The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-08-23
INSANE STAND
 OFF GUARDS Criminals Confined at Dan- nemora Make Desper- ate Attempt to
 Escape. OUTBREAK PLANNED WITH GPTAT CARE Officials Shoot at Impro- vised Fortress and Kill One Of The
 Maniacs.

Plattsburg, N. r., Aug 22.-For two hours last night a mob of criminally insane at the state hospital in Danne- mora stood off their guards while other lunatics hade a desperate attempt to force an exit from the building. Not until one of the rebellious madmen nao been shot and killed, and the guards reinforced by less violent inmates ana villagers was the outbreak put down. Again locked in their rooms an ex- animation of what the insane men had done was made. This developed that two large dormitorles had been wrecked, windows smashed, iron grat- ings bent and walls smashed where an effort to wrench the iron bars rom their stone fittings had been made. The dead man was Isaac Dubois, who had been at the hospital but short time. Convicted of larceny in the second de- gree. he was subsequently, mentally ex- amined and ordered to the state hos> pital for criminal insane
 Details of the outbreak first became generally known to-day. It had been planned with the cunning of the mad, and the plan, so far as carried out, was executed with reckless boldness.
 All had been quite among the S20 men In the institution, when. at ,ex- actly g o'clock and without any notice- able signal had been given, almost all the inmates who had lined up for re- tiring rushed into thetwo big dormito- riers and slammed the dors in the faces of the surprised guards, who rushed after them The lunatics, showing a determination and concerted yigor, pos sessed by sane but desperate criminals, then barricaded the dours with beds and other furniture, and immediately started a fierce assault on the heavily barred windows, evidently hoping tc force all at once and thus obtain easy avenues of escape to the outer world, number of the less violent insane offered their assistance to the keepers, and were gladly enlisted. It was soon seen that the doors could not be fore ed to allow entrance as heaps Of fur niture were piled against them, and an attempted entrance would mean cer- tain death Guards were stationed at all the outside windows and ordered to shoot at all arms or hands appearing through the windows, but not to kill, except in case of absolute necessity. All of the fire hose was then connected and heavy streams of water were shot at the win dows where the 1unatics could be seen. The effectof this was stopped when the madmen rut up mattresses in all the windows and continued hammering at the stonework in which the bars are set All kept up a continual shouting and shrieking Above all the tumult. however, could be heard tho furious pounding of the iron bedposts by the inmates, who also had heavy chisel and sledge hammer Where they got these is a mystery. Several shots were fired by the guards, but 1t was impos- sible to tell whether they were ef- fective, until the riot quelled. when it was discovered that Isaac Dubois had been shot and killed. probably instant ly.
 Townspeople and guards from the prison were attracted by the terrible noise and assisted materially when a at il o'clock, the wardens made a series of assaults and finally forced the doors, and overpowered the rioters.
 This is the first and only outbreak of any sort sincethe opening of the hospital in 1900.