New Britain herald., 1930-04-22
Guards Acted Slowly

Columbus, O., April 22.-P- Guards failed to realize quickly the seriousness of the fire which claimed the lives of about 800 state penitcn- tiary convicts and directed their first efforts against possible outbreak rather than to rescue work. it was indicated in testimony at the official investigation of tho disaster today.
 State Welfare Director H. II. Griswold turned the prison residence of Warden Preston E. Thomas into d courtroom early today and ques- tioned six prison officials, guards, firemen and prisoners in the hope of fixing responsibility.
 Warden Thomas said his first or ders on receiving word of the fire were to send a deputy with keys to the prison gates to let the fire ap- paratus in and then inquired if keys had been sent to the cell blocks to , release the prisoners.
 Ordered Cells Opened
 'I was informed that keys had not been sent to the cell blocks and I ordered the, guards to get them down there as quickly as possible. l don't know what guards took the keys or how long they were in get ting them there"
 The warden said he then armed two guards with shot guns and took personal charge of guarding the prison from the outside to prevent possible escape of prisoners.
 Before leaving for the outside, I ordered keys to the cells sent by q | trusty to the E and r cell blocks, | but my wife had beaten me to it." The warden said it was probably 20 minutes from the time he was notified of the fire Intil they were | bringing out bodies.
 | c. w. Osborn, assistant Columbus fire chief said he figured it was not more than F minutes from the time of the alarm until he had his appa- ratus inside the prison walls.
 When he arrived on the cell range, prisoners and guards were rushing about opening cells. Some were using keys and others were batter ing the locks off with axes" he said. The work Of opening the cells he said, seemed to be rather slow,' but the heat was so intense and the smoke so dense that it was difficult for them to make speedy headway.
 Bodies Began to Be Removed
 The nlo-ing of bodies began | wifi hin five mi ,f ,f I, l on the cell range, Osborn said.
 He could throw little light on whether guards were doing all in their power to free the prisoners. The guards said they were unlock ing the cells, but the prisoners said they were not. l did not see any guards unlocking cells"
 Prisoners, impatient at the efforts of fircmen to extinguish the blaze which was threatening the lives of thelr friends, overpowered the fire men and took the hose lines from them in an attempt to play streams of water on the cells where the pri- soners were held, Osborn said. He declared their efforts were futile as the hose were not long enough to reach the upper tiers of cells where the prisoners were confined.
 Liston G. Schooley, Cleveland prisoner said he was in the deputy Warden's office when he discovered the flames. He called the telephone operator who responded that he al- ready knew of the fire.
 Cleveland Johnson, a prisoner. came running in and asked for keys to open doors to get down to the cell blocks where the fire was raging. Guard Cooper came running in and asked for keys also but in the ex- citement and confusion I could not find the ones he wanted. He left and then came back. reported that he could not get through and asked what he should do. l told him to break the doors down or get through