xt7s7h1dnw67 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7s7h1dnw67/data/mets.xml  Kentucky  1963 newsletters  English Eddyville, Ky.: Kentucky State Penitentiary  This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Physical rights are retained by the owning repository. Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Please go to https://exploreuk.uky.edu for more information. Castle on the Cumberland Kentucky State Penitentiary -- Periodicals Journalism, Prison -- Kentucky Castle on the Cumberland, March 1963 text Kentucky State Penitentiary v.: ill. 28 cm. Call Numbers HV8301 .C37 and 17-C817 20:C279 Castle on the Cumberland, March 1963 1963 1963 2021 true xt7s7h1dnw67 section xt7s7h1dnw67  

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MARCH 15, 1963
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Volume II, Number IX . March 15, 1065,

 

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

ADMINIQTBATION

 

The Honorable Bert T. Combs, Governor
Wilson W. Wyatt, It. Governor

Marshall Swain, Acting Commissioner Dr. Harold Black, Director, Division
_ Department of Corrections of Institutions, Depart. of Corr.

W. Z. Carter, Director of Education
Department of Corrections

PRISON ADMINISTRATION

 

Luther Thomas, warden Lloyd T. Armstrong, Deputy warden
Kathlyn Ordway, Business Manager W} T. Baxter, Captain of the Guards
Reverend Paul Jaggers, Chaplain
Henry E. Cowan, Educational Supervisor
William Egbert, Vocational Instructor
BOARD OF PARDONS & PAROIES
Dr. Fred Moffatt, EXeoutive Director waiter Ferguson, Board Chairman

Simeon'Willis, Member , Ernest Thompson, Manber

eAs'rm STAFF

«.wuw—u—un

Lawrence Snow, Editor Leonard Rule, Associate Editor

John Busby, Lithographer

 

 

The CASTEE ON THE CUMBERLAND is published monthly by the inmates of the Kentucky
State Penitentiary at Eddyville. Subscriptions, one dollar a year, payable by
money order ate CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND, Box 128, Eddyville, Kentucky; and by
inmates at the Chief Clerk’s Officeo Articles are solicited, but the CASTLE rem
serves the right to reject, edit or revise any material submitted. Opinions ex»
pressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the administration.
Permission is hereby granted to reproduce any part of this magazine, provided
proper credit is given to author and source° A marked copy of the quoting pub=
lication will be appreciated.

 

 

 

  

 

Gflfi FEE [JEEYO

 

GOVERNOR COMES VISITS PENITENTIARY

 

Governor Bert Combs came to prison last
month, accompanied by newsman and welm
fare Department officials. The visit
was part of his program to improve the
state's correctional facilities, and
followed his recent visit to the WOmenls
Reformatory at Pewee Valleyo

While he was here, Governor Combs came
inside to look over the compound and
take part in groundebreaking ceremonies
for the prisonls new educational build«
ing. Smiling and youthful appearing,
the Governor joined warden Luther
Thomas, Deputy warden Lloyd Armstrong,
Architect Lawrence Casner and other
officials in wielding shovels for the
ceremonies while still and movie pic“
tures were made by the newsmeno

Combs spoke at some length to area
journalists on two of the Kentucky penal
system's most urgent needs as increased
housing facilities to relieve pressure
on the overcrowded prisons, and the
development of neW'parole philosophies.

Complimenting the parole board on the
job they are doing, Governor Combs said
he hoped the increased emphasis on edu»
cation throughout the system would eXm
pedite paroles for deserving offenders.

"I'm sure the more education a prisoner
receives in prison," news releases quote
him as saying, "the better he will be
prepared for paroleo"

He said he did not believe more maximums
security facilities are needed in Ken=
tucky. Instead, the Governor spoke of
the need for dormitory type facilities
"out where the prisoners can work."

This would probably include more prison
camps of Ithe type recently established
for LaGrange Reformatory inmates, and a
dormitory facility for prisoners on this
institution's farm, which he mentioned
specifically.

Page 1

GOVERNOR NAMES CORRECTIONS "TASK FORCE"

 

last month put into
operation an llaman "Task Force on
Corrections" whose purpose is to find
better ways to rehabilitate prisoners.
Leading the committee are M. R. Miles,
Commonwealth Attorney for Hopkins Coun-
ty, and James Patton, assistant superin-
tendent of public instruction.

