Imperial Valley press., 1930-04-22
Prison Disaster
Shocks Nation
fContipued from Pare ll

Continued from Page II
eral troops, who Rad threwn r steel
c:LG arc-Ll tie prison, gaze slf1.-
cent strength q 1fs autE~I:t.es =
make thsiv I.rst o-::Te against tbs
1000 milling coE".cts. ILs" vent
III. witE ravo1ets. aEj cleared tEe
va for the firemen. Ihe plaze III
the woolen mills was soon extin-
guished.
Guards, unable to stand by and
see their charges die without a
chance. plunged into the cell house
and dragged many screaming men
to safety.
1t was here that "Wild Bill >
Croninger, "desperado,'' gave his
life for society. Twelve times he
made his way into the furnace,
each time coming ou;, choking and
coughing, with the fimp body of a
friend. He made the thirteenth at
tempt to go in-and collapsed,
dying.
1t was here, too, that Frank
Ward, once policeman, found re-
generation. Selling an AK. he hack
ed away at the locks of half a
dozen cell doors, liberating their
shrieking inmates anG driving them
into the open.
Lighting Fats
And there was big jim" Nor
ton, desperate Cleveland bank
robber who broke out of his own
cell with has bare hands, and-al-
though he had a chance TO flee to
the vard-stayed in the blazing
cell house To rescue his companion.
When he could find no more living,
he carried out two dead.
At $50 p. m, with the flames of
the west cell block dying down, the
horror was heightened by collapse
of the lighting system. \ short
circuit, caused by falling timbers,
threw the prison into darkness. save
for the flicker of the blaze and a
few scattered searchlights.
Out of the darkness came the
hoarse cries OF men both inside the
smouldering building and in the
ward. Then the lights flashed on
again. in festoons of temporary
bulbs. draped from the walls like
the decorations at a garden party.
Meanwhile, those thousands of
prisoners who were loose in the
great ward, including many who
had thrust themselves by main
strength out of the burning cell
block, were gradually being driven
mot a compact crowd where they
could be put under the muzzles of
the machine guns.
Orders were issued to the soldiers
to fire at"the first Overt act by this
crowd. Then, in an act of greater
kindness and realizing the psvcholo-
gy of its effect on the terror strick-
en- inmates, groups of guards and
officials went into the yard and
among the men with reassuring
words. The fire was over, the con
victs were told, and there was no
danger But the reassuring word
carried also a warning. There must
be no attempt to break. and any
sucH attempt NOuIu Ut met ~ WI
leys.
The tumult died down, and the
shouting, both of erazed fear and
rage came TO an end.
Shortly after the work of remOv-
ing the dead and injured began, a
new squadron of - army trucks
moved i~, TO supplant the 10 already
in service.
Incendiary Evidence
Military control Of the "defenses'
of the prison fell into order like
clockwork. The thousands of cur
iosity seekers. attracted to the
prison by the siren and the rapidly
spreading news, were driven back by
the guardsmen.
Every foot OF space on the walls,
in the sentinel towers and at the
gates had its guard, armed either
with rifle or machine gun.
Beside groups of these machine
gunners. needed protection when
the electric lights failed, were FLAIR
ing acetylene torches, casting a glare
into the great quadrangle.
Warden Thomas was the subject
Of conflicting emotions. He refused
to believe, at first, that his pris-
oners themselves had lighted the
most terrible blaze in the history
Of prison fires. But State Fire
Marshal Ray gill presented him the
convincing evidenee-a pile OF