Mexico weekly ledger., 1883-03-01

would be the only reasonable conduct for
them to pursue. The long line filed in,
the great iron door swung to with a clang,
the bolts clicked and that danger was
passed. The guards tell the story of the
fire. When the alarm was spread they
manned the prison hose. The first effort
to carry hose into the burning building wa
met with a desperate resistance.
WITH THEIR KNIVES THE FRENZIED CON-
vICTs THE HoSE
in a dozen places. The guards rallied in
force and showed their revolvers and VIM
chester rifles. The striped mutineers quail
ed before their formidable muzzles. In
every shop the men were formed into line,
of the 400 cQnvicts were marched to their
cells and locked up. The remainder were
trusted to aid in the work of controlling
the fire. So rapidly did the building of
Strauss & Co.'S burn that few ~convicts
WERE SERIOUSLY, H ATALL
URNED
Over fifty escaped from the upper wind
ows from the Strauss factories. The
flames communicated rapidly to the State
machine shop and the factory where the
cloth worn by the convIcts is made. Then
the broom factory went the way of the
flame and next the building occupied joint
ly by the Geisecke Shoe Manufacturing
Company, and the Meysenburg Shoe Com
pany was taken in. This adjoins one of
the main cell houses, and it was threaten
ed for an hour
SINGLE WALL
stood between the burning building and
the hospital. The guard-houseo overlook
ing the hospital court was burned COM
pletely. The heroic exertions of volun-
teer and convict bremen saved the hospi-
tai. The Jefferson City Fire Department
were on the ground and poured two
streams into the c~onfiagration. The loss
es n insurance cannot be obtained in
full at this hour, but accurate estimates
made are tO-wit: Loss to State on three
buildings totally consumed, and three more
damaged, including machinery in facto-
rieS, amount to
FULLY 100000.
No insurance. Private losses are as fol-
lows: Standard Shoe Company, Meysen-
burg & Co., loss $780, 900, fully covered by
insurance; Gieseke & Co., shoeshop, loss
5000 900, also fully covered; Strauss &
Co., harness and collar shops, loss $S5, 900,
insurance $4,000; Excelsior broom fac
tory, loss $4,000, half insured. The new
cell building is damaged about the same
as last years fire, some $4,000. Hospital
building damaged slightly. After the fire
was under control and the new cell safe
THE CoNvICTs WEIR TAKEN BACK
to their cells. johnson, the ring leader
of the mutiny, broke out of the blind cell
and attempted to incite a fresh outbreak.
He became possessed of a razor and iron
poker and
ATTEMPTED TO KILL A CONVICT
who refused to assist in the revolt. The
guards, with the assistance of the other
consicts generally, overpowered him and
consigned him to the dungeon.
LATER-Since the above occurrence
there have been two other attempts at ar
son-one to fire the Dining Hall, the other
to burn the Hospital. A few hundred
lashes or a month in the black hole is what
they need.
Theodore Tilton will deliver his eel
ebrated lecture, "The Problem of
Life at the Opera House, Mexico,
Mo-, Saturday evening, March 10th,
1888. Admission so cts. Reserved
seats, Is cts. Tickets on sale at the
Opera House.
Mr.. Tilton's address on ''The Pro-
blem of Life was really high moral
lesson throughout. Eloquence, anal
ysis, analogy, imagery, description
deduction-all were there, and their
effect was unmistakable. AS he warm
ed with his subject Mr.. Tilton rose to
that fervid, splendid oratory that
seems as essentially his own as the air
itself. 1t reminded his hearers of old
of the days when his voice was a cla-
rion call against slavery, and his gray
hairs now seemed the emphasis of time
on the ardent nature that spoke then.
-Springteid Republican.