The Posse

0:05 H a wall street line, shackle change, Oh weesome, girdy, it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice as the huge stream game, a wrangle of three. Come here by me or die inside these walls, inside the wild and when no girl as I'm.

1:30 Hey, everyone, Welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast one hundred and forty two years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest prison. I'm Jim Chapman, and You've heard a lot of stories of the history of Louisiana State Penitentiary on this show, but the one I'm about to tell you today, I really came across on accident. I was doing some research on historic escapes and I came across one in particular in this may be one of the wildest escapes, definitely one of the most tragic in Louisiana State Penitentiary history that did not have to do with Charlotte Fraser. And so today I'm going to tell you about an inmate by the name of Wilford Lensley.

2:17 And I'm gonna start off by telling you what landed Wilford into Bloody Angola, and then what led up to what you're going to hear about within the meat of this story. So we're going to go back to nineteen thirty two, July eleventh, actually, and I'm going to reference an article from Shreveport, Louisiana. It's The Times newspaper from that day and it reads headline, jealous man slay's rival in gunfighting. Y'all know how these old articles read. You just can't beat them. Baton Reage, Louisiana, July eleventh. A charge of murder was filed late today against Wilford Lensley, a twenty four year old grocery clerk, in connection with the fatal shooting of Stanley Couvion, who was twenty one late Sunday night, in an altercation said to have grown out of jealousy. Get this over. A sixteen year old girl, Gilmour Couvion, cousin of the slain youth, was wounded in the shooting fray, but is reported recovering in the hospital.

3:24 The charge against Lensley, who disappeared after the shooting, following questions of witnesses by District Attorney John fred Odom, his assistant Fred S. LeBlanc, and police help of authorities over a widespread area. Was enlisted in an attempt to locate Lensley, described as a disappointed suitor who shot Stanley Cuvion in the heart when he found him in an automobile with Miss Alvida Piazza in a business district filling station, and then wounded Gilmour Cuvion station employee and the cousin of the girl's escort in the thigh. So they eventually catch Lindsey and he goes to trial, and he ends up taking a plea in which he pleads guilty. He gets a life sentence inside of bloody Angola in what newspapers were terming as a jealousy slang. Now at this time, it was February first of nineteen thirty three when he got that sentence handed down of life, and it's off to Angola for this young man. And apparently he didn't like prison too much. And it wasn't much longer after that when in late May of nineteen thirty six, absolute tragedy happens. And I'm going to reference another article. This is from the Saint Francisville Democrat. It was published on May thirtieth of nineteen thirty six. And it's important to note that a lot of these papers, they weren't daily papers, they were weekly papers or every three days or whatever.

4:57 So this isn't necessarily the date when this went down, but it was a date when it was printed in that particular paper. And at this point in time, Lendsey had been in prison for roughly four years. So it reads like this bloody tragedy on Angola. Captain and Miss Nelson Himel were killed by a trustee prisoner at their home Camp g in Gola State Farm late Wednesday afternoon. As of this writing, Wilford Lensley, twenty five years old, white convict is being sought as the slayer. There were no Whie witnesses to the tragedy, but it is thought from the circumstantial evidence that Miss Himel was stabbed to death and that Captain Himel was shot to death perhaps an hour or two later Miss Himel was killed. The double crime was not discovered until two shots were heard, these being responsible for the death of Captain Heimel, and y'all had spelled Himel, but it could be Email, which is a Cajun last name here, but that's tally spelled h y Nel, so we're gonna go with Himel fell aside Guidry. Trusty Cook at the Himl residence heard the shooting and came out to investigate. As he did so, Alfred held a gun on him and forced him to go with him to the camp. The two got into Captain Himmel's automobile and drove seven miles across the huge penitentiary form, going out the back gate, which leads into Wilkeson County, Mississippi. The automobile became bogged a mud and

6:28 was abandoned. The convicts became separated, and Guidry made his way back to the camp and furnished the only clue to the trail of the fugitive. Sheriff Wilcox was at Baton Rouge when news of the tragedy reached town, but he had left immediately for Angola. In the meantime, Deputy Sheriff ce Daniels summoned a posse and went and y'all that, yes, this is that time frame in the thirties. They got a posse together becuz they went to Angola to lead assistance in the manhunt. Penitentiary officials were already on the trail and were soon reinforced by twelve members of the State Bureau of Criminal Identification. The trail is being followed closely and it seems that it can only be a matter of hours until the fugitive is either captured or killed.

