The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-08-23


and assign him 10 a cell and to GER
tain kind OF work
From the principal keeper the new
prisoner would soon learn that when
men wore red shirts IL was the order
TO all keepers 20 shoot them down in
stantly at the first sign OF a revolt,
no matter whether they had a hand in
IL or not. At the first sign OF trouble
all red-shirted men We're killed Off
hand. That was the penalty they paid
for having once made an attempt 10
| escape.
Now see the cuteness OF Aull. Those
men in red shirts know that a revolt
meant instant death to them, no mat
ter how innocent they were. Wen at
the first suspicion of a plot. at the
FIRST sign Of an attempt to escape. in
| formation OF IL would get TO Aull or
his keepers. 1t was death for a red
shirt not to inform IL he knew any
thing was going on.
"Aull was always having heart to
heart talks with the prisoners. Time
/ and again when he had reason to be-
/ lieve he had nipped a revolt in -he
/ bud. he would go to the men and tell
| them he was SO sorry that he had dis
| covered the plot. On one occasion he
| actually made this speech to some
' prisoners who had planned 10 get a
way.
Boys ne said, I feel it's MY duty
/ to stop these things when they're dis
covered. and 1 fell I ought to yslrn
! you not to try to escape, blu. if You
/ feel you can get away with one of
these revolts, go ahead. If YOU can
get away you will show me the flaws
IN my system. and that's what I'm
Il IonLfnU TO al NnhnHN-
got away yet
This sort of thing rather knocked
the nerve out of the desperadCes, and
although there were Individual at
tempts to get away, there was never q
big revolt until the one 1 am going t.
tell you about now. 1t was probably
the last one before this one the other
day. You will understand why it put
an end to revolts under Aull forever
| and eyer when 1 tell 1t TO you.
There came up from Frisco once,
about twelve years ago, a life prIs-
oner who had been robbing trains and
stages for years. but who before that
had been an engineer. He came out
West with a surveying party. and be-
ing a crook at heart stayed to rob
coaches and trains.
''The minute he got at Folsom he
he worked away at his plot. He figur-
ed that he could dupe certain of the
convicts to get between himself and
the guards when the revolt came. and
| that therefore all he had to fear was
| those gatling guns.
He knew the general beE-f was
that they covered every poirt of the
compass. so being an engineer, he pro-
ceeded to see If he couldn't figure out
some one spot where he and a gang
of convicts who were armed co1!d get
and defy the gatling guns. If ne could
do this. he figured, he cou'.i eSca ne
with the entire gang, save those who
would necessarily be killed at tie first
fire from the guards, who were known
to be dead shots.
We'll he finally figured out that the
one spot where such a thing was pos
sible was behind the prison ice house. |
which stood on the edge % a store |
quarry excavation about 100 yaIds from |
the prison grounds. Unless the gatl;ng
guns trained over this ground could |
shoot through the ice house which he |
knew they couldn't. IL was the very |
spot he was looking for.
THE next thing was to get Rrms. |
George Sonntag, the fam )us train rob- |
Ter. who was a life prisoner 4: Fol- |
som at the time, was in the deal WITH |
the engineer. and he got into commu- |
nication with one Fredericks. another |
famous train robber. who had recently
been released from Folsom. ard was |
hanging out in the woods several mli.s |
away, probably waiting to assist some |
Of his friends to escape.
"Fredericks succeeded In placing |
twenty rifles and a lot OF ammunition |
L.
night, and early the next morning the |
carefully planned revolt occurred. The |
engineer and Sonntag led about TWEEN
ty men to the quarry on the run.
The rifles OF the kee Ders and the /
tower gatling guns brought dowr o.
bout three OF the men before they /
dropped into the excavation and got /
their weapons. but once there Z SEEM
ed as though they were all right and /
had an even chance in the battle thar |
was to follow.
Imagine the utter chagrin of these /
desperadOes when the whole side of /
The ice house wall. facing the Quarry
excavation. suddenly dropped out. the /
nose of a gatling gun was rointed /
down at them and moment later was
belching a steady fire OF bullets into
their ranks. 1t was ono OF the cruel
est slaughters California ever saw, hut
old Aull realized that IL was a neces-
sary massacre. and in the preservation |
OF the system of Folsom he hesitated |
at nothing.
Thirteen Of those men were shot To
pieces in that excavation and their
bodies were buried in the little pris-
on graveyard with inscriptions on their
headstones telling how they met their
deaths The rest were nursed back to
life and became redshirt men.
THAT was the last revolt at Folsom.
Old Aull thought there might be some
flaw in his system that a successful |
escape would develop. but he had long
before figured out that icehouse as d |
likely place for prisoner with a me-
chanical turn of mind TO select as a |
spot where the gatling guns would /
not reach him. So he solemniy rugged !