1 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:24,719 Speaker 1: M M A Wall Street line, shackle change, Oh doesome girdy, 2 00:00:25,879 --> 00:00:32,320 it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's 3 00:00:32,359 --> 00:00:41,200 been a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three. 4 00:00:42,719 --> 00:00:52,759 Come here be by me to die inside these walls, 5 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:59,679 inside the wild and when the girls as I. 6 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,079 Speaker 2: Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast 7 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,120 one and forty two years in the making, the complete 8 00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:43,519 story of America's bloodiest prison. I'm Jim Chapman, and today 9 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,640 I'm going to tell you about an inmate at Angola 10 00:01:47,879 --> 00:01:51,959 who really became famous for his good deeds while he 11 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:57,239 was incarcerated at Angola and his amazing talent and wait 12 00:01:57,319 --> 00:02:02,120 until we get into that. But what Lani inside the 13 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,599 wire was just a horrible crime. And he was an 14 00:02:05,599 --> 00:02:10,800 inmate who had the nickname at Angola Grasshopper. His name 15 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,479 he was born with was Lloyd Leggott. Now, I did 16 00:02:15,479 --> 00:02:18,000 a lot of research on this one, and I came 17 00:02:18,039 --> 00:02:23,000 across some newspaper articles from his actual crime when they occurred, 18 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,919 the manhunt for Lloyd Leggott and also the capture of 19 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,639 not only Grasshopper but his accomplice, and all this occurred 20 00:02:32,719 --> 00:02:37,120 in the nineteen seventies, over fifty years ago. There's actually 21 00:02:37,159 --> 00:02:41,080 a pretty interesting attempted escape that we're going to get into. 22 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,199 So the way I'm going to do this one today 23 00:02:43,439 --> 00:02:47,159 is I'm going to reference those articles that I came across, 24 00:02:47,199 --> 00:02:49,280 and I'm going to kind of take you through time 25 00:02:49,759 --> 00:02:52,960 with this guy. And I promise you when we get 26 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,039 to what he did with his life inside Angola, you're 27 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,159 probably gonna be surprised like I was. And I'll start 28 00:02:59,199 --> 00:03:02,599 off by refer and seeing an article that was written 29 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:07,000 in the News Digest, which was an a Meet City, 30 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:12,080 Louisiana newspaper where this crime occurred in This article was 31 00:03:12,159 --> 00:03:16,240 dated March thirty first of nineteen seventy one, and the 32 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:21,439 headline said Arcola couple shot to death last rites to 33 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:26,280 be held today. A Tangibahoa parish man and his wife 34 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:30,000 were shot to death during an apparent robbery Monday night 35 00:03:30,199 --> 00:03:34,400 in the grocery store they operated near Arcola. Sheriff Frank 36 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:40,199 Edwards reported today Milton and Cora Davidson, both sixty two, 37 00:03:40,439 --> 00:03:44,960 were slain about six thirty pm in their store three 38 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:49,599 miles from Arcola. The couple were found by a young 39 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,400 man who came into the store shortly after the robbery 40 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,919 slash murder. Davidson was found just behind the cash register, 41 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,879 which was open and empty. Miss Davidson was found shot 42 00:04:01,919 --> 00:04:04,680 about five feet away from him at the end of 43 00:04:04,719 --> 00:04:07,639 the counter. Davidson, who was shot once in the head 44 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:11,919 above the left eye, died some fifteen minutes after arriving 45 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,079 at Charity Hospital in Independence. Miss Davidson was pronounced dead 46 00:04:16,199 --> 00:04:19,680 on arrival at the hospital. She was shot just below 47 00:04:20,199 --> 00:04:23,879 the nose. Both victims were shot with a twenty two 48 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:28,240 caliber gun. The bullets have been recovered and ballistics tests 49 00:04:28,319 --> 00:04:31,519 are being made on those bullets. There was no sign 50 00:04:31,639 --> 00:04:35,519 of a struggle. Technicians from the State Police crime Lab 51 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,720 were dispatched to the scene to search for clues. Roadblocks 52 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,759 were set up on highways in the area. Mister and 53 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,680 Miss Davidson lived in rooms behind the grocery store. The 54 00:04:46,759 --> 00:04:50,600 bodies were at Mount Nebo Baptist Church at six pm 55 00:04:50,639 --> 00:04:54,360 Tuesday night, with services at the church at two pm Wednesday. 56 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,879 They were both natives of this area, So let me 57 00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:03,560 explain this were real quick a meet city Louisiana in 58 00:05:03,639 --> 00:05:08,560 the early seventies, very small town stuff like that just 59 00:05:08,639 --> 00:05:12,600 did not happen in that area, and these were elderly people, 60 00:05:12,759 --> 00:05:17,839 very well known in the community, entrepreneurs, store owners, so 61 00:05:18,199 --> 00:05:21,279 everybody that was in that area went to that store. 62 00:05:21,439 --> 00:05:24,920 They were just very well liked people and killed pretty brutally, 63 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,120 shot in the face. And the police at this time 64 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,399 did not have much to go on. All they had 65 00:05:30,519 --> 00:05:35,600 was spent shellcasings. And on April seventh of nineteen seventy one, 66 00:05:35,759 --> 00:05:38,279 there was sort of an update that came out on 67 00:05:38,519 --> 00:05:42,199 the Tangi Talk, which is another paper in that area, 68 00:05:42,519 --> 00:05:47,759 and it said investigation continues in Davidson Slang. Captain Charles 69 00:05:47,879 --> 00:05:51,519 Bender of the Tangibahoa Pairs Sheriff's Department said that the 70 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,680 investigation was continuing into the slaying of mister and miss 71 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,160 Milton Davidson, who were killed at their store on Our 72 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,160 Cola Road. Mister Davidson lived for some fifteen minutes after 73 00:06:03,199 --> 00:06:06,680 being taken to the hospital and Miss Davidson was conscious 74 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,360 when she was found. 75 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: Quote. 