The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-03-14 00:00:00

ANOTHER WARDER NEARLY
KILLED BY A OONVIOT.

A murder. ..le assault was emumittel on Monday
afternoon, by a "black-dressed- convict on the warder
111 charge of his party, and, as the unfortunate
sufferer remained insensible for a long time, and
evinced bail evemitoms, there Iva'. a serious fear lest he
might ilk., and thus the charge against the assailant
be that of murder. The fellow who co 11111 l itted the
murderous attack has before servo! a t.nen of years in
Portland Prison, when in the name of Ilriffithe he was
incarcerated, and his conduct was so bad that he was
"always in trouble," and failed to obtain any remis.
elan of his sentence, so that he had to remain in till
the "bitter end." Not long after this man was again
consigned to Portland, this time under the name of
Wilson; but he was imme liately recognimed, and
after a vain attempt to deny his identity, he confessed
that he was the same convict Griffith.., Now he con-
tinued to ha called by his new name, Wilson ;
but he was by no means a new man; he was the same
ill-tempered, diesatitified fellow, who could never bear
to be spoken to, without ;mumbling that the officers
were hard upm him, Such a firm rule as that of
Portland is terrible to those who are only disposed to
consult their own eelfwill, and Willem again got into
trouble. Nearly a month ago, he struck a fellow-
priaoner in the back with a hammer, and was
sentenced to 2.5 days' punishment, with bitter bread.
and-water, or "penal diet." This penal diet consist*
of ;good thick " skilly," and a little loaf (a few ounces)
of bread at breakfast, another little loaf and some
potatoes at dinner, and "skill" at supper time
Though thus entirely deprived of meat, the convicts
do not dislike penal diet, wi they can get fat on it,
while they do little work. At noon on Monday
eon hail just completed his 2.1 days' punishment, and
wax sent out in the afternoon with the " black-dress,"
or bail-character convict,. who generally work in the
guard ris,m, or Met mashie the gate at picking oakum.
It might have been that there WM not enough rope
at hand ; but on this afternoon they were sent to near
the limekiln, between the "prison pits" end the
" boundary gate,"of course wit hill the Iran wa11.., there
to fill up tune by breaking atones. The officer in charge
was Warder l'homas O'Brien, a 'tail man who had
been in charge of the sweeps, awl who was eo kind to
the prisoners, that they even called him " father,- for
he always treated them with coneideratb el, and never
reported a man unless he was absolutely obliged. The
bitterness of Wilson's nature was not even overcome
by this good officer's kindness, for, on a provocation
minutely slight, he made the murdennis attack. It is
tl ght that Mr. O'Brien hail emu.. fear lest Wilson
should strike ime of the other convicts, ae he had done
before, and so shifted him from ene bank to another
rather away from the rot, of the men. About five
o'clock, or a quarter of an hour before the priiminere are
rung in for the night. Wilson auildenly started up,
sprung on the wanler, with the 711 i. hammer in hi*
hand, and with it struck Mr. O'Brien most violently
on the gide of the head, felling him inetantly to the
earth. The ther oinvicts, who esteemed Mr. O'Brien,
immediately daeheil at the two, and such was their
rage with Wi kW that it is eald they would have killed
him on the spot ; but the fellow having almiest onn.
pleted his deadly work, had I larted away, and meeting
Aesistant•Wanler Ode, who was hastening to the
scene, gave himself up, and the wretch was quickly
placed in the separate cell. Meanwhile the eonviete
had raised Mr. O'Brien ; but (mind
and he was immediately conveyed to the hospital,
where his wounds were dressed by Dr. Askham. The
poor man's injuries were frightful ; it is maid that ono
.4 the bolo; was large enough to put a child's fist in.
He remained insensible, and last night was sick,
which was thought not a bail sign, but he threw up a
quantity of blood, which looked met serione. Next
slay he was still insensible, and the gravest fears were
entertained Wanler O'Brien is a married 1111111, but
with no children, The fellow Wileon would be kept
in cloee confinement, till the nature .4 Mr. O'Brien's
hurts, and the prospects of hie recovery or otherwise,
should he ascertained. Of course, if the unfortunate
man should die, Wilson would bechamed with minter.
The event shows how unsafe are the live* even of kind
warden., for these re-convieted and turbulent prisoners,
unable to submit their wills to dfecipline, get into the
way of thinking that they have nothing for which to
hope or care.
Wanler O'Brien lay in a comatose state of sleep in-
sensibility till Tuesday night or NVedneeday morning,
when by the use .4 remedies he rallied for a short
time. His wife, who was attending on him, asked
" Do you know me ?" and the sufferer replied " Yes,
Biddy,- his wife's familiar name. Dr. Aekham got
the poor man to take xonie lemonade. and he also
answered that he knew the doctor, and felt pain in his
head. After a little time he passed again int.. hie
former state, lying like a log. lie has received a
terrible crushing Wow on the head, fracturing two of
the coverings of the brain, and there is every sign of
the belie of the skull being fractured It seems that
the convict only struck him I wee, but the force of the
blow was so terrible that Mr O'Brien fell down OR
some flints so violently that he got a wound on the
other idde of the heed, and some flint was found In

the wound. His body has also been injured on that
side ; but these hurts are minor ones. The shock to the
brain is so great that the iwensibility is very deep, and
it is though, he can scarcely recover, although from his
regular habits previously and being a steady man, he
has a armee if th • base of th • ',kali is not hr. ken, He
is ls•twe,•n rifl and Mt So p pular was he among the
convicts that even Wilson is said to have since ex-
rre.sod sorrow at having committed the act. Wilson
it is said, luadl lieen previously flogged two or three
times, and after suffering his 25 days' punishment, to
have said that he would kill an officer. That he should
have :ittacked a kind man in whoss gang he had only
been about four hours, cli the violent nature of the
man, and it is fortunate for the Governor, that Wilson
did not turn on hint when he passed the gang shortly
before. It transpires that it was to two warders,
Messrs. Green and Cole, to whom the convict
surrendered ; he hal the hammer in his hand
when he ran away, and gave it up to Warder Green.
It is said also that Mr. O'Brien has occasionally, in
intervals between his lying moveless, waved his hands
awl arms as if warding off a blow, and cried "Din
Wilson ! don't." The whole affair has prsluced the
in,st painful sensation among the officers, who despair
of being more kindly and considerate than Mr.
O'Brien, and who feel that not the most forbearing
offieer is safe.

By Wednesday night Warder O'Brien was rather
worse, and in a very critical state; but on Thursday
miming he was again slightly better.