'r ha Lf of the questions which you asked
me in your Le t t er- of that date. Fut before Ido that Iwant to a~lc you
something. Do. You remenwer what I told yo~ ~n0 the predictions I made to
you in regards to the conditions and the probabal recu1ts and the conse-
quences of it in New Yorlc state. Es pe cLaLv in Darmemona and Auburn, Now
you know th"t wh"t I said wnuld happen, has harpened. You know why too.
But th"ts merely the beginning and not the end. The ~orst is yet to coxe.
~olor"do wis no surprise to me. heither would it have heen to an~ one
e se 'Nho has .tJ
t\. .... I of L1'1'H.place since ,--tUe 8?ll'1ng t:le z'eglne-or-
War en 1,~ar. ere s ano ler J .' _ts-~tself.
I Just keep your eye on Texas, Rusk and HuntsviJ Le , :J:'bflY nre "oth due for the
bj.ow off'. The s a.ae for Eastern and ';estern in Fa. BaLt i:nore is due for e.
jamb and so are a good many others. ~nen Jeff City and L"nsing tear leose
where will noise and mnell enough so taat. the people ~t see and hesr the
truth wether they like it or not. The powers that be are ~ beginning to
getit ir. the neck tne same ~s any other crooks.~~e prisons allover the.
country are ~eginning to close thier gates on officers, Cheifs of Police

I
Sherifes, Lawyers, Judges Governors ~nd a good ~any others who make the laws
and those w;,o are supposed to enforce them. People .who have been asleep for
a generation or more 'ire now beginning to wake up tot ,.e fact thn t laws 81! e .
made to Qe o~eyed by all ann not by all except those who made them fm or
enforce them on others. I sure used to "et q gQod ld~k out Or 1t .. hcl:J::lre I
~ot into m~ lost ..T.,nb;B ,OlDen I CO'l!a.--S1.t::dIi'~~e..s..s-b;iJ h.~rg, r1s.1].t
! be side s s ome_Q..tM.:c..k.1Ild..,p.L,~.-CQ1<~
.;;'ell~~e,._l)l~
~J_llilx,e:c...\.lt~~:.9-,.c)'n...
ty to till_em....:.YhJ>t~L.J;hQui'tllt....
'~'L..Q:1e )?rJ. vilg~ar.e .enjo,ved_Jnd .f'u,ll
~.t:.=e-of. llutI c=t nO it "ny more. iOW I have no one to talk too except
jmyse1f. ,But I'j1ie, ;;,);:ut j~s.t'':'J:15\
fine . t c~n.._say 1;~.l-w.anLta.-wo-m",aelf,Jltth
out any fe~r of b~'1g.....c.oLt2~.s.dic..t.:;.u_or-having..J:l7
...
blQck ...kr.oc.lreCl,
off. )'0 you

II s.ee e~e.,..ytfijt}g
"3S H,.s adv-ntaltcs.EvQn....:;Ql~:t;;.U:3:_gpnfil}.~~.t...
,I am as contente,
now qS I hqve ever been or ever expect to be. I have a large, clean airy cell,
1ent- to eat and pretty good eats coo, fan bet:;c:rthan 1 lIhue e~er ll'1crl:il- ~

!
!tny hoose-go ......, __r9~.
\ r;ead. e.-,lcea "aek
\ 0"" C'l,
and s-noke, :,0.
a\l

0"[' {vO
~ me in an flU , not yet any way. 1'!..1t still
v l, -

~, .
.;. -.nd__

I s";t not,~p ...

u
'!1_~y~s-pap~-.rs
a good b'U'oer fiives "- good snave, IT -goon hot'lnd' cold
.ever-v W'elet"dth a cIe.an o~. nne ns , plent:::of_.?o_bac~o':0 che!"
t.t?(1,fd--,~ 'S Le-

to..:>

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.. -t;{}--4.>othill'
"Dout "'nd no oneoothe
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,n. ngI stj.k.-I..J.Ck' "~s.<...:l..,ni.c.a~.Q.Q _ n to c du-,<;edinto. ...t
J ~~henI gv:t thqt 1'r.l he f"J1YCQB~ent.ed- ~
\ .\ , Carl Panzram r...::.
,il. . 'IN, ~ 31614 . f
-~ ~ I l'I\Jt'" Leavem~orth. Kansas. ~

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 Post ~rrioe Box 7
31614
-;,en vcnwo rt h. 7cn sn 8 -'O:.;o;.;t:.:.:.....;2:;O;;..~::1.
c:..9;.."c:..9.:. __
"r. Penry ;rrnnos.
~ ~r. Isndor. T~s90r.
The ~olros9 ~~t.2?
~o 1343. Clifton st. n.~.
~!lbhingt" n
D. C.
I rooiovod your lo~tor of Oat. 9tr. Glad to hosr that you got both
of mine. of the 25th of 3a"t Bnd tho 6th of rot . T ..rote you Ilrl-,l;hor on Oot
llth ... am I'"lrte1 tr"t :zou td:1nt tL.;{Q nny o"f,,:,coIlt r."Y ~ro.nkoy lott"rs. your
a protty lovel hendod nort of !l fello~ ana yon know J ~~ allwGys in n bnd
hllnor Just like n mad do!!. "lt111 ror a little l'lhile nfter I l:ot your last
letter T folt protty bOod.. Almost hr,!'.1Bll. Yos r have rend in the pllpors ab011t
/ Allen no" hils st1rrifll! np n rou thore. ice in a pretty clover g-uy for B yOl1ng-
stor b~tt he is battling Il bnneh tlwt is n"t only olnver but vory lUllloro.plous
ss \7011. Tliay hay;) the eago on hom in that vm.y. Allan hns priolples and BOro.p-
les wr.ore his opponents nro withont either, SO ho had batter =toh lis stop
or some sk1lnk 11]:0 !:lO . "7here ara plenty"oore who can be hired for a J .note
or less to bnmpr.irn o~f. :l~ then about yonr conding me conoy. ?hata OK; by
me but! en not in neod of nny thin~ so dont ~nt yourself onto I didn't get
the Ldttlo ?lno ~ock catalog yet but I have an ndvertizoGont on~ of B nag an~
I am ff~ing to try to ooni ~n order for 40 little bluo bonka. ! ~y not be
permitted to have eM hut T' 11 try any 'l7fiy. ,:0 t.l'1I'fi1 in tr-Jing. If ! c8n't
have em T' 11 cat !'1Y!'l(llf Bope !?0181 Bergals and hava Q smoke of good waed cn
Y1>u.
you askod me about ~y sohool days. I'll try und explain briefly. I stsrtsd
to Bohnol at trn ere of ) yc~rs Il~a nttenuoa rop,ularly ~ntil I PeS 11 years
old. Tn t~nt timo 1 finishod t~o oth ~raae. r did not liko ~ohool. I was
pretty ilu::!lb but T kont up wi!;!l tho others in F!:7 e Iaascs , -:hon I r.as 11 years
old T =s SOl1t t,~ t'9 Reform 'loro"l. ';'here I stayod. nM.rly 2 yoar8. During
<).11of my ti:;](l ~"ora T 170nt to school but nev;}r loarn"'d n drun tbir.g. Tn fact
! was in t~9 5th r-rsde ... Boho'l wl:;,n I laft thQre. SO y 11Beo Hat aftar 2
ya"-r'Sin the ;::ef~rm seb""l r was farther baok than 'l':hon I-*ft~4~~n.8tartca_
thero. ~rorn t~9t d~V t~ this I havo novel' adv~nocd any farther In sohool thaD
T was before! r.ont to my first R. 3. I may not hava ScooIDFlinhed much 1n a

II
scho1ar1v r.ai ~hile there Qut I learned to recame s f1rst ola~a lior sDd
hypoorite and tho bogtnrin~g of dereneraoy. ! aleo lca~r.ed ho~ to sing hyme~~
say prayers nnd reod tte bible. ! Incrnod 0 muoh about the ~briJt1~n raligecn
that I finialy cams to detest. despise ani tats evcryth1nr and evnrybody
oonnected with it. T still de. yOU nlso asked abc~t m~ fSr3rts and my early ~~
brinr-:inf!'. T had little of e1ti;~r. "y f&thsr "'~s riO good end m~tt<,r t;"';A very j
littie better. :;oather pulled his freif."l~t \"o'tanI ."as 7 or 8 yoers old 80 y011 $
' I know lit little about I;1rJ elld non::l of thntrtJ.od "othar was too .d;!:',b to
know anytl InF pO'l to tesoh we. 7here ~s little love Inst. r first liked /
her and respootee;.hnr. '7 feolinf'S grcdnnly turned fJlom ttnt to Jistrust. d1s11.
diss:"ust oml from t!':ere it \"100very sf"ple for rr,yfeeJ.lngs to turn into positiy'
l. hatred to\"~rds her.
esrl pG.1'lsram.
31614 BOX 7..
-.

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17.
Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry'P. Lesser

Post office Box 7

31614 Leavenworth, K'msas Oct. :31, 1929

I recieved your Letter .of Oct 9. I v'rote twice since then. Last SUr.day
I ordered 40 little blue books "'ith the.2.00 which y"u sent me. but I have
sinc then found 'out $hnt it c~nt be done. They ~re not permitted here so
I still have the money. NowIII t.ry to figu"e out aome c cher- way to spend
it. I thought I would write you a lettsr tod9.y becsuse I feel pretty Bood
just now. In fqct I f001 pretty ne~r human. For several different reasons
h~re are a-ri!w . ts so ,. since I have Geen beaten k od around, Chained
~ or knocked down t'o~t 1 h ave 3 most forgotten hew it foelnrut no, qnite
.I still '!"e~eYJlh~r. ~notbor re.aso_tl 1;9 _ChaL I 1I:XJ6 ,itlst finl,.;)lted .:i,v S(J.PD~~ .
m!!.n what feed. I nbrr.k~a with '1<>;(;on ,nd
8 F~,3s, candicd-sw~et-potatoes.
C

--lire:.>.d and butter, stewed pr'mes and 4 fresI:l pear". ','nuts a sample of" t11e
. meals we gethere evry diy, lately. ~rter I rInished throwing this feed into
myself, 1. '''It down to smoke and r-eid the daily paper. In peace, quiet and
comfort. NO'.1 p"~ll1 ,,!lOll (,1',1 thiS-h;t't'er-rs- a bit <I1.T1"~c-rent from
some of the others I have rlttl'lfI La ell,. 'I"-s Is Sure a queer-'o1:ll"'lJurld.
here I am getting old "ftf'r roaming a 11 over the world, after serving over
20 years in j~ils and in some of em I got plenty abuse for very little. In
one of which, thats the last one in N. Y. I W9.SS] oughed up in the Isolation
( for ov~r 2 ye~rs and there treated worse than you .and many other people .
/ would tre~t,a ~~d dog. That treatment I recieved, not for What I had done
'I"b1it for wha t others thought I :night do There I done noil;hing to deserve Jall
IJf t1J,e abuse I got. Nownotlce the cont',.wt. I como here expecting to get
more of the s arie kind of Erea tme nt , "ut determined that this ti"le I wont
~ get it for nothing. This ti"1e I am hostile anddont
may be. This time I figure III be'st em to. it. I rnak one at.tempt to escap!l
care what the consequences