Governor Bert Combs

According to an AP news release,
Governor Combs said it is his hope "that
this Task Force can serve a crucial need
in assisting in the development of new
program directions for reclaiming the
social offender for a productive and
respected station in his community."

Overcrowded conditions in the State's
penal institutiors are a target of the
group, as is stepped—up processing of
prisoners found deserving of parole.

Combs said he wants quick action and
recommendations that can be carried out
before his present term expires.

The other members of the panel include a
judge, two professors «a one of law,
the other of sociology ~- a state hospi-
tal superintendent, an attorney, a busi-
nessman, and churchmen.

CONDEMNED INMATE PLEDGES EYES TO LIONS

 

James wedding, a prisoner under sentence
of death, pledged his eyes to the Lions
Eye Bank in Louisville, Kentucky re-

centlyO He was the 56th pledges from
the Kentucky State Penitentiary.
Another condemned inmate, John Brown,
was the first. Brown's sentence has

since been reduced to life imprisonment.

The Lions Eye Bank accepts pledges frun
persons who want to "will" their eyes at
death to be used in medical research or

to restore sight to -the blind. Thus
far, the bank has made more than 100
successful cornea transplants in

Kentucky and Indiana.

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

 

 

  

 

SATURDAY REVIEW TELLS PENAL PRESS STORY

 

Penal press publications, of which this
magazine is one, will be the subject of
a forthcoming article by James F. Fixx,
feature editor of SATURDAY REVIEW maga-
zine. The article, according to a
letter to the CASTLE from Editor Fixx,
will be published about the time this
magazine is in the mail, probably in the
March 9 issue of SATURDAY REVIEW.

The article has been in the planning
stages for some months. The CASTLE was
privileged to be among the prison publi-
cations contributing information for the
piece.

0f the approximately 300 penal institu-
tions across the nation, most have
inmate publications which range from
tiny duplicatorwprinted newsheets to
typewritten magazines reproduced on
officeasize offset presses, such as the
CASTLE, to slickapaper publications pro—
duced in color and with lavish' use of
photography in highly modern prison
printing shops. Many are in newspaper
format, and most have some outside cir-
culation. An exchange system among
penal publications provides some degree
of unity and permits a limited flow of
ideas and information.

CASTLEVS LITHOGRAPHER LEAVES ON PAROLE

partutime Multilith
CASTLE ON THE CUMBER-
LAND and fullmtime secretary to Deputy
warden Lloyd Armstrong, left on parole
this month. He plans to take vocational
training in Nashville, Tennessee.

Stanley Brawner,
operator for the

Brawner was committed to the prison with
a life sentence some four years ago,
but became eligible for parole when his
sentence was reduced to ten years by
executive clemency. Leaving late last
month was Roy Teague, his partner, who
will go to Clarksville, Tennessee to
take a job in a garage. John Busby will
take over Stanley's duties in the Deputy
warden's office.

DEPUTY WARDEN ARMSTRONG SUFFERS ATTACK

 

The Deputy Warden's Page, normally ap-
pearing on Page 1 of the CASTLE, will
not be seen this month due to the ill?

ness of Deputy warden Lloyd Armstrong.

Mr. Armstrong was stricken with a slight
heart attack last month. Treated in a
Paducah hospital, he is now resting at
home. He will return to the prison to
resume his duties in a few days.

The CASTLE staff extends best wishes for
a speedy recovery to Mr. Armstrong.

IOWA GOVERNOR WANTS DEATH PENALTY BAN

 

Harold E. Hughes, newly elected Governor
of Iowa, asked for the repeal of the
death penalty in his state during his
inauguration address. On the same day,
a bill seeking to abolish capital pun-

ishment was introduced in the state
senate.

"The hanging of a human being," said
Hughes, "inflicts severe Spiritual dam~

age upon all the citizens of our state."
He added that statistics indicate that
capital punishment has failed to deter
crime.

The bill to abolish the death penalty,
introduced that day, calls for a prison
term of 50 years to life for conviction
of a capital crime. According to the
PRESIDIO, the Iowa State Prison's
monthly" magazine, similar bills have
been unsuccessful in previous legislam
tures.

