Harry Pierpont wants Parole

Spanish sent me some letters that were written on Harry's behalf for parole. One letter was from Harry. They are fascinating and get me to wondering. His mother, Lena, did a whole letter writing campaign about how much he was needed on their large farm and so forth. Which is to be expected. He was also having Jesse Levy take care of getting letters from the judge and prosecuting attorney from his bank robbery case. The more information I get; the more I begin to wonder. It's a pity Harry didn't write down his memoirs at his death!

Reading Lena's letters I wonder how much is fact and how much is fiction? On the one hand I see a definite attempt to manipulate the system on the other I understand that she wants her son home with her. So it is hard and I think it is because I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. With just the pieces that I have; I think Harry was tasking his Mom to do the letter writing campaign. Just as he had Levy broker the letters from the prosecutor and such.

I wonder if his Dad had TB and I wonder if Harry also suffered from it like Lena writes in her letters. I know that soon after the trial Lena brought a bar-b-cue stand. So maybe her husband was as ill as she writes he was and he and passed away soon after the trial. But I don't think she ever honestly believed Harry would come home to work on that farm. Those days left when he woke up from that baseball bat incident. But I think she wanted him home.

She alludes to something about Claudy. Supposedly he was obsessed with Harry. Was it because Harry was so defiant? Or was he sexually obsessed with him? Which would have made Harry really defiant! As much as people write that Harry was intolerant of homosexuals; sometimes I think maybe it was more he was intolerant of any man who had a sexual interest in him. That's why he allowed Dillinger in his gang (Dillinger didn't go for blonds. Also, James Jenkins was in with the Dec 1929 escape attempt. Jenkins was notorious from all accounts but Harry still let him in the group.

Again, I wonder too about the timing for the escape attempt. Harry had been planning that escape for a long time. Even while he was doing his parole campaign. I wonder when he made friends with Detrich. Detrich's having that job in the receiving department was key to the whole thing. Makley had it before but lost it for a discipline reason.

Just a bunch of musing on the puzzle.