PRISON RIOT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 36, 26 January 1932, Page 6

PRISON RIOT

POLICE FACED CRITICAL*" SITUATION 20 CONVICTS IN HOSPITAL. £lO,OOO DAMAGE DUE TO FIRE. By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. London, Jan. 24. The alarm of the Dartmoor mutiny (earlier reference to which appears on was first communicated to Princetown residents by a warder whose nose was broken in the first scuffle. He rushed outside the prison gates with blood streaming down his face and told women who were waiting, being alarmed by the noise, to return to their homes and lock themselves in. Many farmers were advised by telephone of the possibility of Convicts’ raids. The Rev. Scholes, prison chaplain, was also attacked, the convicts taking his keys and releasing others, who joined their comrades shouting: “Set fire to the prison. Let’s get the governor.” Governor Roberts vainly tried to reason with tho mutineers and eventually found refuge in a cell. The convicts also assaulted the prison commissioner, Colonel Turner, whom a loyal convict, who was serving a life sentence, freed and locked safely in a celL Police officers admitted that it was one of the most critical situations they had ever faced. Dartmoor prison is a granite stronghold on a bleak situation 300 feet above sea level on the Devonshire moors, which are threaded by streams and morasses and are often shrouded in fogs, and there are few roads, making escape difficult. It was built in 1809 to house Napoleonic prisoners of war and was the scene in 1815 of the shooting of seven American prisoners of war after the war of 1812. The only instance paralelling the present outbreak was a fatal mutiny in 1880, when a quarry gang attacked a warder and the ringleader was fatally shot and the others recaptured. When the Plymouth police marched in they found the convicts armed with table legs and axe handles, stockings filled with nails and brickbats, and perched on the roofs of sheds. Chief Constable Wilson tried to parley and was greeted with showers of brickbats. He turned and said: “Get at ’em boys; it’s no good talking.” Police amed with truncheons rushed to tho walls and roofs and dragged the convicts off. It was a case of hitting hard and quickly. In ton minutes the convicts thereabouts disappeared. Thereafter there was not much difficulty in rounding all up and placing them under lock and key. CASUALTIES AND DAMAGE. CONVICTS RAID CANTEEN. London, Jan. 25. The latest report from Dartmoor states that only five warders were injured. Eighty-four convicts were shot and batoned, of whom 20 were sent to hospital. The damage totals £lO,OOO, largely due to fire. The rebel convicts raided tho officers’ canteen and drank freely until the Plymouth contingent of police arrived. Governor Roberts entered the prison service as a warder after the armistice, having served in the Scots Greys. He is noted among prison governors for his advanced views in the treatment of prisoners and has been described as the most humane governor in the service. COMMISSIONER’S LIFE SAVED PRISONER’S GREAT PLUCK 5 London, Jan. 25. A hundred extra police remained in the vicinity of Dartmoor all night. Many warders went about their duties swathed in bandages. The courtyard was floodlighted and armed guards patrolled the prison. Two machine gun squads ordered to Dartmoor at the height of the riot were not required. It is revealed that a life sentence prisoner, Donovan, saved the life of Commissioner Turner, who was visiting the prison to inquire into grievances. Donovan rushed between Commissioner Turner and a band of convicts armed with crowbars. It looked as if the pair would be killed, but Donovan outfaced them. He displayed the greatest pluck and turned the attack. ’ Donovan, with two others, was convicted of murder in 1928 and reprieved an hour before his execution. He is now a changed man and says that if he ever has the luck to come out of prison he is going to show the people that there is an unseen.