The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-15

him physical wreck, is a matter of his
tory.
AT the peril of his own life he called
upon the guards 10 shoot. and che order
was obeyed. In second more twenty
other prisoners who had waited for the
signal to make a united break for liberty
ran from their workshops TO the prison
office, knocked the guards there into IN
sensioility, and despoiled the place of lis
rifles and pistols. A dozen more pris-
oners attempted TO run out OF the laundry
and kitchen, to help their fellow-convicts,
but were kept back by the armed guards.
In a few seconds the guards upon the
walls turned their Winchesters and Calling
guns upon the rebellious convicts, white
the dozen guards in the prison yard and
about the shops threw themselves into
the breach to keep other prisoners from
joining in the rebellion. An eyewitness
of the AFFAIR, who has been through two
Apache and Comanche Indian wars, says
he never saw so many men instantly stand
up and face death as did both the prison
guards and the rebellious convcts that
October morning.
Shots were exchanged at a range of less
than twenty feet between the guards and
the prisoners. A dozen Of the latter who
were near the gates daNed outside the
walls, and. rifles in hand, started for the
tONu VI L UNA NO NdllluB gun was ever
worked more rapidly and unerrlngly than
than on the penitentiary walls at that
time, and the Winchesters in the hands
of another guard on the walls fired n bali
every three seconds. Nine of the fleeing
convicts dropped wounded in their tracks.
Three more threw up their hands as a
sign of surrender, and in this fashion
walked back TO the prison yard.
The attention of the guard was turned
to the mutiny in the yard, bus there the
Calling gun could not be used because of
the angle in which it had to be turned.
Only the Winchester rifles could be used
For a few minutes there was a 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 three prisoners were
wounded for life. One guard was shot
four times through the body and never
theless lived several years. The injured
prisoners threw UP their hands BECAUSE
they were out of cartridges and Nere
marched to their cells =.
In the history of the prison 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 a half-breed MeXi-
can. His grandmother was an Apache
squaw and his Indian blood stood him in
good stead in running across the desert
and leaving no track behind while he
eluded the scent of bloodhounds and
craftsmanship of the prison sharpshoot-
ers. II was in 1888, before the prison twas
so well equipped with firearms as Il is
to-day. The convict was a life prisoner,
and was sent to Yuma for highway rob-
berry and murder at the same time. From
a confederate he obtained a gun after get
ting out of the prison, and with this he
was able to kill a rabbit and a small bird
on the first evening of his liberty, These
he ate raw, and they were his sole sus-
tenance for about ten days. He was
tracked more than one hundred miles by
Yuma Indian trailers, and they lost all
trace of him in a long, rocky canyon.
party of mining prospectors found
the remains of a man, wearing the slireds
of a Yuma convict's garb one day in the
foothills over the border line between the
United States and Mexico The thin,
starved, mummified body answered the de-
| scription of the Mexican who had risked
the horrors of the most savage desert In
| all the world In the hope of liberty and
had suffered untold agonies in his vain
! endeavors to get to freedom d
Reformatory measures are not practic-
ed at the Yuma prison. because nearly all
! the prisoners are MeXicans and half
breeds-Mexicans and Indians--and their
vilainous countenances show the hard
| life they have led. Most of them are in
| for horse stealing, highway robbery and
| murder No regular work is demanded of
them aside from such as is necessary to
| keep the prison In good condition.