76 00:06:08,879 --> 00:06:12,399 Speaker 2: We are continuing to track down leads and the investigation 77 00:06:12,759 --> 00:06:16,000 is pending. The couple was found shot to death at 78 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,120 their store on Our Cola Road. Both had been shot 79 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,839 with a twenty two caliber gun. They were found last 80 00:06:21,879 --> 00:06:25,160 Monday night about six point thirty pm by a young 81 00:06:25,199 --> 00:06:28,199 man who came into the store shortly after the shooting. 82 00:06:28,519 --> 00:06:31,879 He ran into the highway stopped a car to go 83 00:06:31,959 --> 00:06:36,360 for assistance after hearing Miss Davidson's call for help. Davidson, 84 00:06:36,399 --> 00:06:40,120 who was shot above the left eye, died about fifteen 85 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,839 minutes after being taken to the hospital. Miss Davidson had 86 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,959 been shot just below the nose. So at that point 87 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,879 in time, they're investigating it, but they don't have a 88 00:06:49,879 --> 00:06:52,839 whole lot of leads that the public knows about. They 89 00:06:52,879 --> 00:06:56,959 apparently did have more leads than they were letting out, 90 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:02,199 which is typical. And on April eighth of nineteen seventy one, 91 00:07:02,879 --> 00:07:08,160 two men from Kansas were actually charged with the murder 92 00:07:08,639 --> 00:07:12,920 of the Davidsons, and the News Digest had this article. 93 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,079 Two men from Kansas have been charged with the murder 94 00:07:16,079 --> 00:07:19,639 and robbery of mister and Miss Milton Davis, it was 95 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:24,240 announced by Sheriff Frank Edwards Junior. A second robbery murder 96 00:07:24,279 --> 00:07:28,160 in kidnapping in Kansas led to the arrest April second 97 00:07:28,319 --> 00:07:33,120 of Richard Lee Leggett, nineteen of Newton, Kansas and Dwight 98 00:07:33,439 --> 00:07:38,879 Martin Kafka twenty nine of Hutchinson, Kansas. They are charged 99 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,680 in Kansas with the slaying of James Leo Armer of 100 00:07:42,879 --> 00:07:47,120 Little River, Kansas, father of thirteen children, the robbery of 101 00:07:47,199 --> 00:07:51,360 the man he farmed four so apparently one of these 102 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,399 guys worked for the guy they ended up robbing and 103 00:07:55,519 --> 00:07:59,720 the kidnapping of five members of the Wayne Ludstrom family. 104 00:08:00,079 --> 00:08:03,120 Armer was slain with a twenty two caliber pistol. The 105 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:06,639 Davidsons were both killed with the twenty two caliber at 106 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,000 close range about six thirty five pm on March twenty 107 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,120 ninth at their store. In About two hundred dollars was 108 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,839 taken from the cash register. Since that time, Edwards had 109 00:08:16,879 --> 00:08:19,720 had his deputies working day and night on the case. 110 00:08:19,959 --> 00:08:23,279 He sent ballistic bullets all over the United States, and 111 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,560 it was one of them which led the Kansas Bureau 112 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,439 of Investigation to send bullets from the twenty twos in 113 00:08:29,519 --> 00:08:32,759 the possession of the accused pair to a meet ballistic 114 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,639 experts at the Louisiana State Crime Lab and Battinary said 115 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:38,879 the bullet from one of the guns was fired from 116 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:42,399 the same one which killed the Davidsons. The other bullet 117 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:47,360 recovered during the autopsy was so mishappened that further examination 118 00:08:47,639 --> 00:08:52,600 was necessary. Last week, Edwards and Captain Charles Binder went 119 00:08:52,639 --> 00:08:55,559 to Kansas to talk with the pair. They obtained signed 120 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:00,360 statements from both which admitted to the Rcola slags. Wards 121 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,519 and District Attorney Leonard Yoakum would call a special session 122 00:09:04,639 --> 00:09:08,120 of the grand jury to indict them, and that Tangibahoe 123 00:09:08,279 --> 00:09:12,759 Parish would begin extradition proceedings to return them to Louisiana 124 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,559 to stand trial immediately after they are tried in Kansas. 125 00:09:17,159 --> 00:09:21,080 Leggett and Kafka had left Kansas on March twenty seventh 126 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,840 to go into the counterfeity business. Actually considered that a 127 00:09:25,879 --> 00:09:30,919 business in California, they said. In Austin, Texas. They headed east, 128 00:09:31,039 --> 00:09:33,720 going to Baton Rage, then back to a meet, and 129 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,399 on to Arcola, where the killings took place. In Bugalusa, 130 00:09:37,519 --> 00:09:40,080 they stopped to get something to eat. They went east 131 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:44,320 through Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, where they abandoned the car, 132 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:49,120 a Blue nineteen sixty four Ford, before returning to Kansas 133 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,320 on a bus. Leggott had been in reform school. He 134 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:54,919 had been born at Fort Polk, but since the age 135 00:09:54,919 --> 00:09:58,360 of four had not been in Louisiana. He is six 136 00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:02,039 foot three and a half. Kaffa is six foot two 137 00:10:02,279 --> 00:10:06,440 and has never been to Louisiana before. On February fifteenth, 138 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,639 he had been released from Kansas State Penitentiary after serving 139 00:10:10,759 --> 00:10:14,919 a sentence for burglary. So they have these two guys 140 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,799 and again April twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, they were 141 00:10:18,879 --> 00:10:22,120 charged end of getting these confessions, they get signed to 142 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:26,720 confessions at that and on May twenty sixth, nineteen seventy one, 143 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,360 the next update from the Tangi Talk and it says 144 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:35,600 Kansas pair indicted in Tangibihoi slangs. Richard Lee Leggett and 145 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,879 Dwight Kafka, both of Kansas, were indicted here Thursday by 146 00:10:39,879 --> 00:10:43,679 a Tangy Parish grand jury for the March twenty ninth 147 00:10:43,799 --> 00:10:47,000 murder of an Arcola couple. The accused pair was also 148 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,200 indicted for the armed robbery of mister and Miss Milton 149 00:10:50,279 --> 00:10:54,720 Davison at their rural grocery store. Leggott and Kafka are 150 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,919 in jail in Lions, Kansas, where they are charged with 151 00:10:58,039 --> 00:11:01,559 a murderer in kidnapping. Attorney Leonard Yoakum said he is 152 00:11:01,639 --> 00:11:06,879 anticipating extradition papers. The Davidsons were found dead shortly after 153 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,519 