I fail but I don't ge t caught, i~ediatl I begin getting all readyed up to

try "'noln in ..j-nAttuH' pl:.Ice. Ddt e ore ca.n g'''' proper y or, tl I ~get"
_J

into a s"lsll jam, this Calsea one to figure. Judg~ng by past p'rfor~ances ('
1i n other prisons, :that I an due to get another klc:'il?g !Jround,. So to fore-
all ql hat, I grab mYRelr a 10 pound 1~Qn 011" and go on the w~r-path.
efor~ I have finished I Ifill one man.~ try to ::a<ibzen ,~or "fte \
o Lnz ne se thin's va Lk into. e 1 u l Lv ex-pectinn; to be chained )
p 'lnd be~ten to death. dU ~n9.t happens. ~he exact revp,r"e of that. No ate
1
avs a hand O"!1 me. iO one a .....S rie In nnv WRV. '1 1;1s is };OW t. hlngs have, 6ee~1
for the p',st 7. or 4 mont s tr7ing to 1 gul'S it out an I have ,m',. . I
conclu"'ion thnt l n the be innlng ha been trcq,e', a"1 now. then !
he'e '''01.1 dnlt h,va een quite so ,"any people in this'
ropped, raped qnd k

een:but
e and perhaps also very prooao y
a:n cc ':' --:.nybe I an \:-rOilg t~:(). I an too
I 9,m.ncz sa diJP"&,,jJJJ1U~'Ult::l'i::e:~ 'Tittle
ver~ far bu..J<..J:.ar ~.f'-iTjQ~ to see the end of
urn a
or

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T. .. :l ave been
~ou rt t be ~ ,6 I
J'lJJ gbt have
via,' into the future.
~ ~.
I"

