Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-14
Penitentiary From Which No Man
Ever Escapes Alive.
THE SCENE OF A TRAGIC STORY
Many Lives Lost When the Con-
victs Tried to Escape.
AN AWFULLY HOT PLACE

| upon the east bank OF the Colorado river.
| is unique in several respects. Years ago il
was the most dreaded frontier garrison TO
| which Uncle Sam assigned his soldiers. IL
| is known the world over for its remarkably
| hot weather records. and every summer
Yuma and the climate there are sources on
which newspaper humorists and para
| graphers. far and wide, draw with reckless
| extravaganza.
Arizona territorial penitentiary stands
| upon an eminence overlooking the Colorado
| 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 hope
less 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 20 go across il unattended and
without provisions Of food ami drink The
| most desperate criminals abandon all
| Thought of gaining liberty 10y attempting 10
| flee across that almost lmitless burning
waste. high wall incloses the prison
| wall. The wall has height Of sixteen
| feet, and il is eight feet thick al tn, base
and five feet thick at the top
| The average number of convicts I'm tho
! prison is l3u. Seventeen OF the prisoners
| there are in for life. They are murderers,
| railroad wreckers and highwaymcn. The
comfort of a prisoner in Yuma depends
| much on the money he or his friends have.
| II he Is poor and has no friends OF means
| or influence, he has only the CHEAP but
wholesome prison fare and must occupy at
night one of the stone cells within the
| buildings. For few weeks in winter these
cells are quite comfortable. but I'm the sum
mer months or when a parchinE wind is
blowing off the hot desert they are ike
Turkish bath rooms.
Intense Heat.
Try to think how you would feel if you
were night after night locked in a close.
| narrow cell, with only a small opening for
| fresh air and with the temperature ranging
from 20 to 100 degrees said discouraged
| convict from Yuma prison in telling Of the
way the prisoners live there 4 have
| known many nights in midsummer when
the temperature in the cells was about lnI
| degrees, and with the natural dampness of
tue cells and not a breath of air stirring
you can Imagine what the poor Couvicts
suffer. The fellows lie on their hunks
stripped naked, and pant like lizards for
enough air TO breathe. Often the lempera-
lure at night keeps at about - degrees for
several weeks at a time. and near the lo5-
degree mark for week or ten days at a
Think what suffering that nus+ no :,
the poor convicts who work daily in sum
mer In a temperature that ranges iron, IIo
degrees to l22 degrees, followed at night
| 10y the tefrliice heat / have told won al,oI,,
But the most daredevil and hoI5as- 90,
test Tor liberty that has probably ever tax
en- place within the walls of a penal insfi-
Net4'iA ia ttlls country was thai % "a
morning IN October 1887. The old-tfuars
OF Yuma who have lived for a generation
or more on the frontier of civilization and
nave been eye-Wltnesses of desperate con-
illcts and slaughters of human beings on
the plains and in the mountains have nor
Yet ceased talking Of that morning
The SUPPLEMENTARY Heroism
Ihomas Gates, who died by his own hand
lew months ago, WAS superintendent Of
the penitentiary at the time As ~. came
from his private quarters early che morn
ing he passed i'm the rear of a brick bt,fla-
ing where he was set upon by four prlsnp-
ers' who were serving long sentences for
stage robberies and murder The attack
was made within the range of In, arr,.J
guards upon the walls, Sun.ript.rl..,,
Gates heroism on that eventful occasion
Wien ne received wounds that left him a
pnysical wreck. is matter of history.
Al the peril of his own life he called upoa
tie guards 10 shoot. and the order was
oheyed. In second more Than tN-.utv
other prisoners, who had waited for lie
| signal 10 make 4 united break for lih-rtv
ran from their workshops to IN. n,f-,n
ONCE, Knocked the guards there iDrn IN
sthslpiilty, ANA despoiled the place Of lis
rlIltS ana pistols. A dozen more prisoners
attempted 10 run out of th, iaun3r,. ma
kitchen TO help their fellow convicts. bur
were kept back by the armed guards
IN a Few seconds the guards upop tho
walls turned their Winchesters ana t;strj,,,
guns upon the rebcllous convicts yybiie
the dozen guards in the prison ward and
about the shops threw Themselves ms, -,
preach 10 Keep other prisoners from Joining
IN the rebellion. An eyewitness Of ne -
fair. who has been through two A,,,.t,
ana Conanche Indian wars. says ne never
50" - many men instantly stand no and
face death as did both the prison guards
and the rebellious conNicts thar ortnher
morning. 'A
Bloody Battle.
Shots Were exchanged at a range Of lass
f...
the prisoners. dozen of the latter who
were near the gates darted outside mo
walls and. rifles in hand. started for the
town of Yuma No Calling gun was ever
worked more rapidly and unerringly than
that on the penitentiary walls at that time
ana The Winchesters in the hands Of anoth-
or guard on the walls fired BAH every
thfee seconds. Nine of the fleeing conNicfs
dropped wounded in the tracks Three mora
threw up their hands as "A sign of surren-
DER, and in this fashion walked back 10
the prison yard.
The attention of the guards uras -urp.d
u the mutiny in the ward. but there the
Calling gun could not be used because Of
the angle In which il had TO be turned
only the Winchester rifles could ba used
For a few minutes there was "A terrific ex-
change OF shots, and few of them Went
astray from their mark Five prisoners and
three guards fell dead almost al one auoth-
er's feet while three prisoners We're wound
ed for life. One guard was sho. four times
through the body and nevertheless lived
several years The injured prisoners threw
up their hands because they Were out of
cartridges and were marched TO their cells.
Across the Desert
In the history of the prison only one rnan
has succeeded in crossing the trackless dcs-
erts that environ the territorial peniien-
tiary Of Yuma and reaching Old Mexico.
The man was half-breed Mexican 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 mark smanship Of the pris-
on sharpshooters. 1t was in 1883 before the
prison was well equipped with firearms
as il Is today. The convict was a life pris-
oner, and was sent to Yuma for highway
robbery and murder at the same time
From confederate he obtained a gun after
getting outside the prison, and with this hc
able to Kill rabbit and a small bird
on the first evening of his liberty. These
he ate raw and they were his sole susie
nance for about ten days. He was tracked
more than 100 miles by Yuma Indian trail
ers, and they lost all trace of him in a long
rocky canyon.