they were robbed. Sheriff Frank Edwards said in announcing the 154 00:11:10,639 --> 00:11:13,480 arrest of the pair last month that Leggett and Kafka 155 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:18,080 have been traced to Kansas, into Texas, through Louisiana, and 156 00:11:18,159 --> 00:11:22,159 on to Tennessee before they both returned to Kansas. Both 157 00:11:22,159 --> 00:11:26,240 have signed statements related to the killing in tangebaho A Parish, 158 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:32,480 so they get indicted, and on February fourth of nineteen 159 00:11:32,639 --> 00:11:37,000 seventy two, these guys got sentenced, and Morning World in 160 00:11:37,279 --> 00:11:41,399 Monroe brought this article. It says two Kansas men were 161 00:11:41,399 --> 00:11:44,559 each sentenced to double terms of life in prison here 162 00:11:44,759 --> 00:11:47,840 Thursday in the murder of an elderly or Cola couple 163 00:11:47,919 --> 00:11:53,879 at their grocery store. Last March, Richard Leggatt twenty of Newton, 164 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:58,159 Kansas and Dwight Cafke twenty nine of Hutchinson, Kansas were 165 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,799 given double life sentences plus thirty years in prison for 166 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,240 armed robbery of mister and Miss Milton Davidson. Last October, 167 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:10,919 Leggatt and Cafke pleaded innocent by reason of insanity under 168 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,840 state law, a person is allowed to please a sanity. 169 00:12:14,879 --> 00:12:18,279 Hearing was held for them Thursday in State District Court. 170 00:12:18,399 --> 00:12:23,600 Three physicians testified, and Judge Grover Covington ruled the pair, 171 00:12:23,799 --> 00:12:28,039 saying Legat and Cafke then consulted with their lawyers and 172 00:12:28,159 --> 00:12:31,080 changed their pleas to guilty to the armed robbery and 173 00:12:31,159 --> 00:12:34,559 guilty without capital punishment to the murder. So they cut 174 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:36,759 a deal there. They said, hey, we're not going to 175 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:41,000 execute you if you plead guilty. They also waived delay 176 00:12:41,159 --> 00:12:43,919 in sentencing. The judge ruled the sentences or to be 177 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:49,000 served concurrently with any sentences previously imposed. This means the 178 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:51,759 two men will be returned to Kansas, where they had 179 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,480 been sentenced in the death of a Little River, Kansas man. 180 00:12:55,639 --> 00:12:58,440 He was killed less than a week after the Davidsons 181 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,320 were shot to death. On March twenty ninth, nineteen seventy one, 182 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,120 Leggott was convicted and sentenced in the Little River incident 183 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,840 to fifteen years to life and five years to life 184 00:13:08,879 --> 00:13:12,320 on several kidnapp charges. CAFKEI had been sentenced to life 185 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,080 in prison. If pardoned or paroled, they must return to 186 00:13:15,159 --> 00:13:19,360 Louisiana to serve any remaining time in the Davidson deaths. 187 00:13:19,639 --> 00:13:22,919 So at that point they have to go to Kansas. 188 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:28,639 And this is where it gets really muddy, because judging 189 00:13:28,759 --> 00:13:33,159 by what I read in that article, I'm thinking they're screwed. 190 00:13:33,159 --> 00:13:35,399 They're in Kansas for the rest of their life. But 191 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,200 Legott did make his way to end Gola shortly after. 192 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,919 The trail just kind of falls off as to why, 193 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,919 but I'll tell you. On October eleventh, off nineteen seventy eight, 194 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:49,720 an article was put out by the Miami Herald, and 195 00:13:49,799 --> 00:13:54,159 it tells a story of an escape attempt or an 196 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,399 accused escape attempt by Richard Leggett. And I'm just going 197 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,519 to read you this article. It says he would there 198 00:14:00,639 --> 00:14:04,399 the whole time. So since he never had escaped, it 199 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,440 was difficult for Richard Leggett to explain the escape conviction 200 00:14:09,039 --> 00:14:12,840 on his criminal record. The Louisiana Supreme Court has rectified 201 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:17,039 the situation, reversing Leggott's escape conviction by ruling there was 202 00:14:17,159 --> 00:14:21,639 no evidence he left Angola State Penitentiary. Leggott failed to 203 00:14:21,679 --> 00:14:24,960 show up for his work assignment one morning in nineteen 204 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,879 seventy seven, and after a day long search, was found 205 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,440 curled up with a novel and lying on a pillow 206 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:38,240 inside a conveyor machine in the prison cannery. Leggott eventually 207 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,639 was indicted and convicted of simple escape. He was sentenced 208 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,720 to an extra four years in jail. In the five 209 00:14:44,799 --> 00:14:47,600 to two decision, the court said Legott might be subject 210 00:14:47,679 --> 00:14:52,320 to prison discipline rules for the episode, but nothing more so. 211 00:14:52,399 --> 00:14:57,159 He appealed an accusation of escape in his I guess 212 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,399 point there, what it sounds like to me was he 213 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:04,840 technically never escaped. He was on in Goola property the 214 00:15:04,879 --> 00:15:08,240 whole time. And then I dug a little deeper. I 215 00:15:08,279 --> 00:15:12,720 came across an appeal that the state had issued, and 216 00:15:12,759 --> 00:15:14,799 I'm just going to read that to you. It says 217 00:15:14,799 --> 00:15:18,440 defendant was legally committed to the State Penitentiary at Angola 218 00:15:18,559 --> 00:15:21,960 on February third, nineteen seventy two. He was assigned to 219 00:15:22,039 --> 00:15:26,480 a dormitory in the Medium Security Complex area. In addition, 220 00:15:26,679 --> 00:15:29,600 defendant was assigned to the work in the prison's tag 221 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,080 plant making license plate shall. The record also reflects that 222 00:15:34,279 --> 00:15:37,000 the prior start of the workday, inmates have the option 223 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,000 to leave the dormitory, go to the kitchen area for breakfast, 224 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,840 or remain in the dormitory, whether they remain in the 225 00:15:43,879 --> 00:15:47,720 dormitory or depart for breakfast. Inmates are required to report 226 00:15:47,799 --> 00:15:50,919 to their job assignment no later than eight o'clock am. 227 00:15:51,159 --> 00:15:54,679 The inmates, whether in the dormitory, kitchen area, or at 228 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,000 their work assignment or the responsibility of the prison officer 