.
Not;
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. '..' U't-\ ~ Carl Panar-am ~ f.. !
. , 31614 Box 7 flIV'A oJ
~~~k~!;~::;:::::::::f.~~t Leav<'>nworth ___
\ ....-r. ~ 1J. cJ~~'V\ Kanfsa_s_~

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 18.

Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post office Box 7

31614 Leavenworth, K~nsas "ov. 13, 1929

'Your letter of 110v;'7 re"flned me this Eve. ',"h",t ~ck 1 get ou.t of readU:git.
,YoU .!:Rveit all c:;,gr,Qd cut r:1;';~Youhave it alII '[;ured-out that if I wa s given
my f,'co<:16\ft today. finnn~Ial ind e pendence , .mor-a), supDort and n helrin hCl d
"1trom 'lc"'crT1L D,~oDle',nd cvcr'fl;~IT~B""t['.rt!'t''!fS1J.~,q c"ould h",ln ~o reform
~nd le'ld a gO()Qocr:-,r-n~Cl'frTs'nan !.D'e--:--trSts>11"ltnRl; ''lOuM'be required
<Youflg',F'e that I ',1ould :lu:'1Pat it ''TIdbe '~ll reformllCl up the nll!lltc; I -hit
the I'ront gn f,{~. hat fl dr~'lm .::2-ur. ~11 w~tl. ~Hlke Up Kid your o av Lng a night-
mare. I C'ln dr~am bettor arerons tnan tnat, myself. If there vas even the
faintest possiblity of your idea cres: oecomf.ng a r aet , then I would be rlgt
on thc job. I "culd be tho ",est little yes man you evf"..I'S'FI. You may not
believe M8_ but if I cured to, 1 could be just as snooth a lier and hypocrite
as E..n.y.7cllR~""1~e '~hrJ.stian y tt 0Ver g':lW 01' lleal'd tell of t:-'l..nd r,ne) '~re all
l..>...~~ it J:.lst so happens tll:tL I Clon!; Cdxe to 11& .lust nov:. I ~m not
~
going to-t:'v"to C!ecieve you a nd_nei then am I going to xra myself. I know
self' [indo r.iy o.-;n Dt~ ..te oJ. :ttlthl far btte.r t..han you OI~ anyone else knows me
mY-II
snd Elle ::oore I loo]e deep fnto m 1"!ZX own sell t the less e':0bd I CI).P ae.e , You
bID 00 thin .na a s neccessar'y'l'or a persontoao when he-wants

l
{In
to chdnge his mode of liVing is to just change and thats the end of it. All
reformed up i._fap_e4ff6peH~_w~e~-~ea-ti~ just like thqt. Thats how easy it
is in theory. But the reality is far different when you take into e ons Ldr.r-ab Lon
all of the facts The real truth ~f the matter is thnt I haven't the least
desire to roforr.1. Very \lIUch the reVi'rse of 1;h9.t is cne truth. I would not
was opene r f7 '.l ..1. \:0.8 g '\I
0;.;. 0 len
s t eppe 1. ave no desire 0 QO g ooc or to e goo I am
~:.;;.:;:.::;..;...;~:.;;-~;;,::..::~::r~2:"-:;':;;-;;-;':ffi-;';"";'~-=;;';;;:";:'~:"";':;~~~";;:;"':;:':;'~~-
i-,;?_ an no'... can :'')OSS oe, 8. L. .8 0 ;r reason ~ --. 1.5
__an no v.or-ue
~=~"-~ :'~vh .. "De power- ~1G ne urop:"r o~ ~lle"fS :kQ..r~~~If I hs.d
,tile power anu tne opportuniciC's, then .1 \10uId r oon s hov. yOU'hnt r-c s L me anre s s
W8S. ~u ovcr-loQ.);;t"~ J:3.c.~tj" 'k.!2.w nn9-~~.t...:::ll.J,~~"'JJl...]l',vc
.. 4c~n
tryinD-i!l~lr .c;- for, 25. YGars~t'p.,.,rer""ffi\-zla .1_8;:'1 tired of hRving,lJeople try
to loef~~'Ue. :;"'h.,atI -'ant to do is to reform tho"! and I think the bes t way
'to~<or"1 em is to put e~ out of thif'r misery. It cook me 38 years to to
like I am now. thon hou GO 70U ri~.lre that I l.ocdd if-'1 ..... Lted-to._change
trom black to tthite in th~,~wi~~g of an eye. ~ you sene kind of~
.secret i'ppmllis, . =a-:]!Umoo-Jumbo, ornccul-pocus that coule ~'1u<e this gr~t
chans;e. If' you know snme-thJ.ng like tjf~,L lc.L d8 have it and III tryI't;'out
on someone to see ho~ it works. I have a good j SUbject here th~t I would
lik~ to try it out on. H9 is m~arly a bad a skunk as I am _ Ndfquite tho.
Nowthen to answer some more of vour questions. The little Blue books are
not a1lo",ed to anyone in h're but Books fro:n any other Publishing Co. line
permitted here ~hy that is I dont know. Its a rule hero; thats all I know
about it. I have never read Jack Blacks Book, You cant Win." Harpers or
Scribners mags seems to be un popular here. I hsvent seen one of either since
I've been here. There are lots of gQod magazines here but I dont get many
good ones But I guess hats beca\1se I dont love Jesus or maybe they, wsnJ;_
to le~d ~e '~n 0 pa~hs of up C ousness bJ han ng me such mags as ~he
Argosy nnd .,estern Tnrillers. ,10 ther is not~.ing you can co for me unless
( your rich uncle sheuld open his heart and his pocket-book _ In that case
you ceuld if you w~Jld. have sent these ~iO books. d~rct frmn the publisher
to Carl Panzram
No 31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth
Kans!is

k' ~th~S ~-tkw "~ t tv,~~ i Iv?

~C9~9W) l\,,"~~~\<~~
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19.
Letter received from Carl Panzram ~ritten to Henry P. Lesser.
Post Office Box 7
:31614 Leavenworth, Kansas !lov. 19, 1929

I recieved your letter of !'ov. 7th. which I e nswer-ed the aamo day
I got it. I had to cross out the last 2 or 3 lines of that letter because
I wanted to enclose a small clipping of a magazine adverti~ement. But
after writing the letter I found out a new rule here which I knew nothing
about. Clippings are not permitted to be sent either inor out of here.
It dosen't make any diff any way so just for;:;ctit ..u;e books I wanted
to get w re SChooenhours Essays and Aail:as 6ritque of .-'Ull2Hcason. They

IiI
V/ere add I Saw in fli":"'"fuag-;- I-n!fVe-tn:e
!l baol{ e&cIlin""1:lle t\70 bucks which
you sene to me and I thir.k I'll use t.hcm to get these t---o books later on.
not now. bec~use I expect to go out for my trial very shortly. I figure
it will be some-time in Dec. ThenI'll see about it. It all depends how
I make out at My trial then. _
.1101'1 then about that Autobiography. I have no further interest in it,
Its yours ~nd wnatever YOU do with it will make no difference to me. EY
only motive in writingit was to express Myself ana to s~ate my bcIrers
fully and truth fully. Iaont 0,,1'6 \,;ut _yOU aI' arq-body else, thinks, says
or aoes about t,-. '.ihe qu 'stion of what the ou t come of it might be, held
my interest only so long as there was some little hope that I might
profit by it to the extent that I might benifit by gieeting myself some
good books that I have been wanting for a long time to read. nut now, thlltj
that possiblity is out or order I may as well forget about it. Bosides

l
its very unlikely that I'll LIVE long enough to be able to do very much //
reading of "n:rkind That will be about,all for this ti'-"e.Perhaps III '/
feel more like a human being by this t~me next week, if so I'll write
then but "Jus!; nQf~l feel more like a mad dog tmm . - .-
etrrI fanzr"m
No 31614 Box 7.
LeavenvlOrth
Kansas

,/

 J. r

()

20. (Continu. Pg. 19.) -('v.,-/-v~( i(P,,~

(Letter received from Carl Panzram written to rlenry P. Lesser.)

My third reason for not agreeing with your suggestions is th,t I

prefer death b er'or-e spending more yenrs in prison. :.i:r belief is that lifo
without liberty
~yselL. 1
is not north hhving. If the Jaw wont kill me. I shall
f'ully realize thnt I -;rm "flot Tit to live among people
\1 .1n a ct:~l1.!?e'ilCSFii!i\llY':'~:tnnve-~no:ac~re-t~-"a.<:: ..::s.o.: .trr11ad-enY~Clioice
~
in lIVing 8l1:r'lOnger, the only ';;117 ''I~.toura: consent'" to do so "iould be to ,
.e.ej: Blear out ",nd away fro::l "II civilized
and a few hundred dol11rs ~ortn of t~e-neccessarys
peopl,.. 11' I" could get my frcedo .. ,
of life such as clothing,
I
medicines, tools,
'materials,
seeds fie,ing and hunting tackle and some books and ~~iting
and with these things a couple of dogs and then clear out and go
I
off to some far aw~y lonely Island. hen I uould be conte " '~gld
., trouble me and I would trnublo no_=e e ~. 'l ere could have life, literty
and""tEeir;ers.iYtof"TiiThprne-iis:-r:;nowof'-jsut s a lace a sm'll ad
off of the Sqn Bl,ss Co~st of ~un~na. .n~ve be~n thero before,<yeRp.s ggo.
The isl"nd h'ld SO!:lC hundreds of coconut tree" on it, a sprIng of fresh
~..!!qte.,.. i:he se" 'I'ortoises come there to lay th!er eggs-:-There -are--plenty
of fis"" some banana trees some mango and lime trees. The soil will grow
any th~ng thats planted. This~land is ahout 40 or 50 miles Qff the ~eers
dIrect Iv East by north frerrla p13ce cqllod Peters Island which is East of
Chucumb;lly vhich is on tho M'lin l!lnd qnd south of Pov~mella where the
Panamanian Governmewt h,s stationed th~ir Port of Entry for traders on the
San Bl:,ss Coast. I_2.S a trader and skipper, and owner of R small sloop
down tnere in 1919 ana '''J iro I know what ram tqli:lnJ>: about. '1'hls Island
Is on'ned b tr.e S~.nBlass rruilans and they visit
( to harvest the coconuDs and gather in the Eggs of the sea turtles,
it c~e Q,r--twice a year /'
other '
wlseno one ever goes there. Th1ts rrhnt I wQ~Jld J11re t,g....z-q~..... :j that" _!' _ . ,.

onl-,- ':;w L ,VQJ,l.Jd, (',yen.h':.!nl.of living_211t.. l:1r_na~~:3:l !..if~... There I

~ live os wanted to ana -~oula not need coriform to the standards set
fJ bv o-clwr Deonle in civiIJ.zation. I am so set In m:J' ways that I C'1nnot
ad'lpt ,,"-yeelf to the w"ys of ether pe,:pIe so that Only ,~l~ f~e to do
.!:ould be to l:rve:aYlSlTIyse1f$tnout 'lncTl'1lr.n!ln--eompn:ntunsm:p "lllt(\fe~ ~
sure would"" like "to ry it tnat '7"y. 'i'hgt 1s ::moueall f or this tlme, "OW
you answer- me a question, 'i.'hat do you t.hLnk about, it? I expect tho that by
the time you get around to answering this letter, ~ will have been tried,
found guilty and sentenced to de~th or caybe I'll be already in my grave.
So Long-

...... ,.
 c
Letter received from Carl ranzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7

:31614 Leavenworth. Kansas Nov. 28, 1929

I
I recieved your letter of Nov. 7. I wrote you two in answer and now this
is the third one. In your last letter to me 70U qsked me to seriously con-
sider from all angles your propositoin. T~at.is if I should be given a
comutation of sentence or a pardon now and then given my liberty xhiX with
financial b9ckinh, ~hat ~ould I do with it. Gould I and would I reform.
. In my other two letters I told you that I didn't lebieve I could reform
1\ even if I had the opportunity to and if I wanted to.I am of the same
opionion still. In the first place .l. very much doubt that there is the
remotest possiblity of' you or any onc elso h',ving power- enough to get me
.

my freedom. In the J) econd place I have no desire to reform under such c.on-
ditions as would be required of me the way the laws of this country a.re
ClodaY-.Jn~ird place 1 do not care to live a.ny longer if I must liye
~n prisonJ ,I would tar r9.tner die and go to hell u trots where p~oJ?Ie like
me flO to after de',tll:"""r11ave
very thoroughly considereilTiifiImatter and
I assure you that vhat I now say is the truth. Uy first reason for disagree-
ing with you is that I believe it is absolutly impossible for me to ever
gain my freedom in a legal way because I have too much against me and too '

f
\)many people wi~h'~y death. ,I have confessed 23 differ.!".nt---f:olq_bilo~d~d~-:e- '
meditated murders, hundreds of.cases of arson .ourglarys. robberies, rapes
and other crimes. The law has by this tine looked em up ~d v0rified the
truth of my vario~s confessions. I am wanted in dozens of differen,t states
and other countries for every crime on the calender, from petty larceny to
~~rders. I expect to go on trial here next month for the last mlwder I

1/ CO'TrTIitt.ll:I';
It WaC tl,ue I expLet to Oe ! oun~1ty-brtiurder-iiltlie
'aegre~ -md then rentenced to be hanged by the neck urt11 '1 am as dead as
a dodo or the can I killed here last Ju'.ce.and you can take it from me.
first
.
neither "ill ever be any deaner, than they are now. That one re~son should
be sufficient answer to your question. But just in case your not convinced
yet that your dr0arn is impossible of fullfillment I'll give vou my second
,reason and that is t-'J?t 1-40u.ld-llOL.;r:ef.~tX...l.';:;3.tl,t-:~ to.Jt he s taken
lme all my life so far, 38 years of it for ne to rea.ch my present state of
:mind. In that time I have sauired same habitsxmxLYEaiiRYB It took me a
. I llif'e!tine to lorn ~he.se habIts '.nCiI oe11eve 1t '.'Quld t:ake more 'ftian-
;;.y r-hilosopn71at ute is sucb tlht Qery--i'-ew-p::mplc ever get and it is so
:~1I1T~lJi""T 1nfT~ined r.l.net burned lli~e, ull~d
.. I_dont bp1ieve I to'J.ld ever
belicfs"-:he thin6s I have .Q:.ddone 0 I:1eoy od'.ers andthe th~gs
chanE"&-I:1;jf
- (I have done to them, can never- be -fo otten~6r'Torglvcnenber-bv~e-or--
..
- .,i>thers. Lc;;n'. fO':!it---1>-4'1d-I.-,.'orit-rorg:j..vs.
eOll 1 _ ... n d t----;-:-iihe
lawis in the sarne1. T'nose are two very goo reasons "'hyyour preposition
is not feasable. Its only a dream on our part but I have no illusions ~s
to Us practiciolUty. ~

fL-r..,. ~. ~I\ ~ ~ . '>tv),

