MILLIONAIRE IN GAOL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 299, 1 August 1929, Page 1

MILLIONAIRE IN GAOL.

OIL SCANDAL. Mr Harry Sinclair, the millionaire oil operator, is now in gaol serving his 90 days 1 sentence for contempt of the Senate when he refused to answer certain questions during the inquiry into the Teapot Dome scandals (wrote the New York correspondent of the London “Dally Mail” recently). In his motor-car he drove op to the District of Columbia gaol and surrendered to the superintendant, Major Peak. As he steppe I from his car dozens of cameras click- 1 ed in the glow of flashlight. Mr Sin- j clair, who is 53, was seen with his i head erect, a look of defiance in his ! eyes, and mak.ng no effort to escape the photographic barrage. In a linu'e the doors of the prison had cianged behind him. He was photographed and has finger-prints were taken, but the rules do not insist on hair cutting.

The millionaire has a strange medley of companions, mostly negroes. There will be no lessening of the sentence for good behaviour. One of the richest men in the United S ates, who left h ; s luxurious home at Great Neck, Long Island, to go to gaol, is permitted to have £1 for expenses, enabl.ng h m to buy cigars, ciragettes, or peanuts. Unlike EJvcrton Chapman, who 30 years ago wnt to prison for the same offence, Sinclair will enjoy no luxuries. Chapman lined his cell with Persian rugs and fitted it with furniture de luxe. His meals came in from one of the best Washington restaurants. Mr Sinclair has none of these things. He sleeps in a dorm tory with other prisoners, eating prison fare, and reading books from the pr.son library in which virtue is always presented as triumphs? , There is a wireless programme fro'm 6 to 9 o’clock each evening. After that hour all the prisoners must be asleep. Cards are not permitted, but the prisoners make packs out of cardoften spends a week in aligning the beard cereal boxes, and sugar lumps sometimes serve as dice. The mi - lionaire prisoner, who studied pharmacy in his university days, has been appointed assistant druggist.