The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-10-06
TUNNEL AT CLINTON PRISON
WAS NEARLY FINISHED FOR
BIG JAIL DELIVERY.
Ran From Laundry Toward sewer
-Convicts worked on II for Three
Ncars-OiscOyrry the Result OF search
Ordered by COT. scott. Head Of Prisons

4 VWTS-IISCONtEy Vic ntbust VI Nos III
| Ordered by Got. scott. Head Of Prisons
DANNEMoRA. y. Y. Oct. 5.-The officials
at.Clinton Prison have discovered tunnel
under the laundry excavated half way TO
a sewer through which II was planned
to make u prison delivery. The tunnel
has been in existence three years and
scores Of convicts knew Of it. yet they
had mana ged to keep it secret until after
Col Scott became head of the prison
department Of the State and ordered "A
careful investigation Of every prison
under his jurisdiction.
At Clinton Prison this investigate has
been under way for seven weeks under
| the direction of Warden Harry NJ. Kaiser
and Confidential Agent william A. Nc
! Cabe Of Poughkeepsie. The discovery
! Of the tunnel led to an immediate search
of every convict in the prison. From
! them were taken two wagoloads OF
nondescript stuff including knives. still
lettos. hammers. monkey wrenches iron
bars, black jacks. rolling pins. fish poles
used for passing things from one cell to
another hundreds Of knives and forks,
iron weights. pieces of iron weighing
seven pounds. sandbags.
The laundry tunnel. it was learned.
was started by White Roberts and
George Willis. 1t was designed to effect
a general prison delivery. but owing to the
difficulty of disposng of the dirt taken
from it was given up year ago. About
| this time William F. Gillespie. who had
served a term in Clinton Prison, was
returned for another term. Gillespie was
made checker in the laundry, where he
undertook to finish the tunnel alone.
Gillespie is educated. He knew the
depth Of the sewer and length to the par
tition and figured out the angle length
accurately. using the perpendicular and
base to find the length of the hypothenuse
Gillespie found eleven feet of the tunnel
finished He had to cover a total Of
twenty-five feet six inches The tunnel
was extended four feet by Gillespie when
he struck a stone too heavy - handle
alone and called q convict named Susdorf
in TO help him. The work wes continued
al intervals until September rs last
A watch was kept for prison officials
through peepholes in a wooden partition
where one man watched while the Other
dug The dirt IVES pulled out in boxes
by q hook and rope. The dirt was dis
posed of by mixing it with ashes from tn,
furnace If the convic,s had had three
days more time they would have COM
pleted the tunnel
Col Scott's agents found in their in
vestigation AT the prison that the con
viots were being supplied with morphine
arsenic laudanum and other drugs
The dope" it was learned was brough
in by attendants from the hospital whc
received il from ex-convicts in New
York city. Brooklyn. Boston and severa
places in Connecticut With the assist
ance of DR.. Ransom Dr. Thayer. Mr.
Severa nee and Mr.. Sloss the system va!
broken NJ.
II is asserted that discipline has beef
slack at D8nnemora for several years
There have been several outbreaks among
the prisoners. who seem TO have had n,
difficulty in providing themselves with
wea pons making pistols out of gas pipe
when they could not get the real articles
On one occasion Guard Willett's poke
was picked and his revolver taken. Sew
eral weeks later the revolver and tw,
sticks OF dynamite were found in the pos
: session of Convict Curtis.
Following this Convict Schultz blew
up Ills 'tIl uooI WIN w anu u iC'
to kill Guard Seavey with an automati
revolver which was knocked out of hi
handslby Guard Couneen and later anot he
automatic revolver was found on Convic
Brogan, a partner Of schultz
Following this incident three desperate
convicts, Minticd, Curtis and Johr
Murphy. alias Canada Blackie. mad'
, a raid with home made pistols constructe'
of gas pipe on the administration depart
ment where Guard Healy found then
in the correspondence department. Muir
ply shot Healy. tearing part of his hant
away Though painfully wounded, Heal
kept his nerve Snd with his remaining ham
covered the 'convicts with revolve
and marched them to the guard room
These incidents. which are all of com
: paratively recent occurrence. culminate
in q riot among the convicts. In the mele
between the guards and convicts Convic
Minfeld shot Guard Reid three times
two shots taking effect, one in the alb
domen and the other in the right cheek.
Ninety-fivo per cent Of the convict
at Clinton prison are Grade { offenders
or third term men. They are a tougl
lot to handle hut Warden Kaiser is tryin
the square deal policy