May 15, 2025

The Coffin Maker: Grasshopper

The Coffin Maker: Grasshopper
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Season 7

In this episode of “Bloody Angola Podcast” Jim Chapman explores Lloyd Leggett's transformation from a 1971 murderer to a skilled coffin maker in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Chapters
01:56 The Horrific Crime of Lloyd Leggett
02:31 Investigation and Arrests
10:18 Indictments and Sentencing
13:34 The Escape Attempt
18:04 Richard Leggett's Transformation
24:12 The Coffin Maker of Angola
31:13 Legacy

For Louisiana Local Advertising inquiries or to book appearances please email BloodyAngola@gmail.com

WEBVTT

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M M A Wall Street line, shackle change, Oh doesome girdy,

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it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's

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been a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three.

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Come here be by me to die inside these walls,

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inside the wild and when the girls as I.

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast

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one and forty two years in the making, the complete

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story of America's bloodiest prison. I'm Jim Chapman, and today

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I'm going to tell you about an inmate at Angola

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who really became famous for his good deeds while he

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was incarcerated at Angola and his amazing talent and wait

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until we get into that. But what Lani inside the

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wire was just a horrible crime. And he was an

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inmate who had the nickname at Angola Grasshopper. His name

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he was born with was Lloyd Leggott. Now, I did

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a lot of research on this one, and I came

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across some newspaper articles from his actual crime when they occurred,

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the manhunt for Lloyd Leggott and also the capture of

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not only Grasshopper but his accomplice, and all this occurred

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in the nineteen seventies, over fifty years ago. There's actually

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a pretty interesting attempted escape that we're going to get into.

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So the way I'm going to do this one today

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is I'm going to reference those articles that I came across,

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and I'm going to kind of take you through time

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with this guy. And I promise you when we get

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to what he did with his life inside Angola, you're

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probably gonna be surprised like I was. And I'll start

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off by refer and seeing an article that was written

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in the News Digest, which was an a Meet City,

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Louisiana newspaper where this crime occurred in This article was

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dated March thirty first of nineteen seventy one, and the

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headline said Arcola couple shot to death last rites to

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be held today. A Tangibahoa parish man and his wife

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were shot to death during an apparent robbery Monday night

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in the grocery store they operated near Arcola. Sheriff Frank

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Edwards reported today Milton and Cora Davidson, both sixty two,

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were slain about six thirty pm in their store three

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miles from Arcola. The couple were found by a young

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man who came into the store shortly after the robbery

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slash murder. Davidson was found just behind the cash register,

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which was open and empty. Miss Davidson was found shot

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about five feet away from him at the end of

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the counter. Davidson, who was shot once in the head

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above the left eye, died some fifteen minutes after arriving

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at Charity Hospital in Independence. Miss Davidson was pronounced dead

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on arrival at the hospital. She was shot just below

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the nose. Both victims were shot with a twenty two

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caliber gun. The bullets have been recovered and ballistics tests

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are being made on those bullets. There was no sign

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of a struggle. Technicians from the State Police crime Lab

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were dispatched to the scene to search for clues. Roadblocks

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were set up on highways in the area. Mister and

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Miss Davidson lived in rooms behind the grocery store. The

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bodies were at Mount Nebo Baptist Church at six pm

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Tuesday night, with services at the church at two pm Wednesday.

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They were both natives of this area, So let me

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explain this were real quick a meet city Louisiana in

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the early seventies, very small town stuff like that just

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did not happen in that area, and these were elderly people,

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very well known in the community, entrepreneurs, store owners, so

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everybody that was in that area went to that store.

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They were just very well liked people and killed pretty brutally,

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shot in the face. And the police at this time

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did not have much to go on. All they had

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was spent shellcasings. And on April seventh of nineteen seventy one,

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there was sort of an update that came out on

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the Tangi Talk, which is another paper in that area,

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and it said investigation continues in Davidson Slang. Captain Charles

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Bender of the Tangibahoa Pairs Sheriff's Department said that the

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investigation was continuing into the slaying of mister and miss

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Milton Davidson, who were killed at their store on Our

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Cola Road. Mister Davidson lived for some fifteen minutes after

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being taken to the hospital and Miss Davidson was conscious

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when she was found.