229 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,480 assigned to the particular area or building. The inmates may 230 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,679 be excused from any of their work assignments or assigned 231 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:10,960 areas on various quote callouts example attorney callouts, hospital callouts, visits, 232 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:16,440 education callouts, and classification callouts. We note also that inmates 233 00:16:16,519 --> 00:16:19,559 walked from area to area along a fence to walkway 234 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:24,360 unescorted by guards. The officer in charge of the defendant's dormitory, 235 00:16:24,519 --> 00:16:28,200 John Frank, testified he saw the defendant in the dormitory 236 00:16:28,279 --> 00:16:31,840 at approximately seven thirty am on April sixth of nineteen 237 00:16:31,919 --> 00:16:35,840 seventy seven. He stated that at seven fifty five am 238 00:16:35,919 --> 00:16:39,000 he received a call from Edward Thomas, the prison officer 239 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,559 assigned to the tag plan. He stated that Leggott had 240 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,840 not reported for work at the plant. A search for 241 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,720 the defendant in the dorm was made without success. A 242 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:54,360 prison chase cruise subsequently located Leggott hiding in the conveyor 243 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,480 machine at the prison cannery at approximately five pm. The 244 00:16:58,519 --> 00:17:01,679 defendant was found inside the machine, lying down on his 245 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,799 back with his hands resting on his stomach. He had 246 00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:07,599 a pillow or something in the form of a pillow 247 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,920 under his head. He even had a pocket novel to read. 248 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,839 It was noticed that the defendant had apparently taken two 249 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:16,920 pieces of cardboard and placed them on both sides of 250 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,960 the conveyor machine so he could not be observed inside 251 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,319 the machine. Upon discovery, the defendant neither struggled nor attempted 252 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:26,680 to get away from the search crew. He had not 253 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,440 broken or damaged anything while hiding in the canery building. 254 00:17:30,759 --> 00:17:34,119 The prison cannery is located approximately two hundred and fifty 255 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,759 to three hundred yards from the tagplant, the defendant's assigned 256 00:17:37,839 --> 00:17:44,079 place of work, so apparently that's how he tried to escape. Surprisingly, 257 00:17:44,319 --> 00:17:48,039 the Supreme Court kind of ruled in Leggett's favor on 258 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,519 that and said, technically he never escaped the prison. He 259 00:17:51,559 --> 00:17:55,880 attempted to escape, but he never escaped. Just interesting and 260 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,640 kind of bizarre. And then again things kind of fall 261 00:18:00,759 --> 00:18:04,599 off for Leggott. Apparently he was mining his manners in prison, 262 00:18:04,799 --> 00:18:09,559 and then in two thousand and five an article comes out. Now, 263 00:18:09,599 --> 00:18:13,599 I want you to remember, Leggott went to prison at 264 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,640 twenty years old, so even in two thousand and five, 265 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,960 he's not that damn old. But a really interesting article 266 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,960 comes out in two thousand and five. It's by Gary 267 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,319 Fields of the Wall Street Journal, and it says, at 268 00:18:26,319 --> 00:18:30,279 the Angola State Penitentiary, here Richard Leggett, a yellow pencil 269 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,000 tucked behind his right ear, put the molding on his 270 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,720 latest creation, a seven foot coffin. He worked with submergency, 271 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:41,839 sewing and stapling the white bedding inside. He always likes 272 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:45,119 to keep three coffins in stock so he doesn't run 273 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:49,119 out half a mile away. One of the other handmade caskets, 274 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:53,119 birch and pine stained in rich blue, were being laid 275 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,079 in the ground at the prison cemetery. It held the 276 00:18:56,079 --> 00:18:59,039 body of a fifty seven year old fellow inmate in 277 00:18:59,079 --> 00:19:02,680 prison since the seventies for killing a thirteen year old girl. 278 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,960 As the prison's coffin maker, mister Leggett, fifty three years old, 279 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,920 has been busy. The prison has needed one or two 280 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:13,440 of his caskets in each of the last five weeks. 281 00:19:13,759 --> 00:19:16,880 At Angola, ninety seven percent of the inmates now die 282 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,039 in prison. The rise of lengthy mandatory sentences in nationwide 283 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,680 tough on crime attitude has resulted in a booming prison 284 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,920 population two point one million last June. And then it 285 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,319 goes through stats on that that are not important. Inmates 286 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,799 often arrive at prison in the physical condition of someone 287 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,240 ten to fifteen years older because the lack of healthcare, 288 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:42,960 and it goes through that, again not important. At Angola, 289 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:47,799 funerals are elaborate affairs, with handmade coffins pulled to graves 290 00:19:47,839 --> 00:19:53,279 by horse drawn carriages, and rights conducted almost entirely by inmates. 