Prisoner Identified by Prints On Application for Relief Funds
By ERIC WENTWORTH
. Mail Tribune Staff wriier
Glenn Landis has worked
with his bands for most of
his 64 years. Today he was
fin a jail cell, betrayed by
Mi is fingerprints.
L a n d i s convicted mur
derer and model citizen--has
gone by the name of Jessie
Glenn Sandoval since the Sat
urday afternoon in 1935
when be walked away from
an honor prison farm in Ohio
and started west. He had been
serving a life sentence.
; "I got sick of staying there
and not having any hope," he
recalled in the Jackson coun-
ty jail Friday afternoon.
After his escape from the
prison farm, Landis said, he
had many jobs cabinet ma
ker, barber, garage mechanic,
logger, woodcutter, farm
hand, ranch hand, railroad
section hand, trapper, shep
herd. Town Marshal
He laid he once was town
marshal of tiny Juntura in
eastern Oregon, and later
was postmaster in Crane,
another small Oregon town.
- Since coming to the Rogue
valley in 1948, he has worked
for the city of Medford sev
eral summers as custodian
and night watchman at the
. Hawthorne park swimming
pool.
It was poor health, hamper
ing his chances for a job,
which led to the discovery of
Landis's double life.
Several, years ago, he suf
fered a stroke which- left him
spechless for a 'fortnight.' Its
marks are still apparent in
his .weakened body and the
slanted line of his mouth.
Has Heart Attack
After a severe heart attack
early this summer, he applied
for relief funds from both
Jackson county and the vet
erans' administration. He had
to use his original as well as
his assumed name in the appli-
. cation for federal assistance,
since it involved his military
service record back in World
War I.
But the crucial factor on
this application was the fin-
; gerprint requirement. The
federal bureau of "nvestiga
tion is most efficient when it
comes to matching them.
Landis is missing the tips
: of his left thumb and left in
dex finger. He says tliey were
; blown off by a blasting cap
when he was four years old.
The other fingers, however,
were enough for the FBI.
Ohio authorities were noti
fied. -.
Medford police received a
telegram Thursday afternoon
from 'the superintendent of
the London, Ohio prison farm
whence Landis had escaped
' 24 years ago. He was wanted
as a fugitive, and believed to
be living at 1006 Sunset ave.
here. The telegram gave his
name as "LANDIS GLENN,"
When the" patrolmen ar
rived at 1006 Sunset ave. that
'evening, Ed Knapp met them
at the door. No, he knew no
one by the name of "Landis
Glenn."
Coach at Crater ,
To Knapp, coach and physi
cal educator instructor at
Crater High school and to
his wife, Doris, and to their
three daughters the man
who had shared their board
for over 11 years was Jessie
Glenn Sanioval.
Mrs.; Knapp, however, re
called that he had mentioned
the name "Landis" in con
nection with his family. The
Knapps notified the police
station, , and . Landis went
down valuntarily and told his
story.
"He's a model citizen as far
as I'm concerned," Mrs.
Knapp -said quite emphatical
ly Friday.. "We still think of
him as just like one of the
family." .
She recalled that they first
met Landis in Crane while
he was postmaster at the
fourth class post office there
in the mid-1940sl Landis him
self, remembers having con
structed the house the
Knapps lived in.
Fish, Hunt Together
They became friends, and
Knapp and Landu fished and
hunted. together. On one trip
they bagged an elk.
In 1947 the Knapps moved
to Gold Hill, where he be
came athletics coach at' the
high school then existing
there. In Sept., 1948 Landis
joined them. Since that time,
according to Mrs. Knapp, "He
has always been with us."
In the summer of 1950,
Knapp became superintend
ent of Medford's new swim
ming pool in Hawthorne
park. The following summer,
Landis was first employed
there as custodian.
Aside from this job and oc
casional stints at Pinnacle
Orchards and Ross Lumber
company, Landis said, he was
not regularly employed. How
ever, the Knapps had a ranch
Post Office Clerks
Get Certificates
Claude Allen and Boyd
Kline, clerks in the finance
section of the Medford post
office, last week received cer
tificates of merit, and cash
awards for superior service
to the public and to the post
office department.
Allen and Kline were as
signed the task of getting all
post office boxes at the Med
ford office rented, as many
were not in service due to
lost keys and other reasons.
Every box at the Medford of
fice is, now rented," giving
better service to the public
and increasing revenue to the
post office department.
. The certificates of merit
were signed by Samuel G.
Schwartz, regional operations
director for the post office
department, and were accom
panied by letters of commen
dation. ' '
The Medford postmaster
has received numerous com
pliments from patrons of the
office on the courteous and ef
ficient manner in which both
men perform, their duties..
Lake County Fire
Covers 1,250 Acres
Lakeview - flJPD - A Lake
county forest and brush fire
which broke out Friday morn
ing covered some 1,250 acres
by the time it was trailed
shortly before noon Saturday,
according to national forest
service fire dispatcher C. A.
Waterhouse.
About 160 men with equip
ment were still working on
the fire early Saturday after
noon, he said.
