Yes. But as I remember, I don't have any correspondence with him from
Russia. I was surprised one day to get a letter, and I don't know why he
wrote to me except that maybe I had been in some cases and he had read
about them. Anyway, I had a letter from him and he was, I think, in
Page 46 New Hampshire. He had come back from Russia and he
had said, "I would like to surrender and take my punishment." Evidently,
he had had enough of Russia, like Paul Robeson and Richard Wright and
all those fellows. So, he said, "Would you arrange to have me returned
to justice? I would like to do it through you." So, I wrote him a letter
and said, "Sure Fred, I will be glad to do anything that I can." So,
back and forth and I think that maybe I had a letter from his counsel.
He had a lawyer, and he said that he would come to Raleigh on a certain
day and that he would, if I would get a room at the Sir Walter Raleigh
Hotel and let him know what room, he would come to that room at a
certain hour, ten o'clock in the morning, and surrender himself to the
law. Well, I said, "O.k." Then, I got to thinking about it, that I
should have some witnesses. So, I told Frank Graham and said, "Frank,
would you go with me and help receive Fred Beal?" He said, "Sure, Paul,
I'll be glad to." Then I called Jonathan Daniels, the editor of the
News and Observer and said, "Jonathan, how about
this?" He said, "Sure." So, on that particular day, Frank and Jonathan
and I went over there. I had made a reservation and let Fred know.
Anyway, we were sitting in this room waiting and pretty soon, there was
a knock on the door and there was Fred. I had never met him before. He
was a sort of a short fellow, had sort of red hair. With him was
somebody, his counsellor. After a few minutes, we chatted a bit and the
man with him said, "Well, Fred, good luck." He shook hands and left. In
the meantime, I called Governor Clyde Hoey. So, the governor was waiting
for the four of us to walk up Fayetteville Street to the governor's
mansion, the old statehouse. We go in and meet the governor. Governor
Hoey was very glad. He said, "Mr. Beal, you have done a noble thing and
as governor, I'm going to remember this. I am going to see
Page 47 that this accrues to your credit," and so on. I thought
that Fred would be out in thirty days, that's what it sounded like. So,
we turned him over to Governor Hoey and the sheriff comes in and we
shake hands and they took Fred away to the penitentiary in Raleigh. Now
and then, I would write to him. He didn't stay there very long and the
first thing that I knew, I had a note from him and he had been moved to
the tough farm, Caledonia Farm, way down in eastern North Carolina,
where they put the bad guys. He wrote and said, "Your governor sent me
down here." Anyway, the governor promised me, he said, "Paul, before I
go out of office, I'm going to do something for Fred. I am going to
lighten his sentence a great deal." I tried to pin him down as to how
much it would be. He had done so much and the governor was going out in
about six months. I tried to urge him to make it a year, but I never got
any answer. Well, it came on and pretty soon, I knew that it was the
next week that the governor was going out of office. So, I called
Governor Hoey. I said, "Governor, I would like to get in to see you if I
could." He said, "Sure, come on over." I said, "I want to talk with you
a little bit about Fred Beal." He said, "Oh, sure, sure. Come on over,
Paul." So, I go over and this time, I go alone. I don't bother Jonathan
and Frank. I talked with the governor and said, "Now, governor, you are
going out of office next week and I want you to remember about Fred
Beal." He said, "Oh yes, I remember Fred. Fred did a good thing in
turning himself in. But I am not going to take a day off. He has got to
serve his sentence." His face got hard. I said, "But, governor …." He
said, "No, no. You brought him in here and turned him over and we took
him to prison and had him examined and you know what? He had syphillis."
I said, "Well, I hope that you got him cured." He said, "He had
syphillis, I'm telling you. I
Page 48 sent him to
Caledonia Farm and I reckon that they took care of him down there. When
I found that out, I said, ‘No, not one day."’ That's the truth.