The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-07-20
PRISONERS
ATTEMPT TO
DESTROY PEN
Set Fire to Buildings and
Rush Guards-Six Con-
victs Are Shot

PlttSburg, July lo.-PrlSOneTS
In the western penltentlary here
today broke all bounds OF dlclp-
line, fred four buildings and Tor a
time kept the institution in an up
roar. while prison guards, deputy
sheriffS and policemen, reinforced
by armed citizens, battIed to put
down the disorder. Six convlcts
Were shot and two others cut IN
the battle Prison officials said
that three or four OF the wound
ed would likely die.
The outbreak, timed to start
with the ringing OF the first hre
gong, began in the dining room
where the convicts sought to oe-
tract the attention OF guards from
the fires prison offlcials said.
s Alarms sounded from tour places
in the institution almost Simul--
taneously when guards discovered
the prisoners had fred the build
ings with ny material available.
Some six hunored prisoners had
lust taken their seats in the Dig
dining room when one OF them
sent a soup bowl careenlng down
one OF the long tables. Instantly
the room was in an uproar, for at
s the same moment the fire gong
sounded an alarm from the con-
struction shop, the linen shop, the
kitchen and the chapel.
The guards in the dining room
tried to queil the outbreak, oue
the thoroughly maddened prison
ers pelted them with tableware
and cutlery, all the time shleklng
and howling. The tire department
hnding the blaze was beyond lts
control, called the city hremen,
while riot calls were sent IN tor
she police. -
Meantime the guards, in the
dining room, had Fegalned, ID
part, their control and forced
some of the men back to their
cells, but 200 or more dashed Tor
the prison yard, and when faced
by other guards backed into a
building and ran for a top OF a
tier of cells. From this vantage
point they pelted the guards, now
reinforced by every available man
in the prison, with bricks tori
from the top Of the wall. Deputy
sheriffs and police from every pre-
cinict in the city soon added TO the
fghting force within the enclosure
and it was not long until the pris-
oners had been chased from the
wall to their cells. They signallZ-
ed their reipcarceration by break
inc the glass in the windows and
shrieking and bowling to the thou
sands OF persons gathered IN the
streets, and filing the house tops
nearby.
: Withinitwo,. hours 1.-The fire was
under control but not until a
number OF buildings had been de-
stroyed with an estimated loss, "a
excess of $4,000.
John ~. Egan, parole OFFICER, al,
Ter quiet had been restored, Sald
tnat the outbreak was the result
Of a period Of discomfort among
the 1,135 persons conhned I'D tne
institution. About 500 of these,
he said, were long term men, many
OF them desperate criminals. Re
Gently a party Of convlcts was
2 brought here from the eastern
Denitentiary in Philadelphia
These men and women, Mr.. Egan
said, made many demands which
were not recognized in any penal
institution, but which, when de-
MED, only added to the discon-
tent.
So many cell locks were broken
that tonight picked men from the
Pittsburg police are on guard IN
fhe corridors, while outside, the
streets are heavily 2atrolled.