Planes carrying borate so
lution were reported still
making bombing runs over
the flames, although the fire
was controlled: mostly in
brush. "
for several years, and as a
handy man there and more,
recently at their Medford
home he has, earned his bed
and board.
'Perfect Baby Sitter'
i F.?r their three daughters,
Mrs. Knapp stated, Landis
was always "a perfect baby
sitter and a perfect com
panion." At their Sunset ave. ad
dress, Landis lived in a small
room formed 'by plasterboard
partitions in the Knapps' ga
rage. He read Westerns and
watched television. He had
been working on a wooden
canopy for their pickup
truck, in anticipation of the
fall hunting season, when his
past caught up witli him.
"I felt I was far enough
away from them that nothing
would ever come here to find
me," he remarked in the jail
Friday.
According to police rec
ords, Landis was born April
3, 1895 in Copley, Ohio. He
himself gave this account of
his life:
Makes Wooden Gears
His father made wooden
gears for wagons. His mother
died when he was one year
old, and his father remarried,
he had one sister and two
brothers, none of whom so far
as he knows are still alive
He remembers receiving a
lot of whippings" from ' his
father or stepmother,,, some
times with a maple r tree
switch and others with a pony
whip
Landis went to school until
the eighth grade, and then
ran away from home.
"One time my dad started
to whip me for something
I hadn't done," he recalled.
"I tore the. whip, out of his
hands. He backed off and
just looked at me. He didn't
know what to do." Then Lan
dis left home.
Unloads Corn
. .He talked a man he saw
unloading corn into giving
him work in exchange for a
bed and meals, and stayed
with the man and his family
for about four years. After
that he went to live with his
sister for a while.
Landis has a tattoo on his
left forearm the insignia of
Company F of the 146th In
fantry regiment. He said his
.' :- . : ' ' - '
GLENN LANDIS
Murderer, Model Citizen
Little Rock Bombing
Appea rs Cleaned U p
WINS CHAMPION
Salem - Zoe Bauerfeind of
the Silver Star Pony ranch,
Williams, showed the junior
champion stallion in the Welsh
ponies class at the Oregon
State Fair last week.
Little Rock (UPD-Police Chief
Gene Smith said Saturday
that the Little Rock bombing
case appears to be cleaned "up
with the arrests of five men.
But be vowed that if further
investigation involved more
suspects he'd "make 50 ar
rests" if necessary. 1
Charges against the five men
arrested in the' case were filed
late Friday by Pulaski Coun
ty Prosecuting Attorney J.
Frank Holt. He-said he would
ask for arraignment of the five
early this week and trial as
soon as possible.
One of the five, J. D. Sims,
35, confessed to police he was
involved in the planting of the
explosives. He said he did not
want his 11-year-old daughter
"to go to school with niggers."
Free on Bond .. . -j
Another. of the five, E. 'A.
Lauderdale Sr., was free on
$50,000 bond from a munici
pal court charge when the cir
cuit court charges were filed.
Five hours later the sheriff's
office said he still had not
been picked up under a bench
warrant issued by Holt. 1
The municipal court bond is
not valid before the circuit
court. .
Lauderdale, 49, a building
supply dealer; Jesse R. Perry,
24, a truck driver, land Sipis,
also a truck d r i v'e r, .were
charged twice. They were ac
cused of dynamiting the Little
Rock school board building
and a city-owned station wag
on used by . Fire Chief Gann
Nalley. '
Sent Firemen
Nalley sent firemen to help
police break up a demonstra
tion near integrated Central
High school Aug. 12.
Samuel G. Beavers, 48, a
car salesman, and John T. Cog
gins, 39, a carpenter at the
state hospital, were charged
with setting off a blast at the
private office of Mayor Wer
ner Knoop.
. .Holt said Beavers and Cog
gins were also involved in a
plan to set off a fourth explo
sion, at tne private office of
Letcher Langord, a member of
the city manager board.
SIP NOT
York, Maine-flJPD-The Maine
Department of Health and
Welmare, says Maud Muller's
spring, made famous by John
Greenleaf Whittier"s poem, is
no longer fit to drink from.
miltary service during World The man's appendix had rup-
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War I consisted of recruiting
duties in his native Ohio.
It was about a year and a
halafter his discharge from
the Army that Landis had
what he . calls his "trouble."
But before that, there was
a lawsuit.- This, as he de
scribed it, occurred while he
was working on a farm. He
shot a neighbor's dog that
had repeatedly trespassed on
the farm and had killed
chickens. The neighbor sued,
and lost.
Receives Threats
After the: abortive suit,
however, Landis received
threats from the neighbor,
whom he described as a "Vir
ginian." He took to carrying
a six-shooter for self-defense.
One moonlit night he was
walking home - from town
when a wagon approached.
In it were five or six "Vir
ginians." They saw him, and
the wagon stopped;
. "When they got out of the
wagon," Landis related, "I
pulled my gun. They got
back in and took off."