7:18 Parish Corner was on the scene early and immediately held an inquest. This revealed that Captain Himel had been shot twice, once in the head and once in the body, and that Miss Himel had been killed by stabbing. It was the belief that Miss Himmel was first stabbed and that Captain Himel was then shot. Miss Himel's body was found in the bathtub in the bathroom where the doors had been locked from the outside. Captain Himel was shot with his own rifle. Alfred Lindsay is about twenty five years old and was sent up from East Baton Rouge Parish for murder about four years ago, receiving a life sentence. This is the first trouble of this nature to occur on Angola in several months, and I guess that's a flex form and it does not seem to have been a part of an attempted escape, which is at the bottom of most trouble of this nature. On the prison form.

8:09 Several men have been killed on Angola in recent years when they tried to prevent escapes. However, Miss Himmel was the first woman to be killed on Angola in about twenty years. Miss Elkert, who was wife of the prison physician, was killed by a trustee house servant about twenty years ago, and that's interesting. I may do a story on that. At some point, Captain and Miss Himmel were held in the highest esteem by people of West Feliciana Parish and the personnel at Angola. Captain Himel had been long in the penitentiary service, first being attached to Hope Form near Generat. When this plantation was abandoned, he was transferred to Angola. He was out of the service for a while under the Long administration, and they're talking about Huey Long. But it was found his service was invaluable and he was reinstated, being assigned to one of the hard prisons on the farm.

9:01 Captain and Miss Himel rendered faithful and efficient service to the state and at the same time preserved independence of thought and action. William Wade's seventeen year old son of Miss E B. Wade, was shot and instantly killed by trustee guards. Thursday afternoon, Miss Wade sent her son to get something at a nearby store, telling him to hurry, and he ran. It is sad that the guards called upon him to halt. When he failed to do so, they shot him down. An accidental discharge of a gun by a member of the posse caused the wounding of two men. Just how seriously we have been unable to learn A veteran dog sergeant of the penitentiary and a foreman at Camp A were also shot. Friday morning, as the Democrat goes to Price, the hunt for the fugitive is still on the parishes being searched thoroughly. There are officers from different sections of the state, and many volunteers have joined in the hunt. So at this point in time been shot and killed because look, everybody's on fire.

10:03 This guy has escaped prison. And how about what I just told you, seventeen year old kid walking across the field. He starts running because his mom said hurry up, and they shoot him, I guess, assuming he is the escaped convict. And other shootings related to that guy's escape. So he's calls quite the bullshit and blooding and Gola at this point. So they're on the case. And another article comes out and it says huge posse pushes hunt for fugitive. More than one hundred men and fifteen bloodhounds tracking in Gola escape And I'm referencing this from the Times in Shreveport as well. More than one hundred armed men of foot and on horseback and fifteen bloodhounds with attendants today search for the underbrush of a densely wooded strip south of the state prison for Wilford Lensley, twenty three years old.

10:55 And if you notice every article, he's a different age. Back in those days, people have really no freaking clue how old you were. You just told them and they went by that. Nobody kept a good record of it. But I'll continue on twenty three year old escape lifer whose career has resulted in the slaying now of four persons and the wounding of three others. The dead Stanley Couvian killed in Baton Rouge by Lensley during a quarrel over a girl. That case which sent Lindsey to the state prison for life. Then it goes on Captain Nelson Himel and his wife of the penitentiary staff slaying in their home on the prison grounds Wednesday by Lensley before his escape for freedom. William Wade, a seventeen year old death farm youth, shot and killed by mistake yesterday by two prison guards, Jay Coover and Willie Green, who mistook him for the fugitive convict in the hunt. Those injured gs Cuvian, who is the cousin of Stanley Couvian who was shot. And it cuts off right there, unfortunately, but that gives you an idea of all these guys and one gal already in the bloodshed involved by the escape of this guy. I'm going to read you another article that came out, and this tells you how crazy the news was back in these days. Suspect is held as Louisiana fugitive. The State Guara of Identification said that a man is held in Texas, Canada, Texas, but was not Wilford Lensley. The bureau said the prisoner's height was given

