Unprofitable

Last week three life termers behind the bars of California's San Quentin prison were more downcast than any of their 6,297 neighbors. Under California law, prisoners given indeterminate life sentences may be paroled after serving ten years, provided no other charges are pending against them. The three had just been indicted by the Federal Government for using the mails to extort, were about to be prosecuted for robbing an oil man of $26. Their life terms in theory had thereby become life terms in fact. The trio: James Kirk, brain; Roy Williams and Larry Kerrigan, brawn, in the abduction of William F. Gettle of Arcadia (TIME. May 21).

Caught at the time Gettle was rescued, the three confessed and pleaded guilty to escape a death sentence, possible under California law because Gettle was bruised in a fall off a wall during the kidnapping. The brief history of their undoing consumed less than 24 hours (see p. 50). Said Lifer Williams as he entered San Quentin:

"I guess the snatch racket is not such a paying proposition as we thought."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.