The "trouble" -itself : in
volved a woman. He was
about 18 years old at the
time. She was several years
older, married and had v two
children. ' -
She and her husband had
invited Landis to visit them.
He had enly seen her once,
two or three years before.
He eventually accepted the
invitation, and went to their
home in Rittman, Ohio. He
stayed about two months, and
during that time while the
husband worked every night
at a mill, Landis said, he and
the woman became intimate.
"The longer it went the worse
it got," he recalled."
Her Idea to Kill
It was her idea, he asserted,
that they kill her husband be
fore he found them out. But,
he admitted, ' he himself
"pulled the trigger."
"She just wrapped me
around her-little finger," he
said. "Anything she said I
did."
. Both were arrested, and
tried. She was acquitted, Lan
dis commented, because she
had "good lawyers who made
out I was lying."
He himself was ,". found
guilty of first degree murder,
and received a life sentence.
He said he occasionally heard
news of her through prison
guards,, but did not try to
communicate. Nor did he try
to find' her, he added, after
his escape. . ,
After more than two dec
ades i in the ancient prison in
Columbus, Ohio, Landis was
transferred to the honor farm
at London.
Unable to Get Hearing
He said he was never able
to gain a hearing before the
parole board. "Then one Sat
urday afternoon I just walked
off the farm."
-Landis' story of his escape
is a saga in itself.
He reached the Ohio river
by hitch-hiking and train, and
there bought a "river skiff,
called a "John boat." With no
river experience at all, and
with homemade oars and a
homemade sail, he set out
downstream. The current
swept him, along at a brisk
8 miles per hour.
After a while, he saw a
large building on a hill,
where men began waving and
shouting to him. As the men
ran down the hill to the riv
ers' edge, . he saw that - his
boat was heading for a low
dam. He jerked the sail down,
sat grimly in the stern and
steered his boat right for it.
The bow of the boat shot out
into space as the rushing wat
er fell away four feet below,
butane more heavily-weighted,
stern lodged on the lip of
the dam. There he remained
until the men from shore
could rescue him in another
vessel. .
Continued Down River
He continued down the ri
ver toward Cincinnati and
then sold the boat. In the
freight yards in Cincinnati,
he made friends with another
man who said he knew the
way West. ...
And so Landis' long chain
of odd jobs began, as the pair
working as farm hands and
later laying railroad track
made their way across
country.
'"We had a rule, to always
have money in our pockets
while traveling," he recalled.
He explained this was to pre
vent being picked up for vag
rancy and also "so we didn't
feel like bums." Except when
he was traveling, he added,
he had jobs "all the time."
With his friend and with
others, he worked in Mon
tana, Washington and eventu
ally Oregon. One time in Ore
gon, he said, . he . saved a
man's life.
About 10 pjn. one night, a
companion was stricken with
acute appendicitis. Local doc
tors : took no interest, and
said ihey would see him at
10 the next morning.
In desperation, although,
he said, he had never jdriven
a car before, Landis got be
hind the wheel and drove at
speeds up to 55 miles per
hour to the nearest veterans'
hospital at Boise, Idaho.
turea - oy tne time tney ar
rived, but he lived through it.
Becomes . Shepherd .'
Landis went to" . Nyssa,
where he became a shepherd
responsible for a band of
2,000 sheep. After the sheep
were eventually taken to
market, however, he . came
down with a case of spotted
fever.
He recuperated on a ranch
where he cooked for the
hands and later hunted, and
then worked as a railroad ses-
tion hand ti or two years. One
winter, he trapped muskrat
and mink. . "
It was in Juntura that he
became a barber, after pass
ing the . barber examination
in Portland. And it was here,
Landis said, that he was ap
pointed town marshal and
served in that capacity for a
year and a half.
Later, a woman with a
ranch near Crane sold him
about 20 acres rf bottom land
and he worked for her. On a
hunting trip, a friend who
owned, a garage in Crane ac
cidently shot and 'killed him
self when he ' used his rifle
to keep from sliding down a
sand hill, Landis recalled.
From ' this man's widow, he
acquired the garage, which he
ran until urged to be post
master in 1944.
Distinguishes Himself
He also distinguished him
self in Crane by his cabinet
work, including several
knotty-pine desks which he
sold. And here he met the
Knapps.
"I've tried to make up for
my mistake," Landis said
Friday in reviewing his past,
"I've always paid my debts."
He wept occasionally in the
course of the interview, espe
cially when told that he had
friends who would be stick
ing up for. him.
Express Pity
r Several persons at the
Medford police station and in
the courthouse expressed pity
for him, and commented that
they thought little if anything
would be gained if he were
to be imprisoned anew this
late in his life. v
A law official from Ohio
was expected to arrive here
this week end to assume cus
tody of him-and to t-ansport
him back to that state for le
gal action.
The future of Glenn Lan
dis at this moment, .then,
rests on the scales of justice.
But- one thing is certain.
Thanks to a set of finger
prints, Jessie Glenn Sandoval
(the name of a fellow prisoner
in Ohio, which he assumed
after escaping because, as he
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