 

HEART ATTACK CLAIMS LIFE OF INMATE

Edward M. Jackson, 52,
month of a heart attack.

died early last

A native of Indianapolis, Indiana,
Jackson was serving a five-year sentence
from Trigg County. He had been here
approximately one year when he died. The
attack occured in one of the "shops" or
dayrooms of the prison.

 

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

Page 2

  

ELEVEN CARNEGIE INSTRUCTORS MADE KEN—
TUCKY OOLONEDS FOR WORK IN PENITENTIARY

 

The Dale Carnegie instructors and gradu-
ate assistants who donated their time
to the institution's Carnegie course
completed last month have been made Kenr
tucky Colonels for their contribution.
The awards were made during the final
session of the classo

Receiving Kentucky Colonel certificates
were: Charles Taylor, Dan Fleemore,
Charlie Larry, Don Deffendall, Jim
Lindsay, Charles Tate, Joe Prince, Dave
Scmerr, Bo W. Dasch, Gene Cook, and C.
C. Miller. The forty'graduating inmates
were presented with diplomas during the
ceremony.

Warden Luther Thomas, present for the
rites, expressed his belief that the
course was the greatest thing that has
happened in the institution, and said he
hoped another course would be started
this montho

TV SERIES FILMED IN IOWA PRISON

 

A new TV series to be called THE WARDEN
is being filmed in the state penitenti=
ary at Fort Madison, Iowa. The proposed
hour—long show, produced by Bing Crosby
Productions, centers on the efforts of
Warden Sam Morrison, a fictitious char—
acter played by Robert webber (ROUTE 66
and the DICK POWELL snow), to institute
a reform program behind walls.

The pilot fihn, which may be released
this Spring on CBS, features the story

of an Indian inmate who resents his
ancestry and becomes a disciplinary
problem in the prison. The Iowa pris—

on’s messhall, recreation yard and cell-
blocks were used as background for the
film. In addition, 211 inmates and 57
members of the custodial staff went on
the Bing Crosby Productions payroll as
participants in the filming.

For security reasons, the members of the

ordered to have a
going from place to
prison. “There were

said scriptwriter
Richard Micheals in an article he wrote
for the inmate publication, "when this
regulation seemed unnecessary because of
the friendly relationship of our company
and the inmates. No one worked with any
fear fbr his safety."

Ho llywood crew were
guard escort when
place within the

times, however,"

Another member of the production crew,
impressed by the good relations the com-
pany enjoyed with the inmates, said,
"If all prisons are similar to ISP, then
a great deal of education for the public
is necessary to correct popular be—
liefs." '

The prison was selected when directors
ordered a search for an institution that
was "above average and yet in a way

typical."

NEBRASKA CONSIDERS WORK RELEASE PLAN

 

A plan that would permit prison inmates
to work outside the walls, support their
dependents, save money toward their re-
lease, and at the same time pay for
their own keep while serving their terms
is being considered by Nebraska penal
authoritieso

The work-release plan, pioneered by
North Carolina a few years ago, would
save Nebraska taxpayers approximately
$1500 a year for each inmate partici-
pating in the program, not including
savings resulting from the discontinuing
of welfare payments to the inmate's de-
pendents, according to staff writer
Frank Moore in the MONOCLE, inmate pub-
lication of the Nebraska State Reforma-
toryo

Moore said the plan would be restricted
to inmates with trusty classifications
whose maximum terms do not exceed five
yearso Participating inmates would turn
their paychecks over to the prison,
which would deduct about $3025 a day for

 

Page 3

 

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

 

#4

  

room, board and transportation. Five
dollars a week would be returned to the
prisoner for his personal needs, and the
remainder would be divided between his
dependents and a release fund that would
give him a realistic stake when he left
the prison for freedom.

The program would have the further ad-=
vantage of providing inmates with ready—
made jobs upon their release -- since
many of them would continue to work at
the same job when their terms expired.

