Evening star., 1921-07-18
Ten Buildings Destroyed in
Disorders at PennSyIva-
mia Penitentiary.
INMATES HELD BY FLAMES
FACE RIFLES OF GUARDS
Shrieks of Men Battling for Safety
Heard-Defnite Details of
Trouble Unavailable.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
PITTSBURGH, July 1s.-A reported
outbreak of prisoners in the Western
penitentiary on the Ohio river here
was followed soon after noon today
by fire, which quickly destroyed ten
frame factory buildings within the
enclosure
Six were severely injured
The cause of today's outbreak was
said by one of the guards to have origi-
mated in party of $50 men and thirty
women who were recently sent here
from the Eastern penitentiary at Phiia-
delphia. They complained, he said, that
they We're not allowed certain privileges
which had been accorded them in the
east.
At 2:3O O'Clock the fire companies be-
gan leaving and it was apparent that
all danger of further trouble from that
direction was at an end.
The prisoners. too, had quieted and
the authorities seemed to have the sit
uation well in hand.
Police and fire lines were drawn
tightly around the institution and
detailed reports Of the outbreak were
unavailable. 1t was known, how
ever. that penitentiary guards. rein
forced by city policemen and deputy
sheriffs. armed with rifles and riot
! guns. were holding the prisoners at
bay, while a heavy fire-fghting force
eXlinguished the flames.
Prisoners Held nt Bay.
A peep through one of the prison
gates showed a party of Pittsburgh
detectives with drawn revolverS fac
ing 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 along
the Ohio river side and many prison
ers confined in cells there shattered
| the glass in the windows and shrieked
for help. Two watch towers on the
walls were attacked by the fire and
| quickly consumed.
| Persons in the street could distinctly
hear the shrieks and groans OF the
that a number had been hurt and
taken to the first aid hospital
in a section of the prison remote
! from where the fire ragged. Many
citizens offered their services to the
! authorities and were added to Sheriff
! Haddock's force. .
Medical Aid Rushed.
Many prisoners were removed from
the south wing. where the fire started.
Soon aftaward 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
subsidized.
At l:45 o'clock it was announced at
the Office of John J. McKelvey. Pitts
| burgh director of charities. that he
i had just sent five city physicians to
| the penitentiary in response to call
| for medical aid a number of am
balances reached the prison about
| 40 pm.
At that time the guards had been
strengthened at the gates of the
/ ,,yic Nd oil
deputy sheriffs were being rigidly eN-
cluded, SO that no statement of what
was going on within the walls could
| be obtained. 1t appeared, however.
| that the fire was under control.
Five Riot Alarms.
/ Five riot alarms were turned in to
| the police and fire departments from
| the penitentiary at 1885 o'clock. The
| buildings are located on the Ohio
! river in the lower part of the old
J city of Allegheny.
Nine fire companies Immediately re-
| sponded to the alarms and police re-
serves We're hurried to the peniten-
| tiary. Telephone communication with
| the institution was temporarily cut
| off. Fire records show that all the
alorms were sent from fire box in
| side the penitentiary.
! Col. c. A. Rook. a member OF the
| board of penitentiary managers and
publisher of the Pittsburgh Dis
patch, was notified by telephone from
| the penitentfary that a riot was in
progress and the buildings had been
| set on fire.
Gordon OF Police.
| A Gordon of police was quickly
thrown around every entrance lead
! ing to the prison, while fire lines were
| established some distance away. Fire
| hose was taken through the Doer
! street gate. through which fire ap-
paratuS also was sent. Great volumes
of smoke rising from the Enclosure
| indicated that the broom factory was
rapidly being destroyed
| Sheriff W. S. Haddock answered a call
! from the Office of John Francies with ten
deputies, armed with riot guns. Every
! ava.la Bile policeman was sent by Robert
| Alderdice, director of public safety. 10
/ reinforce the men already on duty. while
the penitentiary guards were mobilized
within the walls.
/ The Western penitentiary contains a
population of between 1900 and 1500
prisoners, some of them sent there by
/ federal courts and the remainder from
| the western counties of Pennsylvania.
| There is branch the farm prison.
at Beilefonte, Pa, to which men of high
standing in the prison are sent, leaving
the most desperate characters in the in
stitutions here.
T.; Warden Francies announced at 2:15
| that he had asked Gov. Sproul to send
| detachments o state police from the
barracks at Butler and Greenburg to