12:28 as six feet two while Lensley was only five foot six inches. I would say that's a big difference there. Jim, did you see what happened in Texas today? Wait before you tell me that, let me tell you what happened in New York. It cannot be as crazy as the case I told you about yesterday in Louisiana. You know what, we should do a podcast about it. And with that we did. Crime War Weekly covers the crime news headlines that have dominated the week. We cover trending crimes from over the country and even sprinkle in a few globally. Crime War Weekly is available now wherever you listen to your podcasts. Simply by searching Crime Wire Weekly or clicking the link in the description of this podcast. A man police believed might possibly be Wilford Lensley, who escaped Wednesday from the Angola prison farm after killing a prison captain and his wife, was arrested and they're referencing just prior to finding out he wasn't the right guy in this particular section. Officers said he was otherwise uncommunicative. He was arrested while prowling through a residential section of the city and was taken a headquarters while officers communicated with the Baton Ridge and Angola authorities. The arrest was made near the Northwest Louisiana line, while a South Louisiana posse continued a wide hunt for Lensley,

13:58 twenty three, a lifetime who escaped from Angola Wednesday night after killing a captain and his wife. Peace officers led by bloodhounds were closing in on a wooden area about twelve miles east of here where this paper was printed today, in the belief that Wilford Linsley, twenty three year old convict who escaped the prison farm Wednesday night after killing two was hiding in a heavy underbrush in the vicinity. The hunt centered on a district approximately three square miles in the vicinity of a store in Saint Francisville. All but about sixty men in the huge posse that sought the fugitive yesterday were called back to the prison headquarters last night. The morning, fourteen fresh bloodhounds, followed by guards on horseback and a foot took up the trail again.

14:47 During the night, the guard searched trains passing through the area and continued to stop automobiles on the highway. Then, physicians reported that the condition of a guard who was critically shot. Tom Flew was accidentally shot during the hunt yesterday and he was critical but showed a slight improvement during the night. Charles McCrory another guard wounded when one of the man hunt party fired into the underbrush at what he thought was an escape. Desperado was reportedly to be resting comfortably. I mean, they're shooting at everybody. This is wild And why is this Because a lot of these possing members back in those days, they weren't police officers.

15:27 They had no training. They hunted, probably, but they had no training in anything. They were just out there and in something moved, they were shooting and killing it. A third unfortunate victim of the hunt, Willie Wade, seventeen, who was shot and killed by Jack Hoover and Willie Green, convict trustee guards at the penitentiary when he refused to hault at their command. He will be buried this afternoon. Prison officials reported that Hoover and Green had been brought back to the penitentiary and removed from duty. I would imagine so, but the opinion prevailed that the shooting was definitely an accident. Wild shit, right there, These guys shot and killed as innocent seventeen year old kid, and they're saying, eh, it was an accident. They shouldn't be punished for that.

16:13 A coroner's jerry reported He died from gunshot ones inflicted by Jack Hoover and Willie Green, convict trustee guards. And that's the other aspect of this. These weren't correctional officers like you have today. These were convict guards. And I've told you about this before when Wood he was hosting the show, he told you about it as well. These were convict trustee guards. Could you imagine these days giving a convict a shotgun and saying, here, you're in charge of all the other convicts, make sure that they don't escape. Just wild stuff back in the really bloody years of Bloody and Gola. But I'll continue on it, says his weeping mother said she did not blame those poor convict boys because they were doing what they thought was right of Officials said. The only motive they could discover which led Lensley to kill the captain and Miss Himmel, for whom he served as a yard boy, was because of his desire to escape, They said. Miss Himel had not been assaulted. Lensley was serving a life sentence for the killing and baton rouge of Stanley Couvion in an argument over a date with a young girl. Yeah, sixteen year old girl. Mind you, he was twenty plus at the time.

