The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-27
FIERCE FIGHT ma PRISON.
One Convict Killed, One Wounded and
a Guard Badly Hurt.

Bent on Doing Him Up and Escaping.
He Struggles Desperately Against the
Terrible ODDS and Succeeds in Firing
His Pistol, Hitting One OF the Convicts
in the LeR-other Guards Rush to His
Rescue and He Then Deliberately
Shoots Down the Leader OF the Gang.
Columbus, o., Dec. 26.-The epidemic oe
assaults upon guards at the Ohio peni-
tentiary, which began about six months
ago, eliminated this morning In a bloody
encounter in which one prisoner was shot
and instantly killed another dangerously
wounded with a pistol ball in his leg and
a guard seriously Injured by being beaten
/ over the head with a bar OF iron. The
shooting occurred in the Reynolds foun-
dry. and only few minutes after the men
had marched to the shops for the day's
work.
The convlcts who participated in the.
affair We're Joseph o'Day. Cuyahogai
county prisoner serving two years terms
for forgery; John Burk. a Lorain countyl
prisoner, serving two years for robberyd
and John Bird. serving one year fromsl
Franklin county for shooting 10 wound
The mounting room In the foundry has
for some time been in a state OF terror.
or in other words the prisoners have had
fun sway, and We're in the habit OF doing
as they pleased.
The officials decided to put stop to this
and on last Saturday Guard s. j. Temples
OF Columbiana county was placed ON duty,
In that department. Several OF the bolder'
THI ff1lru Ia NN..m mf,.s
| ing out hints TO the guard that II ha
| wanted to retain his residence In America.
! rules.
Guard Temple is rated as one OF the
| hrdvest and most efficient guards at the
penitentlary and consequently these little
bluns did not scare him In the least from
| performing his duty
He sized up the men he had to deal
with, and saw at once that O'Day, the
Cleveland prisoner, was the leader OF the
gang.
Monday morning Guard Temple had oc-
casion to report O'Day for violating the
rules. O'Day and his pals at once threat
ened vengeance, and Christmas morning
when the men were at breakfast Guard
Temple was informed that a plot had
been hatched to kill him, and he was
advised by friends to arm himself and
be prepared for the attack. Prior to this
time Guard Temple never carried a wea-
pom OF any kind, but ne decided 70 act
on the advice and purchased a Smith a
Wesson revolver Of the best make.
He had hardly expected that the men
were ready to carry out their threat, and
when he reported at the foundry for duty
this morning, he had almost dismissed
the subject from his mind. But the pris-
oners had not given the plot up by any
means. but on the other hand were more
determined than ever of riddRg the shop
OF an official who dared to do his duty.
Guard Temple marched his company In at
7.30 o'clock usual, and just as he
stepped inside the building, O'Day Burk
and Bird grabbed him, and proceeded to
carry out their threat OF doing him up"
Burk caught Guard Temple by the
throat Bird held his hands and O'Day
struck him on the head with an iron bar.
Geard Temple succeeded in getting his
hands on his revolver. but the prisoners
prevented him from taking It from his
pocket
A desperate struggle then ensued be-
tween the prisoners and guard, each
striving to secure possession of the wea-
pom.
"Get me knife somebody" shouted
O'Day "and I'll cut his throat"
Several OF the guards In the other de-
partments heard the scufiie and rushed
to Guard Temples rescue.
Guards Fulton and Butler were among
the first TO arrive and they threatened
to club the men, and I'm this way succeeded
in dragging them off of Guard Temple,
who by this time was covered with blood,
which flowed from the wound on his head.
In the meantime Guard Temple had fired
two shots from his revolver. having aimed
them at Reuben Gardner, a prisoner
whom O'Day had asked to get a knife.
I One shot struck Gardner In the leg and
passing through, came out on the other
side, producing very painful wound.
Guard Temple fired the shot without
taking his revolver from his pocket. and
when a few minutes later, the guards
came to his rescue, he took the revolver
out, and deliberately aiming II at O'Day.
shot him dead.
Guard Temple claims that when he fred
the fatal shot O'Day had turned TO re-
/ new the assault on him.
Consideration reigned supreme.
Prisoners ran in all directions and the
guards were at first afraid to take a
hand in the affair for fear of being
| shot.
Guard Temple stood on the middle of
the floor with the smoking revolver In
his hand and refused to give It up. He
4 was dazed by the severe blow he re-
ceived on the head and It was only
after the weapon had been taken from
him that he could be induced to go to
the hospital.
Dr. Ireton examined his injuries and
found him to be suffering from a severe
| bruise on the top Of his head, but MOTH
ing to indicate that his injuries will
prove fatal
ODay. already dead. was carried to
/ the hospital.
Coroner Herbst then held a post-mor-
TEN examination and found where the
/ bullet had entered the left side, passed
through the fifth rib. and piercing the
lung lodged just under the skin ON the
/ right side.
| O'Day was rated as a bad prisoner,
/ having been in several different scrapes
! Ta inns
/ taken off last May for assaulting S. d.
! Camond Herring, a Richlard county
! guard. He was % years old and the
| place of his nativity Is given on the
/ prison records as Deadwood, s. d.
New steel Plant.