Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-11-15
|MUTINY OF CONNECTS.
Twenty Five Desperadoes Escape
from Fort Leavenworth Prison.
Bloody Battle Between Convicts and Guards
Before Escape Was Enected-Some OF
the Escaped Men Recaptured After
Two Were Killed,


execution at tho new United States
penitentiary site on the Fort Leaven-
worth reservation. There was q
pitched battle between guards and
rebellious convicts, and one guard
was killed and three wounded, while
one convict was killed outright and
another fatally wounded. A force of
about $50 convicts are worked at the
new federal penitentiary site. They
are kept at the old federal peniten-
tiary at Fort Leavenworth, formerly
known as the military prison. These
convicts are marched out to the new
prison in the morning and back in
the evening. By some means or other
the convicts managed to get hold OF
three revolvers. They were not the
kind used by the guards, and were
evidently furnished by some outside
source. The guns were dirty, indicat-
ing that they had been buried. Twen-
ty minutes before the time for all
convicts to gather in the barbed wire
counting pen, three convicts quietly
walked into the Office of Frank Hines,
the constructing engineer Of the
new penitentiary, where Hines and
tation. Without any ceremony the
officers were told to walk in front
of the convicts as shields, while they
started for the tower, in which were
armed guards. They took from
Guards Huffman and Burrows their
guns and revolvers. When they APP
preached Guard Waldrup he refused
to surrender and fred, killing Quint
Fort, a desperate Indian territory
prisoner. AT the same time Waldrup
fell with a bullet wound in his fore
head. In the melee that followed
three other guards were shot. AT
this stage Hines begged the convicts
not to kill any guards, and told them
they had everything their own way.
They seized oak timber and battered
down the board gates. The rioting
convicts then called on all to follow
who wanted to escape. Only Is out
of the $50 did SO.
After gaining their liberty the des-
perate convicts took possession OF
farm wagons, buggies and the like
and ran people into their homes and
created a reign of terror in the west
ern outskirts of Leavenworth and in
through in their wild efforts to make
their escape. The troops at Fort
Leavenworth' were called on to help
restore order at the new penitentiary
site and hold in check the convicts
who did not leave the stockade. No
organized effort was made to capture
the mutineers until after dark, as it
required all the efforts of the officials
to handle those who did not get
away.
Eleven OF Them Recaptured.
Leavenworth, Kan. Nov. 9.-Three
Of the % convicts of the federal pris-
on who mutinied Thursday while at
work on the new prison are dead,
ten others have been captured, ten
are practically surrounded within a
small area on the north bank of the
Kansas river opposite Lawrence. two
are being hotly pursued south of Nc
Louth in Leavenworth county and
three have not been seen since the
outbreak. Of the original number
Of those who escaped II have been
killed or captured.
The feature Of yesterday was bat
tie between convicts and citizens near
Nortonville, in which two Of the con-
victs were killed and three were
wounded. The convicts had taken
eefugefin barn and there they were
surrounded. They were armed and
fought desperately, but no citizen was
aurt. The dead convicts were Jay J..
Poffenkolz, a military prisoner. and
James Huffman.
It is now definitely known that
.he entire party of 26 convicts, one
having been shot before he left the
stockade, went almost directly west
after breaking away from the guards.
They remained together until they
reached Springdale, a small town
about ten miles northwest of Leaven-
worth. On their way they scattered
ierror among the farmers, whom
hey robbed of food and clothing,
,olding up their victims at the point
Of their weapons.