The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-07-22
SET PRISON ON FIRE
Western Pennsylvania In
stitution Is Burning
About 1900 Convicts Are Held
Police Surround Structures
In Flames

Pittsburgh, Pa, July 1S.-Five riot
alarms were tured in to the police
and fire departments from the western
penitentiary at 1895 o'clock. First
reports were that the prisoners had re-
lvolted and fired the buildings, which
are located on the Ohio river in the
lower part of the old city of Allegheny.
Reported Outbreak Prisoners.
A reported outbreak OF prisoners in
the western penitentiary on the Ohio
river here was followed soon after
noon today by fire which quickly de-
stroyed ten frame factory buildings
within the enclosure.
Police and fire lines were drawn
tightly around the institution and de-
tailed reports of the outbreak were
unavailable. It was known, however,
that penitentiary guards reinforced by
city policemen and deputy sheriffs,
armed with rifles ana riot guns, were
holding the prisoners at bay, while a
heavy fire fighting force was endeavor-
ing to extinguish the flames.
The population of the prison was
said to be between twelve hundred
and fifteen hundred.
Police Surround Prison.
A Gordon of police was quickly
thrown around every entrance leading
were established some distance away.
Great volumes of smoke rising from
the enclosure indicated that the broom
factory was rapidly being destroyed.
The western penitentiary contains
a population of betwe cen 1900 and l.
500 prisoners, some of than sent there
by federal court, and the remainder
from the western counties of Pennsyl-
vania. There is branch, the farm
prison" at Bellefonte, Pa, to which
the men of high standing in the prison
are sent, leaving the most desperate
characters In the institution here.
State Police Called.
Warden Francies announced at 2:15
that he had asked Governor Sproul to
send detachments of state police from
the barracks at Butler and Greensburg
to help guard the penitentiary tonight.
Many prisoners were removed from
the south wing, where the fire started.
Soon afterward the great crowd, which
by this time had surrounded three
sides of the prison, believed they heard
a series of shots and the shrieks which
had come from the panic stricken priS
oners for a time subsidized.
At 1:45 o'clock it was announced at
the office of John J. McKelvey, direct
or of charities that he had just sent
five city physicians to the penitentiary
in response to call for medical aid.
A number of ambulances reached the
prison about 1880 p. m. At that time
the guards had been strengthened at
the gates of the pen,rentiary and all
except policemen and deputy sheriffs
were being rigidly excluded, so that no
statement Of what was going on with
in the walls could be obtained. It
appeared, however, rnat the fire was
under control.
Shrieks of Imprisoned Men.
A peep through one of the prison
gates showed a party-of detectives
with drawn revolvers facing a great
crowd of prisoners in the yard. The
men appeared to be in great terror
from the flames which ragged back OF
them. So far as could be seen none
of them was armed. .
Meantime the flames had crept
Ealong the Ohio river side and many
prisoners confined in cells there
shattered the glass in the windows
and shrieked for help. Persons in
the street could distinctly hear the
shrieks and groans OF the imprison-
ed men and it was reported that a
number had been hurt and taken to
the first aid hospital in section of
the prison remote from where the
fire ragged.
Six persons were injured and ten
factory buildings destroyed in the
riot and fire this afternoon. Police
and deputy sheriffs from all parts of
the city assisted the prison guards
in holding the prisoners while fire.
men put out the flames. Warden
Francies asked Governor Sproul for
two troops OF state policemen to
guard the prison tonight. A great
crowd gathered outside the walls
during the disturbance. ..