The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-02-01

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Icy TO think how you would feel if
you were night after night lockad ~ =
close, narrow cell. with onlv 0n,au
opening tor fresh air end with the tam
Perature ranging from 95 to 100 de.
gees" said discouraged convict from,
the Human prison in telling of tie wav
tue prisoners live there. ~ have known
many nights in midsummer whan rho
temperature in the cells was ahopt 1nz
degrees, and with the natural dampness
ot the cells and not breath of air stir~
ring you can imagine what the poor con.
Vlcts suffer. The fellows lie on thar
ounks, stripped naked, and pant like
Ilzzards for enough air to breathe. Often
the temperature at night keeps at about
20 degrees for several weeks at a time,
and near the 105-degree mark for week
or ten days at a stretch.
'Think what suffering that must he 70
the poor cOnvicts who work daily in
summer in a temperature that ranges
from ITO to 122 degrees, followed at
night by the terrific heat / have told
you about
But the most dare devil and boldest
contest for liberty that has probably
ever taken place within the walls of a
penal institution in this country was
that of one morning in October, 1887.
| The old>timers of Yuma who have lived
for generation or more on the frontier
of civilization and have been eve
witnesses of desperate conflicts and
slaughters If human beings on the
plains and in the mountains have not vet
| ceased talking If that morning.
Thomas Gates, who died by his own
hand few months ago, was superin-
tendent of the penitentiary at the time.
As he came from his private quarters
early one morning he passed in the rear
OF brick building, where he was set
upon by four prisoners, who were serv-
ing long sentences for stage robberies
/ and murder. The attack was made
within the range If the armed guards
upon the walls. Supt. Gates heroism
on that eventfult occasion, when he re-
ceived wounds that left him a physical
wreck is matter of history.
| At the peril Of his own life he called
| upon the guards to shoot, and the order
was Obeyed. In second more twenty
other prisoners who had waited for the
| signal to make united break for liberty
ran from their worksh ops to the prison
Office, knocked the guards there into in
senSi6ilitY, and despOiled the place of its
! rifles and pistols. A dozen more prison
ers attempted to run out OF the laundry
and kitchen, to help their feliow-con>
victs, but were kept back by the armed
guards.
In few seconds the guards upon the
walls turned their WincheSters and Cat
ling gun upon the rebelltous convicts,
while the dozen guards in the prison
yard and about The shops threw them>
selvs into the breach to keep other
prisoners from joining in the rebellion.
An eyewitness of the affair, who has
been through two Apache and COman~
cue Indian wars, says he never saw SO
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death as did both the prison guards and
the rebellipuS cOuvicts that October
morning.
Shots were exchanged at range of
less than twenty feet between the
GU lrds and the prisoners. A dozen nf
the latter who were near the gates dart.
ed outside the walls, and, relies in hand,
started for the town of Yuma. No Gat>
| ling gun was ever worked more rapidly
and unerringly than on the peuitentiary
walls at that time, and the WinchesterS
in the hands of another guard on the
walls fired ball every three seconds
Nine of the fleeing convics dropped
wounded in their tracks. Three more
threw up their hands as sign # surren-
der, and in this fashion walked back to
the prison yard.
The attention or the guard was turned
to the mutiny in the yard, but there the
Calling sun could not be used because
of the angle in which it had to be
turned. Only the Winchester rifles
could be used. For few minutes there
was terrific exchange of shots, and few
of them went astray from their mark
Five prisoners and three guards fell
dead almost at one anOther'S feet, while
I three prisoners were wounded for life
One guard was shot four times through
the body and nevertheless lived several
years. The injured prisoners threw up
their hands because they were out of car
| ridges and were marched 10 their cells
In the history of the ptisou only one
man has succeeded in crossing the track
| less deserts that environ the territorial
penitentiary of Yuma and reaching Old
Mexico. The man was haj-Dreed
Mexican. His grandmother VS. n
! Apache squaw and his Indian bloc