Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-22
COnvicts Attack
Men Fighting
Flames.
PRISONERS AID
RELIEF WORK
Brave Death, Smoke
and Blaze to Save
Those Trapped.
BY the Associated Press.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April "a
Tales of heroisrn and Of costly
hesitancy were told today within
the grey, grim walls of the Ohio
Penitentiary, where 317 convicts,
locked in their cells, were burned
to death and suffocated last night
in one of the most ife-destroying
fires in history.
AS the guards and inmates Of
the prison recounted the vivid
details of the disaster, an official
State commission, appointed by
Gov. Cooper, sought to learn what
caused the blaze and why the
locked-in prisoners were not lib
Grated in time to escape.
In the Horticultural Building,
at the State Fair Grounds, scores
Of undertakers worked untiringly
to prepare the victims for burial.
The identity of 276 of the dead
convictS had been established.
The others, trapped in their fire
bound cells, were so badly burned
that Identification was almost
impossible. ''...'
Convict heroes and prison guard
heroes were told of time and again to-
day by the hundreds of inmates who
escaped death. These men, looSed In the
big prison yard when the flames broke
out in the northwest cell blocks, told Of
fellow convtctS and Of guards who,
mindless OF their own safety, dashed
into the hot, smoke filled tiers in valiant
efforts to free the trapped men.
Two Guards Are HerOea
Prisoners and guards agreed today
that the two outstanding heroes Of the
tragic disaster were Guards Tom Little
and w. @. Baldwin. These men, Drawing
the killing smoke and heat, went into
the blazing tiers and liberated convicts
until they were overcome, to be rescued
by convicts participating In the rescue
work.
big Jim" Borton was another whose
praises were sung. The former Cleve-
land bank robber unhestitatingly flirted
with death as he dashed In and out
OF the flaming building, carrying an
unconscious fellow prisoner, and big
Jim" kept up his heroic struggle
against the odds until he fell victim
to smoke and heat. He was revived
and today was well on the road to re-
covery.
Other unnamed heroes, whites and
colored, all clad in prison garb, were
In the ranks of the fearless. These.
too, braved death time and again, car
rying the dead and the dying from
the oven-like cells.
Prisoners Condemn Rebels.
Some convicts-thoSe who refused 10
maintain discipline and who threw
stones and cut fire hoSe-drew hot
words Of condemnation from both
guards and prisoners. These were the
sore spots" in a situation otherwise
dominated by fearless men, who risked
their all to succor fellow beings in dis
treSS. =
The prison today continued an
armed camp. Soldiers were on guard
within the walls and outside OF the
barriers. All was. quiet within the
penitentiary. A furry of excitement
came when fire engineers were rushed
through the gates to fight a blaze In
the smoldering ruins. During the morn
ing Gov. Cooper an dhis committee Of
inquiry visited the spot where the fire
started, and then went into the block
which last night was the tomb Of many
men.
More than 100 other prisoners were
In the Pen1tentiary Hospital and from
so to 10 of these were in q critical
condition from burns and from smoke
they inhaled while fire ragged In parts
Of four cell blocks.
The penitentiary housed $500 con.
vfctS, some 2,700 above the capacity for
which it was intended, when the fire.
attributed to an incendiary origin, and
famed by q stiff wind, swept through
the upper tiers of the four blocks.
spreading death and suffering In its
wake.
Trapped behind their locked cell
doors, the men had no chance to escape
the flames and the dense smoke which
raced through the tiers.
The flames were discovered shortly
before $50 pm. Within several hours,
the fire had been brought under control,
but the suffocating smoke continued to
take its toll among the convicts. In the
adjoining cell blocks men screamed to
be released. And when the prison ON.
ctals capitulated to their demands, the
wide penitentiary yard became stream.
ing mass Of gray-clothed men.
Prisoners Rebel, Cut Hose.
Before two hours had passed this mass
OF men, picking their way among count.
less bodies spread over the yard, became
q threatening menace. Some Of them
cut the fire hose which continued to
play upon flames that SDread tn the