Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-23
How COnyicts Tried to Escape
from Yuma Prison.
A Statement by Thomas Gates,
the Superintendent.
BlOOdthirsty FelOns and Their Say
age Fights with Keepers.
A Famous Episode Told by One of the
Participants-ShoOtin and Cut.
ting Galore Gates's
Severe Wounds.

LII 1901 AHcihdS UdIcs, d IOruer All
gelefio, was superintendent of the terri
torial prison at Yuma. One morning a
number of convicts were being let ou
to work, seven OF them, all Mexicans
made break for liberty. They seizet
Mr.. Gates and endeavored to use him as
shield from the fire OF the guards, but
Gates was not made OF that kind of COW.
ardly stuff. There was not weak nerve
in his body, and right in the presence o.
death he signalled the guards to fire.
One of the latter was Benjamin Franklin
Hartlee, who is we'll known in Los An
geles as one of the captors of. the noted
outlaw, Tiburcio Vasquez. A truer eye
never sighted a bead or quicker finger
pressed a trigger than Hartlees. He is
still guard at Yuma. In the fearful
hand-to-hand struggle with the convicts
Gates received butcher-knife wound,
the blade penetrating a lung. Barney
Riggs, an American convict, heroically
came to Gates's rescue, and saved his
lie. Riggs had been convicted for muir
der, and was in for life, but soon after
received a pardon for killing Gates's as
sailant. Four OF the convicts lay NOR
tally wounded or dead, and the others
surrendered. The bloody fight did not
last over two or three minutes.
In recent visit to Yuma Mr.. Gates
informed me that correct account of
the affair had never been published. So
l promised him that it should be If he
would dictate it to me, which he did.
then wrote out my shorthand notes
and read them to him, which he ap-
proved. His story is as follows:
STATEMENT OF THOMAS GATES.
1t was about 7 80 a. m. on October
27, 1887, that went from my Office to
the inside OF the prison walls to give the
painter some instructions, and as /
started back to come out a convict
named Jose Lopez, Mexican who
worked in the shoe shop, came up to
me and stated that he had not been let
out of his cell as early as usual and
wanted to know the reason. | said
would see the assistant superintendent
and find out the cause. He walked by
my side till got in the north sally-port
and then another convict named Librado
Puebla stepped up to me and took hold
of my hands. I shook him off, and
he drew a large knife from
under his clothes, and put it up against
my heart, and said; "You die" Then
Lopez, who could talk good English,
and acting as spokesman for the party
(there were several of them), told me
that they wanted their liberty, and if 1
would take them over the hill on the
east towards the Gila river, and order
the guards not to fire, they would not
harm me, but if 1 failed to do it would
die. Puebla, who was their leader, then
said in Spanish: "Tie him." They
tied my right hand with red scarf.
Before they fastened my left hand /
said: "Come on" We marched out
of the sally port some fifty feet, about
halfway between the wall and the Office
and stopped. Puebla had hold OF one
side. and Bustamente, another convict,
had hold OF my other side. Vasquez,
another convict, and Lopez were walk
ing in our advance. Then l halted.
Vasquez and Lopez ran into my office,
and broke open nay desk and got my
pistol. I was struggling violently with
them, when l gave Ben F. Hartlee, a
guard on the big tank, the signal to fire.
About year before one of the Mexican
convicts exposed plot to me similar to
this one, to catch and use me as shield
for escape. l then told the guards, if
such thing ever happened, to fire at
all hazards, and would take the
chances.
Hartlee shouted: "Shall I fire p"
said, eyes" He commenced firing
with his 1890 Winchester. About this
moment Lopez ran close to me with my
pistol in his hand, cooked, and, just as
he was about to shoot me, struck the
pistol with my left hand, the pistol
discharged, and the bullet went through
the feshy part of Puebla's arm. Just
then Dick Rule, secretary of the board
of prison commissioners, struck Puebla
on the head with pistol, and then Rule
jumped back and shot at Lopez, who
fred back at Rule. The latter then ran
and got behind spring mattrass. Lopez
followed Rule few feet, and, coming in
range of Hartlee, the latter shot Lopez
and he fell. Lopez started to raise, when
Hartlee shot him again. Rule then
came up and shot Lopez through the
feshy part of the arm, and ran into the
office. Hartlee then shot Bustamente,
small man, who had hold of me on
my right side. Bustamente made a
slash at me with his shoe knife, and cut
my coat as he broke loose from me and ran
towards the north sally port where he
fell on the gate. Hartlee then shot
Vasquez, Puebla's partner in crime, and
he fell. At that instant Puebla stuck
the whole four inches of the blade of
his butcher knife into my neck just to
the right of the hackbone making a
cash about five inches long. and turned
the blade around, which penetrated the
lung, and l breathed through the hole.
Barney Riggs, an American and a
life-convict, thinking the Mexicans
were in a row among themselves,
was to one side of me, and when the
shooting commenced he jumped behind
one corner of the office. When Puebla
had his knife in me, called to Riggs to
get the gun from Lopez and shoot Pue-
bla as he was stabbing me. Riggs ran
and jerked the pistol out Of Lopez
hand. and ran up close to Puebla and