New Britain herald., 1930-04-22

site side of the prison yard. He saw smoke rising from the cell blocks. Saw Reflection of Fire
 About the same time Charley Sholkey, a prisoner from Toledo, and one. of those quartered in the dam aged building sounded an alarm on range two of section H.. Sholkey. a practical joker, was not taken seri- -ously by his fellow convicts until they saw the red reflection in the windows of a manufacturing plant.
 Then a great scream came from sections C. and H. In each there were six ranges of r cells, housing four prisoners to the cell. The flames and the smoke were eating toward them rapidly. t
 William C. Baldwin and Tom Little, guard captains, dashed to the flaming building with keys to the cells
 At the same time other guards ran to the deputies office where Schooley. in the absence of officers, began handing out orders and issued all the keys he had.
 Begin to Unlock Cells Guard Baldwin and Little rushed into the smoke filled building, took the keys to the ranges from the day guards and started unlocking cells as. quickly as they could. Meanwhile fire, companies, answering four alarms spread every foot of hose available.
 As the guards released convicts from one range they climbed to. the for breath.
 As they were released many joined in the rescue work.
 After he had unlocked the last cell on the fourth range Little collapsed Four inmates carried him out Bald win struggled on to the fifth tier, then he too collapsed and was car ried to safety.
 On the fourth and fifth ranges death took its toll rapidly. The lungs Of the trapped men were filled with smoke. Ghastly sights greeted the rescuers. suffocated men lay on the floor clutching with pale. white fingers at the bars that held them in. Some Try to Bury Heads
 Others, were stretched across and under their bunks.. Some had tried to bury their heads in theslavatories in the cells, and still others had grab bed their blankets or torn their shirts from their backs to drench them, with water and place them over their heads.
 Streams of water swished through the. mesh and the iron bars and formed rivulets in which the faces Of fallen men were buried.
 Hundreds had been carried from the structure and above the heads of the rescuers in the sixth and last range were more than a hundred others who could not possibly be saved. Bed mattresses and the cots were masses of flames.
 Locks on the cells were battered away with sledge hammers. The mesh walls of the ranges were cat away with wire clippers. Hose lines, winding a path up the flights of stairs got in the road of stumbling men.
 Scene Like Battle Field
 Outside the smoke filled building the, scene resembled a field of bat tie strewn with corpses
 At first, the prisoners who had es. caped death emerged in pairs carry. ing comrade by the arms and feet whom they dropped on the grass.
 Then they knelt beside the choked men, turned them on their stomachs and applied methods of resuscitation For a while this revived the victims but soon they came so fast that the band of convicts found themselves stumbling over each other. dropping the men they had carried out and hurrying back for others.
 Groans and feeble cries, from the lips of the victims and words of en. couragement or shricks of terror from the men who were working ovel them rose from the ground. Scared and blackened faces bespoke the flu tility of pondering over men who already were dead.
 Big gray blankets were spread pro fusely over the green grass.
 Make room for this man. He. alive. Gangway," came the cry from little group hurrying along the walks toward the hospital. The laneI of prisoners separated. They made room for the man who had a chance to live.
 Doctors Rush to Scene
 Out of the guard room door pour ed doctors, internes, nurses, priests and ministers. Dying men cried fol the last rites of the church. Medica men, some without hats or coats an( others in uniforms of white trampet over the ground, which became soG gy under the burden of many feet.
 Two hours after the fire started daylight had faded and weary troub led men worked on under the ray' of the arc lights that gave the prisor yard a dismal appearance. '@
 It was about this time that nut tering prisoners, chilled to the bone in the night air because they coulc not obey orders to go inside, started the disturbances that caused so mucf alarm.
 The effects of warm coffee served during tho rescue operations ant consumed freely by hundreds wht were idling bout as we'll as those who were working had worn of when dark fell. But it was mostly th' idle prisoners who were inclined tt cause trouble. They assembled II small groups in different parts 0 the prison yard. The guards could dt nothing with them. Stones flev through the air occasionally ant once a, band of men rushed a gaso