/f-WwWJ'v \ ~~ \ \!'"
 21.

Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7

31614 Leavenworth, K5nsas Dec. 20, 1929

I recieved your letter of Dec. 7, several d~ys ago but I delayed in

answering i~ until now, becqu~e I wished to thirM matters over quite well
before I reached the decision I have come to. I have been thinking for
some time th~t our correspondency isnit worth while continuing. It does
\ no one any hc.rmbut neither, on the other hand does it do mo any good. I
. have been writing to ~ou for a ye~r or mor3 and nowqfter making a check
up I find that from 'TOU I reciev more romises than 'in thing else. I
cant spend your prom ses, so dont waste your an my time sonding any more
of them~ You have written me several ~imes that tau enjoyed and ~tiy
sOr.le-ti:ne in t'1efuture deni17e some benifit from my letters. Please be~
!
fi1iiilnQ1;1'l.~D have no runune . t may be brought to trial any day, just a .
few '1a1S ctgo I reAd :iii the r;7 c. rancr t'l".tThe Feder~l Gr"nd Jury hOB
'1naict;ed:ne for first de ce murder and th,t tnecJ'der !i'1c~ declared that
e wil em and the death enalty for me. -:-.i-. y ..e. n an;:-caseh9:Veth"e
~ . eans at my lsposal ~nd the ao erminat on to use t~em to wind things up
.LJl.ffi a 1 thru and rectay to chectr out LlthEjr one\':1fyor anotng In tne
mean time tnere is very little that you or anyone else can do for me.
~ll that I want and that you could get for me if you wanted to is some
ore reading m~tter. If you have ~een and still are sincere in the promises
hich you havo made me then I believe its about time for you to fullfill
hem. J.fvour unabl
"st your t and
L
r um.,illingto do the little I ask of.-JO.u.
time !n.J2.2l2:teness
thel:Ldont
9J1d dlPlonacy:-.The address of
he pub shine Co. that publishes the two boo1ts I reffi3rd to namely,
ants Critique of Pure Reason an Schopenhavers Essays for one buck eacIl,is
.
/I
::ic~"'.ultes Bcolrntore
No 80 Fourth Ave and leth st.
New York City.
I should also like to have a subscription for 6 months to the saturday
Evening Post.
Also if you could possibly manage it I would like to hsve a three"3"
months subscription to a Np.w York Paper. Either the Evening Journal or \
the Graphic.
I believe. that ~ill keep me going as long a9 I'll be able to read.
I donot know Pat Crowe. I only know of him.
y~u hqve been saying and thinking o! chang~ng-y~_line ~~or~~or s,
~ng time 1 think its aoout tlme yoU-Uone it inste~a-or-merely thinking
out it. -
I.j
_1 aTItnot, lD ~ 'T~"'C_ O'Qod l-,1'cor for the. p-. st }',r.oe]c_ or 5.9 for re9.sns -
other tnqn I have mentioned here by they wouldn't interest you even if
if told '1ou 9therwise everything Is lovel~._ I am getting rat 'md gre~s'y,
lousy and lazy and I dont tnliilCit ~rilTrje long now , I mean time not my
neCK. _'Ve a my mo s ng sn tt-m:r.:neckvlrll-~forin-=-
belOngID'. !,lo 'e tru n Foetry per-napa u any way my address is still
'- -- Carl Panzraiil~--
~ BQx 7. 31614
(J/ I'--. ~).. ""-'iw1V1 \ . Leavenworth IiO
~n?-u.,.,'w,V) ~'t~t
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7. Kansa~"M/\'AltVt" ~~
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22.

Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7
31614 Leavenworth,Kansas,
Jan. 14. 1930.
I received your last letter of Dec. 7 tho I answered it
on Dec. 20th. Since then ~ haven't y~itten until now. I have
been YJ9.itingfor you to write instead of you writing me ae
letter I have received R daily newspaper. The N.Y.Evenlng
r- nIrarr-expTaib-aTew- things
JOllrm.l--wliIcnI ~slreay(juror. 110y;'
to you tfiat have15een l!l my mina-for-aome-'tir::e'but\vnich
t haven't said anything aDo~~u-know how suspicious I am
15 everyone. I never OeTeve'~ything that anyone ever tells
me .l alL';'lysthink the worst of,eve~:ron...!l.~enwhen anyo!'.l!
. a fe.vor I al1viays im ute the "orst I:loflvesfor nis doing
~ a e to bel eve "nything goo 0 any o:w. -It Is vory---
hard for ~e 0 el eve sueil g ,s a ru s c r~e1ffiffshipL-
can 'e eve in se f ar~ Its practiely Impossible-for-me
o be c a~ anyone else can. >

,But I j'rwe ktt9Xi1}_Yc:.,;!...xo-e.':L~t_1-.t:'1~n$!,' all9,. k.ha.~_n"'t..,..evf3r

yet knowrL()..!.J:0'J...tO_.Qe_o1;,i!.o::facec:L9~.,..seJ fJ sh ....you have a1J.waJ;s
_ ~.!~p-q,!2:.te fl'ank,w~tl.:rna lA.~e~::I:-.}'La:'l--XolJ,.,.never.Jl~}'~~ __
,tI'.1e.d
t'L f11J_.mUJJ:U::ol' 1J.uJt., \ou....n.el'~r_f:!-attered_~l>-,~f_t.l't<,1IL t,o
gain anyt .!ng~.~n __any w'lyfroI:;l me. YOUl:!ave"b~E'lnpre.tty.de,c~_q.,t
t (5 me..:ar:'~,..E0w _ I_!~m!legin_~ng,tcU?<J.1ievf)_ th '".t,J~~_only -io t i1e in
writing to me is to be a friend to rie .md to o o for me vna t ever-
'Bocd Y0:,J,:c.,5'P'[ (l::t9 .:J.~~lze -t'hatyour~riOtlna--posIfron- tc;-
do a great lot for me. I don't exp~ct it of you. Time is getting
yery short and soon I'll be w~ere I wont need anything frcm any
one'.3y troubles will soon be over. But before I leave this
world encfrely there are a few things that I can do for TOU. I
can give you a few idea on things that I can do for you. I
caD give you a few ideas on things that sOr.tedaymay ~rove to
be of great value to you. I ~ not asking you for anything
in return for what I will give you. I would have given these
inventions of ideas long before now but I have been waiting to
see if you would keep the promises th~t :rou h~ve made to me.

I No~ that I see that you are ~incere and realy mean ~&nt what you s"-y
{ I will try to reciprocate by doing some favors for you. You
, kno\vthat when I last saw you I told you that I held aome ideas
for new inverntions. Some I sho;,edyou. others I held
back. Those I am now going to tell yo~ about. you can do
as you ,like about them. Y"u can be s"",rt and make yourself
a bundle of jack or you c an be a boob and throw them a'llD.y or
give them away or let some one steal them from you. I know that
these ideas of mine are very valuable if they ere hrrndled by the
right man in the right way. One of my inventions which
I told yo" of and Which you :TIadeno use cf, I have since told to
another man here. He gave me !~5.00 fo~t.... ~e in turn hn s dr-awn
up the plans of tlie n'- 0 ~na'7COMp~rtment cases, lie has sent
them out to his folks. ~nd they in turn have invested a little
money in haVing a number of models made and they have applied
 o r-.
"

Pg. 22
o
Jan. 14, 1930

tor a patent on it. ~~oy will make money on it. You and I

\\
will make nothing. This simply because you h~ven't the
imagination to s~e the possibilities ~nd me bec~use I haven't
the opportunities. Now then in ~hese next letters ot mine to
you. I want you to get one permanent address and lceop all of my
letters tor tuture reference. ~et me lcnow each and every letter
you receive hereafter from
Carl Panxram
31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth, Kansas.

-.;

-'- -,
 2:'1.

J Letter received rrom Carl ranzram ~ritten to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Of rice Box 7.

31614 Leavenworth. K~nsas.
Jan 26, 1930.
I received your letter or Jan. 15th. I have been getting
the Evenine Journal or New York every day since the 11th or
January. ~b_Q91LCritique of Pu.F~ Reas_<;.n
."bY_~"lIt
_nl~ rlta()h~
~ So you see everytnfilg is all rIght. ram pretty weTl fixed
lr ~or re~ding matter now. This is my third letter to you so rar
this month. I hope that you got the other two. In my last letter
to you I explain3d an idea rDr an invention. It ~as nothing
to get .excf t ed about. It wouldn't make you a ,-niJlionaireir it
should he successfull. Thnt one w~s only an idea which I have
never wor-ked out to a rinal conclusion. But in this le"cter I'll
give you an idea that is not only pleusable but possible as well.
1/
I

Because I have experimented '\nd\'rove~conclusively that it can

be and has been done and what ha's been done before c~n be done
again. I know that this idea is very v~luable. but how. who.
when or where, money can be ~ade out or it. is more than I know.
Thats up to you. But I do know it can be don~.I have done it.
I have discovered a new kind or rood, or rather it is ~n extremly
old kind of food but just a new WS-y of utilizing it. This food
is now in common use by all the people in the ~orld. But it is used
in only one way. That is it is',eaten raw in its natural state.
The way it is eaten now it can only be eaten in that way ~hile it
is fresh ~nd ripe. I have found out a ~ay in which this rood can
be preserved indef'initel;l'Iithout Lmprr-Lng its value. r;:hejlalue
would be enhanced because it Xx could be prep~red, at its sources
and at very little cost. It grows only within the tropics where labor
and l~nd is cheap. Nowadays the food can be transported in any
kind of a vessel. It needs very little advertising because it
is alre~dy known allover the vorld. To be eaten it need not
be cooked. It can be eaten by itself or it can be aided to any
or all of'the breakf'ast foeds, that are now on the m~rket. such
~s otameal. cornflakes. rice. hot-cakes or it can be added to the
flour in the baking of' cakes or put in nearly any kind' of
a pudding or dessert.
Now I hope that .you are able to see the l"rge poseiblities
in this new idea of mine. I believe that you can sell the idea
alone but ir you take my ',dvise you will get busy and experiment
until you have by positive proven tests got a good result. take
that result and get a patent out in your own name. If you do t~is
then you have aomet.rit ng th"t ahou Ld make you II millionaire many
times over. Now you will want to know what its all about. If you
~ have done as I told you to do, to get rrom the D3pt. or Agriculture
some treatises and papers of the subject of Dehydration ~ fruits
and vegetabJes, then all you will need to do is to go to the
near~st grocery store ~nd buy a gu>rters worth of ripe bananq~.
Thats ~ll you need. Dehydrate them until ~hey are thoroughty dry
and then grind the result into fine rlour. Then eat it. You will
 ., Sf g ; e:::.t.tr.iAttI 1)_

r,
" Pg 2:3
Po~t O~~ice Box 7.
31614 Leavenworth, Kansss.
Jan. 26, 1930

Find that it is ~ery good. I have done this myselr snd

I know. Did you ever eqt oatmeal with chopped up bananas
in 1~? 7h~ts something pretty good to eat but it is much
better when it is ~lxed up as suggested by
Carl Panzram
:31614. Box 7.
Leavenworth, Kansas.-
 r, 224.

Letter received rrom Curl PanzrR~ written to llenry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7. Leavenworth. 5ansas.

:11614 Feb. 2. 193P.
Iq ';;,r.I

The letter "'hich you wrote on Jan. 29th. I received yes-

terday. In your letter you say that you received but two letters
tram me in Jan. You see if there hasn't been a mistake. Yes
there has meen a mistake, but it wasn't made by either you or
me. I vIrote :rou t'b.ree"3" leters in Jan. Therefore one of
my letters never reached you. How or where this r.i!'1take
occurred I dont know. I can only suspicion. But I do R~ow that
the S9me mistake wont be made by me again. Hereafter, I shall
take more prec~utions. I shall not ~Tite anything that the
censor can take objection to. I hope that ~0U will understand
. /Without going more fully into explanations. Jus.tremember that
( others as well as you.or I can see a dollA~ as far and as quick
, f.S anyone else. I am 'NffiTyglad-that-even if-you did--lose
.one of my ~etters that you got my last one anf Jan. 26th. In send-
ing that one you got a very good idea, but wether or no you can
do anything ~~th it. still remains to be seen. Ita yours to
I do with as yo~ like or are able. You ~"e me nothing. Of course
I I gave you only the bare outline of the idea but if you handle
I
it right. thats all you need. I am glad to hear that you
have a powerfull and intelligent friend in the Dept. of Agri-
culture who you believe to be honest. fut you. take nl_a~Yl~e
and dnnt :r:~t_t.'?~;nuchfUth_tn_ s,cmeone...
el[;e_'.'ysm~s~Y:.S!.itb,.Q\Lt;
~'1'lt--yrr6tect"..t.:!.g
your O~!TI interests. I also advise you that.
your future letters to me you saj"i'iO't-hing that mie::J1t
benefit se-ne

/ one else and to your own dis,,,.'.v,mtage. It is not necess'lry that

I should mnow all that you have done or 3re doing.
In your letter to me you say that at the first availabel
opportunity you intend to have sent to me the book. SChopenhoures
Essays. Please dont trouble about that and also about bbthering
to send me any money because now I am doing pretty ~ell as
far RS reading matter. At least up until the 11th of April, and
by that time I exp0ct my trial will he allover. At least I hope
so any.~ay. ':.11en my trial is all t nr-u, I expeCt I'll be thru too.
At any rate I am sure thqt it wont be long after. In the meqntime