17:25 Two guards who killed the farm boy. They testified at the corner's inquest into his death. Green, a Negro guard, said he was on a cliff back of a brush pile when he saw the youth wearing clothing like that of the fleeing convict, coming down the road. Quote. I couldn't tell if he was the man we were hunting, and a hollered halt to him, Green testified. Quote, he started to run and reached to his back pocket and as he did, eye shot him. So there you have that man. You cannot make this up. And this is this is the true history of not only Angola prison, but this occurred pretty much nationwide at other prisons as well.

18:07 And speaking of trustee guards at Angola, there was actually somehow I came across this article from July one of nineteen thirty six where they interviewed a trustee guard and he seemed to have wrote his own It was almost like an opinion article in this paper. This was the Times Shreport, and I'm gonna read it to you. It says, in Gola, Louisiana, when the free guards put me out of the truck, and he's writing this from his point of view at Post number two on the Saint Francisville Angola Highway. Wednesday night, I took up my station in the woods a short distance from the highway. And again this is a trustee lifer at Angola. They give him a shotgun. They say, help us hunt this guy that escaped prison, and they drop him off right outside the gates looking for this cat right to my mind. So he goes on. He says, no. Sooner had I posted myself than Lensley jumped me. He got the drop on me and he made me drop my gun. He ordered me to step out and keep my mouth shut. Lensley picked up my gun and we crossed the highway to the south side, where he made me exchange clothes with him.

19:20 He then unloaded my gun and took the other ammunition I had and gave the gun back to me. We spent the rest of the night in the woods, never getting very far from the highway. I caught a nap during the middle of the night, but Lensley never closed his eyes. Thursday, we stayed in the woods, camping in the hills, but always keeping close to the underbrush. Lensley told me that he planned to capture a car on the highway and break through the guard lines. He said he would let me go when we got through the lines. All Thursday night and Friday we stayed along the Bayou, occasionally working toward the highway to watch for cars, but opportunity never presented itself for to take one. Yesterday afternoon, Lensley spotted the oil derreck where a car was parked.

20:06 He told me he was going to get that car. We watched the dereck all that afternoon and head within five hundred feet of it. Saturday night, just after daylight, we moved up to the derek and Lensley told me to get out of the opening and see if there were any guards there. As I stepped into the opening, I saw Drew Fields, a convict guard. He recognized me and didn't shoot. He told me to drop my gun and asked me what I was doing there. I told him I had been kidnapped by Lensley. Fields then came to the door of the toolhouse after laying his gun down inside, and I motioned him that Lensley was in the brush behind me. As Phil stepped back for his gun, Lensley raised up in fired. The bullet went through the galvanized iron wall of the toolhouse, striking an oil watchman inside.

20:52 After that time, Fields yelled that the toolhouse is bulletproof, and I knew he was trying to keep Lensley from shooting anymore. When Lensley fired, I jumped behind an automobile out of range of Lensley's gun. Lensley eased back into the woods and made for the ravine. I ran to a nearby negro's house, and I got an old negro to go out to the highway with me. I was afraid to go on the road by myself because I had on Lensley's clothes and was about his build and thought someone may shoot me. Huh, probably good guess. We flagged some highway cops. They took us to Percy's store, where we got some more men in the hounds, and went back to the toolhouse. A few minutes later, Lensley was dead. We ate blackberries and dewberries and drank from the bayou. Mosquitoes nearly ran us crazy and kept me from getting much sleep, and probably kept Lensley awake the whole time. It was an awful experience, and I guess I'm lucky to be here today. So I just told you.

21:53 At this point Lensley was dead, right? How did he die? What happened in this article is dated June first, nineteen thirty six from The Times. In shreport, it says headline and Gola escapee kills himself, cheats posse as he chooses suicide death. Wilford Lensley's life comes to an end of bloody trail in desperate gun battle early Sunday morning. Had taken trustee guard as hostage. Twenty three year old triple slayer Wilford Lensley plunged a bullet through his own heart early today after a terrific gun battle. And that is exactly how they describe it. With possemen who had trapped him in a ravine twelve miles east of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Forms As a dozen heavily armed possemen closed in with their guns blazing a steady fire, the one hundred and thirty five pound convict Desperado, he was a big boy, one hundred and thirty five pounds and five foot six right, took a final shot at an officer ten feet away and shouted, I'm shot. I'm dying. He pressed the muzzle of his revolver against his breast and pulled the trigger. When officers reached him, his shirt was afire.