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Quote.

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We are continuing to track down leads and the investigation

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is pending. The couple was found shot to death at

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their store on Our Cola Road. Both had been shot

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with a twenty two caliber gun. They were found last

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Monday night about six point thirty pm by a young

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man who came into the store shortly after the shooting.

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He ran into the highway stopped a car to go

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for assistance after hearing Miss Davidson's call for help. Davidson,

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who was shot above the left eye, died about fifteen

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minutes after being taken to the hospital. Miss Davidson had

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been shot just below the nose. So at that point

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in time, they're investigating it, but they don't have a

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whole lot of leads that the public knows about. They

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apparently did have more leads than they were letting out,

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which is typical. And on April eighth of nineteen seventy one,

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two men from Kansas were actually charged with the murder

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of the Davidsons, and the News Digest had this article.

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Two men from Kansas have been charged with the murder

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and robbery of mister and Miss Milton Davis, it was

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announced by Sheriff Frank Edwards Junior. A second robbery murder

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in kidnapping in Kansas led to the arrest April second

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of Richard Lee Leggett, nineteen of Newton, Kansas and Dwight

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Martin Kafka twenty nine of Hutchinson, Kansas. They are charged

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in Kansas with the slaying of James Leo Armer of

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Little River, Kansas, father of thirteen children, the robbery of

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the man he farmed four so apparently one of these

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guys worked for the guy they ended up robbing and

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the kidnapping of five members of the Wayne Ludstrom family.

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Armer was slain with a twenty two caliber pistol. The

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Davidsons were both killed with the twenty two caliber at

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close range about six thirty five pm on March twenty

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ninth at their store. In About two hundred dollars was

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taken from the cash register. Since that time, Edwards had

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had his deputies working day and night on the case.

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He sent ballistic bullets all over the United States, and

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it was one of them which led the Kansas Bureau

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of Investigation to send bullets from the twenty twos in

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the possession of the accused pair to a meet ballistic

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experts at the Louisiana State Crime Lab and Battinary said

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the bullet from one of the guns was fired from

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the same one which killed the Davidsons. The other bullet

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recovered during the autopsy was so mishappened that further examination

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was necessary. Last week, Edwards and Captain Charles Binder went

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to Kansas to talk with the pair. They obtained signed

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statements from both which admitted to the Rcola slags. Wards

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and District Attorney Leonard Yoakum would call a special session

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of the grand jury to indict them, and that Tangibahoe

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Parish would begin extradition proceedings to return them to Louisiana

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to stand trial immediately after they are tried in Kansas.

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Leggett and Kafka had left Kansas on March twenty seventh

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to go into the counterfeity business. Actually considered that a

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business in California, they said. In Austin, Texas. They headed east,

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going to Baton Rage, then back to a meet, and

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on to Arcola, where the killings took place. In Bugalusa,

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they stopped to get something to eat. They went east

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through Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, where they abandoned the car,

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a Blue nineteen sixty four Ford, before returning to Kansas

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on a bus. Leggott had been in reform school. He

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had been born at Fort Polk, but since the age

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of four had not been in Louisiana. He is six

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foot three and a half. Kaffa is six foot two

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and has never been to Louisiana before. On February fifteenth,

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he had been released from Kansas State Penitentiary after serving

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a sentence for burglary. So they have these two guys

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and again April twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, they were

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charged end of getting these confessions, they get signed to

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confessions at that and on May twenty sixth, nineteen seventy one,

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the next update from the Tangi Talk and it says

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Kansas pair indicted in Tangibihoi slangs. Richard Lee Leggett and

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Dwight Kafka, both of Kansas, were indicted here Thursday by

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a Tangy Parish grand jury for the March twenty ninth

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murder of an Arcola couple. The accused pair was also

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indicted for the armed robbery of mister and Miss Milton

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Davison at their rural grocery store. Leggott and Kafka are

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in jail in Lions, Kansas, where they are charged with

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a murderer in kidnapping. Attorney Leonard Yoakum said he is

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anticipating extradition papers. The Davidsons were found dead shortly after

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they were robbed. Sheriff Frank Edwards said in announcing the

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arrest of the pair last month that Leggett and Kafka