I shall from time to tine give ~ou some other ide~s for you
to wcork out if you care to bother ",ith t hem , But first I want
I to make sure th~t you get t~em and not same one else. Even if
yOU dont fU'ly u~derstand now. you will later on, so please
h~ve pa~1ence, Kants Critisue is pretty hard for me to read
~,...<i but I am di~-~
.land undo~~ .. away at it and I en~': "od be-
ITreve all thRt I am able to under~~o~d of ~t. In the letter that
was loot I explained an altogether different inffention to you
but now there is no use in repeating it to vou. But perhaps later
on I'll he able to explain that one and some others that I h ve
in mind. In the mcan"iliile,oucan concentrate on the food product.
That one is easy for you to work out and it is a very geod one
if you can handle it. I have others just as good or better. But
first I want to make sure that you get all the letters that I vIrite
to you. Should you receive an unfavorable opinion of the food

. --
 -:
.:;l.

~~
.....~

.;
.
__
- ~.

/
I o
:
Feb. 2. 19:30.

product. from the chemist of the Dept. Of Agriculture , dont give

up hope becnuse neither he nor you know all that I have in my
..
mind. So long and luck to you from

Carl Panz r-am,

:31614. Box 7.
Leavenworth. Kansas.

,,
,
t .

j ."
!
o
Letter received From Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.
Post Office Box 7
31614 Leavenworth, Kansas
February 9, 1930

I received your last letter of J~n 29th which answered 1~8t

Sunday Feb. 2nd. Ye9terd~y I received a package of litera-
ture from you which deals with patents. I wr o te you three,"3"
letters in J'nrru '\ry. one of e"'11 you didnIt get. '::hy I dont know.
I can only guess. Its useless to make any compl'\int about it.
, Just forget "bout it. The letter that VI,S lost "'as a good one
and I wanted you to get it. 1 wr-ot e 2 double pages and I did not
(( thi~ when I vlI'oteit that I ~tt anyting in it that was con~
trary to the rules there. But maybe I did. Anyway I ~ont ~~ite

I
anything more like it or anything that Bornewise egg thiru{s he
can make a dollar out of. Several times since I h',ve been here
I have tried to explain to about my maD [.rivi leges. I don't
believe you have ever understood me. ~urely if you stop and
think a bit yoa will understnnd that, me in the position I
am now in qS a convict, I.hqveno right~i~~r except thQ~e

I
t.hat ~re given to me, or that. J. JlP..2ble t_Q-t.a)s;e-,,_01.<LLli5-'i1H~
you that I c"n bkc \fery, vcrY-little and-aIC'.t.lQ::gJ~tAl~_L!..U
have to ""ty 1 or p.nd E.::..'l. "- helI....Q!:.._~9ig,...PIJ.~lL.o;t'_.it_.kQ.9
...So
I dont t~e an7 chcnces. I expect to have ~~ my trial someti~e
the latter part of this month or the first of the next. Then
we will see what we will see. Either one way or another. I'll
be wound up and all thru. In the meantime I'll just slide
along the easiest nay I can. I wont ~Tite anything that I
think would do anyone else '-eny good or me any harm You, from
f~~ ex~"'j~'D"" in tlle "'Qx:,1,:; ~c'J. we dc1ng ShOUld <;m:e1y k=~e
; dfL\ibr~;;~; 9i ibCfle kina:nf4lJ'"l1;!s:l'here is no use in me
trying to explain any furth l' to you. ~he papers which you
sent from theU. S. Patent Office ~ere interesting read~ng. but
I know all of that before. I knew that ther9 were such machines
and patents in existence, but none that you sent me hos m7 idea.
I done the ~~me as I h;ve told you and I ~~d no complication or

l
expehsive machinery to do it with. The only machinery I hed was
a SIlallcoffee grinder to gridd the dried product into flour.
The only other tl,ings I us ed VIas sunhhine and a few little
odds qnd ends such ~s ~ome pieces of wi~e, wooden boxes with
glass covers and fresh air. 'you )0017 I told 'Tn" th t T X1\!J!"E'X ancen

t~ll...Un.1.t.llg,P ...:;}),.t-.c.o-...JJ.t,.,,t"ej r r;QSt.u.....Ri C1 D1'4131 cn.

yorked..JJ:l
-In that part of the world there qre only 2 ~easons. the ra~ny
and the dry senson. You know I a~ no chemist Gnd I have .
no technical ability, so I know no t nLng 'lhatever about the .
iner points as t.hev u r-e explained in the' papers you sent me.
All that I do know is that I dried the Food product, ("round it

IIinto f'our 'lIld eat it and found it good. ":.natI done ~nyone else
can do. I have no doubt but what other people have h~d the same
.~idea in mind. Some have developed the idea much farther than
 ..... ..".~~
~,:;~=- trboOt .. ;,;a, .. ~. ~

c ,. -',
25.
P. 2

Feb. 9, 1930

I have, but none have done 'lnything worth y'hile ,vith it. The
finished product is not on the m~rket. ~,ts uhere it belongs
and not simply store d away -in some o-nesmind on a shelf in
a store-room. ~nether or no you can do this I don't know.
Thats up to you. I don't much like to y~ite letters and I
like it less wnen I t oke the trouble rend ti,e to write to
you and then you haue sarno one else have the benefit of what I
write to you and thereby depriving you who I am writing it
..
for. It wont be long now when it VI ill be the end or
- ;,
Carl i'anzram.
31614, Box 7.
Leavenworth, Kansas.
 '. '" ,

o
Letter received from Carl Panzrnm written to Henry r. Lesser.

'Post office Box 7. Leavcnworth~ Kansas

31614 Feb .16, 1\130

I wont waste much time in ','roiting

this letterbecausc
I dont know if you \';illget it or not. :.:omeof my others
that I took considerable time and trouble to write to you, you
never got at all. I "rote you three, "3" Let t er-s in January and
this is my third one this month, the other tuo I wrote on Feb.2
and Feb 9th. The last letter I got frmm you on Jan. 29th. But
I did receive a package of literature in regards to patents fro~
you.

II
"':.:;;..::....--~.;;._.-
.~~
_:0

Carl.Panzram.
31614, Box 7
Leavenworth, Kansas
,.
, -;
 -"r'

c
Letter re~alved from Carl Panxran v~ltten to Henry P. Lesser.

post vffice ~ox 1. Leavenworth, Kansas ~arch 2, 1930

31614

Your last letter was recieved by ~e on Jan. 29th.

In January I wrote you three letters.
In FebrUary I worte you four letters.
In this letter I am sending yeu three small watch-chains whick
I mnde out of some string. They are no g~.od as they ere. I only send
them to you so you can see what they look like.
If I had a half a dozen spools of silk thread different colors,
I would up a dozen or two of these trinkets and.send em to you.

Just to pass the time away.

This will be all until I hear from you.
lam
Carl Psnzram
No 31614 Box 1.
Leavenworth
Kansas
o ", 28.

Letter received from Carl Panzr-am written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7.

:51614 leavenworth, Kansas
}.larch9, 1930
This evening ,I received your letter or March 6. also a
return receipt frc~ the P. O. in regards to the string watch
chain which I made ans sent to you. I expect I'll got the
Sat. Eve. Post soon. I'll @e glad to get it. Because I like to
read and all that I have to read now days is the newspaper
which you had sent to me.and the one I ordered with the 2 bucks
you sent to me. I dent. get any books or oagazines anymore.
I was getting both for a while but then towards the last,
I couldn't get the kind if wanted so I refused to a ccept the
ones that w~s offered to me so now I get none at all. The
book which you sent ne Kants Critique, I rea~~~~~U::~
month out It is toOdeol' n~e C5"'"0'A.F.5.ii.il The l'lQ.ALot...1t
!>ent ovet~ my head. Jfn~ffYl'r;o0M...9,.iSgUSJ;~. Sl1\L2j.s'>Lo~Q.ged.
~L~ went ..!;11.0. ~.tsntr=:_,"Il_d~"t~._.!?;:td" __~~~" .J. tQr~ 't IIp j pto
10,000 n ' - - - d f1;,red'It RY.t....9.Lmz aO~QJ;. hat left me with
m ow~papers only sna those I ~aven't boen re~diDg ~er7 ~ch
because f2r. the P'1.stmon1;h__;Lhs,v.EL.J:L:_etLIir~_tJ;7 __hostJJ.fi...
"l..gm

I
all;-~ ~e.crsrq: wn;v like a "'?d dO,g but SC!'1ot~~et a l:l.,We
_~e4~&al"p ~~c~fOns:e'JLr~S:ih~_ tl3.P'U'i<n
mo at - .ng j q to p-!lr-J'gn
] j ').bllil
t.2-~Q._..Q~~J1G e 1.~t!P
m1!;k.be
..
-near- -rae ._~._ you J:;I,lo~W~,!\.m
s.?nL:j"n"C\~iJl
j;he .. iso l.aUon
~~, but its all riGht no Per, no one h',s bothered E1~d
~. There ~re men here ~ho would talk to me if I would listen
to the'llan -if I c2.I'edto spen], to the:it--;--but
one. In", -e :L(; no oTia nere th'lt I cg",e to t!llR~o~
I wonl;d6-eItlier
hlive talk
/,1
L ":or a '.-;hIIe
here there was one man that I uGeCl to "'talK .
o.and to Il~ten to o~c~nional; but I finally broke off dip-
omatic relations W en n 'no agree 0 sagrv,. -,ely
here h-i s "pen ~,nothor man here "fio fi'lstried to be t11:plomatic
and civil to me for the pBst week or l~ d~ys. From all outward
appe~rances he seens to be nat only Willing but anxieus to talk
o me and to have me speak to him. But you know how I am, I
ont believe an7 one means right by me. I believe bad of every
ne and good of no one. A nan must be a real Man or a man and
half befo"e I'll believe any good of him and evon then he
st convince me that he means ~ell by me before I'll believe
ny good of him. And believe me t~ takes some prooving befo~e
am convinced.
I understand now that I will not "e tried in K. C. Kansas
tr~s motihh. I'll be put on trial here in the town of Leaven-
orth, Kansas early next month. Thqt is Drovldin~ +hat T con-
ent to wai t thn:Uo"c. have -.-rsited fro 8 Months 011'1 and
. ~.'e ....
'7 Lt ~~f ''Iri'jt1.n&~~.l.'':'';lC onrrer' I ~m'!,.~~!.l
..J.te9._th:~~.ras:1~
h-ive ot ur til now I am no hottl.~:rmn-liable to explode and
9:[ ,~71~1 f, ".r''':, -i"W't 01:,:; notOniy-tneprrsoIi";""OuT;;outor
this YlOrld also.

-;

I
r
 29.
Letter received from Carl Panzram ?~ltten to Henry P. Lesser.
Post Office Box 7.
31614 Leaven~orth, Xansas.
March 16, 1930
I am writing you this short letter to try to let you know
that I have received the first issue of the Saturd'y ::vening Post
I1so that I received a letter from you dated Jar.. 29th. and
one dated M~rch 6th. Those are all.
I wrote you three letters in January, 4in February and
this is my third to you so far this month.
I dont know if you will get this or not so I'll not waste
any more time in ~Titing. I would ~Tite a good deal ~ore if I
had the a~surance thot you would receive all of mY,letters. But
for some mysterious reason or other, ~hen I do take the time and

r trouble to write -you Ion!?:lctt9rs-; ~.get em....There are

WS'9'1 neu ..
a good many things I would like to write and tell you tecause
I am sure they would be interesting to you and very possibly
some might prove to be valuable also. But under the present
circumstances it is useless for me to write all of what I have in
my mind. .
Well So Long for tb~s tame
- I a~ st~ll
Carl Panzran
31614, Box 7.
Leavenworth, Kansas.

'),l,~.g~1:: ~ ~-1-tkM~~

l-Jq'"l~ nJ~~-t~~'~1-~~~~r
.~1/6if~~~~~J"J, ~E0t:M-b~ '(lJU-~~fH
 n 30. o
Letter received from Carl Panzrv~ written to rlenry P. Lesser.
Post orfice Box 7.
31614 Leavenworth. Kansas
~lnrch 23. 1930

II
I received your letters of ~arch 6th and 15th. I wrote you
on March 16th, 18t~, and today the 2~rd. The only news that I
have W.hiC.hmight inLe.rest you is that }h? ..
E.,aG .befJn~~_~t"~.si!ie....1l.~Lth~,,
2'"t.e~ofAP.Ig_::;Oj;P.~-l,.9",Q
time 1" 1 be v,:r~,a,J'Jl_i'E1B!LJ)~sEt
ai'Topeka, K"ns'ls,.in the U. s. Feaeral Court under the jurisdiclll!lon
of Judge "1IOpkins and Judge"'1'o11oi:1t; .%".. . _,0' ,J 'U
1/

Why there should be 2 judgE'S I don't know or ~!hy the place
chosen for the 'trial should be Topeka, I don't ~now either and
care less. The only ,p"rt thnt interests me is whnt the result_
will be and i already ,'nm;what that will be.
It might pay Y0U to get a subscription for your ovm use of
s Topeka or ~ leavenworth paper for the month of April next. In
that way you'll learn more about my c ase them I could tell you in

I my letters.
~nr
nut in re'lcl.ipno t~f "t'''~DeT'S y011 n'lst
own judg:,nnt
ar-e onl y interest8d
WOUld ljke
remember +;Q iISe.
sl"ont 'i~b"t 'S "C"~iiited --ahQJ1.t '7!e bec@1J<":e the T"'Qpers
in rrint ing':;hat thq"7 to' pir ~be':: C"'J1ASCr'pers
to read . 'rhe tb'~Jtb he:; 1t,~.....
'tttJo VPl?enl to .t.hem,

Both of my rapers ITill run out on the 11th of April, but

I don't want the subscriptions ,-eney/ed,neither of them. l'h<tt
little t ina I" 1 h.nve le:ft ~fter tbn , J tb of pext month, T '7.Dt
cur-e j-,Q ~r",J*l--4R P92d j n: '1 1 at of 1 ies md hot !:\ir th~t the
oapers will T"llhJ j C'b sl:H1N:tM8.

don't feel much like scribbling

I any more today so III cut
this short here.
I am
Carl Panzram.
31614. Box '7
l . Leavenworth, Kansas.

~)9~ ~-~~t'~~
~~~~ ~j~~. ~~__
uvu-J
o
Letter rec~ived rrom Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lessor.
Post Office Box 7 Leavenworth1 Kansas
31614 March 3D, 1\,/30