23:06 He died instantly, with his pistol griped tightly in his right hand in a high powered rifle, which jammed at his feet. A few minutes earlier, James Hamilton, a trustee guard who Lensley had abducted and kept with him since shortly after he fled from the prison Wednesday night, notified possemen of the murderer's whereabouts. Lensley died in a desperate attempt to make his way through the corridor of possemen thrown about the wooded area along Saint Francisville and Goal Highway after he was reportedly seen in the vicinity of a store Thursday morning. Hamilton escaped from Lensley as the latter engaged another trustee convict guard and an oil Well watchman in a guard fight in an effort to take the watchman's automobile. The watchman, Ja Walker, was shot through the leg and rushed to a Baton Ridge hospital. The wounding of Walker added to the list of casualty in the and again the verbiage of these exciting three day hunt for Lensley since Wednesday afternoon, when some unexplained motives prompted Lensley to stab Miss Himmel to death in the bathtub of her camp home, then send two bullets through her husband three hours later. A bloody trail has marked the search. Willie Wade, an eighteen year old farm boy so he was seventeen now he was eighteen, was killed Thursday when two trustee guards mistook him for Lensley. Tom J.

24:31 Blew It a prison camp form and died from inflicted by a fellow guard while closing in on a wooded patch where Lensley was believed to be hiding. Another guard, Charlie McCrory, fell from the same burst of fire that killed blew It. But we'll recover. Walker will also recover. Hamilton was abducted by Lensley as he took up a guard post on the Percy Store area late Wednesday night. He said the killer jumped him as he entered the woods north of the Saint Wrensisville Highway, took his gun and AMMO, and forced him to exchange clothing. When Lensley fled the present. He was clad in a blue shirt and stripe it blue and white Trusty trousers. Hamilton was dressed in tan trousers and a shirt worn by Trustee guards.

25:16 He said Lensley unloaded his shotgun and returned it to him and made him walk in the front at all times. They crossed to the south side of the highway to make their way up Little Bayou Sarah, keeping close to the dense underbrush in the daytime and frequently waiting in the shallow waters of the bayou to throw off bloodhounds. Hamilton said he was permitted to catch short naps during the night, but that Lensley didn't close his eyes. They ate blackberries and drank from the bayou occasionally. Hamilton said. They will work their way toward the highway in hopes of capturing an automobile, but the opportunity never presented itself. Before daylight today, Lensley told Hamilton he couldn't stand it any longer and was going to make a break through the lines. Yesterday afternoon, Hamilton said Lensley spotted an oil derek in a toolhouse where the watchman's car was parked.

26:06 He said he was going to get the car. Quote. When we approached the oil Derek shortly after daybreak, and Lensley made me go out into the opening to see if there are any guards station there. I saw Drew Fields, and I read you all that part. Now it goes on to say when Lensley shot at Fields, I jumped from behind the car and Fields had hollered out of that toolhouse that it was bulletproof, and I guess Lensley believed him, and he eased up that by you as he did so, I slipped off toward a nearby negro house and got the negro to go to the highway with me. In this way, it's written. In those days, y'all, I was afraid to go to the road by myself because I was afraid i'd get shot. Hamilton bears a slight resemblance to Lensley. He's about the same height and slender build, and had on Lindsey's clothing. When they reached the highway, they flagged down three patrolmen and they took these guys to a store where Quote, we got more men in the hounds and went back to the toolhouse.

27:03 The possemen were in charge of Sheriff elect Teddy Martin of West Feliciana Parrish. They immediately formed a circle around the area and closed in. Martin was on the opposite bank of a little Bayou Sarah, he said when he saw a group of guards on the other side, on the top of a bluff firing at Lensley. I waited across the creek, he said, firing as I went, and Lewis heard a state policeman also started shooting and came around by a piece of sand. I mean everybody start shooting and fired at Lensley also. We advanced step by step, and he shot at me a total of sixteen times. Finally he shouted, I'm shot. I'm lying, But we thought he was playing possums, so we approached him very carefully.

