The Washington herald., 1921-07-19
l,lOO CONVICTS
MADLY ATTACK
PRISON GUARDS
Twelve Buildings Burned,
Nine Prisoners Shot.
Three May Die.

PITTSBURGH. July is.-The in
terror Of the main building Of the
Western Penitentiary of Pennsyl-
vania, on the Ohio River. was
wrecked, a dozen smaller buildings
connected with the Institution were
burned and fourteen persons. in
cluding nine convhts. were injured
this afternoon in what is declared
to, have been the greatest prison
riot and attempted prison delivery
in the history of the United States,
The nine injured convicts were
shot by city police. detectives ane
prison guards. Three probably will
die. Three city policemen and a
district fire chief were injured In
the rioting and a city fireman was
seriously burned.
Nearly All Join Riot.
virtually all of the LBS pris-
oners except the nifty women took
part in the rioting. both inside ths
main building aud In the prison
yard. The riotiug lasted moro thar
two hours. FLAMES Ieaped fifty feet
above the high prison wall.
Among the injured were District
Fire Chief Daniel Jones, struck
with a piece of iron hurled by one
of the prisoners: Patrolmen w. r
Cryster. B. X. Coberly and NJ J
Corcoran. struck by bricks thrown
by prisoners, and Fireman H. Har-
ley, burned on hands
start. with Fist Fight.
The prisoners nave been very
cranky of late. The women inmates
wanted face powder, but most of all
they wanted excite nnsnt.
Two notorious troublemakers got
into a fist fight at noon. Guards
in the mess hall rushed in to prs
them apart This seemed to be the
signal. A sugar bowl whizZed over
the heads of the diners and struck
one of the guards. Instantly the
others leaped on the tables and be-
gan throwing tableware OF pulling
the chairs apart and beating the
guards with the rungs- In the
prison yard guards saw smoke
curling up from the shop buildings
and a moment later the fire ALARM
sounded.
Prison In Upronr.
Soon the. prison was in an uproar
The 1000 Gagged men and womer
seemed 70 have become raving ma
MACS and their shrieks of anger
mingled with the clatter of fre ap'
paratus and excited shouts of tn,
prison authorities trying to figh
fire and riot at once. Later tho
-
ated the din.
Nine fre companies came peltint
down tributary streets, bringing /;
crowd of fire fans with them. The
convicts, realizing that their one
chance to get away was slipping
attacked with redoubled fury. They
could be seen franticaIly tugging a,
the hot steel bars on the window.
as though to twist them with su-
perhuman strength.
A few prisoners with no appetit,
for war ran to their cells for safet.
and were thrown out again, weep
ing and pleading for protection, fol
reports of rifles were echoine
through the corridors.
i Some of the fighters climbed e
the fifth tier of cells at the top OF
the building and with their bare
fingers yanked stones out of the
masonry which they threw at fire.
men and guards One fireman was
dropped by a half-pound glass ink
we'll,
As the fire came under control
the guards began seixing the dis
turbers one by one They were led
on to their cells and thrown in. But
even after all but the missing seven
had been securely locked up the
chorus of curses was kept up and
1t was still going at dusk when SEN
tries mounted guard on the walls at
intervals of thirty PAGES and other
guards established posts with ma
chine guns covering the prison
grounds.