Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-05-08
DAILY STORY
A CONVICT'S SCHEME.

ciONA'N DN'pAc, liiSS W a pun ilIdh II
wanted the land to get the poor man
out of his .neighborhood. The poor /
man refused to sell. and in his anger |,
and chagrin the rich man made fe- I,
lonious assault. This was squarcly |
proved, and. although with his money |
he made great fight of it, he was sent |
to our prison for two years. If he hal
come like other prisoners, it would
have been better for him, but he came
in a defiant spirit, began kicking at
once and in a day almost had all the
officials down on him. When le refus
ed TO work or abide by the rules and
regulations, he was punished, ana there
was war between him and the warden
for long months. There was sufficient
outside influence to secure his pardon
after fourteen months, and the man
left the prison vOwing vengeance.
He determined to get revenge for
what he called his indignities. In pris-
on he had but one friend, and that was
the doctor. He made friends with the
doctor because he lent the latter mou-
ey. 1t was no secret in the prison that
the doctor was given to drink. There
were occasions when he was drunk for
two or three days at n time. As Il rule,
such a man would soon have been
fired. but in this case he was q friend
of the governor of the state and had q
political pull. When too much under
the influence of drink to attend to bust
ness. his place was taken temporarily
by a doctor from town. We got II
know this substitute. of course. and h.
was allowed to pass everywhere. thu
same as the regular man. 1t was on
this substitute that the rich man work
ed after his release The town doctor
was in pecuniary difficulties and was
offered $1,000 to carry certain plans
through What he Cid was to worl,
upon the weakness of the prison doc
tor and keep him drunk more than
half the time for three months. None
of us had the least suspicion that any
thing wrong was going on. Convicta
We're treated in the hospital. in their
cells, and the substitute made sanitary
inspection of the kitchen and other de
partments. He made friends with
turkeys and with prisoners and was
voted good fellow.
1t took him three months to perfect
his plans. and but for little slip hn
would have brought about the bigges
mutiny and the greatest prison deliv-
cry on record. We then had in the
;,+.,
100 We're lifers. Among the others
were robbers. burglars and generally
desperate CharaCterS-men who would
not hesitate a moment to take life to
get beyond the bars. We were short
handed. and every official had to cxer-
else the utmost vigilance. One day in
| the chair shop pulled careless priS-
oner back from n saw that would have
| certainly inflicted fatal injury H.
return for this when he had recovered
| from his scare he asked to speak q
| few words to me in private that night
| managed it so that he was taken
| from his cell and brought to my room.
| did not anticipate that the interview
would amount to much In any prison
there are always a certain number o.
convicts looking to give something
away for their own betterment. and
| their information is seldom worth
needing.
This man had not been talking to
me five minutes when I felt my hair
| trying to stand on end. The subSti-
tute doctor had not only had false
keys made to the several wickerS. but
! had planned general outbreak with
| the cOnvicts. No one single convict
had been left out. Those who had az
| first refused to join were forced in by
| being told that they would he killed.
| The revolt was to take place next
morning as the men rose from the
breakfast tables to march into the
yards and to the shops. Fifty rcvolv-
ers had been smuGGled in for the con-
yfcts, and the leader was n highway
robber under Il long sentence. The Off
Gals were to be shot down or locked
up, the convicts were to resume the
citizen clothing stored away. and what
loot could be found was to be evenly
divided. The prison was then to be
fired and the COO men to scatter.
Once in possession of the particulars.
you can believe | lost no time in mott
flying the warden. He in turn bestirred
himself. The convicts had been locked
in for the night. \ guard of four men
visited the cells in rotation, and they
not only found the revolvers. but &
great many other weapons. The rule
of the prison was to search every, cell
every third day. but this had been neg
lected, and the substitute doctor knew
that it had
The convicts realized at once that the
plot had been betrayed. and from thai
moment to daylight next morning there
were yelling, screaming and cursinG.
There was no getting out of their cells.
but they made the night hideouS and
acted like so many wild beasts Their
cells We're not unlocked next morning
and neither did one of them have Il
mOuthful to eat. AS q matter of fact
they were kept under lock and key and