27:45 When we got up to him, however, we saw that he was dead and that his shirt was on fire. Martin said that Lensley had been firing with a rifle that he took from Captain Hymel, but at the end he was using the captain's pistol, and that it was apparent that he shot himself with that pistol. Quote Lindsey fired point blank, it heard, and myself just before he turned the pistol on himself. I guess we were pretty lucky. During the exchange of fire, one of Lensley's shots knocked a gun from the hands of a prison dog sergeant. It was estimated the murderer fired a score of times, but none of his shots found their mark. Three unfired cartridges were found in Linsley's rifle, and six undischarged bullets were in the magazine of his revolver. The corner immediately summoned a jury and conducted an inquest, and the jury found quote weave. A jury impaneled and sworn to determine that the cause of death of Wilfrid Lensley find that he died of gunshot wounds, the bullet having entered the body two inches blow the collar bone, and passing through the left lung, making an exit in the left lower lumbar.

28:51 We hereby agree that Lensley died of a self inflicted wound. Immediately after the inquest, Lensley's body was removed to a prison hiuse middle at Angola. An hour later, it was claimed by his father in taking the baton ridge for burial, Lensley's death brought to an end one of the most intensive hunts in the history of Louisiana Penitentiary. During the three days, nearly three hundred men engaged in the search. The posse was composed of agents of the State Bureau of Identification, State Highway Police, paid prison guards and trustee convict guards. Warden Jones. General Louis P. Guier, Superintendent of State Police, directed the search activities. Lensley was committed to the penitentiary three years ago from Baton Rouge under life sentence after pleading guilty to the murder in connection with the shooting of Stanley Cuvian twenty two, after what witnesses said was an argument over whether he or Cuvian was going to take home a young girl with whom Cuvian was seated in an automobile parked at a filling station.

29:54 He entered the penitentiary in February of nineteen thirty three. A month later, he was made a trustee guard. Says that's crazy. This guy just got into Angola a month prior for murder, a life sentence, and he's made a trustee guard. Here, here's your shotgun, right, that's crazy. Eighteen months ago he was assigned to captain Himel's house as a houseboy. His record at the penitentiary was spotless, and prison authorities were unable to assign any reason for the slang of the captain and his wife. Lensley made his escape from Camp G of the Penal Farm at dust Wednesday night, after forcing fell aside Guillery of a fellow convict to accompany him in Captain Himmel's car. Gillory was released a few minutes later, and Lensley then abandoned the automobile at the foot of the Tunica Hills, where the car was bogged down in a muddy ditch. Recounting his activities from that point on Warden Jones said today he believed Lensley had circled the north side of the Penal Farm, cutting back to the Saint Francisville Highway on the east side, out of the farm where he abducted Hamilton. So there you have it, the full story of the escape of Alfred Lensley. And I got to say, all the research I've done over the years on Bloody Andngola, I never heard of this. So, as I told you, I'm working on an episode that is highlighting some of the most prolific escapes at ain't Goola that you've never heard about

31:27 a lot of these. There's not this much information because not that much happened. But there's a lot of escapes where they get out and they don't get far from Bloody Angola before they get caught, So you can cover several in one episode. That's what I was originally researching when I came across this, and I'm like, oh man, this will start to finish right here. So I hope you enjoyed that. Thank you so much for listening. Check us out on Patreon, commercial, free, early releases, bonus episodes, and more, Patreon, dot comlash Bloody in Goola Podcast and until next time. I'm Jim Chapman for Bloody in Gola, a podcast on two years and making the complete story of America's bloodiest present Peace.

32:29 A Wall Street line, shackle change O gluesome Gurdie, it's calling my name. There is no mercy and this been a tentery juice ass the huge stream game Wrangle three. Come here. He found me to die inside these walls, inside the wild.

33:10 And when the wals I know it's auberbody angleolers Obody Angle,