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have been traced to Kansas, into Texas, through Louisiana, and

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on to Tennessee before they both returned to Kansas. Both

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have signed statements related to the killing in tangebaho A Parish,

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so they get indicted, and on February fourth of nineteen

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seventy two, these guys got sentenced, and Morning World in

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Monroe brought this article. It says two Kansas men were

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each sentenced to double terms of life in prison here

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Thursday in the murder of an elderly or Cola couple

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at their grocery store. Last March, Richard Leggatt twenty of Newton,

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Kansas and Dwight Cafke twenty nine of Hutchinson, Kansas were

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given double life sentences plus thirty years in prison for

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armed robbery of mister and Miss Milton Davidson. Last October,

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Leggatt and Cafke pleaded innocent by reason of insanity under

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state law, a person is allowed to please a sanity.

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Hearing was held for them Thursday in State District Court.

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Three physicians testified, and Judge Grover Covington ruled the pair,

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saying Legat and Cafke then consulted with their lawyers and

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changed their pleas to guilty to the armed robbery and

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guilty without capital punishment to the murder. So they cut

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a deal there. They said, hey, we're not going to

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execute you if you plead guilty. They also waived delay

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in sentencing. The judge ruled the sentences or to be

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served concurrently with any sentences previously imposed. This means the

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two men will be returned to Kansas, where they had

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been sentenced in the death of a Little River, Kansas man.

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He was killed less than a week after the Davidsons

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were shot to death. On March twenty ninth, nineteen seventy one,

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Leggott was convicted and sentenced in the Little River incident

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to fifteen years to life and five years to life

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on several kidnapp charges. CAFKEI had been sentenced to life

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in prison. If pardoned or paroled, they must return to

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Louisiana to serve any remaining time in the Davidson deaths.

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So at that point they have to go to Kansas.

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And this is where it gets really muddy, because judging

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by what I read in that article, I'm thinking they're screwed.

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They're in Kansas for the rest of their life. But

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Legott did make his way to end Gola shortly after.

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The trail just kind of falls off as to why,

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but I'll tell you. On October eleventh, off nineteen seventy eight,

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an article was put out by the Miami Herald, and

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it tells a story of an escape attempt or an

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accused escape attempt by Richard Leggett. And I'm just going

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to read you this article. It says he would there

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the whole time. So since he never had escaped, it

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was difficult for Richard Leggett to explain the escape conviction

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on his criminal record. The Louisiana Supreme Court has rectified

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the situation, reversing Leggott's escape conviction by ruling there was

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no evidence he left Angola State Penitentiary. Leggott failed to

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show up for his work assignment one morning in nineteen

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seventy seven, and after a day long search, was found

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curled up with a novel and lying on a pillow

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inside a conveyor machine in the prison cannery. Leggott eventually

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was indicted and convicted of simple escape. He was sentenced

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to an extra four years in jail. In the five

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to two decision, the court said Legott might be subject

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to prison discipline rules for the episode, but nothing more so.

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He appealed an accusation of escape in his I guess

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point there, what it sounds like to me was he

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technically never escaped. He was on in Goola property the

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whole time. And then I dug a little deeper. I

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came across an appeal that the state had issued, and

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I'm just going to read that to you. It says

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defendant was legally committed to the State Penitentiary at Angola

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on February third, nineteen seventy two. He was assigned to

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a dormitory in the Medium Security Complex area. In addition,

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defendant was assigned to the work in the prison's tag

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plant making license plate shall. The record also reflects that

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the prior start of the workday, inmates have the option

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to leave the dormitory, go to the kitchen area for breakfast,

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or remain in the dormitory, whether they remain in the

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dormitory or depart for breakfast. Inmates are required to report

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to their job assignment no later than eight o'clock am.

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The inmates, whether in the dormitory, kitchen area, or at

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their work assignment or the responsibility of the prison officer

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assigned to the particular area or building. The inmates may

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be excused from any of their work assignments or assigned

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areas on various quote callouts example attorney callouts, hospital callouts, visits,

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education callouts, and classification callouts. We note also that inmates

233
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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
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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
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prison since the seventies for killing a thirteen year old girl.

278
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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
Quote.

535
00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:46.679
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
Quote.

545
00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:18.960
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
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.