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330 THIS DIFFICULT INDIVIDUAL
the most primitive conditions of this Bedlam. As for Mr. Hillyer's
charge that Pound hated and betrayed America, no other expatriate
has shown the love for his native land that he has displayed
throughout his life. Henry James and T. S. Eliot became
British citizens, but Pound risked a death penalty to retain his
American citizenship.
Frequently, when I suggested that Pound might like to leave
St. Elizabeths, I would encounter the most annoying and incredibly
naive arguments. "But he's very comfortable there, and well taken
care of," someone would say. "Why does he want to get out?" I
believe that I would go mad if I had to spend a night in the room
that was Ezra's home for so many years. It was really a large
closet, a narrow cell furnished with a very narrow cot, taking
up two-thirds of the floor space. The rest of the room was filled by
a small bureau and a little table, which served as his desk. The
room was illuminated by a high, narrow window, of leaded
glass, with a heavy metal screen locked over it. This was a considerable
improvement over the open-air death cage at Pisa, and
it was somewhat quieter than Howard Hall, but that was the most
that could be said for it.
Dr. Overholser maintained that Pound enjoyed "special privileges"
while he was imprisoned at St. Elizabeths. Drew Pearson, in
his column of December 28, 1958, which appeared in the Washington
Post and Times-Herald, quotes a letter from Overholser
to Pound's lawyer, Julian Cornell:
"It remains a fact that Mr. Pound is under indictment for the
most serious crime in the calendar and that he has at the present
time far more privileges than any other prisoner in the hospital. In
spite of his being a well-known author, I question whether I should
put myself in the position of giving unusual privileges to him over
and above those which he already enjoys."
Although I was visiting Pound every day, I had no idea that he
enjoyed any extra privileges, and since Dr. Overholser does not
enumerate them, I have no idea what they were. The initial restrictions
at Howard Hall, where his visitors were limited to fifteen
minutes' talk with him in the presence of a guard, were more
severe than those at Chestnut Ward. Other prisoners were allowed
to sit on the lawn without hindrance, but to ensure that Pound