The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-15
THE FAMOUS YUBA JAIL.
THE RENOWNED OLD PRISON AND
ITS TRAGIC STORY.
Hundreds HIVE Fretted Their Lives
Away There-No Man Has Ever


The famous old town OF Yuma, on the
western edge of Arizona Territory, close
upon the east bank of the Colorado river,
is unique in several respects. Years ago
ID was the most dreaded frontier garrison
to which Uncle Sam assigned his soldiers
1t is known the world over for ms re-
markedly hot weather records, and every
summer Yuma and the climate there are
sources on which newspaper humorists
and photographers, far and WIDE draw
with reckless extravaganza.
Yuma has been the scene of many In
dian fights in the last two centuries
Probably no other fort on the extreme
Western frontier has ever held so many
men, first and last. who later became ia
NOUS military leaders, as Fort Yuma.
Gems. Custer, Phil Kearney, Beale, Albert
Sidney Johnson, Longstreet and Mcdowell
all served a year or two of their army
| apprenticeship there John Phoenix
Q4ieut II. A. Derby, the first American
humorist of the modern style, died there
Arizona territorial pentenuary stands
upon an eminence overlooking the Colo
RADIO and ella rivers for miles, On one
| side Is the Colorado river, and on the other
| three sides there stretches away for miles
and miles as desolate and trackless and
hopeless a desert as man ever looked upon.
No one not even the Indians. brought up
| on the skirts of that great area of sand
| and cactus, dare to go across it unat-
! tended and without provisions of food and
| drink The most desperate criminals
abandon all thought Of gaining liberty by
| attempting to flee across that almost lin
itless burning waste.
a high wall enclOses the prison wall.
| The wall has a hight of sixteen feet, and
il is eight feet thick at the base and five
feet thick at the top. Within it are the
main prison buildings and the shops.
! The prison building is solidly constructed
of rock laid on mortar, and in the center
! of all the walls is inserted a heavy iron
grating. similar grating is laid in the
masonry above and below each cell, so
that upon the completion of the whole
prison building, of which only portion
has been finished 1t will have an enor-
nous skeleton of iron, which will serve
| as an effeCtual bar TO a convicts escape,
| even were he to dig through the massive
stone wall Adjoining and connectdn With
the prison are a large airy dining room.
a kitchen and a laundry In spite of the
| terrific heat of the climate. these buildings
are remarkable for their comparative
GOODNESS.
penitentiary is interested in the Calling
guns which are placed on the guard stands
| arranged at intervals along the top of the
walls The largest and principal gun is
in charge of a young Mexican, who boasts
! of his Apache blood. He is rated as the
| best marksman with Calling gun in the
United States. Gen. McCook of the United
States army says his manipulation of the
complicated weapon and mis- accuracy Of
aim are simply marvellous. The young
| Mexican has an excellent field Cor target
! practice over the ella mud flats, just above
the prison. A tin can six inches in diane
| ter placed at a distance of 700 yards. he
viii hit four times out of five with Cat
ling gun. When il is remembered that he
can fire 500 Shots a minute, the possibility
of convicts escape is too small to cal
culate.
! A recent test of the marsmanship of this
young Apache gunner was made. From
behind a stone wall 100 tin cans of the size
of common fruit cans were thrown, one
at time haphazard in the air, just as
/ clay pigeons are automatically thrown at
shooting matches. The Apache had his gun
ready and had to aim quick as a flash
at each can at a distance of $50 yards.
He pierced 81 out of 100 before they fell
| behind the stone Enclosure.
The average number of convicts i'm the
| prison is 1870. Seventeen of the prisoners
| there are in for life. They are muTderers,
railroad wreckers and highwaymen. The
comfort of a prisoner in Yuma depends
much on the money he or his friends have.
If he is poor and has no friends of means
or influence, he has only the cheap but
" holesome prison fare and must occupy
at night one of the stone cells within the
buildings For few weeks in winter these
cells are guile comfortable, but in the sum
mer months or when a parching wind Is
blowing off the hot desert, they are like
Turkish bath rooms.
''Try TO think how you would feel if you
we're night after night locked in a c.ose,
narrow cell. with only a small opening
for fresh air. and with the temperature
ranging from 50 to 100 degrees said a
discouraged convict from the fumafl pris-
on in telling of the way the prisoners live
there Il have known many nights in
midsummer when the temperature in the
cells was about 105 degrees, and with tho
natural damDness Of the cells and not a
breath of air stirring you can imagine
what the poor convicts suffer. The TEL
.ows lie on Their hunks, stripped naked,
and pant like lizards for enough air 10
breathe. Often the temperature at night
keeps at about IS degrees for several
weeks at a time, and near the l05-dgree
mark for a week or ten days at stretch.
Think what suffering that must be 10
mer in q temperature that ranges from
10 degrees to 122 degrees followed at night
by the terrific heat I have told you about"
But the most dare devil and boldest con-
test for liberty that has probably ever tax
err place within the walls of penal instr
tuition in this country was that of one
morning in October 1881 The old-timers
OF Yuma who have lived for a genera.
ton or more on the frontier of civiliza-
ton and have been witnesses of des-
perate conflicts and saughters of human
beings on the plains and in the mountains
have not yet ceased taking Of that morn
ing.
Thomas Gates. who died by his own
hand few months ago. was superintend-
ent of the penitentiary at the time. As
he came from his private quarters early
one morning he passed in the rear OF
a brick building, where he was set upon
| by four prisoners. who were serving long
sentences for stage robberies and muir
der. The attack was made within the
range Of the armed guards upon the walls