After spending 31 years as a counselor at the Anamosa State Penitentiary, Steve Wendl began compiling historical stories from the prison. He not only launched the Anamosa State Penitentiary history website, he also helped found the musuem. Recently, Wendl has been creating and producing podcast episodes that are based on stories from the prison for the Voice of Jones County website. The series features dramatic voice acting and storytelling based on real people who were imprisoned at the Anamosa State Penetentiary.
Wendl joins host Charity Nebbe for this edition of Talk of Iowa, where he explains the story and inspiration behind his first podcast project "From the Gallows to the World Series," which tells the story of convicted murderer Harry Hortman. Hortman killed 21-year-old woman Florence Porter in Cherokee, Iowa in 1901. While imprisoned in Anamosa, he coached Anamosa's athletic teams, played the clarinet in the prison band, helped take care of patients in the prison hospital as a nurse and was a model inmate. In failing health, Hortman accompanied warden Charles Ireland to Chicago for the 1932 World Series in Chicago.
Guest Include:
Steve Wendl, former counselor at Anamosa State Penitentiary, amateur historian, podcaster
