Lewis

On or about May 15, 1936, Morson Johnson Lewis, while serving a sentence in the United States Northeastern Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, escaped therefrom. He was later arrested in Tennessee and returned to the jurisdiction of, and tried in, the District Court of the United States for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.' The indictment charged Lewis with escape from the above penitentiary, and he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve five years imprisonment. After incarceration at said penitentiary, and at Atlanta, Georgia, Lewis was transferred to Alcatraz Island, California. A few months after arrival at Alcatraz the appellant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the court below, which petition alleged that the District Court which tried him was without jurisdiction because he had been deprived of his liberty without being advised of his right to assistance of counsel for his defense. An order to show cause issued to the appellee, and counsel was appointed for the petitioner (appellant here). Return to the order to show cause was made, accompanied by certain papers and three affidavits; a reply to said return was filed by the petitioner; thereafter the…