The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-25


times out of six. AS the sharpshooting
greaser can fire 500 shots a minute with
hts machine, the chances of a convict 5
escape if he sees him are about a. infni-
tes.mally small as the snowbird's in the
neither world
"Uusuaiiy there are about 125 convicts
in Yuma prison, with something lass than
twenty doing time for life. These are
murderers highwaymen, train wreckeTs
and stage robbers. Most of those who are
serving out less severe sentences are horse
thieves who have managed to elude en-
thusiastic lynchers. Reformatory meas
ures are not practiced TO any extent in the
Arizona territorial penitentiary for the
simple reason that nearly all Of the pris-
oners are Greasers and half-breeds who
are absolutely beyond redemption, as their
villainous faces advertise. No regular
work is demanded OF them. apart from
such as is necessary 90 keep the prison
c.ean and in gooc order, but the officials
generally find some thing for them to do
in order to keep their minds employed.
Life Almost UnbearabIe.
Their punishment is severe. They work
daily in summer In a temperature which
ranges from 10 to 125 degrees and at night
they are shut up in their box-like cells
which are worse than the steaming rooms
in the Turkish baths. At times the noe
tIrnal temperature in the cells remains in
the vicinity of los degrees for a week or
more, and with the natural dampness of
the cells and not breath of air stirring
you may imagine the suffering For
weeks at a time the temperature at night
anchors to IS degrees and turns the cells
into hells. which are no doubt miniature
but entirely sufficient for all practical pur-
poses.
mo prisoner has ever escaped from old
Yuma prison and lived to tell the tale. but
mr. afagafN hg Il
wholesale delivery ever made in any penal
institution In the United States was that
which took pace there one October morn
ing in 1887 Old residents of Yuma and
men who have spent their lives in circles
of border rufiianism and lawlessness still
talk about that desperate effort for free
dom. The superintendent Of the peniten-
tiary at the time was Thomas Gates, who
killed himself last year. Coming from
his private quarters one morning. in the
rear of brick building. he was set upon
by four prisoners. The attack was made
within the range of the armed guards on
the walls. The heroism displayed by Supt
Gates on that stirring occasion, wnen he
received wounds which left MIN a perma-
nent physical wreck, is a matter of his
tory.
At the peril of his own life he command
ed the guards 10 fire, and the order was
instantly obeyed. AS the reports rang out
twenty other prisoners, who were waiting
for the signal to make a united bolt for
liberty, ran from their workshops to the
prison door, where they knocked the
guards down, pounded them into state
of insensibihty and seized a quantity Of
rifles and revolvers stored there in for
emergency use. Twenty other prisoners
attempted TO run out of the laundry and
Kitchen to assist their fellow convicts, but
were kept back by armed guards.
meanwhile the qUa rds on tho
brought their Winchesters TO bear
upon the rebellious convicts with deadly
effect, and the ten or twelve guards in the
prison yard and shops threw themselves
into the breach TO foresta.l the efforts If
other prisoners to take part In the upris-
ing Shots were exchanged between the
guards and convicts at a range of less
than twenty feet. Finally dozen pris-
oners, ~seizing a favorable opportunity
dashed outside the walls and. still armed
with rifles and revolvers, started to run
for Yuma. There was only one Calling
gun on top of the penitenuary walls at the
time, but never was a death-deaIing ma
chine so accurately and effectively work
ed. Assisted by another guard with a
Winchester which discharged a bali ever
third second the manipulation of the CAT
ling brought down nine of the abscondine
prisoners. The other three, appalled, bv
the tate Of their brothers. threw up their
manner walked back to the prison yard.
Lively FusiIIade.
Here the mutiuy continued to rage. for
the all-conquering Calling gun could not
be trained upon the mutineers because of
the angle at which it had to be operated.
only rifles and revolvers could be used.
For several minutes there was a terrific
of shots, few of which went
astray. Three guards and FIVE prisoners
fell dead almost at one another's feet.
and three prisoners were manned for life.
One guard was shot through the body five
times. but he lived for several years. At
last the cartridges in the convicts' weap-
ons were exhausted, and they were forced
TO throw up their hands and submit 10
being marched into their cells
Since the prison was established only
one man has succeeded in getting out and
crossing the wilderness into old Mexico.
This was half-breed Mexican. whose
was an Apache squaW and
his Indian blood stood him in good stead
in scooting over fhe desert and leaving
no telitale track behind. although pursued
by bloodhounds and sharpshooters 1t was
In 1888 that the half-breed got away, some
time before the thorough equipment of
Yuma prison with firearms The convict
was a life prisoner, and was sent to Yuma
for murder and highway robbery. Out
side the prison walls he obtained a gun
from a confederate.
Some months after the half breeds es-
cape a party of mining prospectors dis
covered the remains of man attired in
the shreds of a Yuma convict's garb In
The foothills over the border line between
the United States and Mexico. 1t was the
body of the half-breed who had undoubt-
eddy starved to death in the desert"
Se-s
RaIeigh's Collision With Whale.
From the Cleveland Leader.