Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-06-28
DESPERATE THUGS,
Headed by a Sontag, Break
for Liberty.
DEADLY FIGHT AT A PENITENTIARY

Geo. Sontag Leads the Attempt and Gets
Some Lead in Him That Will Probably
End His Career-Three Others of the
Convicts Killed and Others Wounied-
A Half Hour of Sharp Shooting.
l FOLSOM, Cal, June 2S.-George Sontag,
the train robber whose brother is badly
wounded at Fresno and who is himself in
Folsom prison for life, headed desperate
break of convicts, which resulted in his
own dangerous wounding, the death of
three convicts and the wounding of three
others At Folsom most of the prisoners
are employed outside the grounds in
quarryine stone for San Francisco street
pavements. They are watched by picked
guards, who are all dead shots with Win
chesters.
Ran Off with Lieutenant.
gang of convicts was at work in the
upper stone quarry, wnen suddenly George
Sontag. a life-termer; Russell Williams,
Ben Williams, and Charlie Abbot and n
ten-year convict, Dalton, seized Frank Bril-
are, lieutenant of the guard put pistol 10
his head and started together TO run up the
hill Before reaching the top it was devel-
oped that they had two Winchesters and an
additional revolver. which had been con-
cealed among the rocks. Up to this time
the guards had been unable TO shoot, as
Briare was in the grasp of the convicts-
Terrific Fight for Half an Hour.
Just before reaching the summit Briare
Jerked away and the guards opened fire
from all directions. The convicts took TO
the rocks, concealed themselves as best
they could and returned the fire as rapidly
as possible. The regular guard was soon re-
inforced by reserves from he prison and a
terrific fight took place which lasted fully
half an hour. during ali of which time shots
were fired indiscriminately from Calling
guns Winchester rifles and revolvers as
rapidly as triggers could be pulled At
the end Of about thirty minutes one of the
convicts held his hat on rifle as a token
of surrender.
Three of the Prisoners Are Dead.
Warden Aull and a few guards advanced
to the cOnvicts' stronghold. where they
found Williams, Wilson and Dalton
stretched dead on the ground Sontag
was badly wounded by three or four
bullets He had one bad shot through the
body and two through the thigh. Abbott
was grooming with a broken leg At the
beginning of the fight two prisoners were
wounded. but were Immediately carried
into the prison. None of the prisoners es-
capped. nor were any of the guards in
iured Warden Aull speaks in the highest
terms OF the bravery displayed by the
guards.
The Warden Had Been Preparing.
The break was not unexpected. For
more than three months the warden feared
this, and had been quctiyprerIring t1r IL
About three months ago the warrior re
ceived reliable information that Evans,
John Sontag. and their friends ,.eye about
TO make an attempt - carry lie prison by
storm and release Georgr S,ut3c. With
out making any fuss about ii several
picked men from various parts of the state
We're sent for and placed ia responsible pc
sitions. New guns and pistols were dis
tributed, and in fact everything WAS put in
order for desperate fight Soquictly was
victs suspected that anything unusual was
about to happen.