From My Grand-Dads Memoir. He also spent a lot of time in jail before FDR appointed him to the Census and got to know all the big criminals from Capone to Leopold to J Edger Hoover (and we got letters to prove it). He was also a C2V2. The Kite By Courtlandt Churchill Van Vechten It was a perfectly ordinary stiff. Mr. Van: Can I talk to you, Please. Thank you. Ashley B1455. We were between board hearings so I was not rushed. I had him brought over the next day. A nice looking boy, 19, small town type, a bit pale but that was not unusual in prison. His number told me he had been in only four or five months. Still a fish so it was early to be worrying about parole. He would not be eligible till the end of a year. What can I do for you? I want you to write a letter for me. This was unusual. Why not write it yourself? Some of the guys in the library will help if you need it. I dont want anybody else in on it. I need you to write it and.... You mean you dont want it to go thru censorship. I worked in the prison but for the Parole Board. One reason I could get the information I needed was that I never wrote tickets; I didnt violate prison rules either. I was irked. I dont fly kites. I dont appreciate being asked to. This is different. Yeah! How? I want you to write it after I am dead. The voice showed patience with my resentment, nothing else. You expecting to die soon. Yes. Tell me about it. Well, you know lots of people came to Southern Illinois from Kentucky. And A lot of em brought their feuding with em. I t was like that with my great grand-pap and old man Mc Hugh. Aint much shooting no more but the fussing in goes on. Well, the Man saw me in line and he recognized me. He made a remark about my mother and I resented it. So he put me on six gallery. The Man, of course was a deputy warden J.K. Mc Hugh who was responsible for discipline. He was fairly new at the time. We did not know too much about him other than that he had what it took to rate the second best political job in the place. That, in 1933, meant he could swing quite a few votes. The penalty seemed mild enough. Well? They kept me on f the fish gallery (ground floor) because Im taking digitalis three times a day. Ive had two heart deconpensations. The next one will kill me. Those stairs, if I dont go up and down I dont eat. If I do theyll kill me. The Man knows it, thats why he put me up there. He told me so. What do you expect me to do about it. Nothing. You try to go to bat for me and all that happens is they hang a frame on you. Guys say you are pretty right. Next guy probably wouldnt be. No sense getting you jammed up trying to help me. I havent got much time anyhow. He knew the score. Evidently his friends were well informed ones. I had seen frames. What about the letter? Want you to write my girl. Want her to know i really love her. Course I was laying her; she needs to know it wasnt just for that. But thats only half of it. She thinks she really loves me. I dont want her carrying no torch. I want to cut her lose so she can love some decent guy wholl marry her, treat her right, give her a good life. Shes got to understand Id never have been any good for her, that shes better off with me out of the picture. Sooner she forgets the better. I did not cross examine him. I made it a practice to believe what inmates told me but never to act as though it were so without verifying. And no promises. How long you think youre good for? A week, maybe. He lived three days. It took me all the following day to write the only inmate message I ever kited out of prison. Odd too, for it was a short letter, less than a page. Heres some of his publications. He helped transform Americas philosophy on prison culture scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2938&context=cclc scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3044&context=jclc abebooks/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=214096196&searchurl=an%3DVAN+VECHTEN%2C+COURTLANDT+CHURCHILL
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:35:48 +0000
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