I received your last two letters of March 6th and 15th.

I wrote to yo~ on Uarch 16th. 18th and 23rd and now the 30th.

You asked me in your last letter to continue to write

down my ideas becQuse you would like to get them. I am not
doing any "~iting nowadays, simply because I dont c~re to.
There are a good many things I would like to ~~ite down, Some
'of which I believe to be or considerable value, and '111 of vhich
I believe to be truthfull and interesting, but at the present
time under the existing conditions it would be worse theft
useless ror me 'todo a rry ':,Titing.:Chould conditions be changed
lin suoh a way that what I write wouldn't h~rm me hut do me good

\
land harm my ene~ies, Then I would be only too glad to express
myself in '.vr1ting. '
You also asked me if there was anything you could do ror
me. '~es there is. You cnn, if you n"'l. snbQcr1hr:r fer the Gbr':st-
.1an C.,...iepco --;y'ljtor ... BOBtop nc'j<':lp" e....
...... for me by the month.
one month at a tic.e''1slong as I am ~li~e to read' it, which I
believe will be not over 3 months o~ most and propably 2 months
but possibly only one month.

Po crj-j~"l nG"~ ri,,::,s - ...l..;::t qlJ. be Qnrcrri"'d "nt~ p:t;ol;tx ' "
pe~r true "nc1tbr> po""'t GC-rbQt- :it dOCS pI:.:int .. is- on~J~hj.ect~
1lihich ir:ter("srs }"le, ,"[orld aff8-irs, ~his paper doe~nl t Lnt er-e s t
r.1ostpeonle but it does me, I know your 69.r1k roll isn't very
"fat., but this wont break you I guess. How about that silk thread
you were going to oond ne. ~~en you do send it be sure that it
is the rayon or imitation kind. like the bit I sent to you.
r dont know if you got all my other letters or not, but I
believe not, but I think you'll get this one all right because
DO one can take exception to anything I have written here. Now
I'll ring off in this one before I do ,~lte something.that not
according to the laws or John L Sulivnn or s~me other all
powerrull GQd..,
So Long
Carl P"nzram'
No. 31614, Box 7
,Leavenvlorth, K'lnsas

, R ~1.~~~(,~~ I

.~~ Cv{-'U~~~ cl~--rCIW1;~ j ~~

"" , 1.-v w ~ k,)jy,." ~ -r:e..:.. es: ,..tJ c S' P1
~~--' ...Jkd CI~ ~ ,

~'" 9 ~i-<""'"'- f~ c!.

 53._2>

(',

Letter received f"rom Carl Panzram VlTitten to Hanry P. Lesser.

Poet Office Bo~ 7.
31614 Leavenworth, Kansas
Rprll.2, 1930

I received your last 2 letters of march '6th and 15th.

I wrote you'four letters since then. Mar. 16t'" 18th, 2:3rd.
and 30th.
The only thing new thst I can tell you is that the date of"
my trial has b~en definitely set for sometime this ~onth, prob-
ably about the 14th at Topeka, Aansas in the U. S. ~ourt under
/
tho Jurisdiction of"Judge Hopkins.
I am in re~iPt of a lotter from him in which he states that

Ii he has already appointed an attorney to defend me. His nr-me !.S

Capt. Ralph O'Neil of Topeka.
/"

So Long -
Carl Panzram .
# 31614 Box 7.
Leavenworth, Kansas.

r-
.F
(.

32.
n
Letter received from Carl PanzrSL1 w~itten to Henry P. Lesser.

/
Post Offico Box 7.
;7,1614 Leavenworth. Kansas.
April 5, 1930.
I received your letter of Aj:ril g., in which you state that
you have not received all of the letters that ! wrote to you.

. I suspected that all along.

O 1/
The off'icials h"re know ,.',ho n nd whnt 'lOU Rrc
~~. ~1"0 ~ "." '~" -'c'unre not l~ 01' :1",n to do
anything_"!r.Q,n?j ":Un ::la.
lnQ,2r.l:.9,'U20ndiui'i
As for me I couldn't if I ~anted to. [till my letters nre
-
stopped and no reason given me. I never h~ow When a letter of
ne will be held up bv the censor here. The censor Is this 'case
".s the Vlq . he~ Jie has tho PQwer tg dO just an he ple-::scs
mllil Qnd it soens to please him to stop some of my letters
ccasiopp'y.

I can't stop him from doing this but what I can do and will
o is to stop ~~iting lettrs.

I wont Yrrite to you any morn under the circumstances as they

are now.
\'fhenif ever a change is made. then ...
will consider r-enewf.ng
our correspondence.

lam
i
(i
o
Letter received from Carl Panzram written to Henry P. Lesser.

Post Office Box 7.

31614 Leavenworth, Kansas.
April 17. 1930
-
I have known you for nearly 2 years. During that time

f
we have been in correspondence with each other continuously
with only a fow brief interruptions. Oat now, c1rc~~stances
are such that I believe the time has ceme for our correspondence
to e nd , .

Therefore, I am ~~iting this letter which I now believe

will-iJe the IQst 1ee"61' I mall ever ..rite to yol1 or anyone ;r
else. I shall endeavor to explain to you a numcer- of' things that I
believe you ~ould like to know, and. these explanations are the
last I intend to make to you or anyone else. :J"k{! ~onths ago
,I 1<1"led... ') -an :-,QT'te_-1tWiMs v'!"'~'~l},Il'.y"@J3tetf\'lX _. ':f~L ta~Bn ipt"o
~t.,..._~~rt~~LEJ.ZJl tr1'1]~. fpUl1O,.Jluilty of _~he gr_l~ Cf-!1:rged
ag~i.~~~~'Y}._~~nt.a~.Q:~~.f.\.: t::i?-' executiop tr tpke
':place here "1 ~ tbi ... prison on Sept. 5th. 1950 bl~trJeen the hours
o f' 5 ." r\ DC
1 9 il
,~
" r -22it
M
...,
.
7I,~
1 !
.. FT

With my tiral and the sentence of the court I amperfectly

contented altho I have believed all along and 1 still believe

tI
that it was the inter:tion of the court and the majority of those
connected with it to give me the full benefit of the law. but
nata fair and i~~artial trial. *he"1 succeeded in ~iv0i~g me a
leGal trial and bet,,,,ell Lhese t wo there is some difference, Q.JJt,
. 1" .co s n my or. pre er to have t hI.ngs Just as
_ Po now._l bel-ieve that tlle intentiOns of the people whe
tried me ~~s to perce~~e a travosty of Justice, not CO giVe
~fr "~d bn:wtia ti131 by.t to r:IVi
me a: legal tl'l,l. The
actual results acconplished are that ,',aB not; only P: 'len -;;;nat
~rWDJ.e v: ant.ed to gl rne , ut WrlS a so 'Hinted tr.e:n to
,g V:)~ r~hey gRve me 'US, . 1.+11Bis the--r:ne-crnd 'onlv -C1S6
.t"3t~Ct'-!'L -r ';;"-Q..:t..JIhere
r anu 1llstioe were svnonomous .
1-_'11
I hel ieve tht ! know ~:!ilat-'ust'''Tce~
",' f A@, is ~a iil~'t!'~'~~''fh,-~t 11.r~le
~-'"l'~~1Qii::dji'l-""'"""4"'-~-"-~~--"'-~~------
~r
.. been ..'q:tntl.l1'.i' ;;"3."9>$"'.::'" 1..;:(g-_'t~~ __a.Ll~, U.I: ~1I~l!e~~~s}:-t~"li.~;;~~;:;.t
t- n!=i1!J .
M,:- -..-...

~~s'l;T -+3"61- ,~jJ.

