Show Doomed Mans Man's Autobiography Utah Slayer Awaiting Firing Squad Pens Pen Story tory to Deter Crime Murderer Traces Events Which Led Him to Death Row Blames Society for Inability to Go Straight Watching the hours roll by bringing him inevitably nearer death before a firing squad d Walter Robert Av Avery ry has occupied himself in death row at the state prison by writing an an autobiography he hopes will serve as a deterrent to o youth having t I any ideas about a glamorous life of crime Personally wh while le I do not look upon death as anything pleasant neither do I 1 look upon it as Unpleasant unpleasant unpleasant un un- pleasant pleasant- Avery wrote in a 10 page doc document ment Death to me is s simply the cashing in of the stack of chips all alt o of us receive at birth and while I have lost heavily in inthe inthe inthe the same game of life I Intend to face the cashier as a good loser Avery is to face a firing squad at the prison at daybreak Friday to atone for the murder of Hoyt L. L Gates Ogden policeman during a up hold-up in Ogden Chips Not Always Equal Each of us has this pile of chips to start life with although the piles are not always equal on the first deal However some make better use of their chips than I Idid Idid Idid did and come out winner he wrote I have played my cards as I found them and I have found my luck to run in streaks At t times I have been far ahead of the game Avery wrote while on other occasions like this time I have been up against it However win or lose I have tried to keep sincere with myself At first when I hit a streak of tough going I tried cheating and this pulled me out of several scrapes This became a regular stock in trade with me in my game of life but finally I 1 reached the place where where all my mark marked d cards cards' were ir r my my tricks rickS w were re diS ov i red d id lh gam gani was practically Uy over over fd me me Th ts t's where I find myself this afternoon as I wait the last few hands which I shall be allowed to play in the game Every time before I have had an ace in the hole to give me me a chance to bluff but this time Ive I've been called and Im I'm going to ta shove in the rest of my chips with a smile The autobiography almost 10 pages of spaced single-spaced typewritten ten copy traces the history of the condemned slayer from January 29 1940 the day he was released from Leavenworth federal prison until his conviction for the fatal shooting February 11 1941 of Detective Gates in the futile attempt attempt attempt at at- tempt to rob an Ogden store to gain money to purchase dope Society Largely Blamed Although not beefing at at the bum deals handed him by fate Avery does contend that society itself is largely to blame for the inability of cons to go straight after serving time Avery explained graphically his plans for a new life with his wife on the west coast after he had completed his L Lea Leavenworth e a v e n w o 0 r t Ii h hitch and the impossibility of getting a jobI jobI jobI job I have talked with many thieves all convicts ex-convicts and while some of them have had different ways of expressing themselves they were all aU of the same opinIon opinion opinion ion that crime crize does not pay I dont don't see how any man who has been a thief for 15 or 20 years and has been released released from prison two or three times could express himself any oth other r way because he has learned from his own ex- ex Continued on Page Five Column Three Doomed Pens Story Declaring Crime Doesn't t Pay Continued from Page One that a 8 life of crime can never pay Averys Avery's writing continues Upon my arrival in San Francisco Francisco Francisco Fran Fran- cisco it did not take me long to become discouraged because as I applied d. d h here e and d dt t tl there re f for r. r any kind of ot work work Iwas I was flatly refused and firmly told they couldn't use a man with a prison record So I looked around the city and soon located some of my old pals and I was stealing for formy my living again even before I had had been on the streets long enough to know mow I was living in an apartment apartment apartment apart apart- ment instead of a cell Avery carries the thread of his experiences to the day he checked in with his wife at a Salt Lake hotel In a few days days' we owed awed a hotel bill of almost 50 and I 1 knew I had to do something quick his manuscript continues However there had been so many robberies in Salt Lake City during the preceding preceding pre preceding pre pre- ceding two weeks that I 1 used to wonder if it the G ex-G man who was chief of police ever got any sleep leep I knew if a fellow with my prison record ever got nailed in this town he would ride the beef for every unsolved robbery in the state But to make things worse every time I r went out to case ajob a ajob ajob job I could see more policemen than dollars Discusses Capital Punishment Averys Avery's slant on the robbery is portrayed in great detail and he concludes with a of the merits of capital punishment as a crime irime preventive As we stood with only the bars separating us In the death row at the state prison Wednesday Avery continually reverted to sports lingo to express express' himself Your You know he said shaking ever so slightly as he a dead cigar igar stub this death business s is funny I used sed to be afar a fajr far softball pitcher in my day and there have been several games Id I'd given n my life to have won so so this Isn't so so bad It may sound strange to compare compare compare com com- pare losing a softball game to losing osing on ones one's s 's life Hie but J that's ats at's the way I have always played I have fought and battled for everything everything every- every thing Jiing in life and Ive I've taken my losses with my winnings As far as the morning of the fatal fifth of February is is' concerned concerned concerned con con- Avery only smiles thinly and says I could brag Drag that at Im I'm not frightened but that wouldn't be sincere I want to live as much as anyone else and I have tried everything I. I know legally to save my life However w when n the thelme time comes I shall walk up to the cashier and toss toss' toss toss' my chips on the table with a smile I shall die as I have lived lived lived-a a good loser And nd Walter R. R Avery his in index index index in- in dex and middle midale fingers fingers' stained a nut brown from incessant contact contact contact con con- tact with nicotine handed his manuscript through the bars of the death house sno shook k hands I II T smiled tightly and wand wandered red back into his cell I |