Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-07-02
STATE PRISON TRAGEDY.


About 10 O'Clock yesterday morning
q tragedy occurred at the State Prison,
near Carson. resulting in the death Of
W. R. Chamberlain. Q convict. st the
hands Of j. R. Darling, . fellow convict,
better known as "Rattlssnaks Dick.
At the time mentioned. Darling came to
the iron gate which opens from the inner
prison TO the s~toneyard, and told some
OF the ofacers "thsrs il Q dead man out
hare and
HAVE KILLED HIM."
Chamberlain was found lying on his
face. bleeding copiously from wounds in
his head. He Was taken care Of, and on
examination by the prison physician i've
wounds were found In his bead and lace
evidently made with the point Of . pick.
He fingered In q state OF unconscious.
ness until l o'clock ?. NJ. when he died.
WHY HE KILLED HIM.
Darling was securely locked up at
once, and ct tirst did not seem disposed
to say much other than that he struck
the fatal blows. He finally made the
following statement 10 published 10 the
Carson appeal Of this morning: ~ have
been expecting trouble with Bill for Q
long time. A few days ago he said / had
been the means Of getting him here and
he would get even. He acted very
strangely and ] thought he was looking
for . row. This morning We had some
words aud finally I bit him with the
pick. That's about all / have 10 say
anyhow"
In the afternoon. says the Appeal,
Coroner Foster held an inquest on
Chamberlain. Rsttlssnaks Dick made
the following statement:
81 was hewing stone In the remote
corner OF the yard when Chamberlain
refused 10 do q I told him. / was ap.
pointed AZ q sort OF boss and was held
responsible for the work. I told him to
do as I said. but he made some back talk
and said he wouldn't. ! stopped down
to take up . pick when I saw him raise
his pick to strike me. raised my hand
and caught the point OF the pick here.
TTbo witness showed the jurors his
right hand. which was badly gashsd at
the base OF tho thumb. and also showed
whore the point Of the pick had pene-
trsted his clothss.] W. struggled for
the possession OF the pick for some time.
when be suddenly let 60 the pick and
grabbed up Q hammer. Just before he
let 20 I had gashsd him over the eye
with 1t and the blood was streaming
from his face. When he raised the
hammer I hit him three or four times on
the head pretty quick as I did not have
time for q full swing. At the fourth
blow he fell and ! came in and reported.
We were working by ourselves at Q point
about 400 feet from the gate"
THE VERDICT.
The Jury found that William Cham.
berlain came to his death from blows 70.
c.iyed from Q pick held by Richard Oar
ling, alias Rattlesnaks Dick.
p~ARLISo's ANTEcEprNTs.
Darling was Q soldier in the Mexican
war anu borvoo III ~. De AeoksAae
company. After the war he roamed
about over the coast, and 10 said 10 have
been married more times than any man
in the United States. One Of bis wives
was the daughter OF Lee. the notorious
Mormon murderer. Dick was forty
years old and his victim thirty.siI. The
term Dick was serving was his second
for robbery.
Both men were sent to the State
Prison FROM Storey county, Ave years
ago. the pair having been convicted Of
stealing q watch and $50 from Colonel
Stone. the attorney. They were sen.
fenced for ten years each BY Judge
Rising. and since that time Chamberlain
has borne . grudss against Darling.
claiming that he got him mixed mp In
the affair. Darling has for some years
been known o. Rattlssnske Dick" .
name which hs gave himself. and 10
considered . hare and dangerous char
acter.