~epter.1ber.
n?vl ... a!}.C1 I Qo~~ry~a_~p:~i1t;n$'_5t1i i1'.:~,;.;.,.
4
That is what I wanted to tell you first, hut there are a
number of other things that I also ;~nted to tell you. D~ring ,y
ti,e in t"' .." 1"1"i801'1 - h"'18 received very fair treat',ent i~ '1-.
~. I h:;ve 'bepn tre'1. +0.4 c;o'.:.r.er Clan
r; no':.> ""'p<:"J1"" rs
d t:P~ hQ~r.nt" "''''QTl ~J. ~ o;;H;;~ryed tq he;oQ. R~5.J:':f't,tr;r: .tb@p J
IOllld we.t!.L- ...Q":--h1;~9.t%J,~?_;;.-:i,f I hf':..d the power- "lhich t ne v ha.o:;e.. if
I 'IJ~Sin their DlRce md they ',''''rc "in '!'1l ".(2"i ...QA. t-aont; ~eE'll'Ve
very riarry 01 ne 00 lnP:G 0 rUS wor- 1. expect very i ttle
~lSK or very tle. Mon the things tht I h nK at I
am entit e to an VIou1d.like 0 reaeIrng

?et~~~llu~
--....
 1 , .
o o :!3.

P. 2
April 17, 1930
reading ~atter to occupy my mind findmy time for the balance of
ny life which is very short. At the present time all of the
reading matter I have is only one nag~zine, and that one is the
Saturday Evening Post which you ver-egood enough to have sent
to me. This isn't snrugh for ~e. I want more. I realize that
I can't have every thing ~wqnt but ~ want very lietle and~that
lit~le I want to choose my own self. j do not t'T'1nt !.'rr3r<ri'!:"'bot
other" ',"an" o!'e'1. "ow this is wh3.t I wq,nt ~ou do do if
yOll Will. 1 want you'to choose from the following list a nunber
!If
of magaz Lne s and onw paper .The (hily Christian ~clence 'Ionitor
which I would cnjo re ding t~<:\tis the-first 4 a",s of it Rnd t e
~di q page. nlO ou ',neefor t"e ~o.Der I think is al ,
ru~ols~ ana not worth reading. Thits the anI news aner I care
o r:'"-'~ Amon .. ~ 0 l"nes ke to rend ru'~ _.6 :'c~ 1 ,

TJlQ.....f "'"e The nu t.tlantic :ronth v 1 ",. _ ",,1 1 , 1 ;hcrty,

~:a P,"tthfinder, ana the 1~8ychiatri~ts ~'ou r.\ I don't warrt aLl,
o blOse OeCS'.lS"1 c ou n re {len all and it would be too
much expense for you to go to. I wish you would subscribe for
a few of these for 3 months for me. Thats all I want fro~ ~ou.
I believe that you will receive this letter a~d if you do I want
you to ~~fEXn~'~8cceed to this, ~y last request of you, and L
want "70U to do i-:: no';, '1nd not vrait nnt" 1 I [tr:l c.en.d and then lAnd
me reading matter. I want to read novl "nd no~ sOr.1etine next yeac.
I asIa wish to tell you that the silk thread wbich you sent
me came here all right but I am not per~itted to have it. ?oday'
I ~~ ~0'~~~o the deruty warden here to return it to ru.
Also, I UUI ,going to 'lSK 1:1 a sen to you he ea nee. aces 1ihlch
/if "
I nade and pror.1isedto scnd to you nearly a year ago, but which
was ta](?n away fron me when I got Lnt'o this jamb. If you get this
letter you nec~ not answer it, except by ~Jbscribing for some
reading matter for me. That will be sufficient.

Copperjohn 2nd.
ar-L Panzram.
o 34.
o

Leavenworth, Kansas
May 30, 1930

President Harbert Hoover,

c/o Attorney General Mitchell,
Washington, D. C.
I am writing this letter to notif'y you that
I hnve been tried in the U. S Court for the crime of murder
n ' "'.,.. , ~7"'S found gllJ.l. Y ,md sentenced to be
, hanged by the neck until am oa
I hery15, ""-r;' that

Neither do I want to h~ve that sentence changed

j.n R!!Y WB.;/ .--.
The only ~ny this sentence can be ch~nged is by
the direct Bctiorf of tne Presidem; or trIe United 3tstes.
De ~eve t.1nt I am w tn~n my con -~ ut~on!ll rlgh~s vrhe-n I
....
efuse to accept pRr on or a CO::lmua ion from tnelIe;:ltli
q

penalty to a sentence of life imprIsonment, eIther in a

prIson or an ~ns~:'tneaSy!l]M
. J absoJute1; refuse to accent ejj;pr a p9.T'donat
a commutation snould ~it~e~:onQ or tre otQAr bQ-Qftp~rd to ~e.

(Signed)
Carl Panzram,
No. 31614, BoX 7.
Leavenworth, Kansas.

\
 "_.
"'~"''''

o
35.
Letter.received from Carl Panzram ~~itten to Henry P. Lesser.
Leavenworth, Kansas.
June 5th, 1930
Inclosed in this letter 1 em sending you anumber o~
different letters and articles th.',t.I nave written since my trial
April 15th and 16th. You can do as you please with them all.
~ithin the legal papers, journal entries Bnd the certified
copy 0 indlct,,-,cnt,
~v you \'1111 f l.hCl t!l'\ names and addresses of
01' near-Ly a. a .ne men ;'; o. a . llg eo db vi fen my trial.
'\nong then :r u 'J; i ' r-s who p, ere ap-
Oln c ?r;d sat '9.9 a ~or.!r:1isr:lon to n u r.:: . an y an who
,ropcunced no 0 -c nsnne , or 0 unsound min , as 7TOU w se ,
~ccord1"l" to tne Clark of t'te O. S. Courts, CertlliCd copy of
- he journ'tl cntries. I ;,clleve this verdict virts unf!dr~crI
._so elieve th"t 1 you would send each or all of them a copy
-..;okai' ~ rrrs story,
.I.. v!hich 1 Frate ~U\d glve Co you, tne:x:
-' :ould he quite conv Lnced neJ..r vcr... C
u. ~ nS.9.n"7 ,- "'."" st
e was Hn ,J,.Sunsc:un nnd nov ~ ~l.n
--
l:'J.t s UllSO'ln
4

~y this ti.eyou or the v get this l@tter I'll be very

er- dead so it \"Iontr.lakeany di~r to me, but it may to Some-
else some time.

, ,
(Signed)
Carl Panzram, 31614.

P. S. The other two letters, one to'the president of the U. S.

and ttle oU,er Lo 1':'(e 50g1etT fer t',e AbtY't1:'S1m~~rCnpital
Yl1n1.snment, I wrote but did not LlaiI, because .at Cat '* '."rote 'em
~'1: faund 1;.:""l[Lt it W'lS ~nI1eC~H3S!}r1 to mgtl V-'-'L.l to tLo:!l'J ! :~Le tr~em

teO, so I fl"m sendlng 1130 along to you to do t;.lth as S0[l l1ke.

Fropably heave i em l.nto s ur YI'tS te basket, but ftl') Y)"i 'icy'c t11g;r.~;;IiU
..::r5-
1,' ,,:t' T'K" ''P 'fOUl;' ::lfiid reS t\l, m..state Qr rind !\!1dmy .
~---
reasons ,~S~~fQ~
c. P.
.,

o n 36.

Letter received rro~ Carl Panzr~ written to Henry P. Lesser.

Leavenworth, ~ansas.
June 5th, 1930
II am writing this letter today, June 5th, but I dont
\ except to have it ma LLed to y:Juuntil Septmeber 6, 1939. because
lon thot day I \'1illbe dead end buried.
There are a good many things I would like to say or
v~ite to you, but bec~use I dont know whether or not you'll ever
get this letter. I cut it kind or short.
f First, I ~ant to tell you that up to noy. I have been
getting the reading matter which you were good enough to sub-
scribe to ror me. these including
The Saturday Eveni~g Post
The ('hrj sb.an :::cience
lJonit.or
-rpbe Forum liz

Time
.Ite Pathf'nder
and also the American :.lercury,,1'lSt
PSI'll received .

I aslo want to tell you that I have enjoyed r-eadd ng them

all ..the~e is nothing I can do ror you to repny you ror the :"aEY
favors you "1tftve done lor nc, ex: e'Dting to thqnJr _:ton "lnd "il~sh vou
'good luck. 1. . ,;ouICl like to be fib e 0 truthfUlly ~.e~ vcu ~t
J.-dO t:i.'"\!ll) "1[01.;1, but t~~!s 1 Chl.i!E~ ~uR!Y becFl.u;:;e there is no
such thing ~s gratltutl~-r.3rr-inne. e-.
fz , - - ~j n- ...

here ?'1S at 0 Lme but that time is Ion "'0'" ~_

tude is .one of _~n ;--;'l" thin"J'!i ..
vJl-.
"'T, l~~T_h ,~..~ _>'- ..... ~~ c1{,"-~d.N0lttdi
O:fil_~~
c,,"m:~~~~-y;_9_~.;~qt;'l:f!lJ:]
y,~"; ,,:-?~~!.1,~~.1{"\~)) t..:l5i.t~~\3.eSi~-
.,;!9.~~ci~.:l.~~~,~r:=t~e.
__ ~vc;;(f::l&.t~!
Q.ill:nj.$.~iu.t.,.,-.;;.Q~\:.~Q.-:0.E~_ct,.~~1~
"de~erve f!O('U !\lC'{ Tn tnis
men I h"eve aver known that rfJ'l,l
~JL~ XU serve "hat I have ~issed in life- happiness. peace
.and content:::lsnt.

As r or-Me '1 s on be at have never had the

good fortUlce to find it in life, so I expect to find it n death.
~
-I hope so and believe so.

f"0I'1!!
sone ,eo Ie my death will seem to COMe in a horrible
but to :'1e its eems -..:r-'- eas-- . P r 1...- or-war-d p

to it
It is q f"ar easier death than I have dealt out t~ so~e of"
-f_;:otlle I have killed.
.lO:.... I CC".lldft i C aHC! donu :;.Isk t or any easier
. way to die.
-
\1l'i\~_A.vj;?tL:'l- k~
-
ru-rk cif -Iv,;, ~1t. -
::#.., -.

G n 36. - 2
L).
This will probably be the
last I'll ever write to any-
one, because in just 90 days More 1811 be hanged by the neck
untll I 5::1 d sad , t;lutI feeLf.!.ne and am feeling botter eve,ry
f
,
day as the time grows shorter. . .

