Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-02-15
MDI|NY N The NORKHOUSE.
RAzING THE PRISON WALLS
When Chief Ritz and Several Depu-
ties Arrived-COnfineme in the
Dungeon Did Not Help Matters, and
Four of the Leaders Went to Bed
Supperless in the City Lookup.

There was a mutiny at the city hotel
on the hill yesterday afternoon. The
prisoners, or at least half of them,
raised mighty howl about the lack
of cleanliness and proper sanitation in
the institution, and demanded that they
be released forthwith, their ultimatum
being the immediate destruction OF the
building.
When the police raided the colored
crap and poker joints Saturday they
caught a number of habitueS of the
different resorts, who did not have
either money or friends, and in default
of payment of their fines were COM
mitted to the workhouse. The police
took up several loads on Monday morn
ing. Several succeeded in getting away,
but twenty -four prisoners were turned
over to the superintendent of the
prison. This augmented the already
crowded population of the building.
and was indirectly responsible for the
mutiny.
There were mutterings all day. Late
in the afternoon the guards became
alarmed, especially when the spokes-
man for the crowd announced the in
tention to tear down the building. Suit
ing the action to the word, they began
tearing Off boards in one end of the
building. Then a telephone message
was sent to police headquarters, and
Chief Ritz, Lieutenant Larnhart and
two other officers went up in the patrol
wagon.
The officers were acquainted with the
situation, and entered the building. The
men were all collected in one corner of
the room, and the work of demolition
was interrupted by the entrance of
Chief Ritz and his men. The prisoners
willingly told their troubles They
complained, and with good reason, that
the place is unfit for human habitation.
There was an abundance of oral as well
as ocular evidence, that the building
is infested with vermin. Their were
descriptions of gray-backs, black
backs, red-backs and ordinary lice, and
the spokesman for the prisoners fire.
quently stopped to scratch their bodies,
and pick off healthy specimens to Of
fer in evidence.
These cheap skates heah were afraid
to come in heah," said one of the lead
ers.
z I'VE can't live in no such place as
this heah," said one over-grown pick
anniny, addressing himself to Chief
Ritz. Talk bout Humane 'Siety, Can't
be no good 'Siety in Wheelin, or we'd
get perteckshun from these heah in
seeks. Back away, Mistah Ossifer.
Don't you come neah me, if you don
want t git covahd wild lice"
Whatever may have been Chief Ritz 8
view of the merit of the case of the
prisoners, his duty was plain. The
work OF razing the building had al
ready begun. Twenty of the colored
mel were placed in the dark dungeon.
1T is horrible place, and they were
almost justified in trying to tear 1t
down When the chief and his depu-
ties left, they battered down doors, tore
up planks, and knocked holes in the
wall.
AT O'Clock another phone message
brought the chief back. Four of the
prisoners, all strange colored men. who
appeared to be leaders in the mutiny.
were taken to the lookup where they
spent the night with nothing to eat.
The workhouse is said to be fairly
alive with vermin. If all stories told
are true, the new workhouse problem
may be forced upon the city through
vermlne eating I'D the old one.