Reports from the few states which are
using the work-release or similar plans
at the city, county and state levels in?
dicate that employers have found most
inmate workers satisfactory in job per—
formance and, of course, above average
in attendance records. Many said they
found inmate workers to be actually more

productive, steady and reliable than
workers hired from the streets.
IN SPITE OF BIG CASE LOADS, OTHER PROB-

LEMS, PROBATION OFFICERS SAVE 80 PERCENT

 

Something like 80 per cent of all
offenders admitted to federal probation
in the southern district of Indiana stay
out of trouble, according to a news re~
lease reprinted in the PENDLETON
REFLECTOR (Indiana State Reformatory
publication). Almost as important is
the money taxpayers save when judges
sentence convicted felons to probation
rather than prison.

Harvey Hire, chief probation officer for
the district federal courts, said that
latest figures released by the Depart—
ment of Justice show it costs $1,919 a
year to maintain each prisoner in a
federal prison. In comparison, the
Justice Department indicated that each
person under federal probation costs the
government only $208 annually —= a sav—
ings of $1,711 per offender per year.

"And these persons (the probationers)
are contributing money through taxes
while also providing for the support of

their dependents," Hire went on to say.
According to one report, 177 probation—
ers in one district reported a total of
$121,2h1 in income fer a three month
period. The probationers ranged in ,
skill from common laborers to top-level
executives.

Probably more offenders could be suc—
cessfully treated through probation if
more money were available to probation

offices. "Our biggest problem is too
much work and not enough help," said
Hire. He pointed out that probation

workers consider 75 as a fair case load
for each worker. "At one point last
year, we were handling 112 cases."

COMMITTEE ON NARCOTIC ABUSE FORMED

 

President Kennedy announced recently the
appointment of a White House Commission
on Narcotic and Drug Abuse to follow up
the work of the White House Conference
on that subject last fall.

The two-day conference received wide at-
tention, with about hOO delegates,
representing all fields concerned with
the problem, in attendance.

The commission is to review the confer-
ence's findings and make the studies as
it wishes and, finally, to recommend
legislation and administrative action.

HEIST MAN USES BOUND AS RAP PARTNER

 

A Hollywood, California man was relieved
of $89 by a bizarre holdup team, accord-
ing to an Associated Press story.

James Underwood says he was approached
by a man and a dog near the Hollywood
police station. The man asked him for a
match. As Underwood complied, the man
said to the dog, "Watch him!" The dog
tensed for the attack and bared his
fangs as the heist man calmly removed
Underwood's wallet. ‘
Could it possibly have been a police
dog?

 

 

 

CASTIE ON THE CUMBERLAND

Page h

  

LIFERS AID BEREAVED COUPLE ANONYMOUSIX

 

In Detroit recently, a young mother‘s
premature baby died while she was being
moved from one hospital to another.
Shortly thereafter, she and her husband
received an anonymous contribution of
money. The only clue to the donors'
identities was that they were a group of
lifers at Southern Michigan Prison.

The life termers had taken up the col-
lection among themselves and sent it to
the couple through an intermediary.
Their letter read:

"we can only begin to imagine the amount
of inner turmoil and frustration that
must be going on inside these two young
parents today at the hand fate dealt
them. We don't want to see this young
man and woman started down the road to
bitterness and deeperation because they
feel no one cares whether they manage or
not. we care, and we don't want them to
travel down the same roads we have, be-

' cause these roads are littered with pit-
falls of eternal sadness. we' hope our
small contribution will help in some way
to get those on the outside to Open
their hearts and purses, and to realize
that no matter what our Circumstances
are, there are always others who need
our help." —- Via the OE’NEWS

TWO MORE STATES SIGN DETAINER COMPACT

 

Two more states, Michigan and Connecti-
cut, have signed the new Interstate
Compact on Detainers.

Under conditions existing in most states
today, when an inmate has a detainer
from another state (in other words, when
a state other than the one in which he
is confined has issued a warrant for his
arrest),:he must wait for his trial un-
til hisr sentence expires. Problems
arise when witnesses diSperse over long
periods of time, making a conviction or
acquital difficult, and when prisoners
are "bounced" from state to state under
the detainer system.

The Interstate
seeks to remedy this
the terms of the agreement,
confined in a Compact state

tainer from another Compact state may
request an immediate trial. If the re-
quest is not granted within 180 days,
the detainer is declared void. Similar-

Compact on Detainers
situation. Under

an inmate
with a de-

ly, the prosecutor may request that the
Ipris oner be turned

over for immediate

trial and, if the prisoner does not
fight extradition, the trial will be
held.

