The Detroit times., 1912-11-26
JACKSON PRISON WILL
YET BE DYNAMITED
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This knife the lifar carried concealed
in his coat sleeve.
The more desperate of the convict;
had planned the assassination mos
carefully. down to the very minute
They knew the habits OF the iron
willed Simpson. and knew that hi
routine was never broken. AS ht
walked into the dining room while
the prisoners were eating. his passage
across the threshold Of an inner door
was to be the signal for the ifer tc
spring upon him and draw the cruel
looking weapon across Simpsons alb
domen. At the same instant, all Of
the others, each of whom had cat
sup bottle or some other heavy article
ready to their hands, was 70 rise and
start fusillade at the guards, all oil
whom, Kelly says, are In mortal fear
of the prisoners, and are kept on tho
Job only by the iron will OF Simpson
who makes his own bravery pat
tern for the guards.
Simpson walked into the room al
the usual time. The signal was given
but In the same instant, q guard call
ed the warden from another door, and
he stepped back, just as the lifeT
made his plunge toward the door
Simpson was safe.
Whether Simpson, warned in ad
vance, had planned to be called al
the crucial moment, or whether that
was an accident, and he really intend
ed to battle the thing out and assert
his mastery over the men, Is a mys-
terry to everybody but Simpson. But
Kelly and some others who watched
the whole affair at that tense mo-
ment. said that everybody went white
as chalk when IL was all over.
At the time OF the riots In prison
lurid stories Of the 'shrieks and howls
of the prisoners reached the public
but no explanation for them ever did
except the theories OF whipping
brutalities, or other drastic measures
being taken to Quell the rioters.
Prisoners Shrleks Explained.
Kelly says that the shrieks and bowls
were merely preventives OF insanity
He says that the prisoners throughout
the tumultuous cell block found that
when their brain cells seemed about
to snap with the terrible strain OF
plotting and waiting and watching
for chances to rush the guards and
escape, they could relieve the press
ure by setting up a Series Of yells and
bowls. Far down the corridor some
prisoner In mental torture would set
up q howl like a timber wolf, and
others only craZed the more by the
sound, would drown out the weird
noise, and ease their own overwrought
nerves by Joining In with lusty yells
and walls. And so 1t spread over the
grim prison, like some horrible night
mare, each man yelling the limit o.:
his lung power TO ward on the Turk
Ing madness that seemed to stalk
throughout the prison.
And the tension that Kelly says
wrecked two minds, and threatened
the other prisoners with insanity, had
its effects on the guards. They quit
In droves.
Simpson, not to be conquered, ad-
vertised for husky farm hands, and
took only big, fighting men who seem
ed to have brave hearts and sturdy
bodies. To these he would deliver a
lecture, in the hearing Of the men In
the cells. A row of heads, with ears
pressed against the cell bars, would
appear as soon as a recruit" was put
to work.
Simpson would hand the man a gun
and a club, and say to him In a loud
voice, Now you walk down that tier,
and IL any mothers son In there
makes a surly remark to you, or a
threat or a pass at you, you let him
have it with either the gun or the
club as you think best"
Guards are cowed.
The recruit, with menacing mien,
would start down the long row, only
to receive volley OF well-directed
catsup bottles on the Uranium, in sick
ening succession. With his spirit brok-
en-, he would retreat, whipped, amidst
the jeers OF the convicts.
That is the condition In Jackson
prison, according to Kelly, who says
that one mans spirit Is all that stands
between order and chaos In the
prison.
That the plot to dynamite the pris-
on was, and Is, real, is another state
ment made by Kelly. He says that
the prison will yet be dynamited by
the desperate gang that feels that
only Simpson stands in the way to
freedom. He says that the inside
gang have an outside accomplish, who
is kept In touch with all develop
ments, and Is biding his time until
ha racaivaa the word