RIOTERS IN A GAOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20827, 20 March 1931, Page 11

RIOTERS IN A GAOL.

ILLINOIS SENSATION.

PRISONERS CAUSE FIRES.

SEVEN BUILDJNQS DESTROYED.

By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.

(Received Marsh 19. 5.45 p.m.) CHICAGO. March IS.

After a howling mob of 1600 prisoners had set fire to the interior of a new State gaol at Joliet, Illinois, to-day they ran riot'for upwards of an hour. The State Guards then quelled the disturbance. Seven buildings were destroyed and the loss is estimated at £60,000. The prisoners took their cue fropi the inmates of the old gaol, who had been concerned in a not on Saturday. The two uprisings resulted in four prisoners being killed by rifle-fire and several members of the State Guard being wounded. In both instances the prisoners aoted in protest against the Parole Board which, they alleged, had been inflicting heavy sentences. To-day's affair began with the prisoners beating th'e warders in the furniture factory. Then they drove off the chaplain, who pleaded with them to return to their cells. The warden, unarmed, rushed into the yard and urged the men to go back, but ho was greeted with jeers and the rioters went from point to point, lighting fires everywhere. From the machine shop the prisoners collected.missiles which they used against the warders and the State Guards. As the prisoners retreated when the first volley \vas fired they shouted: " We want a new Parole Board."