PRISON RIOT

Evening Star, Issue 21253, 7 November 1932, Page 9

PRISON RIOT

AUTHORITIES RESTORE ORDER VALUABLE WORKSHOP DESTROYED Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright MONTREAL, November 5. A sweeping inquiry will be made immediatelv into the riot on Friday at the St. Vincent De Paul Penitentiary, which was led by a giant negro named Crossley,. and left nine guards stabbed or burned, four convicts injured, and a large workshop, valued at half a million dollars, totally destroyed by fire. No. lives were lost, but the condition of Crossley, who stabbed himself when the outbreak failed, is critical. The indications are that the affair was carefully planned. A prison break would have let loose hundreds of convicts to pour into the city of Montreal, fifteen miles away. The failure of eighty men outside to see Crossley’s signal and the quick ■action of the guards is believed to have saved the situation. Trouble _ came in the tailoring shop, when, it is understood, Crossley threw gasoline on a pile ' of waste and fired it. The guards were set upon by thirty men who had armed themselves with knives and hammers. Major Emil Jacques, head of the tailoring department, was crowded into a corner and tossed into the flames, but was rescued when the guards poured into the building. Guard Aube was stabbed in the neck, and Guard Forest was knocked down. The flames spread rapidly, the convicts slashing the hose brought in by the guards. At last, aided by the smoke, the guards assumed command, ushering hundreds of convicts out of tho building to the cells in the main penitentiary. Thirty convicts who were trapped on the fourth floor were now thoroughly frightened, and wore rescued by firemen, who used a hack-saw to cut through the bars. Crossley ha<t fieu to a cupboard, whore he stabbed himself, and was saved by the firemen training a hose on him until, they cut through to his rescue. The riot was then definitely over.