291 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:59,319 Wardenborough Came believes such services are stabilizing influence, keeping inmates 292 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:01,920 busy in all offering purpose to those who have no 293 00:20:02,039 --> 00:20:06,160 hope of leaving alive. Quote A man wants to be productive, 294 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:10,559 even the ones here, the warden said. Once known as 295 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,240 the bloodiest prison in America, inmates at Angola used to 296 00:20:14,279 --> 00:20:19,200 fashion weapons from inconspicuous items such as toothbrushes or towels 297 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,640 to maim and kill a murderer. Moth was considered normal today, 298 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,279 though it isn't the Angola of quote dead man walking 299 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:30,839 or Monster's Ball two movies film here. Now it's an 300 00:20:30,839 --> 00:20:35,960 older Angola and death comes typically from natural causes. Last year, 301 00:20:36,039 --> 00:20:39,880 twenty inmates at Angola died of natural causes. This year, 302 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,119 twenty three have died already, none of them from inmate 303 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:47,240 on inmate violence. The prison lost its oldest inmate earlier 304 00:20:47,279 --> 00:20:50,640 this year, a ninety five year old who have been 305 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,319 in and out of prison since Harry Truman was present 306 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:57,039 in During the last decade, there have only been four 307 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,240 prison murders at Angola. Some inmates attribute that to what 308 00:21:01,279 --> 00:21:04,559 they call quote criminal menopause, meaning when they hit a 309 00:21:04,599 --> 00:21:08,720 certain age, their violent nature dissipates. They also credit the warden, 310 00:21:08,799 --> 00:21:11,960 a former teacher, who said it came to correction because 311 00:21:12,079 --> 00:21:15,799 high school students were too unruly to deal with its 312 00:21:15,839 --> 00:21:19,319 aging population over five hundred inmates, and then Gola had 313 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,680 been trained to perform CPR. There's a hospice here for 314 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,200 those who are making final stages of terminal illnesses, and 315 00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:29,799 Warden Kane has created a funeral industry, of which mister 316 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:35,000 Leggott's coughing kaboom coffin making is a primary piece. Other 317 00:21:35,039 --> 00:21:39,319 inmates make shrouds for the caskets. And planned services, and 318 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:44,640 Gola gets society's most serious offenders, child molesters, murderers, and rapists. 319 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,039 Two years ago, the prison stopped accepting anyone with the 320 00:21:48,079 --> 00:21:52,559 sentence of less than fifty years, meaning few will ever leave. Quote. 321 00:21:52,559 --> 00:21:55,559 A couple of decades after I got here, people actually 322 00:21:55,559 --> 00:21:57,960 got out. We used to have a call out every 323 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,559 word day, where three or four would be called out 324 00:22:00,759 --> 00:22:04,000 they were going home. This from Douglas Dennis, sixty nine, 325 00:22:04,039 --> 00:22:06,880 who arrived here in nineteen fifty seven and is serving 326 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,079 a double life sentence for killing two prisoners in fights. 327 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,599 Is now a writer for The Ngolite, an award winning 328 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:19,079 publication whose death listings are scoured by the inmates. Now 329 00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:22,720 quote they might as well have welded the doors shut. 330 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:25,359 About half of those who died Inngola are buried in 331 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,480 the prison's grounds because inmates have lost touch with their 332 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,680 families and have no one to collect the remains. Even 333 00:22:31,759 --> 00:22:34,359 your bones don't get a second chance to get out, 334 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:39,519 said mister Dennis, the prison's unofficial historian. The Mississippi River 335 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,759 forms three of the institution's four borders, and Tunica Hills, 336 00:22:43,839 --> 00:22:47,119 an area of snakes, trees and wild animals, is fourth 337 00:22:47,599 --> 00:22:50,680 established as a prison in eighteen eighty and Gola gets 338 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,279 its nickname from the plantation that preceded it, which in 339 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,319 turn was named for the area of Africa where most 340 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,920 of its slaves have come from. Except for the occasional vehicle, 341 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,200 there is no mechanical noise. During the day, groups of 342 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,880 inmates carrying hoes, shovels, and sling blades head to the 343 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,640 fields where they grow four million pounds of produce ranging 344 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,480 from corn to wheat each year. At night, only lights 345 00:23:15,519 --> 00:23:19,359 from various cells on the eighteen thousand acre compound dot 346 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,039 the darkness. The prison grounds are larger than the island 347 00:23:23,079 --> 00:23:26,119 of Manhattan, and you've heard that many times. When there 348 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:30,119 are violent incidents and attempted escapes, they are dealt with swiftly. 349 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,920 Officers are put into cell Block J, where they remain 350 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,720 in six by eight cells twenty three hours a day 351 00:23:36,799 --> 00:23:39,200 for a minimum of six months. They aren't allowed to 352 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,039 make telephone calls, smoke, or have visitors. Quote at Angola, 353 00:23:43,319 --> 00:23:47,480 life means life, said Warden Caane sixty two, the short, 354 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,319 white haired warden who occasionally rides his Harley Davidson down 355 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,799 the twenty mile asphalt highway that dead ends the prison gates. 356 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:59,279 He have mixed feelings about his elderly inmates. Quote. Prison 357 00:23:59,319 --> 00:24:02,319 shouldn't be a play for dying old men. It should 358 00:24:02,319 --> 00:24:05,880 be a place for predators. For years, inmates were buried 359 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:10,119 in flimsy coffins that resembled shipping crates, each costing between 360 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,039 six hundred and fifty dollars to nine hundred dollars. In 361 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,200 June of nineteen ninety five, the prison was preparing to 362 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,599 bury Joseph Siegel, a sixty nine year old prisoner who 363 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,960 had been convicted in nineteen seventy one for burglary and 364 00:24:23,079 --> 00:24:27,400 murdering a state senator. As the inmates lifted mister Siegal's 365 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,279 coffin to lay into the freshly dug grave, his body 366 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:36,160 fell through the bottom of the casket. They carefully laid 367 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,240 the coffin over the body and started to shovel dirt 368 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:44,640 over the coffin. The lead then caved in. Warden Kane, 369 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:49,079 then only in his first year on the job, was disgusted. Quote. 