1956

In this episode, Jim Chapman breaks down several interesting stories from a 1956 edition of the popular prison magazine "The Angolite".

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
H a wall street line, shackle change, Oh weesome, Girdie,

(00:25):
it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's
been a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Come here be by me to die.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hadn't went no girl as I'm hey everyone, and welcome

(01:31):
back to Bloody Angola, A podcast one and forty two
years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest
present Jim Chapman. And look, every now and then I
come across some historic Nglight prison issued magazine. I've been
told in the past a lot of you like to hear,

(01:51):
especially the historic editions of the Ingolight, some of the
interesting stories. And today I'm going to bring you some
from nineteen fifty six. I'm gonna call this episode the
Hunt Feverbug, and you're gonna know why when I tell
you this first story again, this is from nineteen fifty six.

(02:12):
It's The Gollight August eleventh, to be specific. In this
first article in that Angolelight says the Louisiana State Department
of Health has been taking bile specimens in Before I
go any further, I need to mention remember the time
frame here nineteen fifty six. This was written by inmates,

(02:34):
and this is how they spoke. And I'll move on
taking bile specimens from all Negro convicts to determine whether
any of these and golans is a carrier of the
typhoid Bacillas, the bug that causes all the trouble. This
wholesome sleuthing of color boys insides began late last month

(02:58):
when a few quote freakish cases of fever appeared. The
patients would come in with one hundred and four point
five degree fevers, they break out overnight, and they'd recurred
just as rapidly. So Doctor Polite that's the name, apparently
concluded it might be typhoid, but he did not specifically

(03:18):
diagnose the illness as such. This must be done in
a laboratory, Doctor Nordi, the State Department of Public Health
Specialists is making the test in New Orleans. To date,
the three walnuts have been cracked and checked, but nothing
has been found. All of the men tested have been

(03:40):
cooperative in trying to learn whether any of them is
a carrier of the bug. After the bile specimens had
been collected at the dormitories, they are taken to the
public Health labs in New Orleans by doctor Martin for analysis.
And look, this is a time in history in prison.
I mean, I would imagine that hygiene wasn't on the

(04:01):
top of anyone's list, and they had all kinds of bugs, etc.
Breakthrough all prisons at that point. But the hunt feverbug
just starting to surface at Angola on August eleventh of
nineteen fifty six, when this was written in another article.
It's titled Angola's Informal hot Seat, and it reads someone

(04:25):
just no one at the Angolite neither knows nor cares,
was almost burned to a cinder one day last week.
It seems that this worker, presumably was doing a little work,
digging under a steel plate that separates the medium from
the trusty he compounds, which is located beneath the walkway,
directly below the snitch box at the medium security gate.

(04:49):
He quit in a hurry when a bolt of sizzling
lightning momentarily blinded him and luckily did not fry his hide.
The way they write, his shovel had cut through one
of the nine cables, each of which is alive with
twenty three thousand vaults of crackling death. The soil around

(05:12):
the cable was burned to charcoal, and if the lucky
bum had come into contact with that current in that cable,
they'd have buried him right where they found him. Another article,
dumbbell opens Pasoy's scalp virile Pasoy, who was removed from
the cell block to the hospital August eighth with a
head wound which he claimed to have suffered when a

(05:34):
weight he was lifting fell on his nogging. Hospital records
showed that he is getting along very nicely despite the
fifteen to eighteen sutures required to close the clean type wound.
Short article there, and you better believe in all likelihood.
I don't have any evidence to point to whether visus

(05:55):
fact or not, but I would question the fact that
he dropped the weight on himself. He probably just said
that somebody probably popped him with the dumbbell upside his
head and he ended up with eighteen stitches. And y'all,
this is legit shit. None of this is made up.
This is life in Angola during this time. Another article,

(06:15):
anonymous lawyer mail leaves Monday letters addressed to the anonymous
attorney in care of the in Goalit will be mailed
to him Monday morning. So if any of you have
legal problems, not a petty gripe of general interest, give
it to either of the two in goalite slaves and
he will see that it is included in the outgoing packet.

(06:38):
But remember Sunday is the deadline. And interestingly enough, right
below that it has like a box that says subscribed
to the in goalit And if you're curious what it costs,
back in nineteen fifty six it was only two dollars
per year or one dollar for a six month trial subscription.

