The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-05
BURNS EXPLAINS
RECENT HOLOCAUST
At LUCILLE MINES
Inspector Thinks Guards Did
All in Their Power to
Handle Situation
CONVICTS HAD TRIED TO
BURN PRISON BEFORE
Says Testimony of the Most Desperate
Convict In the Mines Is Such
That no Credence Can BE
Placed In 1t

DR.. w. A. Burns, physician inspector
of the state board of convict inspectors.
states that the guards at the Lucille
mines did all in their power to handle
the desperate situation which recently
arose there. 1T will be recalled that the
| prison was set on fire by the convicts in
an effort to escape and that several lost
| their lives.
THE verdict of the coroner's jury in
| the prison disaster at Lucille is so mis-
leading that l am prompted to go some
what into detail, and to do this must
necessarily go back few months" said
Burns yesterday. 'The great majority
OF your readers know absolutely nothing
about convicts and their methods. No
one can know without actual experience
In handling Them
"At Lucille, in December, 1909, it became
| necessary to make a change in the local
management. When such changes occur
1T is a common thing for the leaders in
| the prison to try the new warden.
| When the new man took charge at Lucille
they began to try him. 1t was early dis
covered that he was disappointment to
them One of the first things he did was
to put stop to the gambling in the cells.
This angered the leaders in that game,
particularly one Summers Wilson, who
was head gambler.
When the new warden took charge
Summers was a semi-trusty, looked after
the warden's store and clothes. The new
man put him to digging coal. Summers
mother was a frequent visitor to him.
| She was caught bringing in contraband
| goods and was forbidden to come to SEQ
| him. These three conditions have made
Summers very much dissatisfied with the
present warden. No one that knows him
| will believe for an instant any evidence
| he gives. He is the superior in intelIi-
gence of any prisoner at Lucille prison.
He lays the plans for all the mischief
done there. Naturally all of those under
his control see things through the same
glass. What is true of this man is true
in similar instances of many of the 9TH
ers. There were only two negroes exam
| ined as witnesses who worthy of be-
lief. Practically everyone who heard
| their testimony expressed such an opin-
ion.
1.-The jury, solicitor and coroner united
in a petition to the governor to pardon
or parole Monroe Harris for his heroic
| conduct in rescuing Mr.. Thompson from
the burning building while trying to I'M
lock the doors to the upstairs cells, when
he was overcome with smoke. This con-
tradicts their statement that Mr.. Thomp-
son made a fatal mistake.
First Attempt to Burn Prison
ITO go back again. about six weeks
prior to the disaster an attempt was
made to burn the prison by the same
men. This same Mr.. Thompson discov-
cred the fire and went in the cell, while
the assistant night watchman locked the
door on him and put out the fire. This
assistant night Waterman was an old
hand at handling convicts. and Mr..
| Thompson could rely on him. The men
were disappointed at the fire being ex-
| tinguished When the second fire occurred
Mr.. Thompson had an assistant not so
| old and with much less experience, and
naturally was slow in opening the doors
until more help arrived. Mr.. Thompson
know that both he and his assistant
would have met certain death had they
| opened the doors of No. and No. 4
cells before help arrived Mr.. Thompson
was stationed in the downstairs hall and
Mr.. Mcfarland in the upstairs hall.
When fire was discovered Mcfarland
called to Thompson and he ran upstairs.
After seeing the fire he told the men he
would open the doors as soon as more
guards arrived. Then he and Mcfarland
ran downstairs, fired their pistols to give
| the alarm. Thompson had all the keys.
He gave the keys to the gate in front
of the prison to Mcfarland to lot in the
other guards. Naturally some time was
consumed In doing this, and the other
| guards arriving. While this was going on
Mr.. Thompson unlocked doors leading
through the bathroom under No. cell.
and leading to the manway of the mine.
By this time help had arrived and
Thompson unlocked the doors to No. l
| and No. cells and instructed the men
to go through the bathhouse to the man
way and into the mine. This was done
by the men in these cells. Then Thomp-
sor went upstairs, followed by convict
| Monroe Harris, to unlock cells No. and
No. L. Here Thompson was overcome by
smoke and fell, and he was dragged
downstairs by the faithful negro and car
ried to safety while unconscious Could
anyone have done more and exercised
better judgment?
Netherlands Work
1.-THE verdict charges Mcfarland with
criminal negligence. l have shown what
Mcfarland did up to opening the gate
for the help coming. He had no keys to
any door or gate. He deemed 1t unneces-
sary for him to re-enter the building. He
was needed to help see that no one es-
capped About this time he saw men at
the windows of No cell upstairs, and
with the assistance of trusty convict
he put planks up to these windows and
helped quite number out this way. I
contend that he Is not guilty of criminal
negligence, but, on the other hand, did
everything he could In aiding the men to