Frank Sawyer
50 years in prison ended
Kansan Staff Writer
By TED ILIFF
LANSING — With cautious shuffle of an old man. Frank Sawyer walked out the front door of the Kansas State Penitentiary Thursday, ending a 30-year term for a crime he didn't commit.
Slightly hard of hearing, squinting from the television lights. Sawyer fielded the questions with surprising candor.
WASHINGTON-In its first such action since 1803, the House has passed a proposed 26th constitutional amendment to allow presidential elections by a direct vote of the people.
Before the 70 year old convict could walk away from Lansing, he had to face a press conference.
"I've been a criminal all my life." Sawyer admitted. "I may not have robbed the Fort Scott bank, but I held up quite a few before I was arrested."
Haynsworth challenged
Although the proposal's future in the Senate is uncertain, the unexpectedly large margin by which it passed the House Thursday—339 to 70—gave it a new momentum.
Sawyer added that at the time of his arrest he and the three men arrested with him were actually planning a bank robbery.
House votes amendment
WASHINGTON—A civil rights spokesman called today for defeat of judge Clement F. Haynsworth's nomination to the Supreme Court on grounds Haynsworth supports "the cause of segregation."
"We were trying to figure out our getaway from the Rich Hill, Mo., bank when a detective and four policemen broke in on us. They caught us fair and square." Sawyer said.
UDK News Roundup
"They had a job to do and they thought they were doing it," he surmised. He implied, however, that he didn't understand why it took 30 years to get the job done right.
SAIGON—The Army has released the two lowest ranking Special Forces soldiers involved in the Green Beret murder case pending a decision on whether they will be tried, a military spokesman said today.
Joseph L. Rauh Jr., counsel for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a coalition of civil rights groups, questioned Haynworth's rulings on controversial civil rights cases.
He regretted his life as a criminal, he said. "I got into crime for a fast buck. My father knew about it, but he trusted me too much. I wish he had been more strict. I'd like to do it all differently. I'd go to school and never stop."
By United Press International
Soviets plan border talks
MOSCOW—The Soviets today circulated an unconfirmed report that they will receive a top-level Communist Chinese delegation in Moscow within three weeks to discuss their border quarrel.
"No warden can run a prison without money. If the legislature would give him the money, he has the ability to use it properly."
Concerning the prison itself, Sawyer said it was better than some people say, despite the riots that occurred there June 16. He praised Warden Sherman Crouse as a "good man."
Even though Sawyer has spent 50 of his 70 years behind bars, he said he couldn't describe prison life to the newsmen. He told them they had to experience it to know what it is like.
The spokesman said CWO2 Edward M. Boyle, 26, of New York City, and Sgt. Alvin L. Smith, 41, of Naples, Fla., were freed Thursday night following a decision to hold charges against them "in abeyance" pending the trials of six Green Beret officers.
But now he has a clean bill. Today he is spending his second day as a free man in society.
Army frees two Berets
Sawyer was arrested in 1932 and convicted for robbing the Fort
There was no official confirmation of the report, which spread through Western and neutral embassies.
sas owed him something for 30 years of his life.
Scott Bank. He started serving his sentence a year later.
--disciplined for involvement in the disruption of a ROTC review at KU last spring.
Alvin Karpis, a former gangster of the 1930's sent an affidavit to Kansas Governor Robert Docking stating that he and five other men had robbed the Fort Scott bank. Sawyer was not in the group, Karpis said.
Sawyer said he wasn't bitter about the erroneous conviction, but said he felt the State of Kan-
Although he spent 50 years in prison (he served time in Oklahoma for killing a man), he said he didn't expect any great shock "on the outside."
Wednesday Docking granted a full pardon to Sawyer.
"I've taken a couple of trips in the last two months, so I know what things are like out there.
His traveling endurance was tested Thursday. His brother and two nephews arrived after the press conference to drive him to Odessa, Tex. There he will once again slip back into obscurity as a painter for a local contractor.
As he walked to the car, several inmates watched from the cell block windows. He said 300 inmates came to him Wednesday night to congratulate him. "Those boys are nice guys," he said.
Then he entered the car and started his trip to Odessa.
For the first time in 50 years Frank Sawyer was free.
80th Year, No.5
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Shultz is also chairman of the regular Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. It used subpoena powers to release the names of 21 students who were
Shultz' action rapped
TOPEKA (UPI)—A top-ranking Democratic legislator Thursday challenged the authority of a Kansas Legislative Council Committee to probe campus disorder.
Shultz is chairman of the council federal, state and local government committee. Loux said the group was ordered to study Reserve Officer Training Corps ROTC programs at state colleges but has expanded its authority to include campus disorders. The Democrat alleged the committee had no such authority.
State Rep. Richard C. "Pete" Loux, D-Wichita, house minority leader, was critical of the actions of a committee headed by state Sen. Reynolds Shultz, R-Lawrence. His comments came during a session of the 25-member council.
Fees bogged by addresses
Friday, Sept. 19, 1969
Registrar William L. Kelly said Thursday that fee statements have been mailed to all students. Many of the statements have been returned to his office because of incorrect or incomplete addresses. Students who have not received statements should go to Window No. 1 at the Registrar's office. 122 Strong, and pick them up. All fees must be paid by Sept. 24.
University officials had granted the students private hearings as is the custom and promised them their names would not be made public. The names of other students who had asked for public hearings were released.
Loux said Thursday if Shultz's council committee wanted to study campus disorders it should have asked the council for that specific authority. "They should
if they want to stay within the rules," he said.
Shultz was present in the council session. He defended his committee's action. The Lawrence senator said the disruption of the ROTC review was directly related to the group's study.
Shultz also presented a progress report on his committee's ROTC study. The group has already adopted a tentative recommendation to continue the programs at the four state colleges and universities which offer ROTC.
Photo by Ron Bishop
Mrs. Chalmers welcomed
Mrs. Nancy Sager, left, the Lawrence Welcome Wagon hostess, extended the city's civic and community welcome to Mrs. E. Laurence Chalmers Jr. Thursday morning at the chancellor's residence. Unlike the impromptu calls on most newcomers, the visit was scheduled, assuring enough time to acquaint Mrs. Chalmers with the civic and social organizations of Lawrence and to present her the many gifts from the Welcome Wagon basket given to all families new to Lawrence.
See related story page 12.