GAS FOR CONVICTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19000, 24 October 1923, Page 7

GAS FOR CONVICTS

MURDERERS FIGHT WARDERS. TWO PRISONERS KILLED.' NEW YORK, October 7. Three murderers in the Western Kentucky State Penitentiary, wdio made a dash for liberty last Wednesday and had ever since barricaded themselves in the mess hall, were found dead when the room was entered. Seven officers dashed to the second storey room after it had been flooded with ammonia.

Two of the convicts had bullets througn the heart. The authorities contend that probably these two committed suicide to escape death by ammonia.

Many attempts had been made to dislodge the convicts, who were well armed. Hand grenades were aimed into the room for live minutes before the ammonia was forced through specially constructed pipes. Eddies of wind blew the gas over the city 'a mile away from the prison. The authorities announced that it would require an hour for the gas to penetrate the room and do its deadly work, while another hour would have to elapse before the troopers could enter the room safely. A seething crowd stood some distance from the gaol awaiting the outcome of the fight of the revolting convicts. Among the crowd were the fathers of the prisoners.

Citizens wont about the streets armed because of the dangerous characters of the criminals, the fear being entertained that they would escape and terrorise the countryside. The schools were closed until the convicts wore subdued.

The officials have not yet learned the means by which the prisoners obtained revolvers, but it is believed that the relatives of the convicted men smuggled the weapons into the prison. * The revolt and its outcome was probably the most sensational of its kind in America. For days the newspapers printed long despatches of the siege, the latest developments being followed with utmost interest.