370 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,559 Once a man dies, his sentences complete, and there should 371 00:24:52,559 --> 00:24:56,480 be dignity in passing, he said. He asked some inmates, 372 00:24:56,519 --> 00:25:01,000 including Eugene RedWine, who had committed the murder with mister Siegel, 373 00:25:01,079 --> 00:25:03,880 and was known for his carpentry skills. Whether they could 374 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,240 build a coffin. The inmates agreed, making a coffin in 375 00:25:07,319 --> 00:25:10,119 two weeks at a cost of two hundred and fifty dollars, 376 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,599 considerably less than the prison had been paying in much 377 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:18,160 higher quality. Mister Leggett, now the principal coffin maker here, 378 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,759 has only been to one funeral in his thirty four 379 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,599 years at Angola. It was after the March two thousand 380 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:27,519 and three death of his mentor and predecessor, mister RedWine. 381 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,160 He sat on the front row in the chapel inside 382 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,880 the hospice, the area reserved for family. There was no 383 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,400 one else there for the seventy four year old man. 384 00:25:36,799 --> 00:25:39,640 Mister Leggott said his mentor taught him the importance of 385 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,640 doing his job well. He said, quote, give it your 386 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:44,960 best effort. If you're going to do something, give it 387 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,400 your best. He instilled that in me. The two met 388 00:25:48,519 --> 00:25:51,160 after mister Leggett, who came to the prison as a 389 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,279 virtual teenager, had been in the two man sale for 390 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:59,000 six years. Mister RedWine, nearly twice mister Leggott's age, started 391 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,720 teaching the younger made about carpentry. Mister Leggott took to 392 00:26:02,799 --> 00:26:05,920 it and began reading everything he could. The two became 393 00:26:06,039 --> 00:26:10,519 skilled carpenters, making furniture, rocking, chairs, and toys, most of 394 00:26:10,559 --> 00:26:13,680 which went to the staff. Now there's little mister Leggott 395 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,039 can't make. All he needs is a picture or a drawing. Cabinets, dressers, 396 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,960 and potato bens are all in his repertoire. Most items 397 00:26:22,039 --> 00:26:24,519 are used at the prison, and a few years old, 398 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:29,000 he earns the prison's top wage, twenty cents an hour, 399 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:32,880 giving him spending money for incidentals. He enjoys admiring his 400 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:37,440 finished products, especially the coffins. If you'd seen what they 401 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:43,039 were buried in before, you'd understand, he said. Nicknamed Grasshopper 402 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:45,480 in his early days here because he was skinny with 403 00:26:45,599 --> 00:26:48,319 long limbs, he killed a man and a woman on 404 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,079 May twenty ninth, nineteen seventy one, near a meat Louisiana 405 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,279 as he robbed their store. When asked how he remembers 406 00:26:55,319 --> 00:26:58,720 the exact date, he spits tobacco juice on the ground 407 00:26:58,759 --> 00:27:04,400 and replies, why would I remember it? That's something that 408 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,680 weighs on your mind. I have a lot of regrets 409 00:27:07,799 --> 00:27:11,160 today mister Leggott is a heavy set man with thick glasses, 410 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,720 a bad heart valve, and diabetes. Because he's an inmate trustee, 411 00:27:15,799 --> 00:27:19,000 which means he's a low risk for behavior violations, he 412 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:23,039 isn't under constant guard and lives with the other trustees 413 00:27:23,079 --> 00:27:25,880 in a cell block reserved for them. A liner, mister 414 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,720 Leggott spends most of his time in the carpentry shop, 415 00:27:28,839 --> 00:27:33,319 working with two assistants, meticulously going over every detail. You 416 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,200 never can tell, he said, standing near one of the 417 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:39,960 oblong boxes, when one of them is gonna be yours. 418 00:27:40,559 --> 00:27:43,720 This month, mister Leggott had to increase his work schedule. 419 00:27:43,799 --> 00:27:47,359 Two inmates died in another committed suicide in a five 420 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,920 day period. All were buried in the prison cemetery. Cleaning 421 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:56,000 out his entire stock of caskets for the funeral Richard 422 00:27:56,279 --> 00:27:59,799 Sedgwick Heart, the man who killed a thirteen year old girl. 423 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,160 Inmates gathered at the prison park. They followed the prison's hearse, 424 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,559 a black horse drawn carriage built by inmates in nineteen 425 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:11,079 ninety eight to resemble hearses used in the eighteen hundreds. 426 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,559 Diamond and Lightie a pair of white twenty two hundred 427 00:28:14,599 --> 00:28:18,640 pound per chairing horses, descendants of the warden's own champion 428 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,519 per Cherrion pulled the carriage on to the road of 429 00:28:21,519 --> 00:28:26,440 the cemetery with little urging from coachman Lloyd Bone's Bone. 430 00:28:26,799 --> 00:28:30,240 Mister Bone, a gaunt, unsmiling man with hallow cheeks, had 431 00:28:30,279 --> 00:28:33,359 been here since nineteen seventy one when he stabbed a 432 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,039 man during a knife fight in Algiers, one of the 433 00:28:36,079 --> 00:28:39,440 toughest sections of New Orleans. The loser died, the winter 434 00:28:39,599 --> 00:28:42,240 got life and in Golan. Of course, I told you 435 00:28:42,279 --> 00:28:45,920 all about Bone just last week. A few years ago, 436 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,920 Warden Kane asked mister Bone, who helped tend the horses 437 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,359 at the prison stable, to drive the horse. The job stuck, 438 00:28:52,759 --> 00:28:55,440 The warden bought him a tuxedo in a top hat 439 00:28:55,559 --> 00:29:00,680 and named him Doctor Death. Sending Ramrod straight at the hearse, 440 00:29:00,799 --> 00:29:04,279 mister Bone said he never looked back at the carriage, 441 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,519 but ads, I'll never forget what I'm caring. At sixty four, 442 00:29:07,599 --> 00:29:10,839 he frequently thinks about what his own ride will be like. 443 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,720 Who's going to drive the hearse when my time comes? 