Mexico weekly ledger., 1883-03-01
A DARING DEED!
Convicts in the Penitentiary
Break for Liberty.
THE RINGLEADERS SET FIRE TO
THE BUILDING.
Flames Destroy Half a Million Dollars
Worth OF Property.
Fifty of the Mutinous Conyicts Placed
in Dark C~sIIs--Scenes of Great EH-
element ut the State Capital.

of the collar shop, and told him
to remain quiet. -Four men also seized
Snider, the foreman of the harness shop,
stripped him of his clothing. John B.
Johnson, the ring-leader, a highway rob-
Der under sentence of twelve years, ran
into the department where the horse col
lars are stuffed and set a lot of loose
straw on fire. In a moment the building,
with its three shops-harness, collar and
on fire. Pandemonium pre-
vailed. When the guards ran in with the
hose they were met by the conyicts, who,
with a hammer, cut the hose. johnson
made an effort to escape over the walls,
but, despite the fact that he had a knife
and club, he was captured by Jesse TOlin
and is now in the dungeon. His seven
companions are also confined in the dark
cells.
The buildings destroyed are owned by
the State. The stock and machinery be-
longed to the contractors. The mutiny
and the fire, as a%scertained, were as fol-
lows: John b. Johnson, a safe-blower
by record, was sent up here for twelve
years from Shelby county in last Novem-
Der, on conviction for highway robbery.
He declared his intention to beat the
prison, and from the first became known
as a dangerous man. The desperate act
of to-day was the third attempt at escape.
Trf fnr1r 1ars auA fhn man ypnS patinN-a1
of the chain and ball which he has worn
for four days as a reminder of his second
attempt to climb the wall that surrounded
the prison. Captain Bradbury, who ar
rested him while he was making the effort,
will carry with him to the grave a regret
that he captured him alive on hat occa-
sion. Had the discipline of cold lead
been applied then, five shops would not
be o in ruins, fifty men not be locked
up in their cells in idleness, and four I'M
fortunate victims to the flames would not
now be tossing upon beds of agony in the
prison hospital. The men had just
marched back from dinner to the various
shops and were seeking their various
benches when, in recognition of some
preconcerted signal, eight men, employed
in the harness shop of Jacob Strauss &
Co.. seized
FORMIDABLE LEArHEB-CUTTING KNIVES,
and the revolt was on the board. Four
of them seized the foreman of the harness
shop and stripped him of his clothing.
The other four ran to the flour below and
seized Van Horn, the foreman Of the
collar department, and, with knives at his
throat, they ordered him not to resist.
He did not. Then johnson ran back into
the collar -stuffing department and fired a
lot of loose straw. This done, and salts
fled that the flames had taken hold, the
desperate man dashed out of the building
and ran to the saddle-tree factory of John
Sullivan with the intention of melting 4
revolt there. At the main entrance to the
shop he met Pat krump, one of the guards,
who, seeing him with a knife and a club
in his hand, warned him off. at that
moment the flames burst from the win
dows of the Strauss factory, and Krump
saw what was up. He was not armed.
1t would be dangerous for inside guards
to go armed. Their weapons would be
taken from them ten times to where they
could use them once. Krump, however,
made an effort and yelled to johnson,
zone step more and you are a dead a
The desperate turned and ran towards
the northeast corner of the grounds with
the intention of scaling the walls. On
his way he ran up against Jesse Tolin,
the "Dresser in" of the prison, who had
sought the courtyard at the first alarm.
Johnson paused and stood defiant, with
his knife and bludgeon threatening to
brain Tolin if the latter got near enough.
TOlin is a small man, while johnson is a
giant in build and strength. But the
plucky guard, looking his man square in
the eye, walked up to him and
PLACING THE MUZZLE OF A COOKE RE-
vOLYER
against his ear ordered him to walk to the
blind cell. The convict lost his grip and
obeyed. Captain Bradbury came up at
this juncture and joined the escort The
promptest efforts were made to capture
and confine in the blind cells Johnson's
companions. One Of them was Jerome S.
johnson, doing twenty-five years for MUIR
der in the second degree, from Clay coun-
ty, and another Perry Martin, one of the
the stage-robbers who last summer ter
rorized Southwest Missouri and held up
several stages between Selignan and the
Eureka Springs. Arkansas Williams, of
Kansas City, who in%augurated a revolt in
the Kansas City Jail last spring, was an
other of the party. They were all des-
perate men. While the guards were at
tending to the discipline of the prison the
alarm was blown and the great bell
changed out the warning that mutiny was
in the prison. The telephone informed
the people of the city of the< state of
affairs.
GREAT VOLUMES DE- o AND FLAMES
| shot heavenward and attracted their atten-
iichs "oo SShSAal ~
| the Pe%nitentiary. Adjutant- General Wad-
dell had an opportunity to show what was
In him, and he came to the front in good
style. The armory was emptied of its
guns, which, with the boxes of cartridges,
| were loaded i'm wagons and forwarded tc
the scene in short order. Willing hands
were there to receive them. In less thar
| ten minutes lines were formed
SURROUNDING THE PRISON WALLS
and dignifed senator's, good-natured col.
ored men, capitalists, bankers, merchants
and w~ood-sawyers stood shoulder tt
shoulder prepared to vindicate the males
ty of the law by putting a hole in any con
Wet who dared attempt to take any ad'
vantage of the excitement and make
break for liberty.
The walls
WERE COVERED b ARMED MEN,
and from the roofs of the prison buildin.
guns frowned in the most warlike ant
threatening manner. Fortunately the mot
ley militia were confined TO display only