Carroll (Jack) Atkinson
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Carroll (Jack) Atkinson's Oregon State Penitentiary fingerprint card. Enlarge image
Can you trust the word of someone who from all appearances breaks the law? Wasco County District Attorney Francis Galloway certainly did not believe what he was told by Carroll (Jack) Atkinson. In a letter submitted to the Wasco County Circuit Court in July, 1929, Galloway describes how Atkinson “turned up in The Dalles sometime in 1928 and almost immediately was suspected … of liquor operations” adding “All that we know about Atkinson is obtained from him, personally.”
He claimed to have been married four times, and in October, 1928 found himself arrested “for bootlegging at a dance at a Farmer’s Union Hall a few miles east from The Dalles.” In keeping with someone who had been married four times, Galloway noted that “he had a rather attractive wife who pretended to be very loyal to him and she was going to raise some money to pay his fine.” Unfortunately, she “apparently was true to him for a week or ten days … and then deserted him and we heard nothing further of her raising any money.”
The local authorities speculated that “he probably has other convictions against him but know nothing about them.” Galloway concluded on a pessimistic note: “There is probably little chance of reforming the man or materially changing his habits …”
Adding to his woes was a note from the penitentiary’s health officer – who again relied on the mysterious Atkinson’s own words – that “He claims to have been treated for syphilis 8 years ago. Took 32 shots.” Blood tests in 1923 and 1926 were reportedly negative.
He served approximately one year of a of one and a half year sentence. In the sheriff’s statement to the Parole Board, he summed up Atkinson by noting that he associates with “women of the underworld,” adding “I believe him to be incorrigible.”