444 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,640 Mister Sedgelhart had no family at the funeral service. His 445 00:29:18,759 --> 00:29:22,599 mother died a month before and he did not have 446 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:26,200 anyone to claim him. Four dozen inmates who knew the 447 00:29:26,319 --> 00:29:29,359 deceased walt behind the hearst to Point Lookout two. The 448 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:33,319 prison cemetery opened that in nineteen ninety six. There have 449 00:29:33,319 --> 00:29:36,839 been ninety seven funerals here in nine years. Its predecessor, 450 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:40,680 Point Lookout one, a short distance away, has three hundred 451 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,440 and thirty two marked graves and an unknown number of 452 00:29:43,599 --> 00:29:47,599 unmarked ones. Officials stopped using it when they began digging 453 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:52,079 a new grave and discovered human bones were already there. 454 00:29:52,279 --> 00:29:55,319 Since April, funerals have been so frequent that the ground 455 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,160 hasn't settled enough on ten graves to add the simple 456 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,960 white crossy used to mark burial plots. The inmates sing 457 00:30:03,079 --> 00:30:06,319 amazing Grace along with the clamping of the horse hooks. 458 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,200 All of them had been in Angola at least ten years, 459 00:30:09,559 --> 00:30:12,559 most for much longer. Every detail of the service, from 460 00:30:12,599 --> 00:30:15,079 the hand dug grave to the briting of the horse 461 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,559 tales was done by the inmates with an extension program 462 00:30:18,599 --> 00:30:22,640 from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. They are ample 463 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,640 inmate ministers to conduct the funeral. They quoted scriptures saying 464 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:31,160 hymns without bibles or notes. At the cemetery, three inmates 465 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,119 asked an assistant warden if they could request that their 466 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:38,319 families bury them there one day. One by one, the 467 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,319 inmates walked to the casket, touched it and looked at 468 00:30:41,359 --> 00:30:45,160 pictures of mister Sedgirick art on top. At the gravesite, 469 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:50,000 the inmates sing acappella, I'm free, Praise the Lord. I'm free, 470 00:30:50,279 --> 00:30:53,799 no longer bound, no chains holding me, My soul is resting. 471 00:30:53,839 --> 00:30:58,400 It's just a blessing. Praise the Lord, I Elijah, I'm free. 472 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,720 Very well written article, and what we found out there 473 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:08,720 was this insane talent that Richard Leggett possessed and also 474 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,119 the highest paid inmate at the prison twenty cents an hour, 475 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:16,160 highest paid inmate. And then the next time mister Leggott 476 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:21,920 appears in the news was twenty eighteen, some thirteen years 477 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,000 after the article I just reference came out and cruxnow 478 00:31:26,119 --> 00:31:30,160 dot com put out an article and it was discussing 479 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:35,440 Billy Graham and the casket he was laid to rest in. 480 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,480 And I'll move to the aspect of the article that 481 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,519 is critical to our story today. It says, in nineteen 482 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:46,559 seventy seven, Chuck Colson, an evangelical Christian who had served 483 00:31:46,599 --> 00:31:50,160 prison time for obstruction of justice in the Watergate scandal 484 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:54,440 and who would become a national prison minister, visiting Angola 485 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,559 with Tex Reardon, who was associated with Graham and his 486 00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:02,359 worldwide evangelical crusade. Quote in the nineteen fifties, my mother 487 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,119 would send a check of five dollars every month to 488 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:07,839 Billy Graham, even though she was a school teacher and 489 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,720 my parents were poor. So I asked text Rid and 490 00:32:10,759 --> 00:32:13,279 if there was any way he could get Billy Graham 491 00:32:13,279 --> 00:32:16,000 to come here because the prison needed him. And he's 492 00:32:16,079 --> 00:32:21,400 referencing Angola. Not long after that, grandson Franklin visited Angola 493 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:23,640 and was so impressed that he set the wheels in 494 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,960 motion for the construction of two more chapels, one for 495 00:32:27,039 --> 00:32:31,640 the inmates and another for the employees of our little city. 496 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:35,519 Cain was quoted as saying they wanted their own people 497 00:32:35,559 --> 00:32:38,000 to come build it because it was a ministry for them. 498 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,680 Caine said they wanted the pews to be just old timey, 499 00:32:41,839 --> 00:32:44,319 so it would look like an old timey church. And 500 00:32:44,359 --> 00:32:47,759 he's referencing that the prisoners wanted to build it. They 501 00:32:47,759 --> 00:32:50,599 put an old bell in the top of the imposing steeple. 502 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,559 The bell came from a locomotive that holds sugar cane 503 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:57,480 around the eighteen thousand acre Angola plantation in the late 504 00:32:57,519 --> 00:33:00,720 eighteen hundreds before it became a prison that was larger 505 00:33:00,759 --> 00:33:04,599 than the Island of Manhattan. The Grahams wanted the steeple 506 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:06,640 to be tall enough so you could see the church 507 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:10,839 from death row. Caine said, during one of Franklin Graham's 508 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,920 visits to Angola, he walked into the prison museum and 509 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:17,119 saw an inmate made casket. He was overwhelmed by the 510 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:21,240 beauty and simplicity of the treated plywood. The white betting 511 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:25,480 for the inside of the coffins came from Walmart Morgan. 512 00:33:25,559 --> 00:33:28,519 Kine said, quote, he told me this is one my 513 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,200 dad would want to be buried in. It's so plain, 514 00:33:31,359 --> 00:33:34,599 but it's built by prisoners. We got to have these, 515 00:33:34,799 --> 00:33:38,920 Caine said. Franklin Graham ordered six coffins, including one for 516 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,039 his father and his wife, Ruth, who died in two 517 00:33:42,119 --> 00:33:47,559 thousand and seven. Three inmates, Richard Grasshopper, Leggett Clarence Quote, 518 00:33:47,599 --> 00:33:52,480 mister Bud Wilkerson, and David Bacon had the special assignment. 