(06:59):
Another article says Angola gets TV expert. Local TV nuts
need no longer fear for long TV repairs should anything
go wrong with any of the dormitory sets. For Glenn McCauley,
a radio TV repairman, recently committed to the Gola, he
has been assigned to work with the Reverend Gaddy in

(07:21):
the control center radio room. So they were excited already
that in Goola somebody that got sentenced and was spending
time at Angola during this time was a repairman when
he was out on the loose. And how about this
one three run all caught three men working in the
cell block farm line tried their luck at dodging bullets

(07:44):
Wednesday afternoon at wasn't thirty pm. In an attempt to escape,
Alvin Clinton and David Puckett were stopped by a guard
in the guardline, as Jerry Anderson was able to get
off the farm but was caught near Fort Adams on Thursday.
All three men have been placed in isolation, which back

(08:04):
in those days, y'all isolation was no joke. Ronnie Bray
was reported to have left one of the medium security
farm lines Thursday morning and was unreported as of this
press time. Then there's one that references certificates gift certificates.
One gift certificate peran will be allowed in the future,

(08:26):
and men in isolation are advised not to get those certificates.
In an advisory release this week quote men in isolation
who have visits and get gift certificates do so at
their own rests, stated mister L. G. Knox, who is
Chief administrative Officer. It was explained that the gift certificates
are only good for five day period after purchase and

(08:48):
that if a man should remain in isolation in this
period expire, the inmate will not be granted or refund,
nor will the time be extended on the certificates. Mister
Knock stated that a great deal of confusion has been
encountered in this instance and advises men in isolation not
to accept gift certificates unless they are sure they will

(09:10):
be released prior to the expiration date. Not sure what
that references. It sounds like it's gifts from the outside
of the prison, but who knows. So that's just kind
of a look back at some of the articles in
that in goallight, and I want to talk for a
minute about the two escapees that are still on the run.

(09:33):
I've been telling you a lot of stories about this.
As of late, they're still out there, They're still missing,
and it's interesting the news articles have really slowed on this.
It's kind of hard to find updates and that's not
a good thing. Look, the longer these guys are out there,
the two guys that are still on the loose, the
less this is going to become an interest to the media.

(09:56):
But I caught an article that was released yesterday and
the headline alone had me like what it says. The
family of Nola escaped inmate says US marshals have been
showing up to their homes unannounced. Oh the nerve, I
mean they should call first, right, And the article reads,

(10:18):
and incidentally, this is from WDSU six, which is an
NBC affiliate, says a second New Orleans home was searched
by US marshals within less than twenty four hours as
investigators worked to close in on an escaped inmate, Derek Groves.
That's as the two remaining jail escapees had been on

(10:39):
the run for more than a month. Reporter Shall O'Connor
was live in New Orleans with an exclusive interview on
how law enforcements searched a house to see if Groves
had been in contact with his family. Family members say
they do not want the visits to escalate. They said
they don't know where Groves is. They also describe what
happened after hearing law enforcement knocking on the door Tuesday morning.

(11:04):
Jasmine Groves, the aunt of Derrick Groves, said it was
like twelve cars marshalls out with their guns. Groves took
video showing the large police presence around the home where
she and her children were staying and said, quote, I
tell them that babies are in the house. One had
a shield and went to go in. US Marshall said

(11:24):
they searched for home with permission and did not make
any arrest, and Groves went on to say, I don't
know where he's at. Haven't spoken with him. Who would
I contact. Convicted killer Derrick Groves and Ntoine Massey remain
on the loose, and groves family believes he was wrongly convicted.
For the most part, Groves has been largely unspotted since

(11:45):
the May sixteenth escape. US Marshall said they went into
the home to reinterview a close acquaintance of Groves. The
day before. A woman who lives in a home where
Jasmine Groves used to live, said US marshals also paid
her Rowe a visit. Brian with the US Marshall's office said,
I am not saying the people today were not honest.

(12:07):
They were actually, but we have had issues in the
past where people have blatantly lied to us and a
person was in a residence or nearby. Marshall said they
brought a large police presence in the event they found Groves.
Groves aunt said he hasn't tried to contact me. Obviously,
y'all would know. I'm asking what is the relevance I

(12:27):
know my rights. Groves is the daughter of Kim Groves.
Kim was shot and killed in nineteen ninety four. The
hit was ordered by a corrupt NOPD officer by the
name of Lynn Davis, after Kim witnessed him beating a
young person in her neighborhood. Kim had been claiming Jasmine's
thirteenth birthday. Derrick Groves, kim groves grandson, was convicted of

(12:50):
murder last October after four trials, one resulted in a mistrial,
another in a deadlock. Groves and Massy will remain on
the loose, and there's a fifty one thousand dollars reward
for information on each inmate. If you know anything that
could lead to an arrest, called crime Stoppers eight two
to two, one one one one. So at this point, y'all,

(13:13):
they have arrested just a ton of people for aiding
and a betting, but they cannot seem to track down
either Antoine Massey or Dery Groves. And again, the longer
they're on the run, better chance they have to get
away with this, quite honestly, And just a short one today,
Thank you so much listening. We'll be back next week

(13:34):
with more and until next time. For Bloody and Gola,
a podcast one hundred and forty two years in the making,
the complete story of America's bloodies present peace, a.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Wall Street line, shackle, change, Oh gluesome girdie, it's calling
my name. There is no mercy and it's been a
tentery juice as the hill stream game. Wrangle three, I'm here, be.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
By, here to die.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
And when the girl, as I know, it's a

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Bloody anglebody old