"FREE-FOR-ALL"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 163, 13 July 1942, Page 5

"FREE-FOR-ALL"

PRISONER WOUNDED GAOL RIOTS AND A FIGHT (0.C.) SYDNEY, July 7. Rioting at Bathurst gaol last Tuesday and Wednesday culminated in a fight between prisoners and warders on the Waratah railway | station, near Newcastle, when some of the prisoners were being taken to Maitland gaol. On Tuesday three prisoners savagely attacked the Bathurst gaol governor (Mr. E. W. Phemister) and two warders, who suffered broken ribs. One warder was suddenly attacked by one prisoner in the boot shop. When another warder went to his aid, two other prisoners joined in the fight. After knocking the warders down, the prisoners armed themselves with a blacksmith's file, a heavy piece of iron and a piece of wood with an iron crook attached and, running into an open cell, defied the warders to remove them. When the governor entered the cell to reason with the prisoners he was hit over the head and face with the weapons held by the prisoners. Police from Bathurst were called and they soon persuaded the prisoners to leave the cell quietly. The three prisoners are young men, all serving sentences not above four years. It is understood that their attack was a sequel to the apprehension of two prisoners who attempted to escape a few months ago by secreting themselves under floor boards. On Wednesday about 60 prisoners rioted wildly in the gaol in the presence of the Acting ComptrollerGeneral of Prisons, Mr. L. J. Nott. Thirty machines, worth £1000, were destroyed in the riot and nearly all the 100 windows in the industrial section were broken.

On Saturday three of the rioters were being transferred by train to Maitland gaol. The three were: Fordon William Harria, alias Small, serving a sentence of two years; Percy Connelly (three years), ancl William Thomas Hutchieson (two years and three months). When the train stopped at Waratah station Harris got up and kicked one of the warders on the leg and a free-for-all fight then started, in which the convicts used a piece of wood they tore from the carriage fittings, a foot warmer and a water bottle.

Afraid that the train would start at any moment, Warder Baxter got out on the platform to try to get the convicts out, but when he saw Connelly get possession of Assistant-Warder Markin's revolver he jumped back into the carriage and grabbed him. Eventually the warders got the men on the platform where they continued to fight furiously. About 30 people on the platform were looking on. Connelly broke away from the others and AssistantWarder Markin fired at his feet. All three convicts then made a concerted attack on the warders, who were by this time considerably distressed and Warder Baxter fired r t Connelly who fell with a shot through the groin. Harris and Hutchieson were then overpowered.