519 00:33:52,599 --> 00:33:55,440 Of the three, only Bacon is still alive. He was 520 00:33:55,519 --> 00:33:59,480 paroled in December of twenty twelve. Quote. They would pray 521 00:33:59,599 --> 00:34:02,200 before they started every day and asked that God would 522 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,319 anoint their work, because this was a very serious thing 523 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,440 to them. Caine said, Billy Graham was a human. He 524 00:34:09,559 --> 00:34:12,360 wasn't God, but he was one of the godliest humans 525 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:15,599 on earth. They took it very seriously and it was 526 00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:20,320 a reverent operation. At Franklin Graham's request, the three inmates 527 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,119 would burn their names into the outside of each casket. 528 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,119 Graham was laid to rest on March second. In that 529 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,440 end Goola Coffin after lying for two days in the 530 00:34:30,599 --> 00:34:35,920 US capital Rotunda. Cain said, the convergence of sacred circumstances, 531 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,159 how Graham and faith brought peace to Angla, and how 532 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,599 Inngola brought peace to the Graham family leaves him a 533 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:43,559 most speechless. 534 00:34:43,679 --> 00:34:44,039 Speaker 1: Quote. 535 00:34:44,119 --> 00:34:46,679 Speaker 2: If my mother in Heaven knows what's going on down here, 536 00:34:47,039 --> 00:34:50,960 she would be proud because she wrote those little five 537 00:34:51,039 --> 00:34:56,039 dollars checks. It influenced her son to like Billy Graham. 538 00:34:56,159 --> 00:34:59,840 Kine said, she led me in that direction. While because 539 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,719 of ill health, Graham never could visit Angola came send 540 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,840 him a key to one of Ngola's oldest cells. A 541 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,039 few years ago, Kane traveled to the mountains of North 542 00:35:10,039 --> 00:35:12,920 Carolina to offer his thanks for all that Graham and 543 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,440 his son and made possible at Angola. 544 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:16,119 Speaker 1: Quote. 545 00:35:16,199 --> 00:35:18,960 Speaker 2: I got to spend the afternoon with him, and he said, 546 00:35:19,159 --> 00:35:21,840 I pray for you every day, and my nurse can verified. 547 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,000 And then he took out the key and he said, 548 00:35:25,199 --> 00:35:27,320 every day I have a devotional and I hold the 549 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:29,880 key you gave me in my hand, and I pray 550 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,280 for you, and I pray for your prison. No wonder 551 00:35:33,679 --> 00:35:41,800 we were successful. Cain said, So how about that this 552 00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:45,159 guy and you can never take away from the crime 553 00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:50,400 he committed brutally killing two elderly people, shooting them in 554 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:55,000 the face. But even in prison, he ended up not 555 00:35:55,039 --> 00:35:59,199 only finding a talent and putting it to good use, 556 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:05,960 making all these coffins for prison inmates, becoming really probably 557 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,960 the best ever in carpentry at Angola, the highest paid 558 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:14,159 prisoner in Angola, but also made a coffin for And 559 00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,880 I would agree with this. One of the most godliest humans, 560 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:21,199 if not the godliest human of all time. In the 561 00:36:21,199 --> 00:36:28,800 Reverend Billy Graham unbelievable. And as I mentioned in that article, 562 00:36:29,159 --> 00:36:33,480 Richard Leggott did pass away. He was fifty five years old. 563 00:36:33,639 --> 00:36:38,639 He passed away in two thousand and seven, and I'll 564 00:36:38,679 --> 00:36:43,960 read you just his short obituary. It says Richard Lee Leggett, 565 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:47,679 fifty five passed away Wednesday, March twenty first of two 566 00:36:47,679 --> 00:36:51,360 thousand and seven after a long illness. Services were held 567 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,719 at Miller Funeral Home on Saturday, March twenty fourth. Richard, 568 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:59,559 or quote Grasshopper, as he was known by his many friends. 569 00:36:59,599 --> 00:37:03,159 Everyone worked with wood and leather most of his life. 570 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,440 His hand crafted works would be cherished by many people. 571 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:11,320 Survivors include two brothers, John of Wichita, Kansas and Bill 572 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:15,360 of Newton, Kansas, one sister, Joyce of El Dorado, and 573 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,960 one grandson, Chris Lee. He is survived by several nieces 574 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:22,639 and nephews and lou Flowers. Donations may be made to 575 00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:27,400 the Richard Lee Leggett Memorial Fund care of the Hospice 576 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:32,360 Program in Gola, Louisiana. So there you have it. I 577 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:35,840 just find that to be very interesting A story I 578 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:39,199 came across as I was working on the story that 579 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,679 I told you last week about Bones, So if you 580 00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:45,760 haven't heard that one yet, check it out. Thank you 581 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:49,039 so much for listening. Check out the Patreon for commercial, 582 00:37:49,039 --> 00:37:53,960 free early releases, and until next time, I'm Jim Chapman 583 00:37:54,039 --> 00:37:57,639 for Bloody Angla, a podcast one hundred and forty two 584 00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:01,360 years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest 585 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:03,280 present peace. 586 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:30,280 Speaker 1: A Wall Street line, Shackle Chaine, Oh gluesome girdie, it's 587 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:36,760 calling my name. There is no mercy and this being 588 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:44,760 a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three. 589 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:57,800 I'm here by me to die inside these walls, inside 590 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:12,280 the wild. And when the walks, I'm know it's overbody Angler, 591 00:39:15,199 --> 00:39:18,639 ohbody Angle.