| Show I I I I Fre Free Fre Prisoners Sing While at Work On Pat Neffs Neff's s Honor Farm Fann in Texas Texas'S b S 'S A I p S S 3 i S p 4 5 4 M Sl t lit qc S' S S S S Would you suspect any of these happy fellows were long They all are But they're no longer longerA behind the bars They are on on their own nov on Texas Texas' first honor farm S. S f 4 4 c 5 fi C tt w ry t ut 1 I ff 4 S A S 4 5 iy 4 5 S S. S 5 S S S 'S S S 7 c 1 j jJ I J a A group of convicts without guards harvesting corn on the Pat Neff farm By BURTON DAVIS I N NEA EA Service Writer I I IPAT PAT NEFF HONOR FARM Sugar Island Texas Oct 18 They're r heyre on their honor now The guards and hounds houndt are gone The b bats ts are down The doors stand open all the time On One hundred and fifty convicts here on Texas' Texas first filst honor farm are on their theil own today And knowing what the old ld prison hell hen was like they are willingly working bUsters blisters on their hands to keep from going back Texas in the past has borne the unsavory reputation of having one of the most brutal penal systems In the countrY Beating of oJ refractory prisoners was permitted by the prison board Discharged convicts accuse the guards of ot pickling leather straps In oil then rubbing them in sharp sand before using them on the prisoners' prisoners bare backs Men have havo sneaked out bloody undergarments undergarments undergarments un un- un- un and filed flied affidavits to support these charges harges Echoes of these charges have come from a dozen prison camps over c cast st and southeast Texas The prison board always s 's has ha denied them But now there are alE fewer refractory refractory refractory re prisoners rs EVery n ni man n Is trying to get a berth on the honor f farm rm S It was a R dramatic sight the tho morning Pat Neff Nett un unlocked unlocked unlocked un- un locked the barred door ot of the barracks barracks barracks bar bar- racks here and threW away aWa the key as the crowd assembled on the banks banis of ot the Brazos river clapped capped and hurrahed As each man filed flied out into the sunlight the governor shook hands hand with hint hini and spoke a word of en encouragement en- en S Mrs J. J E E. King of San Antonio chairman of the prison advisory board to whom the new Is largely due stood by the governor governer Then th the eight prison guards mounted mount d and nd armed booted nn and spurred and perhaps a bit contemptuouS contemptuous contemptuous con con- of ot this new idea rode up Came then the blod curdling bay of the bloodhounds and the pack In leash tugged u uThe Up The executive t to the guards S Mert he lie told them you are arc no longer er needed hero here The governor was given a gold fountain pen So was Mother King The men had bought them with their few hoarded c Robert Miller an ziP overseas veteran veteran vet vet- et eran nearing the end of a year six-year sentence made the presentation We hope you OU will vill wear out this pen signing pardons for the convict convict con con- vict of of Texas he said Neff Nett has been known as the antl anti p pardon goV governor Ills His predecessor had leaned so far the other way as asto asto asto to be criticised sed for freeing treeing too many men It is not his custom to make malte promises or predictions prediction But he as assured the men that If It I 1 can I shall make this honor farm the approach to pard pardon n. n The governor grinned l delightedly when an old negro prisoner san sans sang a song of ot his own Invention to the strumming of ot his guitar He had been in prison pilson since 1 93 The superintendent has not had time time to take down the grating off oft the barracks windows But nut the honor prisoners grin and and say We left litt it there to to keep the b burglars out S S So Sf far th experiment nt has hns heen heery a t success suc I a. a Work Vork has been done faster and more thoroughly th than thaI j E 1 S I ever before according to Captain I I superintendent W W. W C. C McCleary ly and J J. R R. R fo Joyner ner over overseers uvel l'- l' I seers seers 4 t c i |
