Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-08-12


when the entire prison building is COM
pleted (only a portion has been finish
ed so far), it will have great skeleton
of iron which will act as a most
effectual bar to a convicts escape
even We're he to dig through the stone
walls. Connected with the prison are q
kitchen, laundry and an immense din
ing-room. which, despite the fearful
heat, is comparatively cool. Many
HUMANS would not object to boiling
their daily provender within it's walls.
Calling guns are mounted on the
guard stands at intervals along the top
OF the penitentiary walls, and the larg-
est of the guns is in charge of a young
Mexican who has some Apache blood
in his composition. This fellow is rat
ed as the best marksman with Cat
ling in the country, and he can fetch 4
siX-inch tin can, placed at a distance
of 500 yards. five times out of six. AS
the sharpshooting Greaser can fire 500
shots q minute with his machine, the
chances of a cOnvicts escape If ne sees
him are about as Enthusiastically small
rs the snowbirds in the neither world.
USUALLY there are about 125 convicts
3 !
nan 70 doing time for life. These are
murl,'ers, highwaymen, train wreck
ers and stage robbers. Most OF those
who are serving out less severe SEN
fences are horse thieves who have
managed to elude enthusiastic lynch
ers Reformatory measures are not
practiced to any extent in the Arizona
Territorial Penitentiary, for the simple
reason that nearly all of the prisoners
are Greasers and half-breeds who are
a absolutely beyond redemption, as their
villianous faces advertise. No regular
work is demanded of them apart from
such as is necessary TO keep the prison
clean and in good order. but the Off
Gals !. morally find something for them
to do in order to keep their minds en-
ploycd.
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
hoX-lile cells, which are worse than
the steaming rooms in the Turkish
baths At times the nocturnal tenn
perature in the cells remains in the
Vicinity of 10j degrees for a week or
more, and with the natural dampness
Of lie cells and not a breath of air
stirring you may imagine the suffering.
For weeks at a time the temperature
IL night anchors to 50 degrees and
turns the cells into bells. which are no
doubt miniature. but entirely sufficient
for all practical purposes.
FIERCE REVOLT OF CONVICTS.
NO prisoner has ever escaped from
old Yuma prison and lived to tell the
tale. but probably the most daring at
tempt at wholesale delivery ever made
in any penal institution in the United
States was that " 1ich took place there
one ODtoOCr morning. in 1887. Old resi-
dents u Yuma and men who have
spent their lives in circles Of border
rufianism and laWlessness still talk
about that desperate effort for free
dom. The superintendent of the pen-
Tertiary at the time was Thomas
Gates, who killed himself last wear.
Coming from his private quarters one
morning. in the rear of a brick build
ing 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 Superintendent
Gates on that stirring occasion, when
he received wounds which left him a
permanent physical wreck, is a matter
of history.
AT the peril of his own life he COM
I,i.'ii''Gu 'iie : udIis 70 lre ana me ordc'
80, 80 ii9 t''HIE opeE -. AS me reports
Us - NrittE olheI PRISONERS, VINO
VIZ NaIIiHs Lor me signal TO make a
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u,;.niuriafor Of The GatIfng bronpht down
nine nf tho abscon1inss prisoners The
her three. appalled, By the fate of their
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