WISCONSIN CONS To MAKE "TALKING BOOKS"

Inmates confined in the State Reforma-
tory at Green Bay, Wisconsin, will start
recording books and artickas for the
blind soon, according to the BAY BANNER.

"Talking Books" articles, short
stories, fiction and non-fiction books
recorded on tapes or discs, are provided
free of charge for blind persons and
those whose sight is so bad they cannot
read normally.

The Wisconsin project got underway when
inmate Chuck Taylor suggested the pro-
ject to members of the BAY BANNER (in-

mate newspaper) staff. The staff mem-
bers got together with the warden and
other officials, and the project was
approved.

Space was set aside for the recorders
in the prison school’s projection room.
A call for volunteers on the inmate
radio station brought in more than
eighty names, and officials began to

look around for more recording equipment
and a more permanent studio for the in-
mate volunteers.

"Talking Books" are made in several cor-
rectional institutions in the United

States, including the Ohio Penitentiary,

where inmates helped to pioneer the pro-

gram.

/

 

Page 5

 

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

  

MRS ORDWAY LEAVES TO WED

 

"ATTENTION, KENTUCKY STATE PRISON," read
the item in the JEFFTOWN'JOURNAL, inmate
newspaper from the prison at Jefferson
City, Missouri: "For guys who are sup—
posed to be thieves, you certainly
aren't doing so well. One of our boys
came down there and stole your business
manager right out from under your
nosest"

The item referred to the forthcoming
wedding of Mrs. Kathlyn.0rdway, business
manager for the prison and secretary to
warden Thomas, to warden E. V. Nash of
the Missouri State Penitentiary. The
article is misleading, however. Actual-
ly, the attractive business manager and
the fortunate warden met at a correc-
tional conference in Louisville -— which
is out of our jurisdiction.

And who, by the way, stole whom?

However it may have been, the fact
remains that Jeff City did pull a coup
on Eddyville --- for Mrs. Ordway, em-
ployed here for 15 years, has since left
for the Missouri institution where she
will make her home on the prison resern
vation with Warden Nash.

The wedding is set for March 19th, and
during the past month Mrs. 0rdway has
been busy preparing to leave the insti-
tution. Her duties as warden's secrew
tary will be assumed by' Mrs. Carol
Davis, a new employee hired to fill the
gap left by Mrs. 0rdway's marital plans.

Mrs. 0rdway is a daughter of Porter B.
Lady, deputy warden at the LaGrange,
Kentucky Reformatory. Born in washingu
ton, Missouri, she moved to Eddyville

before she was two years old, and has
lived here ever since. Fifteen years
ago, she left a teaching position (typ-

ing and shorthand) at the Lyon County
High School in Eddyville to take a job
as secretary to the late Jess Buchanan.
a fonner warden of Eddyville Prison. and
later an adviser to the institution.

Since then, she has served with a suc-
cession of wardens in the dual capacity
of secretary and general business man-

ager. Among her many duties has been
the censorship of the CASTLE ON THE
CUMBERLAND.

But, says Mrs. Ordway, she will be doing
none of these things in the Missouri
State Prison. "The warden (Warden Nash)
already has a secretary," she says, and
she will turn her entire attention to
the task of being a wife and homemaker
for the groom.

TYPE I ORAL FOLIO VACCINE GIVEN HERE

More than a thousand sugar cubes impreg-
nated with Sabin I polio vaccine were
administered to inmates last week by the

prison hospital staff under the direc-
tion of health authorities.
The immunization was part of the Lyon

County Health Department's drive to have
everyone in the county immunized against
the paralyzing disease.

.-

VESITING CHURCHMEN PRESENTED'WITH GIFTS

 

The United Church Group, a non-denomin
national inmate fellowship society,
presented Reverend Paul Keneipp and
Hopkinsville businessman Joe Rose with
personalized, hand—cazved billfolde earn
ly this month. The gifts were in recog-
nition of the interest and effort
Keneipp and Rose have invested in the
prisoners over the years.

The churchmen have made several trips to
the penitentiary in past months, usually
bringing with them books, magazines, and
other reading material. Their genuine
interest in the welfare of the inmates
has made them liked and trusted within
the walls. The billfolds were presented
during a recent prayer meeting.

