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40 Years Ago . . . He Came To Dallas

gingerinmydna

By: CHARLOTTE CLONTS, Dallas New Era Staff Writer, 14 Jun 1979


"That's where the county doctor lived - I believe his name was Matthews," "There's the Baptist Church - I spoke there once, after I got out, there wasn't even standing room", "A Mr. Hyatt operated that service station - he was nice - I visited him after I was paroled."


The man talking was Forrest Turner, Georgia’s former one-time bandit and number one escape artist. He had returned to Dallas and as we rode many familiar sights came back to him. “You know”, he said, “it hasn’t changed that much. These houses on Main Street were always pretty.”

Many people of my generation and younger don’t know who Forrest Turner is or what he did. Some have heard their parents speak of him, remembering how often his name was in the newspaper headlines during the 30’s and 40’s.

His career, if you can call it that, began when he was nineteen years old. A native of Henry County, Georgia, he was attending Young Harris College at Young Harris, Georgia. He was coming home for a visit. He didn’t know the boy he was riding with had stolen the car. They were later arrested and carried to the Fulton County Jail. “In those days”, said Turner, “there was no pre-trial hearing – the motto of the prison officials was ‘Bad Boys Build Good Roads’”. “I was indicted for riding in a stolen automobile and sentenced to four to five years in the Chain Gang”, he continued. By way of explanation, a Chain Gang is a group of prisoners who have been chained together for labor. The convicts wear leg shackles connected by a short chain. Another longer chain connects each convict to the next man. Chain gangs frequently have been used to build roads in the southern United States.

Turner was sent to Thomasville, Georgia. This was the first time he had been separated from his family for more than a week. He was placed on the “Road Gang” with a “forty-nine pound hammer” breaking rocks. He escaped after three months and, according to him, “After that it was all downhill”.

Ten more escapes followed and each time his sentence grew. He soon found himself headed for 95 to 122 years in prison. Most of the time was for escaping, stealing cars, assault on guards, robbery – crimes which took place during his escapes.

[30 Jul 1939, The Atlanta Constitution]


On June 15, 1939, Forrest Turner, Georgia’s notorious life-termer and escape artist, was “to have plenty of fresh air, sunshine and hard work” at the state’s new “Little Alcatraz” Prison Camp near Dallas. He was to be transferred from Tattnail. When the Deputy Warden of “Little Alcatraz” was asked if this would have any effect on the routine of the camp he replied, “not a bit, they say Turner is a real ‘tough guy’. He may be tough, but they are all tough. We already have some that are as tough as Turner or anybody else. But we have the guards and the facilities to take care of them.” “Little Alcatraz” was to be the prison which “would hold” Forrest Turner. In less than a year it joined the list, North Camp, Fulton County, Cumming, Thomasville, Tattnail, Reidsville, prisons from which Forrest Turner had escaped.

Turner has many memories of “Little Alcatraz”, some not very pleasant and yet, some quite humorous now. As we drove to the Rock Quarry, it was also the Rock Quarry in operation in 1939 and 1940. Mr. Turner said, “I don’t know if my heart can stand this – a lot of blood was lost here.” He told of the time eight or nine prisoners purposely broke their leg to get out of working the quarry. It didn’t work. Large rocks were hauled to the camp yard and the prisoners, cast and all, were marched outside to continue their “rock breaking” with their forty-nine pound hammers.


Turner, as we passed the old First National Bank building, chuckled as he told of an incident involving the bank. It seems the convicts were not allowed any contact with the outside world such as writing letters, receiving mail, radio or newspapers. They became desperate to get a message out of the camp. Each day as they went to the quarry on the truck they passed the bank. When it became a member of the FDIC they thought if they threw a rock and broke the window it would be a federal offense and they would be carried to Federal Court. “However”, said Mr. Turner, “this was not true. Oh, we threw the rock and we broke the window and – we were punished.”

During his stay in “Little Alcatraz” Turner left some good memories in Dallas. A large rock was carried from the quarry to the prison and, when he had time, he worked on it with a chisel and hammer until is became the stone which now sits in the triangle park across from the Board of Education Maintenance Barn at the intersection of Hardee Street and Highway 61 South.


He was also on the “gang” which built the wall in front of the First United Methodist Church on East Memorial Drive. Even though the convicts were not allowed to hold church services and church groups were not permitted in the prison, Mr. Turner beams with pride knowing he helped beautify the church grounds.

Conditions at “Little Alcatraz” were not prevalent only to that area, they were common in the entire State of Georgia prison system. Following a mass escape of forty-three prisoners from Reidsville in 1943 Governor Ellis Arnold ordered an investigation of the entire prison system. With the launching of this investigation Wiley Moore, Atlanta oil executive, undertook to revamp Georgia’s widely publicized “chain gangs”, the camps which had often been accused of inhumane treatment. As Chairman of the new Board of Corrections, Moore visited the State prison at Reidsville and Turner, who was at the lowest ebb of his life, was at the beginning of his “change of life”.

The prison system was at its worst and when Moore visited Reidsville he saw Forrest Turner, and sixty-odd other prisoners, in shackles as the “eight-ball club,” Moore ordered the shackles removed. He talked with the prisoners urging them by their behavior to earn a new way in life. He held out hope to them.

Forrest Turner was probably the worst of the prisoners. He had escaped eleven times, and with each capture faced trial on new robberies before being returned to prison. He had accumulated a total of from 95 to 122 years in prison.

Mr. Turner said he realized he had been wrong and when Mr. Moore gave him hope and made him a challenge he accepted. Mr. Moore promised that if Turner would make a new record he would give him a new chance, erase the past and work for him a parole.

Turner upheld his side of the “gentleman’s agreement” with the State Board of Corrections, making one of the most outstanding records in the state. He showed the people who had faith in him he would make good. He was converted while in prison and now devotes his life to religion.

Prior to his parole he became interested in dental laboratory work and soon became skilled in making dental plates. When the prison became short of dentists he even performed extractions and filled teeth for prisoners during emergencies.

Gradually he drifted away from the prison breaks and robberies and his life of crime faded completely. His fellow prisoners could not understand what had happened when “the former bad boy” decided to be good.

After his parole in 1949 he was baptized by Reverend Bill Allison at the Western Heights Baptist Church in Atlanta. He married and has two children and one grandchild. In addition to working in a dental lab with Dr. Benich in Jonesboro, he devotes his time to speaking in churches, schools and civic gatherings. He has spoken to more than 10,000 gatherings since 1949 telling them his personal experiences. His most recent project is objecting to the program “Scared Straight”. Said Mr. Turner, “that program is a disgrace to humanity. You can’t scare people straight, it has to come from inside. I will be working for programs to help our youth but this is not the right program.”

Mr. Turner is also writing his life story which will be made into a movie. The title, “Turner’s Gone Again,” is very appropriate. The screenplay has been developed and plans are for some of the scenes to be shot in Dallas.

There is a quote which simply goes, “The man who walks with God always gets to his destination. When we ask God to direct our footsteps, we are to move our feet.” Mr. Turner has moved his feet, he walks with God daily and he has reached his destination. I remember hearing my Daddy speak of Forrest Turner. It has now been my pleasure to meet this remarkable man. I marvel at his faith in his fellow man, feeling no malice for the many things which happened to him – “there was a time to grin and show his grit, - but for him there was never a time to quit.”



[5 Oct 1941, The Atlanta Constitution]

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