Crawford avalanche., 1895-12-05

sAS11 WIN ~ hanAuitI VI bOAAC OlnCx
missile, and is supposed to be fatally hurt.
Superintendent Coffey, of the new shirt
factory, was beaten over the head with
a club and pounded to insensibility. Fore
man Mueller, of the factory, was slugged
on the head with whatever the conyicts
could lay hands on. After this the en-
ragged prisoners, who had become like
demons, smashed score or more of ma
chimes with hammers and iron bars. ALI
this took place while the guards and
keepers about the prison were rushing to
the assistance of the wounded men. In
few moments the prison force controlled
the desperate convicts and they were
marched out and locked up.
There were eight convicts directly en-
gagged In the battle. OF this number Dick
HuntleN the Detroit twenty-year burglar,
and Curley, the five-year man, also from
Detroit, and Lige Bullard, the fighting
negro, serving second sentence, were
the ringleaders, Huntley being the man
who struck the first blow.
The trouble came like flash and was
about trivial matter. Foreman Mueller
told Huntley to trim shirt or he would
report him. Later everything seemed
orderly when suddenly Huntley knocked
Mueller down with a club. Then Super
ntendent Coffey ran to Mueller's assist
ance. Curley and Lige Bullard foored
Coffey with a blow over the head with
club. The alarm was sent in and the
deputy went to the shop. The moment
he came to the door he was struck on the
head by hammer by ONE of the convicts
and by another with stick of wood.
The deputy did not get inside the door
at all, but fell on the outside, and the
convicts piled upon him as he lay stunned
on the ground. After the deputy was res
cued and taken away the rioters found
the keepers coming armed to the scene,
and fearing they would be shot ceased
their murderous efforts and were ut once
placed in their cells. There are 100 con-
victs in the shirt factory, but the warden
says only eight seemed to have anything
to do with the riot. Kelly and Western,
keepers in the shop, were handled rough
ly, but are not dangerously hurt. War
den Chamberlain said the trouble began
in moment and there was no premoni-
tion of it, There are $50 convicts," he
said, "who have been idle long time
and they rebel at work. We are now con-
sidering what we will do with the ring
leaders. The others will be sent back to
work"
Huntfey Is a Pad Man.
Dick Huntley is one of the worst men in
the prison. Three years ago he scaled
the prison WALL attempting 10 escape in
the daytime. and guIrd shot heavy
bullet clear through his body, but he
lived. A year ago Curley came near kill
ing a foreman on the granite works by
hitting him on the head because the fore
man asked Huntlcy TO do work properly.
Lige Bullard is from Detroit and always
ready To kill any one who crosses him.
DIR. Gibson, prison physician, says he
fears Deputy Warden Northrop is fatal
ly injured. There seems to be no frac-
ture of the skull that the doctor can de-
termine, but the shock from the blows is
believed to have been too much for his
constitution, weakened as he is by an ILL
ness of long standing. When the fight
in the shop was at its height and North
rop had been summoned, Boothe, alias
Archer. stepped in front of the two keep
ers in the shop who had started to warn
the deputy and said: You make a step
toward the door and will kill you both"
At that instant Northrop reached the
door of the shop, when Boothe, Huntley
and O'Neil pitched into him, striking him
with an iron bar and hammer. He fell
headlong from the steps to the ground,
with the three on top of him, beating
him with irons and hammers. Officers
say it is the greatest wonder Northrop
was not instantly killed. He cannot
speak and has tainted and lost conscious
ness several times since the assault. The
next worst injured is Superintendent
Coffey of the shirt factory. He has sew
eral Jumps on his head from blows of
club and one eye is badly cut. The in
juries of the others are not serious.
AS soon as the fight became general in
the shop some convict threw a lighted
match into greasy cotton waste and
flames sprung up. To add to the horror
of the situation one of the convicts turned
on all the steam, while another attempted
to smash the pipes and let the steam into
the room and thus cause a stampede into
the yard.
Prompt action of the officers in over
coming the rioters alone saved general
break, and great loss of life as well. In
all there were forty machines smashed to
pieces by the eight convicts with iron
bars and hammers.
Albert Stiles. a member Of the Board of
Control, and Warden Chamberlain say
that every convict implicated will be in
dicted and tried for attempted murder,
and if Deputy Northrup dies they will
be tried for murder.