 

7:ersz THE CUMBERLAND

Page 6

  

 

 

 

ZERO ..£2og_j,; 85...: ,

GAE}

 

 

WHAT DO YOU KNDW'ABOUT MONEY?-

 

 

 

._‘ r— wm< _

 

 

 

 

 

When people say that their main interest
in life is money, they usually mean
money as§we know it today. But money
has a hiatory all its own. The history
of money is almost as interesting as the
money itself.

Everyone who has gone to grade school
knows that there was once a time when
people traded things for things, instead
of using money. A herdsman, for in—
stance, might trade a cow for cloth or
wheat or any of the few other things he
needed in those simpler times. A potter
would make pots for the whole tribe or
village, and receive food, weapons, and
other necessities in return.

But the need for
enough to be used in trade anywhere yet
Small and light enough to be carried
soon made itself felt. There was also
the inconvenience of haggling over
weights and qualities brought about by
the barter system of exchange. One cow
is not necessarily worth the same as
another cow. One pot may be larger or
better made than another pot. And how
do you make change for a cow or a pot?
The old barter system, good enough when
men lived in small groups or towns and
didn't travel or trade much with neigh-
boring towns or groups, just wasn't good
enough when trade developed to the de»
gree it did in ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia.

something valuable

One of the earliest forms of money, or
course, was rare metals, such as gold or

silver. But a lump of gold presented
the same problems that a cow or a pot
used as money presented. With no pre-
cise system of weights and measures, how
could an early merchant be sure he was
getting the weight the buyer said he
was? And how could he be sure the gold
was as pure as it was claimed to be?

Another answer to the problem was in the
form of substitutes for money smh as
the clay tablets, impressed with just
the right words and seals, that the
early Egyptians used for money. These
tablets were, however, more like checks
or IOU's than money, and they were not,
of course, widely accepted. Money, ac-
cording to the dictionary, is any medium
of exchange that is widely accepted in
payment for goods or debts by anyone who
presents it, regardless of his own char—
acter or reputation.

Coins, stamped and issued by the govern-
ment to be of a standard weight and
value, were the obvious (to us) answer.
The first such coin, a crudely stamped
mixture of gold and silver called the
"stater," was issued almost 700 years
before Christ in Asia Minor. The
Chinese, who became early users of
coins, stamped them in the shape of
items that could be bought with them.
The Greeks, who seem to have improved
just about everything, helped to stand-
ardize weights and sizes of coins, and
stamped them with pictures of people,
owls, buildings, and gods. Both the
Greeks and the Hebrews had units of

 

 

Page 7

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLANDL

 

  

L

I

money known as talents. The Biblical
talent was also a unit of weight -- not
quite 9h pounds ~- and as a unit of sil-
ver money, it was worth between $1655
and $ 1900.

But clay tablets and metal discs are not
the only materials from which money has
been made° Salt has been used as money;
and history tells of armies that re-
ceived all or most of their pay in salt.
Other odd forms of money include nails.
giraffe tails, whale teeth, and shells0
The use of cattle as a medium of ex-
change carries over in our English word

"pecuniary," meaning monetary. It de-
rives from the Latin pecus, meaning
cattle.

Paper money, which has the further ad-
vantage over coins of being easy to
carry, even in large amounts (since a
unit of paper money can be made worth
almost any amount of coins), was known
to the ancients. Leather and skins of
animals, for example, have been used as
currency. Today, of course, we take the
value of.paper money for granted, at
least in the United States. This has
not always been true. Paper money is
only geod when it is backed by gold or
silver in the same value, and only when
the government that issues it is re—

United States, most paper money was
printed by private companies and banks.
It was often printed without regard to
the actual amount of gold or silver the
company or bank had to back the money9
and it is a wonder that Americans today
accept paper money so readily.

Although the idea of paper money is to
save weight and space, it hasn't always
been issued in large denominations. In
1789, the first United States chartered
bank issued a "penny note" -- worth
exactly one ninetieth of a dollar. In

176A, Pennsylvania issued a three pence
note. And, during the Civil war, the
Union issued "Postal Currency“ -- the

so-called "shin-plaster money" -- in a-
mounts that ranged from 3 to 50 cents.
Postal Currency was designed to take the
place of coins, scarce since silver was
hard to get during the hostilities.

