Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-07-14
Otis Hurley Stabs Guard
Blocker.


"penitentiary demon" which so long
has heretofore been applied to Ira
Marlatt. S. d. Blocker, a guard from
Summit county, in charge of cell block
H at night, now lies at his home, 1893
Spruce street, is precarious condition
the victim of a fiendish assault by
Hurley, who is locked continuously in
cell on the second tier of cells in
block H.
The affair occurred on Tuesday eve
ming between and o'clock, but did
not become known at the prison until
late yesterday afternoon.
Hurley several days ago told Block
er that some person whose name
ne did not give, was going
to give him some saws, by which
he could get out of his CELL and when
he received them he would make it
known to the guard, and disclose the
name of the person who brought them.
Blocker reported the conversation to
Captain Langenbergeri charge of the
prison at night, who warned the
guard to be on the watch, for Hurley
was treacherous, and back of his state
ment there might be some deep
scheme
Tuesday evening Blocker was max
ing the count of his prisoners, which
1, donn a,,o A;roog aaob riobt opd
when he came to H, Hurley's cell, Hur-
ley was standing up. He waved a
package at the guard saying, "Tve got
them all right" Guard Blocker un-
locked the door and entered. AS he
stepped in Hurley made a quick step
forward, at the same instant striking
Hurley on the upper part of the abdo-
men, and making the remark, Get out
of here, what do you want in here
anyhow"
The package was in Hurley's other
hand and Blocker took it and passed
out. At the moment he felt no pain,
merely a peculiar sensation, to which
he paid no attention. The package
afterwards was found to contain moth
ing but an old hymn book. The
guard said in telling of the assault to
the officials of the prison, that when
Hurley told him to get out he sup
posed it was merely grand stand
play" to make the nearby prisoners
think his cell was being entered by
force
Blocker then went on with his duties
in making the count, but when he
reached the fifth tier of cells he began
to feel sick. He came down from the
range, but did not tell his fellow
guards what had occurred. He be-
came very weak and supposed he had
been attacked with bloody diarrhea in
severe form. He remained, howev-
er, at his post until about O'Clock in
the morning, when he went to the
guard room and asked to be allowed to
go home, as he was sick What he
supposed to be an ordinary severe ill
ness has been learned since to be the
overfowing of internal hemorrhages,
He had 2S of them up to noon yester-
day.
When the fact became known that
the guard had been assaulted a search
was made of Hurley's cell. Before the
searching officers arrived at the cell a
guard picked up a wire weapon just
outside of the cell door, which he de-
liVered to the deputy warden. In the
cell was found about an inch or an
inch and a half of wire, one end
showing the appearance of a recent
break, whil the other had been sharp
ened to needle point. On the piece
found outside was a similar fresh
break, and the two joined perfectly.
Hurley had taken the wire handle
from his cell bucket and Strengthened
1T out. Then he bent one end so as to
make sort of handle and the other he
had sharpened to a needle point.
When Blocker entered his cell it was
with this that he stabbed him.
When Blocker examined himself he
found very small wound on the up
per part of the abdomen, about an
inch and half to the left of the me-
dian line, from which only a few
drops of blood had issued, showing that
the bleeding was all on the inside, He
felt no pain, but later at his home he
complained considerably.
He is known at the prison as one Of
the most careful guards at the institu-
tion, insisting on the observance of the
rules. In his dealings with the pris-
oners he has always been watchful,
taking no chances, and but for the
previous conversation he would not
have fallen into the trap laid by Hur-
ley.
Hurley was sent up from Montgom-
cry county, and was received in July,
1896, to serve five years for grand lar
ceny. Some time ago he stabbed Miss
Daisy Sprague while she was passing
! through the prison yard. for which he
had IL years added to his sentence. He
has had to wear a ball and chain, and
has Jeen placed in solitary confine-
ment, from which he escaped and was
found in hiding with a deadly weapon
in the shop where Miss Sprague was a
clerk. He was then placed in a cell in