I intend to leave this world ans I have Jiyed in it. I

--expect to 'ee a re~rirht UD to l":7 hr-' . o-:;enton earth. " i1:11
"'7 '" .. , ~ r tane. !L.C.Ul'.3' ttlQ 'orJ.d ,.a.'1.d-I;l U_,"l9.tL'iJ.ncl. .. J:~
t11tf'pd to ('1',j 1- in the l"ardn,n.:..a-e:l~~r~.QX"Qr ;J]1.CGS the r-ene
ground nz, n~91",/bAn I ~M st;'ljldlng._~!L.t'1o.-licaffoldl I alvmys
din 4.J~nt to 8rit in Pt cO.PIJer s ~~ ~nd al-$..Q.J rrQ9.cher o!"' nriest.
f
~r1;lt '1111 '--0 all t-i-JA thanks they'll r::;j(, from me. I dont kUQ\V
which I disl,ise ond detent the Most, a cor>ner or " buck .J
~css the scul-sQve t~kGS the r-qlm. I h~vc met only one nriost
th3. 6 t I ,.. , 1 P ~C' :J..t I nave kno'.vn Quite Q nUi,1':JeLof
c ocoer s I ccu1Q, did .q.n~ s t Ll L do respect. "{ou t:!.T'Cone of' th~!;1.
I neve' hn.ve 1 ikd 2.""'7 "'.. t: 'h........... 'h.~. - .,.... t t C':'11 \-ihcn they
have eserved it - and soMe do - not nnnv, but SOMO anYNay.

I ~o l sue ~ " art t suicide toni~hti then

this \"7illsure be the l'lst I'll ever s,,-yor "rite on this ec,rtn.

The choice is mine and r fUlly realize just what r am

doing,

VlOU]d like to have it knov e, q do th s

had no cnoico ". au n"" . t. - Vlorld "nd near Lvall of :r!f
&.9.llt how
;m--"',,rs a n it I have had very...J,..;lt;J;.;l,e.Lossyand-do ....
snouro live Mv life. People h~vQ driven ne-rntocr6In~ e~ery~
hlrg I h~v~~YSF d~~,-~ow the ti~e has come when I refuse to
"!je-d"F'i':en9.ny farth',r . '.. ..- = -,
~Tonight I die and tOi;Q~rOW I go to a grave f'lrther
~than that no ~qn.can d~ive ~e I,am sure 5t~2-~O leave ~l
or lcl al1~..l.;1[JQJJJ!::t~~/..ll.ao_1.::rn..t.bj s. '>,of 10 L .t; of ~u,..
10us"!j~,-:
""f ,lous ~colJle in this world I be lieve that I 9.:'1 t'lClousiest
of 'e? ~,JJ I
 Lonve n-vor-t n , KflnS"lS I

2Z, rd ~ J.9.30
~.in~r

Society for t ho :\bclishnent of

Cn"it~l PU';iclnent,
HaticrlQJ r~c~:tdli.l~rtcl"'s,
Via!1~ingt~:n, , c.

I, C':'~r] :)anzr1.I:1. ~70.31011, of' t.:le u , s , I'cntmntit~ry at

Lcnven"c,rth, i:~n[;~iS, a;J 'i,'"rlt1n8 thi8 n t a t cnc nt. of ::ly ov.n IT.ill \'lith-
out any cdv I c c or sUGgc8tions fron anyone.

In t:l:) :lcBor 1028 at '. ashintSton ~ D. C., I ';ins chnrf,ed :rith

and tried for t'w cr-Lrtcs of hur[lrlr7 and grand larceny. ;\It'lOU;::h I
W'18 L'li1ty of "oth of those cri":.:;s, I c t o cd t.r-Lu L and pIG,'dcd not
guilty, but t ho jury found no ,;u11t7 on ho t.h C;L'.I'i\eS -md the ,Junge
at once ce nt enc cd 1'10 to t':o t er-m or 25 yC!U's.

For this cr-Lme I ';12C indicted b-' a U. ~. Gr~nd JU~7 ~nd

on .:,-rri}_~ "!.3t~) ".~1d lSt:l I -:;:1.5 tried in the U. ~~. Court nt 'l'o~Gk,,-,
Kan,,'cs .l"lis court was callod and s-rt, under- the jurisdictior. of'
Judge llop~cins.

The f'lndings of' the Cour-t; a nd the o c nt e nc o of the JUGse

nect Tith :3y npr-rovnl qnd I 2.~ perfectly snti['fi~d to h:::tvc the
sentence c ar-r-Le d ou t \::ithout nnv further intorference :f1:~OQ rmvone ,

I
I
I do not ";i~h to
h-ive another
s c nt.e nc e cha nge d in ar.y ':I:'1y.
trinl,.nd I do not ..t sh to h01;'e"thqt
'"

! Ii I a-i r:l":en ono t.ncr- t r-La l. or if the death s cn t c nc s

I should
or an
be c""nutcd life - to
i'''';criGcn'''lent eit10cr in8
ins~ne~~ylun,it ~ill be n~~inst \y will.
pentcnti3ry

\ letter.
No,", the1) I co:o!e to the reClson Why I ha.ve written this

\ ~....u. iv'-','4JA~VjJ-:
 I hnve hGr'n Lnf'or-rrcd t""t yaur o r g-m Lz at j o n , or at a n-: pate
SOT:'e of the ::2!"l~r:r3 of it, h-i vo ':.nd~"1
... or Rre .,.,!kin~ an flt~,~"I!)t t-:)
churige "7 ro nt onco to J.lfe irl;,pl"onrlent in salit2r:r c onr t ncr-errt in
\i 9. prison I' in an Lns ane a s y Lum ,

T"11R yau are d oLng witholJt my consent and ab s o Lc t.e Ly flGo.lnst

II
,
---~ ....--.------- .- --- .---- ... - .......... ~....,.",.---...-....-------.-- ..... ~" ~. -:'-"'" . , v

L-AlJEJ,l "noy,00.="fI.!
!.!!..~$"_.dc.ne_J:..Q:r_ '-'0 _
.t:.?...12 r~:e
11,:I,~gJ:r".f:~l!t" lall,.~'ll;r,,,PC;;:2.!!.::~"C.l~

,-'ar your Lnf or-mnt Lon and guid'.Jnoe, I I1n gaing to Lnr'orrn
you of s o-:o fact" wht ch I boliove you ar-o unawar-e of at this tine.

~oc1et:r for the Abolisf'J..rien t of

Cup t t o.L ~un i s re-io nt ,
~a~fun5tcn, D. C.

'/ I believe t hn t yaur r-en scns far trying to set asido

f the s e rrt e nc e of' d on t h in ny C~8e 3"'8 t ha t you t n Lnk t ria t this
1. -,~~r~1~Y if,_:c;.;~... of' "~l~t;~~:._
:~~.l:;~~nC:t;~l:; Iou ::lrc -3~-::1"'~_~~~:-c~_
11 ~l'v_ ie fi t '-.JJ~C
~-':'I, .11: ...... .J. . .l.111_J~mro~..I. jJi ..n1~S_~1...,~t ____

--.T:'lt!i..er ()~~.~ ('f +r()~lr rc~r: ..~) j ':' ,-.. .,!~.t-_~;:.).~~_bt:J.):::'.i;:~~

ur-dcr-
h:L" ~ "'1'"'";.-'.'.UClOD
:-~.~ tent I"'c.1 i"",'1;'w end th",r('fc"~~:;""I1.O,t.r,Gf:~',r::i:-:le
2C.'".&:~::-__':;-"_"""""""-----'''_''''''----'''''''''''''''-.o: .a.-.......... ~ ~ .... _... - - .
fJ .J'------
_"''''
__ ............. ..c. - "- -.....
-c __ ...-
 ----------------------------------------------

nb s t o i r-c r , I h-ivo n-ver- h'".d nn:; c1i~"";'i:"'O of '"ln~ 1:1nd ,';!",j_~h j"lould
have .', t end cnc-r to w o akcn ~ C1y inccllQct. I ,,,we neVCT' b c cn "U-
d l c t ed :;0 "n7 hee'its of ce:'-7'J.8.1e7:C,""~08 of uny kind over wht.ch I
didn't 11.ve c ompLc t e control of myso Lf",

So far '1 s I lmow , none of c',y r-o Lnt Ivo n or e nco s t.or-s hrvo

I over been Ln 'tny lcLnd of ..n Lnc t Lt u t Lcn for rccn t a I "cfcctives.

~:lt I h"'V0 ~!')gnt ~;~ "7ears of 7:'7 lifo ti-'e in v-rr-Lous

in~tTI10Ion~--:--:-------'---' _.' -,.~------.......-..,
------_.-
penal

llin
_I "tnl'tcd ctol~~ t'."'8 r.hcn I y''S 11 ;:o::1rs old "Tid h,,-v:e,
been d oinl'=': -:''1~t-rel.'T n21:~=--.::'...L~l~ !;T:ce--t-:,~~ ..~t-t1:::e......I_
. ::'"',y;;YiT".. "'.........
.., in .J '! 11 I h,:,.xo s~8ntcTI~n~tt-i~~-- c~~t-or
Getting
in ngnin __
.- . Du~inp: this tir.:e I h<"'~vcbc-:n into cvevv k Lr.d of ~ pe nn I
instltn'T3n"~?l<5fe lS In t~1iscoun5'y '(11-...1 30L~'-'-in--oLL.l..,l c::r'Lnitries.
 ..-
...-' z
'-ocict..,. for t uo :,bolisle,ant
Cnpit ..r I :'-':1!::::h:-:lcnt,
of. ---_ ..... ~ ~;"-. ---,,~,-
",':nshington. D. G.

t ho
'l ;.".rlo\"ii71~ r o I
n ~!:tctn

arid alSO. l'no"jn~ t.h rt tnrr o in only eric cn-mco i.n'l

ever ~ettin0 nj fr:""'f'dnn pod also
8.S I do

!-:r:c,'!i~g t.~l~t
t Lc-i I ~':~pcrlc:ncc,
frc~:1 j.r-u

th'n~,n.l~d co''''y
.1, ] 11-:0 .~J.l. r+,:.lis:r
c

t ;:"f'n
~
".' ... ~c:-;;.e
~~._';_. ,:""":il':-t
c!1l..c."
~_ (~:t-:;'" eli .....__~"_,,,,....
. ~-...~_.:r...:>l-" I h'~\'c ,,.__ deJi1;:r~tel~.r
.~ '~""W ,_".
.",:...
d ir~tor.Licn~ ..11y :,~:,:je
.... ...... ". _ '_ ... ~._ _~._.~. __ ~.~c ,"_'

III/

p-z 'Mf f-<0f \Ni~\{t ~ta 0-.~ ~/;AP'(1

0~1rwtk0
<,
-',
 My m.otto is: "Rob 'em all, rape "e rn all and kill "e rn all.
I am,

Very truly yours,

(Signed)

Copper John 11
Carl Panzram
No. 31614, Box 7
Leavenworth, Kansas