Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-23
WARDEN RECALLED.
BY PRISON PROBERS.
Thomas to Be GriIIed Over
Arrangements for Emer-
gency Action.
Continued From First Page.)

NSOllIlhucQ rAOIu EAoU EdBOsy
each is the prison number of the four
men who occupied them.
The investigators decided to return
the men to the cells temporarily to as
certain the number of the missing
When the check had been made, the
convicts were promptly removed.
For the first time since the fire and
smoke spread destruction Warden
yard this morning. With head
bowed, he went to the deputies
Office and emerged to look upon the
chapel building. Hundreds of convicts
cell mates Of the men who died-let
loose crescendo of jeers and cat calls
at sight of the warden. Thomas glared
at them moment and went on his way
while guards silenced the prisoners.
The investigating committee, Attorney
General Bettman and his assistants;
State Architect T. Ralph Ridley, and e.
L. jenkins, superintendent of construc-
ton at the penitentiary, then visited
the cell block seeking to determine the
cause of the fire and to fix the nature
of the cell construction in their minds
before they began to question more
witnesses at the secondary session of
the committee.
Jenkins told the committee it was re-
ported to him Monday afternoon that
electric lights used to illuminate the I
and K cell block while under construc-
ton had been Pickering. The trouble
was eliminated at 3 pm, he said, but
it was definitely established that there
had been difficulty with the wiring.
Woodwork Soaked in Paraffin.
The committee learned that woodwork
used in the construction was soaked
with paraff1n oil to keep concrete from
sticking to the molding forms.
The rafters of the G and H cell block
were of wood and covered with wooden
sheathing.
The outside roof was of slate. as was
the roof over the old building in which
the new / and x cell blocks were being
constructed.
Jenkins said it was planned to re-
place the old roof with a concrete roof
after the walls of the blocks were con-
structed. The old walls of the build
ing would not support concrete roof,
he said.
The committee established that all
prisoners in the sixth tier of the G and
H block died of suffocation, but that
fire as we'll as smoke had caused the
other deaths. Some prisoners were
rescued from the fourth and fifth
tiers. The north end of the block was
charred by fire but the south end had
not been swept.
The committee made a list Of wit
nesses they would call to determine
whether any shots we're fired during
the fire. This step was taken after
the reported finding of two exploded
shotgun shells on the floor OF G and
H cell block.
Unrest Disappears at Dawn,
A spirit of unrest among the thou
sands of convicts early today disap-
peared at dawn and the fears of guards
that there would be trouble was dis
sipated.
The fact that 900 colored convicts,
housed in wooden barracks in the yards,
were not locked in and that several
thousand men in the idle house cell
blocks were restless and at times almost
defiant, caused guards to fear break
for liberty between 4 am. and 6 am.
today.
The colored convicts were not locked
in because prison officials feared fire
in the wooden buildings. The men in
the idle house, which is known as
the white city," were locked in behind
steel cages, but were not in their
cells.
At 4 am. when cell block guards re-
ported the unrest and the defiant attt-
tude Of some Of the men, Acting Capt.
H. e. Lockhardt, In charge In place
of Capt. John Hall, who was of duty,
called National Guard officers into con-
ference. He feared q break for liberty