Today, in spite of the oft-repeated com-
plaint that it isn't worth what is was
thirty years ago, the American dollar is
still one of the most stable and sought-
after currencies in the world. Con-
sider, for example, the following table
of rates of exchange among selected coun-
tries of the world:

 

spected. When a country is defeated in COUNTRY CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE

war, its paper money usually becomes al— _"h”"“h‘ “N“y‘“~*‘ ““**h“hh‘wflww*
most worthless. This may even be true Mexico Peso 12.5 to 1
when it seems that a country will be Canada Dollar 1.081 — 1
defeated. Brazil Cruzeiro 18.5 to l
‘ west Germany Mark h to l
The first paper money in North America France France h.9 to 1
was issued by French Canadians, but the Italy Lire 62 to 1
English colonies soon adopted the prac— Spain Peseta 60 to l
tics. And, of course, when the colonies Denmark Crone 6.9 to l
revolted against English rule, the fa- Greece Drachma 30 to 1
none Continental paper money was issued Japan Yen 569 to l
to finance the Revolution. It depreci— Yugoslavia Dinar 500 to 1
ated so badly after 1781 that it put a Belgium Franc 50 to 1
new expression into the language ~- "Not Finland Markka 520 t0 1
worth a Continental." This was not the Turkey Lire 9 to 1
only unpleasant experience Americans had Luxembourge Franc 50 to l
with paper money, however. In the early Austria Schilling 25 t0 1

Page 8

L» CASTLE ON THE’CUMEBRLAND

  

 

 

 

$6258 1? n _ @1276 194877

TRIAL BY JURY:

Installment Two

The Twentieth Century has been called
the Age of Analysis -- an era in which
the most basic social, ethical and
philosophical concepts are being re-
examined and often restated in the light
of new knowledge and radical changes in
the ordinary man's way of life.

Trial by jury has not escaped this soul-
searching frame of mind. Today a funda-
mental right of accused persons, trial
by jury is rooted in ancient Anglo Saxon
and English practice, and has been in
the common law since the Thirteenth
Century. An early form of grand jury
was developed among .the Anglo Saxon
tribes of ancient times. In this first
jury, the twelve senior thanes (lords?
of the group were asked to decide if an
accused man should submit to the Trial
by Combat or be freed. The principle
carries over into the modern practice of
submitting evidence to the grand jury to
determine whether there is sufficient
reason to hold an accused person for
trial. The petit or petty jury, upon
whom falls the responsibility for deter-
mining guilt or innocence, can also be
traced to early times, probably to the

Norman invasion of England. Whatever
its origins, it became a guaranteed
right with the signing of the Magna

Carta in 1215 AD.

The trial by jury is thus
in tradition. But, as
point out, it has its ‘
members are not, as a rule, trained in
the intricacies of law. Jurors cannot
be expected to display the strict ob-
jectivity that has been trained into the
legal mind over a period of years of
living with the law as a discipline, a
tradition, and even a philosophyo The

firmly rooted
its detractors
weaknesses. Jury

THE ZENGER CASE

of a Series by the CASTLE Editors

more technical the case, argue the anti-
jurists, the less likelihood there is of
justice being served in a jury trial.

Yet trial by jury, whatever its faults,
remains a basic safeguard of liberty.
Nowhere is this more amply demonstrated
than in the famous Peter Zenger trial
of 1755 -- the trial that has been
called a major victory in the struggle
for a free press.

In 1732, an Englishman named William
Cosby became colonial governor of New
Yorke His reign was corrupt and tyranr
nical, for the most part, and he quickly
made important enemies in the colony.
Seeking for a way to discredit and em-
barras Cosby, the anti-administration

group sought out Peter Zenger, a German
who had migrated to America at the age
Of 130

Zenger had worked for some
prentice to the New York printer,
William Bradford, and during Cosby's
administration he was himself set up as
a printer. With backing from Cosby
enemies, he founded the NEW YORK WEEKLY
JOURNAL in November, 17339 The JOURNAL
quickly became a thorn in the side of
Governor Cosby, for Zenger and his back-
ers overlooked no opportunity to harass
the Englishman in print.

years